The next stage of physique cultivation, the Marrow Cleansing Realm, demands a different kind of tempering, Jiang Chen mused, his internal voice calm and analytical as he slipped into the cool, clear waters of his secluded cove. The familiar pressure of the ocean wrapped around him, a comforting weight. It requires an even deeper saturation of essence, cleansing the bone marrow itself, transforming it into a spiritual reservoir. This process can be volatile, requiring immense, sustained external pressure to force the impurities out and condense the marrow to its ultimate purity.
He sought the depths instinctively, his small but unbelievably potent body cutting through the water with effortless grace, driven by his sheer, condensed vitality. The 'Turtle Breathing Tempering Technique' had granted him the ability to slowly absorb dissolved oxygen directly from the water, allowing him to bypass the need to hold his breath. He descended, twenty, thirty, then fifty feet, the sunlight above dimming to an ethereal twilight, the water growing colder, the pressure steadily mounting, a silent, all-encompassing weight.
This was his secret training ground, far beneath the curious gaze of the sky. He settled onto a colossal, coral-encrusted rock formation, anchoring himself against the subtle currents that stirred even at this depth. The deep ocean, a realm of primal 'sea spirit' and crushing pressure, was the ultimate crucible for his physique.
He began the Turtle Breathing Tempering Technique once more. With each slow, deliberate inhalation, he drew in the frigid 'sea spirit', guiding it not just to his spiritual core, but deep into his bones, into the very marrow that lay hidden within. The external pressure of the ocean amplified the process, forcing the absorbed essence to condense with brutal efficiency. He felt his bones vibrate with a deep, resonant hum, his blood becoming even thicker, denser, each droplet a miniature universe of refined energy. It was a sensation of exquisite pain and profound transformation, a slow, methodical alchemy that pushed his limits further with every passing second.
Suddenly, a disturbance.
From the murky depths below, a colossal shadow emerged, silent and swift. It was a Sea King, a creature of immense size and power, a leviathan of his own creation. This one was a serpentine beast, its scales the color of deep jade, its eyes twin orbs of ancient, predatory intelligence. It was not overtly aggressive, merely curious, drawn by the subtle energy fluctuations emanating from the strange, small creature cultivating on its territory.
The sheer size of it was awe-inspiring, even to Jiang Chen. Its presence displaced an incredible volume of water, creating powerful currents that threatened to dislodge him from his perch. The Sea King glided past, its massive body creating a vortex that slammed into him, pressing him against the rock with incredible force.
A perfect opportunity, Ace thought, a flicker of excitement overriding any nascent fear. This wasn't a fight in the traditional sense, but a natural, brutal pressure test. This creature, a product of my world's fundamental 'Dao of Life and Flow,' is providing the exact external force I need! Its very presence is a perfect form of external tempering, a living, moving pressure array!
The Sea King, sensing no threat and intrigued by the strange, unmoving density of the tiny human, circled him for what felt like hours, its immense body creating a constant, oscillating pressure field. Ace endured, his muscles trembling, his bones aching with a profound, welcome pain. He pushed his Qi and Blood to its absolute limit, then beyond, using the Sea King's natural movements to force a deeper compression, a more profound refinement of his physical essence. This was a dance with a primordial force, a unique form of cultivation only possible in this world he had designed, a symphony of power and pressure.
But then, the Sea King's curiosity shifted. Perhaps his sustained presence, or the subtle, increasing output of his cultivation energies, triggered a territorial instinct. The serpentine head, larger than the hut Dadan lived in, swiveled slowly, its eyes fixing on Ace. It opened its cavernous maw, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth, and lunged.
This was no longer just a pressure test. This was a desperate struggle.
Ace reacted with the instinct of a seasoned cultivator, despite his infant form. His physical strength, while immense, was still contained within a small body. A direct impact from those jaws would be fatal. He couldn't evade with speed, not at this depth. He couldn't punch through its scales, not yet. He needed a different approach.
He gathered the 'sea spirit' that permeated the water around him, drawing it into his nascent spiritual core with a speed that defied his age. His spiritual cultivation, though only at the Third Stage of Qi Gathering, allowed for a rudimentary manipulation of ambient energies. With a fierce mental command, he unleashed a concentrated burst of spiritual energy, imbued with the raw essence of the ocean.
