Although Ren Jie used to be very lazy and did not cultivate at all, he was born in an aristocratic family. Hence, he still reached level-five of the cultivation realm. It was just that the Qi in his body was much weaker than the Qi which a typical level-five cultivator had. Cultivation increased the "Qi" in one's body, and the strength of one's body and Qi would directly affect the True Qi which formed after one breakthrough to the True Qi Realm.
Of course, 99% of the people would not reach the True Qi realm, only the experts would be able to reach it.
If it was someone without any background, breaking through the True Qi Realm would change his life completely. In smaller places, being at the True Qi Realm meant that one could support a little clan and become a well-known expert.
Even in larger clans, it would help one to enjoy higher status and prestige and have a bright future.
Ordinary people only wanted to achieve something in the Body Refinement Realm and the True Qi Realm was something unimaginable for them. However, for the heir of one of the five great aristocratic families of the Jade Capital, entering the True Qi Realm was a basic requirement. Ren Jie obviously did not think much about it, and that was why the strength of his body and Qi was terribly messed up.
Ren Jie controlled the Qi in his body quickly and started circulating the first level of the Jade Emperor Body Tempering Technique. Ren Jie had reached a high level in the realm and his spiritual sense was equivalent to level-nine in the True Qi Realm. Hence, controlling the Qi in his body was very simple.
He concentrated the Qi in his body into unique rings and concentrated them slowly, according to the detailed records in the chant. It took at least three days to complete the circulation of the first stage. However, Ren Jie's level and spiritual sense were both strong enough and he concentrated the special rings formed using the Qi in his body. Then, he linked the rings at different places and finished concentrating the first layer of 36 vigor rings within four hours.
Although Ren Jie kept following the instructions on the first layer of the Jade Emperor Refinement Chant to concentrate vigor rings, he did not understand the purpose of the rings. After he had followed the instructions and completed forming the first layer of 36 interlinked rings, he circulated the remaining Qi in his body according to the circulation art in the chant.
"Boom… boom…" Ren Jie felt as though his body was slammed by a few thousand gigantic hammers at the same time and vomited a mouthful of blood.
He laid flat on the bed and felt as though he was suppressed by a huge mountain. Every inch of his body was crushed. The pain was not caused by external forces but originated from the inside to pressure each of his muscles. Ren Jie felt his muscles trembling.
"Ah!" Ren Jie tried to restrain himself from growling. How terrifying.
At that moment, Ren Jie finally understood what tempering the body using Qi in the Jade Emperor Refinement Chant was about. These rings were concentrated in odd ways and they would form unique restrictions after they were interlinked and circulated according to the Jade Emperor Refinement Chant.
Force restriction was harsher than any other form of external suppressions because it crushed every inch of the body from the inside.
Ren Jie finally understood why it was said that this required immense determination and perseverance. Because if you were to temper your body and train yourself, you would take a break no matter how hard you worked. This was different, the suppression would remain on every part of the body as long as you did not disperse the vigor rings.
This feeling reminded Ren Jie of how people would imagine how gravity chambers felt like when he was on Earth. If you could withstand the forces that were ten or a hundred times stronger than those on Earth, you would be a superman when you returned to Earth.
That was something interesting. However, that was only body tempering technique in the body tempering realm. Ren Jie discovered that there were many changes in every layer of the Jade Emperor Refinement Chant and the number of concentrated rings increased many times with the changes.
After a while, Ren Jie finally managed to sit upright and he was thankful that that was the first level of the Body Tempering Realm. It was just too sudden just now and he started to adapt slowly after he had some rest.
He did not need to move too much now and he only needed to move slowly because he felt as though there was a gravity chamber in his body.
Darn it, he would be at a disadvantage if he fought someone under such conditions. He was under immense pressure and it would be like fighting someone while carrying a little mountain, or being under two or three times of pressure while the other party was in a perfectly normal state.
The good thing was that it was stated in the chant how he could disperse the Qi connecting the six points linking the rings immediately to relieve the pressure. Even then, he had less than one-third of Qi to use as he used most of it to form the circular vigor rings so that he could create the special restrictions.
Although the Qi in the Body Refinement Realm was not like those in the True Qi Realm, the strength of the Qi would increase slowly when it reached the fourth-stage, and when it reached the sixth-stage, one could use some ways to increase its power.
Ren Jie did not consider all those temporarily and he had already started to let his body get used to the current situation. Ren Jie ate a lot of medicine in the past, but the amount which he could fully use was limited and he lost more than 70% of it. It would be good enough as long as he had utilized 5% of it and the remaining 25% would accumulate in the body. If the remaining Qi was not utilized efficiently, it would be lost gradually.
