Meng Hao's eyes flickered as Zhixiang dragged him into the waters and then sat down cross-legged. There was not much water, only enough to reach Zhixiang's supple waist.

She pulled him to sit down cross-legged in the waters across from her. When his gaze fell onto her body, he cleared his throat.

"While I absorb the power of the Demon Immortal Cistern," she said lightly, "you can also temper your body. As it happens, I have a special type of physique; during the process of transforming my body into a Demon Immortal Body, I will emit a unique fragrance.

"That fragrance can be considered something like a precious material when you fuse it into your fleshly body. Therefore… you can build up a lot of synergy with your best body tempering magics when you use them here.

"It would be much better for you to absorb the fragrance than simply let it go to waste.

"In addition, please do not disturb me during the process. As for the curses, according to the research of the Sect, once I begin the transformation process, they won't affect me.

"If you finish before me, you can wait for me outside. I'm not sure how long the process will take, so I hope you can stand guard over me until I finish." With a final look at Meng Hao, she closed her eyes.

The instant she did, a strong fragrance suddenly emanated out from her. It fused into the waters, causing a white mist to rise up. The mist, too, was quite strong, and in the blink of an eye, had covered the entire cistern, completely concealing both Meng Hao and Zhixiang.

Meng Hao's eyes flickered as he looked around. He quickly realized that while the pulsating coldness in the water had originally been somewhat weak, after the mist rose up, the coldness was increased by more than ten times.

From the look of it, that coldness was only continuing to increase. Meng Hao knew from his time immersing himself in the waters back in the Second Plane that the more intense the coldness, the better the results he would experience. He took a deep breath as he rotated his Cultivation base. A moment later, he realized something else. It seemed as if the mist in the area was adding nourishment to his fleshly body. As it poured into him, his fleshly body began to experience a shocking transformation, slowly becoming more powerful.

"Zhixiang wasn't lying," he thought, his eyes shining with a bright light. Both the mist and the cistern waters were extremely beneficial to his fleshly body. He hadn't even employed any magical techniques, and yet was already receiving incredible gain.

Although it didn't seem likely that he would be able to achieve a Seventh Anima fleshly body while only in the First Anima, it did seem possible to reach the Sixth Anima.

According to his speculations, reaching the level of the Seventh Anima would be simply too difficult….

"I wonder if Fleshly Sanctification… can be cultivated in this place. It can only be cultivated once, but when it is, it will cause a one-time increase in fleshly body power that is astonishing to the extreme…. Furthermore, the atmosphere in this place is extremely well-suited to fleshly body tempering. This truly seems the best time to use it!" His eyes flickered with a bright light. After all, when it came to Fleshly Sanctification, the stronger one's body, the more power would result.

Furthermore, Meng Hao had the feeling that regardless of whether it was a Daoist magic or a secret technique, since it had been acquired in the Demon Immortal Sect, it needed to be cultivated here. Trying to do so in the outside world would be useless.

Considering that, there was no reason to hesitate. Now was the time to use it!

Beams of light were shooting out of Meng Hao's eyes as he closed them. Within his mind, he unleashed the secret art of Fleshly Sanctification!

RUMBLE!

Meng Hao's mind thundered as the secret art spread out. His body instantly began to shake, and the mist around him churned. Instantly, an enormous vortex sprung up around Meng Hao, like clouds kicked into motion by the wind.

The cistern waters also surged into a vast whirlpool.

Zhixiang was immersed in her own body transformation, but she could still sense what was happening on the outside, and was shocked. Her mind filled with a similar roaring, and her entire body began to emit vast quantities of Demonic Qi. As the Demonic Qi was unleashed, it caused the mist to grow thicker. Zhixiang felt an indescribable sense of stimulation throughout her body because of the transformation she was about to experience.

Time passed. Meng Hao forgot about everything, as did Zhixiang. They sat cross-legged in the cistern waters, surrounded by mist. Nothing was clearly visible, not even their own bodies. They could only sense themselves growing more powerful.

Meng Hao's fleshly body continued to grow larger. When it reached a pinnacle, it would then rapidly shrink back down. This continued to happen back and forth, creating a cycle. When each revolution of the cycle was completed, his fleshly body would exude terrifying fluctuations.

His fleshly body continued to grow more and more powerful!

Innumerable illusory magical symbols began to wink in and out around him. There were many; all of them apparently born from the void, pulsating with an ancient aura as they circulated around him. The entire scene made Meng Hao look completely strange and bizarre.

In contrast to Meng Hao, Zhixiang's body radiated pulses of Demonic Qi. They were incredibly dense, and as they condensed together, seemed to take the shape of numerous living creatures.

These living creatures all had differing appearances, but each of them had existed for countless years. These Greater Demons of Heaven and Earth had all fallen by now, but they were still remembered by the heavens of the Nine Mountains and Seas.

As they appeared, they shrank down in size, then sat cross-legged around Zhixiang, performing incantations gestures that caused indistinct beams of light to shoot out and fuse into Zhixiang's body.

