Chapter 138: Success Achieved

The peak pillar resembled a sky-piercing halberd, its light shaking fragments of mist and rosy clouds, illuminating everything with brilliant clarity.

Ding Wei's lips moved slightly, his expression turning solemn.

This young cultivator turned his body sideways, his gaze fixed firmly on the stone pillar; he seemed to want to say something, but the words stopped abruptly as they reached his lips.

The cultivation method of "Yin-Yin Shi Hong Shui" had remained in Five Clouds Wild for nearly sixty years, yet not a single living being had managed to obtain it; the immense risk involved naturally needed no elaboration.

Let alone achieving final success.

Even counting carefully those who merely approached within fifty zhang of the stone pillar's range, the total would absolutely not exceed the number of fingers on two hands.

Every one of them was a prodigy or hero of extraordinary talent within the Nether Ghost Dao, a rare sight once in a hundred years!

Holding themselves in high regard, driven by an unwillingness to submit to others, they came eagerly to the stone pillar to study the scriptures, full of hope and convinced they could cultivate this Heaven-and-Earth True Water to secure creation for themselves.

Yet the fate of these cultivators was without exception being slain by sword qi, their souls and spirits extinguished together, dying miserably and leaving behind only sighs of pity from the outside world.

Witnessing the current scene where the stone pillar emitted a thunderous macro-sound.

Ding Wei felt both shocked and inexplicably moved, spontaneously generating a sense of cherishing talent in his heart.

He was the second son of Ding Xian, the master of Five Clouds Wild.

And Ding Xian naturally shared some degree of friendship with that Lord Master Qiao of the Central Yi Sword Sect.

Otherwise, Lord Master Qiao would not, after slaying the Great God of Yellow Pus and thoroughly cleansing the Ten-Thousand-Cultivator Great Yin God's Ghost Kingdom of Ten Thousand Li, renaming it Golden Drum Cave and taking residence therein,

have bestowed this prime piece of land, Five Clouds Wild, upon Ding Xian, making him the master of the Dao grounds and entrusting him with the guardianship of "Yin-Yin Shi Hong Shui."

Due to this connection, compared to ordinary scene-cultivators like Song Song Rupu, Ding Wei knew the inner details of the stone pillar far more deeply.

In his view,

being able to approach within fifty zhang of the stone pillar was already a talent found only once in ten thousand, exceedingly difficult to achieve.

If he did not die halfway, his future achievements would surely not fall short of his father's!

And if he were to obtain the inheritance of "Yin-Yin Shi Hong Shui"...

Ding Wei frowned subtly, his brow filled with complex emotions, finally letting out a melancholic sigh in his heart.

At this moment, Song Song Rupu, who had been questioned, hastily explained Chen Heng's background in detail.

After listening, Ding Wei's eyes flickered uncertainly, revealing an expression of deep thought.

A human body?

Then isn't he of the same race as Lord Master Qiao?

It is just unknown what kind of mysterious sect this Xuanzhen Sect actually is...

Just as Ding Wei's thoughts raced like lightning,

inside the stone pillar obscured by the five-colored mist net, Chen Heng's progress became smoother and smoother, his pace accelerating gradually.

It often did not even take three breaths.

Usually, as soon as new golden characters appeared on the stone pillar, after a single glance, he would shake his sleeves and step forward.

Although the scriptures recorded in his mind would be ground away and inevitably forgotten,

lasting only a few breaths before leaving nothing but emptiness,

since traces had already been carved within the True Yizhen Yizhen Fa Jie, it mattered little if the characters of the present world temporarily vanished in form.

"The immortal's staff strikes the brain; heads cross and feet join, making the lock seem without a key, the vessel seem without a handle."

"The form of the character 'Water': using physical images to interpret the character, explaining 'Hai' and explaining 'Water'..."

"As for the gate, it can be opened or closed; just as in the winter season, heaven and earth close and hide like a gate shutting, blocking entry and exit, whereas when spring arrives, all things sprout like a gate opening, allowing free passage; deducing from this..."

