Chapter 20: 【The Heart-Monkey Returns to Righteousness, the Six Thieves Leave No Trace】

"So, what does this have to do with the Innate One Qi?"

System 10086 complained; there was absolutely no trace of the Innate One Qi left to be seen here.

"Of course it has to do with it. The Innate One Qi is 'Dao generates One'; beyond that, there is 'One generates Two, Two generates Three, and Three generates the ten thousand things.'"

"One is the Innate One Qi, Two is the perfection of nature and life, Three is the Three Treasures of Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and the ten thousand things are the inner universe of the human body."

Lin Xian said leisurely, "Restraining Spirits and Dispatching Generals is merely a spiritual branch evolved from the Innate Qi—the path of the Ghost Immortal."

"It seems a grade lower than the Origin of Qi and Body." System 10086 evaluated. When it issued the novice gift pack, it hadn't paid much attention, simply choosing the Origin of Qi and Body at the host's request.

Looking at it now, the host seemed prepared long ago. Was this an accident, or intentional?

"That is only natural. What Zhang Huaiyi realized had already surpassed his fourth brother, Wu Gensheng. Only then did we get the end of techniques: the Origin of Qi and Body."

Lin Xian said leisurely, "The Human Immortal obtains a technique, the Earth Immortal obtains a method, and the Heaven Immortal obtains a Dao. Dao generates methods, and methods generate techniques. At the end of techniques, the Origin of Qi and Body has already surpassed techniques; it can be counted as an Earth Immortal's method."

"With such talent, Zhang Huaiyi still ranked below Zhang Zhiwei." System 10086 reminded, "Have you thought about how to deal with the Old Celestial Master?"

The combat power of the Old Celestial Master, Zhang Zhiwei, had always been a mystery because no one had ever seen him go all out.

Whether it was the Ten Elders or the Eight Extraordinary Techniques, the Daoist of Heaven's Reach always finished them in one blow. He didn't even use his trump cards; he just used basic attacks. This gap in combat power made it impossible to fathom his true realm.

According to the system's calculations, the Old Celestial Master was highly likely at the peak of the Life Spring realm, with a small probability of being a novice at the Divine Bridge realm. The key node lay in the Celestial Master's mastery of the Five Thunders Orthodox Method; even if it possessed only one ten-thousandth of the power of a heavenly tribulation, it was enough to crush the mortal world.

"The Daoist of Heaven's Reach? That's simple. I'll just break through!"

A majestic aura surged forth. The surging aura of the peak Life Spring realm shook the observatory until it was on the verge of collapse. That blood energy shot straight into the clouds like a heavenly pillar, and Lin Xian stood in the mortal world like a god of war.

The phone in his palm flickered, and a message arrived.

Xia He: I have found Barron. He agrees to meet you. The address is...

"Six Storehouse Immortal Thief."

Lin Xian laughed loudly. The thing he had waited for so long had finally arrived. With this extraordinary technique, combined with the massive funds of the World Association, even in a world where acquired essence was thin, he could refine essence into Qi and perfectly absorb nutrients from food.

The Shrouding the Heavens method uses the body as a seed, originating from the Huangtian Emperor of the Chaotic Ancient Era.

And the Huangtian Emperor back then ate his way to the top; except for humanoid creatures, no race could escape his big mouth.

Consumption is precisely the best way to replenish life energy and fill one's essence.

After notifying Feng Zheng-hao to prepare a large amount of medicinal meals, Lin Xian walked to an open space and opened the Unscrupulous Map. Then, he communicated with the Wheel of Life within his body. The Divine Spring was bubbling and surging, magic power was born, and a divine rainbow grew beneath his feet, like a fairy bridge spanning the horizon.

Like a white-gold lightning bolt, he rushed toward the nine heavens, crossing layers of mountains and skimming over winding rivers at extreme speed.

[The Unscrupulous Map is planning your route... You have deviated from the route, re-planning your route...]

[Warning! Warning! You are speeding, you are speeding!!!]

In the Fifth Branch of the City Traffic Management Bureau, an administrator was handling various speeding violations as usual. Suddenly, the big screen flickered, and a red message popped up.

"Speeding again. Driving without following the rules, your family will shed two lines of tears." The administrator muttered, intending to call the nearby traffic police to handle it. Suddenly, the corner of his eye caught the speed of the violation, and his pupils shrank. He blurted out, "Holy crap, is this flying too low?!"

