The Outrageously Defiant Nephew

"Splash!"

Five tentacles stirred up surging undercurrents and dense bubbles, wrapping around the "wild" body.

"Wild" is like a nimble and graceful fish, swimming diagonally, lying on its side, twisting its thick waist, easily avoiding the entanglement and slapping of tentacles.

Throughout the entire process, it remained unconscious, as if the water was manipulating this enormous creature, forcing it to perform various difficult evasive maneuvers.

Rumbling. The seabed trembled violently, as if the creatures in the abyss were enraged. One after another, eerie and terrifying tentacles shot out from the dark abyss, like blooming tendrils, stirring up large amounts of dusty, sludge.

It bared its fangs and claws, seemingly sweeping away all creatures that passed through the abyss.

The surface of these tentacles is covered with incomplete patterns, like a complete painting that has been haphazardly erased. The huge suckers are covered with fleshy barbs and wriggle slightly.

"It seems to be someone no weaker than you. It's a pity that their spiritual essence is almost completely destroyed."

Based on the incomplete patterns on the surface of the tentacles, the supervisor determined the monster's rank in the abyss.

"As expected of a Fated Master." Da Huang said calmly, as he executed a graceful drift to avoid the three tentacles that were slamming towards him.

The tentacles slapped against the seabed, creating an earthquake-like effect. Soft mud and dust rose up like smoke, turning the originally clear seawater into a turbulent torrent.

"Every force in the world has its unique arrangement and combination; different substances have different patterns. The essence of a formation master lies in deciphering these patterns. Left, left, be careful to avoid..."

"When you have a thorough understanding of Yin and Yang, the Five Elements, and the principles of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, you can control all the forces in the world. Here it comes again, quickly move to the right, move backward."

The supervisor gave instructions while speaking.

Da Huang emphasized, his voice slightly angry:

"I am not your disciple!"

After expressing its emotions, it continued:

"Therefore, I have always believed that Warlock are the most special of all systems. A fourth-rank array master can control the vast majority of power in the world, while an existence like you can glimpse the secrets of heaven and observe destiny."

"However, even beings like the Gu God and the Witch God, the former with the Heavenly Gu Technique and the latter with the Divination Technique, can only occasionally observe a corner of fate. Yet you, a mere Fate Master, have accomplished something that even the highest-ranking beings cannot do."

"But if the Warlock exists as a system to create gatekeepers, then everything can be reasonably explained."

Snap!

Finally, with the help of its "comrades" chasing and intercepting it, one of the tentacles successfully lashed the abdomen of the goat-bodied, human-faced monster. The lash immediately tore open the flesh, causing large gushes of blood to ooze out, turning the seawater a tragically vivid crimson.

The supervisor clicked his tongue twice and praised:

"Impressive. The power of that whip is at least at the high level of a first-grade martial artist."

"Huang" said in a deep voice:

"Superhuman strength is one of its innate supernatural Divine Ability. At its peak, its tentacles could easily tear my body apart. Of course, physical strength Non-Self area of expertise."

"In ancient times, it fought a fierce battle with the 'dragon' in the deep sea, and the resulting tsunami almost submerged half of the Kyushu continent. It was this battle that broke the balance between Gods and Devils and ushered in the end of the Gods and Devils."

"After this battle, only one overlord remained in the deep sea, but unfortunately it wasn't it; it was the dragon."

The supervisor said "Oh":

"No wonder I couldn't sense its Primordial Spirit fluctuations."

Da Huang chuckled, "The tentacles, though dead, are not stiff; they have retained their will and have remained on this battlefield for countless ages."

"A terrifying obsession!" the supervisor commented.

As they spoke, the wild beast was about to cross this area.

The tentacles' attacks grew increasingly ferocious, cracking the seabed. Fortunately, there were no underwater volcanoes in this area, otherwise they would have erupted long ago.

"The dragon killed it, but its spiritual essence was damaged, and its combat power was no longer at its peak. Therefore, the three-eyed giant later pulled out its tendons and cut off its head. It's a pity that its spiritual essence was incomplete, and I couldn't absorb it. I don't know who will benefit from this power in the future."

Huang probed:

"How about this: you help me absorb its spiritual essence, and I promise to do something for you."

If it can absorb the remaining spiritual energy from the tentacles, its physical body will reach a transcendent level.

As the gatekeeper, the supervisor is proficient in formations and alchemy, and may be able to extract the spiritual essence from the tentacles.

The supervisor ignored it.

Huang could only move forward regretfully. After being whipped three times, he completely left this "battlefield" and disappeared into the endless deep sea.

Southern Frontier.

In the Li Gu tribe, inside a brick house, Lina, dressed in a thin top and shorts that exposed her thighs, lay sprawled on the bed, fast asleep.

