Apotheosis – Ascension to Godhood

Great Efforts

Luo Zheng splashed a large bucket of water on himself. The water carrying white impurities flowed on the ground.

His flesh was void of any impurities after reaching the Bone Refinement Realm. The white impurities he was expelling from his body were impurities from his bones.

Luo Zheng felt refreshed after expelling the impurities from his body.

Steward Fang didn't dare to give him anymore grief these days, allowing him to have more space for himself.

Once night fell, Luo Zhang lifted his iron bed up and leaned it against the stone wall of the cellar. He then created a wooden dummy, by wrapping cotton around his bedframe.

Most of the force is absorbed by the thick stone walls, as the bed is pressed firmly against the stone wall. That reduces the impact enough, so that Luo Zheng wouldn't break the iron bed with a few punches. Additionally, the cotton reduces the noise his punches make to the absolute minimum. Further, being that it's an underground cellar, nobody knew that he was training in secret.

The Rosewood Fist he used was a style passed down for centuries by the Luo Clan. It was a supreme style that wasn't taught to outsiders. In fact, it was rarely taught to collateral descendants.

He was able to obtain mastery over the techniques in Rosewood Fist he once couldn't master, after reaching the Bone Refine Realm.

"Rosewood Fist - One Inch Technique!"

*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*

The sound of seven punches hitting the wall rang out.

Rosewood Fist - One Inch Technique was the most advanced technique in Rosewood Fist. The amount of damage dealt and the harm caused were testaments to the power of the One Inch Technique.

Seven muffled sounds meant seven injuries. Luo Zheng wasn't too satisfied with the result.

His father once told him that he'd be able to inflict eighth degree damage once he reached the Bone Refinement Realm, yet he was only able to inflict seventh degree damage. His comprehension of Rosewood Fist - One Inch Technique was, therefore, still lacking.

'It looks like I still need to continue training diligently!'

He continued to throw punch after punch at the cotton, with each punch making muffled sounds.

Luo Zheng's strength increased tremendously, after reaching the Bone Refinement Realm.

Luo Peiran had already reached the peak of the Bone Refinement Realm, so each of his punches was over six-hundred kilograms of force. For Luo Zheng who had just reached the Bone Refinement Realm, the force of his punch was estimated to be around four hundred to four hundred and eighty kilograms of force.

It wasn't enough.

The most important thing was that Luo Zheng wanted to enter the Azure Cloud Sect.

Luo Zheng felt a heavy weight on his heart whenever he thought of his younger sister being locked up at Purgatory Mountain.

'Luo Yan was always a very obedient girl. There's no chance that she stirred up trouble. She must've been framed by somebody.'

He had to enter the Azure Cloud Sect, for that was the only way he could protect Luo Yan.

*Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!*

The strength of his punches increased again.

The Azure Cloud Sect is the largest sect in the Imperial Capital. Every year, they recruit disciples from within the vicinity of the entire Imperial Capital.

All the young individuals of the Imperial Capital, also, consider joining the Azure Cloud Sect to be their biggest goal. The Azure Cloud Sect possesses the most excellent resources for cultivating, as well as the most formidable individuals as their teachers.

However, the requirements for joining the Azure Cloud Sect were extremely strict.

You needed to either possess extraordinary talent, such as his sister, Luo Yan - who got recruited - or you had to possess extremely formidable skills. You had to be a standout among the young people. Merely reaching the Bone Refinement Realm was unlikely to be adequate.

'I'm now being tempered by having somebody hit me. My body is improving with each passing day, but I need to improve rapidly in a short space of time. I still need to train hard!'

Once he told himself that, he punched toward the stone wall again.

Luo Zheng was an individual with a phenomenally strong desire to learn martial arts. He used to be meticulous, training diligently step by step. Even his father sang high praise for him, complimenting his determination.

However, he was demoted to a slave after his father's death. That dealt a big blow to his mentality, causing him to hit a plateau with his martial arts pursuits. Now, though, Luo Zheng had regained his confidence and was now giving his all, in order to achieve his goal.

He, literally, didn't sleep all night.

He punched the cotton countless times, causing the cotton to be plastered to the stone wall, closely together. He had to gently rip the cotton off from the wall with his hands, so that the wall looked normal again.

Then again, during the day, he'd throw punches endlessly and temper his body endlessly.

Luo Zheng had, even, become enthusiastic about getting beat up, for the sake of cultivating as fast as possible.

There was a risk of his plan being exposed if he took the initiative to ask descendants of the Luo Clan to beat him, since it would be highly suspicious if he didn't have a single injury, after taking so many beatings.

However, Luo Zheng couldn't be concerned with all that. His only choice was to take as many beatings as possible, for the sake of tempering his body as fast as possible. That was the only way for him to rapidly improve his strength.

Some Luo Clan descendants were, indeed, bewildered. Luo Zheng was taking more and more beatings, but he was in higher and higher spirits. In what way does that sound like somebody who's taking beatings? It sounds like he's dishing out the beatings!

