Chapter Fifteen: The Boundary of Martial Arts

  "What is this Diyan Yunshi thing?" Zhou Heng asked casually.

  Lin Fengxiao supported her forehead with her hand and sighed, "Where on earth did you come from? You're so powerful that you can kill a 9th-level demonic beast at the 6th level of body refinement, yet you know nothing!"

  "That's because this treasured sword is too sharp!" Zhou Heng couldn't bear to part with the long sword in his hand, as a swordsman, who wouldn't want to own a famous sword?

  Indeed, without the advantage of this treasured sword, he would never have been able to behead the six-legged giant beast with a single stroke, and instead would only have shattered his longsword!

  "Well, this sword is yours now!" Lin Xiang decided after gritting her teeth.

  Zhou Heng was stunned, such a precious sword was given away so easily? When did this beautiful woman become so generous, she didn't even say thank you when he saved her life before? Could it be... that she had developed feelings for him over time?

  He looked at Lin Fengxiang with a puzzled gaze and said, "You wouldn't have fallen in love with me, would you?"

  "What, what!" Lin Xiang suddenly jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, "Me liking you? You're dreaming! You despicable scoundrel, I'll kill you!"

  "What's the point of giving me a sword?" Zhou Heng muttered.

  "Don't get any ideas, you little scamp!" Lin Fengxiang hummed twice, "This Di Yan Yun Shi is extremely precious! No, it's priceless, that's why I'll give you the Frost Sword as a partial payment in advance!"

  "Ah!" Zhou Heng nodded, but what was this Earth Rock Stone used for that made it so precious, causing Lin Fengxiang to give away a sword that could be considered a divine weapon as payment in advance?

  Seeing Zhou Heng's puzzled gaze, Lin Fengxiao sighed and explained: "The terrestrial rock cloud stone can be used to refine magical instruments!"

  "What's going on?" Zhou Heng's puzzled expression didn't decrease, but instead increased.

  He originally didn't know about the Yún Cloud Stone, and now he had another magical artifact.

  "Oh, I'd rather die than talk to you anymore!" Lin Fengxiang was about to bang her head against the wall, "Where did you crawl out from, a rural village? You don't even know what a law enforcement officer is?"

  Zhou Heng curled his lips and naturally wouldn't take the bait.

  "Speaking of magic tools, one must also speak of spiritual power, and the realm of martial arts... How annoying! Annoying to death!" Lin Fengxiang stomped her feet repeatedly, then glared at Zhou Heng with a fierce gaze, as if she wanted to devour him alive.

  Seeing Zhou Heng's nonchalant expression, she couldn't help but sigh and say with a dejected tone: "You should know about that so-called Ascension Road, right?"

  "I know!" Zhou Heng's eyes lit up, this was his goal of struggle, Treading the Heavenly Path, Sword Whistling in the Nine Heavens!

  "It's really not easy for you to still know something!" Lin Xiangxiang praised.

  "Huh? I don't feel like this is a compliment at all?"

  "This young lady wasn't praising you in the first place!" Lin Fengxiang gave him a white eye, and under the dim light, this white eye was soft and charming, as if it made the cave brighter by several degrees. "What is meant by 'ascending to the heavenly path' is that after reaching the peak of the refining body realm, one tries to resonate with heaven and earth, and comprehend the natural way!"

  "To know, human strength is sometimes exhausted, your whole body is full of true yuan power, how much more can you have?"

  "Legend has it that a strong person can collapse a mountain with one punch and cut off a river with one palm, how did he do it?"

  The peak of the 12th layer of body refinement can at most shatter a stone the size of a yellow cow with one punch, and this is already a terrifying power that makes ordinary people tremble with fear! And to shatter a mountain with one fist or cut off a river with one palm, can humans really do that?

  Zhou Heng couldn't help but reveal a look of admiration, and a surge of heroic spirit arose in his heart - he would definitely become such a strong warrior!

  Seeing Zhou Heng's face with an extremely strong self-confidence, this young man was like a sharp sword out of its scabbard, shining brightly. Lin Fengxiang couldn't help but feel a thrill in her heart, and a soft feeling that made her heart ache.

  But she immediately thought of Zhou Heng's despicable place, and her mouth twitched slightly, dispelling the warmth, saying: "When you reach the peak of the 12th layer of body refinement, a warrior's excavation of their physical potential has basically reached its limit. To go further, one must open up their dantian!"

  "Open the elixir field?" Zhou Heng's heart moved, he had heard his father mention it casually before, that the elixir field was related to the mysterious road to heaven, and didn't expect to hear it again from a second person.

  "The dantian is a special place, it's an inner world!" Lin Xiangxiang tried hard to recall her father's words, "Although we can't see the dantian with our eyes now, I can very responsibly tell you that although the dantian is in the human body, it's a self-contained world and can be infinitely expanded!"

  Can't see inside the elixir field?

  Zhou Heng smiled. At the age of eight, he could already see his dantian internally, not because he was a freak, but because there was a strange sword living in his dantian!

  Dantian, inner world, infinite expansion?

  He suddenly realized and said: "After reaching the peak of refining the body, is it to store the true yuan force in the dantian?"

