Similarities Between the Life Technique and the Death Technique
The art of life is easy to understand; it includes techniques for evasion, physical body manipulation, the Nine Revolutions Qi Harmony Technique, and the Supreme Purity True Technique.
The art of survival is the art of guiding human survival; anything involving physical survival can be called the art of survival.
In contrast, there is the art of death, which is the study of death.
Unlike deaths caused by conventional Technique Method, the Shijiao School's death techniques study how to kill oneself.
For example, the Corpse Transformation Technique that Rong Tianding comprehended is a type of death technique. This technique allows one to transform into a zombie state, thus falling into what ordinary people perceive as death.
"My art of death, if not unparalleled in the world, is at least rare in the Three Realms. This kind of technique is very difficult to learn... Oh, you've learned it, haven't you?"
Although his fate wasn't good, Shi Wudao was still somewhat smug.
The Shijiao School's understanding of macrocosm and microcosm is quite unique among many schools of thought, far surpassing those that only seek to kill opponents with Technique Method power.
This kind of Technique Method cannot be learned through ordinary diligent study and practice; rather, it requires the cultivator to understand the laws governing its operation in order to possibly master it.
When Shi Wudao mentioned before, "Even if I teach him, he might not be able to learn it," he wasn't just boasting. It's true that the techniques of the Shijiao School are difficult to cultivate, and one can only truly understand them at a certain moment through enlightenment.
"How could you learn it so quickly? Back in my day..."
Raising his bluish-black sharp claws, Shi Wudao felt that cultivation was a bit of a blow to an elderly person.
Compared to today's young people, he was incredibly lucky back then.
"I knew a little bit about it before!"
Zhang Xuezhou learned a set of life and death techniques from Shi Wudao. These techniques were based on Shi Wudao's own understanding. Only by understanding Shi Wudao's cultivation could one comprehend his techniques of life and death.
Shi Wudao's life-giving technique is somewhat similar to the Nine Revolutions Qi-Gathering Technique, possessing powerful life-giving abilities, but its effects are weaker than the Nine Revolutions Qi-Gathering Technique.
However, the art of life-giving also has a very unique feature: it can concentrate the life force of the entire body into a single point.
Like seeds that form on a tree, as long as they are not completely destroyed, Shi Wudao can sprout and be reborn again with this bit of life force.
The death technique of Shi Wudao involves two states: pseudo-death and true death.
False death is similar to Zhang Xuezhou using the Grain Avoidance Instruction reduce the body's vitality, or using aging techniques to change the body, thereby creating a state of apparent death. After the apparent death is lifted, normalcy can be restored.
True death, on the other hand, involves the destruction of the physical body, the possession of another body, and the imprinting and regression of the soul.
The secret to Shi Wudao's resurrection lies in his state of true death.
Zhang Xuezhou felt that Shi Wudao's methods were almost identical to Li Shaojun's resurrection, and also very similar to the immortal stones and divine stones he knew.
"Your method of death involves finding a backup life form to store beforehand. When you die, you'll be transported back to that backup life form, thus achieving resurrection. However, there's something wrong with the backup life form you chose; otherwise, you wouldn't have ended up in such a sorry state after using this technique to revive!"
Zhang Xuezhou kept reflecting on Shi Wudao's death technique, feeling that it contained too many things he had previously known but had never combined with his own understanding.
He even saw the shadow of Naggus's branded divine mark in the death technique.
Having practiced similar methods before, Zhang Xuezhou found it easy to get started.
He even began to understand the things that Shi Wudao had said in the past, things that were considered cryptic and nonsensical.
"The four directions and the space above and below are called the universe; the past and the present are called time..."
He recited it softly twice, feeling that it was another 'guiding technique,' similar to Dong Zhongshu's technique of the Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven and man.
If it is possible to guide and rewind, then the survival of the soul can be achieved.
Of course, this kind of traction and regression is somewhat unreliable. Just like the probability of Zhang Xuezhou's traction of the Unity of Celestial Person and Heaven Technique, Shi Wudao's traction also involves a bit of luck.
If Shi Wudao is unlucky and fails to successfully draw the opponent's soul, then the opponent is truly dead when their soul is destroyed.
