Chapter 154: Strange Phenomenon

After half a year of bitter cultivation, Duan Rong's physique had become extremely sturdy; the eight-pack abs on his abdomen bulged like a tortoise shell, and the lines of his muscles shimmered with a dark, swarthy luster...

Duan Rong glanced at the silhouette of his torso in the Copper Mirror on the side table, walked over expressionlessly, and picked up the bottle of Dragon Flame Fat he had placed in front of the mirror.

He had locked the door and stripped himself bare, surely not just to show off his physique?

Holding the green Porcelain Bottle, Duan Rong squatted beside the basin of clear water in the corner of the room. Duan Rong opened the bottle and sniffed it lightly; there was no unusual scent.

Duan Rong slowly tilted the Porcelain Bottle...

His movements were very slight, his gaze fixed intently on the smooth, flared mouth of the green Porcelain Bottle.

Only when the Porcelain Bottle was almost horizontal did a clump of translucent, crimson gelatinous substance slowly ooze out...

Seeing that thing emerge, Duan Rong's movements slowed by another fraction...

That thing looked a bit like jelly, and also a bit like a ripe pomegranate seed; it was a translucent, pale crimson...

Duan Rong poured out a clump of the gelatinous substance the size of a pinky fingernail, which dropped into the clear water of the wooden basin. The surface of the water, smooth as a mirror, immediately rippled...

That clump of gelatinous substance bobbed up and down in the water ripples, but in the end, it floated on top of the clear water...

Duan Rong stared at the gelatinous substance floating on the water surface, watching as it dissolved in circles...

And the originally colorless clear water slowly turned a pale red...

After a few breaths, once the clump of gelatinous substance had completely dissolved, the clear water in the basin was already as crimson as blood...

Only then did Duan Rong stand up, walk to the cabinet beside the bed, open the cabinet door, and take out the four rolled-up Mountain and Water Paintings stored inside.

Duan Rong took out the Fire Folder, lit the Candle Lamp in the Inner Room, and then carefully roasted the images of the Four Great Wisdom Kings hidden within the four Mountain and Water Paintings.

Duan Rong set up a four-sided space, posted the images of the Four Great Wisdom Kings according to the orientation of his cultivation technique, and then placed a meditation cushion in the center of that four-sided space.

Only then did Duan Rong walk over to the basin of blood-red water in the corner, cupped the water with his hands, and poured it over his body, one handful after another. The red water was odorless and tasteless, but as soon as it touched his body, it burned with a stinging pain...

Before long, the skin all over Duan Rong's body began to turn red, just like a boiled shrimp...

Duan Rong carefully poured the red water from the basin onto every inch of his body. After finally coating his entire body, there was still a little water left at the bottom of the wooden basin. Duan Rong picked up the wooden basin and poured it over the back of his neck...

At this moment, a tearing, excruciating pain surged from the skin all over Duan Rong's body, as if he were being flayed, and the pain came in wave after wave, layering upon itself. Duan Rong gritted his teeth until they creaked; he dared not delay and immediately dove into the four-sided space, sitting cross-legged on the meditation cushion.

Sitting cross-legged on the meditation cushion, Duan Rong immediately began to form seals and chant, and at the same time, he began to adjust his breathing according to the unique breathing method of the Womb Treasury Sutra.

Following Duan Rong's chanting and hand seals, he felt an itchiness in the pores all over his body, as if something were burrowing into his body, and it began to continuously gather toward the back of his head...

But at this moment, Duan Rong had already begun to execute his cultivation technique and had no time to attend to anything else. After one cycle of breathing, he began to attempt to use his Mental Power to find the elusive transition point at the end of the long inhalation, the moment it converted into exhalation.

Whether it was because of his experience from the previous few times or just good luck, he hit the mark on the very first try this time. Duan Rong felt a wave of dizziness in his consciousness, and the next moment, he appeared within his own Spirit Sea.

As soon as Duan Rong appeared in the Spirit Sea, he looked up toward the Star Body floating in the firmament, which was emitting a milky-white fluorescent light...

That Star Body was silent and lonely, as if it were a life form in a long slumber that would never wake up...

When Duan Rong gazed at that Star Body, he could clearly feel that the Star Body was likewise gazing at him; that milky-white fluorescent light pierced through the thin, rolling mist and was shining upon him...

But Duan Rong's heart suddenly stirred; he discovered an anomaly. The anomaly did not come from the floating Star Body, but from the firmament behind the Star Body.

The originally silent, pitch-black firmament was now glowing with a faint red light...

Duan Rong then discovered that wisps of extremely fine red threads were drifting down from the firmament like willow catkins, permeating this world along with the rolling mist...

Those red threads were even wriggling within the mist, like extremely tiny insects...

"This is..."

A light went off in Duan Rong's heart; he suddenly thought of the blood-red water he had poured onto his body.

"These red threads... are the Dragon Flame Fat?"

Duan Rong recalled that before he entered the Spirit Sea, his pores had felt itchy, and something had burrowed into his body, gathering toward the back of his head...

"Could it be that this Dragon Flame Fat transformed into red threads and entered my Spirit Sea in some miraculous way..."

"This Womb Treasury Sutra technique is truly inconceivable..."

Knowing the cause of the strange phenomenon, Duan Rong no longer felt doubt or worry. He immediately sat cross-legged in the center of the Black Earth, his lips moving as he murmured incantations, while his hands quickly formed seals...

Bursts of rapid, dense murmuring sounds, like the voices of gods and demons, emanated from Duan Rong's mouth, echoing dully throughout this world...

Then, rolls of muffled thunder rumbled across the firmament, seemingly in response to Duan Rong's murmuring and chanting...

At the same time, the thin, rolling mist suddenly stalled, and then, like silt settling, after a few breaths, a layer of thick, grayish-white mist covered the surface of the Black Earth...

The thick, grayish-white mist submerged Duan Rong's body from the neck down...

However, the red threads transformed from the Dragon Flame Fat did not settle with the mist, but continued to float between heaven and earth, scattering everywhere like annoying willow catkins...

As Duan Rong's hands formed seals, the shadows of four giant divine statues towering over the world gradually emerged and solidified...

The moment the Four Great Wisdom Kings appeared, Duan Rong suddenly felt a wave of pressure slam into his heart...

Duan Rong withstood the pressure and continued to chant and form seals. He saw the Four Great Wisdom Kings open their large mouths, their eyes suddenly shooting forth divine light, and then they began to whale-inhale the mist, spraying it out from their nostrils...

Wisps of milky-white light threads were stripped away from the mist sprayed out from the divine statues' nostrils...

The moment those milky-white light threads were stripped away, they swam through the world like fish. Wherever they passed, the red threads transformed from the Dragon Flame Fat floating in the world actually adhered to those wisps of milky-white light threads...

Those milky-white light threads, covered in red threads, were like magnets coated in rust residue, and only then did they begin to slowly climb up to the firmament, floating in the sky...

As time passed, more and more milky-white light threads, satiated with red threads, climbed to the firmament and gathered in one place. They continuously intertwined and transformed, and gradually, the outline of an infant's body appeared. Then, as the light threads gathered, the infant's face slowly began to solidify...

Although the light-shadow infant's body was hollow, its facial features were already lifelike...

(End of chapter)