Rushing through the land Ye Mo arrived in front of a large tree and buried himself in a big hole on the trunk. It was originally the home of squirrels but he enlarged it enough to easily contain a grown man after dealing with them.

He wanted to use it as a contingency plan in case he was in danger. Sitting inside Ye Mo revolved the energy and dispersed it through his whole body. Soon this familiar feeling of power filled him. His muscles were bulging and his flesh strenghtened but after some time big red veins appeared on the entirety of his body.

Ye Mo opened his eyes which were completely bloodshot. His skin was ripping bit by bit, his muscles mangled while his bones shattered one by one. Losing his posture Ye Mo was left struggling on the floor.

Only one thing was on his mind, pain Pain PAIN! Then his organs started exploding continuously before quickly remodeling themselves. The pain was unbearable. It was like every cellules composing his body were getting obliterated and reconstructed again and again.

This process carried on for a moment before Ye Mo began to lose blood through every orifices.

He was on the verge of passing out and at the same time the pain would keep him awake. He couldn't even escape this by losing consciousness.

He didn't know how much time passed, one minute, one hour or one day. He couldn't move, he couldn't scream, he couldn't even blink. Everything was painful. Under this hellish suffering he asked himself many questions.

Why do i need to go through this, why do i need to get stronger, why my parents had to die, why can't i just live peacefully.

He found one answer for all theses questions.

Power.

The power to crush everything, to rule the world, an unstoppable existence. He wanted to move unhindered through the lands, doing as he please. His parents died because they didn't have any power. Being weak in this world, you can only blame yourself for your sufferings. Why didn't they try to get power. Why didn't they pursue strenght like Ye Mo. Because of this they died horribly and their son wandered between life and death all this time.

Agonizing Ye Mo thought he was dying when the pain receded progressively until at some point he slowly stood up. Breaking through the hole Ye Mo directly landed on the ground.

Looking at the sky, he watched the sun rise. Unknowingly, he has been through this torment the whole night.

Ye Mo never thought of himself as particularly smart nor talented in any way but he knew one thing. His will was unbreakable. He would never doubt himself again. His path was set. He would succeed or try again until death.

"I finally attained the first level of the nine revolutions fiend body, i should test my abilities." He thought.

Stretching, he abruptly jumped reaching four meters high. Trying a second time he attained five meters without momentum. From this he knew he wasn't in the realm of mortals anymore.

Sprinting, he ran faster than a horse leaving deep imprints on the ground. Stopping in front of a tree he punched. The trunk broke in pieces at the point of impact and the tree fell on the ground. The tree was large enough for four men to hold hands around it but Ye Mo smashed it like nothing. Looking at his hand the skin was slightly red but it took no damage.

Ye Mo was very satisfied. He didn't endure all this pain for nothing. People had the misconception that body refining arts were only good to gain strenght or being more resilient but it was only so for garbages and low rank techniques.

True body refining techniques would make you tougher and stronger but also faster, more agile and with a better stamina. All your physical capabilities would increase exponentially.

But the event that moved Ye Mo the most was that his meridians were finally healed. He was now eligible to cultivate qi and become a true cultivator.

"Now im ready for the competition." Leaving the place, Ye Mo muttered a cold smile plastered on his face.