"Speaking of which, my cousin almost died in Chang'an City back then. He was only able to be resurrected thanks to the remnants of Chang'an City and the Corpse-Wu Dao's death-attracting technique!"
Having obtained the information from Shi Wudao, Zhang Xuezhou's many memories were constantly being confirmed and reorganized.
His body was sometimes full of vitality, and sometimes lifeless like a dead man, which made Shi Wudao somewhat unwilling and mutter to himself, feeling that his decades of hard work could not compare to the opponent's short-term efforts.
"You, Shi Jiao, have a worthy successor!"
Emperor Jing murmured softly. Shi Wudao wanted to argue that Zhang Xuezhou was not a true Shi Jiao cultivator at all, but he found it difficult to refute. After all, Zhang Xuezhou had truly learned the profound mysteries of life and death from the Shi Jiao, and had even pointed out Shi Wudao's shortcomings in the art of death.
"He doesn't have the Life and Death Token, he can't learn it," Shi Wudao retorted. "I've already said that even if I taught him, he might not be able to learn it. I can't possibly give him my lifeblood for the sake of passing on my legacy!"
"He doesn't care where we entrust our lives to," Emperor Jing said. "Besides, the life-and-death decree isn't necessarily the best; he's already addressed the issue of where you'll be stored!"
"This is what our Shi Jiao obtained from Changxing. It is unparalleled in the world and is already the best," Shi Wudao said Qi Ingestion.
Look up!
What are you looking up at?
"You'll understand after looking at it more!"
"What do you mean? Do you think you're still the emperor? You're speaking so vaguely and unclearly. Let me tell you, I'm not your subject. I don't need to guess your imperial intentions. You'd better speak like a human being. I'm not listening to you..."
Shi Wudao complained to Emperor Jing repeatedly, but Emperor Jing did not respond.
Sitting in Chang'an City and looking at the world is like being a frog at the bottom of a well, and a narrow understanding of life and death is like a frog in a well looking at the sky.
Human beings are but a blade of grass in the vast and endless expanse of heaven and earth, constantly changing from flourishing to withering. What we can observe is inevitably extremely limited. The best that Shi Wudao can do is to understand a period of time.
The world is constantly changing, with new things emerging all the time.
Emperor Jing had been deeply obsessed with something before. After being torn apart and killed again by the Nine Spirits Primal Sage, he felt that something had been forgotten and much content was missing from his mind.
This calmed his resentful heart, and he even began to discuss cultivation with Shi Wudao, trying to cultivate the Yang Soul Incarnation Technique to its full potential.
This was undoubtedly new content, something Emperor Jing had never known before.
He vaguely sensed a striking similarity to the technique excelled by Zhu Jiuyin, which allowed him to master the Yang Soul Incarnation Technique at an extremely fast pace, even filling in the gaps in Zhang Xuezhou's translation.
"Did you omit any details when you taught us the Yang Soul Incarnation Technique?"
After much discussion, Emperor Jing continued to attempt cultivation, eventually managing to speak from within the body of the flying zombie.
"This technique has given form, but lacks spirit," Shi Wudao added.
"Having form but no spirit is like having skin but no bones. It will be very difficult to master this art. Only through years of continuous practice can one achieve something," Emperor Jing said.
"You guys noticed the missing part too?"
Startled awake by the flying zombie, Zhang Xuezhou regained his senses.
This was the first time Zhang Xuezhou had heard a cultivator mention the missing content of the Yang Soul Transformation Technique, which had been spread for so many years.
The art of Zhu Jiuyin does indeed have flaws, making it difficult to master quickly.
Over the years, Zhang Xuezhou has had many ideas about accelerating the cultivation of the Yangpo Transformation Technique, rather than practicing it day after day in arduous effort, which ultimately results in a level that Zhu Jiuyin could casually create for him.
But after years of pondering, he had no way to deal with Zhu Jiuyin was holed up in the Xieluosi River Holy Land.
After Ma Yi helped the new emperor defeat the Zhu Jiuyin, Zhang Xuezhou didn't think he could still get along peacefully with Zhu Jiuyin, let alone learn anything about him from him.