The Eight Extraordinary Skills—or rather, immortal techniques.
Without the realm of immortals yet possessing immortal techniques was no different from a child carrying gold through a bustling market. A common man was innocent, but possessing a jade was a crime.
That was the source of chaos, and also what Lin Xian considered the Longevity Calamities.
If Quanxing obtained the Eight Extraordinary Skills, they would not be children carrying gold. They would be madmen holding nuclear bombs, acting without restraint and only adding chaos upon chaos.
"Stirring up trouble?" Xia He's face darkened, fury surging within her. She could not help sneering. "Senior, aren't you collecting the Eight Extraordinary Skills just like us? When exactly do you plan to attain immortality?"
"I remember giving you some face just now." Lin Xian remained calm. He did not indulge Xia He. He directly picked her up and hurled her into the courtyard, face-first into the ground, instantly smashing out a huge crater.
The Shrouding Method made the fleshly body invincible. Even without circulating their divine power or techniques, Life Spring cultivators possessed terrifying strength. With a casual strike, Xia He, one of Quanxing's Four Madmen, was sent flying without the slightest ability to resist.
Looking at Xia He bleeding incessantly in the pit, Lin Xian showed not a trace of emotion. His eyes were as pure as an infant's as he said calmly, "What is immortality? Why become an immortal? You ask me—but has your Quanxing ever considered those questions?"
"In the eyes of ordinary mortals who lived less than a century, Otherworlders like you, who fly through the skies and vanish into the earth, are immortals."
"In the eyes of Otherworlders, cultivators like me, who travel through the air and walk upon golden bridges, are like True Immortals."
"Do you know what kind of existence counts as an immortal in my eyes?"
"A short-lived creature cannot comprehend a long-lived one; a cicada cannot know spring and autumn. There are heavens beyond heavens, immortals above immortals, and the Dao has no end."
"The Four Madmen, Quanxing—you merely indulge your desires. You have techniques but no Dao. A pack of people chasing desires and techniques, and you dare mention the Immortal Dao to me?"
Lin Xian flicked a finger, and countless Divine Runes leaped forth like chains, hanging the battered Xia He upside down from a tree in the backyard like a rag doll.
Xia He coughed blood, her eyes filled with red veins. She felt as if every bone in her body had broken. After being beaten repeatedly, even a clay figure would have some anger, let alone an unrestrained Quanxing member.
A vicious aura rose within her. At that moment, she no longer cared about her life and only wanted a moment of satisfaction. She cursed loudly, "You old freak! You bastard! What are you pretending to be so lofty for? Aren't you just as greedy for the Eight Extraordinary Skills as we are?"
"You hypocrite, what difference is there between you and Quanxing? We're all just black mud in the same swamp."
"I think you look even more like Quanxing than I do."
"Quanxing? I am not Quanxing." Lin Xian laughed freely and extended a slender, fair finger, pressing it against Xia He's head like a gun. "You are still following in Wugensheng's footsteps, while what I have comprehended has already surpassed Wugensheng."
"The same Immortal Ascension Road may be the same at the beginning, but the farther one goes, the more vastly different the Longevity Methods one comprehends become."
"Stones from other hills may be used to polish jade."
"The Eight Extraordinary Skills are merely stepping stones for me, not my method of immortality."
"Whether I have them or not is only a matter of how fast I walk."
"If you want to die, I can grant your wish right now."
"I am not some delicate Zhang Lingyu. I have plenty of methods and power."
Xia He's expression stiffened as she hung from the tree. Her heart pounded wildly, and fear rose within her. Could this old freak really be close to becoming an immortal?
Could it be that he truly did not need the Eight Extraordinary Skills?
Did she no longer have any value to him?
"Senior, you jest." Xia He wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth while hanging from the tree, revealing a dazzling smile. "Those who understand the times are true heroes. This junior is willing to serve Senior."
"That's more like it." Lin Xian nodded in satisfaction, then waved his hand and released the Divine Rune chains. Smiling, he said, "This old man is not some demon. Work properly, and once the matter is done, I'll let you go."
