Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 601 Rapid Advancement, Impacting the Body

The flow of time differs between the Underworld and the Ice Abyss.

One day in the former is likely equal to one year in the latter.

Xia Hong, who was cultivating deep in the Misty Swamp Forest, was in turmoil when he had this conjecture. He immediately summoned Six Arms and, after confirming his conjecture, he immediately had the idea of ​​stopping his cultivation and considering whether to go directly to White Bone Mountain, to the Jade Skull Lady's cave, find the passage, and quickly return to the Ice Abyss.

Why did this conjecture come about?
During his seclusion, the annual incense offering boost to the Zongling Stele suddenly activated on its own.

In the early stages of entering the Dark Realm, he was possessed and devoured by those scattered spirits, leaving him in a daze, inexplicably irritable and out of control, and completely losing his sense of time. However, once he had the Soul-Illuminating Lamp and his Bone Body Golden Body was repaired, he returned to normal.

The incense offerings to the Zongling Stele can only be increased once a year on a fixed date, which is the Great Xia Sect's sacrificial day, which is the ninth day of the ninth lunar month.

The first boost from incense cultivation came so inexplicably, how could he not be suspicious? He later summoned Six Arms and asked him, and sure enough, he got the answer that one day in the Dark Realm was equal to one year in the Ice Abyss.

He entered the Dark Realm on the ninth day of the first lunar month, which means that nine months had passed by the time the first incense cultivation amplification arrived in the Ice Abyss.

Has a ceasefire agreement been signed with Caiqiu? What will happen to Chencang's 100,000 troops in Dongchuan City? Will the war between the regional warlords in Mo'aochuan escalate and eventually affect the southern border region? The Sacred Cauldron and the Beast Emperor Puppet haven't even been left in Xia City yet. If the regional warlords find out about his disappearance, how will Xia Chuan and Li Xuanling deal with it...?

From initial worry and panic, to gradually realizing that his strength was simply insufficient and that rushing to White Bone Mountain would be suicidal, to finally suppressing the distracting thoughts in his mind and continuing to immerse himself in the rapid improvement of his cultivation, Xia Hong's mental journey over the past six days has been extremely tortuous and complicated.

"call…………"

But no matter what, he finally made it through!
Within the deep blue forest, Xia Hong exhaled a long breath, absorbing the last trace of medicinal power. The dark red bone-like golden body behind him had already reached an astonishing thirteen zhang in size, and from the core meridians to the internal flesh and blood, and then to the outermost skin membrane, everything had taken shape.

In other words, he has completed the entire cultivation of the Manifestation Yang stage, and his Bone Form Golden Body has been completely transformed into a higher-level Golden Body Battle Body.

"The Tribulation Body Realm of the Four Domains, or rather the vast majority of the Tribulation Body Realm of the Ice Abyss, has a battle body golden body form that is the Vajra Dharma Body in the literal sense. It is not affected by the bone aptitude of the Manifest Yang level. Whether it is low-level iron bone or silver bone, or higher-level gold bone or jade bone, or even my Burning Bone, as long as the bone structure is completely perfect, what is finally formed is called the Vajra Dharma Body."

The only difference probably lies in the strength of the Dharma body and individual ability!

Recalling the description of the Tribulation Realm he had seen in the library of Linchu County, Xia Hong felt the powerful aura emanating from his own golden body, and his mind stirred slightly.

Behind him, the golden battle form slowly extended its right hand, clenched its fist, and suddenly punched out in front of it.

boom…………

The ultimate power contained in the fist was suddenly pushed forward, instantly compressing the surrounding air to its limit, turning it into an invisible, sharp shock wave that flew out like an arrow, shooting forward more than a hundred meters.

Don't underestimate a hundred meters. The Dark Realm is a world of souls, which has extremely strong restrictions on physical bodies. When he first arrived six days ago, even though he saw through those souls with the help of the Soul-Illuminating Lamp, when he unleashed his full power with his Bone Form, the range of his attack was at most thirty meters. Now it is more than three times that.

