If an ordinary Sea of Bitterness cultivator dared to discuss immortality and seek the Dao, they would be courting death.
After all, they had never even seen an immortal. How could they put their own Immortal Dao into practice?
Lin Xian was different. He might not have eaten pork, but he had seen pigs run.
In an era when the Immortal Path had yet to open and even Human Dao Supreme was completely at a loss, he possessed the Immortal Secret of the Shrouding the Heavens Universe.
Though he had not attained the rank of Red Dust Immortal or achieved the True Immortal Dao Fruit, he knew how to become immortal and how to attain Immortality.
He would use the ultimate Immortal Secret already known in one universe to verify the unknown Secret of Immortality in another universe.
From it, he would extract similar, shared truths and turn them into his own Dao.
That was what Lin Xian intended to do.
In truth, he had already verified something through Qi-State Origin-Flow and activated the Innate Qi within Xu Xiang.
But that was far from enough.
On the path of verifying Immortality, the Eight Extraordinary Skills were tools. With only Qi-State Origin-Flow as a single tool, his speed in comprehending the Great Dao was destined to be slow.
Thus, he had come to see Feng Zhenghao and to witness Spirit Summoning and Dispatching.
The Eight Extraordinary Skills had originated from Twenty-Four Solar Terms Tongtian Valley, the legendary Daoist site of Master Ziyang, who had ascended to immortality and cultivated a Golden Core.
Wugensheng led eight sworn brothers into that place, and the Eight Extraordinary Skills were born from it.
Yet those eight people had ultimately failed to become immortals.
The Eight Extraordinary Skills were merely close to immortality. They were immortal arts, but not immortals themselves.
Using them to cultivate immortality was like blind men feeling an elephant.
Eight blind men felt a single elephant. Some felt its head, some its feet, and some its ears. All believed they had obtained the Immortal Secret, yet they had merely let one leaf block their sight and failed to see Mount Tai.
Now, Lin Xian, with his full field of vision open, would gather the puzzle pieces and restore the elephant's true form.
"Come, let me see Spirit Summoning and Dispatching." A trace of curiosity surfaced in Lin Xian's eyes.
Feng Zhenghao nodded and said solemnly, "This art was created by our ancestors and passed down through generations. Today, in gratitude for Senior's great kindness toward the Wind Family, we offer this art to you. However, it would be inconvenient for outsiders to witness the transmission process."
"Oh, I'll go stand guard outside." Feng Baobao nodded, unconcerned, and walked out the door to keep watch for the two of them.
"What admirable temperament." Surprise flickered in Feng Zhenghao's eyes. Everyone pursued the power of the Eight Extraordinary Skills, yet this young girl remained utterly unmoved.
"Everyone has their own path. In the eyes of certain transcendent beings, the Eight Extraordinary Skills are not that important." Lin Xian shook his head and smiled. Then he looked at Feng Zhenghao. "Let us ordinary folk discuss the Eight Extraordinary Skills instead."
"Ordinary folk..." Feng Zhenghao's mouth twitched. If Lin Xian counted as ordinary, then there were hardly any proper people in the entire Inhuman World; they were all infants.
"Senior is a true master. You are being too modest." Casting aside his final stray thoughts, Feng Zhenghao drew a deep breath and began demonstrating and transmitting the art. With a solemn expression, he said, "Senior is a cultivator, so you should know that Complete Nature and Life is the complete state of life. No matter how powerful a spirit body existing in a mental state may be, conceptually speaking, it is still incomplete."
"The user of Spirit Summoning finds a weakness in spirits that no one else knows and exploits it to make them obey unconditionally."
"I do not know how the other Eight Extraordinary Skills are transmitted, but the inheritance of our family's Spirit Summoning and Dispatching is somewhat unusual. I hope Senior will not be offended."
As he spoke, Feng Zhenghao turned and bowed toward the black mist behind him. He declared loudly, "Unworthy descendant Feng Zhenghao respectfully invites Ancestor Feng Tianyang to transmit the Dao."
