Shi Yan repeatedly brought his spiritual power close to the Earth Core Fire, constantly spreading his goodwill.

Gradually, he began to treat the Earth Core Fire as a friend. The Profound Ice Cold Flame used its understanding to meticulously guide Shi Yan through every step. Its method proved effective; using its guidance, Shi Yan slowly gained the Earth Core Fire's recognition, leading the fire to completely drop its guard against him.

One day.

The moment Shi Yan’s spiritual consciousness entered the blazing sphere where the Earth Core Fire resided, he immediately sensed the fire's joy.

The faint consciousness of the Earth Core Fire, like a mischievous child, enveloped Shi Yan's spiritual consciousness, dragging it to tumble and spin within the flames. The Earth Core Fire truly regarded Shi Yan as a friend. This nascent life form, not yet fully formed, was incredibly pure. After Shi Yan continuously displayed his goodwill, the Earth Core Fire slowly began to rely on him. The moment his spiritual consciousness appeared, it would express overwhelming delight, pulling Shi Yan’s consciousness to play. Whenever Shi Yan’s spiritual power prepared to withdraw, the Earth Core Fire would linger with reluctance.

On a few occasions, it even wrapped around Shi Yan's spiritual consciousness, refusing to let him leave.

This filled Shi Yan with delight. He felt a genuine surge of affection, as if this Earth Core Fire were his own child, so dependent, so simple and guileless. In his heart, he no longer viewed obtaining the Earth Core Fire as the primary goal; through this period of interaction, he had truly grown fond of this little being.

A few times, while conversing with the Profound Ice Cold Flame, he repeatedly inquired whether his methods might harm the Earth Core Fire. The Profound Ice Cold Flame also detected Shi Yan’s subtle shift, realizing that through his time spent with the Earth Core Fire, Shi Yan had developed protective affection for it.

The Profound Ice Cold Flame explicitly stated that as long as there was no forceful domination, his approach was not only harmless to the Earth Core Fire but would actually accelerate the rapid formation of its life, bringing only benefits and no harm whatsoever.

With the Profound Ice Cold Flame’s assurance, Shi Yan truly set his mind at ease, treating his interactions with the Earth Core Fire as a source of pleasure. He discovered that under the contact of his spiritual consciousness, the Earth Core Fire's emotions seemed to become richer and richer. It began to resemble a person more, exhibiting joy, reluctance, and a faint sadness... Shi Yan felt that the life of the Earth Core Fire was indeed slowly undergoing a transformation.

Another day came.

As his spiritual consciousness attempted to withdraw from the fiery sphere of the Earth Core Fire, the fire used its flame power to tightly bind Shi Yan’s spiritual consciousness, preventing him from leaving.

It was like a small child clinging to a parent, refusing to leave their embrace. Shi Yan could only reluctantly slow the withdrawal of his spiritual consciousness, allowing the little one to drag it through the fiery mass, playing until it tired itself out. Only then did it relax its hold on Shi Yan, giving him the opportunity to break free.

“You can go down now,” the Profound Ice Cold Flame transmitted again. “I believe even if your main body approaches it now, it will not attack you. Its attachment to you now surpasses its wariness of me. Even if you carry some of my aura, it will treat you as kin.”

Having waited so long for this moment, Shi Yan felt a sudden hesitation. “Will borrowing its power to temper the Soul Gathering Pearl affect it?”

“No,” the Profound Ice Cold Flame replied, with a hint of strange emotion. “You truly have come to regard it as family, starting to consider its welfare in everything you do. This is excellent. It can feel your sincerity. Beings like us are incredibly **; we can sense sincerity or falsehood directly from your soul. Since you treat it this way, it has perceived that our operation, up to this point, has actually succeeded.”

Shi Yan was astonished. “This is considered success?”

“As long as it does not resist you and accepts you as kin, everything else will follow naturally,” the Profound Ice Cold Flame responded. “However, if you wish for it to follow you, you will need to do a few more things. You must utilize its flame power. First, temper your own body with it, so that your physical form carries the flame power it favors. You don't need much, just enough to carry its aura is sufficient.”

“How do I do that?”

“Drawing upon the flame power to temper your body will also greatly benefit you. I told you I would repay you with my knowledge. I will teach you a method of body tempering that can cleanse the impurities in your body, forging your physical form to be even stronger.”

“In the past, martial artists placed great importance on the cultivation of the physical body, viewing the tempering of the flesh as equally important as condensing essence. Their physical bodies were incredibly robust; relying solely on their bodies, they could overturn mountains and rivers without using vital essence! A powerful physique maximizes the body’s potential. It seems that martial artists nowadays do not emphasize body tempering as much, focusing only on essence and the soul. This actually carries significant drawbacks…”

The Profound Ice Cold Flame spoke eloquently, detailing the fundamentals of martial arts—the body, essence, and soul—with thorough explanations.

According to the Profound Ice Cold Flame, past martial artists valued the body, essence, and soul equally. Some martial artists with peculiar Martial Souls even prioritized the physical body over cultivating essence and soul.

