Novel Full Chapter 54—Successive Breakthroughs
Chapter 54: Chapter 54—Successive Breakthroughs
Chapter 54—Successive Breakthroughs
’It hurts. It hurts.’
Lei Cheng screamed the words only inside his own mind, biting his lower lip. His flesh, his skin, his entire muscular system were burning away and reforming simultaneously—smoke pouring off his body in continuous streams. He did not dare break his breathing pattern nor pause for a single movement.
If he broke the rhythm now, his entire muscle system and skin would burn away completely. He could heal that with Life Intent—but it would mean enduring pain on a scale he genuinely didn’t know if he could survive consciously.
’I don’t even know if I’d stay awake through healing damage that severe.’
Passing out here would mean surrendering everything he had built with his own hands. He kept his focus locked.
’Yue could heal me. But I shouldn’t rely on her for everything.’ If he failed here, she would fix it—that safety net existed. But leaning on it constantly meant he would never actually develop real resilience of his own. ’I need to depend on myself. She stays as the final trump card—last resort if everything failed.’
After all, she had already declared she couldn’t help him with anything beyond information, which was exactly why he didn’t want to start relying on her.
He shifted to the second movement.
Time passed. The smoke did not clear. The flames showed no sign of fading. He kept cycling through the positions.
"First tempering—done," he muttered through the flames as a blue glowing panel flashed in his vision. Even his lips were being tempered.
[ Ding! You have entered the Level One Skin and Muscle Tempering realm! ]
[ Level: Lv.1 Skin and Muscle Tempering {1/100} ]
’Finally,’ Lei Cheng grinned.
Hua Mingyue folded her hands behind her back.
’He’s entered Level One,’ she thought, watching him through the flames. ’Unlike traditional ancient martial arts, his tempering process is completely different.’
She stepped closer, moving right through the heat without concern, landing near his burning frame, just three meters away. His clothes had long since burned away—the fire itself was the only thing hiding him from view. He was, for all practical purposes, a man made of flame.
’Traditional cultivators gain stone-colored skin the instant they reach Level One,’ she thought. ’This is something else entirely.’ She took a slow breath. ’He’s genuinely creating history. His Bizarre Martial Path is succeeding.’
She had never imagined witnessing the birth of an entirely new martial path in her entire life.
Through the flames, Lei Cheng’s body had turned light gray, with veins protruding across every visible surface—his forehead, cheeks, back, all of it. Every vein in his body had visibly expanded, nearly tearing through the skin.
After several more minutes, he nearly broke his pattern.
"My cultivation speed—it’s decreased."
The tempering rate had dropped to roughly a third of its initial pace. He shifted into the third position, while mentally cursing the slowdown, trying to understand why.
’Intent comes from nature itself. There’s no upper limit to it—Heavenly Dao holds it in near-infinite supply. I invoke it through the core I comprehended within myself, but the power itself is drawn from the Dao that exists everywhere.’
He focused deeply on a small patch of his chest.
The Bizarre Blood Qi and Supreme Nine Yang Intent hadn’t changed in quality or quantity—still held steady at ten percent. Yet the speed of tempering kept dropping.
’So that’s it... My body has been forged. It’s adapting to the intent, and the adaptation is what’s slowing the process down.’
In simple terms, a body that gets struck repeatedly toughens against that exact type of strike. The same force applied to the same spot produces diminishing results each time, once it’s adapted—less damage, less pain, and correspondingly, less transformation.
Every improvement demanded a greater price than the last. The path refused to reward repetition.
He weighed his options.
’Should I increase the intent? But what if the skin and muscle burn away completely this time?’
He exhaled.
’No—I don’t have much time. The Bizarre Creatures should already be invading.’
He made the call and raised Supreme Nine Yang Intent from ten to twelve percent. The sound of burning immediately intensified. He raised Life Intent to match, twelve percent as well.
He held his focus through the transition, ready to pull back the moment something went wrong. Speed meant nothing if he destroyed the very body he was trying to strengthen.
After a few tense moments, a small smile crossed his face.
’It’s working.’ The newly tempered patch was tempered at the original first-tempering speed again.
In the next moment, he scowled. ’It hurts too much.’ The speed of burning and healing remained the same as the first tempering, yet, ’My sensitivity has increased,’ he mused, raising his brows. ’So this tempering improves even my sensitivity.’
He had thought he would lose his touch like a normal human once he gained copper-like skin, but here he was with heightened senses compared to an ordinary human.
Every flame now felt sharper than before, yet every improvement proved the pain had meaning.
Hours passed. The sun set. The moon rose.
"Second tempering—done," he muttered, glancing at the panel.
[ Level: Lv.1 Skin and Muscle Tempering {2/100} ]
He didn’t stop.
His body remained wrapped in white-gold flame, Life Intent sustaining his stamina and keeping exhaustion at bay.
