Somewhere in the mountain forests of White Mountain Commandery.
Thud-thud, thud-
A boar spirit lumbered slowly through the forest.
Its body was like a small mountain, brownish red all over, with scarlet killing intent clinging to its thick hide. Mortal blades, and even water and fire, could scarcely damage it.
Suddenly, the boar spirit noticed the surrounding spiritual energy surging madly into its body.
Roar-
Overjoyed, the boar spirit hurried to convert this spiritual energy into Demon Power. But as time passed, the spiritual energy showed no sign of dwindling. Instead, more and more poured into its body.
"Wrong, something's wrong!"
The boar spirit roared, trying to block this power.
"Stop-enough... enough!"
The boar spirit tried to stop absorbing it, but the spiritual energy was endless, burrowing in through every pore and crevice of its body.
Soon, the spiritual energy inflated one huge bulge after another beneath its thick hide.
The boar spirit frantically spewed flames, trying to expend the spiritual energy by venting it.
Yet the spiritual energy only kept increasing, until a thunderous explosion rang out.
Brilliant flames erupted in the mountain forest, and a mushroom cloud slowly rose into the sky.
"Mm, not bad-the experiment succeeded."
Ao Ding stood on another peak, gazing at the boar spirit's fate.
Traveling from the Country of Xuanjia to White Mountain Commandery, Ao Ding had not summoned Qingji this time, but had proceeded on foot.
First, the Mysterious Jia Spiritual Treasury had helped Ao Ding raise his True Heaven Golden Gang to the perfection of the Profound Gang Upper Realm, and he needed to refine it carefully some more.
Second, it made it convenient to seek out spirits along the way to test his ideas.
"The Wedding Garment Art succeeded!"
As its name suggested, it made a wedding garment for another: drawing on the spiritual power of heaven and earth to raise another's cultivation until their body burst and they died, staining the "wedding garment" with blood.
Inside the Primordial Truth Mirror, the three children had differing attitudes, unlike Ao Ding's delight and satisfaction.
"Too expensive," Red Child complained. "To kill a boar spirit in the Qi-Seeding Connection Realm, we prepared spiritual items containing three times its magical power as fuel... can this method be used in battle? The original could just slap it dead."
"It won't work in ordinary circumstances, but extraordinary circumstances are enough," Blue Child said mildly. "If we encounter an enemy we can't beat, we can directly expend a million cowrie leaves, force the spiritual power into their body, and burst them. This isn't fighting an enemy, but spending money to buy our lives."
Yellow Child said, "The problem is obvious too. If the opponent can digest the power we give them, we really will be making a wedding garment for them, at a crushing loss to ourselves. That boar spirit actually found a countermeasure just now: rapidly consuming spiritual power within a short time to delay its body bursting. If it were someone of a higher realm, or even a True Person... doing this would only let them use the spiritual energy we provided to kill us instead. The Wedding Garment Art might even become the most laughable spell in the world."
"Hey, have you heard of the Wedding Garment Art?"
"That ridiculous method where you raise an enemy's cultivation, then stuff them until they burst? Only, before exploding, the enemy killed the caster with a backhand Nine Heavens Star-Plucking Hand?"
"Hahaha... yes, how can there be such fools in this world!"
Imagining the mockery that might arise in the future, the three children fell silent.
"This problem isn't impossible to solve," Ao Ding said calmly. "We only need to..."
They were himself, after all. The three children in the Primordial Truth Mirror understood immediately and spoke in unison with Ao Ding: "Dharma Realm Spirit Land."
Create a "pocket world" filled with spiritual energy, then lock a True Person inside until their body burst.
Even if the True Person constantly cast spells to consume magical power, that power would surge between heaven and earth, break back down into spiritual power, and pour into the True Person's body in turn.
Red Child said, "New problem-if we have the ability to create a Dharma Realm Spirit Land, couldn't we defeat them head-on? Would we still need such a roundabout method?"
Ao Ding was speechless.
Blue Child said nothing, merely recording this discussion.
That was indeed true under ordinary circumstances, but what if the circumstances were abnormal?
Perhaps someday this Wedding Garment Art would produce a miraculous effect.
Failing that-reverse the Wedding Garment Art, make others sew wedding garments for me, and draw out their True Qi for my own use, increasing my cultivation.
"All right, that's enough discussion. Time to take the boar down the mountain and show the villagers."
Over the past few days, Ao Ding had traveled on foot through mountains and rivers, seeking spirits for his experiments. Naturally, he could not seek out virtuous immortal spirits devoted to cultivation. Instead, he sought villages attacked by spirits, exchanging his "demon slaying" for certain things.
These could be mortal money, fragments of Dharma Artifacts the common people did not understand and had dug up from who knew where, or spells passed down from their ancestors.
The payment for this commission to exterminate the boar spirit was a spell.
"The Flatbread Spell? It converts the 'five grains' into 'flatbread' through chanting?"
Taking the piece of bark from the village chief and examining it carefully, he found that it was a spell written in Three Heavens True Seal Script, ready to use directly.
