Douluo: Unlocking the Great Secrets of the Human Body, Becoming a Heavenly Demon — Part 4

With a thought, Bai Xu activated Rock Hardening, and a thin layer of armor surfaced over his skin to protect him.

That secret manual also came with various spells. The five viscera corresponded to the five elements, and the Five Elements Secret Arts were cultivated alongside the Human Body Secret Arts. The most profound of them was the Great Five Elements Evasion. It was said that one could go anywhere within a radius of three hundred li, making it an excellent escape technique, though its side effects were severe.

After using the evasion secret art, one could not use any evasion technique again for an entire day. Moreover, after using it, one would lose all ability to resist and be left at death's door. If it was used while seriously injured, one might escape, but would die soon afterward.

Therefore, its user needed to assess the situation carefully. Once they realized they were no match for their opponent, and the opponent lacked the ability to scout within three hundred li, it was best to flee immediately while still in good condition.

This Rock Hardening was a complementary Earth Element spell that could make one's skin as hard as granite.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After hardening, the Earth Dragon's spear no longer posed any threat to Bai Xu.

The two understood each other without a word. The Earth Dragon threw back its head and roared, then charged forward in a wild sprint. Bai Xu refused to be outdone. He bent low and exerted force, moving so fast that he was like a missile, leaving behind only an afterimage.

Boom!

The two collided. Dragon claws met fists, dragon fangs tore and bit, while fists and elbows struck relentlessly. One man and one dragon began fighting at close range, every part of their bodies becoming a deadly weapon.

But Bai Xu was faster. As their figures crossed, he dodged the sharp dragon fangs time and time again.

Yet the Earth Dragon fought with broad, powerful movements, enduring Bai Xu's fists as it launched a fierce assault. The longer it fought, the braver it became. Its dragon scales seemed to disperse most of the force from Bai Xu's punches. Even after taking more than a dozen heavy blows, the Earth Dragon was barely injured. Instead, it spun around, its tail becoming a whip that sent Bai Xu flying. He crashed through a large tree before finally stabilizing himself.

"A dragon's body is too tough, especially a draconic beast with the Mountain Dragon King bloodline. It's like a human shield—you can't even budge it." Bai Xu gave his assessment, but there was not the slightest hint of frustration in his voice.

Light flickered in his eyes. He half-clenched his hand, creating a golden sword roughly one meter long out of thin air.

Don't forget, his Essence of Metal had already reached the late stage. Unlike the perception and defensive power that the Earth Element gave Bai Xu, the Metal Element specialized in killing. Its essence was filled with sharp intent. When formed into a Golden Sword, it could cut through anything and sweep aside all opposition.

Bai Xu rushed forward and severed the Earth Dragon's claws with one slash. When it went berserk and tried to bite him, he swept his sword again, separating its head from its body.

The Thousand-Year Soul Beast was declared dead.

"The Metal Element's attack power is decent. Next, I should test how much damage Mental Attack can do to Thousand-Year Soul Beasts. For some reason, I keep feeling that something is off. Logically, Spirit Shock should only be able to instantly kill when there is an enormous gap in cultivation between both sides. Yet I can instantly kill several Hundred-Year Soul Beasts. That's truly strange."

Bai Xu summed up the oddities he had noticed in battle so far. Of them all, the Mental Attack was the strangest. Even Huo Yuhao, another spiritual attribute martial soul wielder, had not possessed such overwhelming dominance at this stage.

"Hm?"

At that moment, a stream of green venom shot through the air, attacking Bai Xu from an extremely tricky angle.

However, his powerful perception had already detected the anomaly. He turned sideways and evaded the attack. Looking closely, he saw an exceptionally well-hidden Hundred-Year Man Faced Demon Spider crouching within the forest.

"You're courting death!"

The Mental Attack was as thin as a strand of silk, impossible for anyone to detect. The Hundred-Year Man Faced Demon Spider instantly fell, dying as its Spirit Sea collapsed.

Bai Xu's figure vanished into the forest once more, walking through the darkness as he slaughtered the virtual world's creatures.

Outside.

