"The martial way is different from spiritual cultivation. There is no Qi Gathering, instead beginning at the Foundation Establishment realm. There are six stages in the martial Foundation Establishment: Skin Toughening, Muscle Strengthening, Tendon Reinforcement, Bone Refinement, Marrow Enhancement, and Organ Fortification.
Following a cultivation method you will take in qi to alter your skin, making it become more elastic and tougher than bronze.
Then you alter your muscles, making them dense and tough capable of exerting incredible strength and able to store qi within.
Afterwards by changing the tendon so it becomes more durable and flexible enough to absorb all stress.
The next phase would be to strengthen the bone, making resilient yet flexible, stronger than steel.
After the bones have been altered the marrows will be changed, and this is the most difficult and dangerous process. Once your marrows have changed, new blood that can absorb and retain qi will be circulated throughout the body.
Once the body introduces the new blood, through circulating the blood through all the organs they will all be altered. This is the most arduous and time consuming process, but once this is done the body will enter a perfect state that is comparable to an early stage Core Formation realm cultivator.
However if there is a mistake in the alteration process, the body will be imperfect and your path will be impossible using the martial way."
Tianyi listened intently as his mother spoke about the early stages of the martial path, her insights greatly deepening Tianyi's understanding on how to cultivate the Dragon Emperor Fist.
"The Dragon Emperor Fist at the early stages is not that outstanding and also requires the blood essence of a dragon after completing the Foundation Establishment, the higher the realm of the dragon the better.
After you finished the Martial Foundation Establishment, the process can be simply referred to as refining the blood within you to become purer and purer with the end goal of eventually attaining blood similar to the Primordial Dragon. After each refinement of blood you will alter your body once more so that it eventually becomes a dragon's, making the cultivator a human shaped dragon.
You were fortunate enough to attain the blood essence of the Dragon Emperor even though the essence had weakened considerably. The Dragon Emperor's body could be said to be unequaled even compared to True Dragon and there is no better blood to use to cultivate the Dragon Emperor Fist.
If it was a normal cultivator of the Dragon Emperor Fist they would need to seek out numerous treasures to refine their blood, there is a shortcut and that is to directly take the blood essence of higher rank dragons. But that is nearly impossible in this day and age, not to mention the chance that your body cannot contain the pure blood essence of a dragon resulting in it exploding. So until you reach the Dragon Emperor's level you will not need to worry about treasures or attaining dragon blood until then.
Tianyi held his chin. Did that youth know about the blood essence contained within the fragment?
If the situation was reversed and Tianyi had been the one who had the blood essence taken away by the youth, he was afraid that he would curse all nine generations of youth. But even if the blood essence was partially the motive, that did not explain why he knew what Tianyi's surname was.
Tianyi frowned. I shouldn't let my thoughts wander to him. If he knew that I lost some details and made a huge mistake in the future because I was analyzing him, I'm afraid he would laugh himself to sleep. Better focus on mother's speech right now.
Tianyi continued to listen to his mother speak of martial cultivation, benefiting greatly.
"For this process when you absorb the Dragon Emperor's blood essence I will aid you in absorbing it in using the Blood Absorption Ritual. Although you are at the muscle strengthening stage, we will skip this stage and directly alter your bone marrows with the blood. Bone marrows produce blood and is the best place for the blood essence to be used.
Once you absorb the blood essence and use it to alter your bone marrow, the blood it produces will be extremely helpful. You should re-cultivate your skin and muscles with the newly produced blood. Using the changed blood to finish the martial Foundation Establishment realm, it can be considered as saving a huge step in your future cultivation."
Tianyi nodded as he was brought to the Jade Lotus Clear Pond.
"Mother, are we going to perform the Blood Absorption Ritual using the Jade Lotus Clear Pond?" Tianyi asked.
"Yes, the Jade Clear Spring Water will be helpful in helping retain your consciousness and prevent the blood essence from leaking and being wasted." Mengfei said.
Tianyi had a bad feeling. "Mother, enchancing my blood marrow using the Dragon Emperor's blood essence won't be painful will it?"
Mengfei looked at Tianyi while tilting her head. "Of course it will be painful, altering your bone marrow by introducing foreign blood essence. And the blood essence is extremely pure and came from an immortal, although it is miniscule. You need to direct it to alter your marrow and if you faint then ninety-nine percent of it will be wasted."
Tianyi could only look on in despair. "Mother, setting up the Blood Absorption Ritual will require the formations of the Jade Lotus Clear Pond to be taken down right? Why don't we wait until we have come by some treasures otherwise the material used to set up the Jade Lotus Clear Pond will be wasted right?"
Mengfei shook her head. "Now that you have embarked on the path of martial cultivation I have decided to alter the formation. The treasure I can easily save and those I can't aren't worth much. Don't worry, you can rest easy and absorb the blood essence."
Tianyi felt himself nearly choking on his saliva. "T-thank you mother."
He felt his teeth chatter as he imagined the pain, but he couldn't reject his mother's good intentions. Back on Earth he wasn't filial to his mother, at the very least he cannot disappoint the mother of this life.
