At dawn, the first ray of sunlight was like a golden thread unravelling from the rising sun in the east. Du ke, bathed in the first ray of sunlight, wasted no time absorbing it into his black cauldron space.
After the wispy golden ray of light entered the black cauldron space, Du ke turned and jumped down from the treetops. Using the naturally growing branches of the trees as footholds, the cat easily reached the ground after a few leaps.
"Woof woof woof!!"
As soon as the cat landed, Husky, who was wagging his tail begging for food, pounced on him. Du ke didn't mind Husky bouncing around him and took the dog into the burrow with him.
"Here's your portion for today!"
The cat took out a Blood Food Pill from the black cauldron space, while also murmuring to himself in his mind.
Although he couldn't speak, Du ke had subconsciously developed the habit of talking to himself in his mind.
After Husky ate the Blood Food Pill, Du ke also gave him some water. After eating his fill, Husky went back to the bear skin mat to sleep. Du ke let him sleep soundly as he sank his consciousness into the black cauldron space.
The Sun Essence Pill had finished refining. It leapt out from the black cauldron, its radiance interplaying with over a dozen Moon Blossom Pills, looking like the sun and moon shining together.
The night before was the night of the full moon. Thanks to the increase in his strength, the limit on the number of pills the cat could refine at a time had also steadily increased.
That night, the cat directly refined nine Moon Blossom Pills in one go, filling his black cauldron space with moon essence before stopping.
After sleeping in the burrow, the cat woke up and immediately refined the moon essence collected in his black cauldron space into pills.
At the same time, he also took the time to perform a second refinement on those nine Extreme Realm Pills, reducing them from the size of longan berries to soybeans, removing impurities and keeping the essence.
In his excitement over successfully refining Moon Blossom Pills for the first time, Du ke had forgotten to store any extra moon essence.
This time, Du ke didn't forget. As a result, he now had thirteen Moon Blossom Pills.
Ten of them were to be taken once every three days. The remaining three were for Husky to take one every ten days.
Although Husky had started cultivating internal energy under Yue Yun's guidance, this trip had come up too suddenly. Even though his internal energy was cultivated, Husky had not yet started practicing stake work, so he was unable to cultivate on his own.
No matter how smart Husky was, he didn't have Du ke's level of intelligence. Cultivation was not something he could just pick up by watching.
For now, he could only rely on Moon Blossom Pills to temper his body a bit, with Half a Sun Essence Pill every now and then.
"After this period of extravagant consumption, there's about half of the Blood Food Pills left."
"I wonder how long it will take to cultivate the Water and Fire Immortal Raiment. It looks like I'll have to hunt mountain beasts again to make more Blood Food Pills."
"But it's the dead of winter now. Where can I still find wild beasts roaming around outside to make Blood Food Pills?"
After thinking for a moment, Du ke didn't immediately set off. He just stayed by Husky's side, silently practicing his stake work to further solidify his Flesh Extreme Realm cultivation.
His current cultivation was like crossing the river by feeling the stones. He was absorbing sun and moon essence like the oral legends of beasts becoming demons, while also learning human martial arts.
In fact, Du ke himself wasn't clear on how to proceed next either. He could only take it one step at a time and slowly find his own path.
At noon, Husky woke up. After stretching, he played with the cat for a bit before Du ke rode him out of the burrow.
Before leaving, Du ke stored everything in the burrow into his black cauldron space, leaving no trace behind.
Not until evening did the cat leisurely bring Husky back. Both their fur was somewhat damp.
After spreading out the bear skin mat to cover the entire burrow, the cat and Husky couldn't wait to lie down on it.
At the same time, Du ke also took out three Blood Food Pills - two for himself and one for Husky.
That afternoon, they had combed the entire mountain forest but those prey they found all lived in groups, making it too dangerous to attack.
Fortunately, while searching near their hidden burrow, they discovered fish in a nearby waterway.
Using flakes scraped from a Blood Essence Pill to lure the fish, the cat managed to catch over forty fish in less than an hour.
