My speed had almost reached its limit. Fortunately, I still had my wits about me and kept it slightly under control. Like a gust of wind, I shot through the gates of Star Peak Manor. The two gatekeeping servants who watched me enter had their eyes wide open—they had never seen their young master run so fast.
My heart pounded faster and faster. I was simply too excited. If this secret manual were to spread through the Cultivation World, it would surely stir up a bloody storm, yet I had obtained it so easily. How could I not be thrilled? Heavens, this was the Demon Subduing Vajra Art!
I had no intention of wasting time. With a roar, I sent a voice transmission to Brother Wang. "Brother Wang, I'm entering the underground chamber now. I'll seal off the innermost room. Don't disturb me."
Brother Wang had been reading when he heard my words. Though he found it strange that I was entering the secret chamber, he knew that obeying my orders was what mattered most. So he did not dwell on it.
I charged straight toward the artificial hill. When the Eight Formations came within three centimeters of my body, they immediately moved aside. I went directly into the hill.
My right hand became a blur as I opened the secret chamber's entrance in a flash. I flew inside, leaving behind only several paintings hanging in the passage that had been blown down by the fierce wind of my speed.
I entered the secret chamber with the Green Jade Table and casually laid down a seal with True Primordial Energy, sealing the entire room. Cultivation was highly taboo against interruption. I had never cultivated the Demon Subduing Vajra Art before; if I had, I would not have been reincarnated.
I sat down upon the jade cushion. As an experienced cultivator, I understood perfectly how important one's state of mind was during cultivation. In my current excitement, it would be all too easy to suffer deviation. I settled myself down and rested for a while first.
Only after quite some time did I circulate the Heart Sutra. True Primordial Energy flowed through my body in waves, entirely under my control, and my whole body felt incomparably comfortable. After a long while, my state of mind finally returned to its former realm of tranquil, rippleless calm.
Keeping my spiritual platform clear, I opened the Demon Subduing Vajra Art in my hands with a trace of excitement. Two top-grade jade stones lay beside me. During this period, Uncle Zhang had bought another eleven top-grade jade stones for me. The reason I could obtain so many now was that quite a few had been discovered long ago, but no one had bought them. Once this peak passed, there probably would not be so many left. With these two top-grade jade stones, I should be able to withstand the consumption of cultivation.
When I saw the table of contents, I truly wanted to laugh aloud. It listed the first level through the eighteenth level. I could not help sighing in my heart—when luck came, even the strongest barrier could not stop it.
The first five levels were utterly unnecessary for me to cultivate. I could directly cultivate the sixth level now.
"Transform qi into the body, turn the body into all things, no self and no qi, merge into one, draw in the heavens..."
What was this? It wanted me to completely disperse my True Primordial Energy throughout my body. What kind of nonsense was that? It wanted me to abandon all my True Primordial Energy and discard the golden core I had painstakingly cultivated for so long. How could that be possible?
If I had no True Primordial Energy, and my Buddha Primordial Energy had not been cultivated properly either, how was I supposed to fight anyone in the future? Wasn't this asking me to kill myself? What a monstrous cultivation method.
No. My cultivation was already enough for me to get by on the Azure Dragon Continent. I would not cultivate it.
I had made up my mind to rise and abandon the Demon Subduing Vajra Art, but the moment I saw those large words on its cover, I could not get up. This was the Demon Subduing Vajra Art, the number one cultivation art in the Cultivation World.
I wanted to give up, yet I wanted to cultivate it. I was also afraid that someone had written it carelessly. If it was not the one from the Cultivation World, wouldn't I lose both the lady and the army? But if it was real, wouldn't I be an idiot to leave the number one cultivation art in the Cultivation World unpracticed? But what if it was fake...
I was about to go mad. What should I do? How had I not considered from the beginning that it might be fake? Right—who even knew that such a Demon Subduing Vajra Art existed in the Cultivation World? Besides, the first five levels were genuine. I would stake everything on it...
After all, I was a cultivator with more than three thousand years of experience. The moment my mind turned, a solution that satisfied both sides emerged. I would use half my golden core to cultivate the Demon Subduing Vajra Art and preserve the other half. Even if I failed, I could still recover. I was beginning to admire myself a little. Once I decided, I acted.
Those of the Buddhist Sect who cultivated the Demon Subduing Vajra Art all had others pour True Primordial Energy into their bodies. No matter how much True Primordial Energy they possessed, it could not possibly exceed what was in even one of my golden cores.
I first slowly released the pure True Primordial Energy from within my golden core. Holding two top-grade jade stones in my hands, I gradually absorbed their spiritual energy to replenish my consumption. In my heart, I began cultivating the Demon Subduing Vajra Art, whether real or fake, according to its incantation.
