Another World Trip: Journey with My Cat and an Otaku Loli Goddess Chapter 180 - Perfect Jade Verse

A new wave of strength rattled my bones and I could see where my bones took on a faint blue lustre. Their strength and tenacity also grew several times over.

Yep, that’s a big step in the right direction. I was now an Early-Stage First Duan Martial Disciple body cultivator!

****

Many benefits came with this stage. The benefit being that my cauldrons, or to be more specific, one of them, found use once more.

However, there was one thing that I knew for sure. My cauldron, though it retained its black and crystalline features on top of finally coming to life, only had a fraction’s fraction of a fraction (many fractions I know. Math is an ever-present evil wherever we go) of its true potential on display.

Its pressure was far more subdued than I ever remembered it being, and the speed of its rotation was slowed as well.

That meant that my somatic essence was only able to draw out a lower-grade cauldron’s power from my black crystal cauldrons.

Within the Sapphire Verse, every eleven tempers represented a cauldron being forged to perfection.

However, it didn’t mean that simply performing the Eleven Tempers meant that I reached the peak of that particular level. The execution of each temper could be further polished to new heights.

That would in turn allow for its tempering of the body to be even more efficient and streamlined causing a perfect energy transfer towards the next temper as well.

So I needed to make sure that all eleven tempers and their executions reached the peak of perfection before I moved on.

My body needs to feel that perfection (good lord, even in my head that sounds sus) so as to allow my cauldrons to find their full potential in use once more.

With that in mind, I went straight for the Eleventh Temper!

I was still reeling from the Tenth Temper so my grip tightened even more on my hammer as I brought it towards myself.

Whoosh!

“Crap, I missed.”

The flames roared once more, and my skin was now beginning to suffer from prolonged exposure to the flames. Several large sections of my skin were charred beyond recognition.

It was so bad that some of the more damaged areas cracked off, revealing my bones underneath. They looked cool people, my bones looked cool as all hell.

Regardless though, it hurt like all hell. But then who am I to judge the sacred path of the dao of sadomasochism?

Going off on a bit of a tangent here, but does anyone else wonder what the outcome would be if the Cenobites from Hellraiser were here? Geez, they’d kicked my ass and their collective silence would probably summon the tumbleweed so much that they could put nipple clips on the thing.

Okay, so I’m putting an end to that tangent since it involved me delving into parts of the internet I had severe misgivings about.

To continue like I didn’t just say what I said, because of the state of my body, I couldn’t last much longer, so I need to move fast.

I used the momentum of the swing to start from the beginning once more.

Nine Tempers echoed out and the Tenth Temper followed shortly after.

“Eleventh Temper!”

Whoosh!

The Eleventh Temper missed once more, but I knew the determination needed for cultivation, as I had gone through all this before.

Therefore, my hammer was unceasing as my bones trembled under the relentless onslaught of my physical drive to grow stronger.

Bang! Bam! Boom! Bong! Ba-Dum!

Several rounds of explosions resounded from within the forge. Each round consisted of ten continuous blasts, followed by a furious rush of wind.

This carried on for a few hours until…

Eleventh Temper!’

Boom!

‘Success!’

I finally figured out the Eleventh temper! Who said insanity was doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result? Suck it, Einstein!

I mean, I’m pretty sure I’m insane, so I can’t argue with him there, but I got a different result so I’ll take whatever win I can take at this stage.

Nevertheless, because of my stumbling upon the Eleventh Temper, I could feel the most minute of changes to the operation of that single cauldron. Not only that, the blue glow of my bones brightened the slightest bit as well.

Progress!

Rumble!

The somatic essence within my body was furiously travelling along the beaten path laid out by my meridians. My skin was a mess, courtesy of the flames and their relentless abuse!

But one thing made this all worth it. I was growing stronger by the minute, I could feel it!

I ran from the First Temper all the way to the Eleventh over and over again without rest. There was no wrong here, for my bones grew stronger for it and my cauldron found itself more and more even as my body teetered on the edge of destruction.