So Tianyi gritted his teeth and sat on the Immortal Lotus Throne and allowed himself to be submerged. Although his whole body was submerged underwater Tianyi did not have any trouble breathing, or to be more accurate he could absorb the spiritual qi within the Jade Clear Spring Water in order to substitute for air.
Due to the special characteristic of the Jade Clear Spring Water, the light wasn't refracted and Tianyi could see his mother activating the formation.
A blood red glow could be seen forming and Tianyi prepared himself for the pain but…nothing happened.
Tianyi felt his heightened expectations fall flat, although it was good that the pain hadn't come but the feeling of having prepared to take pain only to feel nothing gave birth to a complicated emotion that Tianyi didn't know how to describe.
Then Tianyi saw his mother who was outside of the pond hold the fragment and squeeze it like a fruit. A shining droplet that seemed to be made of molten gold dripped into the pond. And in an instant the formerly clear Jade Clear Spring Water instantly became translucent red while shining gold.
Then the pain came and Tianyi had to grit his teeth in order to not cry out. As for biting the inside of his cheek? You kidding? If Tianyi did that then the inside of his cheek would be missing a chunk of its flesh with how strong his bite strength was.
Every pore on his body was opened and from every pore it felt like tiny needles were being inserted into his body. Not only that, each needle seemed to have been made of molten lava carrying an unbearable heat as it swam within his blood stream.
Tianyi's fair skin instantly became red like a cooked lobster and his eyes became teary, the tears lingered at the edge of Tianyi's phoenix eyes that he inherited from his mother caused one to feel pity with just one look. Unfortunately there was no one else but Xi Mengfei who could see and her eyes contained no trace of pity as she urged Tianyi to hurry to circulate the revised reversed circulation Marrow Enhancement of the Dragon Emperor Fist.
Tianyi could only greet his teeth as he used the spiritual qi inside of his body to guide the torturous lava needles through his bloodstream before making them meld into his marrow under his bones. Once that happened Tianyi instantly regretted it.
Now not only did it feel like he had needle lava for blood but there thousands of tiny termites biting into his bones and each bite felt like a ferocious demon had bitten his body in two!
Tianyi really regretted agreeing, what was wrong with slowly cultivating? Although it was slow, it would be stable and there wouldn't be any pain that would make one want to be killed instead of suffering.
But Tianyi looked up to see his mother looking at him. Although her face was expressionless as usual, Tianyi saw the look in her eyes. It was a look of absolutely confidence, not confidence in Mengfei but confidence that her son would overcome the trial before her.
As a child Xi Mengfei did not receive the love of her Emperor-father and her Consort-mother only had her Emperor-father on her mind all day without a single shred of concern for Xi Mengfei. She did not understand love, not even the love of parents' because she received none.
Had it not been for her half brother, Xi Mengfei would have long died before the elder from the Buzhou Immortal Sect took her in.
But now although Xi Mengfei did not realize it, she was showing Tianyi a parent's love. A love that manifested as faith that her child was special and able to accomplish anything.
"That's cheating." Tianyi muttered to himself. His usual aloof and expressionless mother was showing that much confidence in him, Tianyi could only grit his teeth and endure the pain and slowly absorb the blood essence that had dissolved in the pond.
Each second felt like an hour to Tianyi as his senses had sharpened to the extreme in order to carefully guide the blood essence into the center of his bone and alter his bone marrow.
Slowly the Jade Clear Spring Water became clearer and clearer with the red coloring disappearing. Tianyi didn't know how long he was absorbing the blood essence just that it felt like an eternity.
When the pain completely disappeared Tianyi dazedly looked around only to see that the Jade Clear Spring Water returned to its previous crystal clear state. His brain felt like mush after extended use while resisting against the pain.
The Immortal Lotus Throne rose above the water by itself and Tianyi could see that the Jade Clear Spring Water, although crystal clear, now had a golden aura and glow to it.
But Tianyi didn't dwell on it as he looked around to find his mother walking towards him by stepping onto the water's surface.
"Congratulations, you absorbed over ninety percent of the blood essence." There was a slight hint of pride in Mengfei's words that even she did not realize.
"Hehe" Tianyi made a foolish face as he laughed. He stood up but before he could even take a step he stumbled. Luckily his mother was already nearby and caught him. Tianyi, who was being held by Mengfei discovered that her hands were especially cool.
Without warning Tianyi shook away her hand and wrapped his hands around Mengfei's waist in a great bear hug. He looked up and gave a foolish smile and giggled.
Mengfei was at a loss, ever since Tianyi had been born unless she had been careless and allowed Tianyi to get injured, he would usually never cry. As he grew up he seemed to be far more mature than children his age never needing her to worry and always behaving like a miniature adult. She had never seen her son show such a childlike expression before.
But now for the first time her child was hugging her and being clingy with her while giving her a foolish laugh. And now Xi Mengfei discovered the destructive power of cuteness.
Her hand couldn't control itself and began to rub Tianyi's head like a pet.
Days later when Tianyi recovered his mental faculties he would seal away that piece of memory deep into his soul. That foolish little boy who was giving a stupid laugh and clinging onto his mother definitely wasn't him!