It wasn't a complex spell, merely a focused projection. The water around the Sea King's head, responding to his spiritual will, erupted. A violent current, a miniature water spell, coalesced and slammed into the creature's face, forcing its massive jaws to snap shut just inches from Ace. The Sea King recoiled, momentarily stunned, its ancient eyes wide with surprise at the unexpected counter-attack from such a tiny being. It thrashed, its powerful tail sending shockwaves through the water, stirring up silt from the seabed.
The water spell bought him a precious few seconds. Ace used the distraction, pushing off the rock with all his cultivated might, propelling himself upwards, a small torpedo of pure determination. He soared past the disoriented Sea King, leaving it confused in its own churning wake.
He continued his ascent, but as he moved, his mind formulated a new plan. He wasn't just escaping. He was claiming a prize. He saw the Sea King, still somewhat disoriented, and the memory of its vast, pulsing 'life force' from moments before. He needed potent resources.
With a surge of condensed physical power, Ace launched himself towards a vulnerable point on the Sea King's massive body – a segment of its tail that had briefly scraped against a jagged coral reef, leaving a shallow, but raw, wound. Using his newly acquired speed and density, he slammed his tiny fist, imbued with the full force of his Peak Qi and Blood Realm power, into the wound. It wasn't enough to kill the beast, but it was a precise, targeted strike, deeper than a normal blunt force, causing a localized rupture.
The Sea King bellowed, a low, guttural roar that vibrated through the water, sending a fresh wave of currents. Ace, already retreating, saw it. A piece of its flesh, torn loose by his impact and the creature's subsequent thrashing, floated slowly towards the surface. A perfectly timed, opportunistic harvest.
He ascended from the depths, his small form rocketing towards the surface, breaking the water with barely a ripple. He emerged into the warm sunlight, his skin cool and refreshed, his senses sharper than ever. The hunger was immense, a gnawing void that demanded sustenance after such an intense tempering session and the unexpected, desperate struggle.
He found a quiet, sun-drenched spot on the shore, a small fire already laid from his previous visit. From his carefully hidden pouch, he pulled out a plump, freshly caught sea bass and a few wild herbs he had gathered from the mountainside. More importantly, he retrieved the piece of Sea King flesh, carefully wrapped in large leaves. It was dark, dense, and pulsed with a primordial energy. He cleaned the fish with practiced ease, his small hands moving with an adult's precision, a testament to the dexterity honed by his cultivation. He skewered it on a sharpened stick, then, with a thought, ignited the dry tinder with a spark of his subtly controlled spiritual energy—a skill he had recently refined, using internal spiritual power to generate heat, a far cry from the raw, uncontrolled flames of a Logia user, but equally effective for a small fire.
He roasted the fish slowly, patiently. The sizzle of fat, the crisping of the skin, the delicate aroma filling the air—these were sensory pleasures he had largely ignored in his past life, consumed by the relentless pursuit of the Dao. When it was perfectly cooked, flaky and golden, he broke off a piece. The first bite was an explosion of flavor—the tender, sweet flesh, infused with the faint smokiness from the fire, melted in his mouth.
Delicious, he thought, savoring each mouthful. He ate slowly, deliberately, chewing each piece of fish and the accompanying 'nutrient meat' with utter focus. This wasn't just sustenance; it was a deeply pleasurable experience, a reminder of the simple joys of this world. The pure life force from the cooked fish, combined with the wild beast meat, surged through his body, replenishing his drained reserves, and further cementing the gains from his underwater tempering. He delighted in the earthy taste of the herbs, the subtle hint of spice. It was a world of flavor, a contrast to the sterile, often tasteless elixirs and spiritual pills of his past. He cooked his meals not merely for energy, but for the sheer delight of the culinary process, a new form of mastery.
This is a true treasure! he realized, devouring the Sea King flesh with a newfound zeal. The concentrated 'life force' of these primeval creatures, honed by the ocean's essence, is an unparalleled resource for my physique cultivation. This will significantly accelerate my progress towards the Marrow Cleansing Realm!
As he ate, his mind, ever-analytical, drifted to the matter of body refining pills. The nutrient meat was potent, and the ocean's 'sea spirit' invaluable, but they were limited by their raw form. To reach the truly advanced stages of physique cultivation, he would eventually need more concentrated, more potent resources. In his old universe, he would simply compound pills from rare herbs and beast cores, but this world operated differently.
This world lacks the structured spiritual flora and fauna of my cultivation universe, he pondered, picking a small, sweet berry from a bush nearby. There are no 'Spirit Veins' or 'Divine Herbs' that spontaneously generate immense spiritual energy. The ambient 'life force' is diffused, and the 'sea spirit,' while potent, is best absorbed directly or through sustained immersion. To simply condense them into existing pill forms would be inefficient, perhaps even impossible without adapting the very alchemical laws.
