Chapter 261: Busyness and Preparation

Profound Whale Mi Jing, Upside-Down Mountain.

Whoosh~

On the mountain peak, fierce winds howled as two figures clashed violently, with sounds erupting like beast roars, sometimes high-pitched, sometimes low.

"Roar!"

Red light flickered, transforming into a tangible fierce tiger that pounced, leaving traces of intense burning wherever it passed.

Boom!

Li Yuan raised his hand; yellow light surged from the heavy hammer in his palm, a dragon head suddenly appeared, piercing and tearing apart the tiger form, rushing straight toward the ghost-masked figure within the wind.

Yet the ghost-masked figure thrust both hands out, tearing the dragon form manifested by internal Qi apart with bare force, shooting toward him.

Boom!

Accompanied by a violent explosion, both figures retreated together, then the ghost-masked figure's form slowly vanished.

"Old Han is truly fierce."

Li Yuan lowered his head; his hands and body flickered uncertainly, seeming about to vanish as well.

After his meridians opened, the Wu Gong of the climber manifested by the Mi Jing's true Qi also grew, matching his own; the ghost-masked figure after meridian opening was terrifyingly ferocious.

Even without ever unleashing Hundred Beasts Thunder Dragon, it could always suppress him in battle.

"At this stage, Old Han must be close to gathering Yi Bai Xing; if he didn't lack a supreme art, I doubt I could even achieve a fifty-fifty chance."

Bowing slightly toward the direction where the ghost-masked figure vanished, Li Yuan felt satisfied with his own progress.

In just a few short years, he had caught up to Old Han from several years ago; such progress was enough to look down upon the world. He had heard of Long Long Xinglie's deeds; this Grand Senior Brother, invincible for sixty years, was not even as fast back then as he was now.

"Thank you, Ancestral Master!"

But it was only a brief sigh; Daoist Li knew the score in his heart.

Without the Commanding Soldiers Talisman, he might still be doing odd jobs at the Weapon Forge; let alone comparing himself to such geniuses, even entering the Divine Weapon Valley would have been unlikely.

But then again, whether it was Long Long Xinglie or Old Han, their initial bone structures were not merely ten or a hundred times better than his own back then?

"Huff!"

After a fierce battle, Li Yuan felt quite exhausted mentally, yet he forced himself to sit before the stone tablet, carefully sensing the Splitting Sea Profound Whale image on it.

Over the past half-year, he had entered the Profound Whale Mi Jing every few days to spar with the ghost-masked figure and hone his Wu Gong, then sat in stillness to observe this image.

"Splitting Sea Profound Whale..."

Li Yuan rested for a while, and only after his spirit recovered did he reach out and press his hand against the stone tablet.

Following his mental fluctuations, a violent wind rose with the stone tablet as the center, and threads of Profound Whale true Qi were commanded by him,

gathering in mid-air, slowly outlining the 'Splitting Sea Profound Whale Image'.

Gale winds, sea of clouds, Profound Whale...

Li Yuan focused intensely, starting from the finest details to copy the Profound Whale image; only after a long time, when his mind was so exhausted he nearly had to exit the Profound Whale Mi Jing, did he stop.

At this moment, above the stone tablet, cloud qi had spread over more than ten zhang; the wind blew and clouds moved, with the faint shape of a Profound Whale already visible within.

Whoosh!

After a few breaths, the scene vanished.

"After opening my meridians, the progress in outlining the Profound Whale image has also improved, yet to fully copy it, I still lack much refinement."

Li Yuan calculated in his heart, once again commanding the Jun Tian Heavy Hammer; including the sixth-grade hexagonal hammer, a total of seven heavy hammers' hammering talents were bestowed upon him:

"Squeak?"

He looked up at the sky; since commanding the Jun Tian Hammer, the Profound Whale Hammer had shown some reaction. Li Yuan felt it seemed somewhat wavering, and naturally, he would tease it from time to time afterward.

Unfortunately, the fluctuation in the air lasted only a moment, and the Profound Whale Hammer still did not appear.

"Still not enough stimulation. Hmm, three hammers? No, perhaps two would suffice..."

