Five full days passed after Lordi's shocking discovery about the vicious rumors circulating throughout the Outer Sect regarding his supposed romantic entanglements and murderous schemes.
During this period, he kept his head down and avoided contact with other sect comrades as much as possible, not trusting himself to maintain composure if someone brought up the gossip to his face.
Finally, having mentally prepared himself to focus exclusively on practical cultivation advancement, Lordi returned to the Lantern Cliff Residence. He proceeded directly to the dedicated quiet chamber designed specifically for intensive cultivation practice.
Settling into the proper meditation posture on the cushion positioned at the chamber's spirit flow convergence point, Lordi took a moment to assess his current resources before beginning.
He mentally inventoried the supply of legendary level Bone Tempering Pills he still possessed, confirming he had sufficient quantity to support the breakthrough he intended to pursue.
Satisfied that his preparations were adequate, he took a deep breath and instructed inwardly. "System, I want to cultivate! Select the Bone Tempering Art, Smart Duration! One-Click-Cultivation!"
——
What followed was a cultivation marathon that consumed ten complete days and ten complete nights without pause or interruption.
Throughout this extended period, Lordi's consciousness remained only partially present, aware of the passage of time and the gradual transformation occurring within his body but not directly controlling the process. The system managed every aspect of his cultivation—regulating his breathing patterns, directing the flow of spirit energy through his meridians, timing the consumption of Bone Tempering Pills to maximize their effectiveness, and systematically reinforcing his skeletal structure layer by layer.
On the morning of the eleventh day, as the first rays of dawn light began filtering into the quiet chamber through the small window positioned near the ceiling, a thorough change manifested in Lordi's physical condition. A brilliant flash of azure-blue light suddenly erupted from the depths of his eyes, the luminescence so intense that it briefly illuminated the entire chamber before fading back to normal. His entire body's spirit energy circulation, which had been steadily building throughout the extended cultivation session, suddenly exploded outward in a surge of power that filled the room with palpable pressure. The spiritual energy radiating from his form had become truly abundant.
Through the AllFullOS System's guidance and the support of those legendary level elixirs, Lordi's cultivation base—which had already been pressed to the absolute extreme limit of what the eighth layer could contain days ago—now pushed decisively beyond that boundary into entirely new territory. The sensation felt like watching a dam that had been straining against mounting water pressure suddenly give way. The breakthrough arrived with tremendous force: spirit energy that had been compressed and concentrated within his meridians suddenly burst through the cosmic restriction with a thunderous internal crash that Lordi felt reverberating through his entire being. In that single moment, he crossed the threshold and firmly established himself at the Ninth Layer of Qi Refinement Stage!
Simultaneously with this cultivation advancement, Lordi experienced an additional profound transformation occurring specifically within his skeletal structure. His entire skeleton seemed to vibrate at a fundamental level, the bones themselves undergoing some kind of qualitative metamorphosis that transcended mere physical strengthening. The sensation was extraordinary and difficult to articulate—it felt as though his bones were transitioning from some turbid, impure state into something crystalline and refined. The change brought with it an indescribable sense of lightness and ease, as though a burden he hadn't fully realized he was carrying had suddenly been lifted away, leaving him feeling more complete and properly balanced than he'd ever experienced before.
At precisely this moment of completed transformation, the system's cheerful notification chimed through his consciousness.
~ Ding! System Notification Chime ~
[AllFullOS: Version 1.0.0]
> Cultivation session status: COMPLETE
> Host control: RESTORED
> Thank you for using the All-Smart Full-Host Cultivation System™ (AllFullOS v1.0.0)
> Feedback request:
- We value your opinion! (No, really, we do.)
- If you are satisfied with our service, please give us a five-star rating.
> Tap to Rate: [☆☆☆☆☆]
Lordi found himself in an unusually good mood, buoyed by the euphoria of successful breakthrough and the tangible sense of increased power flowing through his body. In a rare moment of generosity born from this positive outcome, he decided to reward the system's competent performance.
