Qi-Gazing Technique
Fu Yuan gripped the vicious beast Zheng by the neck. Zheng struggled with all his might, trying to open his mouth, to plead, to beg for mercy, but Fu Yuan gave him no chance. He snapped his neck and extinguished his life.
"Vicious beasts are evil-natured and bloodthirsty. Their taste falls far short of spirit beasts and divine beasts." Having suppressed and killed a pure-blooded vicious beast with a raise of his hand, Fu Yuan frowned slightly and lamented the poor quality of its meat.
"Its Qi and blood are abundant, and its meat is tender and delicious. It should taste pretty good roasted." The young man's eyes glimmered as he gave his assessment, an utterly harmless smile on his face.
"This..." Too many people were dumbstruck. After hemming and hawing for a long while, they managed to say, "That's way too brutal."
The young man was too brutal. With a raise of his hand, he had suppressed Zheng, displaying boundless ferocity.
"Roasted..." One being was so shocked by his words that he lost his footing and nearly fell on the stairs.
"Is he really a human emperor's son?" another asked, suspecting that Fu Yuan was a Taotie or Blood Dragon in human form.
Which of the human emperor's sons in the legends was not handsome and peerless? They had never heard of one so vicious.
The spirit beasts and vicious beasts in the Lone Lamp Pavilion stared intently at Fu Yuan, terrified that he would be overcome by ferocity and suppress and kill them for food.
Quite a few spirit beasts took human form and carefully concealed certain distinctive parts of their bodies.
"The meat of my race is exceptionally tender and delicious. I must be extremely careful on the World Road." At the peak of the seventh level, Coiled Turtle fearfully watched the figure who had put Zheng down and resumed climbing. He warned himself to be especially wary of humans in the future, particularly those with a peerless bearing. They might be sanctimonious and inexplicably brutal, just like Fu Yuan.
"An emperor's son who has undergone a second awakening!"
On the 87,000th step, the Heavenly Wind Holy Son gazed at the Divine Fire, which had shone for countless ages. His pupils flickered, and he sighed in resignation. He was the closest and had the greatest hope, but now he had no choice but to give up.
Had they not seen that even someone as vicious as Zheng could not withstand a single move and had died in no more than a few dozen breaths?
To compete with such a ruthless man for a fortuitous opportunity-was he tired of living?
"That's too fast, isn't it? Is this how fast an emperor's son can go?"
With the Blood Demon Spirit unleashed, Fu Yuan treated the pressure on the ninth level as though it were nothing, striding forward as easily as if he were walking on level ground. Even holy sons struggled to advance, climbing no more than a hundred steps in a quarter of an hour, but Fu Yuan was simply inhuman. He climbed several steps in a single breath, more than a few times faster than Zhuge Lingfeng, who had been climbing the fastest.
"He really is going to overtake everyone from behind. At this speed, who can still compete with him?" a cultivator exclaimed in astonishment.
"Who would still dare compete with him?" a being said with feeling. A true dragon had suddenly appeared among a school of fish. Without heaven-defying courage, who would dare make a move?
Zhuge Lingfeng also began to unleash his strength, climbing with all his might. He met the Heavenly Wind Holy Son on the 87,700th step.
The two exchanged a glance but said little. Had they met before Fu Yuan appeared, they would inevitably have fought over the one and only Divine Fire to determine who was superior.
But now, neither had any such thoughts. Holy sons were peerless heavenly talents to begin with, and if the two joined forces, few could rival them. But if their opponent was an emperor's son-and one who might have broken the Profound Opening limit and undergone a second bloodline awakening-even with two more on their side, they would have no chance of winning.
Nine and ten differed by only one, yet the gap between them was as vast as heaven and earth.
On the 88,000th step, Fu Yuan caught up to the Heavenly Wind Holy Son.
"A special physique?" A faint golden light suffused Fu Yuan's eyes as he looked directly at the Heavenly Wind Holy Son.
"Wood Physique." Every pore on the Heavenly Wind Holy Son's body trembled. With his Blood Demon Spirit activated, Fu Yuan was too terrifying. Facing him was like facing a peerless, vicious fiend.
"The Wood Body among the five elements. A very good physique." Fu Yuan nodded slightly, a radiant smile returning to his face. "Rumor has it that if one gathers the five physiques of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth and uses a forbidden technique to devour their Qi, blood, and souls, one can attain an Acquired Five Elements Physique."
Fu Yuan's face was plainly full of kindness, yet the Heavenly Wind Holy Son shuddered as he pondered the deeper meaning in his words.
