My Family

Chu Hongshang successfully took Shi Xueyan as her master, and under Chen Yuan's manipulation, the plot returned to its starting point once more.

The only change might have been the Wang Family of South Mountain City.

This time, Chen Yuan had dragged the Wang Family out as a target, nearly scaring them to death.

Some jianghu people overheard the conversation between Shi Xueyan and Chu Hongshang, and word spread.

At the same time, someone recognized Shi Xueyan's identity, and the Wang Family immediately panicked.

They had never expected Chu Hongshang to survive while the Zhu Family was wiped out first.

And Chu Hongshang had even taken Shi Xueyan as her master and joined the Myriad Demons Sect.

With such hatred for the Wang Family, once her cultivation achieved success in the future, would that not be the day the Wang Family was exterminated?

Thus, after panicking for several months, the Wang Family decided to flee North Sea Market. They even changed their names and surnames, abandoning their ancestors altogether.

Of course, that was all a later matter.

With matters at North Sea Market temporarily settled, Chen Yuan did not leave.

He prepared to cultivate the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method" and first resolve the hidden danger of his uncontrollable Blood Fiend Power.

There was still a month before the Demon-Sealing Conference began, so Chen Yuan had plenty of time to prepare.

The "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method" was very peculiar. It was neither an internal cultivation method nor a martial skill. Strictly speaking, it should have been a secret art for developing one's own potential.

The core philosophy of the Creation Dao Sect was to control one's own creation, then use oneself to control the creation of Heaven and Earth.

The outside world was the greater Heaven and Earth, while the human body was the lesser Heaven and Earth.

The human body was unfathomably profound. The Upper Dantian lay atop the head, known as Rising Yang Mansion and Kunlun Summit, where the Spirit Platform Profound Gate resided. It was the spiritual root of Heaven and Earth, the Sea of Consciousness.

The Middle Dantian lay at the Chest Center. From below the saliva-bearing point were the twelve-story towers leading to the Yellow Court; the five viscera and six bowels each performed their own duties, forming the foundation of the human body.

The Lower Dantian lay beneath the navel, known as the Qi Sea, the place where life was stored. The water and fire of heart and kidneys, dragon and tiger converging, governed the balance of yin and yang. It was where the profound gate of life and death lay.

The Creation Dao Sect believed that the reason most people could not escape birth, aging, illness, and death was merely because they drifted through life in a muddled haze, never truly grasping the mysteries of their own bodies.

Thus, one had to cultivate the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method," treating one's own body as a "deity" to cultivate, and completely take control of the lesser Heaven and Earth within.

Then, supplemented by the "Son of Heaven Qi-Watching Art" to grasp the creation of Heaven and Earth, one could break through the profound gate of life and death, see the deity without decay, and live forever without dying.

After carefully studying the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method," Chen Yuan firmly believed in its first half, but the final claim of immortality was somewhat exaggerated.

Even in the Primordial Era, those powerful legendary experts among Gods and Devils could not attain immortality.

How many outstanding heroes and peerless prodigies had there been in this jianghu, only to become a handful of yellow earth in the end?

That so-called immortality was merely a goal the Creation Dao Sect wished to attain. Yet even when its lineage was extinguished, no one had achieved it.

And after Chen Yuan formally began cultivating the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method," he finally understood why the Creation Dao Sect's lineage had ultimately been extinguished.

Because the threshold for cultivating this thing was far too high!

The first step, inwardly observing the Upper, Middle, and Lower Dantians, already required extraordinarily high comprehension.

Then came visualizing the inner scenery and deity, gradually taking control of the mysteries of the flesh. That required the cultivator's mind to be unprecedentedly powerful.

Otherwise, one wrong step could easily throw the meridians into disorder and lead to qi deviation.

Fortunately, this body of Chen Yuan's possessed astonishing talent and comprehension, allowing him to cultivate the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method."