Reading the spell on it, Ao Ding murmured, "Interesting... it has great prospects for development..."
Seeing him pondering, the village chief looked a little embarrassed. "This spell isn't much use to immortals who abstain from grain, feasting on the essence of sun and moon and drawing in the energy of mountains and marshes. It may not repay your kindness to our village. If you're dissatisfied, we can add some silver."
"No, this will do. This spell is quite good. It's enough."
It bypassed baking and turned raw ingredients into finished products.
This spell had considerable significance for the culinary arts.
Inside the Primordial Truth Mirror, the three children immediately began analyzing it.
They translated the spell into Three Heavens True Seal Script, then searched for the seal characters associated with the concepts of "five grains" and "flatbread."
Change the five grains to other ingredients and flatbread to other finished products, and wouldn't that make a new spell?
The Steamed Bun Spell, the Noodle Spell...
Why couldn't it be called any of those?
"Come, old sir-since I've killed this great demon today, why not hold a feast in the village? I'll help you prepare this boar spirit."
The boar spirit breathed in and out the Qi of Earth Sha, and its flesh contained baleful poison. Mortals who ate it would fall ill at best, or die suddenly at worst.
Ordinarily, when mortal villages killed spirits, they did not dare dispose of them carelessly, instead digging pits in the mountains to bury them. But this practice could also cause dangers such as accumulations of killing intent in the future, potentially bringing landslides, mudslides, and other disasters. However, many cultivators traveled Liyun Continent, and the accumulated killing intent left from earlier times was easily dealt with along the way. During his travels on foot through mountains and rivers over the past few days, Ao Ding had casually cleared three such accumulations.
With a stir of Ao Ding's divine sense, the Hell Treasure Wheel turned behind him.
The scene of Ice Mountain Hell gradually expanded, and a treasured sword gleaming with cold light appeared in his hand.
The Great Mystery Nine-Cold Ice-Soul Sword.
Its cold blade was three feet long, with a silvery-white frost dragon coiled around the hilt. One side of the blade bore the laws and prohibitions of Ice Mountain Hell; the other bore the Great Mystery Nine Yin White Nether Divine Art.
Slash-
The first stroke passed through, its graceful arc of light slicing open the demon's corpse. A piece of meat as thin as a cicada's wing landed steadily on a plate.
The treasure that presided over Ice Mountain Hell possessed the wondrous ability to penetrate the myriad phenomena of existence. Any phenomenon that fell into Ice Mountain Hell could scarcely escape the calamity of being sealed in ice forever.
Now, this divine-sense Dharma Artifact had only just taken shape and was far from possessing the authority to freeze time and encase worlds in ice.
But meat cut by this sword would automatically be purified by Great Mystery cold energy until it could be eaten raw. All killing intent and toxins would be completely cleansed by ice.
And because the icy energy could lock in freshness, it could also preserve much of the meat's fresh flavor.
The villagers marveled at Ao Ding's almost divine swordsmanship. The youth laughed heartily as streaks of cold light flashed, and before long, the enormous boar had become a small mountain of stacked meat slices.
During his three years on the mountain, Ao Ding had spent his days studying spells, and naturally had also studied swordsmanship and saber arts. At the very least, his blades would not snag when chopping vegetables or slicing meat.
"Roast it, swish it in broth, steam it, boil it, fry it, or eat it raw-anything works." Watching the village chief call the villagers over, Ao Ding smiled again. "Does anyone have rice, flour, basins, or buckets? Please bring me some."
Soon, the villagers brought the things over.
Looking at the jade tablet Yellow Boy held high inside the Primordial Truth Mirror, inscribed with the seal characters of the Steamed Bun Spell, Ao Ding silently meditated, then lightly tapped the basin of flour with his spirit staff.
A large basin of dark flour instantly became a basin of steaming-hot, large buns.
Then the second basin, the third...
Amid the villagers' exclamations, Ao Ding easily finished preparing the staple food and main dish for a "boar feast."
The villagers also brought dried provisions and dishes they had made from their homes. Everyone sat on the ground at the village entrance, merrily drinking and feasting...
Watching this scene, Ao Ding gained another feeling for the mortal world.
Bustling and lively, thriving and flourishing... if every day could be like this, without any sorrow, suffering, or tragedy, perhaps the saying about envying only the mortal world and not immortals really would have quite a following?
Inside the Primordial Truth Mirror, the three children quietly recorded Ao Ding's condition. Even Red Child, ordinarily impetuous and restless, did not dare speak carelessly, afraid of disturbing the tempering of Ao Ding's state of mind.
Experiencing the mortal world was too important for cultivators.
Especially for someone as young as Ao Ding.
Every event, every experience, was like a delicacy with a distinct flavor.
Only after tasting hundreds upon thousands of flavors could one qualify as a gourmet.
Only after passing through hundreds upon thousands of tribulations could one perfect the Dao heart and truly aspire to the pinnacle of the Great Dao.
