The azure sea shimmered with rippling light as rolling waves continuously battered the shore, producing huge bang, bang, bang... sounds. On the horizon, the dim yellow sun had already slanted westward.
Xiao Chen demonstrated every Heaven-Sent Qi Refining Diagram recorded on the Yellow River Heavenly Tablet. Whenever he reached an individual diagram, he deliberately paused to explain the posture and breathing method to Bai He.
After finishing the demonstration, Xiao Chen slowly exhaled a breath of stale air, then turned to Bai He and asked, "Bai He, did you remember it all?"
Bai He scratched his head and answered somewhat guiltily, "Uh... I remembered it all!"
Even if he had not remembered it himself, the system had! The system should count as part of him too, right?!
Xiao Chen frowned.
Remembered it all? Impossible! He had only demonstrated it once. Even though he had taught him personally, there was no way Bai He could remember everything at once.
He could understand if Bai He had merely remembered the postures, but if he had memorized even the breathing methods after seeing them once, that was truly monstrous.
For martial arts and cultivation techniques, remembering the moves alone was useless. The key was remembering the breathing methods, yet regardless of the martial arts, the breathing methods were always the hardest part!
This was not something one could memorize simply by watching. One had to understand and thoroughly comprehend it as well.
After thinking it over, Xiao Chen simply said, "Since you've remembered it, demonstrate it for me."
"Okay, Master."
Bai He replied with an unchanged expression.
Without the system, he might indeed have needed to watch it several times before remembering everything. But there was no helping it—he was a man with a system!
Standing on the beach, Bai He felt the wind blow past with a whoosh.
Bai He took a deep breath and slowly closed his eyes. Streams of information flowed through his mind, and one diagram after another emerged.
Leg extended, arm thrust out, inhale—exhale. Bai He performed each movement as smoothly as drifting clouds and flowing water. With every breath, qi entered from his lungs, sank into his Dantian, and circulated throughout his entire body.
As his limbs stretched and moved in tandem with his breathing exercises, Bai He felt his entire body growing hot. A tingling numbness began rising from his bones, as though countless ants were slowly crawling over him.
Was he about to undergo a second growth spurt again? Bai He could not help wondering.
After completing every qi refining diagram in the Heavenly Tablet Mystic Skill, a layer of black grime appeared over Bai He's skin. These were impurities and waste expelled from his body after cleansing his tendons and marrow.
"Huff..."
Slowly exhaling, Bai He chuckled and turned to Xiao Chen. "Master, how was my practice?"
Xiao Chen's black hair fluttered in the wind, and his sword-like eyes narrowed slightly. After pondering for a moment, he said, "Not bad. The postures are somewhat unpracticed, but the breathing and everything else were correct!"
Although he had accepted Bai He as a disciple because of Bai He's character and had not placed much importance on his aptitude, discovering that he had taken in such a monstrous disciple still filled him with satisfaction.
Seeing that Bai He had completely learned the Heavenly Tablet Mystic Skill he had taught, Xiao Chen instructed him to practice it several more times. He himself sat down and began treating his injuries.
The wounds he had suffered while being pursued by the Royal Heavenly Maiden Zhao Lin'er had yet to heal. Now that he had been stranded on this dangerous Wild Island, he had to seize every moment to recover!
Sitting cross-legged on the golden sand with his back against a lush, thick coconut tree, Xiao Chen silently began circulating his true qi.
The Heavenly Tablet Mystic Skill slowly activated. Sunlight, the essence of vegetation, the earth qi of mountains and rivers... all kinds of vital energy from nature began rushing madly toward Xiao Chen.
Boundless Heaven and Earth Essence transformed into hazy colored light that enveloped Xiao Chen and continuously flowed into his body, repairing his hidden internal injuries and nourishing his wounded body.
This was the wonder of the Heavenly Tablet Mystic Skill—it possessed incomparably powerful plundering and refining abilities, allowing its user to seize all ownerless Heaven and Earth Essence nearby and turn it to his own use.
More than two hours passed before Xiao Chen slowly withdrew his cultivation and awakened from meditation. His injuries were not as severe as he had imagined. With the wonders of the Heavenly Tablet Mystic Skill, he should be able to return to peak condition in roughly ten days.
Turning to look at Bai He, Xiao Chen saw that Bai He was still practicing. He had probably gone through it more than a dozen times already, and both his postures and breathing appeared highly proficient.
Although Bai He had yet to cultivate true qi, so the Heavenly Tablet Mystic Skill could not display its true mysteries,
it could still convert the food he consumed into essence to the greatest extent possible.
Looking at Bai He's somewhat pale face, Xiao Chen frowned and called him to stop.
"Bai He, rest for a while. Excess brings no benefit. You have yet to cultivate true qi, so you cannot absorb and refine the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy between heaven and earth.
Right now, you can only rely on the food you consume and refine it into essence. You must know when to stop. Otherwise, not only will you fail to achieve the effect of refining essence to strengthen your body, you will instead damage yourself!"
Xiao Chen looked at Bai He and earnestly cautioned him.
"I understand, Master!"
Hearing Xiao Chen's words, Bai He could not help stopping.
Xiao Chen nodded, then closed his eyes once more. Bai He immediately plopped down onto the sand, intending to rest for a moment.
At the horizon, the red sun sank westward, its afterglow spilling across the sea where sky and water met. The world was dyed a fading crimson.
Boom, boom, boom...
