Chapter 64: Transcendent Dao Physique
Xiang Yu felt his body lose all strength as he crawled on the ground, desperately trying to rise but failing. This wasn’t the end of his suffering—what came next was even more jarring. A searing pain shot through his entire body, penetrating deep into his bones. The agony was so intense that he drifted in and out of consciousness every few seconds, yet he kept his lips firmly shut the entire time though, biting down to ensure no sound escaped.
With his level four mind, he could analyze the situation despite the overwhelming pain. He recognized that something profound was happening to his body due to the fusion, but he didn’t want to alert anyone to his condition. Revealing all his secrets wasn’t part of his survival strategy. This excruciating process continued for what felt like hours, though he was barely conscious for most of it.
The pain transcended anything he’d ever experienced or imagined possible. His body felt as though it was being torn apart, ravaged by invisible beasts. He experienced the sensation of being skinned alive, his muscles stripped away, his bones removed one by one. This torment persisted for a long time before it finally subsided and he regained full consciousness.
He found himself sprawled on the ground, contorted into a position as if someone had tried to fold him like clothing. Noticing it was still night, he realized the ordeal likely hadn’t lasted as long as it seemed. He attempted to rise, moving slowly and deliberately, afraid of triggering the pain again. To his surprise, the opposite occurred—his body felt remarkably light. Not only was there no pain, but he sensed his physical condition had somehow improved beyond its previous state.
Wondering what had happened, he instantly summoned his system:
[Name: Xiang Yu]
[Realm: Body: 11th Layer (1/11,000); Mind: Level 4 (1/4000)]
[Species: Human]
[Spiritual Root: Medium-Grade Omni-Element]
[Physique: Transcendent Dao Body: Level 1 (1/1,000,000)]
[Enlightenment: High (60/3000)]
[Battle Instinct: Mortal (100,000/100,000)]
[Spirit Flame: Abyssal Void Flame: 6th Grade (630/40,000)]
[Professions: Cook: 5th Grade (70/500)]
[Techniques: ]
[Scriptures: ]
[System Function: Double Exp (Cooldown: 24hrs); Fusion]
As Xiang Yu read his stats, his jaw nearly dropped when he noticed his spiritual root was no longer null. He actually had a spiritual root now, and a medium-grade one at that. Medium grade could be considered a hundred-year genius. With such a root, he could qualify as an inner disciple in even a top-ranked sect.
However, he had never heard of an "omni-element" root; he only knew of the five usual elements. Drawing on knowledge from video games from his previous life, he deduced that omni-element likely meant he could control all elements. This wasn’t necessarily advantageous in the cultivation world, where single-element roots were prized for their ease of cultivation. The more elements, the longer cultivation typically took.
But to Xiang Yu, it didn’t matter which spiritual root he received—with his system, any root would become the best instantly. He was slightly disappointed to see no progress bar beside the spiritual root. It seemed he needed something to help him advance it, even by just a single point, so his system could double from there.
Then he noticed another new addition to his status: a physique stat. He possessed something called the "Transcendent Dao Body." He wondered if this was what his martial aunt had been talking about. If so, did that mean obtaining this physique required perfecting and merging techniques? Without the system’s fusion function, would he never have acquired it even after practicing thousands of techniques? The thought was terrifying.
He questioned whether his martial aunt knew about this restriction. This physique, if not for someone like him with a system, who else could possibly acquire it? Perhaps only someone with godlike enlightenment who could seamlessly merge techniques—everyone else might as well give up.
The outrageous requirements finally made sense when understanding of the physique flowed into his mind. The Transcendent Dao Physique was the ultimate body for cultivation. It allowed mastery of all techniques easily and optimized his physical form for cultivation, refining different energy types effortlessly and comprehending all worldly concepts.
However, those benefits would come in later stages. At its current level, he merely received a slight boost in enlightenment, enhanced recovery, an optimized body, and the ability to manipulate all elements once he cultivated qi. Looking at the experience required to elevate the technique, he could only sigh, though he acknowledged the current benefits weren’t insignificant.
He realized his body refining had also broken through during the process, advancing to the eleventh layer, but the experience requirement had dramatically increased afterward. This made sense—after the tenth layer, each subsequent level was like breaking through a major realm. Currently, he felt capable of easily overpowering his former self. He even suspected that if he fought Li Yao at her full body refining capacity, he might not necessarily lose—such was the power of the Transcendent Dao Body, even at level one.
He also noticed his mind level, which had previously stopped improving, seemed to have resumed advancement. Since morning hadn’t yet arrived, he considered whether to practice as usual, but after careful deliberation, he decided to attempt qi refining instead. Having reached the ninth stage of body refining, his physical form should be able to handle qi, and with his Transcendent Dao Physique, he could absorb various energies easily without complications, even without a specific qi refining technique.
It was finally time for him to become an actual cultivator.
...
Author’s Corner:
When gaining a physique, your body usually undergoes a huge change since its like having a new body. martial physiques are mostly cultivation physiques and when you get a physique, your cultivation potential increases. This is how Xiang Yu was able to get a spiritual root, his spiritual root was upgraded, but since he didn’t have one, the essence for the upgrade just created one.
At first, I thought of giving him a low level spiritual root, but that would be overdoing it. Since the physique is so strong, it would be nerfing to give a low level one. But giving a higher level would’ve been overkill since he didn’t have any to begin with. What do you guys think?