The Opposing Body Tempering Method
Zhang Xuezhou is still unsure of his limit on how long he Grain Avoidance, how long he can endure hunger and thirst, and how much energy his body can absorb from food.
After his Grain Avoidance Instruction Divine Ability, his stomach and intestines were not organs in the ordinary sense, but rather resembled a kind of Sumeru space, capable of greatly compressing food and water.
It looked like he was gulping it down, but there was no noticeable change in his stomach.
"Oh dear!"
"Brother Yang, please don't force-feed me!"
"Shuo Xian, don't let your fighting cause any harm!"
Zhang Xuezhou and Yang Jian drank together. At first, Li Tianwang and the others could only watch the fun, but later, when the two started drinking from water vats, everyone couldn't sit still anymore.
Not to mention the excruciating pain of drinking that knife-like tea from Guan River Mouth, even drinking water wouldn't be enough to withstand it.
This kind of tea is only something that cultivators like them, who have achieved physical sainthood, can handle. Other cultivators would curse after just one sip. They might be able to tolerate a small taste, but such a tea-tasting contest could easily lead to health problems in the end.
Seeing that the two had drunk three vats of tea in succession, Li Tianwang and the others couldn't help but run around checking on their condition.
"Woof! That guy surnamed Shuo definitely cheated! He couldn't possibly have drunk the master's!"
The white dog jumped around frantically, sniffing around Zhang Xuezhou, trying to find out the secret to how Zhang Xuezhou could drink tea without spilling a drop.
"Come, come, Fellow Daoist Yang, please!"
Zhang Xuezhou didn't mind continuing to drink water. His stomach was now full of tea, and he could just find a place to urinate later. However, the tea's constant replenishment of his qi and Qi and Blood and Law Power made him feel somewhat uncomfortable.
When Qi and Blood are overflowing, they stimulate the body, causing the body to swell and the veins to bulge. The more they accumulate, the stronger the destructive desire becomes. When Law Power overflows, it blocks the acupoints, causing a back-and-forth collision that feels like being pricked by needles.
His cultivation level was not comparable to that of such a seasoned master, but the profound knowledge of Yin-Yang School Realm Technique allowed him to hold on.
Holding up the steaming water vat once more, Zhang Xuezhou gestured towards the towering Yang Jian.
"Friend Shuo Dao, you are quite skilled. Would you mind stretching your muscles with me, and then we can drink three more jugs?"
Yang Jian glanced at the water vat on the ground, then reached out to invite him.
"I've heard that the Eight-Nine Mystical Art you cultivate is a peerless skill, the strongest ability to achieve physical sainthood," Zhang Xuezhou said. "If you want me to loosen your muscles with you, you'd better explain this skill clearly, lest I accidentally fall into your trap!"
"You want to steal the Eight-Nine Mystical Art?" Yang Jian asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Do you think you can easily learn this mysterious ability?" Zhang Xuezhou asked with a smile.
"No!" Yang Jian shook his head.
Has anyone else successfully learned this skill?
"Apart from Yang and a demon monkey, no other cultivator has yet succeeded in mastering the technique!"
"Then what are you worried about?"
Zhang Xuezhou chuckled, and Yang Jian's expression changed slightly, realizing that they had encountered cultivators blocking their way today.
He could, of course, conceal the truth and not go into detail, but an expert opponent would be able to tell just by listening.
Ultimately, mastering a skill may not be easy, but pointing fingers is a skill everyone possesses, especially since Zhang Xuezhou's body refinement is also extraordinary, and being proficient in this art would certainly allow him to hear clearly.
Yang Jian had never really cared who knew the Eight-Nine Mystical Art, since others couldn't learn it. But he was a little unsure of Zhang Xuezhou's background and was even more worried that Zhang Xuezhou had the ability to learn it but hadn't mastered it.
This forced Yang Jian to issue repeated warnings.
"It's fine for me to talk about this Cultivation Method, but if you don't cultivate it to its full potential, it will become a harmful Cultivation Method, making it difficult for people to move. Even if the body can withstand swords and blades, it's just a target," Yang Jian warned. "Fellow Daoist, it's fine to understand it, but please don't cultivate it casually!"
"My own skills are no less than the Eight-Nine Mystical Art," Zhang Xuezhou said with a smile. "If you want me to learn from you, I'd need to find you worthy of my attention!"
"Oh?"
Yang Jian narrowed his eyes slightly. There were countless cultivators who coveted the Eight-Nine Mystical Art, but he had never seen anyone so picky and even disdainful.
This made him stop trying to dissuade him, and he reached out and took out a list.
Turning the scroll, beams of golden light appeared on the text.
By simply focusing one's gaze upon it, one can understand the meaning contained within the golden light.
This method of demonstration is very similar to the avoidance technique taught by the Emperor. However, the Emperor's method uses mental power to directly imprint the image in the mind, while Yang Jian's method relies on the imprinting of the inscription and requires the viewer's own understanding and memory. It does not directly imprint the image in the mind to form a fixed memory.
"Wooden body, earthen body, iron body, bronze body, water body, silver body, fire body, gold body, and Ruyi body!"
The world's most supreme method of physical ascension to sainthood was presented before Zhang Xuezhou, but Zhang Xuezhou did not feel the joy he had imagined.
He carefully compared and repeatedly checked the data.
