The Realm of Practitioners is the stage in which the foundational supernatural power of the spiritual body is formed. It represents the true boundary between mortals and the Transcendent—yet it cannot be considered true Transcendence.

  The purpose of tempering the body is to cultivate a supernatural physique capable of perfectly resonating with the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth.

  Only after successfully refining this foundational physical supernatural power can one qualify to cultivate various secondary supernatural abilities.

  ---

  The medicinal bath is a method commonly used by noble families to train their descendants.

  Children of aristocratic families bathe in a medicinal broth prepared from spiritual herbs. The latent spiritual energy within the soup naturally strengthens the body.

  When combined with practical physical training, it produces twice the result with half the effort.

  Methods available to noble families can, of course, also be used by ordinary Transcendents.

  However, most common practitioners simply cannot afford such costs. How could they possibly bear the expense of spiritual treatment?

  ---

  At this moment, O’Neil was completely unaware of these considerations. After receiving training from the Patriarch, his reputation as the second genius after Astrith had already spread throughout the entire tribe.

  For the first time, the Barbaros family held a coming-of-age ceremony, and O’Neil made a rare appearance.

  All children of the family who had reached the age of nine were to receive baptism.

  Several enormous cauldrons had been set up, with roaring flames burning beneath them.

  He watched as the originally clear water gradually turned green, releasing a strong medicinal fragrance.

  This was the effect of the medicinal bath formula. After absorbing countless high-quality medicinal ingredients, the broth could be used directly without the need for additional rare herbs.

  According to the records, the shaman added the ingredients one by one.

  Soon, the medicinal broth changed in color and texture. The shaman glanced at it and knew it was ready.

  He looked at the younger generation of the Barbaros family and asked:

  “Who will be baptized first?”

  Upon hearing this, the children instinctively stepped back several paces. Fear was evident on their faces.

  The liquid inside the medicinal cauldron was extremely hot. They had never cultivated before—wouldn’t they be boiled alive if they entered?

  The shaman did not urge them. The first child to undergo baptism would achieve the best results.

  Whoever overcame fear first would gain the opportunity.

  Suddenly, O’Neil gritted his teeth and stepped forward from the crowd.

  “I’ll do it.”

  The shaman showed clear surprise.

  This child was the grandson of Ulric, the tribe’s foremost warrior. His name was O’Neil Yurael.

  O’Neil Yurael appeared rather frail, contrary to his recent reputation. Yet there was a sharp glint of intelligence in his eyes that made him seem extraordinary.

  Seeing this, the shaman did not hesitate.

  With a simple wave of his hand, O’Neil Yurael was lifted and thrown directly into the medicinal cauldron.

  “Ah!”

  A miserable cry echoed through the air.

  The other children retreated instinctively, their faces pale with terror.

  After entering the bath, O’Neil let out a scream—but soon fell silent and immediately began circulating his cultivation technique.

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  After completing one full cycle of the Sacred Embryo Visualization Technique, he clearly felt the benefits of the medicinal bath.

  The spiritual energy within the bath completely enveloped his body. The density of spiritual energy inside the cauldron was three times greater than that outside.

  With just a little cultivation, he could clearly feel his muscles and bones strengthening—as though thousands of craftsmen were tempering his flesh and skeleton.

  The process was painful, yet he could distinctly sense the enhancement of his physical power.

  It was pain—and joy.

  He did not leave the bath until the medicinal broth had completely cooled.

  His spiritual power, which normally took an entire night to recover, had been fully restored.

  In less than four hours, even the condition of his Sacred Spiritual Embryo Body had changed.

  The efficiency of the Sacred Embryo Visualization Technique had increased significantly.

  Most satisfying of all, his progress within the realm had improved slightly as well.

  The money had not been wasted.

  O’Neil Yurael was indescribably excited.

  Although the cost of cultivation was increasing by the day, the efficiency of his training had at least doubled.

  ---

  Outside the cauldron, Ulric Yurael clenched his fists tightly, watching his son with anxious eyes—but he said nothing.

  He knew the Barbaros family would never harm the younger members of the clan.

  He only hoped his son could one day lead this bloodline, avoid repeating his mistakes, and make the family stronger.

  The screams continued for some time.

  Yet O’Neil, instead of weakening, grew more spirited.

  Rather than crying out, he clenched his teeth, activated the Sacred Embryo Visualization Technique he had formed, and continued cultivating.

  Seeing this, everyone present understood what was happening.

  Without saying much, and ignoring the other children’s screams, the adults began throwing them directly into the cauldron as well.

  “This will only make things worse!” someone muttered.

  But the shaman simply spoke calmly, maintaining order.

  And so, time passed.

  The baptism ceremony lasted half a day.

  The younger generation of the Barbaros family showed remarkable improvement.

  Among them, Yurael improved the most.

  Watching the scene, many parents felt a trace of regret—wishing they had thrown their children into the cauldron without hesitation.

  Through observing numerous primitive cultivation techniques, Yurael acquired sufficient knowledge and experience from the memory records to modify a technique.

  The primitive cultivation technique he chose was called the “Black Blood Technique.”

  As the name suggested, it was not a righteous technique.

  Its quality was not particularly high; among the techniques recorded in the memory archives, it was barely considered average.

  However, its advantage lay in the fact that, if practiced properly, the cultivator would at least retain a human form. This made it easier to get started and allowed cultivation to continue.