The larger ones all weighed around five catties, while the smaller ones weighed around two catties each. He had bitten them all to death one by one and thrown them into his black cauldron space.
The blood and flesh of these fish would be refined by him into Blood Food Pills in reserve.
While relying on each other's warmth, Du ke and Husky also sank their consciousness into the black cauldron space and threw all the fish haul into the black cauldron to refine pills, which were then split up.
Before long, over fifty Blood Food Pills leapt out from within the black cauldron. Strung up in the black cauldron space, they looked like stars, giving off a fishy fragrance that attracted cats.
"With these Blood Food Pills, all the preparations for blood cultivation are complete. Next I need to nourish my spirit, adjust my state to peak condition, then start cultivating the Water and Fire Immortal Raiment."
As he was thinking this, the cat closed his eyes and fell into a deep sleep.
This time, he slept for the entire night.
The next morning at dawn, the cat uncharacteristically didn't go collect sun essence to refine pills. Instead, he pushed Husky aside and stood in the center of the burrow, assuming the stance for the tiger crouching stake work.
"Inhale...exhale!"
After taking a deep breath, the cat examined himself for a moment, confirming his condition had reached an optimal state. He then reviewed in his mind the key points for breaking through an extreme realm that the girl had told him.
This time, as he was making an independent attempt to break through the Flesh Extreme Realm, he could not allow himself any carelessness.
Having made all the necessary preparations, Du ke immediately sank his consciousness into the black cauldron space and took out a second refined Extreme Realm Pill which he put into his mouth.
After the soybean-sized Extreme Realm Pill entered his mouth, the cat didn't hesitate at all. With a flick of his tongue, he swallowed the pill.
In just an instant, the cat's eyes bulged wide open like dates.
As soon as the pill entered his throat, it turned into surging primal energy that started pouring into his body.
While the primal energy transformed from the Extreme Realm Pill spread throughout his limbs and hundreds of bones, the cat also started rapidly circulating stake work in accordance with the tiger crouching stance.
As soon as he assumed the stake work posture, the primal energy blended into his vital energy and began erupting.
Each eruption caused Du ke's facial features to convulse incessantly, as if there were iron spikes stabbing him from the inside out, piercing through his skin and flesh membrane.
Not only that, apart from the piercing sensation within his body, the cat also felt as if the skin and flesh all over his body were being charred, quickly wrinkling and tightening.
Just like the girl had told him before, it was as if there was an invisible large net enveloping his whole body, forcibly tightening around him.
The net mesh dug into his skin and flesh, seemingly trying to cut Du ke apart into pieces of minced meat.
Assailed internally and externally by such intense pain all at once, Du ke firmly gritted his teeth and desperately endured. In the process of enduring, he constantly changed his stake work postures.
From the initial tiger squat posture, to tiger lounge posture, tiger pounce posture, leopard plunder posture, leopard coil posture, leopard transformation posture - every single one emerged in succession without exception.
With each cycle of stake work circulation, the primal and vital energies fused more deeply. The agony felt by the cat intensified accordingly.
"It hurts so much just at the start. Martial arts really is too difficult!" Du ke cried out internally, yet he didn't waver in the slightest and continued circulating stake work over and over again, time and again combining vital and primal energies, assaulting his skin and flesh again and again.
It was the path he had chosen for himself so he had to walk it, even if he had to crawl.
In a certain sense, Du ke was just that stubborn and obstinate, impossible to persuade.
Oblivious to the passage of time amidst the intense pain of charging towards the Water and Fire Immortal Raiment, the cat could only circulate stake work repeatedly.
Whenever he felt the primal energy provided by the Extreme Realm Pills weaken, he would directly consume another pill and continue stake work circulation.
As time passed, fine dense cracks began to emerge on Du ke's front left limb.
This was the Illusory Phase that Su Qi Luo had mentioned before, something that accompanies the achievement of extreme realm martial arts mastery.
The appearance of the Illusory Phase signified reaching the most critical juncture in the cultivation journey towards achieving mastery in the Four Great Extreme Realms of martial arts. Only from here would the real climax begin.