Unknowingly,

Chen Heng was now only one zhang away from the stone pillar.

With just a shake of the sleeve and a reach of the hand, taking a few more steps forward, he could touch it personally.

Seeing this, a slight smile appeared on his face; enduring the continuous, needle-prick-like sharp pain in his brain, he reached into his sleeve one last time, gripped the Golden Cicada firmly, and sank his mind into it.

At this moment,

on the ground of the True Yizhen Yizhen Fa Jie, two complete scriptures were already written, densely packed with nearly a thousand characters, clustering like groups of insects and ants.

"Two scriptures, which is real and which is false? Which one is the genuine one?"

He exhaled a long breath, bent down to look at the ground, and fell into brief contemplation.

The golden characters appearing on the stone pillar were not limited to the cultivation method of "Yin-Yin Shi Hong Shui"; they also mixed in other scriptures, creating confusion and severely testing a cultivator's mastery of mysterious principles and Daoist theories.

Although Chen Heng had separated two scriptures of entirely different attributes,

asking him to choose one and select the true "Yin-Yin Shi Hong Shui" from them was not something achievable in a rush; it would require at least six or seven days.

During this period, he would need to consult countless Daoist books and quote classics to ensure certainty and guarantee a hit.

But right now, he had only three breaths of time.

Although under the rule of "one day in the present world equals ten days in the Yizhen Yizhen Fa Jie," the time Chen Heng possessed was vastly more abundant than that of other living beings who came to study the scriptures,

this abundance was nevertheless not without limits...

"It seems I have no choice but to test the method personally to see if this can distinguish truth from falsehood."

Chen Heng hesitated no longer; first sitting cross-legged on the ground in a "five hearts facing heaven" posture, he selected the first scripture and, following its guidance, suddenly activated his embryonic breathing, setting his qi mechanism in motion.

But after a while, his body showed not the slightest reaction; all his acupoints and meridians remained silent, unmoving, offering no response.

Though surprised, in such a situation, Chen Heng could not afford to conduct further deep research.

"Let me try the second scripture..."

While pondering, he halted the technique, readjusted his mind and breath until they were perfectly unified once more, and then silently began circulating the second scripture.

It took only an instant.

The moment the second scripture started circulating, a sharp pain struck his heart, followed by a numbing sensation that spread through his entire body.

It began at the crown of his head, then moved to his brows and eyes, his arms, his chest and abdomen, finally extending down to his feet.

At this moment, even though Chen Heng had joined his fingers to stop the technique's circulation, the surge was like a celestial river bursting its banks—overwhelming, impossible to suppress, and impossible to resist.

At first, it was merely an abnormality of the skin, but soon that strange numbness penetrated into his internal organs.

His body swayed slightly; chunks of flesh and skin peeled off his skeleton as easily as paper paste, while purplish-red organs and blood cascaded down with a splash, shattering upon impact into rotting, foul-smelling pus and blood too disgusting to bear.

By then, where Chen Heng had been sitting cross-legged, only a stark white skeleton remained.

That skeleton trembled as it bent, struggling to rise from the ground; it took only a few slow steps before collapsing with a boom into a pile of bone dust, which vanished with the wind.

"So the second scripture was meant for suicide and shedding the mortal coil? Yet judging by the Taoist terminology within, it aligns quite well with the first scripture. True Lord Master Qiao truly went to great lengths to create this deception..."

The light and shadow shifted.

Chen Heng's mental image was reborn once more within the True Yizhen Yizhen Fa Jie.

He smiled faintly, silently recited the first scripture once again, and then turned his consciousness back to the present world.

After stepping across the final yard of distance...

A tremendous suction force emanated from the Stone Pill, forcing him to raise his wide sleeves, clap his palms together, and land within it.

"Boom!"

The entire Five Clouds Wild seemed to tremble.

Mountain ranges echoed, rivers and lakes rippled!