  Moreover, this technique included body cultivation, making it relatively comprehensive.

  There were stronger and more efficient techniques—but the question remained: after practicing them, would one still remain human?

  ---

  Technique Description — Black Blood Technique

  A sinister cultivation method, generally of low quality.

  Brief Introduction:

  This technique draws in yin and evil energy, absorbs the filth of all things, and uses blood as a carrier to cultivate extremely evil black blood. The black blood can shatter golden light.

  Weakness:

  It fears blood belonging to those with sacred attributes, which possesses the power to dispel evil. Such blood can contaminate the extremely evil black blood, hindering its cultivation.

  ---

  Naturally, Yurael could not begin practicing this technique directly.

  Regardless of whether he was willing to absorb strange substances into his body, he could not even gather those evil and filthy materials.

  Therefore, he had to return to the fundamental principles of the Black Blood Technique and modify it based on the experience recorded in his memory archives.

  At this point, another advantage of its low quality became apparent: it was easy to modify.

  Thus, techniques in this world became extremely diverse.

  If a technique was too difficult and impossible to master, it would be simplified and differentiated, giving rise to new and more basic techniques.

  Through further modifications of these simple and easily adjustable techniques, countless variations could be created—even ones that were completely unrecognizable from the original.

  ---

  The core principle of the Black Blood Technique was to absorb external substances or special energies, use part of them to enhance cultivation, and integrate another part into the blood to alter its properties.

  During this process, the body would also be strengthened, enabling it to withstand the modified blood in the future.

  Once the blood’s properties were altered, the technique was considered complete.

  After that, one only needed to continuously absorb the required substances and energies to continue cultivating.

  The modified blood could be regarded as a special supernatural power.

  In short, it was a resource-intensive technique; with sufficient resources, cultivation speed would increase rapidly.

  It was easy to learn and practice, with high potential.

  Its effects and strength depended on the quality of the absorbed materials or special energies.

  It also utilized energy to cultivate soul power and temper the body.

  ---

  Why It Ranked Slightly Below Average

  Although its cultivation speed was fast, it was not fast enough. Moreover, aside from cultivating extremely evil black blood, it lacked supplementary methods.

  Another major issue was that if the body failed to keep pace with cultivation, it would be unable to withstand the extremely evil black blood, leading to stagnation.

  Continuing to cultivate under such circumstances would result in immediate death.

  If the cultivator were severely injured and unable to control the extremely evil black blood within the body, they would suffer backlash from the technique and die instantly.

  In the end, it was an evil cultivation method—understandably flawed.

  ---

  Yurael worked diligently for half a year and finally modified the technique to about 70–80% completion, making it suitable for his own cultivation.

  The fundamental principle remained the same as the Black Blood Technique, but what the body and blood absorbed was no longer evil filth and corruption. Instead, it became the healing energy derived from medicinal elixirs during the practice of Spiritual Body Tempering techniques.

  Healing energy was wood-type energy belonging to plants. It could also be called medicinal energy—a general term for the healing properties of all medicinal herbs.

  After all, these were the only resources Yurael currently possessed.

  In fact, some medicinal herbs could provide him with powers of ice, snow, and poison—forces far stronger than medicinal energy.

  The problem was that if Yurael absorbed ice and snow power, his physique would transform into an ice-snow constitution, making him incompatible with other elemental forces.

  This would have a significant negative impact on his body structure when adding an Origin Seed or cultivating other methods.

  Faced with this choice, Yurael abandoned the idea of absorbing ice and snow power.

  Walking a single path with such obvious advantages and disadvantages was unwise.

  He preferred possessing balanced, moderate abilities rather than being exploited and ruthlessly targeted by enemies.

  Survival was Yurael’s primary goal in cultivation.

  Thus, he chose the versatile medicinal energy.

  If his prediction was correct, fusing with medicinal energy would grant him a special physique and powerful vitality. The downside, however, would be a lack of offensive strength, potentially turning him into a “golden goose.”

  Fortunately, Yurael had a way to compensate for this lack of offensive power.

  ---

  During his training, the medicinal bath—composed of various medicinal plants—began to emit green healing energy.

  This energy flowed into Yurael’s blood from his heart and spread throughout his body, strengthening his physique while merging with his blood.

  It also stimulated the circulation of his soul power, causing it to rise rapidly.

  Soul power, physical constitution, and blood all improved simultaneously during cultivation.

  With a pop, Yurael advanced to the next level.

  “The cultivation technique is complete. It needs a new name. The new technique shall be called — Medicinal Blood Technique — Sacred Embryo Visualization Technique!”

  ---

  Sacred Embryo Visualization Technique

  Within the body, the Sacred Embryo is visualized.

  Inside the Sea of Mind, the Sacred Embryo sits cross-legged, inhaling and exhaling life energy.

  “It draws medicinal energy into the body, absorbs the power of all medicines, and uses blood as a carrier to cultivate life-giving blood—immune to all poisons and free from all diseases.”

  ---

  [Spiritual Medicinal Blood Embryonic Body]

  It can reconstruct the body into the stage of the Sacred Embryo and rebuild it with spiritual blood at every level.

  Each time the body enters a state of reconstruction, it undergoes a stage of Nirvana.

  After nine stages of Nirvana, it sheds its mortal form.