“Both human and demon race body tempering techniques involve absorbing ores to enhance the physique,” Wu Yuan murmured, staring at the pile of ore. “I previously discovered that [Spirit Copper] strengthens my claws, teeth, and bones, but chewing it is inefficient. The rate of improvement is far too slow.”

His brow furrowed, a gleam of reckless contemplation shining in his eyes.

“Perhaps I should just eat it whole and let my stomach do the work.”

Without hesitation, Wu Yuan tossed a nugget of Spirit Copper into his mouth. He crunched down—crack, crack—breaking it into smaller shards before swallowing the mouthful in one gulp.

He closed his eyes, turning his senses inward.

“The taste is still as pungent as ever,” he muttered, grimacing as the heavy metal settled in his gut. “And it stings. I need to boost my digestion.”

Wu Yuan activated the [Blood Surge Art]. Instead of pumping energy to his muscles, he focused the technique on his internal organs, gathering Qi and blood around his stomach.

It worked instantly. His stomach walls infused with power, churning with reinforced vigor. This was a trick he had reverse-engineered while studying Big Old Black’s innate spell: using blood manipulation to supercharge specific organ functions.

“It’s working!”

Wu Yuan felt a surge of joy. The gastric juices in his stomach, now empowered by Qi, began to corrode the Spirit Copper at a visible rate. Wisps of metallic essence released from the ore, floating in his system.

Carefully, Wu Yuan guided this essence. He steered it away from his soft flesh and organs, directing it straight into his skeletal structure.

He could feel his bones drinking in the power, densifying and hardening under the nourishment of the Spirit Copper. It was an intoxicating sensation, as if his very frame was being forged into steel.

Time seemed to slow as he immersed himself in the pleasure of strengthening. Soon, the essence from the first nugget was exhausted.

“More!”

Wu Yuan grabbed another piece of Spirit Copper, eyes shining with excitement, and stuffed it into his mouth. Then another.

“Wait.”

Suddenly, the pleasure turned into a warning throb. The essence filled his stomach, but his bones had stopped absorbing it. They had reached saturation.

“Not good,” Wu Yuan realized, panic rising. “My bones are full. The essence has nowhere to go!”

The trapped Spirit Copper essence began to churn violently in his gut like a pressurized tide. Without a target, it turned on its container, slashing at his stomach lining and leaving deep wounds.

Pain exploded in Wu Yuan’s abdomen. His eyes turned bloodshot, and his face twitched uncontrollably.

“My physical body is too weak,” he groaned through gritted teeth. “I lack a specialized body tempering method to handle this overflow.”

He reached into his robe and pulled out a chunk of crystallized Spirit Bee Honey. It glowed like yellow amber, emitting a sweet, soothing fragrance.

“If you lack the skill, you can only endure hardship!”

He shoved the honey into his mouth.

As the medicinal sugar melted into his system, a cooling sensation washed over his stomach. The wounds began to knit together, and the rampage of the metal essence slowed slightly.

Sweat poured down Wu Yuan’s fur, but his eyes remained bright. “The healing works. My stomach is actually getting stronger from the cycle of damage and repair.”

At that moment, a flash of green text surfaced in his mind.

[Green Intelligence: Continue ingesting Spirit Copper to comprehend part of the secret of Demon Beast body tempering.]

Wu Yuan’s expression turned grim. “This… is going to hurt.”

Trusting the intel, he grabbed another piece of Spirit Copper and swallowed it.

The waning storm in his gut roared back to life. The new influx of essence combined with the old, condensing into a stream of terrifyingly sharp Geng Metal Qi. It was like swallowing a handful of razor blades.

Wu Yuan’s face twisted into a mask of agony. Veins bulged on his forehead.

“Endure!”

He activated his innate talent, [Spirit Gathering]. Spiritual Qi and [Lunar Essence] flooded his system—gentle spring breeze and cool autumn water—battling the fire in his belly.

“Still not enough!”

Gritting his teeth until they nearly cracked, Wu Yuan pushed harder, condensing a precious trace of [Creation Power] and merging it into his stomach.

Gurgle.

The reaction was instantaneous. His stomach contracted violently. New fluids gushed forth—not acidic, but rich and imbued with Qi. When the hard Spirit Copper encountered this new fluid, it softened like tofu.

Boom.

All the latent essence released at once. His stomach expanded like a balloon, inflating a full circle until he looked ready to burst.

Wu Yuan was in hell. The essence rampaged, shredding his insides, while the honey and Creation Power frantically stitched them back together. It was a tug-of-war of destruction and regeneration.

“The pain will pass,” he chanted mentally, his eyes glazing over. “Green Intelligence won’t kill me. It won’t kill me.”

An hour passed in this torture.

Slowly, under the catalyst of Creation Power, something changed.

Yellow spirit patterns began to etch themselves into the lining of his stomach. They pulsed with a mysterious light, syncing with the peristalsis of his digestion.

With every pulse, the heavy earth-aligned impurities in the ore were absorbed by the stomach itself, strengthening the organ. The sharp, metal-aligned essence was filtered out, purified.

Wu Yuan’s eyes snapped open, shining with revelation. “I understand!”

“Spirit Copper comes from the earth. Earth generates Metal. The spleen and stomach belong to the Earth element, so they absorb the Earth essence from the ore. The leftover, purified Metal essence is then free to be absorbed by the bones, which belong to the Metal element.”

“This is the secret of Demon Beast body tempering: brute-forcing the absorption of raw materials based on elemental affinity.”

“Simple. Brutal. Effective.”

He frowned, his mind racing further. “But the eating is just the trigger. The key is forming these spirit patterns.”

“According to Spirit Sourcezi’s theory of Heavenly Dao Spirit Patterns, the Dao itself is just a convergence of patterns. Formations, Artifacts, Pills—they are all just vessels for these patterns.”

“In terms of my past life… spirit patterns are genes. The abilities I’m gaining are just the phenotypic expression of altering my genetic code with Creation Power.”

Wu Yuan sighed, feeling the weight of the discovery. “If only I had a proper body tempering manual to verify this theory.”

Suddenly, a violent churning erupted in his gut. The pressure had reached critical mass.

“Oh no.”

Wu Yuan’s face turned green. He bolted toward the designated toilet corner of the cave.