Reverse Scale Spirit-Guiding Method

Luo Tianshen.

The patriarch of the Luo God Clan, the true master of Luo Shen City, and a renowned powerhouse of the Western Heaven Continent. Xiao Yan had heard Luo Lan mention the name countless times. From the way the boy spoke of him, he was a great figure before whom even the Blood God Clan had to tuck its tail between its legs. Yet Xiao Yan had never imagined that such a man would appear alone, late at night, dressed in a drab gray cloth robe, at the sickbed of an outsider of unknown origins like him.

"Granduncle... weren't you in secluded cultivation?" Luo Lan stammered from his knees, his face pale with fright as he raced to recall whether he had gotten into any trouble over the past two days.

"Can't I come out for a breath of air while I'm in secluded cultivation?" Luo Tianshen gave him a faint glance. "Get up. What are you kneeling for?"

As if granted a pardon, Luo Lan scrambled to his feet and retreated to the corner, shoulders hunched, scarcely daring to breathe. Luo Tianshen paid him no further attention. His gaze returned to Xiao Yan, carrying a measure of scrutiny, curiosity, and something Xiao Yan could not quite understand.

"Why did you save this boy?" he suddenly asked. "I heard about what happened at the Luo Pill Pavilion. You had only just arrived in the Great Thousand World, a man from a Lower Plane who could barely protect himself, yet you offended Blood Butcher of the Blood God Clan for a boy you had known for less than a day. That doesn't sound like something a clever man would do."

Xiao Yan straightened up, thought for a moment, and answered frankly, "I didn't think that much about it. I just couldn't stand by and watch."

"Couldn't stand by and watch?"

"He snatched meat from a child, and I couldn't stand by and watch. Blood Butcher beat him right in front of me, and I couldn't stand by and watch that either." Xiao Yan smiled. "That's always been my nature. I can't change it."

Luo Tianshen watched him in silence for a long while. In the corner, Luo Lan felt his eyes grow hot and kept his head lowered, desperately hiding his expression. After a long time, Luo Tianshen finally spoke, slowly. "Sit down. You're badly injured. It's too tiring to stand and talk."

Xiao Yan sat down on the edge of the bed as told. Luo Tianshen walked over to the table and sat down as well. He extended a thin, bony finger and lightly touched the tabletop. A faint thread of silver light flowed from his fingertip, slowly tracing an intricate, arcane pattern across the surface. It resembled a scale, one that grew backward.

"This is an ancient art of the Luo God Clan, called the Reverse Scale Spirit-Guiding Method," Luo Tianshen said evenly. "It wasn't originally created for people from Lower Planes. Our ancestors devised it to tame clansmen whose bloodlines were excessively violent, using Spirit Marks to restrain the raging power within them. Later, however, our predecessors discovered that this ancient method was also remarkably effective when used on people from Lower Planes."

Xiao Yan stared fixedly at the silver Reverse Scale Mark. He could sense an extraordinarily profound rhythm within it. It was not complicated; it was even simpler than the Spirit-Guiding Mark he had inscribed. Yet within that simplicity seemed to lie some fundamental truth of how heaven and earth worked.

"A Spirit-Guiding Mark can guide only one river, but the Reverse Scale Mark guides the entire sea," Luo Tianshen said. "The principle is simple. You take the most fundamental power within you as the core, then use Spirit Marks to lay down layer upon layer of reverse scales around it. These reverse scales guide the Spiritual Energy of heaven and earth flowing in along a single path, letting it wash away the things on the outside, layer by layer, while leaving the innermost core untouched. Then the power that has been washed is gathered back together by the layers of reverse scales and condenses anew against your core. It's like a fish having its scales replaced one by one, while its bones remain the same."

Xiao Yan's eyes grew brighter and brighter. The source as the core, Spirit Marks as scales, washing away layer by layer, reforging layer by layer... This was the third path he had searched so desperately for!

"Of course, it's simple to describe, but extremely difficult to do." Luo Tianshen glanced at him, his voice even. "First, you need to know the most fundamental thing within you like the back of your hand. You must know what is the core you need to protect and what are the scales you can discard. If you judge wrongly and discard the core as a scale, all your cultivation will be ruined."

"Second, you need to use Spiritual Energy to inscribe these layers of reverse scales inside your body. But the Spiritual Energy you have now is pitifully meager, and it's still fighting with your Dou Qi. You can't inscribe the marks at all."

Xiao Yan frowned slightly at that, then his brow smoothed out again. "Could I use soul power to inscribe the marks?"

Luo Tianshen gave him a faint glance. "Others couldn't, but you might. I watched you from outside the window for quite some time just now. Your soul power is frighteningly strong. In your present state, by rights you should barely be able to hold on to your Spiritual Energy, yet your soul is as steady as a rock. If you inscribe them with your own soul power, it might be even more suitable than having this old man do it himself."

