Rise Of The Worm Sovereign

Lin Wu looked on and saw that the vital essence was increasing the body tempering realm cultivation base of Shirong as well.

When he had seen him before this, he was only at the tenth stage of the body tempering realm, as that was the minimum level that was required by his cultivation technique, the Immortal Sky Shaker Art. Lin Wu himself was different than human cultivators or even beasts as the system had modified his body.

There was no such thing as body tempering realm cultivation realm for him as his physique was completely constructed by the system with the use of the meteor crystal. Lin Wu remembered the memories of the Nascent soul realm cultivate of the Ling Kingdom's royal court and his words that he had spoken.

'I can't see its cultivation base' was what he had said back then. 

'Hmm, considering that the crystal and that beast are linked, I guess the reason why that nascent soul realm cultivator couldn't see its cultivation was also because of the same reason. Perhaps both of us have a different system of cultivation but because of the system I also have the normal spirit qi cultivation.' Lin Wu analyzed.

There were many other possibilities that Lin Wu could think of, but this one seemed to be the most likely to him. Lin Wu came to this conclusion by analyzing the theory behind the body tempering realm cultivation. 

According to what Lin Wu had learned, the bodies of most humans were inherently not satiable for cultivation and could not accommodate spirit qi. So to change this factor, they practiced body tempering realm cultivation and modified their physiques.

The four tiers of the body tempering realm modified the muscles, skin, blood, bones, and marrow in that order. The first to fourth stage tempered muscles, fifth to seventh tempered skin, eighth to tenth tempered blood, and eleventh to thirteenth tempered the bones and muscles.

Only after reaching the eighth stage of the body tempering realm could a person start to absorb qi from the air and become a cultivator. Lin Wu reckoned that this was due to the blood vessels being similar to the meridians and being located along with them.

This became the minimum requirement and different cultivation techniques required higher stages of the body tempering realm. But even the best cultivation technique in this world such as the Immortal Sky Shaker Art only needed the tenth stage of the body tempering realm.

Lin Wu knew that increasing body tempering realm cultivation was quite difficult for most people and increasing it after reaching the qi refining realm became difficult as one's physiques would be fixed after that. If one tried to practice body tempering realm cultivation after that, they would need even more resources and the process would be tougher as well.

'So this technique that Shirong was excited about was what could push his cultivation base further up from the tenth stage of the body tempering realm…' Lin Wu thought as he continued observing.

Soon, Shirong had a breakthrough and his body tempering realm cultivation reached the Eleventh stage and the effects could be seen on his bones directly as they started to toughen. A little more time later, it reached the twelfth stage and his bones became denser. 

Now it seemed like the vital essence had met a little barrier, but even that was broken as it started to seep into the marrows of his bones. Lin Wu closely observed and saw that the color of his marrow was changing. It was turning from a plain yellow color to a vibrant yellow color. 

And with this, Shirong had broken through to the thirteenth stage of the body tempering realm.

~Humm~

A thrumming sound was heard as Shirong's heartbeats sped up. The volume of the sound was so loud that it could be heard outside his body, and it created ripples in the smaller puddles of blood that were spread around him.

All of Shirong's cells started emanating an aura of vitality as impurities started being expelled from them. The impurities reached his lungs and skin and were secreted there.

~Cough~Cough~

Shirong coughed out loud before spitting out a black tar like glob that smelled absolutely repulsive.

"Damn, that's bad! If I had a nose and I were a human, it would have burned my nose hairs. Uff!" Lin Wu expressed.

He suppressed his disgust and continued observing. This time he saw that the impurities that were secreted into his skin were forming a layer over it. The impurities seemed to be corrosive as they burned the clothes that Shirong was wearing. Even the surface layer of his skin started peeling off, and it looked like a new layer was forming beneath it.

The first layer that had been stained black fell apart like a snake or lizard shedding its skin. It didn't stop there though; it continued and Shirong shed the upper layer of his skin about three times before it stopped.

Unfortunately, with the shedding of his skin, Shirong's hair was also removed and he became bald. His head shined like a hard boiled egg that had been peeled and looked supple. Even the beard he had grown, his eyes brows, and eyelashes fell off, making him look like a strange hairless man.

His breathing had become restless now, and it looked like he was having difficulty in breathing.

"System, what is happening?" Lin Wu questioned.

~Ding~

——

CHECKING VITALS: Subject vital are unstable

WARNING!: Blood oxygen level is falling!

——

"Huh? Did something bad happen while he was practicing the new cultivation technique?" Lin Wu wondered.

He decided to observe for a minute more and see if he would recover on his own. 

~Ding~

——

WARNING!: Subjects blood oxygen is at a critical level

PULSE RATE: Decreasing

——

Seeing that things were only getting worse, Lin Wu decided to interfere and was about to ask the system to do the same. But then a new notification appeared.

~Ding~

——

NEW PARAMETERS DETECTED: Analyzing

VITAL ESSENCE ASSIMILATED: Subject vitals stabilizing

——

And then it happened…