He thought of the Devil Fruits again. They are 'condensed fragments of broken laws and spiritual essence from my martial world.' Each one is a miniature Dao, solidified. Could he extract these essences? Could he, if he found the right Devil Fruit, somehow transmute its unique 'Dao fragment' into a form suitable for physical or spiritual refinement? The idea was audacious, almost blasphemous to his old self, but now, he was beyond such concepts. He was the creator, and this was his playground. The ultimate alchemist of his own creation.
The raw material for body refining pills would need to be synthesized from this world's unique resources, he mused, a complex mental blueprint forming in his mind. Concentrated beast essence from powerful Sea Kings or unique land creatures, refined mineral deposits infused with 'sea spirit,' perhaps even certain rare, energy-rich plants that resonated with specific elemental Daos. The process would require specialized arrays—not physical structures, but subtle spiritual formations imprinted onto the ingredients themselves, acting as alchemical furnaces, guiding the transmutation of one form of energy into another.
He envisioned setting up a miniature, portable alchemy array within his body itself, a 'human cauldron' to transmute energy into pill form. It was a complex, long-term project, requiring deep understanding of this world's elemental composition and the subtle energetic signatures of its life forms. But the idea filled him with a quiet excitement. This wasn't just about gaining strength; it was about re-establishing the fundamental principles of cultivation within his own creation, shaping its very essence to his will.
As he finished his meal, a gentle warmth began to bloom in his spiritual core, a soft, familiar expansion. It wasn't the violent eruption of a physical breakthrough, but a quiet, graceful ascension, like a river settling into a deeper, wider bed. The spiritual essence he had been accumulating through his daily breathing methods, complemented by the 'sea spirit' absorbed during his underwater sessions, had finally reached its saturation point for the next stage.
Qi Gathering Realm, Fourth Stage!
The breakthrough was as natural as breathing, as effortless as "eating cabbage." There was no jarring force, no dramatic shift. Just a subtle, undeniable leap in his spiritual perception, a clearer connection to the ambient 'life force' of the universe. He felt the minute energies of every blade of grass, every fluttering insect, every distant wave with a renewed clarity. His mind felt sharper, more expansive, his internal processing even faster. This was the quiet power of spiritual cultivation, often overlooked in the face of flashier physical techniques, but equally vital. His foundation was strengthening, brick by meticulous brick.
He stretched, his small body feeling invigorated, humming with a dual power that was steadily growing. He was a four-year-old boy, but within him resided the raw might of a powerhouse. He looked towards the open sea, then towards the distant, hazy outline of the Red Line, the formidable barrier dividing the world. There was so much more to explore, so many more challenges to overcome, so many more 'law fragments' to map and master.
The Foundation Establishment Realm is the next major spiritual hurdle, he reminded himself. It will require a more substantial spiritual input, and a perfect, stable internal array to truly anchor my core and evade the notice of this world's Heavenly Dao. That array… it must be utterly flawless.
He grinned, a knowing, smile on his infant face. The world was vast, but his path is clear. He would conquer its challenges, one step at a time, until he stood at the absolute apex once more. The sun began its slow descent, painting the sky in fiery hues, but Ace's gaze was fixed on the horizon, already looking towards the next dawn.
That night, as the moon cast its silvery glow over the silent mountain, Ace began to examine his combat today with the Sea King. He was truly fortunate to have broken through to the Peak of the Body Tempering Realm (which he had previously called the Qi and Blood Realm) just before the desperate struggle began. He recalled the moment of intense pressure, the near-death experience, and a profound realization solidified within his ancient mind.
"The innate spiritual energy within me has awakened," he murmured, the words an internal whisper, yet clear and profound within his consciousness. This was a deeper, more fundamental spiritual essence, distinct from the 'life force' he absorbed for cultivation. It was the very essence of will he had designed into this world's inhabitants, the root of Haki. If he practiced entwining this innate spiritual qi to his spiritual core, to the nascent wellspring of his cultivated energy, he could easily awaken what they called Armament Haki. It was a path of physical reinforcement and spiritual manifestation, a direct complement to his dual cultivation. This discovery filled him with a surge of anticipation.
Gegege! A low, internal chuckle rumbled through his tiny frame. This world held so many hidden depths, so many opportunities to blend his knowledge with its unique laws. The integration of Haki into his cultivation would be seamless, a natural extension of his spiritual and physical refinement.