A Cultivation Tale: The Godly Punisher

Chapter 295: Body Cultivation II

"Huh?! What do you require those for?" The palace-spirit asked in a curious tone.

"Well, I require them so I that I can cultivate my body" Alex replied.

"Oh. You want to cultivate your body. Good! But isn't the conditions you gave for your body cultivation too harsh?" The palace-spirit asked.

"Nah. It's not too harsh. My body has been tempered by tribulation-lightning to the point that I feel it should be able to withstand the heat just several degrees below that of molten metal." Alex said. Although he wasn't too sure about that, his resolution couldn't be wavered.

"True. Just like the pyroforce energy that you cultivate which would be able to melt steel and earth when released from your body" The palace-spirit said. Then it continued "Alright. Since you feel you shouldn't be hurt by that kind of heat, let me provide you with the items that you requested for"

Then a second later, a large cauldron appeared before Alex. It was tall that it was three times his height, and was many feet wide.

Then in it was a type of blue liquid that could be gotten in Greatverses and Oververses. This blue liquid could actually be heated from the normal temperature of water to a temperature where it would be ten to hundreds of thousands of times hotter than lava or molten magma.

Then since the palace-spirit had filled the cauldron with this liquid, it activated the special heating array that was spatially compressed into the cauldron.

Upon activation, hundreds of enigmatic patterns that could be seen on the surface of the cauldron suddenly lit up. Then in the next instant, the cauldron became red-hot that it gave the concrete feeling that it was going to melt. But that wasn't so, as it was forged from a metal-like material that could withstand great and excessive amounts of heat.

While the blue liquid within the cauldron, due to the intense temperature and powerful pressure that just begun to act on it, suddenly began to roil. If Alex looked into the cauldron at this moment, he would think that some raging ancient beasts wanted to come out of it.

Although it violently roiled, more than that of an exceedingly turbulent sea, the liquid didn't burst out of the cauldron, and neither did it began to evaporate as water usually do when heated to the boiling point. But bubbles which then popped could be seen appearing from time to time on it surface.

"It's ready" The palace-spirit said.

"Alright. Thank you palace-spirit" Alex said.

"Don't mention" The palace-spirit replied.

Then before Alex would jump into the cauldron, he stated "Palace-spirit, please increase the temperature and pressure from time to time until the liquid which could change in color when I add the herbs into it changes back to blue."

"Hmm. Understood" The palace-spirit said.

Alex then leaped using his powerful legs unto the thick edge of the towering cauldron.

Immediately he appeared at the edge, he could feel the serious heat emanating from the hot cauldron and then shook his head with anguish in his face. However, he was ready to be drowned in a kind of pain that he wasn't sure he experienced when he encountered the Beyonder-level tribulation.

Then he brought out all the body-cultivating herbs from within his mom's spatial necklace and threw them into the hot and bubbling blue liquid in the massive cauldron.

Plosh!

Plosh!

Many 'ploshing' sounds rang out as the many pieces of body-cultivating herbs dropped into the liquid.

Then as they slowly sank to the bottom of the tall cauldron, greyish substances began to exude from them, infusing into the hot blue liquid which then changed the blue color that it possessed to grey.

Approximately two minutes later, the blue liquid completely changed from blue to grey. This showed that all the essences of the herbs that he threw into the blue liquid had fully discharged from them and completely saturated it.

Then ripping off his clothes and closing his eyes to prevent the liquid from entering into his eyes and probably irreversibly damaging it, he dived into the boiling hot grey liquid. But before diving in, he had throated down more than thirty peerless-grade, Heaven Adept-stage healing pills which caused him to feel exceedingly bloated. He had a plan in his mind for doing this.

Plosh!!

A louder plosh sound rang out as Alex's body which was astonishingly heavy, but due to the certain level of density that it possessed, entered into the pool from that height that he jumped from.

Immediately he entered, with his eyes still closed, Alex groaned inwardly in pain.

The way Alex felt was like his skin was turned inside out and had continuous cannon of searing hot lava fired at it. It was just too painful for him to bear. But he gritted his teeth and tried to endure the tremendous pain that afflicted him.

Then due to the high pressure acting on the blue liquid that had turned grey, the extremely hot liquid in the cauldron was forced to enter into Alex's body through his skin pores. Now, it was here that Alex experienced again what pain truly was. And since the liquid was forced in due to the strong invisible pressure acting on it, it began to move through many of his blood vessels.

Alex trembled hard and incessantly from the great pain that was inflicted upon him.

And this one, he wouldn't want to absorb, as it would just flow to his energyhouse and begin to reside in there. So, absorption, or devourment, or whatever he called it couldn't be brought into play here.

What he needed to do now was to endure the greatly excruciating pain that was continuously inflicted upon him as the hot grey liquid flowed through his blood channels.

