Nine Transformations of the True Spirit.

Chapter 158 Giant Spirit Body

Chen Yuan smiled and said, "In that case, I won't waste any more time and will choose a sect mission."

He raised his hand and took the three talismans. He probed into them with his spiritual sense and soon learned the contents of the three sect missions.

The first task is to hand in a demon pill of the third-level demon beast White-Feathered Crane. The deadline is one year and the reward is 600 good deeds.

The other two tasks are both related to demonic cultivators, namely, hunting down a demonic cultivator at the tenth level of Qi Refining, and destroying a demon cult that is spreading in the mortal world. The rewards are one thousand and two thousand good merits respectively, and the deadline is also one year.

Chen Yuan withdrew his consciousness, pondered for a moment, picked up the second talisman, and bowed to Wang Ran, saying, "Brother Wang, I have decided to take on the task of destroying the Demon Sect."

Wang Ran nodded slightly: "Wang also thinks that this mission is the most suitable for Junior Brother. Although the other two missions are simple, they require finding the traces of Bai Yuhe and the Qi Refining Demon Cultivator. Something unexpected may happen along the way. Although it is a bit troublesome to destroy this demon sect, it will not take long."

Chen Yuan smiled and said, "Brother Wang, you are right. I think so too."

Sect missions also have a chance of failure, and it is not small.

It is easy to kill a third-level monster, but the white-feathered crane is a relatively rare monster. Chen Yuan needs to take the trouble to find it, and he doesn't know how much time it will take.

If that Qi-refining demon cultivator hides and cannot be found, or is killed by someone else, his mission will also fail.

Chen Yuan must complete a sect mission within a year and cannot delay. The mission of destroying the Demon Cult is the most suitable one.

According to the talisman, this evil cult is located in Dingzhou in the south of the Chimang Mountains, within the sphere of influence of the Tiangang Sword Sect.

However, there are few monks in its sect, the population under its jurisdiction is dense, and the evil cultivators are rampant, so it seeks help from the other five major sects.

The five sects each sent out cultivators to help the Tiangang Sword Sect eliminate the evil cultivators, among which Dingzhou was under the responsibility of the Lingyun Sect.

The trace of this evil cult was discovered by a casual cultivator, who reported it to the Tiangang Sword Sect, but the sect was unable to resolve it, so they passed it on to the Lingyun Sect, which released it in the form of a sect mission.

After Chen Yuan left his spiritual mark in the talisman, he accepted the sect's mission. The talisman turned red, and after it was completed and reported to the sect, it would turn green.

Wang Ran saw the talisman change color, raised his sleeves and put away the other two talismans, and said seriously: "Junior Brother Chen has been in seclusion for many years and has never dealt with demon cultivators. Their skills are strange. Junior Brother, you must be more careful when you go to Dingzhou."

Chen Yuan said solemnly, "Thank you, Senior Brother Wang, for reminding me. I didn't need to do that. This time, I owe you a favor for your help. If you need me to refine any elixir in the future, just let me know."

Wang Ran's eyes flashed, and he said with a smile: "Since Junior Brother said so, then I won't be polite. I just happened to have gathered two furnaces of Qingning Dan spiritual herbs on hand. Junior Brother, can you make the elixir for me?"

The reason why he was so willing to lend a helping hand was to ask Chen Yuan to help him make the elixir. Now that he had the opportunity, he naturally would not miss it.

Chen Yuan immediately agreed: "I will take care of this matter, but I am leaving the sect this time and I don't know when I will return. Please wait for a while. When I complete the sect mission and return to the mountain gate, I will make pills for you."

Wang Ran smiled and said, "It's supposed to be this way. I wish you a smooth journey."

Now that the matter had been settled, Chen Yuan did not stay any longer. He stood up, said goodbye, and left, riding on a light and returning to the cave.

The evil cult was preaching in Dingzhou, so it was not difficult to find their traces. Besides, the mission deadline was still one year, so he was not in a hurry to leave the mountain gate.

During the eight years of seclusion, Chen Yuan spent five years to refine the fifty-eight pills, and his cultivation reached the middle stage of foundation building.

After that, apart from meditating and practicing every day, he also practiced a secret technique from the "Demon God Sutra".

This secret technique is called "Giant Body" and it can greatly strengthen the body and increase strength.

Chen Yuan's body was strong, comparable to that of a peak level four monster. His training progressed by leaps and bounds. In just three years, he had mastered most of this secret technique.

However, he had still not practiced this secret art for too short a time, and there were still some obstacles he had not yet understood. It would take another month or two before he could use it proficiently and display it at will in a fight.

