Yan Siyun, upon hearing these words, was as if struck by a bolt from the blue. She froze for a long while before she decisively said, "Impossible! With Yu Hong's status, how could he become a sand pirate? Moreover, his appearance and attire are completely different."

Her words seemed resolute, but the tremor in her voice betrayed what she truly thought.

"If Fellow Daoist does not believe it, why not take a look inside his storage bag? Perhaps there will be something to prove his identity?" Yuan Ming shrugged nonchalantly.

Although he had counterattacked and killed Elder Guo, a cultivator at the Core Formation Stage, the man was, after all, only an insignificant guest elder. Now that Yu Hong, his master, was also dead, it was uncertain whether anyone in the Five Thunder Sect would remember Elder Guo, let alone seek revenge on him for this.

However, the trouble would be significant for Hundred Pills Square, which had personally taken part in the killing of Yu Hong.

Upon hearing Yuan Ming's words, Yan Siyun trembled, and without needing her to say anything, Elder Zhen beside her immediately scooped up the storage bag. After a brief inspection, he took out an expressionless token representing the status of an elder of the Five Thunder Sect.

Seeing the token, Yan Si Jing held her breath and instinctively reached out to grab her sister's arm.

Although Yan Siyun did not use her Divine Sense to probe, seeing her sister's reaction, her heart sank, and a bitter smile appeared on her face.

Seeing her like this, a flicker of sympathy crossed Yuan Ming's face.

As the person who could manage the business of the Five Thunders Pavilion in the Black Wind Desert, Yu Hong's identity was more than just an elder of the Five Thunder Sect. He was the direct grandson of the early-stage Nascent Soul powerful Thunderbolt Ancestor of the Five Thunder Sect, born with an Abnormal Spirit Root, and possessed extraordinary talent. He was doted upon since childhood, with almost the entire sect's resources used for his upbringing.

Although the sect let him come to the Black Wind Desert for training, what he was put in charge of was the immensely profitable business of the shops, which indicated the extent of the favor he enjoyed.

This time, it was fortunate that Hundred Pills Square managed to kill Yu Hong. Because the last assault on the Hundred Pills Square's trade caravan went too smoothly, Yu Hong did not bring many followers and did not use many magic treasure talismans, leaving him defenseless. Otherwise, with his wealth, facing two Core Formation Cultivators, he would not necessarily win, but self-preservation would not be a problem.

Yan Siyun was silent for a long while, finally recovering her senses and taking in a deep breath before taking out a storage bag.

"Fellow Daoist Yuan, we used you as bait this time to ambush the sand pirates, which was truly regrettable. This Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid and elixirs are our compensations. Please accept them."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Ming took the storage bag from her hands and examined the thunderstorm, knowing that it was both an apology and hush money. He nodded and said, "Both Fellow Daoists Yan, rest assured, I will no longer dwell on this matter with this compensation and will act as if I was never involved in today's events."

Yan Siyun nodded with a meaningful look, "That's for the best, I also won't disclose to anyone about Fellow Daoist Yuan helping to kill the sand pirates."

"I will take my leave then. Everyone, please take care." Yuan Ming smiled indifferently, checked the items in the storage bag, and without saying more, turned and left atop Lei Yu.

"Sister, are we just letting him go like this? What if he speaks of today's events..." Yan Si Jing watched Yuan Ming's departing figure with her words hanging in the air.

"Yes, although his strength is not weak, he is, after all, alone. If Elder Chai and I take action together, it should not be difficult to stop him," Elder Zhen exchanged a glance with Chai Jiujin and said.

"If he can easily kill a Core Formation Cultivator by himself and dares to come here alone, do you really think we can stop him? He is a clever man who knows what to do. We at Hundred Pills Square would hope to befriend such a person. Si Jing, if he comes again in the future, treat him as a Core Formation Stage cultivator and receive him with due respect," Yan Siyun said.

"Sister, I understand." Yan Si Jing nodded and once again looked towards the disappearing speck in the distant sky, her eyes filled with a complex, inexplicable emotion.

...

On the way back to Purple Thunder City, Yuan Ming sat cross-legged on Lei Yu, enjoying the refreshing breeze, feeling quite pleased with himself.

This journey had its share of twists and turns, but the rewards were also substantial. Most importantly, he had directly obtained the Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid from them, saving quite a bit of trouble and time, not to mention the effortless killing of a Core Formation Cultivator.

With that in mind, he took out Elder Guo's storage bag to check its contents.

As a Core Formation Stage guest elder of the Five Thunder Sect and after serving under Yu Hong for so many years, Elder Guo was quite wealthy. The storage bag contained tens of thousands of spirit stones, numerous elixirs, and spiritual materials. There was also a jade scroll and many classics.

With these items, plus the Washing Elixir Spirit Liquid and other elixirs given by Yan Siyun, Yuan Ming could say that this trip was a major windfall.

The only regret was that Elder Guo didn't have many magic artifacts and treasures on him. Aside from the Bronze Small Tripod and Heart-Clearing Pendant, all that remained was a pair of artifact spirit boots he wore on his feet.

