Chapter 302 - 118: First Grade

Chapter 302: Chapter 118: First Grade

’20,000 Tribulation Points... First Grade... Break through!’

Fang Rui’s mind was perfectly calm. He focused his consciousness on the panel and tapped the ’+’ next to the Nourishing Body Skill.

BOOM!

The 20,000 Tribulation Points vanished from the panel. In an instant, an unprecedentedly immense, cool torrent of energy poured down into him, making him feel as if he were being submerged in the ocean.

「At that moment.」

Ninth Grade Skin Grinding, Eighth Grade Muscle Strengthening, Seventh Grade Bone Forging, Sixth Grade Enlightenment, Fifth Grade Marrow Cleansing, Fourth Grade Blood Exchange, Third Grade Refining the Organs, Second Grade Purity.

The insights from every prior breakthrough washed through his mind like a great river. His memories integrated, stacking upon one another like bricks and tiles. Now, the final piece was set in place, and the grand edifice was complete.

In that instant, everything clicked for Fang Rui. A profound sense of perfection washed over him.

At the same time, the Extraordinary Network manifested on its own, glowing outside his body. His light-cyan True Essence surged violently, purifying itself once more as it transformed into a higher tier of energy.

If the breakthrough from Third Grade Refining the Organs to Second Grade Purity was about shedding impurities and transforming True Qi into something purer, then the transition from Second Grade to First Grade was different. The True Essence, purified and refined yet again, began to take on an extreme attribute—it became supremely sharp, like an unsheathed treasure sword.

CRACKLE!

The slightest wisp of escaping aura instantly annihilated Fang Rui’s clothes and shattered the ground beneath him. His entire body levitated into mid-air and began to slowly rotate.

The immense, cool energy from the Tribulation Points condensed into threads of light that wound around his body, weaving in and out to form a luminous cocoon.

Amidst this transformation, his originally light-cyan True Essence was purified repeatedly, growing ever purer until it took on a flawless, crystalline color.

That’s right. The First Grade realm was known as Pure Essence!

...

「A short while later.」

CRACK!

The levitating, luminous cocoon shattered, dissipating into motes of starlight.

’First Grade... I’ve done it!’

Fang Rui floated lightly to the ground and opened his eyes. Glancing at his naked body, he willed it, and the glow on his skin flowed and solidified into an azure robe.

The azure robe looked so real it could pass for actual fabric.

’No matter how real it looks, it’s still fake,’ Fang Rui thought. ’Actual clothes are much more comfortable.’

Fang Rui changed into a real set of clothes and glanced at his panel.

[Name: Fang Rui]

[Tribulation Points: 5511]

[Cultivation Technique: Nourishing Body Skill (Unprecedented Level) (Gold)]

[Realm: First Grade (Pure Essence)]

[Skills: Fang’s Medical Skill (Perfection), Beast Taming Technique (Great Success) (+), Feng Shui Skill (Minor Achievement) (+), Life-taking Saber Technique (Perfection), Rapid Trace Step (Perfection), Disguise Technique (Minor Achievement) (+), Thirteen Throws of the Flying Swallow (Great Success) (+), Xue Family Spear (Uninitiated) (+), Mountain-Splitting Saber Technique (Uninitiated) (+), Divination Skill (Uninitiated) (+), Stealing Skill (Uninitiated) (+), Agricultural Scripture (Minor Achievement) (+), Carving Skill (Uninitiated) (+), Culinary Skill (Great Success) (+) ...]

[Divine Techniques: Immortality (Gray)]

...

’The Nourishing Body Skill... it’s reached the Unprecedented Level?’

If the Unparalleled Level meant that no one alive could match Fang Rui in the Nourishing Body Skill, then the Unprecedented Level meant that no one, not now or in all of history, could compare.

Even the original creator of the Nourishing Body Skill, leveraging their deep understanding of the technique and the advantage of their own high realm, might have been able to replicate the skill at the Second Grade. But they had absolutely not reached the First Grade, the true theoretical limit of the Nourishing Body Skill.

’I’ve reached the end of the path. To go any further, there are no existing concepts to follow. I’ll have to find my own way.’

’The Nourishing Body Skill turning gold must also mean it can’t be upgraded any further. Just as I suspected!’

’Carrying on the legacy, innovating, surpassing my predecessors... that’s all for later. For now? It’s time to see what’s changed now that I’ve broken through to First Grade!’

Fang Rui made a gesture with his hand. With a flash of light, a pure azure Treasure Lotus materialized in mid-air, spinning smoothly.

After a moment’s thought, he picked up a cup of tea and poured it directly onto the lotus.

TSSSSS!

The stream of water was actually stopped by the Treasure Lotus. Under the lotus’s supremely sharp aura, the water instantly turned into a cloud of hazy mist. The flickering candlelight cast a rainbow through it.

’My old True Essence was said to be *like* solid matter, but it was always just "like." The energy born of the First Grade, however, is truly corporeal. And it naturally carries a supremely sharp attribute.’

’If Second Grade produces True Essence, then this new, supremely pure and sharp energy can be called... Gang Essence!’

’And because it’s so pure, while True Essence could only extend about thirty feet from my body, this First Grade Gang Essence can reach a hundred feet!’

A thought struck Fang Rui, and he began to test the other properties of his Gang Essence.

He soon discovered that while it placed a greater strain on his physical body, the enhancement it provided to his attributes was a full thirty percent greater than it had been at Second Grade!

Furthermore, because of the Gang Essence’s supremely pure and sharp nature, its destructive power was off the charts.

However, that same supreme purity and sharpness made it slightly less effective at healing injuries and suppressing poisons than his Second Grade energy had been.

’First Grade... In terms of realm, I’m now at the very peak of Huaiyin Prefecture.’

Fang Rui was filled with emotion.

This held true even when accounting for Zhen Daoji and Zhen Yi. The former was only Third Grade, and while the latter was an Upper Grade Spirit Master, his realm was only comparable to the Second Grade of Martial Arts.

’And there’s more good news. I can finally draw upon the Dragon Pearl’s Origin essence.’

Fang Rui took out the Dragon Pearl, circulated his Gang Essence, and extracted a hair-thin strand of the Dragon Pearl Origin.

WHOOSH!

The moment it left the Dragon Pearl, this strand of Dragon Pearl Origin instantly expanded into a dragon-shaped stream of energy that swam restlessly through the air.