According to Hua Yan's understanding of the Body Building Stages, there were three main stages that he knew of.
The first was the Continuous Ballooning Stage.
This was the stage that most of the cultivators out there would be in, since it was the most basic and simplest one possible. When first entering the world of cultivation in Gin Town, this was the stage that all people would step into. It had a total of 12 levels, and each level corresponded to a certain increase in power in terms of raw strength and body mass.
This was the most basic level of cultivation, so it made sense that this was the level of cultivation that the majority of cultivators were at. Being in this stage meant that one would be open to better job prospects and so on, allowing a person to be above the masses.
But, though this was true, this stage was still a long shot from the pinnacle of power in the town.
The second stage was the Complete Deflation Stage.
This was a stage that only a few could achieve. It required a bit of character that could rarely be cultivated under normal conditions. Only the determined could get this far.
From what Hua Yan already knew of this stage, and from his rather "intimate" encounter with the Guard Colonel, this stage was also split into 12 levels. It was the stage where all the fat that was cultivated in the earlier Ballooning Stage was essentially evaporated away into nothingness.
And, though the fat was now gone, the amount of strength that the body could afford to expend wouldn't get any lower. In fact, there would be a qualitative leap in the type of strength that was able to be displayed.
Deflation Stage experts were faster, more agile, better protected and generally had sharper minds than those in the Ballooning Stage.
There were probably some more subtler differences, but Hua Yan didn't know enough about them to comment. He was really clueless when it came to cultivation.
As for the third stage, Hua Yan's understanding of it was very vague. The only reason why a lowly Side Branch member like him even knew about it at all was because his father had cultivated to this stage back when he was still alive.
So, even though his father did not talk much about it after losing his cultivation, Hua Yan still knew the name of the stage.
After all, it was a name that his mother and his relatives used to toss around to bully him with, the son of a fallen Northern Bone Stage expert.
Yes, that was the name of the third stage. The Northern Bone Stage.
Hua Yan had a very iffy idea about what it was. It was the stage after the Complete Deflation Stage. It was where cultivators would temper the head, one of the greatest weak points of the human body. The Northern Bone Stage focused on the strengthening of the bones near the skull and the spinal cord. This was to make cultivators at this stage less prone to death and injury.
Because, no matter how strong one's body was, if the head was destroyed, it would all be over in a fraction of a second.
Experts at this stage had insanely quick reaction times and were afraid of nothing. They were bold and didn't know the meaning of fear because they had adequate protection where it mattered.
That was just about the limits of Hua Yan's knowledge on cultivation. He had no clue on how to cultivate and he didn't know about the nuances of all the various stages. All he could rely on to protect himself was his other skills.
"And this is your problem," Frenzy voiced out, "You try to achieve power without first tempering your body. This much was evident when you were up against those Ballooning Stage peasants. You couldn't take any of their blows, and every stray hit that landed on your body wounded you significantly. Even now, you are still bleeding internally from the results of the effects of that second battle, but you are putting up a tough front. You can't hide anything from me though. I can feel everything that you feel and I know you better than you know yourself."
Hua Yan had indeed been weakened after his fight with Hua Kin, since he had taken some rather heavy blows to the body. Since he was trying to show his fearsomeness to the other gang members though, and even to Hua La to a certain extent, he couldn't afford to show weakness any signs of weakness.
That would have gotten in the way of his plans! So, he kept it all in. That was why he pretended as if nothing had happened. That was why he acted his way out of the pain.
"But acting is only a temporary solution, if it can be called a solution at all," Frenzy stated, "Though you were able to win those two fights in the end, it was because your opponents were unworthy. Had they been skilled, regardless of their age, they would have finished you off even if they had just stepped into the Ballooning Stage."
It was indeed true that his opponents were unworthy. They were just some common thugs. If they were as strong as Hua Yan without their cultivations, wouldn't they be many times stronger after cultivating? There were indeed people like Hua Yan that could beat cultivators without cultivations.
If these people were to cultivate and go against a Hua Yan that still had no cultivation, then Hua Yan would be utterly destroyed. He was essentially giving himself a weakness by not being a cultivator himself. After all, cultivation was probably the best measure of power. The higher of a cultivation one had, the stronger one could expect for that person to be.
"That's why you need to cultivate," Frenzy explained, "And today, you will officially take your first step."