The breathing and meditation method in the Five Elements True Origin Formula had a unique rhythm: sometimes fast, sometimes slow, sometimes light, sometimes heavy, sometimes relaxed, sometimes measured...
The rhythm could only be described as extremely bizarre and utterly unnatural.
If Shen Gongbao hadn't taught it to him, ordinary people could rack their brains all they wanted and still never come up with such an unusual breathing and meditation method.
At first, Lu Chuan had been made rather miserable by the strange rhythm, but after practicing it repeatedly, he gradually grew accustomed to the difficult-to-fathom pattern of this breathing method.
Next, Shen Gongbao explained the method to Lu Chuan while letting him work it out for himself.
After the time it took to burn one stick of incense.
"All right, stop and get up!"
Shen Gongbao watched the sun rise fully and said, "There are set times for cultivation, too. If you miss them, all your effort will be in vain."
Lu Chuan slowly opened his eyes. He saw the golden morning light spill over him. It was warm and not too bright, and his whole body felt indescribably comfortable.
Though he still couldn't manage the legendary feat of "dining on rosy clouds and breathing in qi," even that brief session of breathing practice had left him invigorated.
"How do you feel?" Shen Gongbao asked.
Lu Chuan got to his feet and took stock of himself, delighted. "Better than ever."
"Having learned my method, even if you can't become an immortal, you can still prolong your life by breathing and meditating this way."
Shen Gongbao stroked his beard and smiled. "After a hundred years, you could preserve a strand of your true spirit and attain the fruition of a Ghost Immortal. Becoming a Yin God in some corner of the world wouldn't be difficult."
"Like that female demon?"
Lu Chuan quickly shook his head. "This disciple's aspirations lie elsewhere."
The Immortal Path was supreme, the Divine Path came next, and the Human Path was the lowest.
The result of this Investiture of the Gods was that some immortals and mortals became more than three hundred of the Heavenly Court's principal gods.
It was true that becoming a god was naturally a good thing for mortals, but it wasn't so for those immortals. Not only did they suffer a great loss in cultivation, they also had to say goodbye to their freedom and take orders from others.
"Not bad, boy. You've got quite an appetite."
Shen Gongbao chuckled. "Come, let's explore Chaoge together today."
"Master, what are we going to Chaoge for?"
Shen Gongbao smiled. "It's been the capital of Yin Shang for six hundred years, the Son of Heaven's seat, and renowned far and wide. How could I leave the mountain without taking a look?"
"Great! I've only been there once, and I was in a hurry, so I didn't get to look around."
The two of them headed toward Chaoge.
Before long, they arrived outside the south gate.
The Chaoge South Gate stood near the army's training grounds. It was densely populated and roads branched out in every direction, making it the busiest part of the city.
Although it was still early, the city gates had already opened. Many vegetable farmers and merchants from the surrounding villages had come into the city that morning.
At the city gate.
People were already coming and going, and the place was growing lively.
But when they were a little over a hundred feet from the south gate, with Chaoge City almost within reach, Shen Gongbao suddenly stopped.
"Master, why have you stopped?" Lu Chuan asked.
The two masters and disciple had chatted and laughed all along the way, finding each other very much to their liking, as if they'd met too late in life. But now Shen Gongbao's expression was complicated.
"Demons are at work, it seems Yin Shang's fate really is nearing its end." Shen Gongbao shook his head with a sigh, then added, "Could this calamity truly be unavoidable?"
At this, Lu Chuan's heart stirred.
Judging by what he'd said, did Shen Gongbao already know about the Investiture of the Gods Catastrophe that would occur before long?
"Master, what calamity?"
"After more than six hundred years, Yin Shang's fate was already in decline."
Shen Gongbao glanced at him, then pointed toward the sky above the city, frowning. "Now a powerful demonic aura rises from the Royal Palace, devouring what little fate remains. The kingdom will fall in no more than twenty or thirty years."
"Demonic aura?"
Lu Chuan looked up above Chaoge City and blinked hard. "Master, I can't see anything."
Shen Gongbao shook his head and held a hand in front of Lu Chuan's eyes. "Close your eyes!"
Lu Chuan quickly did as he was told.
To his astonishment, he saw something despite his closed eyes.
