You're the best of the best!

The Three-Legged Golden Toad kept his eyes closed and continued, "The I Ching says that when a load grows too heavy, collapse is inevitable."

"What he carries isn't ordinary gold and silver, but 'wealth in extraordinary skills.' It looks abundant, but in truth, it's a root of disaster wrapped in rewards."

"The complexion at the bridge of his nose is unsettled, and his Traveling Horse star is restless, indicating long journeys and constant travel."

"He wanted to withdraw from the world to avoid misfortune, but his fate has already been set in motion. He cannot stay still or escape it."

"He may seem carefree and untroubled now, but before long, he'll be swept into a monstrous upheaval."

"This is a common affliction among those who gain great opportunities. The greater the wealth, the heavier the tribulations. This fortune won't be easy to swallow. Touch it, and you'll have to share his disasters."

"As the saying goes, don't concern yourself with the frost on another man's roof. Even a few words from you could affect his fate, and then the karmic consequences will fall on you too. You could have lived peacefully, but by presuming to interfere with someone else's destiny, you'll be doomed to suffer retribution."

"If you want someone's life to improve, you'll inevitably become entangled in karmic consequences, which will ultimately turn against you."

"To help a poor man get rich, you must bear the suffering he has yet to endure. This is the simplest balance of yin and yang. Heaven and earth will not allow the Qi of a living being to become unbalanced."

"Karmic retribution never fails."

"To put it more bluntly, good people have miserable fates."

"If you want peace, stay out of other people's business."

Wang Zhuo was astonished by how convincingly the Three-Legged Golden Toad spoke.

He had thought the toad was merely a spirit beast that attracted wealth and protected lives, never expecting him to be so well versed in fate and mysticism.

Moreover, his divination made perfect sense, fully matching Wang Ye's present and future.

Having more skills really never hurt.

"Then tell my fortune. Just how awesome am I going to get?"

At that, the Three-Legged Golden Toad gave him a sour look, only to fall silent suddenly, a trace of terror appearing in his eyes.

"What you seek is so great that, without heaven and earth lending their combined strength, you will be crushed to pieces and die without a burial."

"Fucking charlatan."

Wang Zhuo spat. "Spout any more superstitious crap at me, and you're dead, dead, dead!"

"Don't you know we're cracking down hard on feudal superstition these days?!"

The Three-Legged Golden Toad: ???????

Motherfucker, a frog wasn't even allowed to tell the truth anymore!

Several hours later, in the mountains behind the grounds.

"One more time!"

"Last time!"

"One final time!"

"Really, the very last time!"

"Brother Liu, just one last time, please!"

Wang Zhuo stared speechlessly at Lu Jin and the others. They had been making him demonstrate Threefold Reversal for over an hour, acting as though they were possessed.

"Listen, old man-and the rest of you-aren't you sick of this? Even if you aren't, I am. How many times has it been already?"

Seeing his impatience, Lu Jin smiled awkwardly and coaxed him. "I'm already this old. Can't you just indulge an old man's wish?"

Lu Linglong gushed excitedly, "This is genuine Threefold Reversal! Of course I want to get a few more looks!"

"Oh, come on, Brother Liu." Zhang Chulan kept giving him thumbs-ups from the side.

"You're a dragon among men, the best of the best!"

The Three-Legged Golden Toad said, "Bestial, more like. Certainly the best."

Everyone: ...

"Who?! Who's talking nonsense?! How could my Brother Liu be a beast?!" Zhang Chulan hurriedly scolded. Although he hadn't caught who had said it either, he couldn't let Wang Zhuo lose face.

Feng Baobao scratched the tip of her nose. "So that's what being the best means, huh."

"Then Liu Guanyi, you really are the best!"

"Sister Bao'er, please shut up! That's not what it means!" Zhang Chulan felt like crying. How the hell had flattery gone wrong?

Goddammit, don't let me catch whoever said that, or I'll give them a taste of a whip dipped in chili water!

Jia Zhengliang fell straight to the ground, desperately stifling his laughter.