’I could stop here,’ he thought—once he completed a tempering, his body adjusted to the intent, and he could stop, but the moment he increased it, he couldn’t. ’But I want to complete the entirety of Level One in one continuous session.’
He inhaled, ’Stopping now would only mean beginning the same agony all over again later.’ He kept going.
Lei Fang and the entire Lei Courtyard—servants, guards, maids—stood watching the burning figure repeating the same five movements over and over.
Prisoners scowled, muttering, "Why doesn’t he die?"
"What kind of monster is he?"
"Bizarre?"
"..."
They fell silent after cursing quietly. It had become a habit for them to curse for a few minutes once in a while while watching the flaming man perform his five movements.
"Bring my chair," Lei Fang ordered a maid, once he was informed that his son had ignited into flame. He had rushed toward the garden at first—but seeing Hua Mingyue calmly observing nearby, he restrained himself and simply watched.
As the hours dragged on, his legs began to ache. So, he had the chair brought and lay back in it, refusing to blink, fists clenched around its armrests.
Hua Mingyue nodded to herself. ’Fourth tempering almost complete.’ Through the flames, she noted the change—his skin taking on a metallic sheen, light reflecting faintly off the surface. The veins had darkened toward gray.
After a few days.
[ Ding! You have entered the Second Stage of Skin and Muscle Tempering! ]
[ Level: Lv.1 Skin and Muscle Tempering {21/100} ]
"Twenty-first tempering, done." Lei Cheng muttered.
Hua Mingyue mused, ’The second stage of skin and muscle tempering in ancient martial arts is Bronze...’ She scrutinized Lei Cheng. ’He has now turned dark gray, and his veins remain gray with similar thickness, almost breaking through the skin.’
Lei Cheng did not move, did not break focus. He raised Nine Yang Intent to fourteen percent and Life Intent to match.
Days passed.
[ Ding! You have entered the Third Stage of Skin and Muscle Tempering! ]
[ Level: Lv.1 Skin and Muscle Tempering {41/100} ]
Lei Cheng’s lips curved up.
"Third stage," Hua Mingyue murmured. "Only twenty days, and he’s already here." She grinned, clearly not surprised. "Someone like him must be on par with them." Even among ancient martial cultivators, reaching the third stage within twenty days was considered impossible for anyone but monsters or reincarnated souls.
Through the flames, his skin had turned light black, shining faintly, and protruding gray veins running across every surface. Glancing at his body, she covered her mouth with her fan. "The third stage of skin and muscle tempering in ancient martial arts is Silver." She tilted her head. "This is indeed the Bizarre Martial Arts." She felt that if any normal person were to glance at Lei Cheng now, his appearance of black metal-like skin and protruding veins would knock them out cold from fear.
"One stage left," she said, nodding to herself with evident satisfaction, watching him with something close to admiration.
Days ticked by.
Lei Cheng clicked his tongue, wincing as skin burned away faster than intended.
’Damn it. I can’t push past twenty percent.’
He had now grown adept and expert at handling and sensing the correct amount of intent to use. Once he tried excess, his wrist burned away—luckily, he stopped in time and used Life Intent before his entire arm could burn, surviving a disaster.
He had tried raising the intent to twenty-one percent, and the skin had simply peeled away like wet cotton—offering no resistance whatsoever.
’I can only hold the slow pace, then.’
He accepted the slower pace without hesitation. Ten days later, his skin had turned black-gold, gray veins spreading across his entire frame.
[ Ding! You have entered the Fourth Stage of Skin and Muscle Tempering! ]
[ Level: Lv.1 Skin and Muscle Tempering {61/100} ]
"Good. He’s done it," Hua Mingyue said, her voice rising slightly.
Days passed by in the blink of an eye.
"He’s close to the peak of Level One," Hua Mingyue said, putting her book down on the armrest of her chair.
Lei Fang startled awake from where he’d dozed off in the chair. He had thinned visibly over the past month—sleep had been almost nonexistent for him during this entire vigil. Lei Fang’s body had begun emitting a genuinely foul smell, as he had skipped bathing to keep watch. He only left for personal necessities.
Every time he returned, the first thing he did was make sure his son was still breathing.
Hua Mingyue kept her distance, visibly repelled by the odor, though her eyes still carried unmistakable recognition and respect whenever she looked at him.
’He’s very good,’ she thought. ’As a father figure—good.’
Lei Fang tried to stand and instead slumped back into the chair, too exhausted to hold himself upright. His vision blurred for a few seconds; he zoned out again, then rubbed his forehead hard to stay conscious.
Hua Mingyue’s brows lifted slightly, watching Lei Cheng continue without any sign of stopping.
’Why isn’t he stopping?’
A thought crossed her mind, uneasy.
’Don’t tell me—’