"Goldy, could you repeat what did it take to reach Copper Stage Fleshly Body? I would like to know exactly what kind of cultivation this thug had..." Cheng hao asked.

The hovering dragon ignored Cheng Hao and was still coiling around in the air. It took a few moments for it to stop spinning and a few more moments for it to recover from its dizziness. Then he did it time and time again...

Time that Cheng Hao spent turning the weapon that formed from the golden drop of blood into a dragonslayer (two handed sword with a gigantic blade. Berserk references, anyone?) and lifting it up.

"Itwastwohundredbodies!" It immediately yelled.

"FromwhatIhaveseenyouhaveabsorbedthebodiesofaboutahundredandfifteenMonstrousBeasts. Alongwiththosefiveotherguysitmakesforatotalofaboutahundredandtwentybodies. Meaning..." The snake hurriedly spoke as it did his best evading Cheng Hao's sword strikes "That guy was worth eighty normal Initial stage Fleshly Bodies!"

Cheng Hao stopped swinging and just as the snake was about to put down his guard, Cheng Hao punched it to the ground. He then stood up and pondered.

"So that guy had such a powerful fleshly body... Almost halfway through to the Copper stage. With such a body and cultivation he would be undefeatable under the Advanced stage and could put up a good fight with most peak Advanced stage cultivators... Did I actually involve myself with some guy with a huge background again? Ugh, this is a pain..."

As he was speaking, the golden dragon wrapped around his neck and tried to get him in a chokehold. Result? The black scarf nullified its efforts as his attempt at choking the boy failed. Cheng Hao smiled and turned towards the golden snake. Before it could say anything, the boy axe-kicked it back in the dirt.

"But still... I finally have the Fleshly Body cultivation necessary to use the Black and White flaming gases at their lowest for a whole minute!"

Although only at their lowest level, they were still incredibly powerful! Using them, Cheng Hao would have no problem defeating peak Advanced stage cultivators and even low level Superior stage cultivators would have to bow down to him if he truly tried.

Of course, truly trying would mean blowing up his Pseudo-Core, thus losing most of his power, so he would prefer not to engage such existences.

Using just his Fleshly Body though, was totally different. Fleshly Body fortification was similar to Martial Cultivation in many ways, even the ranking system was similar just that the stages were twelve instead of fifteen and instead of the Mortal, Ageless and Immortal realm they were called the Mortal Metal realm, Precious Ore realm and Divine Gem realm. Another difference was that there was no low, medium or high level, just the cultivation stage.

The stages were, from the lowest to the highest, Mortal Metal Realm: Initial, Copper, Iron, Black Iron and Black Gold stages; Precious Ore Realm, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum stages; Divine Gem Realm, Sapphire, Ruby and Diamond stages.

[Note: Mind that the names of these stages were selected due to the material's hardness in the del world, overall worth or stuff like that. The stupid author just liked it that way, so it IS that way!]

Anyways, although this kind of division is similar, the two kinds of cultivations are not the same:for example, while the Fleshly Body still depends a bit on one's cultivation or else the body wouldn't be able to wield its newfound power and would explode, Cultivation did not depend on the Fleshly Body, as cultivation power didn't affect muscles, organs and the likes but mainly affected one's Soul, Mind and Core.

Meaning that, while a peak stage Mortal realm martial artist might have a low stage Mortal Metal realm fleshly body, a low stage Mortal realm cultivator cannot have a peak stage Mortal Metal realm fleshly body.

If you are confused, think of it as a relationship between a boy and his girlfriend. While the girl may try her best to look sexy, appealing and all in front of other boys, if the boy tries to appear hot and beautiful in front of other women, the girl will slap him.

Now that Cheng Hao stepped into the Fleshly Body Copper stage, he would have to wait until he reached the Basic stage cultivation before breaking through again, otherwise even he would have a major backlash at the time.

So at that moment, Cheng Hao could do nothing but go back and cultivate until he did just that 'I am confident I can breakthrough in a few days at most, but the Outer Disciple exam is coming up in less than two months... If I want to make a lasting impression on the Elders I should be able to fight my opponents with no strange abilities, just my cultivation. Otherwise there might also be the risk of them killing me to search the secrets to my strength in my body...'

Cheng Hao imagined himself cut up, his muscles being slowly removed, his organs... Yuck!