Just as Bai He was intoxicated by the beauty before him, a series of massive sounds suddenly rang out from the beach. At the dull booms, both men turned to look, and their expressions changed drastically.
They saw a colossal silver creature crawling from the sea onto the shore. Its body was fifty meters long. At first glance, it resembled a mountain-sized silver crocodile, yet a closer look revealed it to be different.
The enormous silver crocodile was as towering as a mountain ridge. More than a hundred huge, gleaming bone spikes grew from its back, each two meters long and standing skyward like sharp spears, protecting its rear.
Its immense body was covered in silver scales that glinted coldly. Every scale was over a meter long and more than half a meter wide.
From afar, this silver behemoth, its entire body flashing with cold light, looked especially savage.
The silver beast possessed eight thick, powerful clawed arms. The enormous claws at the ends of those arms glimmered with a sinister light, enough to make one shudder.
In addition, a sharp horn seven or eight meters long grew from its head, shining with a chilling silver radiance. It was truly an incomparably terrifying beast.
Its miserable green eyes were as large as millstones and emitted a frigid ghostly glow. After sweeping its gaze across the shore, it finally climbed onto the beach.
Once on the beach, it opened its blood-filled maw toward the setting sun, revealing a row of sharp giant teeth over a meter long, shaped like broad swords, and unleashed an unimaginably terrifying roar.
The sound shook the nearby seawater into violent upheaval. Countless birds fled in terror, while some seabirds nearby fell straight into the ocean.
Such might truly shook heaven and earth!
Although master and disciple Xiao Chen and Bai He had covered their ears at the first instant, their ears still rang from the impact. That enormous roar was like heavenly thunder exploding beside them.
After roaring at the setting sun, the fifty-meter-long giant beast sprawled upon the beach and closed its enormous eyes, seemingly intending to rest there.
Both of them were deeply shocked. The Realm of Longevity was indeed extraordinary!
Gazing at the silver behemoth that resembled a mountain ridge, Xiao Chen recalled the ancient beast passed down in legends among generations of coastal people—the Eight-Armed Evil Dragon.
This savage, terrifying behemoth looked exactly like the Eight-Armed Evil Dragon of legend.
Legend said that this ancient beast could Overturning Rivers and Seas, summon clouds and rain. Any ship that encountered it at sea faced only one fate: destruction.
It was the most vicious beast in the ocean. Even the Sea God would avoid it.
"This is the Eight-Armed Evil Dragon! A powerful beast said to be able to contend against deities—so they truly exist in this world!"
Remembering those ancient legends, Xiao Chen's face was filled with shock. He had never imagined that he would personally see this legendary ancient beast in the Realm of Longevity.
"So this is the Eight-Armed Evil Dragon?"
Looking at the enormous creature before him, as large as a mountain, Bai He could not help murmuring softly. Even his tongue had begun to tie itself in knots.
Although Bai He had already known its general appearance from the novel and had prepared himself mentally, seeing this terrifying giant beast with his own eyes still left him shaken to his core.
It was an oppressive force born from the vast difference in their levels of life!
Though they were far away, Bai He could already sense waves of brutal, murderous aura rolling toward him. Who knew how many sea creatures this enormous ancient beast had torn apart?
Xiao Chen was extremely rational. He stood and lightly patted Bai He on the shoulder, and Bai He instantly understood his meaning.
The two quietly moved their feet and slowly headed deeper into the coconut grove. Only after they were certain the ancient beast could no longer detect them did they stop and watch from afar.
The Eight-Armed Evil Dragon lay quietly there like a silver mountain ridge, utterly motionless, as though it had turned to stone.
Xiao Chen guessed aloud to Bai He, "This beach may be its dwelling place. It will most likely sleep here at night. If we spend the night here, we should be safer!"
Ever since the ancient beast had crawled onto the beach and roared at the setting sun's afterglow, the nearby primeval forest had fallen silent. Only the roars of savage beasts occasionally drifted from the depths of the island.
The sea breeze blew gently, and the evening glow was about to vanish.
In the seaside forest, the Eight-Armed Evil Dragon's roar had startled countless birds into flight, leaving bird eggs scattered all over the ground. The two men's dinner was settled.
Moonlight flowed like water, and stars dotted the sky. Waves gently lapped the beach as the faintly salty sea breeze brushed through the night.
They did not light a fire. Xiao Chen sat cross-legged, treating his injuries, while Bai He lay quietly on several broad leaves spread over the sand. Gazing at the bright stars overhead with an unsettled heart, he closed his eyes and began his first night in the Realm of Longevity.
At dawn, the red sun rose in the east, and morning glow cast vast swathes of golden radiance across the horizon.
Along with a soul-shaking, ear-splitting roar, the legendary ancient beast, the Eight-Armed Evil Dragon, opened its blood-filled maw and let out a heaven-shaking bellow toward the rising sun that had just climbed above the horizon.
The calm morning sea was churned into surging waves by the immense soundwaves, while the seabirds flying in the sky were so terrified that they all vanished without a trace.
The mountain-sized silver beast—the Eight-Armed Evil Dragon—moved all eight of its enormous clawed arms at once. Repeated booms rang across the beach as it slowly strode into the sea.
The calm ocean immediately boiled, as if a tsunami had struck. Towering waves rose as the silver figure churned ceaselessly beneath the water.
Only after it gradually moved into the distance did the sea finally settle once more.
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