Eternal Undying Art (Revised)

Xiao Meng avoided the others and came alone to the back mountain.

As soon as he entered the forest, Xiao Meng took a spatula and a slingshot from his pack. He tucked the spatula at his waist and hung the slingshot across his chest.

Then he took out a steel spike and a hoe. With the small hoe over his left shoulder and the short steel spike over his right, he would have looked exactly like a great construction worker if he had added a hard hat.

Just as Xiao Meng was about to move forward, he suddenly stopped. His brows furrowed, and he looked up at the sky to see thick dark clouds rolling endlessly overhead.

Plop!

Something unknown suddenly struck him in the face.

Expressionless, Xiao Meng wiped his face with his thumb. When he looked at it clearly, his expression immediately darkened. He muttered, "It's not bird droppings..."

Xiao Meng took a deep breath, then quickly disappeared into the ancient forest. Although this was the Xiao Clan's back mountain, few people came here because it had little value.

"I hope my luck is better today and I can get more drops."

After muttering that, Xiao Meng swung his hoe into the ground. With a bang, there was nothing but a millstone-sized pit in the earth.

A black line appeared across Xiao Meng's forehead.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Seeing forty or fifty empty pits in the ground, Xiao Meng's face nearly twisted.

"Magical hoe, damn your mother, do you have even a shred of shame? You're a high-end product from Earth. Can't you put in some effort and stop disgracing Earthlings?" Xiao Meng suppressed the urge to smash the hoe in half and continued digging.

Bang!

Once the scattered dirt settled, Xiao Meng's eyes lit up. A lotus seed the size of a pigeon egg had appeared in the pit. It was translucent white, as though carved from fine jade, and a rich fragrance washed over him, leaving him refreshed.

"Snow Jade Lotus Seed!"

Overjoyed, Xiao Meng hurriedly picked it up. Only after examining it fondly for a while did he place it in his pack.

Even the hoe was being a bitch!

It really was a bitch of a hoe!

Xiao Meng cursed inwardly a few times before starting to dig again.

Bang!

"Hiss, it's actually a Spirit Fruit. Not bad, not bad. This bitch hoe really delivers." Xiao Meng laughed heartily.

Bang!

Nothing at all.

"Damn it..."

Bang!

"Golden Ginseng, White Orchid Fruit..."

"Haha, good job, bitch hoe!"

After eighty-one swings, Xiao Meng had obtained more than ten kinds of precious medicinal herbs, putting him in an excellent mood.

He put away the hoe, then held the steel spike in his right hand. Quickly arriving before a huge boulder, he thrust the spike forward without another word. After a loud bang, a hole appeared in the rock.

Earth-Core Jade Marrow!

When Xiao Meng saw the fingernail-sized crystal in the hole, glowing softly and shimmering with clarity, his eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets with wild delight.

"Good heavens, this is good stuff. It's incredibly precious." Xiao Meng carefully put it away, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

He struck nine times with the steel spike and got four or five items.

"With these things, I'll definitely break through to the Qi Transformation Realm today." Xiao Meng slung his pack over his shoulder again and happily continued deeper into the forest.

The hoe in his hand could yield treasures when digging earth, and the steel spike could do the same when striking rocks, but both had usage limits. They could only be used once a month. The hoe could dig eighty-one times, and the steel spike could strike nine times. Beyond those limits, they would become ordinary tools, completely useless.

"Hisss..."

After walking only a short distance, Xiao Meng's heart tightened in warning and he abruptly stopped. Looking ahead, he saw a giant snake as thick as a water vat coiled around a tree trunk. It constantly flicked out its black tongue and made hissing sounds that sent chills down one's spine.

"Fuck!"

Xiao Meng quickly took two items from his pack, one in each hand.

"I've got an iron hammer in my right hand, a wrench in my left, a spatula at my waist, and a slingshot on my chest. Gods who block me die, Buddhas who block me die. Why aren't you getting lost?" Xiao Meng waved both hands as if facing a formidable enemy.

Whoosh!

Red light flashed in the giant snake's eyes as it suddenly lunged at Xiao Meng.

"You're courting death!"

Xiao Meng snorted coldly and burst forward. The tiny iron hammer in his hand smashed down fiercely, looking utterly disproportionate.

With a bang, the more than ten-meter-long giant snake took a heavy blow to the head and crashed to the ground. After struggling twice, it went still.

