Chan Sect Twelve Loose Hand Techniques

After studying the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish for a long time, Li Weiyi decided it was the most important treasure for countering the White Bone Demon, so he tried every possible method to activate it.

He first used several drops of his own blood, then the blood of the Golden Crow and the Black Flood Dragon, but none of it produced any reaction.

Injecting the scorching current born in the sole of his right foot into it was even more like a stone sinking into the sea.

"To activate it, it must be related to my blood, and every time it happens, it's when I'm in grave danger. Could it be that when my life is threatened, the blood in my body changes?"

Besides that, it seemed to require an enormous quantity of blood.

The more blood there was, the more intense and lasting its reaction became.

Everything was merely conjecture and analysis...

Li Weiyi gritted his teeth and decided to do something foolish. He used his sword to cut open his wrist and soak the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish in his blood. He let out nearly half a bowl, yet there was still no reaction at all.

"Forget it, forget it... I'll wait until I face a life-or-death crisis before trying again."

Li Weiyi hurriedly mobilized the scorching current from the sole of his right foot to stop the bleeding and heal the wound, then wrapped his wrist. Afterward, he picked up a cup of diluted Golden Crow Blood from the table and drank it to replenish his blood qi.

He formed the Zi Wu Tai Chi Seal with both hands, practiced the Jade Void Breathing Technique, and guided the scorching current surging from the sole of his right foot through thirteen silver meridian lines, refining the blazing secret energy contained in the Golden Crow Blood.

Over the past few days, he had been drinking Golden Crow Blood every day, and his physical strength had grown markedly.

Half an hour later, Li Weiyi stopped.

"My body doesn't seem to have changed much... Before, whenever I drank Golden Crow Blood, my entire body would heat up, and my heartbeat and blood flow would speed up considerably."

"I'll try another cup."

A few days ago, after drinking his first cup of Golden Crow Blood, Li Weiyi had lost his awe of it.

That was because the scorching current within his body could refine it. He did not even need to wear the Cross Pendant.

After Cai Yutong drank just one cup, she had nearly been burned to death from within. Fortunately, she had the Cross Pendant; her body underwent a violent transformation, shedding its shell and changing as though into an Immortal Spirit.

Li Weiyi had already drunk ten cups in total, yet there were no signs of his body burning up, nor had he undergone any shell-shedding transformation. Only his physical strength had increased.

He did not know whether he should feel frustrated or fortunate.

After drinking the eleventh cup, he only felt that the Golden Crow Blood was as bland as water. His body had no reaction whatsoever.

"My physical body must have reached another critical point. I need some kind of breakthrough before I can advance further."

How was he supposed to break through?

The diluted Golden Crow Blood had become weak. What about undiluted blood? Could it provide a sufficiently intense stimulus?

Could he break through the critical point by relying solely on external substances?

He acted as soon as the thought came to him.

He could still take a gamble now.

He could not wait for the White Bone Demon to come deal with him first. Then he would have no choice but to wait for death.

Li Weiyi drank a cup of undiluted Golden Crow Blood. Once it entered his stomach, it grew hotter and hotter, as though he had poured molten lava into his body. He immediately practiced the Jade Void Breathing Technique, mobilizing the scorching current in the sole of his right foot to refine it.

The thirteen silver meridian lines could not refine it fast enough. The Golden Crow Blood seemed ready to burn through his internal organs.

Smoke rose from his entire body, and his blood seemed to be boiling.

It felt as though he could breathe fire.

"It's not that terrifying. I can still endure it."

The spring in the sole of Li Weiyi's right foot erupted with increasing force, fiercely clashing with the Golden Crow Blood.

Suddenly—

"Whoosh!"

A bone-piercing chill surged out from the sole of his left foot.

Then, the first silver meridian line was born from the spring of cold energy. It ran up his left leg, straight toward his internal organs, where the burning was most unbearable.

The second silver meridian line was born.

Then the third, the fourth...

Before long, the number of meridian lines born from the sole of his left foot had reached thirteen. Together with the thirteen lines rooted in the sole of his right foot, there were twenty-six in total.

The blood qi and destructive secret energy contained within the Golden Crow Blood were instantly suppressed.

The spring in his right foot was scorching, while the spring in his left foot was icy cold.

What had been born were two utterly different currents.

Hot and cold shifted rapidly through Li Weiyi's body. One moment, he was drenched in sweat; the next, the droplets froze into beads of ice.

"This is unbearable!"

He stopped his Breathing and Exhaling, rushed out the door, and frantically practiced the Chan Sect Twelve Loose Hand Techniques on the deck.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

At times he formed palm strikes, at times he threw punches.

He was incredibly fast, his movements ever-changing and impossible to predict.

"Overturning Sky Palm Seal."

He formed a hand seal, sprang ten feet into the air, and descended from above.

The force of his palm gathered before the seal, like a great seal overturning the heavens. His hand did not strike the grave mound directly, yet the earth sank, forming a depression roughly three feet square.

It was as though a three-foot seal had stamped down upon it.

"Taiyi Opens the Sea."

The palm seal transformed into a hand blade.

The force of his palm became an invisible blade that cleaved through the air before him.

"Yellow Dragon Ascends to Heaven."

As if he had transformed into a dragon, he stepped through the air five times in succession, as though invisible steps hung in the void. By the fifth step, his body had risen eight or nine meters into the air.

Li Weiyi had practiced the Twelve Loose Hand Techniques on the mountain for many years.

He had once regarded them as nothing more than a method for strengthening the body, never imagining they could possess such power.

