Li Yundong led Su Chan, Ziyuan, and Zhou Qin away from their home in Tiannan City, heading toward the secret chamber of the Fox Zen Sect on Tianlong Mountain. However, since he had sealed the stone cave previously, Li Yundong had no choice but to use the Seven Treasures Spirit-Guiding Fan to enter from the back door of Tianlong Mountain.

Once inside the stone chamber of Tianlong Mountain, although the surroundings were enclosed and the mountain air carried a heavy yin energy, the great benefit was the profound quietude, ensuring no one would disturb them. Thus, Li Yundong and Su Chan quickly settled into deep meditation and cultivation.

Unlike the previous time he was knocked unconscious and subjected to the body-tempering of immortal energy, this time Li Yundong was actively mobilizing the true essence within his body, commencing the refinement of his Yang Spirit and Inner Elixir according to the methods of Daoist cultivation.

Li Yundong sat cross-legged in the very center of the large stone chamber left by the Heavenly Mystery Mystic Fox, where the Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir Art was inscribed. A meditation cushion was placed beneath him; his posture was upright, head level, tongue pressed against the upper palate, his mind cleared of all thought. In a short while, his Yang Spirit left his body.

Initially, Li Yundong’s manifested Yang Spirit bore the exact likeness of his physical self, but as the true essence flowed, the spirit continually grew stronger, quickly transforming into the form of the Bright King Dharma Body with three heads and six arms.

Dwelling within his own minor thousand world, Li Yundong contemplated the problems of cultivation while visualizing his Dharma Body.

Especially as his cultivation realm steadily rose, many matters that previously puzzled him now became instantly clear and fully comprehended once his realm reached the necessary level!

How was his Yang Spirit cultivated?

It came directly from the eighth turn described in the Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir Art left by Mr. Niwan Chen Pu: "The eighth turn returns essence to the primal region, circling in fetal breathing to nurture the infant. Sometimes fire erupts to burn the elixir cave, sinking deep into the cold spring to play with the crimson turtle."

Simply put, it was born from the combination of the yin energy of the left kidney and the yang energy of the right kidney!

And how was the Golden Body cultivated? Li Yundong incessantly pondered the ancient texts he had flipped through in the minor thousand world of the Finger-Burning Alms Bowl, but for a time, he could not recall the method for cultivating the path of the Golden Body.

He intended to ask Ziyuan, but she could only offer a bitter smile and explain that even she did not know; once a cultivator reached such a stage, they could only proceed by slow, personal exploration.

Li Yundong mused for a while and recalled the characters the Heavenly Mystery Mystic Fox had carved onto the walls of the stone chamber. He swiftly recited the Dan Jue (Elixir Incantation) of the Nine Revolutions Golden Elixir Art in his mind, paying special attention to the annotations left at the end of the technique.

These annotations stated: "Ordinary people should practice the first, second, third, and fourth turns to enhance their physique and prevent common ailments; the fifth, sixth, and seventh turns are exceedingly difficult, requiring cultivators to abandon worldly affairs and devote themselves solely to practice; they should not be attempted otherwise. As for the ninth turn, it is utterly beyond the reach of ordinary people; it truly requires treasures from the summit of an ice mountain, which must be retrieved by a special person before one can even touch upon its cultivation."

But how was the ninth turn to be cultivated?

Compared to the detailed methods for turns one through eight, Mr. Niwan Chen Pu seemed to have been deliberately vague at the most crucial juncture. He hadn't mentioned the method for the ninth turn at all, leaving behind only a poem that read: "The Ninth Turn grants transcendent freedom, the Dao Fruit complete; Three thousand merits accomplish immortal status. The Golden Book and Jade Slips proclaim the Emperor’s decree; Stepping upon auspicious clouds, one greets the Nine Heavens."

This poem was entirely unlike those for the previous eight turns; not a single word hinted at a cultivation method, only the result after achieving the ninth turn.

This left Li Yundong deeply frustrated, even leading him to harbor a slightly malicious private speculation: perhaps Mr. Niwan Chen Pu himself had never reached the ninth turn, which is why he hadn't written about it? Or perhaps the ninth turn was merely something he had conjured up himself?