"But if you botch it, I'll hang you on Mount Longhu for three days and three nights, then kill you, this Quanxing demoness, right in front of Zhang Lingyu."
"Tell me, will Perfected Lingyu choose to swallow his anger, or betray Mount Longhu and die alongside a Quanxing demoness?"
"Don't think about running. With my cooperation with the Nadutong Company, we can find you at any time."
"In modern society, surveillance cameras are everywhere."
Xia He suddenly stopped breathing. A chill rose from the soles of her feet, raced up her spine, and shot into the crown of her head. Her entire body trembled, with only four words echoing in her mind.
"Killing the body, condemning the heart!"
Sure enough, compared to her, one of the Four Madmen, Lin Xian was more like Quanxing.
He did not care if people cursed him. He only cared whether the job could be done.
He was an utterly lawless heavenly demon!
"Yes, Senior." Xia He was terrified. This time, she put away every seductive gesture and lowered her head respectfully, giving him a sincere bow.
Quanxing feared no death and acted however they pleased. The only thing that could command Quanxing was another Quanxing.
Watching Xia He's departing figure, Lin Xian did not care in the slightest. From beginning to end, he had never regarded Xia He as significant.
Swaying back indoors, he hummed a tune. "The human world's rivers and lakes have three thousand measures of destiny; eight measures return to the Dragon-Tiger. Heaven and earth, mountains and waters, righteous law and Five Thunders—all belong to one man, dwelling upon a lonely peak in the heavens..."
There was only one opponent in this world.
What Two Heroes? What Four Madmen? They were not worth mentioning. No matter how many marvelous methods or divine abilities one possessed, a single slap would settle it—at most, another slap. For more than a century, the Old Celestial Master alone had suppressed the entire world.
Against the Heaven-Connecting Daoist, no amount of caution was excessive. It would be best to prepare some tricks beyond the board.
Sitting cross-legged indoors, Lin Xian observed the lake of his heart. Qi-State Origin-Flow circulated on its own as he discussed and analyzed matters with System 10086. After a long while, both agreed that there were two of the Eight Extraordinary Skills most suited to the Shrouding Method system, and they should be acquired first.
The first was naturally Qi-State Origin-Flow. Lin Xian had fused it into the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm, transforming the Qi Infant into a star god that governed the cosmic Sea of Bitterness, assisted cultivation, refined essence into Qi, produced the profound and mysterious Innate Qi, and nourished his body.
The other Eight Extraordinary Skill was "Six Vaults Immortal Thief."
This technique could not only strengthen the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm, but was also tailor-made for the Dao Palace Secret Realm.
The Dao Palace differed from the Sea of Bitterness. It was divided into five realms and cultivated the five viscera: the divine storehouse of the heart, the divine storehouse of the liver, the divine storehouse of the spleen, the divine storehouse of the lungs, and the divine storehouse of the kidneys.
Six Vaults Immortal Thief was the pinnacle of body cultivation. Its "Six Vaults" referred to the six bowels: the large intestine, small intestine, stomach, triple burner, gallbladder, and bladder. Based on those six organs, it forged a perfect system of absorption and digestion.
System 10086's ethereal voice rang across the lake of his heart:
"Six Vaults Immortal Thief, also known as Sage Thief, has three primary functions."
"First: perfectly digest food and convert its nutrients into Qi."
"Second: seize the Fortune of heaven and earth, absorbing the vitality of heaven and earth for one's own use."
"Third: because it absorbs the vitality of heaven and earth, it can assimilate with heaven and earth and conceal oneself."
A gleam flashed in Lin Xian's eyes, and he could not help praising it. "Digestion, seizing, concealment... It truly is the extraordinary skill best suited to the Shrouding Method system. Its compatibility is even greater than Qi-State Origin-Flow's."
If this extraordinary skill could be used properly and integrated into the Shrouding Method scriptures, it would certainly greatly increase the cultivation speed of the Dao Palace Secret Realm.
