10 The Path of Body Cultivation

Li Ran fiddled around in the room. After confirming that he did not seem to have any problems, he coughed and walked out of the room.

The servants who passed by were already used to it. All the members of the Pure Wind Clan knew that the young master's body was weak. Since young, he had consumed countless spiritual materials or the blood essence of high-level magical monsters. They had tried almost every method, but the effects were minimal.

They did not suspect anything. When they saw Li Ran leaving, they greeted him out of habit.

"Young Master, it seems that your cough is more serious today."

An old servant heard the intermittent coughing and remarked with a pained expression.

Li Ran's face was pale. There was no color on his lips. He did not have much strength to speak. He only shook his head slightly at the old servant and left.

He had to act like he was sick. His old illness had disappeared overnight. It was too suspicious.

When he walked to a quiet courtyard, there was no one around. He cleared his throat in a low voice and pretended to cough. It was too painful for his throat.

He put away his unnecessary expression and looked at the courtyard not far ahead. That was the residence of the chief, Li Xun.

"Father."

Li Ran pushed open the wooden railing of the courtyard and called out.

His voice sounded very weak.

The chief, Li Xun, suddenly appeared at the courtyard entrance and asked in surprise, "Lil' Ran, why are you here?"

In the past, Li Ran rarely came here to look for him.

"I wanted to come and see you, Father. I have nothing else to do anyway, so I came."

Li Ran revealed a shy smile.

"Come in quickly. Are you not feeling well today?"

Li Xun took a few more glances at the young man and could not help but feel sorry for him.

There were many disciples of the same age as Li Ran in the Pure Wind Clan, but they were not plagued by old illnesses. In addition, they had used the flesh and blood of monsters to temper their bodies since they were young, so their figures were more than twice the size of Li Ran's.

Only Li Ran looked like a seven or eight-year-old child.

"It doesn't matter. It's an old problem."

Li Ran followed behind his father. This was the first time he had come in and out of this place since he had transmigrated.

The room was very messy. The tables were full of piles of books. Some of them were even spread out and fell on the ground.

There were many magical items hanging on the walls of the room. There were tiger skins, bows and arrows made of ivory, snow leopards made of white bones, and all kinds of monsters.

Li Ran had not finished looking when he heard Li Shao say unnaturally.

"It's a bit messy over there. Lil' Ran, come here."

Li Ran swept his gaze across the open book on the ground. He only saw some words that seemed to be related to monsters.

"Father, what are you studying?"

At this time, he realized that his father's eyes were bloodshot. It was obvious that he had been reading those ancient books for the past two days.

"I'm just looking around."

Li Shao sighed. After Li Ran awakened his Soul Ring two days ago, he had some thoughts in his mind.

Seeing that his father did not say anything, Li Ran did not ask any further. From his father's expression, he could roughly guess a little bit.

It had something to do with him.

After all, he had only awakened one Soul Ring that day. In everyone's opinion, his path of Soul Dao had come to an end, where the end was already in sight.

"Father, I want to walk the path of Body Cultivation!"

"What?"

Li Xun seemed to have heard something unbelievable. He seriously suspected that he had heard wrongly.

"What did you just say?"

His son had given up on the path of Soul Dao to learn Body Cultivation?

From the outside world's point of view, the young man's path of Body Cultivation had come to an end. There was no more hope.

"I've already thought it through. I've only awakened one Soul Ring. There's no more path for me in Soul Dao."

Li Ran's face was filled with bitterness.

The Pure Wind Clan was a clan of Martial Dao. Many disciples who had awakened multiple Soul Rings were born every year, but most of them had only awakened one to three Soul Rings. They would not be able to walk far on the path of Soul Dao.

Most of the disciples would choose to walk the path of Body Cultivation.

Therefore, the Pure Wind Clan was essentially a Martial Dao clan for Body Cultivation. The cultivation method was completely different from the path of Soul Dao.

"Body Cultivation isn't as easy as you think!"

