"Roar~~~"
A series of roars echoed from deep within the mountain range, accompanied now and then by the thunderous crashes of rocks and trees breaking apart.
"Boom~~~~"
With a deafening crash, the depths of the mountains finally fell silent.
At the edge of the mountain forest stood a large group of Black Sly Beasts.
Men and women rode on their backs, and quite a few children were bound to their parents' chests with leather straps.
Every face was etched with deep exhaustion. Some riders were even swaying atop their Black Sly Beasts.
At the head of the group, a young woman clad in black leather armor and carrying a bow kept her eyes fixed on the distant forest.
"Brother, it's been quiet for a while now. Why hasn't Zhou Hao come back yet?" Xiangcao asked, worry written across her face.
"Miss Xiangcao, the young master can slay Great Demons. A single Earth Armor Dragon that hasn't yet become an Xiantian Lifeform is nothing to him," Ren Liang reassured her.
"That's right." Iron Ox nodded.
Three days had passed since they had killed Motai Jie and the Black Panther Great Demon. The members of the entire Iron Ox Tribe had ridden the Black Sly Beasts left behind by the Black Armor Guard and fled at a full gallop, covering nearly thirty thousand li in one go.
Whenever they encountered a demon beast blocking their way, Zhou Hao had simply controlled his flying knives with his divine sense to kill it. His overwhelming strength had long since earned everyone's admiration.
In everyone's hearts, Zhou Hao was the Xiantian Lifeform of their Iron Ox Tribe, the strongest of them all!
Whoosh!
A figure appeared in the distant forest like a wisp of smoke. After a few flickers, he was standing before the group.
"Zhou Hao!" Xiangcao called out first.
"Young master."
"Brother Zhou."
Ren Liang, Iron Ox, and the others now saw clearly that the newcomer was indeed Zhou Hao.
Zhou Hao nodded to everyone, then pointed to a small peak in the forest behind him.
"I found an Earth Armor Dragon's lair in that peak. We've been traveling nonstop for the past few days, and everyone's exhausted," Zhou Hao said. "The lair is quite well hidden. Let's rest here for two days before moving on."
"Good." Iron Ox and the others readily agreed.
To evade the pursuit of the Black Hand Tribe's Xiantian Lifeform experts, they had run for three straight days. They had truly reached their limit.
Several of the Black Sly Beasts had even dropped dead on the run, foaming at the mouth.
The Iron Ox Tribe followed Zhou Hao into the forest. Before long, they arrived at the foot of a peak.
The peak wasn't very tall, only about two hundred zhang high. At its base was a cave roughly ten zhang tall.
The clearing in front of the cave was now covered in large pits, and broken trees lay scattered all around.
A fearsome beast with blue-brown scales lay on the ground. Blood still flowed from its body, nearly filling the pit beneath it.
"Earth Armor Dragons are good at burrowing." Zhou Hao patted the beast's two sharp foreclaws. "It's nearly hollowed out this entire peak. The tunnels in its lair are spacious enough to hold every one of us with room to spare."
At last able to rest, the exhausted members of the Iron Ox Tribe rallied and tidied up the tunnels in the Earth Armor Dragon's lair. They spread out the animal hides they had brought to use as bedding, then promptly flopped down and fell asleep.
Iron Ox had Zhamu, Qingshi, and the others roughly conceal the cave entrance, then arranged for Blind Man and the rest to take turns keeping watch.
Only after taking care of everything did he follow the winding tunnel upward, arriving at a spacious cavern about twenty zhang in diameter.
Judging by its position, the cavern lay halfway up the peak. Its walls were smooth stone, as though someone had hollowed out a single enormous block of blue stone.
Best of all, one side of the cavern ceiling held dozens of holes of various sizes. It was impossible to tell whether the Earth Armor Dragon had deliberately left them while digging or had broken through the rock by accident.
Sunlight streamed in through those openings, the largest no bigger than a human head, keeping the cavern from growing dark.
Zhou Hao, Xiangcao, and Ren Liang were already inside. Zhou Hao had even used his flying knives to carve out simple stone furniture, including stools and a table.
"Everything outside is taken care of." The moment Iron Ox entered the cavern, he asked impatiently, "Shall we start now?"
"Mm. Let's start now." Zhou Hao nodded.
He had been looking forward to this for a long time as well.
He had finally obtained a cultivation technique from Motai Jie's Mustard Stone Space—and not just any technique, but the legendary greatest God-Devil Body Refining technique. Naturally, he wanted to begin cultivating as soon as possible and increase his strength.
Especially since he had wiped out a squad of Black Armor Guards from the Black Hand Tribe, and even killed their young master and his spirit-beast Great Demon. The Black Hand Tribe's future retaliation remained a hidden threat.
So, while they were on the run, Zhou Hao had discussed it with Iron Ox. Once they found a suitable place to rest, the few of them would try cultivating this technique.
"Young master, I once heard Motai Jie say that the Chiming Nine Heavens Map was recognized throughout the Endless Lands as the foremost God-Devil Body Refining method. It was also the most widely circulated and easiest technique to obtain. Almost every large tribe and clan had a copy."
Ren Liang looked at Zhou Hao, admiration in his eyes. "Even so, not everyone gets the chance to cultivate it."
Zhou Hao wasn't greedy for wealth, and he was even willing to share a technique like this with Iron Ox and the others. Moreover, during the three days Ren Liang had spent with him, Zhou Hao had never humiliated or bullied him. He had even forbidden Ren Liang from addressing him as his master.
Still, Ren Liang didn't dare call Zhou Hao by name, so he had continued to address him as young master.
