Chapter 434: The Dao Child's Treatment

"【A hundred strands of Primordial Fire form one Dao; to sacrifice to the god 【Poison Dragon requires a hundred Dao of Primordial Fire; in addition, it requires the blood of a thousand spirit creatures, and the flesh and blood of five Star-rank spirit beasts…"

"To sacrifice to the god 【Boatman requires a hundred Dao of Primordial Fire, the flesh and blood of nine Star-rank spirit beasts, and one Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing-grade flying vessel…"

"To sacrifice to the god 【Demon Qianshan Qilin requires a hundred Dao of Primordial Fire, the flesh and blood of thirteen Star-rank spirit beasts, and a hundred kinds of flames…"

"To sacrifice to the god 【Mystic Toad requires a hundred Dao of Primordial Fire, and six kinds of Star-rank poisonous insects."

The Dao Child sat in the center, Li Yuan holding the Cai Shen Pian in his hands, studying it carefully.

This booklet recorded quite a number of "Outer Gods," along with the various corresponding rituals.

"What is Primordial Fire? Incense and prayer?"

As for the Rift Sea Divine Pattern, Li Yuan had already gotten an initial grasp of it and no longer needed the spirit of the Mystic Whale to translate, but many of the terms still gave him some trouble understanding.

Since this was Cang Huang Longzi's own diary, naturally he would not specially explain these terms; Li Yuan still had to figure them out himself.

Li Yuan flipped through the pages, and suddenly among these Outer Gods he saw a familiar name:

"Thousand-Eye Bodhisattva, Hundred-Arm Daoist, Red-Haired Buddha, Sword Spirit God… aren't these nine the Jiu Da Fa Lords of the Xieshen Sect? Surely they can't also be Outer Gods?"

Li Yuan frowned, feeling somewhat startled and doubtful in his heart.

During the Dao Child trial, he had witnessed Cang Huang Longzi's methods with his own eyes — that was the absolute mastery of a grand master through the ages; Outer Gods that could make such a figure revere and fear them…

"The Qian Emperor also has such a Ji Shen Pian… this is no coincidence. Could it be that the imperial court, many years ago, was already attempting to communicate with the Outer Gods?"

Li Yuan's thoughts churned.

He felt this possibility was greater; if these Jiu Da Fa Lords were truly the Outer Gods Cang Huang Longzi mentioned, how could they possibly accept the imperial court's investiture? In this Ji Shen Pian, whenever it touched on the Outer Gods, the words used were always wariness and dread.

The imperial court was very likely communicating with the Outer Gods!

Reaching this conclusion, Li Yuan felt a chill in his heart; these Outer Gods, no matter how you looked at them, did not seem like good things.

"When the heavens tilt, sun and moon lose their light; at such a time, Primordial Fire instead increases — laughable, tragic, terrifying indeed. Behind this calamity of the tilting heavens…"

In Cang Huang Longzi's diary, there was this one line regarding Primordial Fire.

Li Yuan mulled it over in his heart, feeling this very likely referred to incense and prayer; he just didn't know how much one strand was, nor how much one Dao was.

"Probably quite a lot."

Li Yuan noted it in his heart; although he had no intention of performing sacrifices, he continued to flip through, for he was very interested in these secrets beyond the heavens.

"Outer Gods dwell in You Jing."

Li Yuan's spirit gave a slight jolt.

You Jing was mentioned here; Cang Huang Longzi's tone carried reverence, dread, and longing, as if only by breaking through to You Jing could the calamity of the tilting heavens be resolved, and one might even obtain tremendous creation.

"That's not right."

Li Yuan looked toward the spirit of the Mystic Whale crouching nearby; among the Mystic Whale Hammer's sole twelfth-tier mastery effect was the ability to traverse Tong You Jing.

Not only the Mystic Whale Hammer, the Nourishing Life Furnace also had this effect.

How could Cang Huang Longzi, then, be unable to enter Tong You Jing?

"Wait."

Li Yuan pressed down on the beast-skin scroll, his thoughts scattering:

"When Cang Huang Longzi left this beast-skin scroll, he very likely did not yet have the Rift Sea Mystic Whale Bell! Perhaps these twelve Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing came from what he mentioned as the 'Sacrifice of Ten Thousand Gods?'"