Moreover, it wasn't just the distance; the wind from his punches was like a sharp arrow, almost forming a line within a range of over a hundred meters. This terrifying sense of control over power was something that was completely incomparable to before.

"After breaking through to my peak, my basic strength didn't double, but it increased by more than 50 jun, and now it's 170 jun. Even without using the Saint Rune, I can still fight head-on with an ordinary second-stage Tribulation Realm cultivator just by relying on my own martial arts..."

With his peak cultivation level of Xianyang and a basic strength of 170 jun, Xia Hong is unmatched in the same realm, not to mention the entire Ice Abyss Land. Even without the Beast Emperor Puppet, relying solely on his martial arts, holy runes, and Shattering Divine Light, he is confident that he can challenge even the current ceiling of the Four Domains, a fourth-stage Tribulation Body expert.

"Although the Battle Body Golden Body has taken shape, I have not yet escaped the realm of Manifestation Yang. It is still a different thing from my physical body. To mobilize it, I still have to unleash my full strength. Therefore, dealing with those soul bodies is still very difficult."

Only by breaking through to the Tribulation Body Realm and completely fusing my physical body with my battle-ready golden body can I be fearless of the burden on my physical body and, guided by the Soul-Illuminating Lamp, truly deal with these souls at will!

Xia Hong felt the immense power within his body. He hesitated for a moment, but then his eyes immediately hardened.

This is his sixth day in the Dark Realm. Six incense offerings have meant that six years have passed in the Ice Abyss, and now it is the nineteenth year of the Great Xia Dynasty.

The war between Caiqiu and Chencang must have ended. If the four vassal states in Sichuan were to turn their attention to the southern foothills, the situation of Great Xia, without its lord, would be unimaginable.

Xia Hong had no doubt about his wife Li Xuanling and his younger brother Xia Chuan's abilities, but no matter how strong they were, they were only at the Xianyang level. During his three years in Mo Aochuan, he left behind the Sacred Cauldron and the Frost Beast Stake. Now, the Great Xia had nothing left.

"The only thing the Great Xia can rely on is its army. Fortunately, Qiu Peng took back the batch of supplies I brought back from Mo'aochuan and Yangshi. If we can make good use of them, dealing with the threat from the vassal states shouldn't be a big problem!"

His gaze hardened because Xia Hong had made a decision: to continue here and try to break through to the Tribulation Body Realm.

Worrying leads to chaos, while haste makes waste. Even if he were to leave seclusion and go to White Bone Mountain now, it wouldn't be easy for him to find the spatial rift and return to the Ice Abyss. There's also a formidable enemy like Lady Jade Skull waiting for him. Who knows how strong she is? The key point is that Six Arms had previously mentioned that behind Lady Jade Skull was the Blood Void Ancestor, one of the seventy-two ancient demons under the Qishan Demon Lord. Without thorough preparation, rushing over there could truly mean certain death.

"I obtained thirteen of the Five Elements Calamity Qi Beads during my two trips to the Blood Miasma Plains. I sold three in Yang City, and I still have two sets left. So I have two more chances to break through to the Tribulation Body Realm. Judging from the cultivation efficiency here, it shouldn't take long. It would be best if I could succeed. If I fail, I'll go straight to White Bone Mountain!"

It is a consensus that the difficulty of breaking through to the next realm for humans in the Ice Abyss increases with each step. Breaking through to the Tribulation Body Realm is never smooth sailing. In fact, based on what I saw in the library of Linchu County that year, there are extremely dangerous aspects to breaking through to the Tribulation Body Realm.

To break through to the peak of the Manifestation Yang level and achieve the Golden Body of Battle, one must continue to develop the internal organs of the Golden Body in order to break through to the Tribulation Body level. This process is simply called "opening the organs".

The so-called "opening the organs" means using a massive amount of the five elements' calamity energy to impact the golden body, forcing the golden body to spontaneously generate the first of the five internal organs at the critical moment of life and death.

Because the pain of this process is more than a hundred times greater than that of the Yang Tempering Bone, and there is an extremely high risk of death, it is called the Five Elements Tribulation. Passing through it will allow one to achieve the Tribulation Body, which is what people call the Tribulation Body Realm.