My body did not seem to change at all. Didn't it say that cultivation to the utmost could turn one into a Vajra Body? Could it be fake? Since I had already begun, I might as well cultivate it to the end.
I did not know how much time had passed. My golden core had shrunk to half its original size, and I was close to tears because my body still had not undergone any major change. Then, a numb, aching sensation spread from every part of my body. I seemed unable to control my body at all. Could it be working? An inexplicable surge of joy rose in my heart.
Suddenly, the meridians inside my body began to tear apart slowly. How was this cultivation? Wasn't this destroying my body? I wanted to stop, but I had no way to do so. My golden core continued to be consumed, and I had already lost all ability to control my body.
At first, I had intended to stop once half my golden core was consumed, but how could I stop now?
The destruction of my body continued. Nearly all my meridians snapped. My skin began to split as though it had been dehydrated, while every bone and muscle in my body began to tremble, compress, and stretch...
Yet I felt every bit of the pain throughout my body with stark clarity. This hurt even more than Heavenly Tribulation striking my body. My will kept a shred of clarity on my spiritual platform. Even if this was how I ended, I wanted to watch how I died.
In my helplessness, the destruction finally reached its utmost limit. My body could scarcely be damaged any further. If someone entered and saw me like this, they would never believe that the person before them was still alive.
I despaired. At that moment, I wanted to give up. I laughed bitterly in my heart. Because of my greed, everything was gone. My hopes, my grand boasts, my brothers, my father, my mother, and the girl I had only met today...
At that moment, it was as though a film were playing before me, and I began recalling every little detail of my past. Those joys, those beautiful moments, those precious things forever hidden in my heart...
I felt as though my heart were being torn apart. Why? Why had I been reincarnated, only to die like this again...
Just as I recalled the past and cursed heaven and earth, another tremendous change occurred in my body. The True Primordial Energy that had leaked out fused with my Life Primordial Energy and began to flow through my entire body. My skin regrew, bursting forth with vitality like grass sprouting in spring. My meridians also began to regrow, wider and tougher than before. Everything inside my body was changing...
A wave of wild joy surged through my heart. Was this what they called destruction before rebirth? I could not help cursing myself. I had thousands of years of experience, yet I had not even thought of something so simple. I had believed I was about to die. While cultivating the Cultivation World's number one art, the Demon Subduing Vajra Art, I had thought I was dying and been so miserable I wished for death. If word got out, it would be utterly humiliating.
At this moment, the muscles within my body were intertwined like steel bars, while the skin outside was as tender and smooth as that of a newborn infant. My bones were as hard as refined steel, and my meridians had expanded severalfold. Even the strength and range of my Spiritual Sense had expanded several times over. What excited me most was that I could clearly feel a peaceful power filling my bones, muscles, and tendons. Though it was gentle, I could deeply sense the terrifying force contained within it.
I finally understood why the peerless experts of the Buddhist Sect could achieve sanctification through the flesh, unlike us cultivators, who could only enter the Immortal Realm through the Nascent Soul to survive. It was because they spread their power throughout every part of their bodies.
The only thing that dissatisfied me was that my golden core was now only one-quarter of its original size. Yet I remained immensely excited, because I had not died. My grand boasts could still be fulfilled, my mother and father could still be reunited, my dreams were no longer far away, and I could see her again...
Heavens, you had not abandoned me after all! Hahaha...
I was a little delirious. How could I not be? I had returned from death! My death should have meant eternal damnation, never to be reborn! But now, not only could I continue cultivating my Heart Sutra, I could also cultivate my Demon Subduing Vajra Art. It seemed I could already see a broad golden road stretching before me.
I could now clearly feel just how powerful my body was. For us cultivators, the body was our weakest point, because we spent most of our time cultivating our Nascent Souls. This was also the main reason we could not ascend in the flesh. In the future, with the supreme arts of both Buddhism and Daoism in my grasp, ascension would no longer be a problem. Back then, I had cultivated bitterly for three thousand six hundred years, only to stumble at Tribulation Transcendence and fail to ascend. Thinking of it now, I could only sigh at how greatly fate had changed.
I rose and looked at the two Flawless Jade stones in my hands, then smiled. Who would have known that obtaining Flawless Jade would be as easy as turning my hand for me?
I strode outside, my ambitions soaring. What did I have to fear? What could I possibly fail to accomplish? The lofty aspirations filling my chest had to burst forth; my great undertaking could not possibly remain unrealized. Looking back at the secret chamber where I had endured the ordeal of life and death, I laughed aloud...