Returning to the Temple (Please Follow and Bookmark)

Alchemy Room.

Before an Open Metal Secret Door.

Wang Ping, Feng Miao, and Xia Yao leaned against the wall with ugly expressions, dry-heaving. The Qi practitioners stationed in the Alchemy Room found it strange. Two of them could not restrain their curiosity and walked through the secret door, only to join the dry-heaving ranks shortly afterward.

"Morally Corrupt... ugh... Close the door already!" Feng Miao looked at Cai Tong, who was cowering in the corner. The latter immediately came over, intending to shut the secret door.

"Don't close it yet. We still need to go inside. This matter..."

Before Wang Ping could finish, Guangxuan appeared at the entrance to the Alchemy Room. Looking at the retching crowd, he said, "My Soul Sense detected countless Chaotic Consciousnesses filled with despair, pain, and malice."

"It's inside. You should prepare yourself mentally!" Xia Yao straightened up and pointed through the secret door.

Passing through the secret door...

Inside was a Round Hall. A Round Tumor hung from its ceiling, glowing red. Its light kept the hall illuminated, but also gave the place an eerie atmosphere.

The tumor on the ceiling was connected to the ground by countless Flesh Blocks. Surrounding it were over a thousand Human Pigs soaking in Thick Blood Water. Piled White Bones and Bloated Rotten Corpses floated within the blood water. Those corpses seemed to be fertilizer, nourishing the densely packed Small Tumors covering the surrounding walls.

Everything had been perfectly fused together and linked by a formation to the High Platform in the center, which was formed from Flesh Blocks.

"I had long heard that humans are the most Spiritual Lifeforms in this world. I had also heard... that Evil Cultivators used human lives to construct Spirit Gathering Arrays to aid their cultivation... But that was only hearsay before. I never expected to witness it with my own eyes today. Great Celestial Lord of Primordial Beginning above, how could such an Evil Array exist in this world?!"

Guangxuan's entire body trembled uncontrollably. He had forced those words out through clenched teeth.

"They are using human lives to refine Spiritual Roots, and this isn't the first time." Xia Yao struggled to remain calm. "This is their business!"

"Great Celestial Lord of Primordial Beginning, bless us..."

Feng Miao formed a Daoist hand seal and chanted of the Great Celestial Lord of Primordial Beginning's merits in the mortal world.

Yet Wang Ping, having finished observing the complete formation, wore a baffled expression. His Light Screen Panel had appeared again:

[Yin-Yang Body Tempering Array: Absorbs Sun Moon Essence to temper one's Spiritual Root. Requires tempering the body within the array for two hours. Produces remarkable effects within two years.]

[Note 1: After using this method, the Spiritual Root can never be improved again.]

[Note 2: The degree of Spiritual Root improvement depends entirely on luck. The upper limit is 'lower-middle.']

[Note 3: You need to find Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures of Extreme Yin and Extreme Yang as the Array Eyes, then combine them with Yin-Yang Spiritual Objects and set up Spirit Gathering Arrays at key positions.]

[Note 4: The Yin-Yang Attribute must reach a certain level for it to work. Current progress (65/100), barely qualified.]

[Note 5: The array diagram is as follows...]

A method to improve one's Spiritual Root!

It was absolutely a good thing. Though it was only effective for lower-middle Spiritual Roots, that was more than enough.

Yet such a good thing had become a depraved and evil formation in these people's hands.

"They still have Life Auras!"

After finishing her recitation of the Great Celestial Lord of Primordial Beginning's merits, Feng Miao suppressed the discomfort in her heart and approached one of the Human Pigs to inspect him. He was clearly still alive, but his thoughts were utterly chaotic. He had likely already gone mad.

"That makes it even more hateful!"

Guangxuan rarely became angry. With a sweep of his hand, he said, "Destroy all of this. They should not exist in this world." While he still had the authority to decide, he gave the order.

Upon hearing this, everyone, Wang Ping included, silently withdrew from the hall.

Outside the secret door...

Wang Ping and the others had barely caught their breath when they heard the Human Pigs' screams and cries.

Feng Miao and Xia Yao paused, then rushed out of the Alchemy Room at top speed. Wang Ping followed closely behind, with Cai Tong clinging tightly to his heels.

Back at the pavilion's training ground, no one mentioned what lay behind the secret door again. Each found a quiet place to sit and Enter Meditation.

