Chapter 541: Equilibrium

Back in the mesosphere layer, Spatial Energy and Temporal Energy flowed towards Leon's body, refined, merged, and transformed into Great pseudo-Grandmist Energy, then consolidated his viscera. 

At that moment, Leon's entire body was drenched in sweats while popping veins were seen everywhere. However, a serene expression was shown on his face.

This was not to say that the pain of tempering his body had disappeared. No, the pain was still present at its usual intensity. 

Leon's level of tolerance has been raised to endure it. 

Suddenly, his eyes snapped open after reaching a certain threshold of viscera consolidation and roared at the skies. 

His voice shocked the heavens and threatened to tear the skies asunder like the mighty roar of a divine dragon. 

500-thousands jin!

His viscera has been consolidated to withstand the force of 500-thousand jin, the same as his fleshly body! He has reached equilibrium!

Blood surged through his body in tandem with the rhymic beat of his heart as Leon felt like he was overflowing with power. 

Despite the feeling of attaining 500-thousand jin in defense, his personal brute strength has not increased after he consolidated his viscera according to the [Dragon God Consolidating Viscera Method].

But while his had not increased, his consolidated viscera had increased his natural lifespan, raised his poison immunity, improved his speed, and heightened his five senses!

"Is this what it feels like to have a dragon body…?" Leon muttered before shaking his head shortly after with a soft chuckled, "No, this is still far from that."

While his viscera was far from being comparable to dragons, he could still agree that it had become less human. 

A dragon's body was simply far superior to the fragility of humans.

This is the result of tempering his body according to the [Dragon God Consolidating Viscera Method].

"Given enough time and Great pseudo-Grandmist Energy, I can continue to consolidate my viscera to 1-million jin defense. Beyond that, it will be difficult without any dragon blood, however…" Leon mused. 

The same could be said for his fleshly body. 

It will be difficult to progress beyond the 1-million jin mark without the aid of divine turtle blood for his [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard]. 

This was not to say that there would be no more improvement after reaching the 1-million jin milestone. 

It just simply means that his rate of improvement will decrease significantly without the supplementary bloodline.

"Where on earth am I going to find dragon blood and turtle blood? And high-grade ones, nonetheless." Leon frowned in question.

Nevertheless, Leon did not ponder too deeply. 

Now was not the time for that. He had to make use of all his time to quickly raise his strength as much as possible. 

"My fleshly body and viscera have reached a defensive strength of 500-thousand jin, but my own physical strength falls short by a large…" Leon pondered his next practice steps. 

If he wanted to raise his physical strength significantly within a short time, he would need to temper his bones.

"What bone forging method should I use?" Leon wondered. 

Within his Archive, hundreds of incomplete methods related to the primordial age of gods and devils were recorded. 

However, it was had to say which method suited him best. 

When Leon could not figure which bone forging method was best suited for him, he began to think from a different view. 

"Considering the fact that I am already practicing two body forging methods pertaining to two different divine beasts, I should not pick bone forging method relating to turtles and dragons…" Leon mused. 

If he cannot find any turtle or dragon blood to cultivate his [Black Turtle Heavenly Guard] and [Dragon God Consolidating Viscera Method], practicing another method relating to the two would be the same as shooting himself in the foot. 

"I should practice a variety of methods to give myself a higher chance of finding a matching bloodline." Leon decided. 

Shortly after, he browsed all the bone forging methods in his Archive before settling on a single method, the [Suanni Lion Bone Forging Method]. 

"Although I only have the first volume of the [Suanni Lion Bone Forging Method], I only need to practice the first volume for now…" 

Suanni Lion was a mythical divine beast that looked similar to the hybrid of a dragon and lion. It was known for its mighty strength and fierce appearance.

Although paths lead to the same source in the end, practicing the [Suanni Lion Bone Forging Method] will give him the most significant physical strength improvement within the early stages.

Once Leon settled on his bone forging method, the first volume of [Suanni Lion Bone Forging Method] quickly broke down into particles of light before flowing into his mind. 

Strings of information quickly engraved themselves firmly into his memory after reviewing and familiarizing himself with the [Suanni Lion Bone Forging Method]. 

Shortly after, he commenced practice immediately.

"Grr—ahhh!" Leon quickly roared. 

