Chapter 162: Dao Platform

After entering the palace, Wang Ping's vision blurred; when he could see clearly again, he found himself standing on a mountain peak.

At a glance, Wang Ping could see that the heaven and earth before him were different; it was an instinctive reaction to the aura of heaven and earth.

Perhaps this is the heaven and earth of ancient times, Wang Ping thought to himself.

Around stood huge black metal pillars; before him, a young cultivator in black robes stood still, with a three‑inch flying sword hovering above his head. The sword's body was silver‑white; though small, it was extremely sharp, and Wang Ping felt his eyes sting after just a glance.

What a sharp flying sword!

"After waiting ten thousand years, I have finally waited for you, these reverse cultivators!" (Ancient language!)

The black‑clad young cultivator spoke first; his words seemed not to be the spirit‑realm language, but here there seemed to be its own rules, and after he finished speaking, Wang Ping already understood his meaning.

"Reverse cultivator" must refer to the present‑day cultivators, Wang Ping thought.

"Cultivators inherently go against heaven; the term 'reverse cultivator' is acceptable—do you ancient cultivators cultivate the way of following heaven?" Wang Ping replied calmly.

The black‑clad cultivator wore a cold face and continued: "The appearance of spiritual roots cut off the possibility of ordinary‑spirit cultivation; now there is no ordinary‑spirit cultivation in the world, only those who possess spiritual roots can walk the Great Dao—how unfair!"

Wang Ping shook his head and said: "Ordinary‑spirit cultivation? I roughly know why your ancient methods disappeared in the river of history, even if I don't fully understand your cultivation methods."

The ancient black‑clad cultivator's face showed contempt, then he said disdainfully: "You, a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator, how could you know the reason our ancient arts vanished?"

Wang Ping smiled faintly and replied: "According to you, the ancient arts would allow all worldly beings to cultivate; I wonder, in the whole world—including all known worlds—how much heavenly and earthly spiritual energy exists to supply all beings for cultivation? If I were the Heavenly Dao, I would surely set up layer upon layer of restrictions."

"Ordinary‑spirit cultivation sounds nice, but in the present it would surely be a legend; yet in your era it would certainly be a disaster!"

The black‑clad cultivator's expression shifted; he had always won debates by appealing to the Great Dao, yet he had never considered the matter from a resource standpoint.

The simple, rustic words of the cultivator opposite even caused their confidence to waver; previously, no cultivator had ever spoken such things to him.

Little did they know, the Western Drooping Land where Wang Ping resides is barren; Qi Refining rogue cultivators will fight to the death for a single spirit stone or a freshly‑graded herb—if ordinary people could also cultivate in such an environment, the scene would be nothing short of an apocalyptic disaster.

Therefore, Wang Ping cannot help but blurt out a complaint whenever he hears of ordinary‑spirit cultivation.

Previously, cultivators did not say these things to the black‑clad cultivator mainly because their training environments differed; Spirit Realm Foundation Establishment cultivators all possess top‑grade spirit stones for training, whereas a Nascent Soul cultivator in the lower realm might have hardly any high‑grade spirit stones.

After a full cup of tea's time, the black‑clad cultivator finally calmed, his eyes regaining their sharp, piercing look.

"No matter what, the emergence of spiritual roots is tantamount to strangling the hopes of ordinary people; this cannot be changed in any way," the black‑clad cultivator said coldly.

Wang Ping gave him a look and asked strangely: "The appearance of spiritual roots is like different children born into different families—some are born with vast wealth, into noble houses, while others are born into peddler or commoner households; this is the workings of the Heavenly Dao, and what does it have to do with spiritual roots? On the contrary, I believe the emergence of spiritual roots gives hope to those from poor families, enabling them to surpass those born in riches and fine clothes."

The black‑clad cultivator furrowed his brows and asked: "What do you mean?"

Wang Ping smiled faintly: "A child from an ordinary family who manifests a spiritual root—even a low‑grade one—gains the possibility of cultivation; once he becomes a cultivator, worldly gold and silver are to him merely things to pluck from a pocket. If he loses his drive to cultivate the Dao, he may become a wealthy man with many wives and concubines, and with the physique of a Qi Refining cultivator, living to see five generations under one roof is no problem."

The black‑clad cultivator's face darkened; finally he snorted coldly: "More talk is useless; the final victory will be decided by strength. Let me see what tricks you, a Foundation Establishment cultivator, have! Silver Frost—go!"

Wang Ping's mouth twitched slightly; a flash of azure light appeared outside his body, forming a pure‑green body‑protecting spiritual light that tightly enveloped him.

