**Chapter NINE**
Li Yu’s gaze returned to its usual slightly smug look as he stared at the pile of beast cores littering the floor of his small cave. Over the past few weeks, he had fought all kinds of beasts. Weak ones. Strong ones. Fast ones. Massive ones. So were at the sa realm as him, while many were outright stronger than he was. And yet, he had defeated them all. After all, he was simply superior.
Li Yu basked in his prideful thoughts for only a mont before the system’s voice rang inside his head.
[Host might want to rethink this before starting. You may possess a physique capable of consuming beast cores, but even that might not be enough to save you if you consu this much at once.]
"This is going to be a grand feast," Li Yu grinned happily.
The system paused. Then its tone beca flatter. [Host, are you listening at all?]
But Li Yu was already ignoring it. His greedy mind was focused on one thing alone. Growth. He wondered just how far this pile of beast cores would push him. Third stage of Body Refinent? Late stage? Peak stage? Maybe even beyond.
If anyone else witnessed the cultivation thod Li Yu intended to use, they would probably think he had gone insane. Body Refinent was the foundation of cultivation. The very first realm. The stage where fragile human bodies were strengthened into vessels capable of containing spiritual energy without collapsing. Muscles, bones, organs, and ridians. Everything had to be tempered and strengthened.
As cultivators advanced through Body Refinent, the body slowly stopped being rely flesh and blood and instead beca a weapon. Strength, speed, durability, and recovery all increased. Most importantly, it determined how much spiritual energy a cultivator could safely absorb and circulate. Without a durable body, even the greatest spirit root or cultivation technique was useless. The cultivator would simply overload and destroy themselves.
There were many thods used to refine the body. So trained endlessly through brutal physical exercise and battle. Others soaked themselves in dicinal baths powerful enough to make ordinary people scream themselves unconscious. So endured crushing pressure beneath waterfalls, formations, gravity chambers, or the aura of stronger experts. Painful, difficult, and expensive, but still reasonable.
What Li Yu was doing, however, was completely beyond normal. If anyone saw what he planned to do next, even calling him suicidal would feel like an understatent. He planned to directly consu beast cores. Not refine them slowly. Not dilute their energy. Not neutralize the violent essence inside. He would consu them directly, allowing all the chaotic spiritual energy and savage beast essence trapped within to flood violently through his body.
Beast core energy was notoriously unstable. Wild. Violent. Chaotic. No sane cultivator would willingly absorb such energy into their body unless they were tired of living. Yet Li Yu wasn’t planning to consu one core. No, there were over a hundred beast cores scattered around him. The weakest belonged to fourth-stage beasts. The stronger ones ca from creatures significantly above his level. And here he was preparing to eat them all. Exactly the kind of thing only a lunatic would attempt.
Yet Li Yu rely grinned. He picked up one of the beast cores casually.
"Let’s start eating then."
The mont he smiled, his teeth sharpened slightly into pointed fangs. This was one of the effects of the physique he had awakened after slaughtering countless beasts stronger than himself.
[Na: Primal Tyrant Physique]
[Grade: Divine]
[Current Rank: Basic]
[Evolution Requirent: Kill 1000 beasts at least two stages above your realm.]
[Current Progress: 10 / 1000]
[Physique Description: A rare and savage physique born for absolute dominance in battle. Unlike ordinary physiques focused on spiritual harmony, the Primal Tyrant Physique transforms the body into that of a natural predator. A being designed to survive, hunt, and overpower stronger enemies through raw instinct and overwhelming vitality.]
[The physique grants: Bestial features such as sharpened fangs and claws. Heightened senses. Explosive physical power. Monstrous endurance. Abnormal regeneration and recovery.]
The description alone was monstrous enough to make Li Yu excited. But none of that compared to the skill the physique had granted him.
[Skill: Berserker (Rank S)]
[Description: A dormant survival ability that activates only when the user is pushed to the brink of death. Once activated, the physique abandons all restraint and forcibly drags the body beyond its natural limits. All physical capabilities are amplified up to fifty tis beyond normal output.]
[Warning: The closer the host stands to death, the more terrifying the physique becos.]
Li Yu stared at the description for a long mont before clicking his tongue.
"So in simple words, to grow stronger with this physique, I basically need to flirt with death constantly."
The system answered imdiately. [Correction. Host needs to violently wrestle death to the ground repeatedly and sohow survive.]
Li Yu’s face twitched. "Why does that sohow sound worse when you say it?"
Well, the physique was definitely monstrous, and Li Yu believed that the more he upgraded it, the more it would reveal why it carried the title of a Divine-grade physique. This was only the Basic Rank, yet it was already absurd enough to make anyone drool in envy. And then there was Berserker. That skill alone was practically cheating. To have every aspect of his physical ability multiplied by fifty when pushed to the edge of death was insane. Truly insane.
Unfortunately, Li Yu still hadn’t tested it himself. Not properly anyway. Sure, he had slled death several tis already, but never enough to completely trigger the skill. Still, Berserker had terrifying downsides too. But that was a problem for later. Right now, Li Yu’s attention was fixed entirely on the mountain of beast cores before him.
His human teeth slowly sharpened into gleaming white fangs as he bit into one of the beast cores. Crack! The hard crystal shattered like tofu between his teeth. If this had been before he awakened the Primal Tyrant Physique, swallowing even one beast core would have been nearly impossible. But now, his body was becoming less human by the day. Eating these things felt as natural as chewing candy.