However, as the extremely hot, grey-colored liquid moved through his entire body like tidal currents due to the external force which was the great pressure acting on it, the 'Duraforce' energy that composed each of the grey liquid-essences that discharged from the body-cultivating herbs and infused into the blue liquid turning it grey, began to permeate into Alex's tough bodily flesh that had swollen from the intense heat that was continually affecting it.

Not long, although the flesh and bones of his body had duraforce energy continuously permeating into them, they still unexpectedly cracked like his body was formed from clay and was hit with a tremendously heavy force.

Once these cracks appeared due to the excessive heat that his body was unendingly, directly exposed to, Alex strongly shook in pain. If one could see into his closed eyes, one would see that that they had turned red. While his blood seethed from the immense pressurizing force that caused numerous cracks to appear all over his tough and hard flesh and bones.

But since Alex had prepared for this occasion by swallowing many peerless-grade, Heaven Adept-rank healing pills, the many cracks that had appeared on his flesh and bones quickly began to heal up. While slivers of the invincible body-transforming energy that entered into his flesh and bones reinforced the new skin cells and bone cells that were closing up the wide, multiple cracks in Alex's tough bodily flesh and bones.

However, due to the pressure and heat that continuously increased by some amounts, his body which was undergoing a healing and strengthening phase suddenly swelled and then ripped apart in hundreds of places. At the moment, his skin which was now dense to a degree by the action of duraforce energy cracked in hundreds of places, with these cracks also giving rise to hundred more cracks. Same thing that was happening to his skin also happened to all the bones in his body. Numerous cracks could be seen on their surfaces, making them frightening to anyone that would see Alex.

However, as the wisps of healforce energy circulated about in his body, the hundreds of cracks on both his skin and bones began to grow thinner as skin cells and bone cells filled up the holes in his flesh and bones because of the wide cracks. And as they sealed up the many cracks that had manifested, duraforce energy which unstoppably flowed into his body, permeated the new cells filling up the cracks and caused them to become stronger.

Not long, his body which could be likened to an exceedingly dilapidated mud/ clay statue that could no longer stand the river of time, became flawless in appearance that it began to five out a beautiful sheen within the cauldron filled with hot grey-colored water.

At the moment, the numerous cracks that had appeared on his bones and flesh had disappeared, causing his body which was been saturated by duraforce energy to begin to glow.

Although his body skin and skeletal framework were gradually transforming, becoming more stronger and powerful. Same couldn't be said of his internal organs which had turned to mush because of the great pressure and exceeding temperature acting on them. Since the hot grey water flowed into Alex's body through his skin pores, it had begun causing damage unrestrainedly to his delicate inner organs, causing them them to cook and overcook that they became like jelly.

However, since his body was filled with healforce energy gotten from the many peerless-grade, Heaven Adept-rank regeneration pills that he swallowed, the organs of his body, except his heart and brain which were protected respectively by his dad's spatial necklace and the danger-detection treasure which continually produced an unseen, invincibly strong repulsing force-field that kept absolutely all elements and energy out, they began to rapidly heal.

Cells quickly aggregated together to heal the damages that had been done to all the organs in Alex's body because of the insane pressure and temperature factor affecting him as he was fully immersed in cauldron. While duraforce energy flowed into these organs and the cells to reinforce them; it made them stronger and powerful too that they would now be able to withstand this level of temperature and pressure, provided they weren't increased again in leaps.

As for his blood, it couldn't boil away from his body because it wasn't normal blood. It was a blood that contains his parent's lineage-transmitted physiques, the blood essence of the Azure Beastsman and that of hundreds of divine beasts that he subdued and extracted blood essences from. Then also the blood of the Negaria race that contained the ancient racial gene of the strongest tribesman of this race. So, due to all these, they made his blood easily withstand the pressure and temperature. However, the duraforce energy still permeated into it, making it denser than normal. Therefore, as an example, his blood became thick like mercury.

Since the blue liquid hadn't changed back to blue, meaning that there was still duraforce energy in the liquid as it was still grey in color, the palace-spirit increased the temperature of the cauldron and the pressure acting on it. Once it did so, Alex's body began to swell rapidly once again which then explosively cracked in numerous places, with some tiny pieces shooting off like actual projectiles within the cauldron. Therefore, in this manner, more cycles of swelling, cracking, healing and reinforcement took place.

Many hours later...

After the duraforce energy in the extremely hot liquid had completely entered into Alex's body and turned back to blue, Alex's body which had grown taller by an inch due to the addition of many cells to his bones and tissues because of the appearances of hundreds of cracks in their structures which the cells surfaced and banded together to seal, became so strong that, if he faced the Beyonder-level tribulation which he encountered when he was breaking through into the core formation stage again at this junction, he would easily pass through it. He wouldn't be in pain. That's to show how tough his body is now.

Then when his eyes snapped open, and with a smile in his face, he gathered power in his legs and shot out of the cauldron to the tiled floor of the palace central hall.