Gui Water True Scripture

The "Gui Water True Scripture" was the most powerful and core immortal art of the Gui Water Immortal Sect. Together with the Azure Wood Immortal Sect's "Azure Wood Immortal-Invoking Art," the Ding Fire Immortal Sect's "Ding Fire Heaven-Burning Formula," the Ji Earth Immortal Sect's "Ji Earth Heavy Mountain Art," and the Xin Metal Immortal Sect's "Xin Metal Army-Shattering," it was listed among the oldest, most mysterious, and most powerful immortal arts of the Immortal-Spirit Realm. Over hundreds of millions of years, countless people had wished to enter these five ancient immortal sects, yet not a single person had found the locations of their mountain gates.

At the beginning of the "Gui Water True Scripture," it was written: "Heaven possesses the Five Elements—water, fire, metal, wood, and earth—which transform and nurture all things in their appointed seasons. They generate and restrain one another, endlessly giving rise to life. Yet water is the foundation of the Five Elements: hard as metal, heavy as earth, capable of burning at its extreme, and light as vapor." The Five Elements generated and restrained one another, balancing each other to form the Five Elements. Yet at the dawn of chaos, there had also been an order to their birth. Water was born first. Where there was water, there was life; only afterward were wood, fire, earth, and metal born. In the end, they slowly formed a balanced state of mutual generation and restraint, cycling through heaven and earth and bringing about the growth of all things.

Water was the foundation of all elements and the foremost of the Five Elements. If it became ice that had frozen for countless ages, its hardness could rival the finest metals; if it became Qian Zhong Heavy Water, it resembled thick earth and towering mountains; if it reached the utmost extreme of cold, then when things reached their limit, they could ignite; if it transformed into mist and vapor, it brimmed with life like verdant wood. Thus, among these five ancient immortal sects, their cultivation arts also had distinctions of strength and weakness. Yet those distinctions only showed beneath the Mahayana Realm. If the immortal arts of all five sects were cultivated to the Mahayana Realm, then setting aside factors such as aptitude and ability, there was no longer any distinction between victory and defeat in terms of the arts' power and divine abilities. This accorded with the principle that the Five Elements ultimately achieved perfect, rounded balance. Below the Mahayana Realm, likewise setting aside factors such as aptitude and ability, the "Gui Water True Scripture" was the strongest and encompassed all things; the "Azure Wood Immortal-Invoking Art" came next, and so on. However, the gap between them was not very great. The Xin Metal Immortal Sect, ranked last, cultivated the fastest and possessed the sharpest attacks, often overwhelming the other sects in realm. Yet the depth and solidity of its spiritual power could not compare to the other four sects.

To cultivate the "Gui Water True Scripture," one took a water spiritual root as the foundation. At the end of every realm, one had to cultivate according to the Five-Element Generation method until balance was reached before entering the next realm. Take the first level of the Qi Condensation Realm: water, wood, fire, earth, and metal generated one another in pairs, like five large vats of differing heights arranged in sequence. Water was the tallest vat, followed in descending order by wood, fire, earth, and metal, with metal being the shortest. Cultivation of the "Gui Water True Scripture" began with the tallest water-attributed vat as the basis. Cultivation was like pouring in water. When water spiritual power was cultivated up to the mouth of the vat, the water spiritual power vat was full. But unlike the cultivation arts of other immortal sects, one would not then strike at the second level of the Qi Condensation Realm and advance.

At that point, one could not strike at the second level of the Qi Condensation Realm while cultivating the "Gui Water True Scripture"; one had to continue cultivating. The continuing water spiritual power had nowhere to be stored because the vat was full, so it would continuously overflow from the mouth of the water spiritual power vat and flow downward into the slightly shorter wood spiritual power vat. Once the water spiritual power entered that vat, the principle of mutual generation would produce wood spiritual power until the wood spiritual power vat was filled as well. Continuing cultivation then caused water spiritual power to keep overflowing into the wood spiritual power vat. Since that vat was now full, it too overflowed into the lower fire spiritual power vat. Likewise, through the power of Five-Element Generation, fire spiritual power would be produced within the fire spiritual power vat. And so it continued until the metal spiritual power vat was also full. Once the Five-Element Generation was complete, one could strike at the second level of the Qi Condensation Realm.

With every subsequent rise in realm, the spiritual power vats within one's body would continually expand and grow taller along with the increase in realm. One then had to use the mental cultivation formulas of a higher level to cultivate again, filling the Five-Element spiritual power vats to their mouths once more, over and over.

This revealed the requirements these five great ancient immortal sects had for choosing disciples: the order and relative strength of the spiritual root attributes within one's body were crucial. If one's spiritual roots did not decrease in sequence according to the path of mutual generation, then cultivating this art would throw the spiritual power within one's body into utter chaos. The cultivator would be unable to control the spiritual power within his body and would ultimately die a violent death on the spot.