If anyone learned that the trash everyone looked down upon had killed a Level One Magic Beast with a single hammer blow, their eyes would probably fall out.

"A mere crawling snake dares act wild before Brother Meng? You're just asking to die."

Xiao Meng snorted and tucked the wrench into his waist. He grabbed the snake by its tail and dragged it away.

At least dinner is settled, Xiao Meng thought. He had not eaten anything today.

But before he could go far, a vicious bird cry rang out from high in the sky, piercing through metal and stone. Then fierce winds howled through the forest, making leaves rustle violently in a terrifying scene.

Xiao Meng looked up and saw a giant bird diving down at incredible speed. Flames flowed across its body, and its vicious aura was astonishing.

"Damn your ancestors! You think you're so great just because you can fly?"

Xiao Meng's expression turned cold. He removed the slingshot from his chest, took out a steel ball, and quickly aimed at the giant bird. When it was only several dozen feet away, he released the band.

Whoosh!

The steel ball expanded against the wind until it was as large as a fist. Wrapped in blazing flames like a tiny sun, it shot into the sky with lightning speed.

The giant bird let out a shriek and plummeted from the sky, smashing heavily into the ground nearby. The earth trembled, rocks rolled, and a cloud of dust rose up.

Ptooey! Ptooey! Ptooey!

Xiao Meng got a mouthful of dust, and his expression was rather ugly. Once the dust settled, he dragged the snake by its tail with one hand and the bird by its leg with the other, heading deeper into the forest.

"Whether you fly in the sky or run on the ground, there's nothing Brother Meng can't kill."

Before long, he expertly arrived at a cave. After tossing the giant snake and bird aside, he left the cave and climbed a towering ancient tree.

On a branch at the treetop, a woman's bra, shaped like two... bird nests, sat there. Inside were two... grape-sized crimson crystals wrapped in flames.

He called these things Fire Essence.

"After more than a month, they're only this big?" Xiao Meng looked disappointed. He took the two pieces of Fire Essence and jumped down, then climbed several dozen feet farther up the mountain.

Two condoms had swollen to the size of water vats, filled to the brim with Rootless Water. Even the sturdy branches had been bent under their weight.

Seeing this, Xiao Meng sucked in a cold breath. The quality of these condoms was truly beyond reproach. Buy one, and it would last a lifetime.

At the same time, he felt fortunate that the stuff inside was not meant for drinking. Otherwise, it would really be fatal.

Xiao Meng sighed, took down the two condoms, twisted one in each hand, and quickly leaped down the mountain.

Back in the cave, Xiao Meng did not rest for even a moment and continued working. He dragged a bathtub from farther away several meters forward, then poured the Rootless Water from the two condoms into it.

Next, he took out the two pieces of Fire Essence and tossed them into the bathtub. In an instant, the Rootless Water began boiling, bubbling continuously in a way that made one's skin crawl.

Looking at the boiling Rootless Water, Xiao Meng dropped onto a stone beside it with an expression as though life held no meaning.

The reason Xiao Yan was useless was because Xiao Yan's old grandpa had absorbed his battle qi. The reason he himself was useless was that he could not absorb battle qi at all. He was useless through and through.

So the system had made him take another path: body cultivation.

But this was a difficult and painful path.

Every session of body cultivation required enduring inhuman torment.

Once the Rootless Water in the bathtub turned blood-red, Xiao Meng removed his clothes and jumped in naked. The scorching heat made him bare his teeth and suck in sharp breaths, his teeth chattering.

After more than ten minutes passed, he swallowed all the medicinal herbs he had dug up today in one gulp and immediately activated the cultivation technique the system had given him... the Eternal Undying Art.

According to the system, once he cultivated this art to completion, his soul would be indestructible, his body immortal, and he would transcend the world, the Great Dao, time, and everything else.

In short, he would be deathless and indestructible, eternally alive and imperishable.

Before long, Xiao Meng's expression gradually became calm. He sat motionless with a solemn, treasure-like appearance. Light flowed across his crystalline body like faint immortal mist, making him look hazy and indistinct.

As time passed, torrential rain began falling outside.

Boom!

Not until the middle of the night did a powerful aura erupt from his body, sending sand and stones flying through the cave.

At this moment, Xiao Meng's essence and blood surged wildly, like blazing flames burning around his body.

Divine light shone from his eyes, incomparably sharp.

Xiao Meng rose to his feet. At this moment, a grave and imposing aura had appeared around him, like a mountain standing across the land and pressing down upon others.

