Great Sun Tathagata Fist

Feng Xuanzi!

Lu Li was certain of it.

Though the circulation of Demon Tokens had no clear records, a Taoist had appeared in the demon version, and he had already studied the Demon Martial Path for nearly a century.

"Feng Xuanzi studied the Demon Martial Path for sixty years without gaining anything. He possesses the tokens of Bi Fang and Bo... and he also has an Ancient Secret Order."

Lu Li rubbed his chin. Judging by the timeline, Feng Xuanzi was already a Divine Intent Realm expert in the current martial world version, yet he had remained in seclusion and never involved himself in any conflicts of the martial world.

Only after the demon version emerged did he begin traveling the world.

Yet he had never managed to open those tokens.

Because the Demon Martial Path inheritances contained within the tokens could only be opened by players.

Demon Tokens were forged by powerful figures of ancient times. Thirty years later, after demons fully revived, the rudimentary inheritances of the Demon Martial Path would finally emerge into the world.

Once the Demon Martial Path truly became mainstream, it would persist for quite some time. Martial inheritances would gradually be expanded and perfected, demons would be exterminated by martial artists, and then the world's environment would undergo immense changes, giving rise to Blood-and-Qi Great Medicine.

Blood-and-Qi Martial Arts would begin to emerge, the Demon Martial Path would be eliminated, the martial arts system would be updated, and attributes would soar.

Lu Li knew that when Blood-and-Qi Martial Arts were cultivated to their peak, a martial artist's blood and qi could rise like wolf smoke, their physique could become saintly and tyrannical, and they could even achieve Vacuum Shattering!

By then, no one would care about outdated things like Demon Tokens.

Of course, what concerned Lu Li more now was the Ancient Secret Order on Feng Xuanzi.

As far as he knew, the secret order contained a top-tier martial arts inheritance from ancient times: Great Sun Tathagata Fist!

This fist art could be called the origin and essence of Blood-and-Qi Martial Arts. Later, an unparalleled genius would obtain it by chance and use the Great Sun Tathagata Fist to suppress an entire era.

The first expert to achieve Vacuum Shattering was precisely that unparalleled genius.

"Perfect. I need to gather the nine Demon Tokens as well. I should make contact with Feng Xuanzi."

As Lu Li pondered, he seemed to think of something and suddenly froze.

"I encountered demons first, so my panel is for the demon version. If I came into contact with something related to Blood-and-Qi Martial Arts, would my panel switch to a Blood-and-Qi Martial Arts panel?"

"Or even... an Astral Martial Arts panel?"

Lu Li's eyes lit up slightly. Blood-and-Qi Martial Arts could shatter the vacuum at their peak, but they still remained within the limits of mortal flesh and could not fly.

Astral Martial Arts, however, could truly traverse the stars and the universe, leaping into another realm.

That was not merely a crushing advantage from a higher dimension. Astral Martial Arts was an entirely different dimensional system.

"Whew... I can't rush this. Feng Xuanzi is currently in the Divine Intent Realm, while I'm only at the First Layer of Meridian Opening. The gap is too vast. I need to take this slowly."

Lu Li knew that even if he encountered Feng Xuanzi now, he would have no chance of obtaining the Ancient Secret Order from him.

With that thought, he shook his head lightly and sat down cross-legged.

Though he could not skip straight to the prize, the Demon Martial Path was still an era-spanning creation in the present day. It was hardly bad.

Lu Li closed his eyes, immersed his mind, and continued refining the blood and qi within his body.

Time passed, and the night remained sleepless and quiet.

The next morning, dawn light filtered through the window lattice, scattering fragmented golden rays.

Lu Li slowly opened his eyes. A glint flashed through them before vanishing as he rose to his feet, sensed the changes within his body, and nodded in satisfaction.

The second hidden meridian in his body had been filled, and his cultivation had reached the Second Layer of Meridian Opening!

With ample blood and qi, Lu Li cultivated at astonishing speed, as though riding a rocket. In a single night, he had risen another level.

