Translator: CinderTL
"Refining the Sword into the Core."
Li Chunjun sensed the Lifebound Flying Sword nurtured within his body.
He had informed no one.
Nor had he asked anyone to guard him in advance.
After adjusting his condition to its peak, he directly took out the Golden Core Pill and swallowed it.
Instantly, all the Essence Qi in his body, even his consciousness and the perception of his body by his mind, felt as if they were being stripped away. In a daze, they all transferred into the Golden Core Pill refined within his body.
This allowed him to free his hands completely and delve deep into understanding every structure of his body.
From controlling the twitching of his ears, the standing of his hairs, to controlling every organ in his body...
Step by step, progressing steadily, continuously growing.
At this moment, he could clearly feel that he had broken the shackles of his body.
From originally being able to control less than ten percent of his physical body, it instantly surged to more than ten percent, and was advancing towards twenty, thirty percent.
The more he mastered, the more potential and power throughout his body was released.
This strength even gave him the illusion that with a mere gesture, mountains could crumble and the earth could split.
Yes!
An illusion!
Because of the complete takeover of his body, some of the human body's inherent cognitions were disrupted, making it impossible for him to accurately obtain information from the outside world to analyze and determine his current specific strength.
Not only that.
Although he was now immersed in an infinitely powerful state of breaking shackles, many more detailed functions of his body, having lost the assistance of the "subconscious," gradually became out of control and disordered.
Even with the "Golden Core Pill," signs of this loss of control and disorder still emerged.
At this time, if the cultivator could construct the "Core Formation" control center at the fastest speed, using the "Core Formation" completely controlled by the cultivator to take over all parts controlled by the "subconscious," they could turn the situation of physical loss of control in one go.
But...
Li Chunjun was a Sword Cultivator.
The path of the Sword Cultivator, refining the sword into the core.
Its danger was even greater than condensing the Core Formation.
The Lifebound Flying Sword within his body instantly liquefied, permeating every part of his blood.
Using the power of the flying sword itself to replace the beating of the heart, delivering blood to every corner of the body.
At the same time, using the power of the flying sword itself to replace the digestion and transportation of external energy by the stomach and intestines, to maintain the normal operation of the human "body."
He even used the flying sword to replace the liver and gallbladder in detoxification, ensuring he could refine the pure and expel the turbid.
Even...
Going further, the flying sword transformed from liquid to gas, permeating platelets, the immune system, and the depths of genes, attempting to fundamentally replace the human body's "subconscious" control system, to master the "body," this extremely precise machine.
But, the difficulty of this step clearly exceeded Li Chunjun's imagination.
Not to mention humans, even he, who had cultivated Divine Sense and Sword Intent, could not precisely let the Lifebound Flying Sword take over and permeate platelets, the immune system, and the genetic level.
To make human consciousness the god of the physical body! This is the ultimate pursuit of the Core Formation Realm!
Also the beginning of the Spirit Refinement Great Realm! With the support of the Golden Core Pill, Li Chunjun's process of taking over many organs of his body was very smooth, but when it came to further permeating and mastering the finer parts of himself, the progress became extremely slow.
Even though the Lifebound Flying Sword had liquefied and vaporized, the intense energy and sharp aura it contained still caused significant damage to these microstructures.
If the body was still a functioning whole, these injuries could gradually heal with the body's natural recovery abilities. But now...
The body's original circulatory system had been disrupted by him, and its self-repair capabilities had been weakened and damaged to the lowest point, turning minor injuries caused by sword qi into major ones, and major injuries into severe ones, eventually leading to a complete systemic collapse.
"Failure."
Six days later, Li Chunjun, feeling his body quickly becoming "full of holes," remained remarkably calm inside.
If a Qi Refining cultivator were to condense a Core Formation, relying on the adaptation time provided by the Golden Core Pill, success would likely have been achieved by now.
But for a Sword Cultivator to refine a sword into a core...
It was only natural.
Especially with his Profound Phoenix Sword Qi and the Mystic Treasure Flying Sword, which, while immensely destructive, also inflicted greater harm on himself.
Seeing that his injuries had become unbearably severe, Li Chunjun wasted no more time and quickly drew upon the Undying Flaming Phoenix Power contained within the Flaming Phoenix Blood.
In the next moment, fierce and violent flames blazed within his body, as if he had been set ablaze from the inside out.
Amidst this burning, he focused all his energy on visualizing the Undying Flaming Phoenix.
Under the influence of the Flaming Phoenix Power and guided by his visualization, his thoughts and consciousness seemed to enter a peculiar state of sublimation, as if merging with a great existence.
The Undying Flaming Phoenix!
Or rather, the imprint left by the Undying Flaming Phoenix, an Innate Divine Being, upon the universe!
This feeling was like...
Uploading his consciousness to the "Flaming Phoenix" server?
He could vaguely sense his body being consumed by the flames, on the verge of turning to ash, yet he remained fully conscious.
This clarity lasted for several days.
Within the flames, his body, which had been reduced to ashes, seemed to utilize the energy of the flames to be reshaped.
Nirvana Rebirth!
The Flaming Phoenix Fire acted like a printer.
First, it recycled the damaged structure of the cultivator's body, converting it into energy, and then recreated it in the most optimal form.
This was Li Chunjun's complete understanding of the Nirvana Rebirth through Flaming Phoenix Blood.
Such a marvel...
"Flaming Phoenix Power!"
