Chapter 314: The Ninth Method, Heaven and Earth Ephemera

A stomach!?

For a moment, there was silence. Whether it was Zhang Fan or Zhang Wuming, hearing Li Li Miaoyin's shocking conjecture, they could not help but reveal strange expressions.

Even though they were all cultivators of the Daoist Uncle Xuan Sect, possessed extraordinary methods, and understood supernatural arts, this was still within the scope of their cognition.

Li Li Miaoyin's conjecture had already exceeded that scope.

"You're saying this karst cave is a stomach? The stomach inside our bodies?" Zhang Fan couldn't help but ask.

How could a human stomach possibly become a karst cave!?

"The Five Elements Misplaced King, which exhausts the mysteries of the human physical body. Once mastered, the body will manifest many incredible things. Even after death, returning to heaven and earth, there will still be growth and change," Li Li Miaoyin whispered in a solemn voice.

Even for her, she only knew the generalities of this legendary Inner Dan method, and many of her guesses were based purely on imagination.

More than eight hundred years ago, after the Master of the Profound Palace perished in the Ten Thousand Great Mountains, perhaps parts of his body merged into the mountains. Just like a fungus parasitizing, it continued to grow, and eventually, the stomach merged with this karst cave.

"The Nine Great Inner Dan Methods, so miraculous..." Zhang Wuming said in a daze.

"Then these skeletons..."

As he spoke, his gaze sharpened, sweeping over those eerie, ghastly skeletons.

"These should all be failures who practiced the Five Elements Misplaced King..." Li Li Miaoyin pondered slightly.

The Five Elements Misplaced King is a Dan method that exhausts the mysteries of the human body to the extreme. Once practiced, the five elements within the body are inverted, and the physical body is constantly evolving.

This evolution is unimaginable and uncontrollable.

If one merely falls into the 【Body Transformation Tribulation】, at most, one would just become these monsters.

But once one enters the 【Body Destruction Tribulation】, that powerful body will suffer uncontrollable collapse. To repair such a body...

"He needs nourishment!" Li Li Miaoyin said in a deep voice.

"To repair such a body, what nourishment could be more suitable than humans?" Zhang Fan suddenly said.

The elders always say, "Eat what you need to replenish what you lack." This point seems to have been verified in those who practice the Five Elements Misplaced King.

Heaven and earth are vast, and there are countless living beings. The only ones capable of repairing such a body are humans, known as the primates of all living things.

Of course, if these people practiced the Five Elements Misplaced King and were of the same origin as him, the effect would naturally be even better.

"You mean, he eats..." Zhang Wuming's eyes jumped, and he stopped mid-sentence.

"He has no choice but to eat!" Zhang Fan said in a deep voice.

The Nine Great Inner Dan Methods are known as the best in the human world, and their tribulations are also unimaginable.

The Five Elements Misplaced King is naturally no exception. Once one embarks on this path, the five elements within the body are inverted, and the evolution can never stop until the physical body can no longer withstand the results of that evolution and eventually collapses.

Even using form to replenish form is merely drinking poison to quench thirst; it treats the symptoms but not the root cause.

"This kind of tribulation is too terrifying, almost impossible to break," Li Li Miaoyin shook her head and sighed.

"Actually, that's not necessarily true," Zhang Fan pondered slightly and suddenly said.

"Hmm!?"

The Five Elements Misplaced King, once practiced, can never stop, and the evolution of the physical body becomes uncontrollable.

But...

"What if we let that physical body restart?" Zhang Fan suddenly said.

"Restart? How to restart?" Zhang Wuming asked subconsciously.

"Enter the Void Annihilation," Zhang Fan said indifferently.

"You mean..." Li Li Miaoyin's eyes trembled, as if she had guessed something.

"After annihilation, wouldn't everything be gone!" Zhang Wuming said, puzzled.

"But there is a method in this world that also exhausts the changes of the physical body: Vacuum Giving Birth to Marvelous Existence."

"If one uses a body of true form to enter vacuum annihilation, and then reverses it to manifest marvelous existence... perhaps one could break the tribulation and obtain a truly perfect physical body, where existence and non-existence generate each other!"

"One of the Nine Great Inner Dan Methods, Vacuum Refining Form!?" Li Li Miaoyin exclaimed.

In fact, Zhang Fan's conjecture was also inspired by Bai Bai Yujing.

