Having created his first Aperture, Lin Mu was now at the First stage of the Aperture Opening Realm.
His raw strength was equivalent to that of the First Tribulation Immortal stage, just by the virtue of his body cultivation. And if he combined his existing qi cultivation, Lin Mu reckoned his strength should compare to that of a Third Tribulation Stage Immortal at the very least.
'I've already managed to kill Second tribulation stage immortals with ease and a third Tribulation Stage immortal with a little ambush.' Lin Mu recalled the time when he had killed the members of the Saber Battle Union.
Since he already had a standard to use, Lin Mu had better confidence than before.
"And if I use my Immortal Weapons too… I should be able to handle multiple foes of that level…" Lin Mu reckoned.
He felt the power within his body and it made him desire more of it.
Deciding not to leave for now, Lin Mu continued to cultivate.
"Let's see how much Immortal Essence is needed for this to progress… According to the records, the amount should increase quite a lot. After all, this is one of the reasons why Body cultivation is considered difficult." Lin Mu said to himself as he took out more Immortal Essence Crystals.
Previously, Lin Mu had used up nearly a hundred Low Grade Immortal Essence crystal in order to practice and open his first Aperture. This meant that he still had about 900 low grade Immortal Essence Crystals left.
'I also have the mid Grade immortal essence crystals, but I should reserve them for later.' Lin Mu thought.
Unlike the Vital Essence that Lin Mu could absorb easily from the flesh of beasts, or the Immortal Qi that he could simply get from the air, Immortal essence was not obtainable in that way.
While it could be absorbed from the Immortal Beast meat as well, the amount was small and would also take him extra time to absorb it. If he was in a battle and needed it immediately, the crystals would be his best bet.
Having some backup was a lot better than just throwing caution to the wind. Plus, Lin Mu would still need to get used to his new strength and figure out how to use the body cultivation in the best manner.
He had optimized this before when he was still in the Five Treasure Realm and knew how to measure for Vital Essence, but for Immortal Essence, Lin Mu would need to learn more.
This was something that could only come with experience, and he was looking forward to testing it out.
~huu~
"Let's just see how much the Aperture can hold first." Lin Mu took out an Immortal Essence crystal and held it in his hand.
Unlike before, he didn't need to hold it up to his chest as the Aperture's suction was strong enough to pull the Immortal Essence wisps directly from the crystal. Just this alone was a great improvement, as it was a lot easier to use them.
After all, in a battle it was a lot easier to use a crystal by simply holding it in their hands, rather than placing them on one's chest and lose their stance. This could very well spell the difference between life and death.
In a battle, even a moment's distraction could end up in one's demise.
~SHUA~
And just after a second later, Lin Mu felt the crystal turning faint. The Immortal Essence wisps were directly sucked into his hand and quickly flowed toward his chest.
Upon reaching the First Aperture, the Immortal Essence Wisps were pulled into it, disappearing into nothingness.
"That was almost nothing… I'll need a lot more if it's going to be like this…" Lin Mu said with a little surprise.
He picked up another Immortal Essence Crystal and absorbed the wisps in it. One by one, the crystals started to turn into dust.
One hundred…
Two hundred…
Three hundred…
Four hundred…
.
.
.
Nine hundred!
Lin Mu consumed all the low grade immoral essence crystals that he had bought in less than an hour. Such a drain was quite fast, but to him, there was no waste as all of it was being perfectly contained within his Aperture.
'So this is what Senior Xukong meant by different Body cultivation techniques having their own directions after reaching the Immortal realm.' Lin Mu understood now.
From the different body cultivation techniques that Lin Mu had seen, the best ones had their own uniqueness. For example, even the True Gold Body forging arts was something that specialized in the defense of one's body. It increased its durability to terrifying levels.
The same could be said for the mortal strengthening scripture, and now the Immortal Strengthening scripture. The immortal strengthening scripture came with incredibly defensive skills as well, that Lin Mu was still unaware of.
Then, from the new body cultivation techniques that Xukong had told Lin Mu about, the Three apertures invoking technique was one that specialized in increasing the storage capacity of one's body.
It had the highest capacity for the storage of immortal essence, and no other technique could match it. This was also the reason why it was considered an old and orthodox body cultivation technique has it had established its superiority.
But at the same time, it had its own cons too.
While the Three Apertures Invoking Technique had a great storage of Immortal essence, it didn't have pure offensive capability.
Sure, one could use the immortal essence to amplify their strength, but that was just a basic amplification. Even if it seemed to be great, it obviously couldn't compare to a proper offensive skill.
Then there was the Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets.
This was a body cultivation technique that specialized in pure strength. Just like its name, it gave its used tyrannical strength that could allow them to crush their enemies with ease.
But on the other hand it had its disadvantaged too. The biggest one being its heavy consumption of Immortal essence as well as the reduced capacity of Immortal essence storage if they were not compatible with it.
Due to how oppressive the technique was, it put quite a lot of pressure on one's body and could thereby reduce their ability to store immortal essence. Only those that were highly compatible with the technique would not have such a side effect.
Still, even if one was compatible with it, the high consumption of the immortal essence meant that the practitioners of Tyrant Bull Marrow secrets were burst fighters.
They had to quickly defeat their foes, or end up getting exhausted.
But when these two body cultivation techniques were combined, they could cover for their disadvantages!
This was exactly why Lin Mu desired to obtain the Tyrant Bull from Grand Sky pavilion.
The two body cultivation techniques were such that they didn't conflict with each other, thereby allowing one to cultivate both of them at first. Of course, it didn't mean that one's cultivation base would double by doing this.
While they might get some increase in strength, it still wouldn't be too big. But the unique abilities of the body cultivation techniques would still be obtained by them.
One might think that cultivators should simply do this to cover for their weaknesses, but it wasn't that simple.
The first obstacle they would face was to actually find the two techniques. This would either cost a lot of fortune or need some luck. Lin Mu had luck here that Xukong knew both of them very well.
Then the second obstacle they would face would be the increased amount of resources needed to cultivate the two techniques. Just practicing one of them would take a big fortune, adding another technique might be impossible without having a continual supply of wealth.
Lin Mu had covered for this point and also had other plans to cover for this. One being his own formation skills, as well as the wealth provided by Lanbao and Elder Niji.
Then there was the third and final obstacle… talent.
Even if one had overcome the two obstacles, they would still end up as a failure if they didn't have the necessary talent to cultivate them. Additionally, there was the danger that always accompanied body cultivation techniques.
One must not forget that body cultivation techniques were a form of perpetual tribulation and could kill at a moment's notice if one lost focus.
And even if one had the talent and focus to cultivate two or more body cultivation techniques, there was still the issue of time. By cultivating multiple techniques, they were splitting their effort and increasing the time needed.
There was no lack of experts who had underestimated this obstacle and ended up running out of their lifespan.
But Lin Mu didn't care for all of this. He had already made up his mind and would be willing to go to any length to fulfill his goals.
~Huu~
Taking a deep breath, Lin Mu took out the mid grade immortal essence crystals.
"Let's see how these fare…"