Ba-Ba-Bang! Bo-Dum!

Continuous clangings could be heard as I descended into a place of peace. Not the kind of thing I thought I would find while beating myself senseless with a rusty hammer.

Then again, this could be a symptom of brain damage.

I felt the most curious need to close my eyes to focus on this feeling wholeheartedly. I swear, if I never wake up again because of multiple concussions I will be so nettled.

However, it did bring some benefits.

The pain? I now banished it to the far reaches of my mind.

The light of the flames? I became blind to it.

The roar of their fury? They all became so distant, yet more familiar, all the same.

I don’t know why, but it was like I became lost in a world all my own… like Inception but without Leonardo Dicaprio. This was a place where the sound of the hammer’s clangour was dull, and the flames dark.

Bam, bam, bam…

The dull thuds possessed a rhythm of furious perfection that allowed me to rocket to a level that I could have never imagined in a short period.

I could still feel the motions of my swings and just barely grasp the profound tempo within.

I continuously went from the Jade Verse to the tip of the iceberg of the Sapphire Verse before I was forced to start all over again.

The state I was in allowed me to spot all the failures and error-filled deviations that plagued all my tempers but mostly the ones that composed the Jade Verse, i.e. the Nine Tempers.

Why you ask? Because I was now learning their perfection on my own.

There were nine tempers within the Jade Verse. Three stages of three composed its entirety.

Three of three composed its entirety. This phrase was familiar… is familiar.

The dao gives birth to One. One gives birth to Two. Two gives birth to Three. Three gives birth… to All things.

Shing!

Enlightenment dawned, and my eyes opened in a flash!

‘I understand now!’

Ooongh…

‘No! Not yet!’

The flames began to die down, but I needed to continue as I wanted to use this momentum to perfect my Nine Tempers to the peak. I couldn’t lose this chance.

I should have known this was going to happen. This is like playing Pokemon on the Gameboy without saving and without charging it once only for the battery to die just when I defeat the Elite Four all over again!

“Lord Whiskers! I need your help!”

My roar from the forge echoed out and I’m pretty sure the urgency was hard felt.

He rushed near the forge and listened to my instructions when confusion twisted his face.

He scratched his head in bewilderment, but my enlightenment (or concussion) was quickly fleeting and I didn’t know when I would come across a feeling like this again!

I drove my spiritual force and took out the spirit stones remotely from my storage rings on the outside.

Lord Whiskers looked at the spirit stones, then the forge… then at the spirit stones again, then the forge.

Its eyes repeated this action a few times and I could only hope that Lord Whiskers didn't screw me over!

Or maybe that’s what the dao of sadomasochism called for, I dunno.

Sigh…

Lord Whiskers sighed in response and took up the spirit stones. It bore the heat waves that continuously radiated from the forge and quickly approached it. The landscape all around was red hot with some areas sporting pools of lava mind you.

Despite this, Lord Whiskers braved it all and stuck them in the grooves just like I did before.

Roar!

The flames found new life injected into them by Lord Whiskers’s whim and I didn’t waste it!

‘Now!’

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The first set of three tempers was completed perfectly!

Bam! Bam! Bam!

The second set of three tempers found perfection as well!

Vrrrm!

The hammer trembled when I recited the phrase in my mind. Two gave birth to three.

I no longer viewed the first two sets of tempers as six tempers, but as two tempers instead.

With two giving birth to three, the third set, which held the seventh temper eight and ninth temper was laid bare before me anew!

It was like I had never performed them before this. It was like I was executing something all new and I knew it was right.

Boom!

The seventh temper landed!

‘Perfect!’

Boom!

‘Yes!’

The hammer flew through the air, leaving behind afterimages!

It was a dance of beauty and power. Its profundity had reached new heights!

People, concussions are heaven’s gifts to man.

‘Once more!’

BOOM!

The Jade Verse was now perfected.