He sensed the reserves of blood and qi within his body.

"About fifteen percent of my blood and qi has been consumed..."

After consecutively advancing to the Second Layer of Meridian Opening, along with the replenishment he had gained earlier from the Flow-Ring Blade, he still had roughly seventy-five percent of his blood and qi remaining.

It was foreseeable that as his realm rose, his blood and qi consumption would inevitably accelerate.

Still...

"It's enough."

After yesterday's battle, Lu Li understood that the stronger he became, the easier it was to obtain blood and qi. Besides, he could make use of poison as well.

"I should find an opportunity to test how effective poison is. Still, poison seems rather expensive. Unlike blood and qi, I can gain that at a huge profit simply by acting chivalrously."

Lu Li was in no hurry. The Essence-Eroding Internal Qi that came with the Xiangliu Martial Dao possessed poisonous effects, but it was not a passive ability. He needed to consciously condense poison into his internal qi, which consumed a great deal of it.

Its effects were extremely powerful, though, so for the time being, he kept it as a trump card.

With his eyes slightly closed, Lu Li sensed the powerful flow of strength through his muscles, bones, and sinews. Upon reaching the Second Layer of Meridian Opening, his internal qi, strength, speed, neural reactions, and more had all increased significantly.

If he encountered the Flow-Ring Blade again now, Lu Li was confident he could defeat his opponent within ten moves.

He called for a servant to bring breakfast and left a portion for the still-sleeping Liu Yueling before continuing to refine blood and qi.

He had become somewhat intoxicated by the feeling of rapidly growing stronger without expending much effort.

Time passed, and in the blink of an eye, another half hour had gone by.

Lu Li had just opened the acupoint of his third hidden meridian when faint footsteps sounded outside the door.

"Hmm?"

Lu Li opened his eyes. Now that he had entered the Second Layer of Meridian Opening, his senses had become extraordinarily sharp. Even through a thick wooden wall, he could roughly sense the aura and pulse of the person beyond it.

The visitor was Tong Xinghe.

Lu Li stopped circulating the Erosion Essence Scripture, rose, and opened the door in advance.

When the door opened, Tong Xinghe stood outside. He had changed into a cloud-colored robe today, making him appear exceptionally refined.

Lu Li noticed that Tong Xinghe held an additional booklet in his hand. It seemed to have been copied only recently, and the scent of fresh ink had yet to fade.

"May I ask why Mr. Tong has come so early in the morning?"

Seeing Lu Li open the door, Tong Xinghe cupped his hands and said,

"Little brother, thank you for your righteous assistance yesterday. Only then were we able to subdue those two Myriad Life Sect villains. After returning yesterday, I discovered this body-tempering martial art, Poison Astral Body, on one of them. I dared not keep it for myself, so I copied it through the night and brought it to you."

Poison Astral Body?

A strange look appeared in Lu Li's eyes.

He was no stranger to this martial art. It was one of the rare martial arts in the martial world that combined poison arts with body tempering.

Its previous owner had relied on this method to roam the martial world with impunity. Later, he offended a formidable enemy and vanished without a trace.

Lu Li vaguely remembered that this technique had fallen into the hands of someone from the Myriad Life Sect, but he had never expected it to be acquired by Red Ghost Buddha.

It had to be said that among early-stage martial arts, this Poison Astral Body counted as a formidable technique.

Lu Li accepted the booklet. Poison Astral Body was a cultivation method that trained both body tempering and poison. Once cultivated to perfection, one's skin would gleam like jade, while one's flesh, blood, and internal qi would all carry fierce poison.

It was equivalent to having a passive layer of poison covering one's body, somewhat different from the Erosion Essence Scripture.

It really was exactly what he had been thinking about!

Lu Li's expression turned slightly strange as he skimmed through it. As a body-tempering martial art, Poison Astral Body could force poisonous blood out of the body and form a layer of pseudo-astral protective qi.

Like a hedgehog with fangs, once mastered, it could provide considerable advantages in battle.