She said that once Vacuum Refining Form is mastered, existence exists between existence and non-existence, making it truly difficult to return to reality, eventually only being able to annihilate into nothingness.

The only two methods to break the tribulation are either to seize a Heaven and Earth Spirit Fetus or to practice the Five Elements Misplaced King.

After all, these two great Inner Dan methods both exhaust the changes of the physical body; one takes existence as its foundation, and the other takes nothingness as its root.

"You really are a madman," Zhang Wuming's gaze darkened as he looked at Zhang Fan, a different kind of brilliance flashing in his eyes.

Hearing this, Li Li Miaoyin couldn't help but shake her head.

"Throughout history, within one lifetime, being able to master one method is already seizing the creation of heaven. To forcibly practice two methods is unprecedented..."

At this point, Li Li Miaoyin glanced at Zhang Fan, meaningfully saying: "All phenomena are combined, tribulations generate tribulations!"

"Even if, as you say, one can refer to them mutually and break this tribulation, how can you know there won't be an even greater tribulation?"

As the words fell, Zhang Fan remained silent.

Li Li Miaoyin's words were not without reason. People live in the world, meeting due to fate, changing due to tribulations. Tribulations and fate wax and wane, but they never disappear.

Of the Nine Great Inner Dan Methods, practicing one of them has such tribulations. Forcibly practicing two, how could there not be even greater tribulations?

"I don't think now is the time to discuss Dan methods."

Just then, Zhang Wuming called out, pulling Zhang Fan's thoughts back.

He subconsciously looked up and saw the cave entrance at the dome closing slowly like a shy chrysanthemum, and that beam of sunlight gradually dissipated and disappeared.

Boom—

At the same time, more viscous liquid seeped out from the surrounding slippery walls. In a daze, the walls seemed to be wriggling.

"Go!"

Li Li Miaoyin's beautiful face changed slightly. As soon as she turned around, she saw the entrance they had come through was already blocked by the wriggling rock walls.

Boom—

Li Li Miaoyin raised her hand and brushed past. A fierce wind rose suddenly, spitting out like sword light, whistling like thunder, and slammed heavily onto the rock wall.

Viscous liquid was secreted in large quantities, and the rock wall wriggled like flesh and blood; it didn't even leave half a mark.

"Damn!"

Just then, Zhang Wuming gave a low shout. He discovered that the soles of his shoes had already been completely corroded by the viscous liquid seeping in.

"Is this stomach acid? How is the stomach function still there?" Zhang Fan's heart skipped a beat.

Hum...

The surrounding walls were not only wriggling, but seemed to be shrinking rapidly. The viscous liquid constantly seeped out and gathered, and in an instant, it became a small pond.

The three of them leaned against each other, watching the pond constantly expand, about to completely erode and drown them.

"Did you bring medicine?" Zhang Fan suddenly said.

"What medicine?" Zhang Wuming asked subconsciously.

"Motilium!"

"..."

"Making this kind of joke at a time like this, it's not funny at all," Li Li Miaoyin rolled her eyes.

"Departing Fire!"

Just then, a wisp of fire light jumped from Zhang Wuming's fingertips, like a firefly rising into the sky. In an instant, it became a great fire of separation and union, violently impacting the surrounding rock walls.

"Don't," Li Li Miaoyin's face changed slightly, and she exclaimed to stop him.

Boom—

The great fire burned brightly, spreading out and filling the rock walls. The temperature in the sealed space rose suddenly, and even that pool of acid liquid was evaporating.

Zhang Fan immediately felt that the air he inhaled became spicy and stinging, and even his hair began to dry out, as if it were being scorched.

"You turned this place into an oven," Zhang Fan rolled his eyes and said.

The scorching true fire rose in the closed space, the temperature was at least seventeen or eighteen degrees higher than outside, and the most critical thing was that the high-concentration stomach acid that had seeped in was evaporating and dispersing into the air.

If it were an ordinary person, just one breath would cause their entire respiratory system to corrode and rot.

Even for a Daoist practitioner, after a long time, turning into white bones would only be a matter of time.

"I am gambling for a glimmer of survival," Zhang Wuming said indifferently.

"You mean..."

Zhang Fan and Li Li Miaoyin looked at each other. Both were intelligent people; with just one sentence, a flash of inspiration crossed their hearts.

"The human spleen and stomach belong to earth. According to the normal operation of the five elements, it should be heart fire generating spleen earth," Zhang Wuming explained.