Suddenly, she was awakened by a sharp pain. She opened her eyes, turned her head, and saw a chubby little toddler clinging to her arm and nibbling at it.

Ouch! Lina gasped in pain and slapped her apprentice awake.

The little boy groggily opened his eyes, rubbed his eye sockets, swallowed hard, and said:

"Master, I dreamt of delicious food, but no matter how hard I tried to bite it, I just couldn't."

As she spoke, she furrowed her brows, her face full of distress.

Lina pointed to her arm expressionlessly.

"Oh no, Master has been bitten!"

Xu Lingyin was shocked when she saw the teeth marks and screamed exaggeratedly.

"You bit me here," Lina shouted.

"It wasn't me."

Xu Lingyin quickly denied it, saying she didn't remember doing such a thing and that her master must be trying to take advantage of her to get her meat tomorrow.

"You're the one who bit me."

"It wasn't me."

The master and apprentice started arguing, unleashing sonic attacks on each other until Xu Lingyin's stomach rumbled.

Lina said irritably:

"You've eaten almost as much meat as I have, and I'm not hungry at all, so why are you hungry?"

In the Power Gu tribe, appetite represents both talent and, to some extent, cultivation level. Of course, someone like Xu Lingyin, who spends all day running around the mountains and fields and, encouraged by several elders, chasing after and beating up the Power Gu children, would definitely eat a lot.

But in Lina's opinion, it was still somewhat unusual.

"I'm just hungry," Xu Lingyin said, sounding aggrieved.

Did you secretly give the meat to someone else to eat?

Lina guessed, then immediately dismissed the guess: how could her foolish apprentice possibly share food with others?

"You hid the meat?"

Lina's heart skipped a beat. Xu Lingyin was a hoarder of food. She liked to hide chicken legs in shoes she didn't wear anymore. Then, when she found that the chicken legs had gone bad and she didn't want to eat them anymore, but she couldn't bear to throw them away, she would try to feed the chicken legs to her family.

"I don't."

Xu Lingyin was taken aback, her face filled with vigilance. Her master actually knew about her secret operation; her master was getting smarter and smarter.

"Why are you hiding things?" Lina said irritably.

"Don't worry, I won't eat it."

The climate in Southern Frontier is hot, making it impossible to preserve meat; most of it would have already gone bad.

Xu Lingyin breathed a sigh of relief. Although her master often took food from her, he was a man of his word.

So, in a solemn manner, it was announced:

"I'm saving it for my older brother."

"You still seem to care about Xu Ningyan, don't you?" Lina asked. "How much have you hidden?"

"So many!" Xu Lingyin spread her arms wide, gestured, and then added:

But I won't tell you.

"The masters said there was no food left in my hometown, and people were starving to death every day. If my elder brother couldn't feed everyone, they would join the bad guys in beating him. I gave them food, and then they stopped beating my elder brother."

In the darkness, Lina froze, staring at the seven-year-old child before her, speechless for a long time.

Are you homesick?

After a long while, Lina asked in a low voice.

"Um!"

Xu Lingyin nodded vigorously.

"Then let's go to the Central Plains in a while," Lina said.

"No!"

Xu Lingyin's answer was beyond her expectations.

"Why?" Lina asked, puzzled.

"Because I still want to play with the big bug, and it said it would teach me how to fight." Xu Lingyin rolled around on the bed and said in an exaggerated tone, "It's very strong, I can't even beat it."

"What nonsense are you talking about? Where did this big bug come from?" Lina asked, bewildered.

"Yes, yes," Xu Lingyin said, sitting up after rolling around in the water. She tilted her head and thought for a moment.

It said its name was Gu God.

Lina felt a chill run down her spine, and the hairs on her body stood on end.

After dinner, Xu Qi'an sat cross-legged in the room, practicing breathing exercises to regulate his Qi.

Half an hour later, he opened his eyes and ended his breathing exercises.

"I can drain all the spiritual energy in the vicinity in one gulp, but apart from nourishing my physical body, spiritual energy is of little use to me, and its effect on nourishing the physical body is extremely limited. Breathing exercises are no longer of much use to me."

After reaching the first-grade realm, he finally encountered a bottleneck.

Leaving aside other systems, within the martial arts system, the real bottleneck is actually when breaking through ranks. For example, when advancing from the ninth rank to the eighth rank, someone needs to help open the Heavenly Gate to guide the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the body and generate Qi.

To advance from the eighth rank to the seventh rank, one needs to work extremely hard, often going without sleep for several days.

The higher the rank, the more difficult it is to advance beyond that rank; the best example is Kouyang Prefecture.

However, once you successfully advance, there are actually no bottlenecks from the initial stage to the Great Perfection. Those with good talent will advance faster, while those with poor talent will advance slower.