But then, when they thought about how he was still alive and kicking after being a punching bag for two years, they reasoned that it would be plausible to describe him as having a strong life force. They had no interest in trying to decipher the mystery behind a punching bag. They were training to hit people - not training how to take a beating - after all. They couldn't be bothered trying to figure it out, even if Luo Zheng did have some sort of unique defence technique,

Luo Zheng had managed to cleanse more and more impurities from his bones. The clear water he used for washing up immediately turned milk white, as soon as it ran down to the ground. It looked as if it was rich milk.

Every day, he, practically, cleansed the equivalent of months' worth of impurities from his body, by utilising the warm current to temper his body. One day's worth of beatings was equal to months of cultivation for others. That cultivation speed was miraculous!

He took beatings during the day and practiced his physical techniques at night. He diligently trained, without stopping for a second.

The total amount of sleep he's gotten during this time is unlikely to, even, total ten hours, but he showed no signs of fatigue. His eyes were as bright and clear as always.

The primary reason he was so energetic was because of the mysterious "Nine Dragon Cauldron" in his head. The Nine Dragon Cauldron refined his soul once, on that day. His soul was shattered thousands of times, and each time it shattered, the pain was worse than death.

After surviving the agony of that experience, however, he had always been in high spirits, so his spirit must've been trained!

The hardest component of the human body to train is one's soul. Everybody can train their body, including those who don't practice martial arts. One's soul is located deep within at a mysterious location, though. It can't be seen or touched, similar to the illusionary shore in Buddhist scriptures. It's very difficult for one to train.

It's said that there are a few further advanced secret manuals at the Azure Cloud Sect; and that those manuals are the only way one could influence their soul. Such books include the "Soul Refinement Art", for example, and similar types of classics.

Luo Zheng had no way of reaching those mysterious realms, but neither did he want to concern himself with them. If he didn't need to sleep, he had more time to cultivate.

Twenty days went by.

*Boom!*

Luo Zheng's punch created a crack in the thick stone wall of the cellar.

He only put seventy percent of his full strength into the punch, but it was frighteningly powerful. If he didn't hold back, the cellar probably would've collapsed under his power.

Luo Zheng's abilities saw improvement once again, after half a month of tempering.

He jumped from the mid-tier of the Bone Refinement Realm to the peak of the Bone Refinement Realm. He was now capable of producing six-hundred kilograms of force with one hand, which meant that he had reached Stage One Strength.

For a martial practitioner, Stage One Strength was a boundary. Once one reaches that stage, they'll be able to officially enter the realm of a warrior.

Luo Zheng managed to graduate from many levels when he went from the peak of the Flesh Refinement Realm to the peak of the Bone Refinement Realm, which took him less than a month's time. There was unlikely to be a second individual in the Imperial Capital, who could cultivate at that speed, let alone in Luo Clan.

After all, training methods to temper one's body for the purpose of cleansing impurities was a process that relied on determination, persistence and decades of cultivation.

For others, the amount of impurities they could expel daily was pitiful.

Using tempering as a means of "beating" the impurities out of one's body, though, was a method that was over thousands of times faster…

However, he felt that his body seemed to have undergone some changes, when he took a beating today.

Usually, the strikes didn't hurt him, but he could still feel a trace of their force. Today, however, he discovered that their punches had seemingly become lighter.

Luo Zheng sneakily observed them, to find that the descendants of Luo Clan weren't pulling punches. Why, then, did he have that feeling?

But that wasn't all. The warm current that was produced when he got hit had been reduced by a fair bit.

To put it into perspective; if one punch previously produced a thumb sized current, then the punches now only produced a pinkie worth.

How much he managed to cleanse, naturally depleted as a result of less warm current being produced.

He noticed that the volume of impurities he expelled when he washed up in the cellar at night had decreased by approximately half.

This change concerned Luo Zheng. It made him question where exactly he went wrong.

'Could it be that my body has become tougher?'

According to what was recording in the Weapon Refinement Manual, his body should be equal to a Mystique Tier weapon.

A Mystique Tier weapon will progressively get stronger through continuous tempering. If the weapon riches a certain stage, the usual strength used for tempering won't be as effective.

The majority of the Luo Clan descendants in the training hall are at the Skin Refinement Realm; that includes Luo Dalong. It's just that he's innately strong and hence, possesses strength comparable one in the Flesh Refinement Realm.

Subsequently, something like three hundred kilograms of force was relatively ineffective for Luo Zheng.

'It looks like I'll have to get somebody stronger to beat me, in order to be able to get results.'

Where was he going to find somebody like that, though? He can't ask the seniors of the clan to beat him…

'The clan training day will be in a few days' time. The descendants of Luo Clan will go all out on the day, so they should hit me significantly harder. More importantly, if I can defeat my opponent in the death match on the day, I'll be able to legitimately escape the life of a slave to the clan, and rightfully leave Luo Clan.'

The descendants of Luo Clan wouldn't be able to make him budge, given the strength of his body at present. They could beat him for an entire day and night, and it wouldn't do a thing to him.

Sitting inside the cellar, Luo Zheng blinked his bright and clear eyes. The flames on the candles, showed his determined look.

Never for a second, had he forgotten his resentment for his father's murder. He put up with the insults and humiliation to live, because he was weak. Now, though, he was fortunate enough to possess the miraculous weapon refinement manual. The manual allowed him to attain a special body with unique characteristics. That, in turn, allowed him to rapidly ascend to the next realm. He had to seize this opportunity…

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