The heart belongs to fire and governs blood vessels and yang energy.

Heart fire runs through the blood vessels, providing thermal energy for the spleen and stomach, promoting the digestion of food and the generation of Qi and blood, maintaining life activities.

Practicing the Five Elements Misplaced King is exactly the opposite: the acquired turns into the innate, and the dissipation of energy becomes the inward gathering of energy.

The clear Qi of the spleen and stomach rises, transforming into nutritive blood, nourishing heart fire.

That is to say, the so-called spleen earth reversely generates heart fire.

"You really are a genius."

Zhang Fan's eyes lit up, and he slapped Zhang Wuming's shoulder hard. He looked up and indeed saw that the true fire that had just rushed into the sky became even more violent. The sealed stomach karst cave seemed to have become its paradise.

The next moment, the rolling, scorching true fire actually merged into the rock wall and disappeared along one direction.

"There's a path there!"

Zhang Fan stepped out and rushed along the direction where the true fire dissipated. Indeed, he saw a flesh hole like an air vent hidden on the sealed wall.

Rolling, scorching airflow filled the inside, extremely hot and spicy.

"Follow me."

Zhang Fan stirred his whole body's true yang, took the lead, jumped up, and drilled directly inside.

Li Li Miaoyin and Zhang Wuming followed closely behind.

Splash...

The next moment, the pervasive stomach acid gas filled the entire karst cave, and viscous stomach acid flowed wantonly.

Amidst the rolling true fire, Zhang Fan rushed out suddenly, the fierce wind vibrating his whole body extinguishing the fire Qi.

The scene before his eyes was suddenly different, a piece of crimson, like red lanterns shining.

"This is..."

"This mountain should be a very important palace temple of the Wu Wei Sect," Li Li Miaoyin walked over.

Where they were should be a side hall, with broken walls and ruins, and broken divine statues visible everywhere.

After the seventh time of breaking the mountains and cutting down the temples, this palace temple became ruins, left behind in the mountains.

Back then, before the Master of the Profound Palace died, he might have returned here, and the body practicing the Five Elements Misplaced King also merged with this mountain and this abandoned palace temple.

"This probably isn't an ordinary side hall."

Zhang Wuming walked over, the crimson before his eyes making him frown, feeling something strange.

"This should be the heart of the Master of the Profound Palace."

Zhang Fan's face was solemn, muttering softly.

The heart is the place where the consciousness spirit resides; thoughts fly, and the Dao sees inauspiciousness.

"We should still..."

Zhang Fan turned around, but before he finished speaking, the space in front of him was empty. Where were the shadows of Li Li Miaoyin and Zhang Wuming?

"Terrible!"

Zhang Fan's heart skipped a beat, and he subconsciously took a step back.

Boom—

The surrounding red light vibrated, and streaks of light and shadow fell like stars, rushing towards his face, stabbing directly into his pupils.

"Kill!"

A sudden chorus of battle cries erupted, and Zhang Fan saw the vastness of heaven and earth; amidst the boundless one hundred thousand mountains, blood-red light surged into the sky, disturbing the mountains and rivers.

A terrifying figure, under the siege of hundreds of experts dressed like Daoist priests, opened and closed, acting recklessly.

He wore wide robes, his black hair flying and standing upright. Amidst the killing, he was at ease, as if he didn't touch a bit of human fireworks, elegant and refined.

Boom—

Suddenly, the black hair that the man had stood up actually became like sharp blades, piercing through all the dozen or so figures rushing towards him.

Almost at the same moment, five more people arrived, holding fine knives, stirring up heavy true fire, and slashing at the back of that terrifying figure.

Clang...

A metallic sound rang out; the body of that terrifying figure was like it had been forged by Vajra. Knives rose and fire was born, but it couldn't hurt him in the slightest.

Immediately after, the man turned around and flicked his sleeves. Those five Daoist priests actually took root on the ground, and roots and branches grew out from their bodies, blowing them up.

"He is the Master of the Profound Palace. If you don't enter the Celestial Master rank, you cannot match him."

"Five Elements Misplaced King... This person has refined the Five Elements Misplaced King. Wait for the experts from Bai He Guan and Long Hu Shan to come."

"The people from the Zhang family will be here soon. Retreat quickly!"

Shouts rose one after another, filled with deep fear and despair.

