Chapter 88: Nine Turns Immortal

The afternoon slipped away quietly after they returned from Fragrant Cloud Pavilion.

Yu Liang helped restock the tea shelves himself, then joined Meihua for a simple meal in the small staff room behind the main kitchen. They talked about nothing important like how the new Silver Needle leaves tasted much sharper than expected, whether Xiao Wen should handle the front during tomorrow’s lunch rush.

Her flustered face showed up once again easily when he teased her about the extra tin of Rose-Peach blend Madame Sun had slipped them "for special occasions."

As the dinner service slowed and the lanterns outside began to glow, Yu Liang’s thoughts once again returned to the strange increase in his strength.

He had been thinking about it for quite some time, but he had never really known who to ask. The sect had simply called it "force," but Yu Liang knew better than anyone else that what he felt wasn’t that simple.

Before, he had no one he could trust with a question like that but things were different now.

Yan Ruo and the other experts around him had far more experience than he did and he was also getting close to returning to the sect. If he wanted answers, he should stop keep putting it off now.

It was time to find out what exactly had changed.

He excused himself with a quick word to Meihua, "Something I need to check with the Yan Rou and others," and made his way to the warehouse office which they used for private matters.

Yu Liang sat at the table, took a slow breath and crushed a transmission talisman between his fingers. The message was simply: ’Come to the Warehouse office now, I need to ask you all about something.’

They arrived within moments, one after another.

Yan Ruo entered first, followed by the twin brothers. Hei Lang came through the doorway behind them, while Chen Lu slipped past him and quietly took the last seat.

No one asked why Yu Liang had summoned them. They simply sat around the table and waited for him to speak.

Yu Liang didn’t waste any time either. "I started cultivating a body refinement technique quite some time ago. It’s called the Iron Marrow Refinement Method, and it’s far beyond the basic techniques the sect recommends for Qi Condensation."

He paused briefly before continuing. "The manual says it should make my bones denser, improve my recovery, and increase my physical strength."

He flexed his right hand slowly, feeling the familiar strength under his skin. "But the results are way off the chart. The strength increase is more than double what the scroll described. And when I circulate the Qi, there’s this... an extra layer which is strong and solid, almost like something thick is wrapping around my muscles and meridians. It’s not mentioned anywhere in the manual."

The five of them fell silent for a moment, taking in what Yu Liang had said.

Yan Ruo was the first to speak as she leaned forward slightly. "What stage of the technique have you reached?"

"Perfection in Iron Marrow Refinement and I’ve been following every step exactly."

She nodded once. "Does that extra layer feel steady even when you push more Qi through it or does it waver?"

"Steady," Yu Liang answered immediately. "Almost too steady and It also doesn’t require any extra energy. If anything, it actually makes the flow smoother. In the training array I was supposed to handle five hundred kilos according to the manual. I managed more than a thousand kilos without breaking a sweat."

Hei Lang let out a sound of surprise but wisely kept his mouth shut. One of the twins tilted his head with curiosity, while Chen Lu raised his eyebrows slightly.

Yan Ruo stayed silent for a few moments, thinking over what Yu Liang had said.

"Are you sure the manual is really complete?" she finally asked. "I mean there aren’t any missing sections or hidden notes? Or perhaps the technique is actually a Higher Tier than you thought?"

"I read it over and over. Word for word and there’s nothing missing, as for it being a Higher Tier technique, I can’t say for certain. But it was kept in the library, so it should’ve been checked before being placed there. I’d say the chances are pretty low."

Yan Ruo hesitated after hearing his answers. Her fingers tightened slightly around her sleeve, and for the first time since Yu Liang had known her, she looked genuinely uncertain.

She took a breath before speaking.

"Young Master... what I’m about to suggest isn’t something people do lightly. You already know how dangerous it is to let another cultivator send their divine sense into your body."

She paused, making sure he understood what she meant.

"They would be able to see your meridians, your injuries, your foundation... practically everything. It’s considered a serious taboo among cultivators. One wrong move could damage your foundation or expose things you’d rather keep hidden."

Her expression grew more serious. "Most cultivators would never agree to something like this."

Even Yan Ruo was not sure what was happening inside Yu Liang’s body. There were too many unknowns and simply sensing his Qi wasn’t enough to tell them apart. Only by sending her divine sense inside she could accurately find out what was causing this strange situation.

Yu Liang looked at Yan Ruo for a moment before shrugging.

"I understand the risk."

His gaze moved across the others around the table. "And if I didn’t trust you guys, I wouldn’t have called you here in the first place."

A faint smile tugged at his lips. "You’ve been protecting Heaven’s Table, putting your lives on the line for my people. I think we’re past the point where I need to worry about you seeing what’s inside me. So go ahead. Let’s find out what’s actually going on."

Everyone seemed a little happier after hearing that. Even Yan Ruo’s expression softened.

It felt good to know Yu Liang genuinely trusted them.

Yan Ruo exhaled. "All right. I’ll be careful. Stay still."

Her divine sense brushed against him, it felt cool and surprisingly gentle. It moved through his channels like a soft current of water, reading the flow of Qi through meridians, the density of spiritual energy at each node, pausing at his dantian, tracing the muscles, then settling on the strange solid layer.

Yu Liang barely felt the scan, nothing more than a faint pressure moving through his body. Almost a minute later, Yan Ruo withdrew her divine sense.

Her eyes widened slightly.

"It’s a Turn," she said.

Yu Liang blinked. "A what?"

"Turn," she repeated, taking a moment to choose her words. "What you were cultivating wasn’t ordinary Body Refinement. See, The human body has another path of progression, one that most cultivators never even encounter. They’re called the Nine Turns. You can think of each Turn as another major stage of Body Tempering, but it goes far beyond simply strengthening the flesh. With every Turn, the body is refined on a deeper level, gradually building a foundation that ordinary Body Refinement Realm can’t reach not even Qi cultivator or Pure Body Refinement cultivator either. And once someone completes all Nine Turns, their mortal body is said to shed its old limits entirely. The records call those who reach the end Nine Turns Immortals. Whether the old legends are completely accurate or not I don’t know but one thing is certain that reaching even a single Turn is something most cultivators could never achieve."

The others leaned in, clearly hearing the term for the first time. Hei Lang’s brow furrowed. "Never ran into anything like that in the fighting arenas or in my tribe."

Yan Ruo gave a small, wry smile. "Most people haven’t. Some even get this by sheer coincidence."

Of course she knew. As a former Inner Sect Elder of the Heavenly Sky Sect, one of the true High Level powers in the region, her access to restricted records and private elder collection had been second to none. The sect’s hidden libraries also held scrolls preserved for thousands of years, detailing lost paths that smaller organizations could only dream about.

She had spent countless nights studying those texts, cross referencing them with ancient mission logs and private collections passed down through generations of elders. But ambition and betrayal had shattered everything. A brutal succession struggle took place three years ago that torn the sect apart and when her faction lost, the victors simply sold the survivors straight into the slave markets without a second thought as they thought this would be more tormenting and humiliating than simply killing them.

The same knowledge that once marked her as one of the sect’s brightest minds now belonged to Yu Liang.