He continued to flip through, but unfortunately this beast-skin booklet contained no similar records, only Cang Huang Longzi's worries and bewilderment.

"Man becomes a young god, and the god becomes my lord — how must one become a god?"

In the end, Cang Huang Longzi left this one line: "In the dwelling of the Outer Gods, perhaps my doubts may be resolved."

"You Jing, Primordial Fire, Outer Gods, sacrifices, the origins of the Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing, and that so-called calamity of the tilting heavens…"

Closing the beast-skin scroll, Li Yuan mulled it over in his heart; based on these fragmentary pieces of information, he vaguely had many speculations.

The Rift Sea Star where the Mystic Whale Sect was located had encountered the calamity of the tilting heavens, sun and moon losing their light — did that mean the sun and moon had been extinguished?

That couldn't be, right? What Ba Ba Waili could extinguish the sun and moon?

"To cope with the calamity of the tilting heavens, Cang Huang Longzi and the others of the Shier Sect made many attempts — or rather, sacrificed to the Outer Gods?"

The Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing were born in this process… but the Mystic Whale Sect was still destroyed; how did these twelve Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing come to be? And that Eight Directions Temple…

Master Li analyzed for quite a while, but most of it was speculation; he even summoned the spirit of the Mystic Whale and the Nourishing Life Furnace spirit, but alas these two knew nothing when asked, knowing even less than he did.

After a long while, Li Yuan put away this booklet and continued to wander about.

A rotten ship still has three pounds of nails; he refused to believe the Mystic Whale Sect had been destroyed so thoroughly — a proper Dao Child, and not even a single benefit?

"That bell chime just now should have come from the sect's main hall?"

Li Yuan guessed.

Normally speaking, when a sect had a newly advanced Dao Child, then after the bell was rung, naturally the sect's elders would summon them, and then there would be bestowments of some kind.

"There must still be something in these Mystic Whale Sect ruins keeping things running…"

Having leaped three ranks to become a Dao Child, if there were no benefits at all, Li Yuan truly would not be content; after circling the outer perimeter once, he then lifted his hammer and headed toward the sect's main hall.

The Mystic Whale Sect was grand, and the sect's main hall was even more immensely vast.

A single great hall, fully thirty meters tall — looking at it from afar, one felt solemnity and grandeur; before the hall was a fighting arena, still faintly bearing some traces of past battles.

In ages long past, disciples had competed in martial arts here.

Upon arriving at this place, the Mystic Whale Hammer trembled lightly, as if touching upon old sorrows, as if sensing something.

"Mm?"

Li Yuan was first puzzled, then immediately startled; his gaze "swished" onto the sect's main hall.

Within this great hall flickered a wisp of Longhu Longhu Dandan incense and prayer; though extremely faint, its color…

"Mystic-colored radiance — eleventh-tier incense and prayer!"

At a glance, Li Yuan found it hard to look away; such high-tier incense and prayer, this was his first time seeing it.

The Mystic Whale Hammer trembled lightly, as if urging him on.

Li Yuan steadied himself and walked into the great hall. The hall was vast and dim, with only that wisp of incense fire flickering.

He focused his gaze and saw a tall stone statue; that wisp of dark incense fire rested right on the statue's forehead.

"Click."

Suddenly, a strange sound came. The stone statue slowly raised its head, and a dark light flared in its eye sockets, like sunlight, staring fixedly at him.

Li Yuan's heart skipped a beat, and he heard the bell again.

The stone statue actually opened its mouth, uttering words in the Sea-Splitting Divine Script:

"Mystic Whale Dao Child, Li Yuan."

"Alive?"

Li Yuan was first startled, but then Yu Yu Xuanji realized the statue was only mechanically repeating itself, seemingly waiting for his response. The Mystic Whale's spirit trembled lightly, as if urging him.

"This statue…"

Li Yuan did not rush to answer. Instead, he raised his hammer and stepped forward to examine it closely.

This statue was like those giants from the trial—over three zhang tall, with a broad, imposing face. He reached out and touched it; it was ice-cold to the touch, with a metallic texture.