  "Hmph, you're not as stupid as a pig after all, you've finally reacted! Lin Xiangxiang was delighted to strike Zhou Heng, which made her extremely happy. 'However, it's not as simple as you think, to store power in the dantian like other parts of the body, you need to first open up the dantian!'"

  "What is known as 'ascending to heaven' means opening up the elixir field. If successful, one can break through the limits of the human body and enter a new realm of martial arts!"

  "What about failure?" Zhou Heng asked back.

  "Keep rushing ahead, you're so silly!" Lin Fengxiang suddenly burst out laughing.

  Zhou Heng's mouth twitched, and he suddenly had an urge to slap this woman hard on the butt.

  "Cough, cough!" Lin Xiangxiang cleared her throat, "You always interrupt me, I won't be able to finish talking even by next year!"

  "...". Zhou Heng was speechless, and he felt that this beautiful woman would make the word "lust" reach its ultimate expression.

  "It's true, but opening the dantian is indeed a dangerous thing. One carelessness will burst the dantian, which won't be fatal, but it will also lose the hope of continuing to advance, and can only die in the peak of the 12th layer of body refinement for a lifetime!"

  Lin Fangxiang continued, her expression also becoming more serious: "Generally speaking, the dantian of each person is the same size at first, a one-meter-sized circular space."

  "When the dantian is successfully opened, a true inner world is formed, which can communicate with nature. At that time, the martial artist will no longer absorb and refine the true yuan force from food, but directly absorb the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, form his own spiritual power, and store it in the dantian."

  Zhou Heng's breathing quickened involuntarily, and Lin Xiangxiang's words seemed to have opened up a new world for him, making him feel a sense of smallness that he had never felt before, like a frog at the bottom of a well.

  "Absorb the spiritual energy and communicate with heaven and earth, transform your bones, martial artists not only can gain greater power enhancement space, but also add a hundred years to their lifespan!" Lin Xiangxiang said.

  Adding one hundred years of life span, isn't this living another lifetime?

  No wonder they say the road to success is steep!

  Above the Refining Body Realm is the Gathering Spirit Realm. As the name suggests, it refers to gathering spiritual energy in the dantian, which can be divided into three small realms, known as the Threefold Heaven! Lin Xiang didn't care whether Zhou Heng accepted it or not and just poured out everything he knew.

  Zhou Heng thought for a moment, his heart suddenly racing, and said: "So to speak, the larger the dantian space, the more spiritual energy can be stored, and the greater the power that can burst out?"

  "Not bad!" Lin Xiang nodded, "That's what they say, but wanting to expand the dantian space is no easy task. Except for those geniuses who are born with a larger dantian than ordinary people, the dantian space of most Jiling strongmen is roughly the same size."

  My dantian space has doubled compared to before!

  Zhou Heng only then realized the preciousness of that ink fruit, which could actually expand his dantian space! This meant that if he could enter the Jiling Realm, he would have twice the power of an ordinary Jiling Realm expert!

  Of course, this means that the amount of spiritual energy he needs to accumulate will also increase greatly, but with the power provided by the Black Sword, he doesn't have to worry about it at all!

  "Hey, what's wrong with you?" Lin Fengxiang saw Zhou Heng starting to stare blankly at her again, and the flames in her heart suddenly shot up.

  Zhou Heng smiled and said: "I was thinking of something else for a moment, and I lost my mind! Is there still a higher realm above the Gathering Spirit Realm?"

  "Of course!" Lin Xiangxiang proudly raised her jade-like face, but immediately fell down again. "Dad said I shouldn't be too ambitious, so he didn't tell me what's after the Gathering Spirit Realm!"

  Zhou Heng nodded in agreement, it's still better to take things one step at a time, being down-to-earth and practical. Having a long-term goal is necessary, but I'm afraid if you set it too high, you might get lost yourself.

  "But it seems like we've gone off topic, I was asking what this diorite is actually used for?"

  "Besides, it's not because you're too ignorant, which forces me to explain from head to toe!" Lin Fengxiang gave Zhou Heng another white eye, feeling that no matter how much she glared, it wasn't enough. "As I said before, the Diyan Yunshi can be used to make a magic weapon, and this so-called magic weapon is a weapon that can only be used by those who have reached the Lingjing realm or higher, which can mobilize the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and increase the power of attack!"

  "The ten grades of artifacts are divided into ten categories, with the tenth grade being the worst and the first grade being the best. A tenth-grade artifact can provide a warrior with a 10% increase in power, while a first-grade artifact can reach a 100% increase!"

  Zhou Heng was slightly startled and increased his power by tenfold. The two who were originally evenly matched in strength might now be crushed by a landslide!

  "You silly boy, now you know the value of this tourmaline, right?" Lin Xiangxiang's face was full of smiles. "I've found a tourmaline mine, what a great achievement!"

  She looked at Zhou Heng and said, "Don't worry, I'm a person who values loyalty, I won't take away your credit! After the New Year, come to Jiuling Sect to find me, and I'll let my father accept you as his apprentice!"

  Jiǔ Líng Zōng?

  Zhou Heng was taken aback, he thought of the identity token under the corpse in the mysterious valley, one side of which read "Jiuling" (Nine Spirits), could it be that the person was a member of the Jiuling Sect when they were alive?

  What a coincidence!

  P.S: It's so hot, so hot, so hot...