"Beep, beep, beep..." While the administrator was stunned, the internal phone on the opposite side rang.

He answered the phone subconsciously, and a voice sounded in his ear: "We are members of the Sixth Department of the All-Control Bureau. We are now notifying you to put down everything in your hands, ignore any anomalies, and a special agent will come to handle it later..."

Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting mottled light and shadows. Birdsong could be heard from time to time. It was clearly a quiet and elegant place rarely visited by humans.

Xia He sat cross-legged on a moss-covered rock, silently keeping time in her heart. Suddenly, a divine light that was difficult for the naked eye to capture flashed by.

Lin Xian stood before Xia He, looking at this lonely, graceful woman, and asked indifferently, "Where is Barron?"

"Barron is already here." Xia He smiled faintly and pointed to the dense forest, "He is playing a little game with you."

"A game? No need."

Lin Xian's gaze shifted. He didn't see any figure, but he already understood in his heart. This was one of the abilities of the Six Storehouse Immortal Thief. Because it steals the vitality of heaven and earth for its own use, its aura is also close to heaven and earth, reaching a certain sense of harmony between man and nature, as if invisible.

"Senior, do you need my help?" Xia He said with a smile, her eyes flashing with brilliance.

"Skip..." Lin Xian said.

"Skip?" Xia He was stunned. What did this mean?

"Don't listen to the explanation."

Gathering blood energy and weaving divine patterns, Lin Xian casually pinched a hand seal and shouted, "Evil obstacle, why don't you reveal your form!"

In an instant, the vast aura belonging to the peak of the Life Spring realm erupted like a mountain pressing down. With a loud bang, dozens of meters of divine light covered the mountain forest. A large handprint slapped down, and the towering ancient trees fell like building blocks, destroying everything like cutting tofu, directly creating a giant pit!

"Xia He." In the giant pit, countless pieces of wood were scattered. A blood-stained foreigner lay on the ground, dying, but still couldn't help cursing, "You bastard, you set me up..."

Xia He was stunned on the spot, subconsciously swallowing her saliva. Was this still human?

So the attack that day wasn't a trump card; it was just a basic attack.

"Stop playing dead. The descendant of the Saint's Theft doesn't die so easily." Lin Xian picked up Barron and threw him onto the grass, quietly watching his breathing change from rapid to steady.

The blurred flesh began to self-repair bit by bit, stopping the bleeding at a speed visible to the naked eye. In the end, he was as if nothing had happened.

However, when Barron got up again, the grass under his feet had withered and turned yellow, some even turning into dust in the wind, creating a large blank area.

"So this is the Eight Extraordinary Techniques." Xia He murmured, her heart receiving a huge shock.

"Can we talk properly now?" Lin Xian smiled and looked at Barron.

In the face of absolute strength, all words seemed incomparably pale.

Barron was silent for a while, then said, "You are like the others, wanting the Eight Extraordinary Techniques, but you don't know the terror of the Six Storehouse Immortal Thief."

"Terror? Isn't it just that the nature cultivation is insufficient and the life cultivation is too much? Because the weak soul cannot control the powerful body, the body's desires rise sharply, and because of the excessive pursuit of desires, the heart becomes incomparably empty, eventually becoming so bored that one wants to eat people."

"When desires are satisfied, one becomes empty; when desires are not satisfied, one becomes painful."

"All living beings are like this, struggling without liberation. Although they have an immortal body, they have no immortal heart."

Lin Xian seemed to have heard the funniest joke in the world. He laughed loudly, and then said meaningfully, "If you can't even get past this hurdle, what's the point of talking about becoming an immortal?"

When it comes to eating people, who can compare to the Dark Supremes of Shrouding the Heavens? They treated the universe like a garden of leeks, eating their way through galaxy after galaxy.

The former dragon slayer became a wicked dragon. The Ancient Emperor who guarded all living beings in his first life became the greatest mastermind in history after cutting himself.

That cut didn't just slash the Ancient Emperor's realm and heavenly heart; it slashed the Emperor's Dao heart.

Compared to that, Barron's psychological problems were simply a drizzle, not too hard to solve.

Barron's pupils shrank. Remembering what Xia He had conveyed and his purpose for coming here, his voice trembled, "You, no, you have a solution."

"Barron, I'll just tell you one sentence." Lin Xian stood with his hands behind his back and said indifferently, "The Heart-Monkey returns to righteousness, the Six Thieves leave no trace."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 31 =====