Chapter 116: The Weapon Spirit of the Blade

Xiao Yu felt suspicious; why would Duan Rong give her a painting? She walked quickly into the main room!

In the courtyard, Zhu Xiaoqi had already caught an old hen and was preparing to slaughter, scald, and pluck it!

An old hen is not easy to stew until tender, so she had to kill it early and get it stewing, so that they could have chicken soup by the evening!

Xiao Yu walked into the main room and saw a scroll of painting placed on the coffee table. She strode over, grabbed the painting, untied the thin string, and unfurled it!

Upon seeing the painting, Xiao Yu's expression changed, her whole body couldn't help but tremble slightly, and tears from the corners of her eyes streamed down...

In the painting, it was actually Xiao Baijiao, wearing a water-colored dress with a camellia flower tucked in her hair!

Xiao Baijiao was standing in the main room depicted in the painting, looking at her with a gentle smile...

It was just as if she were standing at home with her...

"Little sister..." Xiao Yu was moved for a moment and held the painting against her chest!

Xiao Yu already knew that Duan Rong could paint. Yesterday, when she was organizing Xiao Baijiao's belongings, she had seen the painting Duan Rong had made for Xiao Baijiao, as well as the poem beside it. She had asked Zhu Xiaoqi, and Zhu Xiaoqi had told her the whole story from beginning to end!

To be honest, although the Xiao Baijiao in that painting was indeed Xiao Baijiao, in Xiao Yu's view, it was somewhat distorted, being too ethereal and otherworldly!

But the one before her eyes was realistic and natural, vivid and lifelike, especially that pair of eyes on Baijiao, which were exactly the same as when she was alive and looking at her!

As a sister who hadn't been able to see her younger sister one last time, how could she not be moved upon seeing this painting now?

It took Xiao Yu quite a while to calm her emotions. She reached out to wipe away the tear stains at the corners of her eyes, looked at the painting for a long while more, and then rolled up the scroll and placed it in her boudoir.

Xiao Yu sat on the bed in her boudoir, lost in thought. For some reason, Duan Rong's swarthy face flashed before her eyes from time to time...

Duan Rong left Xiao Zongting's courtyard and returned to his own cramped dormitory.

Duan Rong had already made up his mind to practice the Womb Treasury Sutra only in the dead of night!

This was safer, and during the daytime, he planned to grind out Proficiency in the Bone-Locking Technique!

This Bone-Locking Technique was strange and unpredictable, possessing quite a few miraculous life-saving effects!

He would be going out on a security escort mission in a while, so it would be best to master this martial art before setting out!

Duan Rong first practiced various strange postures to move and stretch the ligaments and skin membranes all over his body!

This was a daily training item for the Bone Shrinking Technique; even if this technique were mastered, such daily training had to continue so as not to let the martial art go to waste!

This process lasted for about an hour!

After an hour, he was drenched in sweat. At this moment, with any slight movement, the joints and skin membranes all over his body would crack and pop!

Next, Duan Rong began to twist and wring himself; his goal was to fit himself into a wooden tub...

As time passed, Duan Rong slowly shrank circle by circle...

Each time he shrank a circle, a massive wave of pain would submerge Duan Rong like a flood...

Duan Rong twisted himself like this, just as a python coils tightly around its prey; this process continued until midnight...

His body slowly twisted into an oval ball of flesh, and its volume had gradually shrunk by nearly one-fifth, but he was still far from being able to fit himself into the wooden tub.

Just then, in the silent dead of night, the faint sound of the night watch drum came from afar!

"It's already the Hour of the Rat..."

Seeing that the time had come, Duan Rong began to disperse his power. His head, hands, and legs slowly twisted in reverse, like a reverse spiral...

Duan Rong's body visibly expanded, circle by circle...

When Duan Rong stood there as usual, a small puddle of sweat had already accumulated on the ground by his feet...

Duan Rong wiped the sweat from his eyes, let out a breath of stale air, and said, "This martial art is purely for masochists to practice!"

Even with his strong willpower, there were several times during the practice when he wanted to give up!

It was all by relying on a streak of madness in his heart that he managed to pull through!

It was already midnight. Duan Rong wiped the sweat from his body and prepared to start practicing the Womb Treasury Sutra. He took out the four landscape paintings that formed the Hidden Mandala from his wardrobe. Just then, Duan Rong's eyes flashed, and he suddenly had an idea. Duan Rong put the four paintings back into the wardrobe, left the dormitory, and came to the Middle Courtyard Martial Arts Arena!

It was midnight, and all was silent. Even the faint chirping of insects seemed somewhat noisy at this time!

The lanterns under the eaves cast patches of dim, yellow light onto the Martial Arts Arena!

The light and the darkness cut the large Martial Arts Arena into areas of light and shadow...

Duan Rong walked quickly over to a weapon rack in a corner of the Martial Arts Arena. Duan Rong's cold, stern gaze swept over the weapon rack.

He suddenly grabbed a Mo saber from the weapon rack and silently recited, "Read Spirit Tool."

Artifact: Mo saber

Spirit Artifact Tier: First Tier

Devour Requirement: Host Mental Power Level 1 (Satisfied)

Devour Effect: Rakshasa Saber Technique Proficiency

Duan Rong glanced at the set of data floating before him and silently said in his heart, "Devour!"

Before entering his Spirit Sea, Duan Rong had specifically come to the weapon rack to devour the Spirit Tool, just to take the opportunity to study how a weapon's Spirit Tool changes within the Spirit Sea.

A weapon's Spirit Tool and a Tree Spirit occupy different positions within the Spirit Sea, and their rates of digestion and absorption are also worlds apart!

Duan Rong already had a basic understanding of the changes of the Tree Spirit within the Spirit Sea, but he was not clear about the evolutionary process of a weapon's Spirit Tool within the Spirit Sea!

He only knew that in the southeastern sky of his Spirit Sea hung the afterimages of the weapons he had devoured!

But those were all Spirit Tools that had already been fully digested and absorbed!

Duan Rong wanted to figure out how they hung there.

Duan Rong put the Mo saber back onto the weapon rack and returned to his cramped dormitory!

Afterward, Duan Rong locked the door from the inside and placed the wardrobe and the painting rack in a corner, forming an enclosed space!

Then, Duan Rong used a lit oil lamp to slowly toast the back of the landscape paintings. As the flame passed over, the ink of the landscape faded, and the ferocious divine images of the Four Great Wisdom Kings slowly revealed themselves!

Duan Rong hung the divine images of the Four Great Wisdom Kings in the enclosed space according to the directions of southeast, west, and north!

Afterward, he sat cross-legged in the center of the enclosed space!

Duan Rong chanted a mantra, formed a seal, and began to adjust his breathing!

The breathing method of the Womb Treasury Sutra is extremely unique; more importantly, after a rather complex cycle of breathing, Duan Rong must, at the vague and uncertain point of transition between an inhalation and an exhalation, channel his Mental Power into that point to enter the Spirit Sea of Spiritual Clarity!

Although he had succeeded once before, when practicing again today, Duan Rong still had to try three times before he successfully entered the Spirit Sea of Spiritual Clarity!

Although he had already witnessed the magnificence of the Spirit Sea of Spiritual Clarity yesterday, upon entering it again, Duan Rong still felt a tremor in his heart!

The black earth, the boundless Cangqiong, the rolling mist...

An ancient and vigorous aura instantly enveloped Duan Rong...

(End of this chapter)