Only after a long while did Ao Ding come back to himself, leisurely looking at the rice wine in his hand and sipping it.
"Cough, cough... cough, cough... um... is there anything to eat?"
Just then, a man in blue, reeking of wine and wreathed in yin energy, staggered into the village.
He had a handsome, spirited face, and on his back was a pure-yang ritual sword wrapped in talismans.
Ao Ding frowned. Staring at the road behind the man, his left eye slowly opened with an eerie gleam.
A three-tiered bonfire had been built at the village entrance, yet it could not illuminate the darkness behind the man.
This was a road of the dead!
Ao Ding's gaze darkened as he examined the young man closely.
Inside the Primordial Truth Mirror, the three children joined forces to work their arts.
"His magical power is refined beyond observation. Estimated to be above the Jade Tower Realm."
"His True Qi is pure, no less so than the original's. The Dao method he cultivates should be from the Golden Slips and Jade Chapters."
"The ritual sword on his back has already passed the two tribulations of Spirit-Nurturing and Chain Form."
"Wait, look at his body-a Spirit-Yang Immortal Body? Another kind of True Person body. It looks as though he's already awakened its second stage? If he truly awakens the third stage, he'll be able to rival the original's eyes."
"Hmph-compare with the original? Not even close! The original's eyes are far stronger than an ordinary True Person's innate gifts!"
One remark after another, the three children speculated about the young man's identity.
Most likely, he was a True Disciple of one of the Six Sects experiencing the mortal world?
The village chief cheerfully stepped forward and welcomed the young man to the feast.
"This immortal master helped us rid the mountains of a menace, and we're celebrating-everyone who comes is a guest. Join us too, friend."
The villagers added another bowl and pair of chopsticks, and the young man immediately began eating heartily.
After quite a while, once some of his vigor had returned, he walked over to Ao Ding.
"I'm Liu Zhongnan. Thank you for hosting this feast, fellow Daoist."
"You're welcome. It was the village chief who invited you, Daoist brother-mm, unless I'm mistaken, you are indeed a 'living person' who cultivates?"
"Yes, I'm alive, a cultivator who lost his way. I just ran out of the underworld-" The young man showed no reserve with strangers, sitting beside Ao Ding and saying with a chuckle, "I'm traveling the mortal world to temper my Dao heart. A few days ago, I happened to meet a childhood friend and made a fuss about going to his house for a drink. I was muddleheaded at the time too. I'd just cut down two snake demons and hadn't fully cleared their poison, so I actually failed to notice that he was already a ghost. Unable to withstand my pestering, he had no choice but to take me to his residence in the underworld as a guest."
Ao Ding's eyelid twitched.
A living person went to the underworld?
And went drinking there?
What nerve!
"On the way back, I accidentally lost my bearings on the road back to the living and was trapped in the Youjian Mudflat for several days. Today, I glimpsed a bonfire in the human world and finally felt my way back. I owe you thanks not only for this meal, but also for helping me find my bearings and return to the human world."
The young man studied the space above Ao Ding's head, glimpsing the strands of circulating fortune.
"Younger brother, are you cultivating Hundred Spells Fortune Gathering? In that case, I'll give you a spell too."
As he spoke, he drew the treasured sword from his back and lightly brushed his fingers over it.
Three feet of Sword Qi emerged, circled three times in the air, and transformed into a small golden sword that landed in Ao Ding's hand.
"This is called the Flying Head Sword Spell. Before the new year, I killed a practitioner of unorthodox arts and seized it from him. Recite the incantation, and you can send a treasured sword flying to behead someone within a thousand zhang."
Ao Ding did not stand on ceremony, smiling as he thanked him for his kindness.
Afterward, as they chatted, he asked about the Six Sects.
Liu Zhongnan held nothing back, even going out of his way to describe the might of the four sects of the Central Wasteland and their respective styles.
Liu Zhongnan was exceedingly courteous toward Ao Ding.
That left eye-wasn't it a little frightening?
For the first time in his life, he had met a fellow cultivator who had truly "opened his eye."
The eye was a spiritual medium, a channel leading directly to true nature. A True Person body required three stages of awakening, and True Person bones required nine rounds of tempering, before one could truly awaken the "power of true nature." A True Person's eye, however, would inevitably connect with Great Dao True Nature once it was "opened."
Liu Zhongnan looked at Ao Ding's face. Even with the Primordial Truth Mirror concealing it, he could sense a boundless sea of true nature within that left eye.
This was an outstanding talent with an extremely high chance of attaining the Dao.
The Six Sects were one family. Learning that Ao Ding wished to seek a master in the Guangfa Sect, Liu Zhongnan praised the Guangfa Sect to the skies, even listing the immortal residences of its True Persons on Liyun Continent one by one, as familiarly as counting his own treasures.
After a night of merry drinking, the two went their separate ways.
Ao Ding continued toward Lingcheng County, while Liu Zhongnan headed south. According to him, a great disaster was unfolding in southern Liyun Continent, and he was going to subdue demons and vanquish fiends to safeguard the common people.
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