As for Meng Hao, he was sitting quite close to Zhixiang. As a result, he was also located within the region of light cast by the Greater Demons of Heaven and Earth. Many of the indistinct beams also hit his body.

Even as he trembled, the magical symbols swirled around him rapidly, then shot toward him and fused into his body.

As the light and the magical symbols merged into him, Meng Hao's mind continued to shake. His aura grew stronger, and his fleshly body emanated terrifying fluctuations.

Sometimes, he would grow large and strong to a shocking degree, and sometimes, he would shrink down into something completely unremarkable. His clothes had long since been shredded into pieces during the growth stages. As of this moment, he wore no clothes whatsoever, and like Zhixiang, he sat there completely naked.

The first thing to be strengthened was his skeletal system. It was a special kind of change that made the skeletal system incredibly tough and resilient, to the point where it could be considered something similar to a magical item.

The constant nourishment pouring into his body made Meng Hao's bones increasingly terrifying. However… he was still very close to Zhixiang. The illusory Greater Demons sitting cross-legged around her continued to emanate the indistinct light that was actually in direct opposition to the magical symbols surrounding Meng Hao.

The light was not nourishing, but rather destructive. The essence of the Demon Immortal Body was to stimulate potential by means of destruction, and thus, mold out the most powerful fleshly body.

The secret art of Fleshly Sanctification was based on nourishment. The stimulation of potential was accomplished by nourishing the body, making the strong stronger, until the ultimately powerful fleshly body was consolidated.

They were two completely different methods that, from ancient times until modern, had never been simultaneously cultivated. It is not that no one wanted to try, but rather, had no way to practice such cultivation.

At the moment, though, Meng Hao, by lucky coincidence, had achieved a strange balance. The light from the illusory Greater Demons continued to destroy his skeletal system, causing his bones to be slowly shattered.

However, that did not conform with Fleshly Sanctification. Therefore… the art that normally should only have required a few magical symbols, suddenly began to pour out more magical symbol seals. They shot into Meng Hao to repair and perfect his skeletal system.

This process of destruction and replenishment caused Meng Hao to feel indescribable pain. At the same time, the benefits he received were completely without precedent!

It was hard to say how much time passed. However, because of the constant cycle, Meng Hao's skeletal system became thoroughly stable and firm. Roaring filled his fleshly body as he broke through into the power of the Sixth Anima.

As of this moment, Meng Hao didn't even need a Cultivation base. His body itself was shockingly powerful. He was not tall and thin like before, but rather thick and bulky, and looked almost like a small mountain.

It was at this moment that the tempering of his fleshly body expanded out from his bones into his flesh and blood!

Bones, blood and flesh, veins and arteries. All three of these areas experienced tempering. By combining them together, it led to explosive strength of the Qi and blood!

Meng Hao's entire person shook. The light from the Greater Demons of Heaven and Earth caused his whole body to wither to the extreme, until he seemed like nothing more than a bag of bones. But in the next breath, the incredible power from the magical symbols poured into him, causing his body to be completely restored.

As the cycle continued, the magical symbols around Meng Hao began to lessen. Soon there weren't very many left. However, at the same time, an enormous fissure suddenly appeared in the sky above the Seven Peaks of the Demon Immortal Sect.

As the fissure ripped open, an incredible booming sound could be heard that caused everything in the Demon Immortal Sect to shake. All of the Cultivators from the lands of South Heaven looked up, their expressions that of astonishment.

Each of them could clearly see that within the fissure up above was something enormous. As it neared… they could see a gigantic, indescribably large pagoda!

It was… the Demon Immortal Pagoda!!

All of them had seen the pagoda in the Second Plane, but this time, there was something different about it. The pagoda… was struggling to keep itself whole. There were some areas that were destroyed and collapsed. There were even some parts where the only thing holding it together was stretches of glowing light.

The entire pagoda was in ruins. Apparently, it had been almost completely destroyed during the ancient war.

However, the pagoda… still continued to exist. As it neared, it let out a boundless, invisible pressure that caused everyone beneath to be shaken inwardly and wonder what was happening.

As the Demon Immortal Pagoda neared, suddenly, a great beam of light appeared from inside that was made up of magical symbols!!

The countless magical symbol seals turned into a river of stars that swept throughout the air, like a shocking bolt of unfurling white silk. It flew toward the Seventh Peak and the Demon Immortal Cistern. It roared through the air, shooting toward the area which none of them could see, surrounding the Demon Immortal Cistern and then pouring into Meng Hao's body!

Fleshly Sanctification was a secret art that came from the Demon Immortal Pagoda. The Demon Immortal Body was a physical body created by Lord Li. As for which of the two was more powerful, it would be difficult to say clearly.

At the moment, an unprecedented battle seemed to be taking place, with Meng Hao's body being the battlefield. The secret art versus the Demon Immortal body; the two fought back and forth.

Would destruction win out over nourishment, or was nourishment incapable of being destroyed? It was like a paradox!