Logically speaking, once he successfully advances to the first rank, his progress from the initial stage to the half-step Martial God should be a natural progression.

But now, he has encountered a bottleneck, and his cultivation has stagnated.

"That's why, although first-rank martial artists are extremely rare, there are still a few over a thousand years. But as for half-step martial gods, throughout history, I only know of one: Shen Shu."

"No wonder after reaching the first rank, I vaguely felt that I had reached my limit, my peak. This is a feeling I didn't have after entering the extraordinary realm."

From now on, every stage of Yipin will be a bottleneck.

"Since Shen Shu was able to advance to the half-step Martial God level, he must have a corresponding method. Before the wedding, take some time to visit the Hundred Thousand Mountains."

Besides this, Xu Qi'an had two other ideas:

1. Flower Arrangement!

The Flower Goddess is the reincarnation of the Immortal Tree, possessing the spiritual essence of Gods and Devils. Devouring spiritual power is useless, so what about absorbing the Flower Goddess's spiritual essence? Moreover, even if the Flower Goddess has no spiritual essence, the effects of the High Antiquity Daoist School dual cultivation technique are stronger than self-cultivation.

It aligns with the Dao of Yin and Yang's convergence.

Second: Calm the flames of karma!

Luo Yuheng successfully transcended his tribulation and advanced to the level of a terrestrial immortal, but this did not mean he was free from karmic fire. Karmic fire burning the body is an inherent drawback of the human sect's cultivation methods, and it is difficult to eradicate. However, after entering the first rank, Luo Yuheng was able to suppress the karmic fire with his cultivation.

The scorching flames no longer posed a threat to her.

As a terrestrial immortal of the Daoist School, Luo Yuheng should be the most perfect dual cultivation partner in the world.

Xu Qi'an slowly exhaled, shifting his attention to the current situation.

"The time for the Witch God to break free of the seal is not far off. The crack between the eyebrows of the Confucian Sage statue has spread to the lips and covered the entire face. This is more exaggerated than the Confucian Sage statue in the Southern Frontier Abyss."

"Yes, that was over a month ago. When I had some free time to see Shen Shu, I also had to go to the Abyss to check on how loose the seal was."

His trip to Jingshan City to collect interest was only one of his purposes; checking on the state of the Witch God was also an urgent matter.

After reading it, he gave up his idea of following Wei Yuan's example and summoning the spirit of the Confucian sage to repair the seal.

The reason is:

First, the power consumed by the Confucian Sage's carving knife and the Confucian hat of the Second Sage is too great to bear the power of the Confucian Sage's heroic spirit in a short period of time.

The supervisor had almost exhausted the power of the two Law Artifact in Qingzhou. After they recovered some of their power, Zhao Shou took them to the northern border and fought for thirteen days.

Second, the cost of summoning the spirit of the Confucian sage is too high.

When Wei Yuan summoned the Confucian sage while holding a second-rank official position, his physical body collapsed, and he paid the price with his death.

He is now a first-rank martial artist, far superior to Wei Yuan, but he will certainly have to pay a very heavy price. The Witch God Cult also has a Grand Wizard, a Rain Master, and two Spiritual Wisdom Masters.

The likely outcome of emulating Wei Yuan would be the same as Wei Yuan's death in Jingshan City.

With two tigers fighting, one dead and one wounded, the Western Regions are about to rejoice.

"Therefore, the most important thing now is to push my cultivation to the half-step Martial God level as soon as possible, for the sake of the common people of the Central Plains. Aunt Mu, don't blame your nephew for being worse than a beast."

Xu Qi'an snapped his fingers to extinguish the candle, opened the door, and left.

The night was deep, and red lanterns were lit under the eaves, swaying in the cool spring breeze.

The inner courtyard and corridors were completely silent and deserted.

Xu Qi'an quietly approached Mu Nanzhi's room and gently knocked on the door twice.

The room was quiet, and no one answered.

Pretending to be asleep, Xu Qi'an knocked on the door again.

Mu Nanzhi's wary voice came:

"What?"

"Good question, you really know me." Xu Qi'an flicked open the door latch, knocked, and entered. The temperature inside was just right, neither too hot nor too cold, and a familiar, alluring fragrance filled the air.

This is the unique fragrance of the Flower Goddess after she awakened her spiritual essence.

The room was pitch black, but that didn't obstruct Xu Qi'an's vision.

The bed curtains hung low, and a graceful curve lay on her side on the brocade couch.

Mu Nanzhi raised her eyebrows and said:

"Entering an elder's room in the middle of the night, what kind of behavior is this? Get out!"

Xu Qi'an sneered:

"Aunt Mu, your nephew was afraid you'd be lonely at night, so I came to serve you in bed."