With the emergence of the Illusory Phase, the fur on Du ke's front left limb also began falling out strand by strand.
Wherever the Illusory Phase extended to, the fur fell out until there.
Originally an exquisite snow-white cat, but with the repeated assaults of primal energy and the manifestation of the Illusory Phase, he was transforming towards a bald cat.
Front left limb, chest, front right limb, abdomen, rear left limb, rear right limb, buttocks, tail, backbone, skull.
The fully hairless cat no longer resembled his former graceful and elegant bearing, instead looking more like a genetically mutated ugly feral cat.
Du ke, however, did not care at all and had already swallowed five Extreme Realm Pills. The primordial energy provided by the Extreme Realm Pills surged forth as soon as it appeared, fused with his bloodline power, and was quickly consumed.
Soon, the cat swallowed the sixth Extreme Realm Pill, and he was like a piece of porcelain that could shatter at any moment, with more and more tiny cracks appearing on his body.
His whole cat-like body seemed to be made of porcelain, as if it would shatter with a touch.
While Du ke cultivated, Husky was also very quiet and well-behaved, silently watching Du ke practice cultivation. Whenever he felt hungry, he would eat a Blood Food Pill that Du ke had prepared in advance. When he felt thirsty, he would lick a Water Vapor Pill. Other than that, he just stared at Du ke cultivating.
The cracks were visible all over the cat's body, and every single pore contracted rapidly, contracted again, and contracted further.
In the end, the pores contracted to an almost invisible degree, leaving only the cracks visible.
"The seventh..." Du ke swallowed the seventh Extreme Realm Pill, but it was not enough. Du ke swallowed the eighth and ninth pills in succession.
After consuming the last three Blood Qi Pills, the cracks on the cat's skin directly oozed blood. He also forced out a fierce, beastly roar from his throat.
"Give it to me... Success!!"
At the same moment, inside the Black Cauldron space, the Black Cauldron also shook sharply, and innumerable sparks spilled out from the flames in the cauldron, dispersing outward like a tree of fire and silver flowers.
Du Ke, however, had no time to watch this spectacle. As the sparks dissipated, they also directly acted on Du Ke's whole body.
Boom! !
Amidst the loud rumbling in his mind, the cat's body suddenly erupted with intense bloodline power. The moment a shallow glow circulated through his whole body, the cracks of destruction disappeared without a trace, and his fur also grew rapidly.
At first, it was just short fuzz, but the fur quickly grew longer, covering his whole body, even softer and more lustrous than before.
Oblivious to the changes in his own body, the cat maintained the stance of the Tiger Leopard Stake as he cultivated, cultivating until the final Leopard Transformation. He then directly leapt up, twisted in midair, and landed with his claws touching the ground first.
Bang!
Like a heavy hammer striking a drum, the crater shook, and the bear skin was blasted open by pure power, leaving a large hole.
The primordial energy from the Blood Qi Pill in Du ke's body disappeared instantly, as if it had never appeared.
The cat's expression froze for a moment before he came back to his senses. Looking at the large hole in the bear skin and the deep cat claw marks beneath, he split his mouth open in a grin.
"Meow hahahaha!!!!"
The fourth great accomplishment of the martial path – Heavenly Garment has been achieved! !
Before the ecstatic laughter of the cat could spread out, the entire crater began to shake. Soil and rocks cascaded downward as cracks emanated from the cat claw marks.
"Hey, don't get complacent!"
The cat glared and, without hesitation, quickly gathered his things and grabbed Husky before dashing out.
The moment the cat and dog ran out of the crater, it collapsed behind them.
"Aw awesome... "
Looking at the collapsed crater, Husky let out a frustrated howl.
The cat, however, was completely indifferent. He patted the dog’s head, looked up at the no longer full moon in the night sky, and a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
Now that the Heavenly Garment was successfully cultivated, he had the power to protect himself. This meant he could leave this deep mountain and look for his young miss.
"Meow!"
The cat jumped up and landed on the dog's back. Pointing his paw forward, he let out a majestic meow.
Husky, let's go!
It's time to prepare to go home!