Chapter 96 — The First Extreme
CHAPTER 96
The First Extreme
“The rake's still here?” Old Man Luo called through the door.
Shi Feng opened one eye. Morning light entered through the narrow shutter. His final prepared medicine lay nearly finished beside him, and the old hut owner stood outside worrying about farm tools.
“Yes,” Shi Feng replied.
“Good,” Old Man Luo said. “I'm going to the lower field. You won't see me until the rent ends.”
“I paid for quiet,” Shi Feng reminded him.
“And you got a whole night,” Old Man Luo replied.
His footsteps moved away. Shi Feng listened until even the scrape of his crooked boot faded down the slope.
Then he closed his eyes again.
The last golden traces gathered near the center of his body. His ribs, spine, limbs, and the small bones of his hands already answered together. Only a few stubborn places still broke that complete feeling.
He took the next pill and let its multiplied medicinal force spread. There was no resistance from the earlier doses. His All-Devouring Physique accepted every portion cleanly, then directed the strength where he needed it.
The final refinement slowed.
Shi Feng didn't panic. He already knew how greedy the last bones were. He gathered the failed pieces left from his private batches and swallowed those too. Their herbs' qi joined the stronger pills, giving what they could without a successful pill's multiplication.
Even the scorched residue mattered here. Nothing medicinal went to waste in his body.
Heat rose through his chest. He steadied his breathing and followed its course inward.
The first remaining section turned gold before noon. It wasn't a flash visible through his skin. Shi Feng felt the change inside, a hard, complete strength replacing the last uneven place along that path.
He guided the force onward.
The next section took longer. His qi moved through all three hundred and sixty-five meridians, feeding the medicine into the refinement instead of letting it scatter through his flesh.
His five Epoch Meridians remained open and alive. The dormancy that made the world call him a cripple was long behind him. Their extraordinary capacity helped him sustain a change that an ordinary Bone Refinement cultivator couldn't even imagine.
Shi Feng thought, I've paid for every part of this. Finish properly.
He didn't rush toward Foundation Establishment. That realm could wait beyond the work already before him. He wanted the complete Extreme, not a nearly finished version he regretted later.
Another pill dissolved. The last Golden Vein Root preparation followed.
The remaining ordinary traces grew thinner.
By afternoon, his whole skeleton felt almost joined. He could follow the gold from his fingers to his shoulders, through his chest, and down into his feet without losing the thread of its force.
Almost wasn't enough.
He stayed seated and continued guiding the medicine. Outside, a bird called once. The old stove clicked as yesterday's heat finally left a loose stone.
Inside his body, the final narrow section changed.
Gold met gold.
For several breaths, Shi Feng forgot the hut entirely.
The force didn't explode outward. It gathered inward, passing through every refined bone before settling into a single complete strength.
His Ancestral Bone no longer stood apart from an unfinished skeleton. All two hundred and six bones were golden. The second refinement was complete.
The First Extreme.
Shi Feng opened his eyes. His heart beat hard with excitement, and he grinned before he could stop himself.
“Finally,” Shi Feng said.
He stood slowly. The movement felt light, but the strength beneath it was frightening. His body wasn't merely a little tougher than yesterday. Every part supported every other part without the earlier unevenness.
He reached for the hut's door bar and stopped before taking it. A careless pull might break it and give Old Man Luo another reason to return. Instead, he lifted the bar gently and stepped outside.
He washed at the basin before testing his strength. His reflection caught his attention. Bone Refinement had improved his looks steadily; with the golden refinement complete, the change was clearer.
His skin was smooth and healthy, his features sharper, and his straight-backed figure held a natural strength. The face was still his own. It simply looked far better than it had during those hungry days in the clan.
Shi Feng rinsed his hands and left the basin. Being handsome wouldn’t test his fist for him.
The ridge stood between the hut and the road. He walked behind it until neither the building nor any path could be seen. A broad, half-buried stone rested beside the dry streambed.
He put one hand against it.
At first he used the amount of force that made the earlier handprint. The surface crumbled immediately. Shi Feng increased it a little, and cracks spread deep through the stone.
He withdrew his hand.
The upper half fell apart.
Shi Feng looked at the broken rock and felt delighted. He didn't need a grand technique to do that. His completed golden bones alone could support terrifying physical force.
Ordinary peers wouldn't even understand the difference until they struck him.
He tested movement next. A small push carried him across the dry streambed farther than he intended. His foot struck the bank, sending loose earth down the slope.
Shi Feng stopped and laughed at himself.
“Not that much,” Shi Feng muttered.
He tried again with less force. This time he landed where he wanted. On the third attempt, his body obeyed smoothly.
Strength had grown. Control needed to follow.
He picked up a fallen twig and held it between two fingers. The first squeeze snapped it. On the next attempt, he held another without leaving a mark. Then he turned it gently and laid it down whole.
Such a little test mattered. If he couldn't touch a cup without breaking it, overwhelming force would become a daily nuisance. He didn't intend to buy new bowls every time he drank.
He repeated the movement until his fingers stopped using yesterday's measure of strength. Walking came next, then turning quickly without digging his heel into the ground. By the time he finished, his body answered the ordinary movements smoothly again.
The First Extreme didn't force him to parade its power. He could keep it still, move normally, and release it when he chose. That pleased him almost as much as the broken stone.
He drew the ordinary sword, but used no great force through its edge. Piercing Current passed through the air. Turning Wave followed, then Returning Tide.
The steel trembled at the final thrust.
He lowered it immediately. The weapon wasn't suited to his full power anymore. He could still practise accuracy, but a serious battle would demand something stronger or a very careful hand.
Shi Feng thought, Foundation Establishment first. Then a refined artifact I can actually use.
He returned to the hut, leaving the broken stone hidden behind the ridge. There were no watchers, cheering hunters, or rumours to explain. The capital could keep laughing at its cripple a little longer.
His achievement belonged to him before it belonged to anyone else's opinion.
He ate the food Ling Qingzhu packed and drank water slowly. The rice was plain. She wrapped it too tightly, and one corner stuck to the cloth.
He smiled while peeling it free.
He wanted to tell her he'd succeeded. He also knew what questions would follow. The complete story reached far beyond a good training session: awakened meridians, taboo golden refinement, the devoured spirit in the ring.
He wasn't ready to pour all those secrets onto their supper table.
That didn't make the wish disappear.
After eating, he examined his cultivation inwardly. The First Extreme remained steady. No ordinary trace lingered in his skeleton, and the strength moved cleanly when he guided it.
He didn't find a reason to delay the next realm now. Meridian Opening went beyond the known limit. Qi Condensation filled the capacity he built. Both stages of Bone Refinement reached their full completion.
Every step was his own foundation for what came next. Shi Feng folded the empty food cloth, set it beside the sword, and sat again. He wouldn't enter Foundation Establishment carelessly while still excited from breaking a rock.
First he'd steady the new force. Then he'd take the next step.
Outside, the ridge hid the hut from the road. Inside, Shi Feng closed his eyes and let his completed golden bones answer together.