"It's nothing more than a legend," the Heavenly Wind Holy Son said solemnly. He mentioned that a ruthless man had tried it during the Chaotic Ancient Era, only to fail in the end. His body had been unable to contain the fusion of five powerful bloodlines. He had suffered backlash, encountered an ominous occurrence, and developed a grave problem, allowing an adversary to take advantage of his weakness and kill him.
"On the path of cultivation, most are failures," Fu Yuan said with a soft chuckle. "Given enough opportunities, a Five Elements Physique has a chance of becoming a Chaos Physique. An opportunity like that is enough to make people risk their lives."
"How difficult it is to defy heaven! How many of unparalleled talent have fallen since ancient times? Even if one succeeds, it would only be an incomplete Chaos Physique, with a grave problem."
"Acquired and innate differ by only a word, yet the difference between them is as vast as heaven and earth."
The two traded questions and answers, and the atmosphere was quite subtle. When their conversation ended, Fu Yuan continued onward, while the Heavenly Wind Holy Son remained where he was. A closer look would have revealed a considerable amount of cold sweat on his forehead.
On the 88,500th step, Fu Yuan overtook Zhuge Lingfeng and became the foremost climber in the Lone Lamp Pavilion.
"I wonder if I might have an opportunity to see a little of the Zhuge Clan's Qi-Gazing Technique," Fu Yuan said.
The Qi-Gazing Technique of the Zhuge line was profoundly mysterious. It had not been created by the Array Emperor, the Dao Emperor whose name would endure through the ages, but by Demon Saint Zhuge, who had been known as the Little Formation Emperor in the immemorial era.
The Heavenly Secrets Pavilion had ranked the strongest Saints from the beginning of the Emperor Dao Era to the present. Among a host of sacred and Divine Bodies, he had placed eighty-fifth.
This spanned several eras and hundreds of millions of years. Everyone who made the top hundred was a peerless Saint capable of battling and killing a Great Emperor, which showed just how monstrous he was.
"Since you ask, fellow Daoist, of course I cannot refuse." Zhuge Lingfeng's cyan robes fluttered as he stood in high spirits.
Cyan Qi circulated in his eyes, with mysterious runes interweaving within them. In an instant, Zhuge Lingfeng's bearing changed completely. Like a person reflected in water or an immortal in a painting, he was elusive and unfathomable.
"What a profound technique. It truly deserves its reputation as one of the two supreme techniques, alongside the Heavenly Secrets Pavilion's Heaven-Surveying Technique." Fu Yuan was astonished. At the Profound Understanding Realm, only the merest trace of this technique could be displayed, yet it had still amazed him.
"Your Qi and blood are truly peerless, fellow Daoist-rarely seen since ancient times!" Zhuge Lingfeng was shaken as he used the Qi-Gazing Technique. From his perspective, Fu Yuan's entire body was covered in Chaos Qi, unfathomable as an abyss.
That Qi and blood flowed through his body like countless little golden dragons, while his soul was as unshakable as a soul of jade. This was a peerless monster without a flaw in any respect.
After only a few dozen breaths, sweat poured down Zhuge Lingfeng's face, and he had grown considerably paler. Clearly, the strain was immense.
"Your physique is too extraordinary, fellow Daoist. I have seen only one person who can stand alongside you." The cyan Qi faded from Zhuge Lingfeng's eyes, and he gasped for breath. Pushing the Qi-Gazing Technique to its limit had taken a tremendous toll on his soul, and even his breath had grown much weaker.
"Oh? Interesting." Fu Yuan smiled at those words. "The emperor's son Zhuge Wuding?"
At the mention of that monster-like existence, Zhuge Lingfeng's pupils contracted. After a brief pause, he continued, "The physique, Qi and blood, and soul of an emperor's son-level monster are all extraordinary. I could see only a part."
"Then which of us is stronger, he or I?" Fu Yuan asked again.
"Your physique, fellow Daoist, is supremely vigorous and yang, like the blazing sun. I dare not look directly at it."
"Fellow Daoist Wuding is like the bright moon in deep space, cold and aloof as ice, freezing the soul to its depths."
Zhuge Lingfeng continued, explaining that Fu Yuan and Zhuge Wuding were entirely different, possessing two different kinds of strength. With his abilities, he had glimpsed only a tenth or two and dared not comment carelessly.
Only an emperor's son could see through another emperor's son. Even the profoundly mysterious Qi-Gazing Technique could not cross that heavenly chasm.