One core. Then another. Then another. And another. Li Yu devoured them with frightening speed. The system’s voice echoed in panic inside his mind. [Host, stop now. Stop this madness. Host, you might not survive this!]
But Li Yu didn’t stop. Honestly, these things were actually tasty.
"They’re crunchy," Li Yu muttered with a grin as he tossed another core into his mouth.
The system nearly exploded. [This is not the point!]
But Li Yu ignored it completely and kept eating like a starving beast that had finally found food after months of hunger. Until finally, the last beast core disappeared into his stomach. More than one hundred and eighty beast cores. Gone.
Strangely enough, there was no violent energy tearing him apart yet. That was because the system was forcibly suppressing the energy for the mont, locking it down temporarily before it completely exploded inside him.
The cave fell silent. Then the system spoke again, this ti far quieter than before. [Host... are you certain of this?]
A pause. Then, [Your chances of survival are below ten percent.]
Li Yu shrugged casually. "Relax. If there’s one thing I’ve learned since coming here, it’s that I’m a genius." He grinned. "And besides, I’m not dying. I refuse to die."
To him, this was just another step forward. Sure, maybe several waves of pain would hit him. Maybe his body would break apart. Maybe he would scream in agony. It didn’t sound that bad.
The system coughed awkwardly. [Host, I don’t an to ruin your optimism, but do you rember what happened after consuming only fifteen beast cores last ti?]
Li Yu’s grin froze. Of course he rembered. How could he forget? The agony. The sensation of his flesh being ripped apart from the inside. His bones snapping. His organs feeling like molten lava was being poured directly into them. That miserable experience still haunted him.
"Well," Li Yu coughed dryly. "I survived, didn’t I?"
The system sounded genuinely offended now. [Host, last ti you consud fifteen beast cores and practically opened death’s front door.]
A short pause. [This ti you consud over one hundred and eighty.]
Another pause. [Do you truly believe the pain will still be manageable?]
Li Yu frowned. Honestly, when the system said it like that, it sounded way worse. Far worse. If fifteen cores nearly destroyed him, then one hundred and eighty... yeah, that sounded horrifying. But Li Yu quickly shoved the fear away before it could spread further. He forced a grin onto his face.
"Well, how bad could it really be?"
The system imdiately replied. [Host has officially been diagnosed as a masochist.]
Li Yu’s face twitched violently. He wasn’t a masochist. He didn’t enjoy pain. Quite the opposite, actually. The only reason he was doing this all at once was because he didn’t want to repeat this torture over and over again. If he consud the cores in smaller batches, his mind might completely break before he could continue.
Besides, what other options did he even have? No dicinal baths. No body refinent manuals. No powerful sect backing him. The only other thod available was training beneath those terrifying waterfalls deeper within the forest. And absolutely not! Even his Origin Eyes scread danger whenever he looked in that direction. One glance was enough for the system to basically say: "You go there, you die."
So no thank you.
Li Yu took a deep breath. Then slowly sat cross-legged on the cave floor. His muscles tightened. Veins bulged across his skin. The Primal Tyrant Physique activated to its fullest, especially his monstrous endurance. Because he was going to need every bit of it. Li Yu slowly opened his eyes.
"Alright system," he muttered seriously. "Drop them."
The system fell silent for a mont. Then, it released its suppression.
Instantly, pain exploded through Li Yu’s body. "GHHHH!"
A violent scream nearly escaped his throat, but he bit it back hard enough for blood to spill from his lips. The energy from all one hundred and eighty beast cores rged together like a tidal wave of destruction and rampaged through his body violently. His muscles swelled unnaturally, then ripped apart from the inside. Blood exploded across his skin. The pain was beyond anything normal humans could endure.
But worse, much worse, was what ca next. His muscle fibers began shredding apart one after another. Not tearing. Not cracking. Shredding. Like they were being fed into invisible grinders. His arms went limp instantly. Then ca the bones.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
The pressure shattered them one after another. Splinters ford beneath his flesh before the bones themselves were crushed into powder inside his body. Li Yu’s vision blurred from the agony. Tears mixed with blood stread down his face. Then finally, a scream tore from his throat.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The cave shook violently. But the torture still wasn’t over. It only beca worse. His ribs snapped inward and pierced directly into his rupturing organs. His spine twisted with horrifying force until he completely lost feeling in the lower half of his body. His jaw cracked. Teeth shattered. His lungs exploded. His intestines twisted apart violently. Blood poured endlessly from his mouth. Soon the floor beneath him was covered in a massive puddle of crimson.
Then the system warning appeared rapidly before his fading vision.
[WARNING. Host body is failing. Heartbeat slowing. Would host like to consu one drop of Holy Cleansing Elixir?]
Li Yu stared weakly at the screen. Then forced a single word out through bloodied lips.
"No."
The system froze. Then finally exploded in disbelief. [HOST ARE YOU INSANE?! You are seriously refusing to use the Holy Cleansing Elixir right now?!]
Li Yu only smiled weakly. "I’ll... survive... myself."
The system went silent. For the first ti since eting Li Yu, even it seed shaken. Then another wave of agony crashed into him. His body convulsed violently. His vision darkened further. The system’s voice sounded again, this ti almost angry. [Host, use the elixir NOW!]
But Li Yu ignored it. Everything sounded distant now. Faint. Fading. Still, his lips moved weakly.
"I... will survive."
Then, another surge of pain hit. And finally, it happened. Li Yu’s heart stopped beating.
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