"Place the Calamity Qi Beads on the corresponding five elemental organs of the golden body, then simultaneously grind them apart, allowing the five elemental calamity qi to instantly fill the interior of the golden body. Then, the meridians, flesh, and skin tighten at the same time, locking the calamity qi tightly inside the body. Calamity qi can also be called death qi. With such a massive amount of death qi filling the body, the golden body will either burst or it will generate its first organ to slowly disperse the five elemental calamity qi..."

As his strength grew and his cultivation deepened, Xia Hong increasingly felt that the overall cultivation process of the Ice Abyss humans, in essence, seemed to be a history of self-torture. The cultivation of the Lumberjacking and Digging Realms involved constantly absorbing the toxins contained in the flesh of cold beasts. In this process, the toxins were used to stimulate potential while antibodies were continuously produced.
The cultivation of the ultimate level of the Earth-Digging Realm involves continuously pouring extremely hot beast blood into the damaged skin membrane, allowing it to regenerate and thus achieving a reshaping effect.

The Cold Resistance level is even more direct, destroying flesh and blood tissue and then reconstructing it. The so-called mid-stage, late-stage, and peak levels are three stages of flesh and blood reconstruction.
The Manifestation Yang level involves absorbing the energy contained in animal bones. In Xia Hong's current view, this so-called energy is more like a high-level toxin. This toxin is used to continuously and intensely stimulate the bones, thereby achieving a tempering effect and forcing the bone marrow to regenerate. Because this whole process is extremely painful, Xia Hong sometimes even suspects that the so-called condensation of bone form at the Manifestation Yang level is actually the physical body reaching its limit, and the soul breaking away due to the unbearable burden.

Of course, this was just his guess and a joke, but it also shows that the path to becoming stronger for the Ice Abyss humans is full of extreme pain and torment.

And now, at the Tribulation Realm, he's even more ruthless!
Detonating the Calamity Bead directly inside the golden body, then locking in the five elements of calamity energy within, and forcing the golden body to open its internal organs—this is practically playing with fire.

The Calamity Qi Bead is the energy core of the physical bodies of those Five Elements Realm Beast Kings. Xia Hong knows very well how terrifying the Calamity Qi contained within is. Let alone his current cultivation level of Manifestation Yang, even if he were at the Calamity Body Realm, he probably wouldn't dare to withstand it with his physical body.

Unfortunately, this is exactly the method used to break through the barrier.

Xia Hong certainly wouldn't just listen to one person's opinion. Besides inquiring at the library of Linchu County in Caiqiu, he inquired a second time in Chencang, and even spent money to inquire once in Yangshi. The answer he received all three times was exactly the same: there was only one way to break through to the Tribulation Realm.

Moreover, because the tempering effect of this process is extremely strong and the benefits of getting through it are immense, even if there are elixirs that can help with breakthroughs, most people with exceptional talent will not use them unless they are at their wits' end.

Xia Hong, of course, is out of the question!

"call…………"

After taking out the first set of Calamity Qi Beads from his storage bag, Xia Hong took a deep breath, then slowly raised the Calamity Qi Beads and placed them on various parts of his golden body according to the correspondence between the five elements and the internal organs. Then, his gaze darkened slightly, and he couldn't make up his mind at first.

"The death rate of those who attempt to break through to the Tribulation Body Realm is extremely high, but this death rate is actually within a controllable range. If you feel that you cannot withstand the massive amount of tribulation energy, you can loosen your golden body membrane and release the tribulation energy. The problem is that those who can break through to the Tribulation Body Realm are basically all geniuses of their own. How easy is it to get these people to willingly admit their failure?"

Therefore, many people don't die during the process of breaking through to the Tribulation Realm, but rather from their own pride. Honestly, if I were truly faced with that crucial decision, would I admit defeat?

Xia Hong took a slight breath, recalling his entire journey of leading the rise of Great Xia in the Ice Abyss, and his eyes revealed a firmness almost without hesitation.

Of course, I couldn't accept it!
From Tupo to Hongmuling, from Jinggu Wuyuan to Longyou, from the north bank of Xinghe to the east, until now, unifying the entire southern foothills and defeating the warlords...

