Chapter 136: The Six Roots, and the Passing of an Old Friend

Beside the well, the yaksha earnestly persuaded him time and again, repeatedly swearing that it was merely a gift with no strings attached. Yet Ji Ming still refused to accept it, continually making excuses to decline while carefully avoiding a complete falling out.

Seeing how unyielding the young Daoist was, the yaksha did not dare to use the matter of the pearl-shell bead as a threat; it was merely a minor blemish in virtue, and speaking of it would likely fail to gain any leverage over him.

Despite mental preparations, the stubbornness of the young Daoist far exceeded imagination.

This kind of person—who knew precisely which gifts could be accepted and which could not, which consequences could be managed and which could not—was the most exasperating and impervious kind of talent.

Of course, Qian Geng the yaksha still had the option of armed coercion, but the plum branch the Daoist kept constantly in hand baffled him, deterring him from acting rashly.

Helpless, the yaksha returned to the temple. He knew that after the commotion caused by the little dragon prince, this young Daoist was like a frightened fish, making it all the more difficult to hook him again.

Though he knew the young dragon's temperament was vicious, he had not expected that suffering day in and day out at the bottom of the well would fail to improve him by even a fraction.

After the yaksha departed, Ji Ming resumed his usual state. He gathered the heart's blood of the little dragon prince and summoned three or five Void Warriors, dispatching them to deliver the blood directly to the Thousand-Handed Child in the Fiery Ruins Cave.

The heart's blood of a dragon prince was far more useful to spirits and monsters than to himself. He hoped the Thousand-Handed Child would grow rapidly and soon become a dependable aid.

In the blink of an eye, the first year had passed.

Both inside and outside the temple, across the peaks and down the slopes, an eternal stillness seemed to have settled in. Only the cattle and their progeny remained busy, diligently carrying on the trade down at the well.

Ji Ming sat within his stone niche, growing increasingly similar to the mountain calf inside the main hall. Both seemed like hardened statues, entirely devoid of human warmth.

In the second year, a major event occurred within the temple: minor demons in the underground cellars had been practicing heterodox sacrificial rites, which even triggered the anomaly of stars appearing in broad daylight. This drew a multitude of underworld officials from the earth judiciary to investigate.

Interestingly, after the underworld officials conducted a meticulous investigation, turning the temple practically inside out, the business in the well remained entirely unaffected.

Clearly, the underworld earth judiciary at the foot of the mountain also held a stake in this venture.

While dropping by for idle chat, Old Ape revealed several details regarding the internal investigation.

The Jixing Mountain Earth Judiciary Office had classified the heterodox sacrifice at Iron Prison Temple and the incident at Flowing Fragrance Peak as the work of the same band of heretics, because both cases involved summoning and subjugating the dharma intent of ancient recluses.

Old Ape, however, did not share this view. He felt that the affairs at Iron Prison Temple and Flowing Fragrance Peak were two separate matters, with little to no connection between them.

Fingering the Flying Fire Ruler within his sleeve, Ji Ming listened quietly to Old Ape's analysis.

In his mind, however, he pictured the high-spirited demeanor of the bovine descendant Wugu'er when he returned the Flying Fire Ruler and bid farewell before departing—a figure possessing quite a bit of demon-like flair.

Before Old Ape returned, Ji Ming asked him to keep a closer eye on the Thousand-Handed Child's studies, urge Linggu onward in her cultivation, and look after Wei Wulan.

Wei Wulan's inverse mutation was growing increasingly severe, with his demonic heart showing no sign of reverting to human nature. The Great Master could no longer tolerate his existence and had ordered Old Ape to drive him down the mountain.

"He has left!"

Amidst the wind and snow, Old Ape left behind only those words, heavy with regret.

"Left?"

In his niche, Ji Ming froze for a moment. It took him a long time to ascertain that this "departure" must mean passing away.

During the days of idle recuperation, Wei Wulan had spoken of this agonizing worry.

He had stated that if his reverse cultivation of the Heavenly Toad Legs failed, he would find a quiet place down the mountain to die, rather than fleeing far into the wilderness and barbaric mountains to degenerate completely into a beast or demon.

At the time, Ji Ming had taken it merely for a joke, believing that given the resourcefulness Wei Wulan had displayed, he would never choose self-termination until driven to absolute desperation.

Yet Ji Ming seemed to have forgotten that Wei Wulan was a disciple of the True Spirit Sect and came from a prominent clan; he bore a certain burden of honor and responsibility.

Upon hearing the news of Wei Wulan's death, Ji Ming unusually refrained from practicing and simply sat in quiet meditation.

For the first time, he seriously contemplated matters outside of cultivation, pondering the meaning of life and the purpose of existence.

Wei Wulan had died without the slightest ripple, just as he had lived without a ripple—at least in the eyes of the Great Master, beneath this great mountain, and under this dome of heaven.

Clearly, this world was so magnificent, forever brimming with various miracles, yet human beings remained mere grains of sand in the vast sea.

Ji Ming was resolved never to live such a life. He feared his own insignificance; he wanted to become the mountain, to become the sea, to become a pivotal existence, an indelible legend that spanned the ages without being worn away.