When facing Xie Tianshu and the others, there had been no need to use these techniques at all.

Though called "Loose Hand Techniques," they were not entirely techniques of the hands. They were twelve foundational martial techniques created by bringing together fists and palms, footwork, leg techniques, finger seals, claw prints, and more.

They had no fixed forms.

Every move contained boundless variations, changing as the heart willed.

He did not know how long he practiced. By the time the hot and cold currents within him had returned to balance and he stopped, the area around him was already packed with Research Team Members who had come at the sound.

Their expressions varied—some were shocked, some awed, some admiring, some fanatical.

Naturally, some guessed that Li Weiyi had consumed Buddha's Sarira, but none dared entertain any improper thoughts. Judging by the might of his boxing practice just now, if Li Weiyi truly got serious, a single punch might pierce straight through their chests.

They did not know Li Weiyi's circumstances. They thought he was merely showing off his strength to intimidate those harboring potential ill intent.

Qin Ke stepped forward and wiped the sweat from Li Weiyi's forehead. "Brother Weiyi, you seem even stronger than before. Is it because you drank Golden Crow Blood?"

"Yes."

Li Weiyi did not deny it.

He had already planned to have everyone aboard gradually drink Golden Crow Blood, transforming their constitutions and increasing their ability to survive in this unfamiliar world.

Cai Yutong's physical transformation could not be concealed. In her words, rather than hide it and let everyone keep guessing until estrangement grew between them, it was better to tell them openly.

Filled with anticipation yet somewhat uneasy, Qin Ke asked, "Can I drink it too?"

"Of course."

Li Weiyi added, "But we need to wait until the First Mate wakes up."

Four days earlier, Zhao Meng's injuries had worsened. Left with no choice, Li Weiyi had given him diluted Golden Crow Blood and placed the Cross Pendant around his neck.

But Golden Crow Blood worked too slowly, and Zhao Meng had been on the verge of breathing his last.

Li Weiyi then gave him Black Flood Dragon blood and slipped the Dragon Pattern Ring onto his finger.

Since then, Zhao Meng had undergone drastic changes every day.

By this morning, the broken bones in his knees and shoulders, which had been set and fixed in place, had completely healed. His physique had grown at an astonishing rate, until he was nearly three meters tall.

Fortunately, he had not undergone the terrifying Dragon-like Mutant distortion that Xie Tianshu had.

Only a small number of black scales had grown over his arms and legs.

His hair had turned fiery red, like the feathers of a Golden Crow.

After the spring at the sole of his left foot opened, Li Weiyi's combat strength increased dramatically. At last, he had the confidence to face the White Bone Demon again.

Last time had been far too humiliating!

Li Weiyi wore the Corpse Skin Armor, the Dao Ancestor Taiji Fish around his neck, silver-thread gloves on both hands, and the Three-headed Snake Bracelet around his wrist. The Scripture Belt was tied around his waist, while the Black Iron Seal and Golden Crow Blood rested in his robe. He held the Yellow Dragon Sword in one hand and the Black Spear in the other.

Finding the Black Spear too heavy and cumbersome, he threw it aside.

When he reached the grave near where the White Bone Demon had been, he took out the Golden Crow Blood and poured it onto the Scripture Belt, activating it.

Li Weiyi moved with blinding speed, like a blood-red phantom, sword in hand as he charged up the grave mound. Standing beside the hole at its summit—the one he had dug himself before—he looked down to find that the Ice Coffin had long since melted.

Inside...

It was completely empty.

In an instant, Li Weiyi's entire body went numb, his heart seeming ready to leap from his chest.

The White Bone Demon had already escaped?

He immediately mobilized the two currents of hot and cold energy, pushing every sense to its limit as he scanned the surroundings. He found nothing. Even the White Bone Wind Chime on the gravestone had vanished.

"Even when she was lying in the coffin, unable to move and using only her hair, she was already monstrously terrifying. Now that she's out..."

Li Weiyi could hardly imagine how powerful the White Bone Demon would be now that she could move freely.

"Since she has come out, Doctor Qi's disappearance may truly have something to do with her."

After investigating around the graves, Li Weiyi found the White Bone Demon's departing footprints and looked up into the Nether Mist.

They led in the direction of the Golden Crow's corpse.

"Since she attacked Doctor Qi and me in succession, she'll definitely strike again. The reason there hasn't been another victim yet is most likely because there's some problem with her body, just like how she couldn't leave the graves before."

"I can't let her keep reviving. By then, I'm afraid I won't have even the slightest ability to fight back."

After pondering for a moment, Li Weiyi ultimately decided that no matter how terrifying the White Bone Demon was, there was still a chance to fight now. If he retreated today out of fear, then in the future he could only let her carve him up at will.

Following the footprints, Li Weiyi cautiously and warily made his way beneath the Golden Crow's corpse.

At the edge of the Blood Pool, he saw that Red-clothed Figure.

She sat cross-legged, golden radiance flowing from her body. Her black hair drifted through the air like long strands of silk, while a pair of flame-like wings several meters long spread across her back. They greatly resembled the Golden Crow fire wings that had appeared when Cai Yutong transformed into an Immortal Spirit—both brilliant and dazzling.

Without the slightest hesitation, Li Weiyi pushed his speed to its limit. Reaching within ten feet behind her, he leaped into the air and brought his sword down in a chopping slash.

"Whoosh!"

This sword strike was Taiyi Opens the Sea, one of the Twelve Loose Hand Techniques.

Pouring all his strength into it, yellow light flashed along the sword's edge, cleaving through the air.