The cost to reach the third level was 300 Slaughter Points, and this time the point of focus was on Li Ling's arms, from his shoulder joints to the tips of his digits, shattered and rebuilt while using different resources for his nerves and muscles compared to what was used for his bones and cartilage.

Afterward, his range of Blood Aura increased to 20 meters, and its potency was slightly higher, but not by much compared to when it converted upwards from Blood Qi. After all, one was a major realm breakthrough and another was a minor realm, so the benefits gained would not be the same.

Li Ling persevered into the fourth stage of Body Foundation, which was a small watershed. Here, the focus was in the lower torso area, particularly the liver, kidneys, and stomach—three vital organs with esoteric roots. Any mistake here and one could not only cripple their body cultivation practice but also potentially die!

This was why most of the Body Foundation experts Li Ling had fought until now were always below the fourth realm, with those above it not even surpassing three or four in number.

For Li Ling, it was over in about a minute or so after he pushed a button, feeling everything above his diaphragm and below his ribs break and then recombine to become something with a higher starting point than before.

This also affected his Blood Aura, which shot up to 35 meters around him, its overall potency now 1.25 times stronger than when it was at level one of this same realm.

Li Ling patted his abdomen with a weird look, making sure his stomach was still there before releasing a sigh of relief. He had great respect for cultivation and especially cultivators who pushed through these tough challenges on their own, because he was not entirely sure he could do the same unless his life was in danger.

Then again, living in a cultivation world, your life was always in danger.

The fourth stage cost 400 Slaughter Points, and now the fifth stage cost 500, seemingly increasing by a factor of a hundred each time for each level. The focus of this minor realm was also why most of those who Li Ling encountered in the mid-stage of Body Foundation stayed at level four, with only one other person at level six.

Because now, it was time to handle the crotch area!

For women, this was dangerous, but the worst that could happen was either losing sensitivity or becoming barren—two things most ambitious female cultivators did not care about anyway. But for males, this suddenly became a life-and-death matter.

Even the most kind-hearted and righteous sword sage wore a tough expression with hard features when encountering this realm, only pushing forward after praying to Buddha, Daojun, the Jade Emperor, and even the Demon Lord for protection.

Even Li Ling, who had an almighty system, paused for a bit to make a small prayer to his future self, who was undoubtedly a Celestial God at the peak of cultivation, before continuing further.

Li Ling 'pressed' the button and immediately became blue in the face as everything there… disappeared. Usually, most men took it for granted when it was there, but when it was gone, it was like a gaping void where your confidence and pride should be, making Li Ling wonder how eunuchs managed to withstand it.

When it finally came back online, Li Ling couldn't help but shed a tear of relief. He really hoped future realms did not have sub-realms where one needed to destroy and reforge body parts again, because once was enough.

His Blood Aura surged by ten meters to breach 45 meters in radius, not enjoying a huge boost like when breaking through the watershed minor realms.

The sixth level of Body Foundation cost 600 Slaughter Points and focused on the thighs and gluteus. From what Li Ling read in the Six Paths Demon Sect forums, the various female cultivators of the entire Tian Ming Continent usually tried to at least practice their body cultivation to this realm in order to reshape their second most important perceived asset.

That was why Bai Ruyi, delicate as she seemed, even practiced a rather meager body cultivation method all the way to Perfection of Body Foundation. This was also why both the Asura Blood Hall and Wild Beast Hall had an equal or slightly higher number of female cultivators at the lower levels.

Li Ling did not care much about this, only feeling weird while seated since his hip bones were smashed into nothing, meaning that he was basically sitting using raw skin and flesh, an extremely awkward feeling. Luckily, this did not take long until his backside was back and renewed.

Li Ling stood up and patted his butt to make sure it was solid and gave a thumbs up. This was a manly rump he had there!

His Blood Aura surged again by ten meters, stopping at 55 meters, and at this point, even the rapidly heating rocks beneath him began to wear away under the face of such malevolent power.

Next was another watershed—the seventh level of the Body Foundation realm—because one had to deal with another delicate and sensitive area, which was the neck and the spine!

In martial arts, the spine was called the dragon of the body, not only due to its coiling shape but also because it was the premier source of power for all actions. The list of functions and abilities the spine possessed was enough to write a whole booklet about, but its importance was something even those clueless about biology could recognize.

Li Ling wasted no time, lying down on the Mountain Splitting Blade as he initiated the 700 Slaughter Point cost upgrade, during which his head flopped to the side and his body became like loose rubber without the support of the spine, which was sequentially shattered and then replaced with something far superior.

