A year passed quietly.
For Lin Sheng, that year was almost uneventful, which was precisely what he wanted.
There had been no more assassins.
No sudden appearance of powerful enemies.
No strange disturbance from the Heavenly Mechanism.
No catastrophe descending from the skies.
After everything that had happened during the escort mission, the silence almost felt unnatural.
Yet Lin Sheng knew better than to complain about peace.
Peace was precious.
Especially when he was racing against time.
Within the Thunderbolt Martial Hall, the lives of his students had also progressed steadily.
Lou Feng, after a year of continuous cultivation, had finally stepped into the Mid Stage of Qi Refining while simultaneously reaching the peak of Rank 1 Body Refining.
His progress was not particularly monstrous compared with the true geniuses of the world, but it was steady, and more importantly, his foundation remained stable.
As for Su Yang, his situation was even more peculiar.
He was still establishing the foundation of his Internal Martial Arts cultivation while simultaneously cultivating his physical body.
His External Arts cultivation had already reached the Bone Refining Realm.
Yet despite possessing such strength, Su Yang had not become arrogant.
The Human Martial Rankings had remained mostly unchanged during the past year.
There had been some movement among the lower rankings as different martial artists challenged one another, but Su Yang's position remained firmly established.
That naturally attracted challengers.
After all, once someone entered the upper portion of the Human Martial Rankings, there would always be people who wanted to use them as a stepping stone.
Some of those challengers even knew where Su Yang lived.
They came looking for him directly.
Unfortunately for them, Su Yang simply ignored them.
He wasn't interested in wasting time fighting people merely because they wanted to prove themselves.
His cultivation had already reached Bone Refining, and the deeper stages of External Arts required increasingly greater effort.
The path after Bone Refining was not something that could be traversed through laziness.
At his current pace, Su Yang estimated that he could reach the peak of Bone Refining and complete the Silver Steel Bone perfection state by the end of the year.
But that would only be the beginning.
After that, he would need another year to properly comprehend his own martial style and transform that comprehension into Martial Intent before attempting Marrow Cleansing.
There was no point in rushing.
The deeper one went into External Arts, the more important the foundation became.
Every step was connected to the next.
A weak foundation at one stage would eventually become an obstacle at another.
Su Yang understood this clearly.
As long as nothing unexpected happened, he should be ready by the time the Five-Year Appointment arrived.
That was enough.
For now.
But while Su Yang continued steadily advancing...
Lin Sheng was moving at an entirely different pace.
His External Arts training had already begun long ago.
And unlike ordinary martial artists, he did not need to spend years searching for suitable techniques.
He had already studied an enormous number of External Arts.
The techniques obtained from the Su Family.
The techniques acquired through the auction house.
The countless methods gathered through treating patients.
Even incomplete and inferior methods had value in his hands because Lin Sheng could dissect them, compare their principles, identify their weaknesses, and extract whatever was useful.
After spending so much time analyzing the Body Refining Realm, the four foundational perfection states were no longer mysterious to him.
Iron Skin.
Bronze Muscles.
Ox Tendons.
Silver Steel Bones.
For ordinary practitioners, achieving even one of these perfection states could become the defining accomplishment of their entire Body Refining cultivation.
For Lin Sheng...
They were merely components.
He had already understood how they were supposed to connect.
The true transformation occurred when the four perfected states ceased being independent achievements and began merging together.
Skin.
Muscles.
Tendons.
Bones.
All four belonged to the physical body, yet they existed at different levels.
When they were perfected separately, the Qi-Blood patterns generated within each part remained incomplete.
Only when the four were completely integrated could those fragmented patterns fuse into something whole.
Vajra Body.
And Lin Sheng had achieved it directly.
The moment the transformation completed, his entire physical structure underwent a change that could not be described simply as becoming stronger.
His flesh became denser.
His muscles became more compact.
His tendons seemed to possess a strange resilience that ordinary tendons could never possess.
His bones became like tempered divine metal.
More importantly, the four perfected foundations no longer operated independently.
When Lin Sheng moved, strength flowed through his entire body without obstruction.
The force generated from his feet could travel through his legs, waist, spine, shoulders, arms, and finally erupt from his fingertips as though the entire body were a single weapon.
His Qi-Blood circulated through this newly completed structure with unprecedented efficiency.
Yet Lin Sheng knew that Vajra Body was not the end.
It was the foundation.
The next step was Marrow Cleansing.
And today...
He was about to take that step.
Lin Sheng sat quietly within his secluded courtyard.
There was no grand ceremony.
No crowd of spectators.
No martial artist standing nearby waiting for the breakthrough.
There was only silence.
His eyes were closed.
His breathing was slow.
Within his body, however, an enormous transformation was already beginning.
The Qi-Blood within his Vajra Body began moving.
At first, it flowed slowly.
Then faster.
The circulation gradually became like a great river surging through countless channels.
Every movement of Qi-Blood caused a faint vibration throughout his flesh.
His muscles trembled.
His bones hummed.
His tendons tightened and relaxed in perfect rhythm.
Then the Qi-Blood began moving inward.
