Chapter 995: A Heart of Gratitude

All things and living beings are both a whole and individuals.

This is true for mortals and cultivators alike.

Take mortals, for instance: their soul resides within the body, and their own blood and pulse contain a cycle whose purpose is to resist harmful external elements.

This minimizes the possibility of illness and reduces dangers that threaten life.

Cultivators are even more so; they have spiritual power reinforcing them from within, causing all bodily cycles and operations to proceed according to a certain pattern.

Furthermore, depending on one's cultivation base and level of life, this operation becomes increasingly perfect.

Once a certain level is reached, it is difficult for outsiders to find flaws, ultimately forming a personal defense to resist external forces.

To kill such a cultivator, unless one uses strength to overcome weakness and shatters them by force, one must possess a special method to turn defeat into victory against an opponent of equal or even superior cultivation.

Immortal Arts were created back then based on this principle.

Their fundamental means lie in the words "bizarre" and "special," focusing on using special methods and bizarre paths to bypass the opponent's own defenses and then erupt with lethality.

Human nature, however, is complex and intangible.

Therefore, it often becomes a breakthrough point chosen by certain Immortal Arts.

Such as the Six Thieves' Delusional Birth.

The seven emotions and six desires contained within it are all intent.

Using intent as a guide, it inverts the cycle, infiltrates defenses, and creates flaws within that can be exploited for slaughter.

As for the Five Dogs Abandoning Immortals, its essence is the concept of temperament.

The character "abandon" (she) can represent a dwelling, such as the body where the soul resides.

Hence, there is a technique known as "Possession."

Besides this, the character has another meaning: to let go.

But it is very difficult for people to let go.

That is why that saying exists.

By not letting go of external objects and all possessions, this thought becomes the flaw that bypasses one's own external defenses.

Through this flaw, the Immortal Art is deployed.

As for the appearance of the memory of Junior Sister Yue Dong, that is the special nature of the Immortal Art.

Only in this way can it remain hidden, making it impossible for one to notice it immediately; its principle is to use oneself to deceive oneself.

As long as it cannot be detected immediately, it gives the Stingy Thought the opportunity to grow.

It is like opening a door out of thin air in a sealed room.

This duration is five breaths, and this is the true meaning of the Stingy Dog entering the dwelling.

Overall, the Immortal Art relies on its bizarre nature, unfolds through the thoughts of the five dogs, and uses a specialness that transcends traditional definitions to form the lethality of an Immortal Art in a way that is extremely difficult to block.

And once the door is opened, external evil naturally invades.

That white eye is the Greed Thought within the Five Dogs Abandoning Immortals.

"Desiring without satiety is called greed; when the Greedy Dog enters the dwelling, one becomes bound."

Greed can shackle the spirit and bind the self.

Thus, the great door swung wide open, the white eye appeared, and the moment it stared at Xu Qing, waves surged in Xu Qing's mind, leaving him in a trance for four breaths.

A bizarre seal from the inside out appeared as a result, following the gaze of this white eye to seal everything about Xu Qing.

These four breaths were the time it took for this seal to form; if it could not be broken within four breaths, then...

"Delusionally creating rules and measures is called stupidity; when the Stupid Dog enters the dwelling, one falls into life and death."

A white vortex appeared silently within Xu Qing's sea of consciousness, beneath that white eye, rotating continuously to form a force of separation.

What it separated was the fusion of the physical body and the soul.

Three breaths later, beneath the white vortex, a large white mouth appeared; this mouth opened, revealing endless evil.

This is...

"Not recognizing the true nature and arguing to win is called evil; when the Evil Dog enters the dwelling, one falls into hell."

The large white mouth swallowed fiercely.

What it swallowed was the soul!

And finally, around this eye, vortex, and mouth, the fifth thought of the Five Dogs Abandoning Immortals appeared.

It was a white face.

Under its reflection, in Xu Qing's sea of consciousness, the Five Dogs Abandoning Immortals technique was completely perfected, forming... a complete face.