[AllFullOS: Version 1.0.0]
> [★★★★☆]
> Submitted. Thanks for your feedback.
A four star positive review!
As control of his body fully returned to his conscious direction, Lordi experimentally clenched both fists tight, testing the new sensations and evaluating how the transformation had affected his physical capabilities. The moment his fingers curled into proper fist positions, a continuous series of sharp, crisp cracking sounds erupted from his knuckles and finger joints—a clear, almost musical sequence of impacts that sounded remarkably similar to pieces of high-quality jade stone being struck against each other.
It was like cascade—sharp, crisp, and carrying a terrible finality, like river stones moaning under immense pressure. And beneath the cracking sound, a subtler resonance lingered: like pure, ringing chime of flawless jade struck gently in a hall. With it came a palpable weight, a gravity that seemed to condense the very air around his form.
Perfect Grade Jade Tier Bone!
According to what Lordi had learned from Mellisy's private lecture on the fundamental principles underlying the Abyss Pit Sect's cultivation structure, the skeletal attributes that determined a body cultivator's ultimate potential was divided into three distinct tiers, each representing not just a difference in degree but a complete transformation in the fundamental nature of what bones could become and accomplish.
These weren't arbitrary classifications invented by leisure scholars with nothing better to do than categorize things; they were brutal, pragmatic divisions that separated those who would survive the demonic cultivation path from those who would shatter like pottery dropped from a great height the moment they faced real combat against serious opponents.
The First tier, the base upon which everything else might potentially be built if a cultivator possessed sufficient determination and resources and sheer bloody-minded refusal to quit when their body was screaming at them to stop, was known as Iron-tier Bone.
Iron tier Bone meant exactly what the name suggested: skeletal structure that had been compressed and refined and hammered through agonizing cultivation practice until it achieved a hardness approaching that of forged metal, bones that would no longer snap like dry twigs under fierce combat.
Although this represented the most basic bone tier in the formal hierarchy of body cultivation, the first tier achievement that more advanced cultivators looked down upon as merely adequate rather than exceptional, calling it "basic" was almost criminally misleading because reaching even this supposedly fundamental stage required something that most people simply didn't possess regardless of their talent or resources or theoretical understanding of cultivation principles.
Iron tier Bone was only acquired by cultivators who had demonstrated genuine iron will—not metaphorical determination or casual commitment, but the kind of absolute, unbreakable resolve that allowed someone to continue practicing the Bone Tempering Art, a renowned demonic ascension technique, even when every nerve in their body was shrieking that they were causing permanent damage, even when the pain became so overwhelming that unconsciousness seemed preferable to one more second of deliberate self-torture.
Those with weak willpower, those who lacked that fundamental core of stubborn refusal to quit no matter how much suffering was involved, inevitably gave up at this painful stage of cultivation rather than pushing through to transformation.
They hit the wall of agony that separated normal cultivator bones from Iron tier Bones and they flinched, they hesitated, they decided that maybe cultivation wasn't really for them after all, that perhaps they'd be happier pursuing some other path that didn't require them to deliberately shatter and reform their own skeleton over and over until their body finally surrendered and rebuilt itself according to new, stronger principles.
The dropout rate was catastrophic—probably ninety percent or more of those cultivators who began attempting Iron tier Bone never completed it, their resolve crumbling long before their bones could be properly tempered.
This was the first great filter that separated true cultivators who ruled the world from those who merely played at cultivation, the initial brutal test that asked the simple question: are you willing to suffer beyond what normal humans consider endurable in pursuit of power? Those who answered yes, who pushed through despite everything, finally ascended from mortal to Qi Refinement Stage. Emerging with bones like iron, they stepped on to the glorious path to Great Dao.
But Iron tier Bone, for all the agony required to achieve it, was still just the beginning—the foundation floor of a tower that ascended far higher for those exceptional few who possessed not just willpower but also the resources and guidance necessary to continue climbing.
The second tier, representing a transformation so profound that it separated ordinary cultivators from genuine elites, was known as Refined tier Bone—skeletal structure that had been polished and perfected and pushed beyond mere hardness into something approaching the quality of artifact weapons.