Cheng Hao shook his head and looked at the spot he axe-kicked the snake at before and he was just in time to see the snake slowly crawling back up. Sensing Cheng Hao's gaze, Goldy trembled as he realized that even with his higher cultivation and potential as a Heavenly Beast, he still could not evade Cheng Hao's casual attacks...

"Talk about plot armor..." he lamented.

Cheng Hao's ear twitched "What did you say Goldy?"

"I said we should go back! The little girl should have finished by now..."

Hearing his companion's response Cheng Hao's eyes went wide: he had totally forgotten that at that moment he was supposed to be at home! He immediately rotated his cultivation base and ran as fast as he could towards his hut.

"Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap, oh crap!!!"

He was so fast that after-images were left behind and yet, when he got to the small hut, his sister had already arrived and was waiting for him pouting, with her hands on her hips and a scary look in her eyes.

"Where have you been, big brother?" she didn't look all that angry and was instead smiling, however anyone with experience could easily tell that she was angry. A lot. Much more than that Hellish Divine Dragon had been.

"Sister, I just strolled off for a bit, I did not go anywhere!" Cheng Hao tried to find an excuse but the little girl that was not nine years old yet easily saw through his lies. Finally an impish smile came to be on her cute face.

"If Big Brother..." she put an emphasis on 'Big Brother' "Is off to meet some... Girl-Friends I wouldn't mind. Were you off to meet some... Girl-Friends?"

Cheng Hao had no time to think so he quickly answered "Yes, I went to see some acquaintances and-" he was suddenly cut off from her martial sister's cold voice.

"No breakfast, lunch nor dinner for you today!"

Goldy had just arrived but was already rolling on the ground after those few words, its voice broken by his laughter. It suddenly stopped and asked "Big Sis, might I have his portion instead?"

Xiao Wu was at first taken aback at Goldy's changes, especially its increase in size, but soon recovered and nodded, her voice a lot warmer than when she was speaking with her bigger brother "Of course you can! After all, you have been dragged around by him all this time"

The smug look on its face though, changed immediately when he heard a familiar *whoosh* sound.

He subconsciously dodged the golden sword's edge by a hair's breadth. He gulped and before he could curse the one holding the blade, another swing and another choked cry came out as Cheng Hao kept swinging and swinging.

"Big brother what are you two doing?" The sweet voice coming from within the kitchen came out and Goldy almost deluded himself that he was safe!

Cheng Hao though, spoke first "We are just training ourselves Sis, no need to mind us"

"Okay, I will be cooking the goose I caught today so hurry up!" she seemed to have already forgotten her previous words and didn't look like she would truly keep him the boy from eating the food.

Goldy's face turned red from the rage, but before it could retort the speed of the swings rose drastically leaving it barely the time to dodge, let alone speak!

It lifted its head and saw Cheng Hao's amused and ruthless expression and it knew that if it didn't keep dodging he would most likely get to be on the plate instead of the goose...

...

"Sister, I will now begin cultivation. I ask you not to disturb me during meditation unless it's extremely important. As soon as I come out I will teach you the Second Scripture." Cheng Hao's countenance was incredibly serious.

"But brother, didn't I have to reach your level of splitting attention by the end of the month and then obtain the scripture?" Xiao Wu looked at her brother's face questioning him "Did something happen?"

"No, no! I just thought that with the outer disciple exam coming up in less than a month it would be best for us to increase our strength accordingly!"

Although he said these words in his mind appeared the boy with such a powerful Fleshly Body and shivered: if the boy and Xiao Wu were to meet, at that moment, he wouldn't be sure wether she would be able to escape alive, let alone defeat him...

And, what's more, there was nothing that indicated there weren't other geniuses like him amongst the many Disciples in the Sect.

"Brother, did you also hear of the prize for the first ten ranked disciples in the exam? Is that why you decided to increase our overall strength?" Cheng Hao nodded again. That was indeed another one of his reasons for wanting to increase his power. Powerful opponents would appear, fighting to obtain the prizes!

"That is also why I am entering secluded meditation. Please keep cultivating the Purple Qi from the East and Splitting Cultivation in the meantime!" The boy smiled "I am sure that when I come out you will be a lot more outstanding than you are now!"

Cheng Hao stood up and headed for his room. Like the last time, he left a strand of Inferior Qi behind, however this time he also called Goldy in. He turned one last time "See you sis!"

"Good luck brother!" the girl nodded and smiled.

The boy with the black scarf on his neck and the dragon hovering beside him walked into the room and closed the door!