The twelve wooden boxes remained upon the table.
No one reached for them.
The medicinal fragrance lingering in the room was rich enough to refresh the mind, each herb releasing a faint strand of spiritual essence that intertwined with the others. Even without refining them into pills, they were already treasures capable of making ordinary cultivators jealous.
Mo Xuan slowly walked toward them. His fingers hovered above the nearest box. The prescription was complete. His heart pounded. After nearly two years of despair...
The first step had finally become possible.
That evening, after everyone had retired, Mo Xuan carried the book into his room once more. He carefully opened the page describing the body-tempering process. The Living Script glowed faintly beneath the candlelight.
Mo Xuan immediately leaned closer.
"The body is the vessel.
The soul is the flame.
When the vessel is weak, the flame scatters.
Strengthen the vessel first.
Only then can the broken soul endure Heaven's will."
He frowned thoughtfully.
The thought completely overturned everything he had learned during the past year.
Turning the page, the remaining instructions appeared. They were astonishingly simple. Grind every herb into powder. Boil them together for six hours. Enter it while the heat is less but still boils. Remain inside for three days. Do not leave. No matter the pain.
No matter what happens. Do not leave.
Mo Xuan's eyes stopped on those final words. They appeared three separate times. Each written more heavily than the last. As though Mo Song himself had wanted to ensure no one ignored them.
"…Three days," he murmured.
He couldn't imagine enduring that. Yet compared to spending the rest of his life unable to cultivate... three days suddenly seemed very short.
The next morning, Mo Kang returned from the marketplace carrying an enormous cauldron. Two craftsmen followed behind, carefully lowering it into the abandoned hut where Mo Xuan had spent the previous year feeding blood to the ancient book.
Mo Xuan blinked. "...Father?"
Mo Kang smiled. "You'll need somewhere to soak."
"You..."
His father laughed. "I don't know what kind of body-strengthening method you've found."
"But if it requires medicinal baths..."
"...we might as well prepare properly."
Mo Xuan looked around the hut. The broken furniture had disappeared.
The cracked roof had been repaired. Fresh timber reinforced the walls.
Even the shattered windows had been replaced with sturdy wooden shutters. Mo Xuan stood silently in the middle of the room.
Just a year ago...
This had been nothing more than an abandoned ruin where he secretly met an ancient inheritance.
Now...
Without knowing the truth, his father had transformed it into a place where he could begin a new life.
By midday, preparations had begun. The twelve herbs were carefully washed according to the instructions recorded within the book.
Mo Kang volunteered to grind the tougher roots using a heavy stone mortar, but Mo Xuan declined, saying he didn't need to bother him and he could prepare the rest himself.
Mo Kang looked at him suspiciously. He seemed ready to ask another question, but eventually sighed and stepped away.
"Be careful," he said.
Mo Xuan carefully tended the enormous iron cauldron suspended above the fire. Steam gradually rose into the winter air. One by one, the herbs entered the boiling water.
The colour changed slowly. Clear water became pale gold. Gold deepened into crimson.
By evening...
The entire hut was filled with an incredibly rich medicinal aroma.
Faint strands of spiritual essence were slowly drifting toward the cauldron from every direction, disappearing into the bubbling medicinal liquid.
Only the old book remained open on the stone table. Its pages fluttered gently despite the absence of wind, as though it already recognised that the first revolution was about to begin.
The medicinal bath continued boiling throughout the night.
According to the book, the heat had to remain constant from the moment the first herb entered the cauldron until the final refinement was complete. A single mistake would destroy the medicinal properties of every ingredient.
Mo Xuan remained beside the fire, carefully adjusting the flames beneath the enormous iron cauldron. From time to time, he added another piece of seasoned Spirit Oak, ensuring the temperature never fluctuated. His face glistened with sweat despite the winter air.
The medicinal fragrance had become so dense that breathing alone left a faint warmth inside the body.
Mo Xuan quietly opened the book once more. The Living Script glowed gently beneath the lamplight.
"The First Revolution tempers flesh.
The Second Revolution tempers bone.
The Third Revolution tempers blood.
Only when the mortal body becomes an unbreakable vessel can Heaven be challenged.
The pain you suffer today...
Will become the strength you rely upon tomorrow."
Mo Xuan slowly exhaled. "So this is only..."