"I've finally broken through to the Qi Transformation Realm!"

There was not a trace of joy on Xiao Meng's face. Instead, he let out a long sigh.

He would never forget what had happened eight years ago. When he awakened the system, he had set himself a small goal: Battle Emperor in one year, Battle Saint in two, and Battle Sovereign in three.

Yet one month later, the system informed him that he could not cultivate battle qi and never would for the rest of his life.

At the time, he felt as though five bolts of lightning had struck him at once. He was so furious that he nearly shoved his hand into his own head to pull the system out and beat it up.

In the end, the system said that, for now, he could only follow the path of body cultivation.

He was speechless for a long time.

Eventually, he accepted the result. Body cultivation it was! It might be much harder, but as long as he could grow stronger, that was enough.

After all, choosing to be a salted fish back then had only been an act of helpless resignation.

The realms of body cultivation were: Body-Shattering Realm, Heavenly Abode Realm, True Essence Realm, Spirit Transformation Realm...

The Body-Shattering Realm was further divided into nine minor realms: Strength Training Realm, Flesh Training Realm, Organ Training Realm, Sinew Transformation Realm, Bone Tempering Realm, Meridian Condensation Realm, Blood-Qi Realm, Breath-Qi Realm, and Qi Transformation Realm.

Ever since awakening the system, Xiao Meng had always believed that he, a child of the nineties, was the true protagonist. Xiao Yan had transmigrated countless years ago and was already out of date. Even if Xiao Meng chose body cultivation, Xiao Yan could only trail behind him and gaze at his back.

But eight years had passed. A full eight years! He had worked himself to death just to break through to the ninth minor realm of the Body-Shattering Realm—the Qi Transformation Realm.

Was this really the breakthrough speed a protagonist was supposed to have? It was several times slower than a turtle's pace.

Once Xiao Yan and his old grandpa became dry wood meeting blazing fire, it would take less than a year before Xiao Meng would be left eating dust.

Therefore, Xiao Meng seriously suspected that he had transmigrated the wrong way. Other transmigrators either died after being hit by a car, died suddenly from staying up late reading novels or playing games, or found a supreme treasure while exploring and transmigrated afterward.

But he had never heard of anyone transmigrating after rolling down a flight of stairs and falling to death.

It really proved the word "unlucky."

1. The fishing system was neither incomplete nor useless. The reason it did not let Xiao Meng cultivate battle qi was because Xiao Meng would travel back and forth between other worlds.

In terms of power scaling, the strength gaps between levels in Battle Through the Heavens were difficult to balance with those of other worlds, so the protagonist could only make up for it through his physical body for the time being.

Once the protagonist cultivated origin power, whether he cultivated battle qi would no longer matter, since origin power was much more advanced than battle qi. The reason the protagonist was arranged to cultivate the body first was because he would later cultivate divine power, which was related to his physique. [Note: The system said the protagonist could not cultivate battle qi, but that did not mean he could not cultivate other forms of power.]

2. Regarding the level settings, it was my fault for not making things clear. I apologize for that.

The protagonist's realm power ratio compared to the Battle Through the Heavens realms was 70:100.

In other words, once the protagonist cultivated to the seventh realm, he would be able to match an expert at the tenth realm of Battle Through the Heavens.

Only this way would the protagonist's strength not seem too out of place when he traveled to other worlds.

3. As for why Jia Lie Ao was not killed, and why he still had to be saved?

That will all be explained later. Here is a small spoiler: Jia Lie Ao can currently only die at Xiao Yan's hands. This was arranged by the system, and the reason will also be explained later.

4. Regarding helping Xiao Yan.

Xiao Meng helped Xiao Yan because of brotherhood. As for why the system intentionally or unintentionally helped Xiao Yan, that too would be explained later. But the system could never possibly be Xiao Yan's lapdog. [Not a lapdog, not a lapdog, not a lapdog.] It could even be said that the system was using Xiao Yan to block calamities for Xiao Meng.

5. Transmigrators?

The transmigrators in this story were not limited to Xiao Yan and Xiao Meng. I originally thought that, before the story went premium, I would introduce one character who [could be considered a transmigrator, but also could not be considered one]. But I padded things out a little, and the word count I had expected before going premium also seemed to be lower than planned. I apologize for that.

6. Please forgive any poorly written parts. I know my writing is poor, and I have been working hard to improve it, striving not to poison everyone any further.