White hair danced, and the expression... was neither smiling nor crying, bizarre to the extreme.

It merged into Xu Qing's physical body.

"Not having attained non-birth and delusionally rejecting the three paths is called the cliff; when the Cliff Dog enters the dwelling, one loses the human form forever."

The world before Xu Qing's eyes turned pitch black.

And in the outside world, at the bottom of the Abandoned Immortal Lake, on the massive white rune where countless corpses lay, there was now one more.

It was Xu Qing.

His hair had turned white, as had his skin; his eyes were open, emitting a white glow, appearing to have become one with all the corpses around him.

His expression was the same.

But the next instant, a sudden change occurred.

Outside Xu Qing's body, a large number of threads of the seven emotions and six desires suddenly appeared in the void. These threads emitted the Immortal Art fluctuations of the Six Thieves' Delusional Birth, which Xu Qing had laid out in advance; now triggered, they instantly approached Xu Qing.

The moment they touched, a portion of the threads broke through Xu Qing's physical body, drilled into him, and headed straight for the white face.

The other portion circled outside his body, winding around him layer by layer, quickly wrapping Xu Qing into a human-shaped cocoon.

This cocoon contained a seal.

It sealed the white face inside Xu Qing's body, making it unable to escape.

And this was Xu Qing's plan.

He wanted to personally experience the Five Dogs Abandoning Immortals technique, and although this technique was bizarre and astonishing, Xu Qing had some confidence in his heart.

The source of this confidence came from the Six Thieves' Delusional Birth.

After all, the Five Dogs Abandoning Immortals and the Six Thieves' Delusional Birth were originally one Immortal Art.

Just like that, time passed.

Beneath the Abandoned Immortal Lake, there was silence.

For a moment, it seemed as if even the lake water had stopped flowing, until an hour later, among the many corpses, the cocoon transformed by Xu Qing suddenly emitted a cracking sound.

This sound was faint at first, but it quickly became more and more dense, and finally, cracks appeared one after another on the cocoon.

After more and more appeared, the cocoon shattered with a boom.

It revealed Xu Qing inside.

His hair was no longer white, having returned to its original color, as were his eyes, though a lingering sense of palpitations remained within them.

"This is the Five Dogs Abandoning Immortals."

Xu Qing murmured.

"This technique is even more bizarre than the Six Thieves' Delusional Birth... No, it is because Yue Dong's own strength was insufficient, so the Six Thieves she deployed against me could be broken."

"And the source of the Immortal Art here is this mark..."

Xu Qing lowered his head, staring at the massive white mark beneath his feet.

He could feel that this mark was extremely ancient and contained the passage of time; he judged in his heart that it most likely came from the era of the Profound Dark Ancient Emperor.

It was even very likely that this mark was the foundational seal of the Five Dogs Abandoning Immortals technique.

"If I hadn't first mastered the Six Thieves' Delusional Birth and turned it into a Dao mark of authority, completely integrating it with myself, I fear it would have been very difficult to wake up so quickly from this Immortal Art this time."

Xu Qing raised his head and looked at the surrounding corpses.

He now understood that these were all those who had died after failing to comprehend it here.

"This Immortal Art..."

Xu Qing withdrew his gaze and landed it on his right hand.

At this moment, those shattered cocoon threads were reforming, gathering from all directions, and soon, a faint mark slowly emerged in the palm of Xu Qing's hand.

The appearance of this mark was exactly the same as the white mark beneath the Abandoned Immortal Lake, only shrunk countless times.

If one looked closely, one could see that the totem of this mark was actually an abstract mask.

This was because Xu Qing, relying on the Six Thieves' Delusional Birth Immortal Art, had forcibly kept it after extracting the white face from his body, using the attraction of the same-origin Immortal Art.

Staring at it now, Xu Qing's spiritual sense merged into it, as if he had walked through the Five Dogs Abandoning Immortals he had just experienced once more, finally determining the inner essence of this Immortal Art.