Relaxing his mind, Li Yuan had already exited the Profound Whale Mi Jing.

Inside the room, he sat in stillness without opening his eyes, feeling a wisp of Profound Whale qi emerge from within his body, spreading to his four limbs and hundred bones, relieving the fatigue from his practice,

rising to his brow, nourishing his spirit.

This was the reward for clearing the second trial; although the immediate boost was small, it flowed steadily like a stream. Compared to before, how many times stronger was his spiritual power?

After a while, Li Yuan opened his eyes, took out several pills from his robe, tossed one to the little tiger cub on the windowsill with bright eyes, and swallowed the rest himself.

After opening his meridians, the number of pills he could digest daily nearly doubled, his internal Qi grew rapidly, and the quantity of pills sponsored by Master Master Gongyang was dropping swiftly.

"Earning money can wait; with many debts, there is no worry. I'll repay them slowly after commanding the Profound Whale Hammer... An eleventh-grade hammering talent should also provide significant support to the Art of Forging Weapons; perhaps I can truly forge a Divine Weapon?"

Rising to stretch his muscles and bones, Li Yuan sat cross-legged again.

He was very busy: forging iron and practicing Wu Gong by day, altering his bone structure and contemplating the Splitting Sea Profound Whale image by night, and visualizing before sleep.

Hum!

At Li Yuan's thought, light appeared in the dim realm of spiritual light.

Thanks to his ever-growing spiritual power, although he lacked the subsequent methods of the Divine Gazing Visualization, the 'Spiritual Self' he visualized had undergone considerable transformation.

In Li Yuan's perception, the Spiritual Self now possessed not only four limbs and five senses, but the great circulation of Qi and blood also had an outline.

"Ten Thousand Blades Spiritual Dragon!"

At Li Yuan's thought, the visualized Spiritual Self collapsed entirely like a castle built on sand, then transformed into a somewhat blurry shadow of a Spiritual Dragon.

The growth of spiritual power provided the greatest benefit to visualization.

A few days prior, perhaps having accumulated enough, he could transform into the form of a Spiritual Dragon even without obtaining the Ten Thousand Blades Spiritual Dragon Visualization Method and while this hardening art was not yet mastered.

It was just that the Ten Thousand Blades were still missing.

"Self-torture begins."

Li Yuan murmured silently; in the realm of spiritual light, blades and weapons floated forth one by one; these were the visualized forms of the various Wu Gong he had practiced to perfection.

Bai Yuan Hammer, Tiger Roar Blade, Green Snake Spear, Little Green Snake Blade...

Hiss-hiss-hiss!

Blade after blade pierced through, and the spiritual dragon formed by his contemplation of the spiritual self was pierced and torn, leaving wounds upon wounds.

"Self-torture!"

Li Yuan gritted his teeth. Having overly sensitive spiritual power had its downsides; the pain was conveyed too accurately, giving him the sensation of being flayed by a thousand knives.

Yet he endured it through sheer will and silently increased his speed.

With his current physique, enduring the impact of three divine weapons under his control was more than enough, but bearing the enhancement of three forces of ten thousand tons was far beyond his capacity.

If he were to truly unleash a million jin of immense force in an instant, Li Yuan felt he couldn't withstand it; even the Lesser Success of the Ten Thousand Blades Spiritual Dragon, let alone the Greater Success, might not hold up.

"The Supreme Art of Body Hardening, He You Qi Zhong, must reach the seventh layer, perfect completion, or even Great Perfection to withstand this, right?"

Taking a deep breath while enduring the pain of blades upon his body, he used his mind for two tasks at once, shifting his attention to circulate internal Qi, preparing for the subsequent forging of the Qi meridians.

It had only been ten-plus days since his meridians opened; he had already forged three crude Qi meridians. His two hands and left foot barely formed a cycle. If he stopped here and instead perfected the Qi meridian cycle, he could be considered to have achieved Great Success in Meridian Opening.

The night passed without incident. Li Yuan slept only two hours before forcing his eyes open.

He had intended to sleep a bit longer, but the light from the weapons outside was too blinding. Although Xin Xin Wenhua did not possess a divine weapon, the 'Cold Light Sword' he held was at the quasi-divine weapon level.