Boom—

Suddenly, that terrifying figure bent down abruptly, his hands reaching deep into the soil, as if he had grabbed the ground, and suddenly lifted it up.

The next moment, the overturned and churning ground actually turned into rolling great fire, the terrifying degree of which was more than ten times fiercer than the Great Flowing Flame of Mount Laoshan.

In an instant, hundreds of experts were buried in the sea of fire, struggling and shouting like evil ghosts.

The struggle for Daoist orthodoxy has always been bloody, with skeletons like mountains.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of Daoist experts were buried in the purgatory of the sea of fire.

Screech... Screech...

Just then, a burst of crane cries tore through the firmament, shaking the mountains and rivers.

Above the long sky, a white crane flew over, and on its back sat a majestic figure, his Daoist bun combed high, his long robes fluttering.

"Bai He Guan!"

That terrifying figure stood like a monument in the vast sea of fire, looking up at the white crane in the sky.

Whoosh...

Suddenly, on the back of the white crane, the Daoist jumped up abruptly and pounced towards the terrifying figure on the ground.

Boom—

Almost at the same moment, that terrifying figure also moved. His whole body seemed to have thunder flashing, as if this movement was like heaven shaking, like earth angry, mountains and rivers breaking, and even that extraordinary body could not stop the collision.

Hum...

Suddenly, a strange object appeared in the hands of the Daoist who was diving down. Its shape was like a horn, about nine inches long, neither gold nor jade, shining with the luster of true fire, but inside there was crystal clear flow, endless.

Bang...

The two figures collided violently in mid-air, true fire boiling, earth cracking and collapsing, suddenly seeing water rise, then seeing gold fall, and ten thousand trees growing in the gloom, as if seeing off that terrifying figure.

The setting sun was like blood. On the earth, that terrifying figure lowered his head, looking at the strange object piercing his chest, his powerful vitality finally unable to stop flowing away at this moment.

"True Dragon Horn!?" That terrifying figure had no joy or sorrow on his face, only muttering softly.

In the distance, the Daoist from Bai He Guan had blood-stained robes, and one arm had already been destroyed.

But he still survived.

"Truly amazing, you actually let you find it," the terrifying figure muttered softly, finally unable to support himself anymore, and cracks appeared on the surface of his body.

Even with such a powerful physical body, at this moment, he had finally reached the end, as if that horn contained the most terrifying destructive power in the world.

"Liu Canghai, is the foundation of my Bai He Guan something you can imagine?"

"You entered the temple to practice at the age of five. You thought that by sitting on the throne of the Profound Palace and refining the Five Elements Misplaced King, you could be invincible in the world and completely get rid of Bai He Guan?" The one-armed Daoist chuckled, his eyes revealing a trace of mockery.

"Let alone the True Dragon Horn, even the legendary Ninth Method, my Bai He Guan has hope of finding it."

"The Ninth Method!?" The terrifying figure had reached the end of his life, but at this moment, a strange brilliance flashed in his eyes.

"Regret? My Bai He Guan is even more special than the Zhang family of Long Hu Shan," the one-armed Daoist sneered.

"Heaven and earth are vast, throughout history, the Ninth Method that has never appeared in the world, no one knows its whereabouts, only the founder of my Bai He Guan knows its origin."

Bai He Guan is extremely mysterious, not occupying the famous mountains and caves of the world, but standing shoulder to shoulder with Long Hu Shan.

"Is there really a Ninth Method in this world?" The terrifying figure muttered softly.

"Of course there is..." the one-armed Daoist said coldly.

Legend has it that the true name of the Ninth Method has never been passed down, but the founder of Bai He Guan left behind a sentence, exhausting its method's profound meaning and origin.

That sentence also only had six words: "Entrust ephemera to heaven and earth."

Heaven and Earth Ephemera!!!

This is the great secret left by the founder of Bai He Guan.

"Unfortunately, you will never see it again," the one-armed Daoist said coldly.

"Never see it again..."

That terrifying figure muttered softly. He looked back, watching the setting sun, his gaze seeming to reach into the endless distance, where endless attachment seemed to be hidden.

Time is like dusk. At this moment, whether it was the White Crane or the Wu Wei, it seemed to no longer be important.

"Three Corpses Daoist!"

Suddenly, that terrifying figure raised his head and roared, clutching his chest, his body jumping up, killing towards the front!!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 315 =====