"The Stingy Dog hides in the memory of the target by splicing a segment of memory; because of its special nature and concealment, it is difficult to see the clues. If the target cannot erase it within five breaths, then the Greedy Dog emerges."

"The role of the Greedy Dog is to seal, preventing the target from having any possibility of escaping. This seal takes four breaths to form; if it is not erased during the time of formation, the seal is completed, and the Stupid Dog emerges."

"The power of the Stupid Dog is a vortex, whose purpose is to separate the target's soul from the physical body, causing the flaw to be torn wider once it appears. If it cannot be destroyed within three breaths, the Evil Dog comes."

"The Evil Dog swallows the soul; if it is not destroyed within two breaths, the Cliff Dog arrives."

"The Cliff Dog merges with the body; there is only one breath to kill it. If it is difficult to shake it within one breath, then... the Five Dogs Abandoning Immortals technique succeeds."

"If this Immortal Art succeeds, it can erupt with astonishing lethality; to a certain extent, it is using oneself to kill oneself!"

"Therefore, not only can it overcome strength with weakness, but the damage this technique does to the soul is even greater."

"It's just that there is one thing I still don't understand..."

Xu Qing pondered.

"Abandoning Immortals, Abandoning Immortals, what does this mean?"

"Letting go of the Immortal? Abandoning the Immortal? Or does the self become the Immortal's dwelling?"

Xu Qing vaguely felt that these two words were another layer, and a very important one, of the meaning behind this immortal art.

Because he had not yet mastered this immortal art, he could not fully comprehend it at this moment.

Xu Qing felt a bit of regret.

But he also understood that this art was vast and could by no means be learned in a short time; as for himself now, he had only grasped the basics.

This was only because of the guidance of the Six Thieves Immortal Art that he had such a harvest.

"So, it is both the foundation and the qualification."

"Only by possessing this qualification is there a possibility of mastering it."

Xu Qing put away the regret in his heart, looked up toward the surface, flickered his body, and headed straight for the lake surface.

And as he left, the Abandoning Immortal Mark at the bottom of the lake faintly dissipated a little, as if it were no longer complete.

At the same time, in the Immortal Art Hall in the outside world, there existed a secret chamber forbidden area sealed in layers deep within.

Inside the secret chamber, there was a black stone, and upon it existed an ancient mark, exactly the same as the mark at the bottom of the lake.

This was the true Abandoning Immortal Mark.

It was just that now, even it had become a bit dimmer, as if a portion had been separated away.

Because the Great Immortal Master Ximoyu was traveling and had not yet returned, no one knew of this scene.

At this moment, on the Abandoning Immortal Lake, those immortal masters of Ximoyu were still meditating and seeking enlightenment; it had been less than two hours since Xu Qing sank to the bottom of the lake.

Therefore, when Xu Qing's figure broke through the lake surface and appeared, not many immortal masters noticed this scene.

Those who did see it were all stunned, but they soon reacted, guessing that the other party had not truly gone to seek enlightenment and must have retreated out of fear, so they each felt a sense of contempt.

Xu Qing did not pay attention to these things; looking at the white Immortal Art Hall, he remembered the words his Master had once taught him—that one must have a heart of gratitude in how they conduct themselves and do things—so after thinking for a moment, he bowed with cupped hands toward the Immortal Art Hall.

In this way, his heart was at peace, and he could consider himself not in their debt; if he saw them in the future, he could kill them without worry.

He then turned around and sped away.

This scene was seen by that young man inside the Immortal Art Hall, who could not help but sneer.

"Arrogant when arriving, bowing when leaving; I have seen plenty of such people who are haughty at first and humble later."

"There are always people who think they are geniuses, thinking they are capable of anything, but after experiencing the torment of the immortal arts in my hall, they are all nothing but clay chickens and pottery dogs."

"This Xue Chenzi is even more of a coward; looking at the time, this person was clearly scared away."

"Not worth worrying about!"