Deeper.
Past the flesh.
Past the muscles.
Past the tendons.
Past the bones.
Until it finally reached the marrow.
Lin Sheng's expression remained calm.
The three great marrows had always been hidden within the deepest portions of the human body.
Bone marrow.
Spinal marrow.
Brain marrow.
Ordinary martial artists could strengthen their body through External Arts, but reaching this stage was completely different.
Marrow was not something that could simply be hammered into strength.
It had to be cleansed.
Refined.
Transformed.
The Qi-Blood entered his bone marrow first.
The instant it touched it, Lin Sheng felt an indescribable sensation spread through his body.
It wasn't pain in the ordinary sense.
It was as though every bone in his body had suddenly become hollow and a raging current had begun washing through its deepest interior.
His fingers twitched.
His toes curled.
The Qi-Blood continued.
One bone.
Then another.
The marrow of his limbs began changing.
The previously hidden impurities were gradually forced outward as the Qi-Blood washed through the marrow again and again.
Lin Sheng remained motionless.
His consciousness was incredibly clear.
He could perceive every transformation occurring within his body.
He could feel the marrow becoming cleaner.
Denser.
More vigorous.
The amount of Qi-Blood his body could generate was beginning to increase.
But Lin Sheng did not stop.
He had no intention of settling for ordinary Clear Marrow.
His goal was Frost Marrow.
And because his foundation was already Vajra Body, he possessed the qualification to attempt it.
More importantly...
He had something ordinary martial artists didn't.
An enormous amount of accumulated knowledge.
And an even more enormous supply of resources.
The spiritual energy that Lin Sheng had accumulated over the years began pouring into his body.
It was refined through his cultivation methods before being absorbed by his physical foundation.
Spiritual energy entered his body like an endless stream.
Then it was converted.
Refined.
Integrated.
The energy did not merely strengthen his muscles anymore.
It began nourishing the marrow itself.
Lin Sheng's bone marrow gradually developed a faint crystalline quality.
The transformation continued upward.
The marrow within his spine began responding.
The spinal marrow was far more important than the marrow of the limbs.
It served as a tremendous reservoir for Qi-Blood.
As it was cleansed, the amount of Qi-Blood Lin Sheng could store began increasing rapidly.
The quality improved as well.
His Qi-Blood became thicker.
More vigorous.
More concentrated.
Then came the most dangerous portion.
Brain marrow.
Lin Sheng's expression finally became slightly solemn.
The brain marrow was different.
This was the reason most External Arts practitioners refused to attempt perfection in Marrow Cleansing.
The brain was too important.
A mistake here could cripple the practitioner permanently.
Yet Lin Sheng had already calculated everything.
His foundation was strong enough.
His spirit was strong enough.
His control was strong enough.
And his comprehension was sufficient.
There was no reason for him to stop.
He guided the Qi-Blood upward.
Slowly.
Carefully.
It entered the deepest portion of his skull.
For a moment...
Nothing happened.
Then—
Boom!
Lin Sheng's entire consciousness shook.
A terrifying wave of sensation exploded through his mind.
His body remained completely still, but inside his consciousness, it was as though an enormous bell had been struck.
The Qi-Blood continued washing through his brain marrow.
Again.
And again.
Each circulation caused the marrow to become cleaner.
The temperature of his body began dropping.
At first, it was subtle.
Then the surrounding air gradually became colder.
A thin layer of frost appeared on the stone beneath him.
Lin Sheng didn't notice.
His entire attention was focused inward.
The transformation had reached its most important moment.
The Vajra Body that had previously represented the fusion of his skin, muscles, tendons, and bones was now being pushed into a deeper state.
The marrow itself was beginning to undergo a qualitative transformation.
Cold.
Pure.
Dense.
The sensation wasn't the cold of winter.
It was a deeper cold, one that seemed to originate from the very essence of his body.
The Qi-Blood within him became increasingly strange.
It no longer flowed like ordinary blood.
It carried an immense density.
Every drop seemed capable of containing astonishing vitality.
Lin Sheng's heartbeat sounded like thunder within his chest.
Boom.
Boom.
Boom.
With every heartbeat, his Qi-Blood surged.
The spiritual energy surrounding him was swallowed into his body.
His marrow responded.
The transformation deepened.
Then, finally...
A faint crystalline radiance emerged from within his bones.
Lin Sheng opened his eyes.
For an instant, the world seemed different.
His pupils were calm.
His body was still.
Yet the pressure emanating from him had changed completely.
He had crossed another boundary.
Frost Marrow.
But Lin Sheng didn't stop there.
The moment Frost Marrow stabilized, the enormous reserves of spiritual energy he had prepared began pouring into his body once again.
He had no intention of cultivating this realm normally.
He wanted to push it further.
Much further.
The transformation of the marrow continued.
The frost-like quality gradually became deeper.
The marrow became increasingly pure.
The Qi-Blood generated from it became richer and more concentrated.
Lin Sheng could vaguely sense that something else was forming.
A qualitative transformation in his Qi-Blood.
A change that would eventually allow it to develop the characteristics of mercury.