"...the beginning."
His excitement gradually settled into determination. For nearly two years, he had searched for a single opportunity. Now that it stood before him...
He refused to waste it.
As dawn approached, the crimson liquid finally began to change. The violent boiling gradually subsided. Instead of bubbles, faint strands of golden mist rose from the surface, slowly spiralling toward the ceiling before disappearing into the air.
He looked toward the book. "It says when it becomes like this, it means the medicine has finished refining."
He walked toward the cauldron. The once-thick liquid had become astonishingly clear. Only its deep crimson colour remained. Looking into it felt almost like staring into a pool of liquid jade. Mo Xuan carefully reread the final instruction.
The bath was ready. Silence settled over the hut, broken only by the gentle crackling of the fire beneath the cauldron. Without another word, he removed his outer robe and neatly folded it beside the ancient book.
The crimson steam wrapped around him immediately. Even standing beside the cauldron caused his skin to tingle. It was as though countless tiny needles were pricking every inch of his body. He hesitated for only a heartbeat.
Then he stepped inside.
The instant his right foot touched the medicinal liquid, his pupils contracted violently. An unbearable burning sensation erupted from the sole of his foot and surged through his entire body like molten metal. Before he could react...
His left foot entered as well. The pain multiplied instantly. It was nothing like ordinary heat. It felt as though every muscle, every tendon, every drop of blood inside him had been thrown into a furnace.
Mo Xuan bit down hard enough to draw blood from his lip. His body trembled violently. His knees nearly gave way. The warning inside the book flashed through his mind.
Do not leave.
No matter the pain.
He slowly lowered himself until the medicinal liquid reached his shoulders. The moment his entire body submerged—
Pain exploded.
It was as though the flames of the Nine Heavens had entered every pore of his body at once. His vision blurred. Every vein beneath his skin lit up in crimson. The water around him began to churn violently without anyone touching it.
Golden strands of medicinal essence surged into his flesh from every direction. Mo Xuan's hands gripped the edge of the cauldron until his knuckles turned white. A muffled groan escaped his lips.
This was only the beginning. Three days remained.
Pain.
Pure.
Absolute.
There was no longer any distinction between flesh and bone, between skin and blood. Everything burned.
It felt as though countless invisible hands had reached inside his body and begun tearing every muscle apart before stitching it back together, only to repeat the process again and again.
His fingers dug so deeply into the edge of the cauldron that it splintered beneath his grip.
Crack.
Thin fractures spread across the polished rim.
Mo Xuan's entire body shook violently under the force of the agony.
The medicinal bath continued changing. The once-calm crimson liquid began to rotate slowly around him. At first, the current was gentle. Then faster.
Soon, the entire cauldron resembled a slowly spinning whirlpool. Golden strands of medicinal essence peeled away from the liquid and entered Mo Xuan's body through every pore.
Each strand that entered him ignited another wave of unbearable pain. He bit down so hard that blood trickled from the corner of his mouth.
Yet... He made no sound.
An hour passed. Then another.
The pain never lessened. Instead...
It changed.
The burning sensation gradually spread deeper.
Past the muscles.
Past the meridians.
Into the bones themselves.
Mo Xuan felt as though molten iron had been poured directly into his skeleton. Every movement became impossible. His breathing grew increasingly ragged.
His vision blurred repeatedly. Several times he nearly lost consciousness. Each time...
The searing pain dragged him back.
Inside his body...
The medicinal essence surged through his meridians like a raging river.
Every muscle fibre was torn apart.
Every tendon stretched to its limit.
Minute cracks appeared throughout his bones before rapidly healing under the influence of the medicine.
Destroy.
Restore.
Destroy.
Restore.
Again.
And again.
And again.
It was as though his entire body was being reforged inside an invisible furnace.
Without warning—
The Living Script inside the book shone brilliantly.
"The body of an ordinary man is like impure ore.
Only through countless refinements can true steel emerge."
The golden words pulsed once before becoming still.
Night gradually surrendered to dawn. The first rays of sunlight slipped through the repaired windows of the abandoned hut. The medicinal liquid had changed again.
Its deep crimson colour was noticeably lighter.
Nearly one-third of its medicinal essence had already disappeared into Mo Xuan's body.
His skin had become unnaturally red.