When Yuan Ming collected Elder Guo's corpse, he removed the boots and didn't throw them away with the body to Yan Siyun and the others.

The boots were inscribed with Light Body and Earth Tunneling runes, constituting a top-grade magical tool of quite good quality. Yuan Ming named them Earth Element Boots, planning to give them to Xu Che in the future to increase his efficiency in handling matters.

The Jade Scroll left by Elder Guo contained his primary Cultivation Technique, a Fire Attribute Technique named Swallowing Fire Skill. It seemed fairly good and could be cultivated up to the Early-stage Core Formation. However, Yuan Ming already had a more exquisite full version of the Nine Elements Technique, so he had no use for it and thus paid it no further attention after a brief glance.

Among those classics, Yuan Ming unexpectedly discovered a book called Body Refining Manual. The cover and pages were wrinkled clearly from frequent use.

The book seemed to originate from the Western Region; the first half was written in the script of the Rong people, while the latter half was translated into the language of the Central Plains.

It detailed the characteristics of each stage of Body Cultivation and listed some commonly used moves for cultivators at different stages. While it didn't delve into the specifics of cultivation, as an introductory text, it was excellent.

According to the book, levels of Body Cultivation were categorized based on the strength of the flesh and bones. The realms might be similar to those of Magic Practitioners, but the titles were different.

From the bottom up, they were known as Copper Skin Body, Iron Bone Body, Innate Body, Tongqiao Body, and Body of Wanxiang, corresponding to the Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and Returning Void realms of Magic Practitioners.

Copper Skin Body involved continuously refining the muscles and skin by absorbing nature's spiritual energy, making the skin as hard as refined iron, able to withstand spells and magic artifacts.

Iron Bone Body focused on tempering the bones, enhancing the body's strength from the inside out to easily crush magic artifacts.

The Innate Body was different from the previous two, and cultivation was no longer limited to the polishing of muscles and bones but centered on the application of breathing techniques.

Every Body Cultivator who reached the Innate Body stage would have a unique set of breathing techniques. Even if some used the same technique, individual variations would gradually emerge during cultivation. Moreover, many demon beasts known for their powerful physical bodies possessed their breathing techniques by the Core Formation stage in a certain sense.

These breathing techniques, while refining the cultivator's internal organs, also created a type of inner breath within Body Cultivators that differed from the Mana of Magic Practitioners. Body Cultivators could use their inner breath to perform special moves or distribute it throughout their body to form a Vajra Unbreakable Body, significantly resisting attacks from magic treasures and spells. Common spells and artifacts could hardly breach their defense.

Some commonly seen moves for Body Cultivators at this stage, such as Breath to Arrow, Mountain Crossing Bull Striking, and Hundred-step Divine Fist, all possessed the massive force comparable to Magic Practitioners' treasures. The key was that these moves were merely ordinary uses of inner breath and could not even be considered unique techniques, yet they required extensive cultivation with many Spirit Stones or spiritual materials.

The move Vajra used to Break Array and the protective shield, known as Hundred-step Divine Fist, could deliver invisible Fist Power with condensed yet undissipated force, reaching a hundred steps away in an instant. The only downside is that its power diminishes with increasing distance. Beyond a hundred steps, its effectiveness almost vanishes, yet "a hundred steps" is just a conceptual distance. As the body becomes more refined, the range can be extended.

The book mentioned a Body Cultivator with an Innate Body who specialized in the Hundred-step Divine Fist, eventually able to project his Fist Power hundreds of yards away, striking fear into the hearts of cultivators from all paths.

The Body Refining Manual provided little information on the last two stages of Body Cultivation, briefly mentioning that advancing to the Tongqiao Body requires comprehension of Conception, and only mentioning the name of the Body of Wanxiang.

As cultivators purely advancing on the Immortal Path through physical strength, the power of Body Cultivators is undoubtedly formidable, yet their overall numbers in the Cultivation World are much fewer than Magic Practitioners, and they have two fatal flaws.

One is that Body Cultivators cannot fly until they reach the Tongqiao Body. Although they can temporarily hover using methods like leaping, they cannot borrow force in mid-air, making it quite difficult to execute various techniques.

Therefore, theoretically, Magic Practitioners can take advantage of their ability to fly high and use elevation to wear down Body Cultivators in combat.

Of course, the reality is that when Magic Practitioners encounter a Body Cultivator of the same rank who they cannot defeat, they usually just flee, not willing to waste time wearing down their "turtle shells."

The second major weakness of Body Cultivators is their Divine Soul, as the strength of their body cannot reflect upon their Divine Soul. If specific measures are taken, Body Cultivators are easily defeated.

However, only Soul Cultivators possess a broad range of Divine Soul attack techniques, so for regular Magic Practitioners without special methods, it remains difficult to exploit this weakness of Body Cultivators.

The Body Refining Manual didn't greatly aid Yuan Ming's own cultivation, but it did broaden his horizons and gave him a more comprehensive understanding of the way of Body Cultivation.

Time always flies when one is engrossed in reading. Unwittingly, Lei Yu had already reached Purple Thunder City. Seeing this, Yuan Ming put the books away once again.

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