Thinking this, Li Yundong couldn't help but let out a silent laugh within his minor thousand world. He quickly swept the thought from his mind and rapidly searched through the numerous texts he had perused in the Finger-Burning Alms Bowl’s minor thousand world.

Although Li Yundong had now cultivated to the initial stage of the Golden Body, after his encounter with Xuling, he was acutely aware of both the terrifying power and the fatal flaw inherent in the beginner level of the Golden Body realm.

While cultivators at the Yang Spirit stage and below could almost never defeat a master of the Golden Body realm, this did not mean the Golden Body realm was truly invincible. Even the initial stage of the Golden Body, the "Indestructible Golden Body," was not indestructible in the literal sense.

Otherwise, Xuling’s protective Golden Body could not have been shattered by the combined efforts of Li Yundong, Zheng Yuan, and Ziyuan—three top-tier Yang Spirit masters. Although Xuling flew into a frenzy afterward and beat the three of them back to a state where they could barely retaliate, this incident made Li Yundong clearly realize one thing: the Indestructible Golden Body, while fiercely powerful, was not invincible, and it seemed to possess only rigid force (gang) but lacked pliable strength (rou)!

In other words, the true essence of this Indestructible Golden Body was composed solely of yang energy, lacking yin energy!

As the saying goes, battling with magic is like waging war, and military strategy dictates: "Engage the enemy with the orthodox, defeat them with the unconventional!"

Translated to magical combat or physical fighting, this meant: overwhelm the opponent with brute force, defeat them with skill.

In Li Yundong’s view, the idea that "overwhelming strength conquers all skill" was not absolute. Even if Xuling possessed ten thousand jin of strength, if he, combined with Zheng Yuan’s Underworld Five-Zhang Soul-Hooking Jade and Ziyuan’s Nine Heavens Ziyuan Silk, could muster only three thousand jin combined, they could still contend with him through clever techniques and fighting skills. The reason lay in the yielding strength, the adroit force, and the overly singular true essence of the opponent.

The Yang Spirit was superior to the Yin Spirit because the energy condensation of the Yang Spirit was far greater, allowing it to grasp objects and engage in physical combat like a true body, whereas the Yin Spirit was merely a weaker energy form, capable only of penetrating objects but not lifting them.

The Golden Body was superior to the Yang Spirit because its condensation level was several times that of the Yang Spirit; it could not only grasp objects but also cover the body like armor, forming a hard protective shell.

When a cultivator’s true essence became sufficiently abundant and condensed, their spirit would undergo a qualitative change. As the true essence density continuously increased, it transformed from Yin Spirit to Yang Spirit, and from Yang Spirit to Golden Body. When condensed to the utmost peak, one could challenge the might of Heaven itself!

Li Yundong used to be utterly puzzled: Why was Xuling’s Golden Body protection so rigid and inflexible? It only knew how to shield his entire body and could not change as freely as a Yang Spirit?

According to Li Yundong’s deductions and conjectures, if the Golden Body could transform as willfully as a Yang Spirit—changing into a sharp blade with the power of the Indestructible Golden Body—would it not be indestructible? Or if it could transform into a shield, would any magical artifact be able to pierce it?

The Golden Body was already extremely condensed yang true essence spirit, but if it could transform again, compressing into smaller forms, would not the density of the Yang Spirit result in even more terrifying power?

But only when Li Yundong cultivated to the initial stage of the Golden Body did he understand: it wasn't that Xuling didn't want to transform; it was that he couldn't transform!

At this moment, Li Yundong felt as if his entire body was enveloped in a ball of fire, saturated with intense primordial yang energy, as if he were standing on a mountain of flames. Although his body was filled with strength, this power was entirely masculine and forceful (yang), utterly devoid of any feminine softness (yin).

The initial stage of the Golden Body was like hard steel; no matter how much an opponent hammered or struck, it could not be broken, hence the name Indestructible Golden Body.

