Cohabitation with Sword Spirit-Chapter 277 - 17: Self-Reliance, Shen Kaishan

Amidst the shout of shame and rage from the bruised and swollen brother, dozens of eyes simultaneously turned over.

Everyone saw that Shen Wuyong, who usually could grit his teeth in silence under Level 14 pain, could only endure until Level 10 before he couldn't hold back any longer and jumped up.

Then they also saw Shen Qingming, who remained calm and was even somewhat drowsy under the stimulation of Level 10 pain.

An uproar ensued.

Level 10 pain is equivalent to a woman's childbirth, a man's shattered testicles, or severe burns all over the body—it is a level of pain that can render one wishing for death despite being numb. During the connection of the Phantom Limb, there's no such thing as dulled pain; Level 10 is Level 10 without any discount. Under Level 10 pain, if a cultivator's cultivation doesn't reach the Cloud Surge Realm, and the divine sense hasn't diffused into the Spiritual Cloud, even if one could overcome the pain, cold sweat would pour, and one's vision would be filled with flashing stars. Even the Shen Family prodigy Shen Qing, who could endure Level 25 pain, was expressionless and silent under Level 10 pain.

In comparison, this Li Family girl seemed too relaxed! Her expression unchanged, her eyes half-open, half-closed, her fingers rhythmically tapping her palm, her head slightly bobbing as if humming a tune with the rhythm... It doesn't at all look like she's enduring intense pain, it's like she's casually on vacation!

With such a comparison group, it's no wonder that even a highly regarded prodigy like Shen Wuyong lost his composure.

The Shen Family Outer Courtyard designed this comparative training to inspire and stimulate both sides of the comparison. The drawing of lots also roughly categorized people based on their cultivation realm and the stability of their divine sense, ensuring there wouldn't be a too significant disparity in strength, preventing one side from losing morale early, which would be counterproductive.

According to Shen Herong's observations, Shen Wuyong and Shen Qingming's true essence realm and divine sense strength should be roughly similar, which is why they were placed together in one category and naturally drew lots into one group.

However, once the training started, the situation was completely one-sided. Shen Wuyong had to grit his teeth to persist from Level 7 pain, and by Levels 9 and 10, his vision was alternating between black and white, his gums were bitten until they bled. In contrast, Shen Qingming remained calm, not moving an inch. This situation was indeed too strange; where is there a cultivator who can be so composed under Level 10 pain? How powerful must one's divine sense be to suppress the intense pain of Level 10?

Shen Wuyong naturally couldn't believe that a Li Family member with similar strength could be so far ahead of him in pain endurance. Seeing the increasing disparity between their performances, in a panic, he subconsciously attributed this strange scene to equipment malfunction.

And Shen Wuyong, angrily questioning the equipment malfunction, instantly upset the minds of many Shen Family disciples around him, breaking the subtle balance they had achieved with Spiritual Cloud nurturing their divine sense and suppressing the pain. Suddenly, they were engulfed by a torrent-like pain, making them wish they could roll on the ground.

The scene was chaotic, and even Shen Herong, who has been the instructor in the Outer Courtyard for many years, began feeling uncertain and suspicious.

These 50 Phantom Limb sets were personally calibrated by him, theoretically unlikely to malfunction. However, on the other hand, these Phantom Limb Balls are indeed 20-year-old antiques, and occasional malfunctions can't be entirely ruled out.

After pondering for a moment, Shen Herong came to Shen Qingming, placed his hand on the Phantom Limb Ball, infused some true essence, and gently adjusted the intensity output, gradually increasing from Level 10 pain to 11, 12, 13... climbing all the way up.

Yet, as the pain level rose, Shen Qingming remained unresponsive, only the frequency of her fingers tapping her palm slightly increased, producing a faint muffled sound, as if mocking Shen Herong's probing.

The scar-faced man gritted his teeth and directly raised the pain level to Level 30, at which point Shen Qingming finally let out a hum, the corners of her mouth arching into a faint, elusive smile, yet she appeared even more relaxed than before.

"There's definitely a problem!"

Shen Herong finally made a judgment, then immediately reached over to remove a white patch from Shen Qingming's arm, sticking it onto the back of his own hand.

Crackle!

Shen Herong could almost hear the nerves on the back of his hand exploding violently, the intense stimulus surged along his arm up to his brain, causing the veins in his temple to visibly throb.

His right hand seemed to instantaneously encounter burning, freezing, cutting, piercing... countless types of damage stacked together, yet independently existing, each delivering its own pain. The overwhelming sensation hit like a raging river.

"What the hell!!!"

Shen Herong almost immediately screamed in agony, his convulsing muscles contorted his body into the bizarre shape of a swastika, fluids of all kinds spurting from all of his orifices, like a block of frozen tofu steeped in a hot pot being squeezed with chopsticks.

Level 30 pain, even for a Great Cultivator like Shen Herong, was difficult to ignore, and beyond Level 25, even with primordial spirit suppression, the body couldn't help but instinctively react.

The phantom limb, constructed from magic, transmitted pain impacting every single muscle throughout the body. Under Level 30 pain, humans seemed to regress millions, tens of millions of years, returning to a time earlier than the primordial epoch, transforming into simple creatures like insects. A bit of stimulus could affect the entire body.