However, under the unique pressure of the Qi refinement method, his body was forced to resist the pressure. Ren Jie's body started to move. His slack body was triggered and the medicine started to take effect. The strength of his body started to increase because his body was already at level-five of the Body Refinement Realm right from the start. Although the Body Refinement Realm required typically was incomparable to that as required by the Jade Emperor Refinement Chant, as compared to starting from scratch, a foundation of level-five would be a better head start.
Ren Jie's body adjusted to the situation gradually and the medicine in his body gradually turned into vigor rings. The vigor of the Qi in his body became stronger and the speed of its circulation also increased.
He was completely immersed in that feeling as the sun started to rise slowly, reached the mid sky, then set gradually.
"Boom…" When the vigor of the Qi in Ren Jie's body reached a certain strength and his body had completely adjusted to it, he used the strength of his body to compress the Qi directly. Under compression, the six linking points of the 36 circular rings formed special restrictions and the strong force pushed them to their limits and they shattered with a loud boom.
At that moment, Ren Jie felt extremely relaxed. The relief made him feel like someone who managed to breathe in fresh air when he was on the verge of dying from drowning or suffocation or being released after being locked up for a few decades. It was a true relief.
Relaxation and comfort, under constant pressure and stress, a large amount of foul-smelling and black perspiration was forced out of his body.
It was far too relaxing. Ren Jie felt that the intensity of the Qi in his body was only half of what he felt initially. That was almost equivalent to the Qi which Ren Jie would experience only at the peak of level-five Body Refinement Realm. However, this was only level-two Jade Emperor Refinement Chant.
Ren Jie did not stop and started concentrating the level-two vigor rings, but he needed to concentrate 72 vigor rings and it was more complicated to concentrate now. Typically, cultivators needed two to three days to concentrate the rings, but Ren Jie only took ten hours.
Although he was prepared this time around, the two times increase in the intensity of the refinement made Ren Jie vomit blood again. He took quite some time to pull himself together and adjust to the refining.
In the wooden house in the Ren family's magical and special native forest, Wan Hong told the full story about what had happened after Ren Jie had left.
"Asking beast uncle to hit someone with the carriage. Interesting. Looks like this young man has some guts after he has been infuriated and has some authority now." Ren Jie's sixth uncle, Ren Tianzong, who did not bother much about the family, started to notice more about the happenings in the family clan.
"You mean he did not come out for two days and two nights after he went back?" Ren Tianzong had a few old books next to him and a book in his hand. He remained seated and watched quietly, then raised his question after listening to what Wan Hong said.
"That's right, he did not come out after he returned to the Jade Imperial Academy and asked beast uncle to hit someone with the carriage two days ago," Wan Hong asked immediately.
"Where's that brat from the Fang family?"
Wan Hong said, "According to my investigation, this matter was probably not instructed by the Fang or Gao families. It should be their own actions. That girl from the Fang family is obviously against the family head. However, it didn't seem like the family head wanted to hide intentionally because he was afraid to come out."
"Continue to pay close attention."
"Yes."
Ren Jie did not know that the trace of special divine sense split after the Jade Emperor Refinement Chant jade card cracked when he started cultivating.
"Your head, scumbag, rascal, I thought wastrels like him would not try those legendary things in his entire life. If I had known earlier, I shouldn't have… hmm, rascal why did you choose to cause trouble for me and you when you can live a pampered life. Screw you, I'm going to teach you a lesson." Just as the jade card cracked, in a dark and discrete corner in the Ren mansion, someone opened his eyes suddenly and looked in the direction of the Jade Imperial Academy.
"Ahh…" In Ren Jie's room, he let out a terrible scream and transformed all the remaining effects of the medicine into a burst of energy, causing his body to reach its limits after three days and two nights of compression.
However, at last, Ren Jie still broke through the second level of the Jade Emperor Refinement Chant and entered the third stage. At that moment, the Qi in his body was about the same as the level-seven of the Body Refinement Realm.
Although it seemed like he started cultivating the Jade Emperor Refinement Technique from scratch and he dropped from level-five to level-three of the Body Refinement Realm, the strength of his body and Qi increased a few times such that they were comparable to those at level-seven of the Body Refinement Realm.
Ren Jie felt weak and he almost wanted to lie flat on the bed. He took one full hour to finally gain some energy. Other than gaining energy and fulfillment, another feeling which he experienced was: hunger.
He finally recalled that, apart from eating the pastries in the living room downstairs when he was having a break, he had not eaten anything for quite a long while.
Just as he was about to walk out, he realized that his body felt as though it was wrapped up by a layer of armor. In addition, there was a foul smell that almost made him vomit—if there was even anything for him to vomit.
Ren Jie changed his clothes immediately and went downstairs. Ren Jie was a completely different person from three days ago. He was full of energy, just that he was hungry.
"Someone come here, bring me food here immediately…" Ren Jie stood outside the door and shouted.
"Is there anyone around, is there anyone alive, I'm so hungry…" Almost at the same time, the fatso shouted with little energy left from the outside of the garden.