The Chu Family's ancestors had been disciples of the Creation Dao Sect, but they likely could not cultivate the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method" either. Otherwise, the Chu Family would not have fallen to such a state.

Having such a high starting point for a cultivation method was not necessarily a good thing, because it could easily become impossible to pass down.

Whether sects or aristocratic families in the Central Plains jianghu, their cultivation methods had undergone generations of inheritance and refinement. They went from simple to complex, with a low floor and high ceiling.

Only such cultivation methods were suitable for top great powers to use as inheritance methods.

Otherwise, no matter how powerful a cultivation method or secret art was, if only one or two people out of a sect of thousands could cultivate it, a break in the generations could easily occur.

The Creation Dao Sect's cultivation methods were exactly like that; their starting point was too high.

In the Central Plains, they could still rely on the enormous population base to seek out disciples with good talent.

But overseas, the population was already sparse and further separated by island after island. Finding disciples was even more difficult, so the Creation Dao Sect's lineage gradually died out, and its descendant disciples chose to return to the Central Plains.

However, although the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method" had a high threshold, its effects were also exceedingly miraculous.

After Chen Yuan cultivated it for only one day and gained a preliminary foothold, he felt his control over his body increase greatly.

Whether his five senses or explosive strength, all had improved by a large margin.

And when he once more aroused killing intent and Blood Fiend entered his body, he could gradually control that boiling blood and qi to suppress the Blood Fiend, rather than being swept along by it as it madly burned his blood and qi.

Previously, Chen Yuan could maintain Blood Fiend entering his body for at most five breaths. Now, it was roughly thirty breaths.

That was only the absolutely safe duration. If he truly engaged in desperate combat, the Blood Fiend would not lose control for up to one hundred breaths, and afterward, it could still be suppressed.

It was only that after thirty breaths, his meridians would suffer some damage from being unable to withstand the violent Blood Fiend.

And as the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method" gradually deepened, sooner or later Chen Yuan would be able to completely control the Blood Fiend Power brought by the Seven Kill Stele.

Chen Yuan also swallowed and refined the Radiant Extreme Qi-Congealing Pill seized from the Zhu Family.

Pills produced by such top great sects almost had no side effects. Once the medicinal power entered the body, it nourished things in silence, smoothly strengthening and increasing his internal force.

After several cultivation cycles, Chen Yuan's internal force and true qi surged by a great deal. With the pill's assistance, he directly stepped into the middle stage of the Qi Forging Realm.

"This 'Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method' truly deserves to be a Heaven Tier existence."

Chen Yuan let out a long breath and sighed.

Although he had relied on pills to enter the middle stage of the Qi Forging Realm this time, the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method" had actually played the greatest role.

The Radiant Extreme Qi-Congealing Pill was extremely effective for Blood-Shifting Realm martial artists, but for Qi Forging Realm martial artists, it was merely for daily supplementary cultivation. One pill could not raise a minor realm.

Chen Yuan had broken through because the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method" allowed him to initially grasp the mysteries of his flesh.

Whether his meridians or acupoints, Chen Yuan already knew their operational patterns like the back of his hand. It was equivalent to developing his own potential anew, leaving his body somewhat hollow in terms of strength instead.

With a pill entering his stomach and filling that vacancy in power, he was naturally able to step into the middle stage of the Qi Forging Realm.

Though this secret art could not directly increase strength and possessed no killing power,

once one entered its gates and grasped the mysteries of the flesh, both cultivation speed and control over other martial skills could surge by a great margin.

Only after his cultivation stabilized did Chen Yuan set out for Demon-Sealing Valley, preparing for the Demon-Sealing Conference.

Cultivating the "Inner Scenery Deity Visualization Method" could not be accomplished in one stroke. For now, Chen Yuan's preliminary entry was enough.

What remained was to observe the inner scenery every day, develop the mysteries of the human body, and gradually control the deity of the inner scenery. Once he achieved great mastery, situations such as the Blood Fiend losing control would no longer occur.