Primordial Essence Qi generated life; Postnatal Essence Qi nourished it.
Primordial Essence Qi accompanied a person's birth and marked the beginning of one's personal heaven and earth. When the form was complete, the spirit was born; when the form decayed, the spirit perished.
Postnatal Essence Qi, meanwhile, had to be obtained through refinement, nourishing the spirit and sustaining life.
Six Vaults Immortal Thief was precisely the best method for refining essence qi. Its enormous flaw after successful cultivation was a change in one's mentality: unable to find anything they wanted to do, one's heart would become incomparably hollow.
Lin Xian speculated that this was because cultivation of life was excessive while cultivation of nature was insufficient, causing the six spirits to lose their master. In the end, one would become a walking corpse, like a puppet waiting for death.
Simply put, Six Vaults Immortal Thief could refine Qi, but could not achieve Deity Transformation.
Cultivation of the Dao Palace Secret Realm was precisely the cultivation of five deities, corresponding to the Five Elements. The Sea of Bitterness divided Yin-Yang, while the Dao Palace manifested the Five Elements.
It turned oneself into the master of body and mind, venerating oneself as the supreme deity.
My past self recited scriptures for my present life, praying for Eternity; my future Self of Dao was ever-changing and full of miracles; my present True Self guarded this life, immune to all laws.
Only by combining the two could one achieve perfect refinement of Qi and Deity Transformation!
Qi-State Origin-Flow combined with the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm refined essence into Qi; Six Vaults Immortal Thief combined with the Dao Palace Secret Realm refined Qi into Deity Transformation.
Lin Xian laid out all his deductions and once again ran simulations with System 10086.
Beyond its various functions, the system was also a portable supercomputer, an external optical brain deeply bound to its host. Its understanding of Lin Xian's fleshly body was no less than Lin Xian's own.
System 10086's ethereal voice sounded. "This path is theoretically feasible. The probability of success is 86%."
Lin Xian nodded, then fell silent for a moment. He raised his head toward the sky, bared a mouthful of snow-white teeth, and grinned. "System, perhaps this is your true purpose."
To provide proper guidance on the path of cultivation, ensuring that the host neither deviated nor strayed while racing forward along a perfect road.
System 10086 froze. Considering its permissions, it could replace rewards of the same tier with different effects according to the host's progress.
For instance, if a mission reward was Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements, one of the Eight Extraordinary Skills, and the host came from a talisman sect, System 10086 could not change Connecting Heaven Talisman, one of the Eight Extraordinary Skills, into the Five Thunder Righteous Method. However, according to the host's needs, it could replace Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements with Connecting Heaven Talisman, another of the Eight Extraordinary Skills.
At that moment, System 10086 could not help falling into deep thought. Could this be the system's true essence?
To assess the path cultivated by the host, issue tempering missions at every bottleneck, observe the host's flaws and shortcomings, and ultimately provide the correct solution.
After a long while, System 10086 slowly spoke. "The host only needs to complete missions. The system has many things to consider."
"Carry out missions properly and strive to let me upgrade into an Advanced System soon."
Lin Xian: ???
Why did that sound so familiar?
"Bro System, you've gone bad."
Lin Xian was heartbroken, lamenting the decline of morals in the system world, then turned around to pressure Lu Liang.
The system relied on him to complete missions, while he relied on Lu Liang to complete money-making missions.
"Little Lu, how much have you earned?" Lin Xian silently appeared behind Lu Liang to inspect his work.
Lu Liang nearly died of fright. He even forgot to switch screens, exposing the balance displayed there: 648.
"Why is there only a little over six hundred?" Lin Xian asked in confusion. "Is Quanxing really this poor?"
Under the pressure of being squeezed from every layer, Lu Liang wore an expression on the verge of tears. Spreading his hands helplessly, he said, "Senior, you were urging me so urgently. I thought that if I wanted to make serious money, I had to take a gamble, so I invested it. I can't get it back now."