The staff responsible for monitoring at the Spirit Pagoda watched the live surveillance feed. They had long since grown accustomed to it. The number one genius of their East Sea Spirit Transmission Tower truly lived up to his reputation. He could survive alone in the Spirit Ascension Platform for seven days, and judging from his appearance, he still had energy to spare. It seemed he simply could not find any Thousand-Year Soul Beasts.

Just as Bai Xu was about to finish, a tall man arrived in the monitoring room.

He said in a deep voice, "Delete all recordings of Bai Xu's battles from these seven days. Do not leave a single backup!"

Leng Jiuming was stern and solemn, his words beyond question. There was even a faint sense that he might release Soul Power to intimidate them. The staff hurriedly complied and deleted Bai Xu's battle recordings.

After confirming that everything had been handled properly, Leng Jiuming went to the combat room to wait for Bai Xu to awaken.

The first person Bai Xu saw after waking up was Leng Jiuming. "Teacher, you're still here?"

"No, I just arrived."

"..."

Leng Jiuming said seriously, "What you did was too risky. You exposed your secret so openly. Aren't you afraid the higher-ups will investigate you? You have no Second Martial Soul, yet you can use other elements in battle. If word of this gets out, the entire soul master world will go mad trying to seize the secret on your body."

"If it gets exposed, I'll claim that I have a Second Martial Soul to cover it up. Later on, I don't think any soul master will be able to surpass me." Bai Xu was utterly confident. Then he continued, "Teacher, do you remember that handwritten book about some of the mysteries of the human body that I gave you a year ago?"

"Yes. That book was complete nonsense."

"It wasn't, Teacher. I cultivated according to that book."

!!!!

"Could it be that your Earth Element Ability comes from your spleen?"

"That's right."

After Bai Xu's explanation, Leng Jiuming understood the importance of that half-manual. The two immediately left the Spirit Pagoda and returned home to study it. Still, it was mostly Leng Jiuming studying while Bai Xu explained.

Yet strangely, Leng Jiuming was unable to unlock the mysteries of the human body.

He could not sense the Essence of the Viscera, nor could he sense his own "spirit." Even though his spiritual power was an entire level higher than Bai Xu's, he simply could not feel it. It was as if his eyes had been covered, leaving him unable to see another path.

Several days passed in a blur, with nothing to show for it.

Leng Jiuming sighed. "Forget it. If I am not fated for it, I cannot force it. But remember, unless it is absolutely necessary, never reveal it. Even if you do expose it, say that you have a second elemental martial soul. I'll testify for you."

"Alright."

Leng Jiuming nodded in satisfaction and continued, "Let's leave that aside for now. Do you remember that Heavenly Phoenix Douluo?"

"I remember."

"The girl beside her that day was called Gu Yue. The Heavenly Phoenix Douluo took her as a personal disciple. Her martial soul is Elementalist, and her spiritual power is at the high level of the Spiritual Perception Realm. For some reason, she did not return to the Spirit Pagoda Headquarters with the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, but remained at Eastsea Academy."

Bai Xu was somewhat surprised. His expression turned strange as he said, "Teacher, you mean..."

"That's right. I want you to challenge her. There's no reason she must be better than you. I think you are far more talented than that Gu Yue. And there was another unexpected discovery during the investigation—Eastsea Academy also has a teacher from Shrek. I think it would be worth meeting him."

"Hehe, Teacher, if I defeat Gu Yue and word reaches the Heavenly Phoenix Douluo, she won't be pleased. Wouldn't it be more trouble than it's worth if she comes after you?" Bai Xu said.

"It's fine. At worst, I lose my job. Back when I failed to enter Shrek's inner court, I had already decided to come to the Spirit Pagoda and make money. Now that I have some wealth, it does not matter whether she fires me or not." Leng Jiuming did not care in the slightest. Instead, his eyes shone as he eagerly anticipated Bai Xu's battle against another genius.

He explained, "This is for your own good as well. Those from Shrek Academy all have terrible tempers and rarely take students. I heard that this fellow disciple has accepted students too, and their talents must be quite good. Fighting them will be more beneficial to your growth."