A wave of ghostly wails rose up as billowing black smoke filled the entire office. At the end of the mist, a transparent, ethereal figure slowly drifted forward.
Whose soul was the strongest in the world? Aside from those Northeastern spirits that had lived for thousands of years, it was naturally Feng Tianyang, the founder of Spirit Summoning and Dispatching.
"Good."
Feng Tianyang's soul stood there for a long while. Unlike the ordinary remnants of souls without spirit or awareness, he unexpectedly uttered a word slowly. There seemed to be light in his eyes, but it vanished in an instant, quickly fading away again.
"Feng Tianyang... what a Feng Tianyang, what a Heaven-Nurtured!"
Witnessing this scene, Lin Xian was immediately shaken. He could not help but praise, "The prodigies of this world truly are as countless as crucian carp crossing a river. Outstanding figures emerge one after another."
To transcend amid yin, with one's divine form unclear; nameless beyond the Ghost Gate, unknown among the Three Immortal Mountains. Though free from Reincarnation, one could not return to Penglai and Yingzhou. In the end, there was nowhere to return to, and one could only reincarnate and take another body.
With one's spirit remaining undimmed, one was called a Ghost Immortal!
Feng Tianyang remained silent. Ghost Immortals were immortals as well. He was still on the path, possessing only a faint spiritual response and unable to communicate normally. All he could do was demonstrate Spirit Summoning and Dispatching.
Lin Xian sat cross-legged, calmed his heart, and listened to this one of the Eight Extraordinary Skills.
Spirit Summoning and Dispatching, as its name implied, could control souls and transform part of their abilities for one's own use.
An even more extreme application was Spirit Devouring, which granted a small permanent enhancement. However, this method had a drawback: the more spirit bodies one devoured, the weaker one's control over oneself became. One's personality could easily become extreme. When the devoured spirit bodies reached their limit and mental personalities came into conflict, the being left alive would no longer be the True Self, but a madman fused from multiple spirits.
After the Wind Family defeated the Wang Family, they studied the Wang Family's younger generation, represented by Wang Bing, and reached a conclusion: Spirit Devouring was not viable.
"Spirit Devouring is not viable, but does Spirit Summoning and Dispatching truly possess this function of gaining a soul's abilities?"
Lin Xian began to think deeply. For Otherworlders, this skill was already sufficiently heaven-defying, but he felt it was still not enough.
The apparent ability of Qi-State Origin-Flow was that energy continuously gathered toward the dantian without the need for deliberate cultivation. It was an essential skill for lying flat and slacking off, fully automated idle immortal cultivation.
Yet only by examining its core would one discover that Qi-State Origin-Flow could cause all wondrous arts and divine abilities to collapse and transform into the purest primordial qi.
Qi-State Origin-Flow was so profound. Spirit Summoning and Dispatching should not stop at this.
But for him to painstakingly research this extraordinary skill himself would take far too much time.
"Then I can only use that move."
After some thought, Lin Xian slowly rose to his feet and left his cultivation state, leaving Feng Zhenghao stunned.
"Senior, is something wrong?"
Feng Zhenghao asked, "Was there an error?"
"Not at all." Lin Xian spoke leisurely, a faint smile curling at his lips. "It is simply that I have already comprehended Spirit Summoning and Dispatching. You may stop."
"What? Senior, you have already comprehended Spirit Summoning and Dispatching?" Feng Zhenghao clicked his tongue. No one knew better than him how difficult this extraordinary skill was to learn. Back then, it had taken him three days and three nights, while Feng Xingtong and the others had taken even longer to comprehend it.
From the moment Lin Xian released Feng Tianyang until now, it had probably not even taken the time for one incense stick to burn.
"Of course."
Lin Xian smiled calmly. A relaxed air gave him an unexpectedly dignified bearing as he slowly said, "People are born with different constitutions. With all my insights, all my wisdom, and all my talent gathered here, they form a kind of power."
"What kind of power?" Feng Zhenghao asked, shocked and confused.
Lin Xian merely smiled without answering, silently reciting a sentence in his heart.
"Cheat, come!"