For example, if a person with mixed spiritual roots had the strongest affinity for water spiritual power, he would need to cultivate the "Gui Water True Scripture." But if his affinities for the other spiritual powers were ordered as fire, earth, metal, and wood, then after he filled the water spiritual power vat through the "Gui Water True Scripture," continuing cultivation would cause the power overflowing from the water spiritual power vat to enter the fire spiritual power vat. Yet fire spiritual power could not be generated by water spiritual power. The only result would be wild, rampaging spiritual power produced by their rejection of each other. In the end, there would be no road left but a miserable death.

This kind of Five-Element cultivation art appeared complicated and difficult. Others only needed to cultivate one elemental attribute in order to advance quickly, whereas they had to fill all five elements before entering the next stage. It seemed as though they would need several times as much time as others. This was the greatest taboo in the cultivation world. Cultivating immortality, cultivating immortality—what one cultivated was time. Otherwise, if one failed to reach the Foundation Establishment Realm within a few short decades and could not advance to the next stage to increase one's lifespan in time, one would first grow old and die. Yet this was not actually the case for the five immortal sects. This was precisely where these five ancient cultivation sects displayed their strength. They used the method of mutual generation. Aside from the first level of the Qi Condensation Realm, where one had to cultivate all five kinds of spiritual power from nothing, once the final metal spiritual power of the first level was cultivated, an endless Five-Element cycle would be completed. Metal could then generate water, driving water spiritual power to form and circulate faster. As water spiritual power quickened, it in turn drove the spiritual powers of the other attributes to generate one another faster as well, causing cultivation speed to gradually become faster and faster.

The second benefit of the "Gui Water True Scripture" was that, among cultivators of the same stage, the spiritual power within one's body was three to five times that of others at the same stage, aside from those from the five immortal sects. Of course, the exact amount depended on the size of the spiritual power vats within one's body. This allowed one to last longer in magical combat and wield more powerful spells.

The third benefit was the ability to cultivate immortal arts of different spiritual power attributes. Although cultivators outside the sacred spiritual roots of other sects could also simultaneously cultivate or use immortal arts of other attributes, very few cultivated immortal arts of more than two attributes at once. Doing so would greatly prolong the time needed to advance, which was not something they desired. Even among the exceptionally rare special cultivation arts, at most two attributes could be cultivated simultaneously, and there would still be distinctions of strength and weakness; normally, one's primary cultivation art remained dominant. Unlike the immortal arts of these five ancient sects, their spiritual powers were born from mutual generation, so there was no relationship of strength and weakness when used. For example, when using an earth-attributed immortal art and earth spiritual power was insufficient, one could pour fire spiritual power wildly into the earth spiritual power vat and convert it into earth spiritual power, while wood spiritual power continuously generated fire-attributed power to replenish the fire spiritual power. In this way, there would be no awkward situation where an immortal art of a certain type was weak because that attribute's spiritual power was scarce. Of course, the prerequisite was that one had the time to cultivate immortal arts of every attribute.

This was the true terror of the five great ancient sects, and what the major sects of the Immortal-Spirit Realm did not understand. The terror of their immortal arts came from the mutual generation method, the core source of their power.

Seeing this, Li Yan also recalled Dong Fuyi's strange smile when he had said that Li Yan should cultivate to the peak of the first level of the Qi Condensation Realm. Now, Li Yan understood its meaning. First, when Strategist Ji absorbed another person's inner force, because he was only at the third level of the Qi Condensation Realm, the person being drained could not exceed his maximum capacity. That meant their spiritual power could not surpass the peak of the first level of the Qi Condensation Realm; otherwise, the other party's spiritual power would be too immense, causing a backlash that would kill him. But with the cultivation method of the "Gui Water True Scripture," when Li Yan reached the peak of the first level of the Qi Condensation Realm, the spiritual power in his body would be at least around three times that of an ordinary cultivator. Once Strategist Ji absorbed it, the one who died in the end would not be Li Yan, but Strategist Ji. Second, if Li Yan changed the attribute of the spiritual power he released while Strategist Ji was absorbing it, so that it was not the wood spiritual power cultivated by the Black Night Curtain Green Technique, then if Strategist Ji absorbed it into his body, the result could be imagined.

However, both outcomes required him to cultivate the "Gui Water True Scripture" to a certain degree first.

After reading this opening general outline, Li Yan had never seen what other immortal cultivation sects were like, yet he could not help sighing. "There is actually such a monstrous cultivation art in this world. Truly, even the Heavenly Dao does not permit it. No wonder its inheritance is so difficult. The cycle of the Heavenly Dao has its own justice."

He immediately focused and continued reading. Only a dozen or so lines remained, and they were the cultivation formula for the first level of the Qi Condensation Realm. Li Yan's spirits rose. The Great Dao had arrived.

