Divine Visualization

Shi Feizhe looked at the Nether Springs Divine Shadow Record with considerable satisfaction. The manual was full of simplified characters, internet slang, and a whole lot of pinyin abbreviations.

It had even twisted "youyi" into "U1," "wuguan" into "wugua," and shortened "true qi" to "ZQ."

Even aliens wouldn't be able to make heads or tails of this manual.

The martial world was a treacherous place. What if he bit the dust somewhere? Whoever found this book would have an absolutely spectacular expression!

After stretching, Shi Feizhe gazed at the manual with smug satisfaction.

When he looked up, he realized the sky was growing dim. The others in the accounts office were already urging him to clock out and go eat.

Without realizing it, he'd spent the whole afternoon copying.

Ah, slacking off until it was time to clock out and eat—what a comfortable life. He really missed it!

Shi Feizhe smiled and went to eat with the others from the accounts office. After a day of work, he'd learned that one was named Zhang Lianglong and the other Wang Chengfeng. Both were from Three Talents Town.

He hadn't had a proper dinner in ages, and Shi Feizhe ate until his belly was round. He couldn't help sighing that being full was true happiness.

After eating, Shi Feizhe headed back to his rented room. Only then did he notice that Three Talents Town was actually livelier at night.

Some were people who had spent the day at Three Talents Manor's Stele Forest and were returning to Three Talents Town; others had worked at Three Talents Manor and were heading back. On top of that, the town had no curfew, and the taverns, gambling dens, and brothels were open too. It was a different kind of bustle from Yi Yang City.

At night, the shops in Yi Yang City shut their doors tight, while cries of slaughter rang through the streets.

When he returned to his rented room, the old couple who owned the place had already gone to bed.

Now that he was full, Shi Feizhe could finally begin practicing the Nether Springs Divine Shadow Record in earnest!

He'd fled Yi Yang City, chanced upon Hua Xiaomei, and made his way to Three Talents Town. After all those twists and turns, he'd ultimately learned about the Nether Springs Divine Shadow Record from Hua Xiaomei. Without her, he had no idea how long it would've taken him to get his hands on a martial arts manual.

Even if he'd obtained one, without the meals at Three Talents Manor, Shi Feizhe couldn't have practiced the Blood Qi Barrier's training methods.

There was no helping it. You really couldn't practice martial arts on an empty stomach.

The poor studied, while the rich practiced martial arts. Tempering one's blood and qi required not only a great deal of meat, but also medicinal baths to succeed.

This alone was enough to stop plenty of people in their tracks. Martial artists were fond of fighting and showing off their courage. Perhaps they had to fight their way through life because that was the only way to obtain the resources needed for cultivation.

The Nether Springs Divine Shadow Record's Blood Qi Barrier had four training methods: Reward Good Fist, Punish Evil Leg, Yin Law Stake, and Investigate Course.

Shi Feizhe started with Reward Good Fist. It was a broad, vigorous style of boxing that kept the breath steady and even, mainly strengthening the body and improving physical fitness.

He'd only gone through the routine once, following the instructions step by step, when he was already drenched in sweat. His body was in terrible shape. It was sheer luck that he hadn't been killed by that man's palm strike back then.

Punish Evil Leg was a method that stimulated the body through high-intensity training. You needed a basic level of fitness and medicinal baths to avoid injuring yourself. Otherwise, after practicing Punish Evil Leg for a while, you might end up ruining your body.

Yin Law Stake could only be practiced once Reward Good Fist and Punish Evil Leg had reached a certain level, and the body had gained enough fitness and flexibility. Combined with a special breathing method, it stirred the bones and meridians, thereby strengthening the blood and qi.

Investigate Course was a special set of boxing movements to practice once the first three methods had all reached a basic level of mastery. Shi Feizhe couldn't make head nor tail of it yet. He'd have to wait until he'd reached that stage. By then, his mindset and body would be different, and he'd be able to understand how to practice it.

After barely managing three rounds of the boxing routine, Shi Feizhe was drenched in sweat, his hands and feet weak. He could only sit in the courtyard and pant for breath.

He knew he'd reached his limit for the day. Martial arts required grueling practice every day, in the depths of winter and the height of summer, to make progress. He wasn't some cheat who could keep training forever just by spending points!

With his current physique, it would probably take a few months of practice to turn things around.

Fortunately, he was now a wage-slaving beast with a stable job and income. If he stayed at Three Talents Manor for a few years, he figured he'd have the means to protect himself.

He couldn't practice the Blood Qi Barrier's methods yet, but he could visualize deities and practice the Spirit Barrier's techniques.

He'd fallen asleep while visualizing two nights ago. This time, he absolutely couldn't nod off!

He went into his room and studied the visualization method carefully. How to quiet his mind and rein in distracting thoughts, how to visualize his Sea of Consciousness, how to use his spirit to outline a deity—he examined every detail. After reading it over carefully several times, he finally began to try.

Sitting upright on the bed, Shi Feizhe raised his hands and feet toward the sky, silently gathering his thoughts. But thoughts churned ceaselessly in a person's mind. Only the dead were free of them.

There was a trick to this step: keep thinking about one thing and focus on it, so that the distracting thoughts would fall away.

Naturally, the deity to focus on in the visualization method was the first of the Ten Kings of Hell, King Qinguang.

Slowly, very slowly, Shi Feizhe felt himself grow calm. His mind held nothing but darkness, with a tiny glimmer of light faintly shining.

According to the visualization method, that glimmer was Shi Feizhe's "light of nature," his "light of spirit." It was Shi Feizhe's "self," and Shi Feizhe's "divinity"!

At that moment, Shi Feizhe's "divinity" hadn't taken form. It was only a ball of light.

What he had to do was use his "divinity" as a brush to outline King Qinguang's appearance. Then he had to imagine himself as King Qinguang, transforming his "divinity" into the King of Hell who controlled life and death in the mortal world and fortune and misfortune in the netherworld!

King Qinguang had the eyes of a leopard, the nose of a lion, a long, curling beard, and a square-topped hat. He held a tablet before his chest in his right hand. Shi Feizhe carefully controlled the light of his "divinity," beginning to outline King Qinguang's appearance.

There were two ways to visualize and outline a deity. One was to begin with a part of the deity, like an arm or a leg, and gradually fill in the rest. The other was to sketch out the whole figure first, then fill in the details bit by bit. Neither approach was better than the other. The goal was for the deity to grow more and more detailed, until it seemed almost lifelike!

Shi Feizhe chose the second method. He planned to sketch King Qinguang's general appearance with a few strokes.

But...he failed.

The light of his "divinity" moved, lightly slicing through the darkness of his Sea of Consciousness, but it couldn't leave a mark.

He tried again and again. Even when he switched to another way of outlining, it still didn't work.

What was going on?

Could there be something wrong with his visualization method? Shi Feizhe came out of his meditative state and took out the Nether Springs Divine Shadow Record to inspect it carefully again. After reading through it several times, he finally noticed a few words he'd overlooked.

"Unite with the deity"!

Those four words meant that his consciousness had to merge with the deity he was visualizing—in other words, their worldviews had to align.

Ordinary people found it easy to place themselves in the deity's shoes when visualizing one. But Shi Feizhe didn't believe in gods!

How could he place himself in a deity's shoes if he didn't believe in gods?

Especially when it came to the Ten Kings of Hell. He could only picture one scene in his mind.

A monkey sat on the throne in the Hall of Hell, one boot planted on the King of Hell. The King of Hell begged repeatedly, "Great Immortal, please calm your anger! Great Immortal, please calm your anger!"

What was he supposed to do?

He couldn't exactly visualize the monkey!

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