Chapter 24：Sixth-tier Tempered Body

Ji Mo only felt agony in his left eye. As his tears flowed, he was unable to keep his eyes open. He could only hear Old Man Qingzhu's voice fading in the distance before eventually disappearing.

After a long while, Ji Mo felt that the pain in his left eye improved, so he opened his eyes but Old Man Qingzhu was nowhere to be seen. 

"The old man's whereabouts are unpredictable. Now you see him, now you don't. Still, his prowess is indeed amazing. The fact that he executed the Broken God's Eye proves that he's extraordinary," Ji Mo murmured.

Now, he would have to reassess Old Man Qingzhu's identity. Initially, Ji Mo only knew that Old Man Qingzhu was powerful, at least, as a Qi Plundering Boundary master. However, it looked like the old man was not that simple. The fact that he discovered a visual technique like the Broken God's Eye was beyond terrifying.

"I never thought that I'd get such an opportunity, but why would the old man help me?" Ji Mo walked back alone, pondering about the identity of Old Man Qingzhu. However, the more he thought, the more Old Man Qingzhu's face diminished from his mind. 

It was a strange phenomenon. It was as though something was forcefully weakening his memory and causing him to question the existence of this old man. 

At last, only a tune remained in Ji Mo's mind. It was the strange song that Old Man Qingzhu had sung while leaving. 

"Empty immortal techniques, thousands of empty techniques...What do they mean?" Ji Mo was puzzled.

He reached home a day later. His impression of Old Man Qingzhu grew weaker and weaker until, at last, the only thing that lingered in his memory was the strange song, a broken bamboo pole, two yellow plates, and a copy of The Plum in the Prosperity Vase that had not been sold that day. 

After giving much thought to it but failing to come up with a conclusion, Ji Mo stopped studying the situation and took out all of the spiritual medicine that he had bought at the small town the day before. By relying on those spiritual medicines, he was fully confident that his strength could increase to the sixth-tier tempered body. Therefore, his chances in the Hunting Competition would greatly increase.

After that, Ji Mo left his house and went to Tianyuan Academy. He found Huo Lin'er and told her that he could not practice with her during his closed-door cultivation period. After Huo Lin'er understood the situation, she agreed without giving Ji Mo a hard time. Moreover, she had basically mastered the divine power.

Once everything was sorted out, Ji Mo was assured that he could start his closed-door cultivation to increase his strength.

In a quiet room, a ray of sunlight scattered over Ji Mo's body. 

As he sat cross-legged in the room, a crackling sound came from his body as if something had blown his flesh into half. That was the Celestial Devil Power working through his body. At that instant, bright red dots emerged under the surface of his skin. These bright red dots were the energy source of the Celestial Devil Power. They merged with his flesh and blood, casting a red glow on Ji Mo's skin.

The room was filled with a violent and aggressive aura. That was the aura of the Hell Celestial Devil.

Although Ji Mo had yet to master the Celestial Devil Tempering Art, his body started to morph into a Celestial Devil Body, and so did his aura. It was comparable to the Celestial Devil which unknowingly brought tremendous pressure to a human being.

Boom!

The rumble of thunder resonated from Ji Mo's flesh and blood. These few days, he had been refining the spiritual medicine during his closed-door cultivation. He already refined half of the five fourth-grade spiritual medicine pellets, resulting in his physique becoming incredibly powerful and getting closer to the Celestial Devil's. Furthermore, the sixth acupuncture point on Ji Mo's chest had already begun to loosen up and was about to break open.

"Celestial Devil Precipitation!"

Ji Mo sat cross-legged with his eyes closed and both fists clenched tightly while the veins on his arms popped like earthworms moving beneath his flesh. Celestial Devil Power was not only transforming his flesh and blood, and tendons and bones, but also baptizing his bone marrows. 

The Celestial Devil Precipitation was a more domineering method than the Celestial Devil Bone Refinement. The latter could transform bones and even the marrow into the energy source of the Celestial Devil Power which would, in turn, energize the Celestial Devil Power endlessly. On the contrary, the Celestial Devil Precipitation could cause the bones and flesh to be more powerful, allowing Celestial Devil Power to flow through the entire body so that every inch of the skin would take on the characteristics of the Hell Celestial Devil.

Ji Mo opened his eyes which contained a faint, dark glow. He turned to look at the remaining spiritual medicine in the wooden box and swallowed everything at once. He wanted to use the vast spiritual energy in the spiritual medicine to trigger the sixth acupuncture point for a sixth-tier tempered body breakthrough.

As the moon set and the sun rose, three days passed in the blink of an eye.

On the fourth day, cosmic lights appeared in Ji Mo's room. The cosmic light contained a tremendous aura of destruction and that aura alone could practically destroy the whole house. 

Immediately after that, the wooden door burst open and a figure bolted out at extreme speed, leaving shadows behind as it sped to the yard in an instant. Ji Mo stood there straight like a spear. 

Ji Mo's head of black hair ruffled and there was a faint red glow on the surface of his skin. He clenched his fists tightly and a crackling sound came from his bones. His body was endlessly filled with Celestial Devil Power.

His eyes glimmered with excitement because he had finally succeeded after spending a full seven days. He had finally refined all of the spiritual medicine and succeeded in accomplishing the sixth-tier tempered body! 

Ji Mo could feel that his strength had increased greatly. In the past, he could exert a force of 1,250 kilograms, but after breaking through the sixth-tier tempered body, he could now exert a force of 1,500 kilograms. 

As he looked at the solid practice boulder in the yard, he believed that with a creak of his finger, he could crush the practice boulder that already had a big crater gaping in it because the Celestial Devil Power was that powerful. Ji Mo was excited to feel the rapid progress in his strength.

He never thought that increasing his strength could be such a beautiful thing. 

'Nan Hao is cultivating the Dragon Elephant Tempering Art and each breakthrough sees an increase of 200 kilograms in power. Even if he's an eight-tier tempered body, he can only exert 1,600 kilograms of power. But after I cultivate the Celestial Devil Tempered Body, just by upgrading to the sixth-tier tempered body, I can catch up with Nan Hao. Hehe, I believe that within a few days, I can totally overtake Nan Hao!' Ji Mo clenched his fists tightly and grew more and more excited at the thought of that. 

'Du Jia, sooner or later, you will realize that you've made the wrong decision. Then, you will know the price of betraying me,' he swore secretly in his heart.