If tempering flesh was akin to the grating and consolidating viscera was akin to prickling with needles, then bone forging was akin to hammering.

The Great pseudo-Grandmist Energy was transformed into heavy pellets with dense mass before they slammed against his bones repeatedly like being hammered.

The bones fractured on a microscopic level before the energy was partially absorbed into the bones and reformed.

The process repeated as such, causing Leon to fall into a vicious cycle of having his bones repeated broken before they were reformed.

The pain inflicted upon him was naturally more significant than the consolidation of his viscera. 

One can only imagine how much more painful the cleansing of his bone marrow would be once he commenced that phase.

Although the pains were great, gains were even greater!

Under the repeated cycle of destruction and creation, the bones became tougher and stronger! Thus, allowing him to exert more power!

From 50-thousand jins, it soared to 100-thousand jins! 

In a short instance of a few breathes, Leon had broken through Rank 5 Body Tempering Realm and advanced to Rank 10 Body Tempering Realm directly!

Even so, this was only the beginning!

"Grr—raaaah!" Leon howled in pain as he continued to forge the rest of his bones with bone-breaking Great pseudo-Grandmist Energy.

He gritted his teeth so tightly they could be heard grinding against each other. The pain was unlike anything he had ever felt before!

Even so, he will press on bravely!

"Soldier on, Leon! There is no gain without pain! The greater the pain, the greater the gain!" Leon told himself as he tried to convince himself that it would all be worth it in the end. 

Ka-cha! 

The elusive sound of breaking through another threshold of strength was imagined within Leon's mind as his physical strength soared to 150-thousand jins! 

If the Human Domain knew how rapidly Leon's physical strength was growing, they would be shocked beyond belief!

Great pseudo-Grandmist Energy was simply this heaven-defying! It was hard to imagine how much more heaven-defying True Grandmist Energy would be!

Even if it was not present, Leon caught a glimpse of the grandeur that once existed back in the primordial age of gods and devils.

"Keep going! Don't stop!" Leon roared with red eyes.

At that moment, veins popped all over his body while his flesh glowed with redness from the color of his blood pumping. 

The newfound vigor of his viscera worked in overdrive and made them hot-blooded.

Take the pain to discipline the mind and temper his will! Create a truly indomitable spirit! Unbending, uncowering, firm, and solid in the face of adversaries!

Ka-cha! 

Leon's physical strength soared again!

His strength quickly reached 200-thousand jins, a grand 100-thousand jin greater than the average Rank 10 Body Tempering Realm Body Cultivators!

He had entered the Half-step Body Transformation Realm.

The soft bottleneck of Rank 10 Body Tempering Realm was easily broken, making it almost non-existent!

However, this was not attributed to the [Godfiend Body Forging Method] nor the [Suanni Lion Bone Forging Method].

No, this was attributed to Great pseudo-Grandmist Energy alone. 

Great pseudo-Grandmist Energy was not the only source to temper the body, but it is the greatest source below True Grandmist Energy and those in between.

Whether it was fire, lightning, wind, water, earth, gravity, or any element, any medicine for that matter. They can also temper, enhance, refine, and improve the body. 

But unlike Grandmist Energy, these methods were more ordinary and will definitely experience the soft bottleneck that is Rank 10 Body Tempering Realm.

Since Leon was using the source of the beginning, the power of gods, why should he be subjected to mortals' woes? 

Time quickly flew. 

Eventually, Leon achieved his desired, hard-earned, hard-struggled physical strength of 500-thousand jins after much suffering.

His eyes slowly opened before they flickered with sharpness and indomitability that only lasted a moment before they disappeared.

"Fuuu…" Leon exhaled a deep breath of foul air as he relaxed his body after much toil and bathed in the moonlight of the night sky.

This sort of heaven-defying growth in strength would draw the envy of many, but now, he had the power to tackle problems as they come. 

At the very least, he was much stronger now.

Not only did his outer and inner body defense reach equilibrium, but even his defense and strength also did so as well.

"That's enough rest. Now, I need to refine some more Great pseudo-Grandmist Energy for Duna and Lumi's recovery." Leon thought out loud before he resumed gathering Spatial Energy and Temporal Energy.

At the same time, he divided a part of his consciousness and delved into the [Archive] to review the [Soul Dive] technique.

…