First, a cloudless sky.
Then, above the center of Chaoge City, there was a bird.
A black divine bird, wings spread in flight.
Lu Chuan had read many mythological stories, so he knew of all sorts of divine birds found only in legend.
The Phoenix, the Green Phoenix, the Fire Phoenix, the Great Peng... and the sacred Vermilion Bird, one of the Four Spirits of Heaven and Earth.
But none of those birds looked anything like the black divine bird he saw now.
It resembled a sparrow, but was enormous. When its wings spread, they covered the Royal Palace below.
Its entire body was black, with dark light swirling around it.
Black was naturally a color that made people feel uncomfortable, yet, strangely, Lu Chuan felt no such thing from this black divine bird.
At that moment, however, the bird looked sickly and listless.
Besides, an eerie red light flickered beside its head.
"I can see it..." Lu Chuan murmured. "A huge black bird, and an eerie... red light!"
"The Mysterious Bird of Heaven's Mandate descended and gave birth to Shang. This bird is the Mysterious Bird, formed from the gathered fate of Yin Shang. The red light is demonic radiance."
Shen Gongbao said gravely, "The kingdom's fate is being devoured day by day. Hmph, what a hopelessly benighted ruler. My senior brother Yun Zhongzi went to all that trouble to carve a wooden sword and suppress the demon for him!"
"The Mysterious Bird..."
Lu Chuan's heart stirred. The word "mysterious" also meant black, and in the ancient Five Elements, black represented water in the north.
As for the Black Tortoise of the North, one of the Four Spirits, it was said to be a black tortoise carrying a black snake on its back. He wondered whether this strange creature had evolved through two beings merging, or if it had been born with a tortoise and snake as one.
Hmm, worth investigating!
The Classic of Mountains and Seas recorded that within the North Sea stood a mountain called Mount Youdu. Black Water flowed from it, and on the mountain were the Mysterious Bird, the Black Snake, the Black Leopard, the Black Tiger, the Black Fox...
He didn't know whether any of these were divine beasts, but they were probably all black.
He'd originally thought the Mysterious Bird was the Phoenix from legend!
He'd heard the phrase "The Mysterious Bird of Heaven's Mandate descended and gave birth to Shang" before. If he remembered correctly, it came from the "Shang Hymns" in the Classic of Poetry.
It meant that the Mysterious Bird had come bearing Heaven's Mandate and given birth to the ancestor of Yin Shang.
But before long, another line, "The Phoenix sang on Qi Mountain," would symbolize the new owner of all under Heaven.
"Master, could you tell your disciple more?"
"One year ago, your martial uncle Yun Zhongzi saw a demonic radiance causing trouble above the Royal Palace of Yin Shang, bringing chaos to the world.
"To save the people and prevent the calamity, he carved a wooden sword, hurried here from Mount Zhongnan, and presented the sword to Di Xin to suppress the demon."
Shen Gongbao said, "All that was needed was to hang the wooden sword in the palace for three days, and the demon inside would surely die.
"But do you know what happened? Your martial uncle had barely left the Royal Palace, and hadn't even left Chaoge, when that benighted ruler ordered someone to burn the wooden sword. Hmph, what a fool of a ruler..."
Shen Gongbao grew indignant as he spoke, while Lu Chuan remained silent beside him.
Yun Zhongzi?
He vaguely remembered this person. He was one of Yuanshi's disciples, an immortal of the Exposition Sect who usually cultivated on Mount Zhongnan.
Later, after Su Daji entered the palace and threw the court into chaos, he had indeed come to Chaoge with a sword to eliminate the demon.
Later still, when the great calamity began, all the Twelve Golden Immortals except him fell victim to the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation, the calamity that stripped them of the three flowers above their heads and scattered the five qi in their chests.
"Master, what does all this have to do with the calamity you mentioned?" Lu Chuan asked.
Shen Gongbao said, "Let's go into the city first. Once we've settled in, I'll explain it all to you."
"Oh, all right!"
Lu Chuan nodded. After all these years, he'd forgotten even more of the details of Investiture of the Gods. He only remembered the scenes that everyone knew by heart.
Besides, what interested him most about Investiture of the Gods were its powerful magical treasures and its countless strange arts.
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