Li Chunjun ceased his resonance and visualization with the Undying Flaming Phoenix, and immediately, his sublimated consciousness returned to his body.
A sensation that was both familiar and yet distinctly different washed over him.
He could feel that this was his body.
Moreover, he had gained new insights and comprehension of the Flaming Phoenix Power, the Profound Phoenix Sword Qi, and even the Primordial Blazing Phoenix Scripture and the Taixu Sword Scripture. Certain confusions suddenly became clear.
His understanding of specific techniques, skills, and talents had significantly increased.
But...
In more comprehensive areas, such as perception, intuition, recovery, and spirituality, it felt as if a veil had been drawn over them.
A certain completeness and balance within him had also developed subtle flaws.
He couldn't quite decide whether it was better to maintain the previous state of completeness and balance, with a slightly moderate and comprehensive evolution, or to focus on the path of the Flaming Phoenix lineage's Destruction Sword Intent, Life Sword Intent, and the Grand Ruins Sword Intent of the Taixu Sword Scripture, leveraging the Undying Flaming Phoenix Power.
Li Chunjun pondered.
He carefully compared the "recovery" state brought by the Flaming Phoenix Bloodline's rebirth and the elevation of his life level.
After a full hour, he had to stop.
He couldn't discern.
His perspective and knowledge were insufficient to determine the superiority or inferiority between the path of moderation and focused enhancement.
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"Sword Cultivators are already considered to be walking an extreme path, and when combined with the ultimate enhancement of Flaming Phoenix Power... it directly results in the scarcity of Flaming Phoenix Sword Cultivators and the rarity of the Flaming Phoenix Dao. This path is destined to be fraught with hardships."
Li Chunjun pondered, gradually coming to a decision in his heart.
The Flaming Phoenix Sword Cultivator could only serve as a cover.
What he truly relied on was the comprehensive transformation brought about by life level advancement.
On one hand, the Flaming Phoenix Blood could only be excavated nine times.
Nirvana Rebirth also had only nine opportunities.
But life level advancement...
Dao Unification was expected to correspond to life level 41.
Calculating this way, there were still 19 more times.
With this alone, it was enough to tilt his choice.
More importantly...
"Not to mention the Flaming Phoenix Blood, even the Undying Flaming Phoenix... is merely an Innate Divine Being! Infinitely close to an immortal!"
Close to an immortal!
But ultimately...
Not a True Immortal.
...
Li Chunjun summarized the lessons from his failed attempt at Refining Sword into Core ten days ago.
Then, he spent three days adjusting his state.
This time...
There was no Golden Core Pill.
He held a Heartburn Pill in his mouth, without much hesitation, and entered the Refining Sword into Core process once again.
Compared to the last time when he only had experience from Jiang Wanyu's side but lacked practical operational ability, this time, with the previous lesson in mind, Li Chunjun took over the process of his entire body's organs very smoothly.
Before his body could react, it had already changed "owners."
Next, Li Chunjun continued to let his Lifebound Flying Sword penetrate deeper.
This time, his standards for himself were very low.
The first stage of the Spirit Refinement Great Realm, Core Formation, required taking over the entire body with one's own will.
Including all areas originally controlled by the subconscious.
But...
The reason why the Virtual Core had the word "virtual" was because their control over the body had not truly reached an absolute scope! The commands issued by the new central hub of essence, qi, and spirit, the "Core Formation," would be cooperated with at the cellular and genetic levels, but not completely.
It was like knowing how to drive but not being able to build a car.
Only at the True Core realm could Core Formation Realm cultivators permeate the power of the "Core Formation" to the cellular and genetic levels, thereby optimizing their own structure from the genetic level.
This was why True Core cultivators could gain an additional sixty years compared to Virtual Core cultivators.
Genetic optimization.
This was also why it was impossible to be ugly once reaching the True Core realm.
As for the Golden Core above...
The entire person, from the inside out, was optimized to the extreme.
Representing the perfect form of humanity! Or rather, the perfect form of humanoid carbon-based life! Li Chunjun immersed himself in this state of absolute control over his body and continuously penetrated to the cellular and genetic levels.
During this process, the Profound Phoenix Sword Qi and the Lifebound Flying Sword still inevitably caused significant damage to himself.
But it had already given him hope.
Because life level advancement was different from the Nirvana Rebirth of Flaming Phoenix Power.
Nirvana Rebirth was almost equivalent to a complete reshaping of the body, restoring it to a certain intact state before severe injury.
The progress of Refining Sword into Core was also reset.
But life level advancement was different.
...
Feeling that the damage to himself by the Lifebound Flying Sword was too severe to continue, Li Chunjun decisively crushed the Heartburn Pill in his mouth.
In the next moment, his life level, already at its peak, instantly completed its advancement! In an instant, a gentle energy, emerging from nowhere, infused his entire body, completely healing all his injuries.
Seizing this opportunity, Li Chunjun did not hesitate for a moment and forcefully infused the power of his Lifebound Flying Sword into his cells and genes! Even if absolute control was not possible, he would take control first and deal with the consequences later! With this forceful infusion, finally...
Before the gaseous form of his Lifebound Flying Sword could cause significant damage to himself again, the Flying Sword finally merged completely with his Essence Qi, Spirit, and Vitality, successfully establishing a brand new "control center."
A completely different sense of "wholeness" and "completion" surged within him.
"The Core Formation Realm, achieved!"
(End of the Chapter)
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