The five protective clouds, each soaring a thousand zhang and illuminating the void, churned violently as if the heavens were about to collapse, emitting countless crashes of thunder and lightning while releasing endless, boundless light of five colors!

Simultaneously, a clear intent transmitted from the Stone Pill, urging Chen Heng to recite the complete scripture aloud.

He tentatively stepped back, yet his palm remained firmly stuck to the Stone Pillar, unmoving by even a fraction...

"It seems that even if I sever this arm, I still cannot break free from the Stone Pill."

After silently observing the situation for a moment, Chen Heng chuckled inwardly:

"It appears that reciting the full scripture of 'Yin Erosion Yin Shi Hong Shui' is the final step of this inheritance trial?"

He paused, his lips moving as he spoke out the entire first scripture, character by character, reciting it clearly and completely.

With the True Yizhen Yizhen Fa Jie in hand, there was no worry of even a single character being accidentally omitted.

As for the two scriptures recorded on the ground of the Yizhen Yizhen Fa Jie, the second one was undoubtedly a method for suicide and shedding the mortal coil, as he had personally tested it.

Choose one of the two.

As for the remaining one, naturally, there was no need to say more!

After the final passage was spoken aloud...

Under Chen Heng's gaze...

Streaks of bloody light suddenly bloomed on the surface of the Stone Pill, as if something constantly leaping was hidden within, just waiting to break out of its seal!

And in the next instant...

The Stone Pill, which seemed poised to pierce the heavens, abruptly exploded into fragments!

A scarlet river of blood surged out from within the Stone Pill with a gushing sound, layer upon layer; with the momentum of a raging wave slamming against the shore, it swept around just once, enveloping Chen Heng completely.

"..."

In that instant...

It happened in the flash of lightning and spark of flint!

Before Chen Heng, swept up in the blood river, could make any move, the hundred-zhang ground beneath his feet instantly collapsed with a boom, revealing a dark abyss too deep to see the bottom!

"Splash!"

The blood river carried Chen Heng as it plunged into the abyss, vanishing without a trace!

Not far away...

Ding Wei, who had still been conversing with Song Song Rupu, witnessed this sudden scene; his flesh jumped and his heart pounded. After freezing in shock, he hastily rode a yin wind and fled desperately far away.

The several hundred ghost generals guarding Ding Wei's carriage were all equally stunned.

"This... this..."

Only after retreating a full ten li did their courage slightly return; they turned their heads in horror to look back.

They saw that within the dark abyss where the blood river had plunged, a ring of light had somehow risen, transforming into a barrier that securely sealed the cave entrance.

The two ghosts looked at each other in terror, neither knowing what to say.

Song Song Rupu shivered several times, his whole body trembling, wearing a bitter expression as he said:

"Young Master, why did the Stone Pill suddenly shatter? Your family learning is profound and your experience vast; what exactly is happening here? Did the scripture observation succeed or fail?"

Ding Wei frowned, gave a bitter smile, and said:

"If there had been any error or omission in observing the scripture, that Brother Chen would likely have been slain on the spot by sword qi by now. As it stands, it should... have succeeded, right?"

The two ghosts met each other's gaze, falling silent once more.

While both were filled with shock and doubt, a majestic sound suddenly resonated through heaven and earth, and bloody light erupted!

Within the broken fragments of the thousand-zhang Stone Pill...

A blurry, thin human figure seemed, after the Stone Pill shattered and the blood river appeared, to have broken free from some constraint, rising leisurely into the air.

Beside this figure accompanied soaring, grim demonic qi and dense rows of ferocious Dao soldiers, appearing and disappearing; the scene was desolate and terrifying, as if a great demon from the depths of the Nine Netherworlds had broken through the nether barrier and descended upon the human world!

The myriad mountains trembled, and a thousand peaks echoed.

The reverberations lingered endlessly in the ears, nearly deafening all the ghosts!

Yet after that figure, majestic as the sun descending to earth, manifested in the world, it made no earth-shattering grand movement.