His neck especially was troublesome, as his breathing was halted again and saliva pooled in his mouth since he couldn't swallow it down by reflex as people normally did. When it was done, Li Ling held his neck and coughed a few times to make sure everything was clear.

Then he jumped up and did a few stretches, noting that his flexibility had greatly increased, allowing him to perform some movements that even with the help of longer ligaments from previous breakthroughs were impossible for him.

Satisfied, Li Ling stopped playing around, especially noting that his Blood Aura had shot up by 15 meters again like the last watershed breakthrough, becoming 70 meters in total. At this point, he had to retract it a bit because it would cover the mortal lass and Kong Beiwu, who had quickly distanced themselves from Li Ling long ago.

Seeing that the mortal girl was truly suffering and in tears, her feet swollen from the pain of the heat that her shoes couldn't hold back, having to dance on the spot all this while, Kong Beiwu sighed and walked over to her, pulling her up and throwing her over his shoulder.

The young lass finally sighed with relief and felt grateful, not at all caring for the compromising position as long as she could avoid that suffering. Meanwhile, as she looked down, she saw that Kong Beiwu's own shoes had been burned through, but he released his Fire Qi to resist the heat from the rocks and stood stoically without breaking a sweat.

Meanwhile, Li Ling continued his upgrade without caring about the situation of the captive duo, paying 800 Slaughter Points to rise to the eighth level of Body Foundation, which was exactly where Huo Yang currently stood.

Here, one must work on their lower legs, from the knees to the ankles, which was rather straightforward. There was the usual discomfort, but Li Ling felt it was nothing compared to what came before and charged through, noting that his Blood Aura range increase had returned to normal levels, going up by ten meters to become 80 meters in total.

After that was the ninth level of Body Foundation, which was where one had to work on the feet specifically, and this actually required care, which was why Huo Yang had yet to break through. After all, the feet were the foundation of the body, and without them, walking was impossible while one's fighting potential would be severely crippled.

For Li Ling, it was a breeze—probably his fastest breakthrough since the area to destroy and rebuild was one of the smallest so far. He only paid 900 Slaughter Points and watched as his feet became limp, then reforged into something that could carry his new body with ease in the future.

Without even practicing, he knew that the Swift Swallow Step would display even greater prowess with the same amount of effort put in, just due to the completion of this level.

Not to mention, his Blood Aura grew again, reaching 90 meters in radius!

Breathing out, Li Ling glanced at the final hurdle with a smile that wasn't a smile. After all, he had spent a whopping 4,500 Slaughter Points so far on just the second realm of the body cultivation path, but who asked the Blood Asura Descent to be such a strong technique?

Its base price was equivalent to Foundation Establishment techniques when at the Mortal Flesh realm and was now equivalent to Core Formation techniques at the Body Foundation Realm.

The final realm was worth a cold 1,000 Slaughter Points, enough to even level up one of his immortal daoist arts!

Shaking his head at the cost, he still paid the price and closed his eyes to savor the final and most important realm of Body Foundation, the Perfection Realm!

Here, one must work on the most dangerous and most precious area of the body—the head and its contents!

Most practitioners stopped here, not daring to take a step forward because one mistake could lead to irreparable consequences, but that was not enough to stop true talents! There were many ways to safeguard the body during this realm, especially since it was to be done bit by bit over a period of time, but for Li Ling, it was a one-pump as usual!

When his brain and skull disappeared, causing his head to fall apart and look like a cartoon character who had been smashed by a mallet or an anvil, the young mortal lass who was looking over couldn't help but laugh due to how silly it looked.

Kong Beiwu frowned but only dared to twitch his lips, stifling whatever amusement he felt inwardly. As for Li Ling, he marveled at the fact that despite his head being smashed, his mind was still active and his Sea of Consciousness was unharmed, allowing him to think, use his spirit sense, and access his spiritual space.

This was actually a good thing because it meant he did not have to rely on his actual physical brain to access these features, which gave him a lot of leeway before the Nascent Soul.

As for the laughing duo, he did not mind them at all. One was destined to become the sex toy of a fat pig and the other was going to have his spiritual root extracted while alive through excruciating torture, so they should enjoy this moment of levity because it likely would be their last.

Li Ling's head reshaped itself into place, with the young man moving his jaw about and knocking on his skull a bit, also shaking his head left to right to feel his brain moving about in there. Seeing that everything was in place, he sighed with relief and couldn't help but smile, finally having reached the Perfection of Body Foundation!

And when he unveiled his Blood Aura, he was surprised to find that it actually shot up to 150 meters, which was much higher than he expected, as the norm was 120 meters upon reaching Perfection!

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