These martial artists used various methods to temper their flesh, possessing terrifying power purely through their physical forms. They subjected their bodies to thousands of refinements, much like forging divine weapons, allowing their flesh to harbor immense strength, even manifesting various divine abilities.

Martial artists with strong physiques possessed far stronger Jing, Qi, and Shen than their peers, and their utilization of essence and soul was also superior to martial artists of the same rank. In combat, a physically powerful martial artist held advantages across the board and would almost certainly defeat one who did not focus on body cultivation.

The Profound Ice Cold Flame’s exposition greatly resonated with Shi Yan. Both of his Martial Souls, Petrification and Undying, were connected to the physical body. If he were to temper his physique, placing emphasis on forging and refining his flesh, his rewards would far surpass those of ordinary martial artists.

However, he had rarely heard of methods for body tempering. Many martial skills focused primarily on the application of vital essence, with few dedicated to physical body cultivation. The Shi Family’s Finger Thrust Art barely qualified as a body-tempering technique, but it only targeted the ten fingers, which was too restrictive; it could only train the fingers, not the whole body. Such a skill could not be considered a true method of body tempering.

Yet, the Profound Ice Cold Flame had existed for countless years, possessing the knowledge of several God-Realm experts. It held the methods for body tempering, precisely what Shi Yan needed most at this moment!

Before Shi Yan had agreed to the Profound Ice Cold Flame’s conditions, the flame would never have so readily offered to teach him body tempering methods. Even if forced by circumstances, any knowledge shared would surely have been incomplete.

But now, the Profound Ice Cold Flame had not only thoroughly explained the importance of body cultivation and the relationship between the body, essence, and soul, but had also proactively offered to teach him the cultivation methods.

Shi Yan increasingly felt that his decision to agree to the Profound Ice Cold Flame’s terms was indeed the right one. “Let’s go down first.”

After its detailed explanation, the Profound Ice Cold Flame urged Shi Yan to descend to the bottom of the magma pool. “Now you can rest assured; the Earth Core Fire absolutely will not attack you. When you reach the Fire Crystal Jade where the Earth Core Fire resides, you only need to take out the Soul Gathering Pearl and place it on the Jade. The fiery energy emanating from the Fire Crystal Jade will temper the Pearl; you don't need to do anything.”

“Yes, I understand,” Shi Yan replied. Finally ceasing his lingering, he activated his physical power and sank further below.

Soon, a dazzling rainbow light suddenly entered his sight. On the crimson stone floor of the magma pool, a disc-sized, crystalline Fire Crystal Jade emitted light and heat, like the midday sun in summer, radiating scarlet brilliance and intense fiery power.

The disc-sized Fire Crystal Jade was crystal clear, breathtakingly beautiful, and encircled by shimmering, flowing light.

Within it, a fist-sized sphere of scarlet flame swayed gracefully, oscillating at the center of the Fire Crystal Jade, sending out rings of intensely violent heat.

This scarlet flame, only the size of a fist, constantly shifted, transforming sometimes into a flower, sometimes into a crimson fruit, sometimes into a human face—infinitely varied, never taking a fixed form.

This flame was clearly not inanimate; it seemed to be perpetually changing, brimming with vitality, like a myriad-transforming miniature sun, releasing terrifying light and heat through the Fire Crystal Jade. Even Shi Yan, suspended in the solidified ice condensed by the Profound Ice Cold Flame and still far from the Jade, felt waves of heat rolling over him.

This searing heat seemed capable of piercing the ice covering his entire body, penetrating directly into his soul, making Shi Yan entirely uncomfortable.

“Is that the Earth Core Fire?”

Shi Yan gazed intently, secretly astonished.

“Yes, that is the Earth Core Fire,” the Profound Ice Cold Flame responded. “Don’t worry too much. While the ice enveloping your body cannot completely negate the penetrating thermal energy, it can block the majority of it.”

“This is only the beginning. After placing the Soul Gathering Pearl on the Fire Crystal Jade, I will gradually reduce the penetration force on that flame. You will feel more thermal energy flowing in. You need to absorb that energy bit by bit into your entire body’s meridians, bones, flesh, and cells, just like forging a divine weapon—using the flame power to temper your body thousands of times over.”

“The cultivation of the physical body is much more arduous than that of essence and soul! It will be accompanied by excruciating pain, which many cannot endure. This is likely why martial artists nowadays are gradually abandoning body tempering.”

“Rest assured, my nerve’s tolerance is much stronger than that of ordinary people. Pain that others cannot withstand is not an issue for me.”

Shi Yan spoke with complete confidence. Before descending into this world, he was already an extreme enthusiast, constantly challenging limits in a self-abusive manner, possessing a tolerance for pain far exceeding that of common people.

After arriving here, he brought his advantages to full play along the path of martial cultivation!

The practice of the Finger Thrust Art, the control of Berserk Martial Skills... every martial skill required him to first be ruthless to himself!

With this foundation, he feared nothing.

“Let’s hope so. If that is the case, our speed will increase significantly. And you, you will gain far greater benefits. Perhaps, after this tempering, the Martial Souls within you can also evolve!”

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