At this tier, bones didn't just resist damage; they actively rejected it, their crystalline structure and spirit energy integration creating something that was simultaneously organic tissue, living metal that could bend without breaking and recover from damage that would permanently cripple lesser cultivators.
This tier of bone, with its characteristic polished gleam visible when spirit energy was channeled through it. Skeletal structure became incredibly resilient in ways that transcended simple hardness—Refined tier Bone could absorb and distribute impact forces with such efficiency that attacks which should have caused devastating damage instead left barely noticeable bruises.
This tier was only acquired by giant sect's acknowledged geniuses, those special individuals who'd been identified early as possessing exceptional potential and who received the full weight of institutional support to help them reach heights that isolated cultivators could only dream about. Without access to senior experts' carefully accumulated Cultivation Insights—those hard-won understandings of exactly how to progress through each stage, which techniques worked and which were dangerously flawed, what pitfalls to avoid and what opportunities to seize—and without consistent access to premium level cultivation elixirs to supplement the brutal physical training, it was absolutely impossible for rogue cultivators to reach this bone tier no matter how talented they might be or how hard they were willing to work.
The resource and knowledge gap was simply too vast to bridge through determination alone. Oh, genius wandering cultivators might occasionally stumble into Iron Bone through sheer grit and fortuitous encounters, but Refined Bone required systematic support that only established ruler institutions could provide.
Rogue cultivators who tried to push toward Refined Bone without proper guidance typically either stalled permanently at the peak of Iron Bone, their progress blocked by invisible barriers they lacked the knowledge to overcome, or they crippled themselves attempting techniques they didn't fully understand, shattering their foundations in pursuit of advancement they weren't ready for.
And then, the tier that marked someone as having transcended normal limitations entirely: Jade tier Bone, the crystalline perfection that represented the absolute apex of skeletal structure and separated true prodigies from everyone else regardless of their other accomplishments.
Every single cultivator who managed to achieve Jade tier Bone was automatically a genius among geniuses, an elite among elites, someone whose name would be recorded in sect histories and spoken with reverence centuries after their death because achievements of this magnitude were sufficiently rare that each one deserved commemoration.
Their skeleton had undergone countless temperings—not the hundreds or so refinements required for Iron tier Bone, not even the near millions needed for Refined Bone, but thousands upon thousands of careful, precise, agonizing transformations that gradually converted ordinary calcium and marrow into something that was barely recognizable as biological material anymore.
The result radiated a crystal-clear brilliance like the finest jade when exposed to sunlight or spiritual energy, bones that had become translucent and luminous, glowing with an inner light that spoke to the profound changes that had occurred at the most fundamental level of physical existence.
The strength and resilience of Jade tier Bone far surpassed even the impressive capabilities of Refined tier Bone in ways that made direct combat between the tiers almost farcically one-sided.
By acquiring Jade tier Bone skeletal structure, a cultivator's body gained the ability to instantly neutralize concentrated force directed against it through a mechanism that still wasn't fully understood even by Array path Elders who'd studied it for decades—each attack that landed on jade tier bone framework somehow triggered an immediate response that rapidly softened and dispersed the shock and destructive power of the impact throughout the entire skeletal system, dissipating the attack's energy through some kind of resonant recoil effect that spread force across the whole frame rather than allowing it to concentrate at the point of impact.
The practical result was almost magical in its effectiveness: even standing completely still without any active defense, without channeling protective spirit energy or bracing for impact, a Jade tier Bone powerhouse could withstand a massive siege hammer like Dao Artifact's blow delivered directly to the face—the kind of strike that would reduce an Iron tier Bone cultivator's skull to fragments and splatter their brain matter across a wide radius—without experiencing even the slightest dizziness or disorientation, much less actual injury.
More importantly for actual combat effectiveness, Jade tier Bone provided a significant boost to offensive power output that made every technique more devastating and every physical strike more destructive.