Li Yan slowly opened his eyes. He was still inside the stone house, still sitting cross-legged on the bed, but there was now an additional formula in his mind. He had repeatedly memorized those dozen or so lines in his sea of consciousness, and after confirming there were no errors, he considered how to leave. With a movement of intent, he had already withdrawn from his sea of consciousness.

Li Yan closed his eyes again and thought over the method of entering and leaving his sea of consciousness. He concentrated his mental power at the spot before his forehead once more. His vision blurred, and he arrived above the small lake again. Then, with his thoughts, he willed himself out of that space. In an instant, he had returned to the real world.

He rose to his full height and stood upon the ground, a faint smile appearing on his face. He had finally mastered the method of entering and leaving his sea of consciousness, and had also obtained the cultivation method of the "Gui Water True Scripture." Next, he needed to figure out how to escape this Valley of Beasts.

After lunch, Li Yan walked with light steps to the door of the first stone house. As usual, Strategist Ji's gentle voice came from within. "Since you have come, enter." Li Yan smiled faintly and pushed the door open.

Strategist Ji was still sitting cross-legged behind the low table as though he had never changed since ancient times, though his expression remained somewhat uncertain. Looking at Li Yan as he entered, he steadied himself and casually pointed at the carpet before the table. "Sit."

After returning, he had again sat cross-legged in meditation as usual for a while, suppressing the burning restlessness in his chest. Recently, the fire poison within his body had become harder and harder to suppress. It was better if he did not use spiritual power, but once he did, he felt as if his breath and energy were crashing about in disorder. When he treated Li Yan outside earlier, he had used spiritual power several times and already felt his energy becoming somewhat unstable. I need to hurry. At this rate, I probably cannot suppress it for another year or two, he thought. Then he habitually extended his left hand from his sleeve and casually glanced at the two-toned book. But I cannot place all my hopes on that boy. This book should have been set with a profound restriction... hm? As he was lost in thought, the sight before him made him freeze. He instantly sprang up from the ground. The book was still the same two books glued together, but from one-third downward, it was no longer the familiar pale yellow. The upper one-third of the book had originally been jade-white, while the lower two-thirds had been pale yellow. Ever since obtaining this jade slip and jade book, he had used magic power to glue them together for convenience of reference. For so many years, it had always remained this way. The book never left his hand as he studied it painstakingly day after day. But now, it was no longer the scene he knew. The upper one-third remained jade-white as always, yet the lower two-thirds had turned grayish-brown, as though they had lost their luster. This change gave him a great shock.

He hurriedly brought the two joined books before his eyes and examined them closely. He repeatedly turned the books over, viewing them from different angles, before finally confirming that they had indeed changed. He carefully opened the book to the one-third mark. The cover of the pale-yellow jade book had now become lifeless as well, like withered, decayed wood. He silently circulated magic power and poured it into the book. After a while, a crisp Pop sounded, and his magic power actually entered the grayish-brown book successfully. Strategist Ji was overjoyed. Could the restriction on this book have faded away with the years? Perhaps this color today is the power of the restriction failing. He immediately released his Divine Sense and, with utmost caution, slowly approached and entered it bit by bit. After a moment, finding nothing amiss, he increased the strength of his Divine Sense and gradually penetrated deeper into the jade book. What he saw next was an utterly unexpected sight. Inside the book was an empty space. At its very center hung a map, slightly twisted as though bending in the wind. From afar, he could see several winding lines and some markings upon it.

Even then, he did not forget to have his Divine Sense approach the map with extreme care. After quite some time, his Divine Sense finally stopped before the map, and no unexpected situation occurred. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief. Yet he still merely kept his Divine Sense close without touching the map. It seemed to be a route map. Several different routes converged from different directions of the map toward a central region, finally stopping at a place resembling a lake. Several blood-red characters flashed upon it: "Great Poison Life-Giving Art." He stared blankly at those words. "Great Poison Life-Giving Art, Great Poison Life-Giving... This should be an immortal art for cultivating poison, or an art for using poison. Heaven has not forsaken me. Heaven has not forsaken me! Hahaha!" Even a deeply scheming man like Strategist Ji was wild with joy at this moment. After his ecstasy subsided, he began studying the map carefully.

After a long while, Strategist Ji withdrew his Divine Sense from the jade book, his expression seeming both pleased and annoyed. He had carefully studied the map just now and, in the end, gritted his teeth and touched it with a thread of Divine Sense. Nothing unexpected happened, and only then did he completely put his mind at ease.

The place marked on this map seemed somewhere he had been before, yet certain terrain and landforms did not resemble it. In his memory, it should be more than ten thousand li west after entering Great Green Mountain, then turning north for about four thousand more li, where there was a long, narrow valley. There was a lake within it that somewhat resembled the one on this map. Yet the scenery around the lake on the map differed somewhat from his recollections. For a moment, he could not be certain.