"Third..."

Luo Tianshen paused, and a grave look slowly surfaced in his cloudy old eyes. "The process will be painful. Ten times, a hundred times more painful than everything you've endured these past few days, because it strips away what you've cultivated all your life, layer by layer, then grows it back again, layer by layer. It's like having the flesh scraped from your bones while you're still alive."

"Many people don't die in the Assimilation Tribulation, but from the pain of having their bones scraped. They can't endure it, their minds lose focus, and all their previous efforts come to nothing."

Silence filled the room. Listening from the corner, Luo Lan turned pale and could not help looking at Xiao Yan, his eyes full of worry. Xiao Yan, however, was silent for only a moment before a smile slowly appeared on his pale face. It was so calm that the dreadful things Luo Tianshen had just described might as well have been the most ordinary of trifles to him.

"There's something you don't know, Senior. The cultivation method I practice is called the Flame Mantra. Its path is to devour the Heavenly Flames of heaven and earth, allowing the method to evolve. Along the way, I've devoured six or seven kinds of Heavenly Flames. Each time, in the midst of blazing fire, a layer of my meridians, bones, and even my soul was burned away, then grew back."

"Pain is something I can endure." Luo Tianshen watched him quietly, and at last a clear trace of emotion appeared in his old eyes. In all his years, he had seen too many geniuses and too many proud sons of heaven. Among them were those more gifted than the young man before him, and those of nobler birth, but this was the first time he had seen someone speak so casually of the pain of having his bones scraped. This was no act of bravado, but a calm that only someone who had truly rolled through blazing fire countless times could possess.

"Good."

Luo Tianshen slowly rose and swept his sleeve. The Reverse Scale Mark on the table turned into a thread of silver light and shot into the space between Xiao Yan's brows. Xiao Yan felt a cool sensation in his mind, and every detail and every line of the Reverse Scale Spirit-Guiding Method was imprinted clearly in his memory.

"I have passed this method on to you." Luo Tianshen stood with his hands behind his back and spoke evenly. "You may stay in this courtyard without worry. No one will disturb you. As for the Blood God Clan..."

He paused, and his even tone carried an unquestionable weight. "Before you come out of seclusion, they won't get in."

Xiao Yan's heart trembled. He rose again and bowed deeply to Luo Tianshen with the utmost solemnity. This time, he did not say thank you.

Luo Tianshen accepted his bow calmly, then turned and walked toward the door. As he passed the corner, he glanced at Luo Lan, who was huddled there. "You boy," he said evenly, "you actually did something right this time."

Luo Lan froze, then his face instantly flushed bright red. Luo Tianshen said no more. He pushed open the door and left, his gray figure merging silently into the night, just as he had come.

Outside the courtyard, the night breeze was slightly cool. Luo Tianshen walked unhurriedly along the path lined with ancient trees, his hands behind his back. The courtyard behind him gradually vanished into the darkness. When he reached the end of the path, he stopped.

An old man in a dark blue robe waited in the shadows, bowing. It was Elder Luo Cheng, who had visited the courtyard during the day. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and he bent so low that he did not even dare raise his head. "Patriarch..."

"During the day, you said the Luo Shen Residence would not house outsiders?" Luo Tianshen said evenly, without looking at him.

Elder Luo Cheng shuddered all over. "I... I was only afraid of bringing trouble to the clan. The Blood God Clan..."

"The Blood God Clan's Blood Fiend Palm has injured seventeen of our clansmen over the past six months. Three died." Luo Tianshen cut him off, his voice still even. "That young man dispelled the blood fiend poison with a single pill. Do you know what that means?"

Elder Luo Cheng opened his mouth, cold sweat pouring down his face.

"You've managed the clan's affairs for too long. Your eyes are fixed on trouble, and you can't see anything else," Luo Tianshen said evenly. "Starting today, you will personally lead men to guard that courtyard. If so much as half a Blood God clansman slips inside... you can go kneel in the ancestral hall yourself."

"Yes! Yes!" Elder Luo Cheng answered repeatedly. When he looked up again, no one stood before him.

Inside the room, Xiao Yan and Luo Lan exchanged a glance. Luo Lan opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something, but he did not know where to begin. After struggling for a long while, he finally managed only one sentence. "My granduncle... he's never praised me before."

Xiao Yan smiled. He sat cross-legged on the bed again and slowly closed his eyes. In his mind, the silver Reverse Scale Mark floated quietly, giving off a gentle light.

"Luo Lan," he said with his eyes closed, "help me guard the door."

"All right!" The boy straightened his back and nodded firmly.