If his cultivation technique for evasion was to eliminate the influence of the Five Elements, then the Eight-Nine Mystical Art was to cultivate a body of the Five Elements and fully utilize the mysteries of the Five Elements. This arcane art was almost the opposite of the evasion technique he cultivated.
If there are any similarities between the two, they are limited to a few stages of increasing physical strength.
In terms of physical strength, this kind of mystical skill is actually inferior to physical body techniques.
"It's actually the opposite of my training method!"
Zhang Xuezhou couldn't simply copy the Eight-Nine Mystical Art. Even if he believed he was capable of mastering it under the right conditions, this arcane art, which contradicted his own cultivation methods, was undoubtedly unsuitable for him.
However, the Eight-Nine Mystical Art did give him a direction: the method of following the Five Elements could be combined with the art of cultivating the physical body, and the method of reversing the Five Elements could certainly be combined as well.
"Excellent Cultivation Method! Mastering the Eight-Nine Mystical Art will grant you all your desires!"
Zhang Xuezhou turned his gaze back to the list and offered a word of praise.
"Oh, judging from your attitude, you don't seem to care?"
Yang Jian touched his belly and then looked at Zhang Xuezhou, who had a calm expression.
Yang Jian had seen some pretentious cultivators who appeared to be doing well on the surface, but then turned around and relied on their memory to force themselves to cultivate.
The grass on these people's graves is now overgrown with weeds. Yang Jian has seen many people like this, and he knows their characteristics very well.
But Zhang Xuezhou didn't seem interested at all, and even seemed to be comparing his praise to something else, so he only gave a very satisfactory evaluation.
"This Cultivation Method involves the circulation of the five elements within the body. Once mastered, one can easily control the five elements 'Technique Method, and the copper-iron-gold body makes the body impervious to swords and blades, making it difficult for ordinary people to break through the body. It can be considered extremely ingenious," Zhang Xuezhou said. "However, its success lies in its ingenuity, and its downfall also lies in its ingenuity. A Cultivation Method that is too ingenious will fall into Lower Vehicle!"
"Oh, where is it sold?" Yang Jian asked.
"Skillful cultivation is not easy, and few succeed in it. This inevitably leads to a situation where few are qualified to discuss it, and once one succeeds alone, there is no further progress," Zhang Xuezhou said. "Furthermore, skillful cultivation has another problem: once it is countered by force, the Eight-Nine Mystical Art will inevitably collapse!"
"Who in this world can break the Eight-Nine Mystical Art?" Yang Jian laughed. "Could it be that you, fellow Daoist, can break it?"
"I cannot break through it now," Zhang Xuezhou shook his head and said, "But the Western Sect has a disciple of Buddha Tathagata. His physical body, even at the Sole Self Realm, can fight you to a standstill. If he were to step into the True Self realm, he would surely defeat you!"
"Buddha's disciple!"
Yang Jian narrowed his eyes slightly.
Zhang Xuezhou, who accompanied Li Tianwang and the others, was clearly skilled in body refinement, and immediately named another cultivator specializing in body refinement.
Yang Jian knew about the Buddhist followers in the Western Sect, but he did not pay much attention to these short-lived beings.
When Zhang Xuezhou mentioned the Buddha's son whose physical body was nearing completion, his expression turned serious, realizing that the Western Sect had given birth to a great cultivator with a terrifying physical body who might even attain immortality.
"How much tea can he drink?" Yang Jian asked.
"I don't know how much tea he can drink, but he'll enjoy it immensely. Once he gets to know you, he'll definitely come over often to ask for some!"
Zhang Xuezhou gave a brief explanation, and Yang Jian immediately realized that the other party was an ascetic cultivator. Such a cultivator, if not successful, would be nothing, but once he achieved great success in his cultivation, he would definitely be a formidable character.
"What will be the outcome of his duel with Li Tianwang?" Yang Jian asked again.
"A friendly sparring match will end in a draw; even if Li Tianwang is at his worst, he can escape in a whirlwind. But in a death match, Li Tianwang will surely die!"
"Oh dear, how did things turn into me dying like this?!"
Zhang Xuezhou and Yang Jian chatted idly for a while, and Li Tianwang never expected that he would become the subject of comparison.
Upon hearing that he would be beaten to death, Li Tianwang was somewhat incredulous. After all, he had met the Buddha's disciple and found it hard to imagine that the other party possessed such great power.
"If you said I would be killed by the Holy Son of Kunlun, that would be one thing, but is the Buddha's son really that powerful?"
Li Tianwang couldn't very well argue with the great immortal under the tutelage of Yuanshi Tianzun, but he did have some doubts.
"He was just a few strokes of fortuitous opportunity away from being unstoppable!"
Zhang Xuezhou shook his head. He had seen many brilliant cultivators, and his senior brother Tathagata was indeed ranked first.
The opponent was not the kind of cultivator who had already achieved unparalleled success in his twenties or thirties, but rather a late bloomer who grew stronger the longer he cultivated.
The fact that Brother Tathagata can become stronger with age suggests that his fortuitous opportunity lies not in his cultivation of realms and the refinement of his physical body, but most likely in the creation of the spiritual spring, giving him a youthfulness and potential similar to or even stronger than Zhang Xuezhou's.
If everything continues in this uneventful way, it's hard to say what will become of Brother Tathagata in the future.
But Donghua went to Lingshan.
This might bring fortuitous opportunity for the Buddha's disciples to progress.