Whoosh!

That three‑inch flying sword was incredibly sharp, arriving almost in the blink of an eye; seeing Wang Ping's overconfidence, the ancient black‑clad cultivator curled his lip in a cold smile. His Silver Frost, forged from a kind of extraterrestrial secret silver and nurtured for decades, had begun to gain sentience; its sharpness alone, relying solely on itself, was enough to pierce the body‑protecting spiritual light of a cultivator of the same rank.

Clang!

With a crisp ring, the silver‑white three‑inch flying sword was flicked away and slammed into a nearby metal pillar at even greater speed, producing a piercing metallic clash.

"Show your true abilities! Let me see how you attack, and how that Dao Platform strikes—hopefully it's not as useless as an embroidered pillow like you now!"

Wang Ping clasped his hands behind his back and spoke calmly.

The ancient black‑clad cultivator's pupils contracted, then his face grew solemn—what a strong defensive power.

"I'll let you witness it—Silver Moon Filling the Sky! Split!"

As the cultivator's words fell, the Silver Frost sword that had just flown back suddenly blazed with dazzling silver light, and a silver Dao Platform faintly appeared on the black‑clad cultivator's forehead.

Before Wang Ping could make it out, the sky suddenly filled with upward‑white flying swords, each crescent‑shaped, their power five times greater than before.

Wang Ping's eyes locked onto the silver crescent formed by the flying swords; he couldn't help but feel astonished—this was a false Dao technique, and the spiritual energy fluctuation was unmistakable.

Able to boost an ordinary attack fivefold, though partly due to his use of a false Dao technique, the greater factor was the Dao Platform on the black‑clad cultivator's brow taking effect.

Although it was only a fleeting glance, Wang Ping's astonishing divine sense still caught the silver pattern that flashed across the Dao Platform.

He wondered how this technique could inscribe such markings onto the Dao Platform—perhaps it was like drawing talismans.

Slice!

A sound like tearing cloth suddenly rang out on this mountain peak; when Wang Ping heard it, the silver crescent had already struck his body‑protecting spiritual light again.

This time the attack only cut in three inches, still failing to breach Wang Ping's defense, but the opposite black‑clad cultivator's face lit with excitement as he lowly shouted: "Moon Shadow Overlap!"

The silver‑white crescent suddenly turned illusory, then within it appeared layer after layer of shadowy crescents!

These shadow crescents appeared and vanished with extreme speed; the whole process took no more than the blink of an eye.

At the instant the shadow crescents vanished, the original silver crescent burst forth with renewed powerful undulations, its power now reaching about seven times that of an ordinary attack.

The silver crescent surged forward again; this time it finally pierced Wang Ping's external body‑protecting spiritual light. The black‑clad cultivator's face showed excitement, and the arrogant present‑day cultivator would surely be slain here today.

But soon his smile froze on his face; the cultivator's body flashed with azure light, and a suit of armor appeared, upon which the empowered crescent struck—yet not even a faint sound was made.

"Cheating! You're wearing spirit armor that only a Golden Core cultivator should have! Undying Spirit Sir, I demand to report—someone is cheating!"

"Reporting is ineffective!" a cold voice came from high above.

"Ineffective!" the black‑clad cultivator's face froze; then he realized something and turned his gaze toward Wang Ping.

Wang Ping gave a slight smile and explained: "This is an enhanced version of my body‑protecting spiritual light—since you came without courtesy, I'll return the favor; take a strike from me!"

Having said that, he formed a sword finger with his right hand, lightly drew, and a zhang‑sized azure light sword thrust toward the black‑clad cultivator from the sky.

The black‑clad cultivator hastily moved his silver crescent to block, but the crescent he prided himself on managed to parry only a breath before shattering; the azure sword light continued down, and the black‑clad cultivator's body shattered directly!

"Congratulations, Cultivator Wang Ping, you have passed the first trial; in a quarter of an hour, the second trial will begin."

Wang Ping paid no heed to that; he was still replaying the scene of his battle with the black‑clad cultivator.

That faint silver Dao Platform appearing on his brow seemed to be the source of all the black‑clad cultivator's spiritual power; strangely, Wang Ping sensed no dantian in the black‑clad cultivator's body!

Could it be that ancient cultivators did not cultivate a dantian, and after Foundation Establishment all their spiritual power came from the Dao Platform? Then how did they store spiritual power during the Qi Refining stage?

Moreover, their combat methods seemed to center on the Dao Platform, but this cultivator is too weak to discern much of its profundity; I hope the next opponent will let him better understand the ancient cultivators' Dao Platform system—Wang Ping silently hoped.