At the exact same cultivation level—controlling for spirit energy reserves, martial arts training, weapon quality, and every other variable—if a Jade tier Bone cultivator and an Iron tier Bone cultivator decided to settle their differences through the simple expedient of exchanging a punch, no techniques or spiritual energy enhancement involved, just raw physical power transmitted through fist meeting fist, the outcome wouldn't even qualify as a fight so much as a demonstration of fundamental superiority.
The Jade tier Bone powerhouse's fist would effortlessly shatter the Iron tier Bone cultivator's hand on impact, pulverizing the supposedly hardened bones like they were made of dried clay rather than tempered metal, and the destructive force wouldn't even pause or diminish after destroying the hand—it would continue traveling up the arm without losing momentum, shattering radius and ulna like glass under a hammer, potentially even breaking clean through the Iron Bone cultivator's arm bones entirely, and if the angle was right the force might even pierce through to crack or completely shatter their ribs on the spot, potentially puncturing lungs or other vital organs in the process.
It was the kind of absolute physical dominance that made cultivation realm differences almost irrelevant—an Abyss Pit Sect cultivator with Jade tier Bone skeletal structure at Foundation Stage could defintely trade blows with a Core-Formation Stage rogue cultivator elders whose got a Refined tier Bone skeletal structure at and come out ahead purely through superior skeletal quality, though obviously other factors would influence the outcome of any real fight.
But even within each of these three major bone tiers, the classification system didn't end with simple categorical divisions—there were further gradations of quality that separated the merely adequate from the truly exceptional.
Each bone tier was itself divided into three recognized grades that measured perfection of the transformation: Entry grade, representing the minimum threshold required to officially claim achievement of that tier but still carrying visible flaws and imperfections that limited performance; Middle grade, indicating solid accomplishment with good consistency throughout the skeletal structure and respectable quality that would serve well in most circumstances; and High grade, marking exceptional refinement where the transformation had been pushed nearly to theoretical limits and the cultivator had squeezed every possible benefit from that tier before attempting to advance higher.
And then, existing more as philosophical concept than practical reality, there was the Perfect grade—a theoretical maximum where bones achieved absolute flawlessness within their tier, where every single aspect of the transformation had been optimized to impossible standards and nothing remained that could be improved.
Normally, rogue cultivators operating without institutional knowledge or expert guidance had absolutely no idea that these grade differences even existed among bone structure, much less how to evaluate them or deliberately pursue higher grades rather than just barely scraping into the next tier.
They could only determine differences between bone types through crude visual examination—noting that one cultivator's bones looked shinier or felt harder when struck, observing that some skeletons seemed more uniform in quality while others showed inconsistent refinement—but lacking any systematic framework to understand what they were seeing or how to replicate the best results.
Most wandering cultivators who managed to achieve Iron tier Bone at all, relying entirely on fragmentary techniques scavenged from ancient ruins or purchased from unscrupulous merchants selling incomplete cultivation methods, ended up with Entry grade at best—bones that technically qualified as tempered metal but were riddled with microscopic imperfections and inconsistencies that would forever limit their potential.
Only genius rogue cultivators, those rare individuals blessed with both exceptional talent and extraordinary fortune in their encounters, occasionally managed to stumble their way into achieving Entry grade Refined Bone through sheer determination and favorable circumstances, though even then they usually had no idea they'd accomplished something remarkable because they lacked the context to understand how far above average they'd risen or what heights still remained theoretically accessible if only they possessed proper guidance and resources.
But here in the Abyss Pit Sect. Millions of genius Outer Sect disciples could reach to Middle Grade of Jade tier Bone skeletal structure with hard work and a Jade Tempering Pill.
And now. Lordi just complete his Perfect Grade Jade Tier Bone ascension!
----
PS:
Hey there!
Just popping in with a fresh chapter! This week has been a whirlwind of real-world craziness, so squeezing in some demonic cultivation drama felt like a mini victory. Consider this your reward—and mine—for making it to the weekend!
Thank you for your incredible patience and for being the best part of sharing this dark, twisty world.
YoungPeasant