"What the... hell."

However, Shen Herong was, after all, a Great Cultivator of the Rain Cover Realm, whose Divine Sense had transcended into the Primordial Spirit, instantly enveloping his physical body and bringing every corner under the control of his Primordial Spirit.

No longer relying on the naturally formed control system of nerves, muscles, and bones, but instead using the Primordial Spirit to drive the physical body, he immediately halted the body's instinctive reactions.

However, that momentary loss of composure was enough to demonstrate the formidable power of the Phantom Limb Ball.

Shen Herong patted his heart with lingering fear; if not for the Primordial Spirit driving his body, the sudden burst of excruciating pain just now would have been enough to stop his heart from beating.

But with this, the issue seemed even more bizarre.

A pain unbearable for even a Cultivator of the Rain Cover Realm, how could a little girl not yet even at the Cloud Surge Realm endure it?

"Because after cultivating the Immovable Tyrant Body to the Fourth Heaven, one can freely master 90% of the pain sensation, essentially enhancing pain resistance tenfold, and this pain resistance is directly imprinted on the Divine Sense through Physical Divine Techniques, capable of resisting even those painful curses. So, this level 30 pain is, at most, equivalent to level 15 for her, completely within her tolerable limits. And the posture she's in now is the cultivation technique of the Fourth Heaven, which can temporarily activate the Physical Divine Techniques, rebuff the Divine Sense, further fortifying her pain tolerance."

Wang Jiu's voice quietly emerged from behind Shen Herong.

Shen Herong, unsurprisingly, looked at the young man who didn't seem to regard the training project, and asked in a deep voice, "What Tyrant Body?"

"The Immovable Tyrant Body, a Physical Divine Technique painstakingly crafted by the Shen family's ancestor, Shen Kaishan, embodying the essence of his lifetime cultivation." After a pause, Wang Jiu further explained, "Shen Qingming has just begun cultivating the Fourth Heaven, and has merely grasped the basic pain resistance of the three new Divine Techniques. But with her current pain endurance, even if this Phantom Limb Ball is adjusted to level 40, she would handle it. You descendants of the Shen family have completely misunderstood the original purpose of the Phantom Limb Ball."

"Misunderstood the original purpose?"

While speaking, Wang Jiu walked over to Shen Qingming, took off the white patch from her body, and held the ball in his palm.

"At first, I thought this was your innovative design, but now it seems that it just referenced some parts of lost Primordial Classics, creating a mere imitation."

Shen Herong was suddenly a bit angry.

This Phantom Limb Ball had been handed down in the Shen Family Outer Courtyard for over 500 years, uniquely stimulating with pain to cultivate batch after batch of Shen family cultivators who could freely control pain and demonstrate formidable power on the battlefield.

30 years ago, a prestigious magazine in Heaven-Reaching City published a list of the 100 greatest inventions in the history of Immortal Cultivation in Xiangzhou, where the Phantom Limb Ball ranked 73rd, without a doubt being the pride of Shen family craftsmen.

If such an invention was just an imitation, what would the original version be? An Immortal Artifact?

"Oh, it's not that sophisticated. In terms of design ingenuity, the original version is actually not as good as this imitation. However, functionality-wise, I favor the original." Wang Jiu said, throwing the Phantom Limb Ball to the ground, "This tool, which uses magic to fabricate a limb and torment it, although ingeniously designed, deviates from the true intent of pain resistance training. Pure physical stimulation is quite different from the pain encountered in real battles. Having a Phantom Limb cut off and an actual limb severed may be similar in physical stimulation, but their psychological impact is entirely different. Just like the difference between a multi-functional deluxe edition cup and a living person."

"I don't understand what you're talking about!" Shen Herong's scarred face turned a flush of embarrassed anger.

Wang Jiu had to explain from the beginning: "The so-called multi-functional deluxe edition…"

"No need to explain that!" Shen Herong shouted angrily, "And so what if there's a difference? Are we supposed to actually sever limbs during training?"

"Exactly, originally, it was really about severing limbs." Wang Jiu responded earnestly, "The original had a very simple function—using a bit of flesh and blood provided by the trainee beforehand, along with a large amount of general material, to rapidly cultivate new limbs. When the trainee's body was severely injured, these new parts would quickly replace the damaged ones."

"..."

"So, the original was called the Limb Replacement Ball, somehow you turned it into the Phantom Limb Ball, making it feel so much more frivolous." Wang Jiu shrugged regretfully, "Back in those days, after a pain resistance training session, the discarded arms, legs, and internal organs in the Shen family were enough to boil hundreds of pots of top-quality offal soup."

"Offal... soup?"

Wang Jiu said: "Oh, I was just giving an example. In fact, offal soup was extremely rare. Most of the scrapped body parts were recycled on the spot by the Limb Replacement Ball, decomposed into general material for reuse. However, a few cultivators have a taste for self-cannibalism, using their own bodies to cook food, which reportedly tastes exceptionally sweet."

Before finishing his words, Shen Herong's face turned ashen, his stomach churning.