If there was anything more painful in life, it had to be this-the ultimate agony of wanting to laugh but being unable to.

The harder someone held back laughter, the more they wanted to laugh, especially with a fool beside them constantly adding fuel to the fire.

He pounded the ground furiously, his fingers clawing at the dirt, every muscle in his body tensed as he forced himself not to laugh.

"It's fine. Laugh if you want." Wang Zhuo looked at them with nuclear-level calm.

I'll strip every last one of you naked and hang you from a tree afterward!

Not wanting to offend him, Xi kept banging his head against a tree while suppressing his laughter, trying to stop it with pain.

The best... bestial.

Who the fuck could keep a straight face?!

Lu Jin coughed twice and hurriedly changed the subject. "That's enough, you little bastards. Little Liu, how exactly did you do it?"

"I'm not worried about these kids learning it anyway, so go ahead and explain."

You really think far too highly of us!

Everyone was utterly speechless. This was no different from saying in front of someone with cerebral palsy, "Go ahead and explain controlled nuclear fusion. I'm not worried about them learning it."

Wang Zhuo had never liked keeping knowledge to himself. He simply sat cross-legged, perfectly composed. "I named it the Badass Art..."

"Five Refinements of Returning to the Hidden, version 1.0!"

By then, Zhang Chulan and the others had already had their attention stolen by the words "Badass Art."

How exactly had that miraculous brain of his come up with such a name?

They had no doubt that if he actually dared use that name, Lu Jin would beat him into Chaoshan beef balls.

Next, Wang Zhuo explained the process and essence of his enlightenment, point by point, including his views on the five major organs and the alterations to their properties.

Step one: using Threefold Reversal as the foundation, directly shred and dismantle the five major organs and six hollow organs with True Qi!

Step two: reconstruct the five major organs based on wood entering the liver, fire entering the heart, earth entering the spleen, metal entering the lungs, and water entering the kidneys.

Step three: remember the key points.

Generation: wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water generates wood. The five forms of Qi nourish one another in an unending supply.

Restraint: wood restrains earth, earth restrains water, water restrains fire, fire restrains metal, and metal restrains wood. The five forms of Qi keep one another in check, preventing any from becoming excessive.

Maintain balance, with yin and yang equal, and shift from manually maintaining generation and restraint to fully automatic operation.

Step four: once the five-element circulation stabilizes, completely merge the innate Qi of the five major organs with the primordial Qi in the dantian.

Upon reaching this realm, the five major organs become the five elements, and the physical body becomes a miniature world.

After listening, everyone had only one thought.

Was that even human speech?

Even Lu Jin grew more shocked and frightened the longer he listened.

Replace the five major organs with the five elements?

Shatter the original organs and forcibly convert them into the fundamental essences of the five elements?

This was more of a suicide truck than an actual fucking suicide truck!

The whole point of cultivating Threefold Reversal was to avoid illness and calamity and live a little longer.

But training the way Wang Zhuo did was practically lighting a lamp in a latrine-asking for death-then dancing in the King of Hell's palace and daring to slap him on the way out.

They really wouldn't live to see the next day!

Zhang Chulan wiped away his cold sweat. "Brother Liu, your approach... really is unlike anyone else's..."

Apart from wearing a layer of human skin, this guy doesn't have a single fucking organ left inside him!

Wang Zhuo had modified every one of his internal organs that could be modified.

Then he had relied on Threefold Reversal's transformation of the body into Qi to accomplish this heaven-defying feat.

This also proved, in a roundabout way, that as long as you were sufficiently badass, no one would dare imitate you.

The Eight Extraordinary Skills were coveted because they had no side effects, were quick to learn, and offered great power.

This guy went purely for stats and left everything else to luck.

Cultivating both nature and life?

Cultivate, my ass!

Just open your eyes and go at it.

Even if he announced it to the world and shared it, who would dare learn it?

Who would dare shatter their own internal organs and use the Qi of the five elements in their place?

It was blatantly a Deathtrap 3000!

Even a lunatic would have to think long and hard before decisively giving up.