Three days after Chen Yuan left North Sea Market, five jianghu people wearing golden brocade robes and golden feather phoenix crowns appeared in North Sea Market, riding fiery red, magnificent divine steeds.

These five exuded overwhelming nobility. Their magnificent horses were clearly rare mutant steeds, while the sword and saber scabbards at their sides were incomparably luxurious. They were evidently from a top great power.

"Junior Brother Zhu, I heard you were born in North Sea Market?"

Among the five, a martial artist in his thirties with two carefully groomed mustaches spoke.

"Indeed. Not far from North Sea Market lies Lone Mountain City, where my Zhu Family is located.

This little place, North Sea Market, has nothing particularly fresh. Only the fish, shrimp, and seafood are somewhat novel.

My fellow senior brothers have endured a weary journey by boat and carriage. Why not visit my Zhu Family to rest awhile and taste the local specialties before we continue?"

A young martial artist around twenty-four or twenty-five smiled as he extended the invitation.

He resembled Zhu Chengan by about thirty percent, though he was younger and more handsome. He was Zhu Chengzong, the fifth son of the Zhu Family, who had entered Yongzhou's great Radiant Extreme Sect.

"Junior Brother Zhu has not returned home for so long. How could he pass by his own door without entering?"

The senior brother smiled. "There are still two months until Patriarch Murong's birthday. Let us rest at Junior Brother Zhu's home for a few days. What do you all think?"

The other several Radiant Extreme Sect disciples present did not refuse and all voiced their agreement.

They were all direct descendants of the Radiant Extreme Sect. However, Zhu Chengzong's master was a tremendously powerful elder within the Radiant Extreme Sect, so they were willing to give Zhu Chengzong this courtesy.

Thus, led by Zhu Chengzong, the group passed through North Sea Market and headed straight for Lone Mountain City.

As they passed along the central road of North Sea Market, Zhu Chengzong spotted a pool of blood on the ground.

The Zhu Family's heads had been left there for several days until they stank, and they had only been cleared away two days earlier.

Had Zhu Chengzong arrived two days sooner, he might still have been able to collect whole corpses for his family.

At this moment, he thought it was merely a bloodstain left by some jianghu people injured while fighting on the road, so he paid it no attention at all.

After returning all the way to Lone Mountain City, Zhu Chengzong felt that something was strange.

The expressions of those coming and going through Lone Mountain City subtly changed when they saw Zhu Chengzong, and their gazes were exceedingly strange.

Everyone in Lone Mountain City knew that he had entered the Radiant Extreme Sect, while the Zhu Family itself already dominated Lone Mountain City.

Thus, whenever they saw him return, everyone in Lone Mountain City would rush to flatter and curry favor with him, greeting him and offering salutes.

But this time, not a single person greeted or saluted him. They even seemed somewhat eager to avoid him.

For some reason, a trace of foreboding rose in Zhu Chengzong's heart.

When they reached Zhu Family Manor, Zhu Chengzong's expression changed drastically.

The once splendid and magnificent Zhu Family Manor was now utterly ruined. Bloodstains covered the surroundings, and even the gold-inlaid plaque had been torn down.

A faint stench of decaying corpses drifted from within the manor, where many bodies could vaguely be seen lying.

Chen Yuan had not looted too many things from the Zhu Family.

But after the Zhu Family was destroyed, those who held grudges against them, along with some bold people, entered Zhu Family Manor and looted it. They carried away everything valuable, then directly left Lone Mountain City.

After all, so many people had stolen things that even if Zhu Chengzong returned, he would not be able to find them.

The Radiant Extreme Sect senior brother glanced at Zhu Family Manor and lightly shook his head. "It seems Lone Mountain City suffered a massacre some time ago. The entire family must have been wiped out, leaving not even someone to collect the bodies. Whose family was so miserable?"

Zhu Chengzong stared blankly at the wrecked Zhu Family Manor, his eyes lifeless. "My family."

The senior brother: "..."