In combat, true essence that is rigid and lacks softness is prone to lacking follow-through power, possessing only the strength of a "three-hit combo." Conversely, if softness lacks rigidity, it can lead to the embarrassing situation of being unable to land a decisive blow after a prolonged engagement.

Feeling the state of his true essence, a thought stirred in Li Yundong’s heart. He mused: The human body is a self-sufficient microcosm; he possessed both yin and yang energies within himself. Although his internal yin energy differed from the profound yin energy of Su Chan, Ziyuan, and Zhou Qin, it should still serve a purpose.

With this thought, he suddenly recalled certain verses he had read while borrowing books in the school library, from Zhang Boduan’s Wuzhen Pian (Treatise on Awakening to Reality): "The Earth Dragon Mercury springs forth from the departing homeland; the Marsh Tiger Lead is born in the Kan locale. Both entities rely on the mother that bore the child; the Five Elements must all enter the center. The moon is only half bright on the horizon; soon there will be the dragon’s roar and the tiger’s howl. It is best to apply effort cultivating the two-and-eight stages; within one hour, the elixir will be complete. The fierce tiger howls from the peak of Mount Hua; the female dragon moans from beneath the Fusang Sea. The yellow crone naturally acts as the matchmaker, sending them to be husband and wife, their hearts united as one."

Li Yundong thought: The meaning of these verses explains the cultivation techniques of yin and yang and the Eight Trigrams; there is nothing strange about them. But what did the last sentence mean? Was it hinting that to ascend to a higher level, a cultivator must "be sent to be husband and wife, their hearts united as one"?

Li Yundong knew clearly that Zhang Boduan's line originally referred to the harmony of the internal yin and yang energies conforming to the Way of Heaven and Earth. However, this very sentence struck a chord within Li Yundong’s heart.

Heaven and Earth mingle, giving rise to all things; man and woman unite, giving birth to infants; the yin and yang energies within the body meet, forming the Inner Elixir!

If a Golden Body, supremely heavy with yang force, were to mingle with something supremely heavy with yin softness, what would happen?

As he was pondering this, he suddenly heard an extremely faint sound drifting from a distance, as if calling his name.

Li Yundong, in his Yang Spirit form, followed the sound and saw Su Chan in a corner of the stone cave, looking at him playfully, her smile enchanting and her beautiful eyes sparkling with life.

Li Yundong immediately smiled, moved toward her, and chuckled softly, "Weren't you meditating in the next room? Why did you come out?"

Su Chan stuck out her tongue, whispering somewhat bashfully, "I don't know how to cultivate further after reaching Seven Tails... so I came to ask you, to see if you know."

Li Yundong noticed Su Chan’s eyes shifting evasively, her cheeks flushed a bright pink, a look of unresolved autumn water seeming to hide in the corners of her eyes, her gaze sly yet imbued with the unique shyness of a young girl. A thought struck him; he seemed to have already grasped an answer, so he smiled and said, "But I don't know either. What should we do?"

Disappointment flickered in Su Chan’s eyes: "Ah? You don't know either? Then... then what should we do?"

Li Yundong also put on a troubled expression: "Yes, what should we do?"

Su Chan gazed pleadingly at Li Yundong, appearing as if she wanted to speak but hesitated. After a long pause, she stammered out, "My master once told me... after reaching the Golden Body realm, the best and fastest way to cultivate is..."

Li Yundong inwardly chuckled, thinking: As expected of my girl, she thought of the same thing as me! So she came to find me because we coincidentally reached the same conclusion?

But Li Yundong deliberately pretended ignorance and laughed, "Is what? Hurry up and tell me!"

Su Chan’s eyes grew shyer, her face redder, the snowy porcelain skin of her neck flushing so deeply it seemed blood might seep out. She lowered her head, biting her red lips tightly, and after a while, she seemed to steel her resolve, suddenly lifting her head, about to utter a mortifying sentence.

But the moment the little girl looked up, she saw Li Yundong watching her with a knowing, half-smile, his gaze teasingly provocative.

Su Chan’s heart became as clear as a mirror; it turned out her great master understood everything and was just teasing her!