With his own creditor at the door, Li Yuan, though somewhat weary, could only rise to welcome him:

"Senior Brother Xin, so early?"

"I stayed in the city for a few days. Just returned and stopped by on the way. What's wrong, Junior Brother Li, didn't you sleep well?"

On the way?

Glancing at the white crane circling in the sky not far away, Li Yuan yawned: "Practiced too late last night, delayed my rest. Just preparing to catch up on sleep."

"Junior Brother Li is truly diligent. No wonder Senior Brother Long values you so highly."

Xin Xin Wenhua felt some admiration. If initially he had come to look after this young man because of Long Long Xinglie, later lending him money was because he had come to appreciate him himself.

As the fifth genius-level disciple in two hundred years to attract the appearance of the Azure Dragon, countless people inside and outside the temple wanted to recruit him.

Yet facing various temptations, Li Yuan remained unmoved, which was enough to reveal his state of mind.

When he was in his early twenties, he was still wandering among the flowers...

Seeing Li Yuan about to be modest, Xin Xin Wenhua raised his hand to interrupt:

"Enough, stop being self-deprecating. You've been in the sect for less than a year, and your rank has already reached forty-seven on the Dragon List. This speed has already surpassed both mine and the Eldest Senior Brother's."

Li Yuan coughed lightly and changed the subject: "Senior Brother Xin, I wonder about that 'Jin Shendan'..."

Carrying more than ten Dragon Blood Golden Body Fruits, he had sought out an alchemist shortly after entering the temple. However, it was only early spring then, the sect's alchemy quota wasn't yet fulfilled, and those great alchemists were truly hard to request.

In the end, he had to go through Xin Xin Wenhua's connections to find the temple's 'Abbess Dingxin', whose success rate for forming pills reached a high sixty or seventy percent, holding a very high status within the sect.

"Here."

? c〇

Xin Xin Wenhua smiled slightly and took out a Bai Yu gourd from his sleeve:

"Fifteen Dragon Blood Golden Body Fruits. Six furnaces were lit, four succeeded. Abbess Dingxin took one furnace. I provided nineteen auxiliary materials and took one furnace. Here are the remaining two furnaces, totaling Dong Dong Ershisan pills. Count them."

"Thank you, Senior Brother Xin!"

Li Yuan reached out to take them and bowed his hands in gratitude.

Alchemy is not easy; spiritual pills are even harder. Four successes out of six furnaces already qualifies one as a great alchemist. After all, the Golden Body Fruit is not a common spiritual pill. If it were a disciple from the Hundred Herbs Rudder, who knows if they could even succeed in one furnace.

"If thanks are due, I should thank you. Auxiliary materials are nothing; the Golden Body Fruit is precious. This thing has become very rare within the sect."

Xin Xin Wenhua shook his head, feeling quite helpless: "Those few 'Beast Ancestors' are extremely precious."

In the Longhu Temple where dragons were raised, there were no Golden Body Fruits irrigated with dragon blood. Li Yuan only learned this later, yet he understood.

Although the Golden Body Pill held considerable value, compared to the Dragon Pill, the Great Return Pill, and the Longhu Longhu Dadan, it was far inferior.

"If Senior Brother has no other business, why not come inside and sit for a while?"

"No."

Xin Xin Wenhua waved his hand, instructed him on the precautions for taking the Golden Body Pill, then leaped into the air, ascending a hundred meters against the wind, and landed squarely on the back of the white crane.

The white crane dove, sweeping over his courtyard, the strong wind blowing up the accumulated snow, scattering it everywhere.

"Spiritual beast."

Li Yuan felt some envy. The power of a spiritual beast combined with a divine archer was immense. That day, he had personally witnessed Qiu Qiu Zhengxiong unleash his power.

His archery had improved considerably, but a spiritual beast...

"By the way."

Just as Li Yuan was about to return to his courtyard, he suddenly heard Xin Xin Wenhua's voice transmission:

"That surname Chu broke out of seclusion last night. His breakthrough failed; now his Qi and blood are both depleted..."