Chapter 161: Chapter 109: Third Limit Break of the Twelve Forms Fist, Great Success of the Ghost Shadow Illusionary Body Step! Late-night Corpse Handling, but a Crisis Strikes
BANG!
Caught off guard, Chu Fan slammed hard against the cold mountain wall.
"How could this be?"
He stood frozen, his eyes filled with confusion.
When he had refined weapons like the Bengyue Bow before, he had only obtained the original owner’s understanding and experience of their cultivation techniques. The weapons themselves had remained, never disappearing, and certainly never behaving so strangely.
’But this Demon Suppression Stele... it actually flew right into my palm?’
’Is it because those other weapons were just ordinary?’
Chu Fan snapped his head down to look at the palm of his right hand.
A tiny, illusory image of the Demon Suppression Stele was flickering erratically in his palm. Its light gradually dimmed until it faded completely, leaving no trace behind.
Chu Fan shook his hand vigorously.
His body felt no different, as if the whole thing had just been an illusion.
He immediately sat down cross-legged, closed his eyes, and focused his mind, sending his consciousness into his right palm.
In a trance-like state, he seemed to "see" it—the Demon Suppression Stele was deep within his palm, having transformed into a barely perceptible brand that was now connected to his very flesh and blood!
It no longer emitted that magnificent, ancient aura. Instead, it had completely withdrawn, becoming as silent as a common stone.
Chu Fan tried to communicate with it and activate it with his mind, but the brand remained utterly still, like a rock that had stood unchanged for eons.
He could neither summon it nor probe it.
Chu Fan opened his eyes and stared at his perfectly normal-looking palm, his brow slowly furrowing.
After observing it for a moment longer, he quickly left the stone cave and returned home.
Standing in his room, Chu Fan’s heart sank a little.
The commotion from refining the Demon Suppression Stele had been immense. The stele’s vibrations had nearly collapsed the entire cave.
’If the Moon Worship Sect noticed...’
He walked out his door and saw Zhang Laoliu leaning against the entrance, basking in the sun. He went up and asked, "Laoliu, was there just an earthquake?"
"What?" Zhang Laoliu paused, then chuckled. "Are you still half-asleep? Cyan Yang Ancient City hasn’t had a quake in centuries. Where would an earthquake come from?"
Chu Fan breathed a sigh of relief. "Then... did you hear any commotion?"
Zhang Laoliu grinned. "A commotion, you say? Well, there was something—"
Chu Fan’s heart tightened.
But Zhang Laoliu continued, "Yang the Dwarf from the end of the alley was getting chased and beaten by his wife again. Just ran past me! A pig butcher, scared of his wife like that. Damned coward!"
The anxiety that had gripped Chu Fan finally subsided.
It seemed the cave the Teleportation Array led to wasn’t located beneath Cyan Yang Ancient City after all.
Otherwise, a tremor that strong would have alerted the entire city.
He returned home, sat cross-legged on his bed, and calmed his mind to receive the inheritance of the Demon Dragon Celestial Spirit Scripture.
Similar to when he had refined the Bengyue Bow, what flooded his mind was the original owner’s experience and comprehension from cultivating this technique, along with some memory fragments related to it.
Through these fragments, Chu Fan felt as if he were peeking into another world.
Though not as terrifying as the scenes he had witnessed when touching the Demon Suppression Stele, it was still enough to leave him deeply shaken.
The Demon Dragon Celestial Spirit Scripture was actually a supreme cultivation technique created by a paramount expert of the human race to suppress a "god."
’There are really gods in this world?’
’And the human race actually dared to try and suppress one?’
’Just what kind of secret have I stumbled upon?!’
Chu Fan’s heart pounded, and it took a long while for him to calm down.
Only after he had finished absorbing all the memory fragments did he let out a long breath and slowly open his eyes.
Lingering in his eyes was a look of shock and disbelief, as well as a trace of indescribable awkwardness.
This was a supreme secret manual capable of suppressing a "god," a technique that cultivated both the internal and external, encompassing the infinite.
But for him, in his current state, the first level of the Demon Dragon Celestial Spirit Scripture presented an almost insurmountable chasm...
The first level required one to draw the "Dragon Qi" scattered throughout heaven and earth into the body and open eighty-one Dragon Veins.
’What is this Dragon Qi?’
Chu Fan had never even heard of it.
’It must be a type of Primordial Qi,’ he thought.
But according to the Demon Dragon Celestial Spirit Scripture, it was an an extremely violent and savage power.
As for its origin and essence, the scripture was vague and obscure.
Based on those memory fragments alone, Chu Fan couldn’t find an answer.
He hadn’t even broken through the five stages of Foundation Establishment yet. He couldn’t even absorb the Spiritual Mechanism of heaven and earth, let alone control Primordial Qi.
Moreover, drawing that tyrannical Dragon Qi into one’s body required an extremely resilient physical form.
Right now, only his hands and feet had reached the Vajra realm. Although his body was stronger than that of an ordinary Bone Marrow Forging realm practitioner, it might not even match someone in the Bone Tempering Realm, to say nothing of the Entering the Realm of Strength.
’If I try to force myself to practice the Demon Dragon Celestial Spirit Scripture with this body, won’t I just explode and die the moment I start?’
However...
Among those eighty-one Dragon Veins, a few happened to be in the hands and feet.
’Perhaps I can try to open the Dragon Veins in my hands and feet first?’
’No...’
Chu Fan immediately suppressed this terrifying thought.
To draw Dragon Qi into the body, it must first gather in the Dantian, then flow through the meridians to the location where the Dragon Veins are to be opened.
With how weak his meridians were now, they would probably shatter the instant the Dragon Qi entered his body!
To be safe, it was better to wait for a while.
For one, he needed to continue training hard in the Twelve Forms Fist. When it reached the Third Limit Break, it might allow the parts of his body other than his limbs to also enter the Vajra Indestructible realm.
At that point, he might be able to withstand the impact of the Dragon Qi.
For another, he needed to break through the five stages of Foundation Establishment and undergo Mortal Transformation as soon as possible.
Only by truly undergoing "Mortal Transformation" could he safely absorb Spiritual Mechanism and refine Dragon Qi.
Chu Fan took out the box that Master Chen from the Moon Arrow Martial Arts Hall had given him.
Opening the box revealed the Primordial Vein Marrow Fruit, brilliantly red and exuding a tempting, fragrant aroma.
This single Primordial Vein Marrow Fruit could strengthen his foundation and nourish his essence, enhance his qi and blood, and strengthen his tendons and bones. It might speed up his Bone Tempering progress and help him break through to the Bone Tempering Realm sooner.
He reached out with two fingers and pinched the Primordial Vein Marrow Fruit.
The fruit was still some distance from his lips, but its intoxicating, wondrous scent had already reached his nose.
[Spiritual Essence: 24]
[Pollution Level: 5/100]
[Cultivation: Foundation Establishment, Fourth Stage, Bone Tempering 63%]
Chu Fan glanced at his "Bone Tempering" progress, then opened his mouth to eat the vermilion fruit in his hand.