Sensing the turmoil in Wang Ping's emotions, Yulian opened her eyes and studied him seriously for a while before closing them again, quietly waiting for his heart to settle.

The next day.

At dawn, Feng Miao and Xia Yao came to find Wang Ping. Feng Miao spoke first. "Fellow Changqing, we have caused you much trouble this time. If you ever have need of me in the future, send someone with a letter to White Crane Mountain. I guarantee I will rush over at once!"

"Many thanks, Fellow Daoist, for this time..."

Xia Yao likewise cupped her hands in thanks, then took out a Jade Token marked with the words "Riverside." "For the next few years, I will remain at the Daoist Scripture Hall. If I am not there, then I will have returned to Dongxu Island for Secluded Cultivation Foundation Building. If you need help with an urgent matter, have someone send me a letter. I will certainly give it my all!"

The Mountain Search Operation had ended here. Whether it was the ruins inside or the city established by the Demon, they had already been searched thoroughly. What remained was cleanup, and it was time for Feng Miao and Xia Yao to leave.

Wang Ping should leave as well...

"I'll leave with you. We can part ways once we reach Shang'an Prefecture."

"That works too!"

Thus, the three went to bid Guangxuan farewell. There were no excessive pleasantries and no attempts to make them stay. Partings between Qi Practitioners were the most ordinary of things.

After leaving the Mountain Forest...

Wang Ping saw more than ten Inner Sect disciples from Thousand Wood Temple who had already packed their belongings. Most of them were injured, and one even needed to be carried by a donkey. Fortunately, no one had died. That was likely Guangxuan's care.

There was no need to hurry on the return journey. By the time the group sauntered their way to Shang'an Prefecture City, Eight Days had passed. Yet in merely Eight Days, what had happened in Shu County already seemed like something from the distant past in Wang Ping's memory.

After parting with Feng Miao and Xia Yao in Shang'an Prefecture, Cai Tong thanked Wang Ping over and over before bidding him farewell and returning to his home in Shang'an Prefecture.

The group continued leisurely toward Thousand Wood Temple. Along the way, local Wealthy Households guided them, and whenever the mood struck, they would climb high and gaze into the distance.

By the time they returned to Thousand Wood Temple, it was already November, and the weather had turned cool.

The first thing Wang Ping did, naturally, was go to the Back Mountain to pay respects to Daoist Yucheng. Daoist Yucheng was still as before, sitting in the small courtyard and reading beneath the winter sunlight.

"This Disciple pays respects to Master!" Wang Ping saluted him properly.

"You're back. What did you gain this time?" Daoist Yucheng asked as he invited Wang Ping to sit.

"Yes, this Disciple was just about to tell Master..."

Wang Ping explained everything that had happened after he and Daoist Yucheng parted ways. After some thought, he added, "This Disciple learned a strange secret art from a mural in the Alchemy Room, and would like Master's guidance..."

Daoist Yucheng listened quietly. Even when he heard that Wang Ping had discovered the secret art on the wall, he did not pay it much heed. Once he confirmed Wang Ping had finished, he stroked his beard and said, "There are countless secret arts in this world. Since you have had the fortune to obtain one, try to see whether you can refine it. But you must never cultivate it."

"Yes!"

"Secret arts are no trivial matter. Once you choose one, there is no turning back. Some secret arts are born with flaws—for example, the secret art you obtained this time. To glimpse the vast and distant Supreme Great Dao, there are only seven known secret arts..."

"May this Disciple ask, Master, which seven are they?"

"You will know when you formally begin studying secret arts." Daoist Yucheng shook his head and lifted the teapot to pour Wang Ping some tea.

Yulian woke upon smelling the tea's fragrance, and Daoist Yucheng took out another teacup.

After drinking a cup of tea, Wang Ping said again, "This Disciple also made another gain this time. After observing the formation in the secret chamber hall..." He then reported the matter of the Yin-Yang Body Tempering Array to his Master.

Now that all of Thousand Wood Temple was supporting his cultivation alone, he naturally could not hide a method that might repay them. Besides, only by raising Thousand Wood Temple's overall strength could it provide him with more cultivation materials in the future.

This time, Daoist Yucheng's eyes lit up after hearing him out. He praised, "You truly possess an Innate Spiritual Root..."