Being treated as an equal was something Ren Liang had never experienced before.
Now that his former young master, Motai Jie, was dead, if Ren Liang returned alive, he would surely be buried alongside him.
Since that was the case, Ren Liang had come to terms with it. He might as well follow this mysterious and powerful young master.
"It may be easy to obtain, but it's also the hardest to cultivate." Zhou Hao shook his head with a smile.
Easy to obtain was only relative to those great tribes. A tribe like the Iron Ox Tribe didn't have a copy.
But Zhou Hao was secretly glad the great tribes hadn't valued the Chiming Nine Heavens Map too highly. Otherwise, Motai Jie wouldn't have carried a copy around with him.
"It really is difficult," Ren Liang said with a sigh. "I saw Motai Jie carry it around for two years and try countless times, but he couldn't even get started."
As the greatest God-Devil Body Refining technique, the Chiming Nine Heavens Map had several major hurdles.
The very first hurdle, entering the path, had stumped countless cultivators who had been filled with hope.
According to the text, other God-Devil Body Refining methods absorbed the energy of heaven and earth, or drew upon such forces as fire, water, and lightning. But to even begin cultivating the Chiming Nine Heavens Map, one had to sense the 'Taiyin' and 'Taiyang' above, then absorb the Power of Taiyin and Power of Taiyang from the two Supreme Stars.
No matter how hard they tried, many cultivators couldn't sense the two stars. They couldn't even get started, much less continue cultivating.
And that was only the first hurdle!
After sensing the two Supreme Stars and getting started, cultivators had to keep absorbing the Power of Taiyin and Power of Taiyang. Divine power would then gather in their bodies of its own accord, gradually forming Divine Patterns.
Only when the Lunar Divine Pattern and Solar Divine Pattern had both naturally gathered and taken shape would the first stage of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map be considered complete!
That was the second hurdle of cultivating the Chiming Nine Heavens Map.
Many people could just barely sense the two stars of Taiyin and Taiyang and pass the first hurdle. But the Power of Taiyin and Power of Taiyang they drew in were so scant that they might spend decades without condensing the two Divine Patterns.
If they couldn't perfect the first stage, then cultivating the stages beyond it was naturally nothing but an idle dream.
"Whether we can do it or not, we'll find out when we try." Iron Ox smiled.
He and Xiangcao had already read the cultivation method in the Chiming Nine Heavens Map and understood its difficulties. It would be great if they managed to cultivate it, but even if they didn't, it didn't matter.
Just having the chance to cultivate this legendary body-refining technique was already an enormous stroke of luck!
"Then you can cultivate first. I'll keep watch for you." Zhou Hao nodded.
After all, Ren Liang was still there, so they needed to take some precautions.
The method for cultivating the first stage of the Chiming Nine Heavens Map was simple. It consisted of nine illustrations, and all they had to do was follow the poses shown.
Iron Ox and Xiangcao took their places apart from each other. After quietly adjusting their breathing, they closed their eyes and raised their hands high. Then they knelt and bowed toward the front.
This was the first illustration: Worship Sun and Moon.
The two performed the movements in the nine illustrations one by one, carrying a faint, mysterious, ancient charm.
It was like some strange religious dance, a ritual offering to mighty ancient gods.
Zhou Hao watched in silence, his thoughts drifting elsewhere.
When he had first seen the Chiming Nine Heavens Map, he had felt that it seemed strangely familiar.
After learning from Ren Liang that this world was ruled by the Great Xia Dynasty, which had existed since the Age of Gods and Demons...
And after connecting that with the familiar greatest God-Devil Body Refining technique, the Chiming Nine Heavens Map, Zhou Hao finally understood why it had seemed familiar.
"This is clearly the world of Desolate Era." Zhou Hao sighed inwardly.
It was a web novel he had read in his first life.
His frail body had forced Zhou Hao to spend most of each day lying in bed. Books and the internet had been his only pastimes.
Back then, he had felt a powerful connection to the protagonist, Ji Ning, whose life had also been plagued by a terminal illness.
Later, the extraordinary chance Ji Ning received when he died and was reborn had made Zhou Hao countless times imagine how wonderful it would be if he could also reincarnate into another world.
Right up until the end of his life, Zhou Hao had regretted not getting to see Ji Ning's performance at the Immortal Fate Assembly.
He never would have imagined that in this life, he would be reborn in the world of Desolate Era, even arriving in one of the three thousand great worlds described in the book: the Xia Clan Great World.
"So the place where Master and I lived before was one of countless minor worlds in the Three Realms? Could it even have been the same minor world where Ji Ning lived before he was reborn?"
Zhou Hao's mind filled with countless questions and guesses.
"I wonder if the original protagonist, Ji Ning, has been born yet. Will the original plot still unfold the same way?"
"I'll find a chance to confirm what year it is now." Zhou Hao made up his mind.
If he got the chance to meet Ji Ning, sharing wine and conversation with the protagonist of a novel he loved sounded like a lot of fun.
A lot of people who enjoy fanfiction probably just want to have fun, strive, and grow alongside the characters they love, right?
However, Seeking the Dao and Longevity is Suifeng's last fanfiction practice piece. Everything has been prepared as though it were a new book, and the original protagonist won't get much page time. Everything will center on Zhou Hao.
Also, new readers who haven't read the original novel don't need to worry. Just treat this as a new book. Hehe.
Oh, one last thing: the contract for this book has already been sent out, and it may be marked as signed in the next couple of days.
If you haven't invested yet, hurry up! Those of you who already have, please show your support with a share of your earnings, monthly votes, or the like.
Suifeng thanks all you big shots!
Before you continue