Li Yuan was in no hurry, but the Mystic Whale Hammer was getting a bit anxious. With a light tremor, a stone tablet rose from the floor:

Mystic Whale Sect Master, Cang Huang Longzi. This statue is Cang Huang Longzi?

Glancing at the lightly trembling hammer in his hand, Li Yuan felt it wasn't hiding anything from him—more like, upon arriving here, it seemed to have "remembered" some information.

Cang Huang Longzi, before Soul Transformation, left behind a statue with primordial fire to shelter, his will preserved.

"Soul Transformation?"

Li Yuan's eyes flickered. When the statue spoke again, he answered:

"It's me."

Crack.

Hearing the response, the statue finally moved. As it stepped aside, Li Yuan saw a great door flickering with ghostly light behind it.

Dao Child bearing the hammer spirit may enter the Eight Directions Temple trial.

"This door leads to the Eight Directions Temple?"

Li Yuan looked at the bell; the latter trembled lightly in reply: "Yes."

"Beyond this door is the final trial the Qian Emperor spoke of? From here, can one reach the Eight Directions Temple?"

Li Yuan did not act rashly. Even a path the Qian Emperor and Wan Wan Zhuliu could not pass through—he didn't even want to try. His thoughts shifted, landing on the statue.

As if sensing Li Yuan's intent, the Mystic Whale Hammer emitted a ray of light, shining upon the statue's face.

"Is this… communicating?"

Li Yuan was somewhat astonished, but he did not stop it.

"Dao Child."

Under the light's illumination, the statue trembled lightly and spoke, its voice low and muffled:

"Dao Child, may receive one copy of the 'General Outline of the Soldier-Nurturing Scripture,' one divine weapon, and one Mystic Whale Longhu Longhu Dadan."

Well now, it knows how to behave.

A glance at the Mystic Whale's spirit, and Li Yuan's heart jolted. This little thing, having absorbed quite a bit of spiritual light here, actually knew how to negotiate benefits on his behalf.

The statue's voice echoed through the great hall. Then that wisp of dark light flared brightly. In an instant, Li Yuan caught sight of a heavy hammer descending from the sky.

He retreated several steps, hearing only a tremendous crash as dust billowed over ten meters high inside the hall.

Mystic Whale Combat Hammer: forged from ten thousand kinds of molten iron and steel, nurtured within the Soldier-Nurturing Ground, the supreme divine hammer that grew from it. Once it gained sentience, after long ages it fell into silence…

Wielding requirement: Soldier-Nurturing Scripture, fourth level; Mystic Whale Spirit Phase. Wielding effects: ninth rank: weight as desired; seventh rank: indestructible golden body. Supreme divine weapon.

Li Yuan raised his hand to brush aside the drifting dust, and his eyes immediately lit up.

"There really are good things in the Mystic Whale Sect ruins."

A hammerhead taller than a person—surely unwieldy. But the moment Li Yuan grabbed it, as if sensing his intent, the hammer trembled and visibly shrank by a size.

"Hm? So this is what 'weight as desired' means?"

Li Yuan was somewhat astonished. He reached out and patted it: "A bit smaller?"

With a hum, the hammer shrank another size.

This works too?

Li Yuan was suddenly energized. He patted it several more times, and the hammer had shrunk to the size of a fist.

"What a treasure!"

Weighing the heavy little hammer in his hand, Li Yuan was quite delighted. If in a fight he suddenly enlarged it hundreds of times, who knows what miraculous effect it might have.

"How on earth was this hammer forged?"

After repeated attempts, Li Yuan was somewhat shocked. Though he now counted himself a divine smith, he could find no trace of forging no matter how he handled it.

It really seemed to have grown from the earth, a thing of natural perfection.

'Soldier-Nurturing Ground, Soldier-Nurturing Scripture.'

Turning the thought over in his mind, Li Yuan took the beastskin booklet from the statue's hand—this was the General Outline of the Soldier-Nurturing Scripture.

And the very first line of the opening resolved his doubt: Mystic Whale Spirit Phase, divine realm Soldier-Nurturing.