He gazed only toward the west, let out several long, melancholy chants, and then his body dissolved like mountain mist, completely undergoing soldier-release.

"At sunset, three cups of wine with nothing to do; in leisure, eight lines of natural poetry. Tomorrow clouds pass beyond Qingshan; looking back, I hear only the sorrow of gibbons and cranes..."

"Master Qiao Qiao Yubi, thank you for preserving my inheritance; I lost one move to you, my skill was inferior, and I have no regrets! Wait until I reincarnate, and I will return to settle this grudge with you!"

The mountains, stones, grass, and trees across the entire Five Clouds Wild were shaken with a rumbling sound that echoed through the vast sky!

For a moment.

All the ghosts were terrified and at a loss, not knowing what to do.

Yet hundreds of li away.

Atop a lonely, cold peak, Ding Xian, smooth-faced and beardless, sat with eyes closed in meditation; three brilliant golden lotus flowers hovered above his head, their flames shimmering and shifting.

Suddenly.

This master of the Five Clouds Wild felt a disturbance in his heart; he was the first to rise on clouds, casting his gaze outward, just in time to witness the moment that figure vanished.

Then came a great booming sound; even with his Ghost Dao cultivation, half his body went numb, and his heart panicked.

"Could this be... the Yin Xing Fuchan Fuchan Laozu mentioned by Chen Yuanshu Chen Yuanshu Zhenjun? Has someone, after retrieving the inheritance of 'Yin Erosion Yin Shi Hong Shui,' also released the final wisp of divine consciousness he left within the Shi Zhu? But whether this old demon is truly dead or merely feigned death to escape..."

Ding Xian glanced at the broken Shi Zhu and the deep void sealed by a halo of light, and his heart sank.

After thinking it over, he felt that with his current cultivation, he still could not take full responsibility for this matter; if any error or omission occurred, his humble body would likely be unable to bear the consequences.

Thus, he formed a hand seal, retracted the three golden lotus flowers hovering above his head, which instantly transformed into a beam of clear yellow light enveloping his body, and swept away across the sky.

A little less than a quarter-hour later, Ding Xian suddenly descended from his clouds and stopped before a towering spiritual peak.

He looked up, then prostrated himself on the ground and kowtowed three times, observing all proper rites.

Only then did he ascend step by step up the stone stairs, rather than transforming into light to fly directly to the summit, daring not to show the slightest negligence.

At the top of that spiritual peak stood a simple Daoist temple with a red roof and red tiles; it possessed no luxurious decorations, nor did any abbot or Daoist youth reside within.

Only within the hall stood a solemn divine statue, approximately ten feet tall, exceedingly imposing.

Although the eyes of the divine statue lacked pupils, being merely blank spaces, they still conveyed a sharp, piercing aura, as if nothing could withstand their cut! Making anyone who gazed upon them feel fear!

Just as Ding Xian was devoutly climbing the steps up the mountain.

The solemn divine statue suddenly moved; brilliance instantly erupted from its eyes, pressing down upon the entire sky until it dimmed, daring not to compete with its radiance!

"What is this..."

Ding Xian was first startled, then immediately overjoyed.

However, before he could make any further move, an indifferent voice suddenly sounded in his ear, saying:

"Ding Xian, that old monster Yin Xing has already departed to reincarnate; what you heard just now were merely the words of a dying man, so you need not worry."

"So that is how it is; Chen Yuanshu Zhenjun truly possesses mighty supernatural powers!" Upon hearing this, Ding Xian halted his steps, lowered his head, and spoke respectfully:

"However, regarding the one who obtained the inheritance of 'Yin Erosion Yin Shi Hong Shui,' he—"

"His name is Chen Heng, a native of Dongmi Province; his birth father was the evil cultivator Chen Chen Yushu, who has been my sworn enemy for many years."

The indifferent voice interrupted Ding Xian's unfinished words, revealing no emotion in its tone:

"After Chen Heng cultivates 'Yin Erosion Yin Shi Hong Shui' to completion, order him to come see me at Golden Drum Cave."