Chapter Ninety-Three: The Nine Tribulations Sword Body

The simulation ended.

By now, dawn had begun to seep into the sky. Lin Ze rose from the ground and flexed his stiff limbs. After a whole night, the joy in his heart had already ebbed away by more than half.

His favorite skill cards were the technical sort: the palm technique and sword technique he had seen before, as well as a natural true fire of the same kind. Once such things were learned in the simulator, he could use them with only a little practice.

The Eastern Peak Sword Canon also belonged to that category, but regrettably, he could not learn it for the time being.

As for the Nine Tribulations Sword Physique, that was a skill card of the dharma-body type. Faced with a method that required the body to be tempered again and again, even the simulator could do little more than help him avoid some detours.

It was the forging of the body into a three-foot blue blade, with one threshold every three tribulations, and only after nine tribulations would one reach the state of consummate mastery.

Within the simulator, the Daoist had spent three years before reaching the fourth tribulation, which amounted to barely stepping into the minor attainment stage. It was, in fact, the fastest progress he had ever made in cultivating a technique.

The main reason was that this art did not rely especially on talent, but on vast amounts of resources to build up a physique strong enough to withstand the sword tribulations.

With a foundation in alchemy, he had chosen the Dragon Bone Pill from the Longevity Pill Compendium.

Most of those three years had been consumed by searching for medicinal ingredients and refining pills.

"Still too slow."

Lin Ze shook his head. Distant water could not quench present thirst. If he had time in the future, he could take it slowly, but for now it offered him little help.

He was just about to give up on the Nine Tribulations Sword Physique for the time being when something suddenly came to him. He hurried to his wooden hut and searched beneath his pillow for a small box.

When he opened the wooden box, there lay quietly within it a green-black pill.

If the Daoist had not chosen the Dragon Bone Pill, Lin Ze would almost have forgotten this thing.

It was the strange pill he had taken over from Pan Yang and refined himself.

Its effect was similar to that of the Dragon Bone Pill, in that it strengthened the body, but its medicinal power could not be mentioned in the same breath.

By rough estimation, although it had been classified as a third-grade pill by He Lin and the others because of the way its pill aura had taken form, an ordinary fourth-grade pill might not even surpass it in medicinal potency.

A pity that when it was formed, it had been forcefully suppressed with the Black Flame Demonic Fire, making it utterly unfit for human consumption.

If one had to name a single advantage, it was only that it was cheap.

Among the ingredients, the only truly high-grade medicinal material was Cold Stone Heart; the rest were hardly worth much.

One had to know that an ordinary third-grade pill was worth only twenty to thirty spirit stones, and even the most expensive Foundation Building Pill would not exceed forty. But a fourth-grade pill, even the cheapest, would cost ten times that as a baseline. It was simply beyond what a Foundation Establishment cultivator could enjoy.

For a cost only slightly higher than that of a third-grade pill, it could produce an effect on par with a fourth-grade one. Its drawback was that it was far too dangerous; taking it would very likely cost one’s life.

It was no easy matter to find a willing test subject.

Yet Lin Ze had thought of a perfectly suited candidate.

Silently, he hid all the Foundation Building Pills in the cloth pouch beneath the bed. These were the Daoist’s initial funds for buying medicinal ingredients and refining pills; only poverty could give the other man the courage to fight with his life on the line.

After so many simulations, Lin Ze had already figured out the pattern thoroughly.

If he simulated some other role card, then as a mere bystander he would lose everything he had obtained from the simulator.

If he simulated the host card, then although the Daoist would not remember the simulator, he would make use of the resources already on hand, such as Foundation Building Pills and sword pellets...

But as long as Lin Ze hid those things away, the other would have no memory of them.

"Please help me out. Next time, I’ll definitely treat you better."

Lin Ze pressed his palms together in apology to him, then opened the simulator once more.

[Host Card: Lin Ze]

[Skill Card: Nine Tribulations Sword Physique]

...

The Daoist stared blankly at the strange pill in his hand.

A new cultivation method had appeared in his mind.

After hesitating for a moment, he began to read through the Nine Tribulations Sword Physique again.

His expression grew darker and darker.

He held a cultivation art so miraculous in his hands, yet he shrank back before the resources required to cultivate it.

"Perhaps I can earn spirit stones through alchemy?"

The Daoist muttered to himself, silently calculating the time it would require. After a while, a trace of helplessness appeared on his face.

Qing Mountain owed the South Hall more than eight hundred spirit stones. Relying on task rewards to earn the money for medicinal ingredients was unrealistic. If he slipped out of the sect alone by bypassing the South Hall without filing a report, he might well run into an ambush from the mountain gates of Hua Yang Peak and the others.

One must not underestimate the iron token issued by the South Hall. That thing could not only record missions, but also serve as a guarantee of life itself.

If a cultivator died, East Peak Sect would receive the news at the first possible moment.

"This thing is worth considering, though I must make proper preparations."

He lowered his gaze to the pill in his palm and fell into thought.

Seeing this, Lin Ze was not in the least anxious.

Merely from the way the other had once swallowed several Foundation Building Pills in one go, there was no chance he would pass up any opportunity to increase his strength.

Sure enough.

Two days later, the Daoist announced that he was going into seclusion.

Seated cross-legged inside the wooden hut, he calmed his breath and focused his mind. "While enduring the sword tribulation, I can hold the pill in my mouth and use sword qi to expend its medicinal power. Though it is still somewhat dangerous, it should not put my life in peril. It ought to be workable."

His circumstances were no longer the same as before, and the Daoist no longer needed to gamble with his life. After carefully studying the art, he had devised a response. Even so, beneath it all, one could still glimpse that fierce, determined spirit of struggle.

From within his sleeve he drew forth a wisp of sword qi and gently tossed it into the air.

At the same time, he slipped the pill into his mouth, not swallowing it completely. The instant its medicinal power began to dissolve in fine threads, the sword qi, following the guidance of the cultivation method, suddenly stabbed toward the acupoints throughout his body!

A searing pain struck at once. Even though the Daoist had long been prepared, he still could not help but let out a muffled groan.

His robes billowed and snapped.

That was the spiritual energy throughout his body instinctively surging into motion, trying to resist the invasion of the sword qi.

If he fully unleashed the cultivation of the late Foundation Establishment stage, dealing with a strand of sword qi without a master was no difficult matter. But then the purpose of tempering the body through this art would be lost.

At the same time, fierce medicinal force poured from his lower abdomen and surged through his entire body. In the blink of an eye it flooded every part of his frame. Even though only a trace had melted upon his tongue, it still far exceeded the effect the Dragon Bone Pill ought to have had.

Clang!

A clear metallic ring rang out sharply.

The medicinal power within his body rushed to gather at the acupoints targeted by the sword qi, canceling each other out. The remaining scorching force was silently absorbed by that part of the body, like metal being hammered.

At the last possible moment, the Daoist had forcibly suppressed the spiritual energy throughout his body. The difficulty of this was no less than having a needle pricked into the eye while refusing to blink.

And this was only the first strike.

The so-called sword tribulation was the forging of a peerless sword through countless tempers and blows.

In the earlier simulation, he had taken a full three Dragon Bone Pills, and only after waiting for the medicinal power to fully take effect had he attempted the first sword tribulation. Though painful, it was still within the range he could endure.

At this moment, a restrained and deep sound issued from the Daoist's throat, like the howl of a beast on the brink of death. Lin Ze's teeth went slightly sour at the sound, and his heart ached with unease.

Even the motion that should have switched to a first-person view hesitated for a moment.