This was his desire, as well as his pursuit. He felt no shame in expressing this ambition, and he possessed the determination to press forward and realize it bit by bit.

Steeled by this resolve, his mind gradually calmed. Ji Ming summoned the Void Warriors back into his body one by one—a total of forty-two, nearly filling the fifty-two acupoints of the Governor and Conception vessels.

He pinched a prized pearl-shell bead between his fingers, allowing the spiritual energy to seep into his body. The Three Flowers at his crown gathered and descended into the cinnabar field; his essence, breath, and spirit absorbed the spiritual energy, refining them into true qi that was directed into the micro-cosmos of the Governor and Conception vessels.

The forty-two Void Warriors sat peacefully within their acupoints, jointly driving the true qi forward.

The true qi gradually swelled into a rushing torrent. After surging through the micro-cosmos of the Governor and Conception vessels for several cycles, it poured into the macro-cosmos formed by the three yang and three yin meridians of the limbs.

Having already unblocked one hundred and eighty-nine acupoints along the yang meridians, the torrent broke through three, eight, and sixteen acupoints in succession, pushing relentlessly all the way to the final twenty-up.

With the final twenty-nine acupoints unlocked, the Void Warriors instantly leaped into them, propping open the walls of the channels to prevent them from closing once more.

From this moment on, all two hundred and eighteen acupoints of the "Six Organs Trembling" stage in early-stage Qi Refining were completely unblocked. The functions of the six visceral organs in his physical body would be further enhanced, gradually casting off the limitations of mortal flesh and blood much like Daoist viscera.

Now, he only needed to consume the sweet dew and jade nectar of saliva, paired with the cyclical circulation of true qi, to achieve the effects of inedible fasting without periodically swallowing any fasting pills.

As the saying goes, the six visceral organs exist to transform water and grain and circulate bodily fluids.

Mortals sustain life by consuming water and grain, while cultivators employ fasting methods such as absorbing breath, swallowing saliva, consuming elixirs, and guided calisthenics to root their vital breath and establish a boundless source of transformation.

The next step involved the three yin meridians of the limbs, which belonged to the five viscera. Containing ninety-one major acupoints, this was the cultivation task for the middle stage, known as the "Rotation of the Five Qi."

Though the three yin meridians did not harbor as many acupoints as the three yang meridians, every single one of them was a major acupoint, and the difficulty of opening them was simply incomparable.

Major acupoints were notoriously difficult to breach. Once a breakthrough failed, it was akin to a river changing its course; the true qi would rampage within the body, shattering the physical form, and subsequently repairing the flesh would waste an immense amount of effort.

At this juncture, even with the assistance of forty-two Void Warriors, his success rate was only around sixty percent. Ji Ming could not afford the time wasted by a failed breakthrough right now.

Presently, Ji Ming had two options.

The first was to practice the *Sitting Mountain Warrior Scripture*, cultivating up to eighty-eight Void Warriors. This would further accelerate the flow of true qi, raising the success rate of breaching major acupoints to at least eighty percent.

The second option was to coordinate the breakthrough with esoteric visceral techniques.

For instance, the Cloud-Hand Lungs of the Crane-Controlling Skill—once this visceral organ was successfully refined, the eleven major acupoints of the Hand Greater Yin Lung Meridian would naturally loosen and open.

Another example was the Mirascape Great Technique, which required the refinement of a "Changing Heart." Once accomplished, the nine acupoints of the Hand Jueyin Pericardium Meridian and the nine acupoints of the Hand Lesser Yin Heart Meridian would instantly break open.

Ji Ming had a premonition that Su Luzi's arrival was imminent, though he desperately wished this was merely an illusion.

"Sizzle, sizzle—"

From the direction of the main hall, a painful and exceptionally harsh scraping sound rang out.

From there came the mountain calf's joyful shouts and weeping cries: "My cultivation has advanced by leaps and bounds! My cultivation has advanced by leaps and bounds! I am experiencing the tribulation of itchy scales; dragon scales are about to grow! Dragon scales are about to grow!"

Ji Ming cast his gaze over and saw that before the wide-open hall doors, Wave-Driving Yaksha was all smiles, though what he was saying remained inaudible as the hall quieted down once more.

"This Qian Geng..."

Ji Ming shook his head and withdrew his gaze.

There was definitely something fishy going on here, and he had no wish to get involved. He would wait another year; if Master Feihuzi still failed to send word by then, he would immediately flee far away.

He could not return to Guhe Continent; his only destination would be the vast expanse of Tianqing.

That region was a labyrinth of rivers boasting thousands of miles of misty lakes, where countless demons lurked and heretical giants and bandits stood thick as weeds—precisely the kind of place suitable for him to hide.

Ideally, he would find a bandit lair on some mountain to join, assume an alias to blend in, and then bide his time before heading to Peaceful Mountain west of Tianqing to participate in the Daoist disciple examinations.

Yet evasion was ultimately not the supreme strategy. The best solution was still to track down that King Huangjiao.

Only, how was he supposed to find him?

Descend into the netherworld?!