This Soldier-Nurturing Ground is the divine realm?

Li Yuan felt a sudden clarity. This Gong Fa, it turned out, also required cultivating a spirit phase before one could begin.

Flipping a few pages, he found them filled with technical terms. His head ached from reading, so he simply stuffed it back into his robe and instead picked up the fist-sized 'Mystic Whale Dan.'

"Can this even be eaten?"

Fist-sized, pitch-black, with not the slightest medicinal fragrance—instead, a pungent rust smell. Li Yuan frowned; this thing must have gone bad.

"This… even Little Rat probably can't stomach it."

He tucked away this Mysterious Whale Grand Pill, Li Li Yuanzhong prepared to find something to test the medicine on—what if this pill was originally this flavor? A fist-sized pill, if its grade were the same as the Dragon Tiger Grand Pill, it would be worth twenty of the latter.

The Mysterious Whale Hammer trembled lightly, carrying hope and anxiety.

You think I'm stupid?

Li Li Yuanzhong glanced at it. This little thing's brain was rock-hard; it couldn't even defeat him in the True Transmission trial, yet it wanted him to brave some ultimate trial?

A trial that even the Qian Emperor wasn't reluctant to self-sever and recultivate for—what kind of difficulty would that be?

"Next time."

The harvest this time was too great; Li Li Yuanzhong was in excellent spirits. Though he was somewhat curious about this ultimate trial, he didn't want to seek abuse

and ruin his mood.

Before leaving, he glanced at the incense and fire on the stone statue's forehead.

"Eleventh-rank incense and fire."

Tossing the buzzing Mysterious Whale Hammer into the Soldier-Rearing Seal, Li Li Yuanzhong withdrew from the Mysterious Whale Secret Realm.

The moon rose above the treetops, the wind stirred the snow.

When Li Li Yuanzhong came out, there was no one left outside the Dragon Tiger Pagoda. He stretched his sinews, brimming with stamina and indescribably exhilarated.

Among the augmentations of the Dragon Tiger Nourishing Furnace, the least conspicuous was extended lifespan, followed by physical talent.

But this inconspicuousness was relative to cultivation talent and the Star Dragon Tiger; in truth, the moment he focused slightly, he could also perceive the difference.

"Vitality!"

Li Li Yuanzhong felt it.

At this moment, his body brimmed with vigorous vitality. This feeling resembled the medicinal power of the Dragon Tiger Grand Pill, yet was even more intense, nourishing his physique, giving him a tipsy, heady sensation.

"Extended lifespan—surely at least a hundred years, right?"

Li Li Yuanzhong was in a great mood. Though he was only in his twenties, who would refuse a longer life?

In the night, he strolled slowly, feeling the augmentation of the Dragon Tiger Nourishing Furnace. Unlike the Mysterious Whale Hammer's ferocity, the Nourishing Furnace's augmentation was mellower.

As he walked, he felt his pores spontaneously dilate, as if breathing. The trembling of his sinews, bones, and viscera within was also more rhythmic. The greater change was his control over his physical body.

"Epoch-making physical talent."

Li Li Yuanzhong's mind was multitasking.

A martial artist's control over their physique was already extremely subtle to begin with, and he was a standout among them, but under the talent's augmentation, he could still sense an obvious change.

With a single thought, his strength transmitted to the tips of his hair, down to even a specific strand.

"Even my hair can throw punches!"

Li Li Yuanzhong savored it, fully satisfied.

"Worthy of being a Daoist Tianyun Daoist Tianyun Xuanbing; all four Soldier-Rearing augmentations are the finest among the finest!"

Whine!

In Li Li Yuanzhong's small courtyard, the little tiger cub lay on the windowsill; under the moonlight, the little mouse snoozed soundly in the corner of the wall.

"Mo Long, just died like that?"

Narrowing her eyes, Qin Li Shixian was genuinely somewhat astonished. Though she hadn't expected Mo Long to walk out of Dragon Tiger Temple alive, to think he died at Li Li Yuanzhong's hands just like that?

"Wan Wan Zhuliu sent him here, perhaps never intending for him to return alive."

The old man, however, was not surprised; he had mulled out some of the flavor of it.