Li Xun sighed. This was the truth. He was the Pure Wind Clan's chief, but he did not want his son to walk on this path as a last resort.

He was an example.

Soul Dao focused on cultivation. When one's Soul Qi reached the maximum level, one could kill monsters of the same attributes and successfully bind a new Soul Ring to cultivate to the next level.

Back then, Li Xun had only awakened three Soul Rings. He had stopped at the Great Soul Master level for a full 50 years. He was unable to enter the next level and could only walk the path of Body Cultivation.

"I know. This isn't a whim. I've thought about it for a long time."

Li Ran said with certainty, "Even if you used other methods to send me to the Divine Sect, it still wouldn't change the fact that I've awakened only one Soul Ring. I'm destined to be a Soul Warrior forever.

"What's the difference between a Soul Warrior and trash? I don't want to hide under your protection forever. I want to become stronger!"

He wanted to walk the path of Body Cultivation after many considerations. The traditional Soul Dao could not satisfy the need for unlimited fusions of his Soul Ring, but Body Cultivation could.

In addition, if his strength continued to increase, from the outside world's point of view, it would make sense if it was because of Body Cultivation.

"Have you really thought it through?"

Li Xun's heart wavered. It was right. Li Ran had only awakened one Soul Ring. Even if he used other methods to send him to the Divine Sect, he still would not be able to solve his fundamental problem!

It might be a better choice to let Li Ran walk the path of Body Cultivation earlier.

Nonetheless... Could his body withstand it?

Body Cultivation focused on tempering and strengthening the strength of one's body. One would engage in life-and-death battles with monsters. One would absorb the blood essence of the monsters, devour their flesh and blood, and use the essence of the monsters' flesh and blood to brew medicinal pastes to temper one's body!

The path of body cultivator was very arduous and cruel. It was accompanied by great risks, and the effects were very slow. It would often take decades or even hundreds of years for the strength of one's body to reach an astonishing level.

Li Ran saw through his father's worries and joked, "I'm not thinking too much right now. Improving my strength is another aspect. More importantly, Body Cultivation might even be able to improve my physical condition!"

The old illness in his body had long been cured. He was just looking for an excuse.

Li Xun said, "Since you've thought it through, I won't interfere with your decision anymore. That said, your foundation's relatively weak. From tomorrow onward, you'll come to my place first and use the flesh and blood of monsters to improve your physical condition first. After that, we'll slowly temper your body.

"Body Cultivation is a new path of martial arts and has only developed for tens of thousands of years, but it can't compare to the millions of years of history of Soul Dao."

Furthermore, Body Cultivation was not as clear-cut as the realm of Soul Dao.

"Lil' Ran, since you've taken the path of Body Cultivation, you must continue unswervingly. No matter how many people doubt you, you mustn't waver.

"Once you waver, you won't be able to go far in Body Cultivation too."

The path of Body Cultivation was very long. While tempering one's physical strength, it also tempered one's will.

Li Ran nodded. He had transmigrated here for more than a month, so he had some understanding of Body Cultivation.

On the Azure Dragon Continent, Body Cultivation was not favored.

There were very few clans of Body Cultivation like the Pure Wind Clan. 10,000 years ago, it had gradually gone downhill and slowly declined.

Only the clans of Soul Dao were developing more vigorously. Those large sects that stood tall on the Azure Dragon Continent for millions of years were all clans of the path of Soul Dao!

Originally, both were Martial Daos. It was just that their cultivation methods were different. They were separated into Soul Dao and Body Cultivation but why were their fates so different?

The reason was very crude. For Soul Dao, the endpoint was very high. One could become a Supreme Martial God or even better such that one would become unparalleled!

On the other hand, the path of Body Cultivations would not be long. It would take a longer time than Soul Dao and even after a lifetime, one could only become a Soul King at most.

Even so, those were only the very few people on the pyramid. Most people would stop at the levels of a Great Soul Master or a Soul Grandmaster.

Li Ran well understood that the decline of Body Cultivation was the result of the trend.