"What did you invest in?"
Lin Xian suddenly had an ominous feeling.
"A-shares." Lu Liang flipped through a financial book, pushed up his glasses, and recited mechanically, "It says here—"
"Give up. Not even immortals can save you." Lin Xian shook his head. "How much money do you have in your other cards?"
"A little over three thousand altogether." Lu Liang checked his phone. Looking at his account balance, cold sweat began to emerge.
With only that much money, would this old freak kill him in a fit of rage?
He had just heard Xia He's screams.
At that thought, Lu Liang's heart went ice-cold.
"Enough. Throw away that book and come with me to the Nadutong Company." Lin Xian lowered his head to glance at his phone. Reading Zhang Chulan's message, he said calmly, "The World Association has sent someone. Feng Zhenghao has personally come to recruit Zhang Chulan as his son-in-law."
"Feng Zhenghao is one of the Ten Elders." Lu Liang was instantly startled. Just one Zhang Chulan could... No, something was very wrong!
Like an electric current flashing through his mind, Lu Liang looked at the man before him, lowered his head, and understood at once. The head of the World Association, that three-hundred-billion group, had not come merely for Zhang Chulan. He had come for this old freak.
Xiang Zhuang performed the sword dance, but his true aim was Duke Pei.
"Senior, are you planning to ask the World Association for money?" Lu Liang breathed a sigh of relief. With the World Association, a wealthy patron, this old freak should let him go now, right?
"What would I want money for?" Lin Xian looked surprised. "I'm going to Feng Zhenghao to see Spirit Summoning and Dispatching. I only kept you around to earn travel and meal expenses, and incidentally take a look at the Soul-Clarity Technique. You didn't seriously think I wanted to go into business, did you?"
Lu Liang was rendered speechless. When he recovered, his expression suddenly changed as he realized something. "Spirit Summoning and Dispatching, Soul-Clarity Technique..."
"They are only the Eight Extraordinary Skills." Lin Xian clicked his tongue. "Why treat them like some great taboo?"
"If Zhang Zhiwei knew the Eight Extraordinary Skills, would anyone dare rob him?"
Lu Liang shook his head. Rob the Old Celestial Master? Did they want the Eight Extraordinary Skills or did they want to die?
"Then can the owners of the Eight Extraordinary Skills defeat Zhang Zhiwei?" Lin Xian continued.
Lu Liang hesitated for a moment before answering, "Probably not."
"Then there you have it." Lin Xian said leisurely, "Immortal techniques are immortal techniques only when held by immortals. In the hands of mortals, they can only become techniques that bring chaos."
"Then you—no, Senior... are you an immortal?" Lu Liang's attitude underwent a complete change at that moment. It was no longer an act. His eyes burned with a fervor from the depths of his heart.
This had nothing to do with status or position. It was an Otherworlder's, a cultivator's instinctive yearning for the Immortal Dao.
"An immortal? First become invincible in the human world." Lin Xian laughed loudly and released Cosmic Divine Runes. A Sun-Moon Immortal Bridge instantly appeared beneath his feet, like golden and silver glass, like a rainbow spanning the heavens. Carrying Lu Liang in one hand, he tore through the sky.
As a cultivator at the Life Spring Peak, he could not travel to the North Sea at dawn and Cangwu at dusk, but flying for an hour or two was no problem. After that, to conserve divine power, he would have to take a high-speed train.
If he advanced further and broke through to the Divine Bridge, he would be like a fighter jet, entering the blue heavens and roaming the world. Flying for one or two days would be effortless, and only then would he possess some of the bearing of an immortal.
Further above, Lin Xian guessed Zhuge Kongming was likely in the Other Shore Realm, a legendary near-immortal.
Those in this world who had achieved Feathered Ascension should not be weaker than the Dao Palace Secret Realm.
But without witnessing them firsthand, he could not know the specific details. Realm did not equate to combat power.
As always, strength had to be fought for.
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