"Alright, then."

"Mm, I've already contacted that fellow disciple. In a few days, we'll go to Eastsea Academy, so prepare yourself properly. This is Thousand-Year Golden Spirit Grass. I bought it for you at an auction." As he spoke, Leng Jiuming took out a treasure box and handed it to Bai Xu.

Bai Xu happened to need a breakthrough to Metal Element Perfection, so this spiritual herb had arrived at exactly the right time.

Bai Xu bent at the waist in thanks. "Then thank you, Teacher."

"I'm going to study the mysteries of the human body. I'll come pick you up again in three days."

Bai Xu looked at the Golden Spirit Grass before him with great interest. Back when he had discussed developing the human body with Leng Jiuming, Leng Jiuming had learned Bai Xu's true purpose for needing spiritual fruits and spiritual herbs. Without hesitation, he had spent his own money to buy them for Bai Xu.

Since Douluo Continent had no knowledge of Human Body Secret Arts, Leng Jiuming would sometimes patiently listen to Bai Xu explain the theory of the five viscera and five elements. He was very humble.

However, he also had a bad side. He firmly believed that true strength lay in the individual rather than a team. Whenever such arguments came up, he would immediately refute them, sometimes leading to very unpleasant disputes.

It was precisely because of his persistence that Bai Xu had no companions even now. With other talented people, he mostly just challenged them.

Or rather, in Leng Jiuming's eyes, no one was qualified to walk alongside Bai Xu.

Three days later.

Leng Jiuming knocked on the door to Bai Xu's dormitory right on time. He said excitedly, "Let's go. Today is the day we kick down Eastsea Academy's doors. You'd better give it your all."

Bai Xu smiled. "How confident are you in me?"

"One hundred percent."

"Haha, Teacher, then let's go!"

They took a dedicated Soul Guidance Car from the East Sea Spirit Transmission Tower, arriving at Eastsea Academy's entrance in just over ten minutes.

The first thing they saw was a red banner: Welcome, Spirit Transfer Academy, to Eastsea Academy for Exchange

Seeing this display, Leng Jiuming was somewhat displeased. "This seems like a rather big production. Why did Eastsea Academy turn this into an official match? Wu Changkong and I clearly agreed on a private battle."

"It's all the same." Bai Xu followed him into the welcoming passage. Students were even holding welcome flags as they guided the two onward.

After turning a corner, they saw the dean of studies and that frost-like figure waiting in front of the teaching building.

Long Hengxu quickly stepped forward and bowed. "Welcome, Lord Spirit Messenger, to offer us your guidance. Shall I first take you to visit Eastsea Academy's exhibition hall?"

"No need. Let's proceed directly to the match." A cold voice rang out, making the dean of studies, Long Hengxu, shudder. He then looked toward Wu Changkong, signaling for him to ease the atmosphere.

Wu Changkong gave Bai Xu a once-over, stepped forward, and said, "Let's go directly to the Battle Soul Arena. My students are already there."

"Alright."

"I feel like I've seen you at Shrek before." Along the way, Leng Jiuming, a senior who had graduated from Shrek long ago, tried hard to recall the frost-like figure. He found that figure somewhat familiar.

"We have never met." Wu Changkong cut off the conversation. The four of them arrived at the Battle Soul Arena in silence.

"Teacher Wu!" The moment Tang Wulin saw Wu Changkong, a smile immediately appeared on his face. He then glanced at Leng Jiuming before shifting his gaze to Bai Xu.

This calm peer of his should be the student who had come to challenge them.

Wu Changkong said, "Let me introduce him. This is Bai Xu, and he is your only opponent today. Today is an exchange match between Spirit Transfer Academy and Eastsea Academy. Friendship comes first, competition second. Stop at the proper point, and do not injure your opponent."

He then glanced at Leng Jiuming, who smiled as well. "That's right, an exchange match. Do not let things get heated. But remember to give it your all. With Teacher Wu and me here, we will ensure none of you are harmed."

Below, Bai Xu's gaze met Gu Yue's. Neither of them looked surprised, as if they had long known this match was coming.