With everything settled and a sufficient volume of exercises to analyze, Aotian entered a period of stability. Between training, flirting, and synthesizing techniques, time flowed like water in this peace.
Two weeks passed uneventfully, marking the fourth month since his arrival in this world.
With the last spoonful of rice and the final movement of his exercise, Aotian felt his bones undergo their final tempering.
[Host: Long Aotian
Cultivation: Mortal (Bone Refinement Perfection)
Physique: Mortal
Aptitude: No Spiritual Root
—------------------
Sect: No Name
Level: 0 (Not qualified as a sect)]
[Sect Leader: 6th level Foundation Establishment → Foundation Establishment Perfection
Elders Lie and Bao: 6th level Qi Refinement → Qi Refinement Perfection]
Unlike what Aotian had expected, when he reached the mid-stage of Bone Refinement, his avatars advanced to the 7th level.
A welcome surprise.
When he reached the late-stage, they advanced to the 8th level. At the final stage, they reached the 9th, and now, at perfection, they had fully refined their respective realms.
His avatars hadn't been idle either. Aside from synthesizing techniques, they dedicated themselves to ambushing and fighting cultivators of the same level—or even stronger ones.
The Sect Leader, always hidden, was ready to intervene if things got out of control.
Each avatar was precious, and Aotian didn't want to lose a single one.
As for his true target, the Black Rock Mountain Lord, Aotian decided to wait until he reached Qi Refinement.
Once that happened, his Elder avatars would use that man for combat training.
And with his own breakthrough, not only would the Elders reach Foundation Establishment, but he would also gain a super trump card in the form of the Sect Leader at the Golden Core stage.
There was no need to rush or take unnecessary risks.
After completing his training, Aotian went to the bathroom to wash himself and, afterward, relieve himself.
Soon, his yellowish urine began to clear, turning completely crystalline.
Martial arts were a process of refining the mortal body, which was why the famous impurity expulsion phenomenon occurred.
Since Aotian still lacked spiritual roots, this process was slower.
Impurities were gradually eliminated through sweat, and in more internal cases, through urine and feces.
This last piss marked the final expulsion of impurities.
Right after, his urine became completely pure, signaling that his body had been fully refined.
"Ahhh… So comfortable…" Aotian sighed, tilting his head back and narrowing his eyes in pleasure.
After washing up, he wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out of the bathroom.
Walking toward Rihai's room, he knocked gently on the door.
Knock, knock!
"Hai'er!" Aotian called out softly.
The door opened, revealing a blushing Rihai as she saw him wearing only a towel.
"W-what are you doing?!" she stammered, visibly flustered.
Her mind raced, debating whether to accept or reject what she thought was about to happen.
Aotian rolled his eyes.
"It's not what you're thinking." He sighed. "I'm about to form my spiritual roots, and I wanted you to watch over me in case something goes wrong."
"Ah! So that's it, I thought…" Rihai began to justify herself, but her embarrassment silenced her.
That was when something caught her attention.
"WHY is that thing rising?!" she exclaimed, averting her gaze as she noticed Aotian's towel lifting in front.
"And who's to blame for having wild thoughts?" Aotian shot back, completely unashamed.
Rihai had made him like this too many times before, so he simply stopped caring.
"And so what if I had those thoughts?!" she gritted her teeth, her face burning with anger and embarrassment.
"What does that have to do with that thing rising?!"
"Everything!" Aotian defended himself, as if it were obvious.
"You had improper thoughts, which made me have improper thoughts!"
"AOTIAN! You always have perverted thoughts! That's not my fault!" Rihai growled, irritated.
"But all my improper thoughts are about you!" Aotian shot back, grinning.
"S-Stop talking nonsense! Do you want to create your veins or not?!" Rihai exclaimed, utterly embarrassed, pushing his back with both hands to shove him into the room.
Aotian noticed she was already near her limit and decided to stop teasing her.
Once inside, he let the towel drop.
It wasn't an attempt to show off to Rihai but a necessity—essence refinement required him to be completely naked. Any barrier, even clothing, could interfere with the process at this critical stage.
Essence refinement was the fastest part of martial arts cultivation. In just a few hours, the process would be complete.
Aotian was both nervous and excited. Today, he would form his roots.
'Before that, I'll review my manual's information. Now that I've perfected it, it has nothing to do with the Luo Mountain Swordsman anymore. It's time to rename it!' he thought.
Then, under his control, Bao Hui analyzed the newly named manual.
[Arrogant Dragon Martial Arts Manual: Innate-Level Exercise Book.
Condition: Well-preserved
Description: A manual from an unknown martial artist. A set of exercises that defies the laws of nature and allows a mortal to ascend to immortality.
Note: Fully trained. Can generate low-level five-element spiritual roots.]
'Hmm!' Aotian nodded inwardly, satisfied with the name.
Synthesizing the essence refinement portion hadn't been easy. Since his avatars already had spiritual roots, they couldn't practice it, so he had to compensate with an absurd number of manuals to create a solid reference.
The problem was that most of these manuals were stored in jade slips, kept near his main body, and required spiritual energy to activate—something Aotian didn't have.
Because of this, Rihai had to help him, activating and pressing 300 jade slips against his forehead one by one.
At first, she hesitated, worried about the mental strain this might cause. But since Aotian insisted, she activated them gradually, constantly monitoring his condition.
What surprised her was that, even after absorbing the contents of all 300 jade slips, Aotian remained completely unaffected, showing no signs of mental fatigue.
This only deepened the mystery surrounding him.
The truth was that, while his main body received the information, his avatars handled the cognitive load, processing and organizing everything.
Fortunately, the jade slips significantly aided the synthesis of the technique. Compared to skin, blood, and bone refinement, where he wasted enormous time just reading and understanding books, this method sped things up considerably.
Still lost in thought, Aotian suddenly realized that Rihai had been standing behind him the entire time, not saying a word.
Turning his head, he saw her face completely flushed—and where she was staring…
His bare butt.
Instantly, Aotian covered his backside with both hands, his expression embarrassed and awkward.
"Rihai!"
He felt extremely self-conscious about Rihai staring at his butt, and he quickly sat on the floor, ensuring that she could only see his back and just a tiny bit of his butt.
She blinked, as if caught red-handed.
"Hehe! Just charging a bit of interest!" Rihai giggled, still blushing.
She was embarrassed about being caught but also pleased to finally get back at him for all the times Aotian had peeked at her.
"Bah! Shameless!" Aotian muttered playfully.
Rihai crossed her arms under her chest and rolled her eyes at him.
Aotian sighed and focused back on his refinement.
"Hai'er, I'm going to start… please watch over me."
Rihai took a deep breath and nodded, but before he could begin, she asked:
"Aotian, what type of scattered root do you plan to cultivate? You've advanced through the realms so quickly that your foundation might not be stable. Are you sure you want to do this now?"
Aotian smiled confidently.
"Don't worry! Trust me—my foundation is solid. And I won't cultivate a scattered root, but a true root."
Rihai froze.
Her eyes widened, and she shouted in shock:
"You're insane! You can't do that!"