If the rise of the Great Xia Dynasty were woven into a captivating story, then Xia Hong would undoubtedly be the sole protagonist. All the characters who have appeared before, such as the Wooden Puppet Ghost, the Mirror Immortal, He Yuanhun, Hou Hu, Li Tiancheng, Xiang Fuhai, Yang Fa, and Yang Zun, regardless of their strength or ultimate fate, are destined to be mere supporting characters in this story.

Even setting aside his qualifications, Xia Hong's experience over the years is enough to fill him with boundless confidence.

What is the Tribulation Realm? Above that is the Venerable Phase Realm, and then there's the Great Sage Realm that Six Arms mentioned before, which is several realms higher than the Venerable Phase Realm.
If a mere Tribulation Realm cultivator can make him admit defeat, how can he lead Great Xia to continue on the Ice Abyss? How can he face the powerful and terrifying beings of the Dark and Holy Sun Realms?

"Not admitting defeat doesn't mean I'll fight to the death. I still have the Sacred Cauldron as my greatest reliance. Looking back at my past breakthroughs, it has always provided me with assistance whenever I reached my limit, and this time should be no exception..."

Despite his confidence, Xia Hong still felt a sense of awe when facing the unknown. He quietly activated the Sacred Cauldron within his body before focusing his attention entirely on the five Calamity Qi Beads inside his golden body.

Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, Xia Hong turned his head to look towards the White Bone Mountain to the west, his brows furrowing slightly.

"Five days ago, the Sacred Cauldron showed some unusual activity, as if it had sensed a familiar aura. This has never happened before. A familiar aura... Could there be something in this Netherworld that shares the same origin as the Sacred Cauldron?"

As this thought arose in his mind, Xia Hong became somewhat unsettled.

The Sacred Cauldron is a system building. If there is something that shares the same origin as the Sacred Cauldron, then it is highly likely that it is also related to the system.

However, now is not the time for him to worry about that. His only task right now is to seize these two opportunities to break through. As long as he succeeds, he will have more confidence to go to White Bone Mountain and his chances of returning to Ice Abyss will be greater.

boom…………

Having made up his mind, Xia Hong didn't hesitate any longer. With a thought, he directly crushed the five tribulation energy beads inside the golden body, and then quickly tightened the membrane, putting the entire golden body into a sealed state.

boom…………

From the moment he decided to attempt the challenge, Xia Hong had already prepared himself mentally, knowing that he would face extreme pain.

"Ah...ho...ho...ho..."

But when the calamity energy truly exploded inside the golden body, the extreme pain caused by the massive amount of the five elements' calamity energy first entered his physical body and then surged into his mind, causing him to instantly kneel down.

He truly knelt down, in the real sense of the word!

He, who had been sitting cross-legged, collapsed to the ground, letting out a scream of extreme pain as he tore at his chest. His body twisted and struggled on the ground, looking exactly like a maggot being roasted by a raging fire, utterly wretched.

"vomit……"

First, a lot of saliva overflowed from the corner of his mouth, and then it quickly turned into thick smoke with sparks, mixed with blood mist, which was obviously caused by the high temperature inside his body evaporating the blood.
Its eyes continuously oozed green liquid, which was clearly highly poisonous. Wherever it flowed, it burned, quickly disfiguring Xia Hong beyond recognition.
He quickly stopped vomiting and wailing, and began to cough violently. Along with the coughing, yellow dust kept spewing from his mouth, as if someone had poured a large amount of sand and gravel into it, quickly making his body covered in a smoky mess.
Before his coughing had stopped, molten metal gushed from his nose again, mixed with a lot of bloody patterns, clearly indicating that his own blood had also been brought out.
Finally, when it came to his ears, Xia Hong's ears began to overflow with fluid. At first, the fluid was normal, just water, but it gradually became tinged with blood, and then it turned completely red, just like fresh blood.

"Heh...heh...ah..."

Xia Hong's low, suppressed screams quickly turned into wails again. He finally couldn't withstand the extreme pain and began to scream violently.

(End of this chapter)