Therefore, after he received the sect's mission from Wang Ran, he did not leave the sect in a hurry, but returned to Yunyin Peak, ready to continue practicing this secret art. It would not be too late to go to Dingzhou after he had fully mastered it.

Now that the demonic cultivators are rampant in the territory of Qi State, Chen Yuan must maximize his own strength and enhance his means of self-preservation before he will leave the mountain gate.

He returned to the training room, took out the jade slip of "The Secret of the Demonic God", closed his eyes slightly, probed his spiritual consciousness into it, and carefully figured out the formula of the giant spirit body secret technique.

An hour later, he opened his eyes, raised his hands, made hand gestures, and urged the true energy in his body to circulate along specific meridians and stimulate his body.

After three breaths, Chen Yuan's body suddenly grew to about seven feet tall. The black robes on his body swelled up, and his exposed hands and neck took on a faint bronze color.

He stood up and slowly clenched his fists, only to feel his strength surge to nearly 200,000 pounds.

He touched his storage bag and took out the Fire Cloud Gourd. He changed the spell in his hand and a grain of Fire Cloud Sand spurted out of the gourd. It grew to the size of a fist and spun rapidly, shooting towards Chen Yuan. Ding!
The Fire Cloud Sand hit his forehead and kept grinding, but Chen Yuan was unharmed.

He nodded slightly, and the magic gesture in his hand changed again. The Fire Cloud Sand slowly stopped and flew back into the vermilion gourd.

Chen Yuan's physical body was already comparable to that of a peak level four monster. After practicing this secret technique, his physical body was further strengthened and was now comparable to that of a level five monster. He could withstand attacks from top-grade spiritual weapons. Only top-grade spiritual weapons could hurt him.

Chen Yuan realized the mystery of the secret technique again. When most of the true energy in his body was consumed, he released the secret technique of the giant body and his body returned to its original shape.

According to the "Demon God Secret", after the giant body secret technique is performed, it can last for at least a quarter of an hour.

But Chen Yuan's physical strength was far stronger than his cultivation level. It was like a small boat that should have carried fifty people, but suddenly carried a hundred people. The consumption of his true energy was huge, and it could only last for half a quarter of an hour at most.

However, there are still some obstacles that he has not yet understood. Once he has mastered them all, the consumption of true energy should be reduced.

After the practice just now, his understanding of the giant body has deepened. He sat on the cushion again, picked up the jade slip of "Demon God Sutra", and concentrated on studying the secret formula.

A month and a half later, after constant practice, Chen Yuan finally mastered this secret technique completely and could use it at will.

He practiced the secret technique several more times, and only set out on his journey after he had fully understood all the subtleties.

The "Nine Transformations of the True Spirit" technique that Chen Yuan practiced did not record any magical powers or secret techniques. This giant spirit body secret technique was his biggest trump card, and he attached great importance to it and would not neglect it in the slightest.

After Chen Yuan drove the Duyun Boat out of the mountain gate, he did not fly directly to Dingzhou, but first came to Lingyun Market.

Before he went into seclusion, he asked Nie Ruyue, the head of Baoguang Pavilion, to help collect two kinds of spiritual materials, Silver Gang Stone and Huanyin Stone. Now eight years have passed, and he doesn't know how the situation is.

Compared with before, Lingyun Market is now much quieter, with few monks on the streets and many shops with their doors and windows closed.

Chen Yuan's face was slightly solemn. He came to Baoguang Pavilion, which was also deserted. The few female Qi-refining practitioners who were responsible for receiving customers even had nothing to do.

After Chen Yuan walked in, a female cultivator used her spiritual sense to probe him and found that his spiritual power was restrained and her cultivation level could not be seen. She was actually a foundation-building cultivator. She immediately bowed respectfully and asked, "Senior, are you here to buy a spiritual weapon?"

Chen Yuan said calmly, "Is your office's head Nie Ruyue here? I know her well, and I came to visit her today."

Upon hearing this, the female cultivator's face became even more respectful: "Please wait for a moment, Senior. I will report this to you right away."

She bowed to Chen Yuan, turned around and walked quickly upstairs.

After a while, Nie Ruyue came down from the second floor. When she saw Chen Yuan, her beautiful eyes lit up and she came up to greet him. She bowed and said, "I was wondering which old acquaintance you are. It turns out to be Fellow Daoist Chen. Please come upstairs and talk."

Chen Yuan bowed and followed Nie Ruyue to the quiet room on the second floor, where they sat down as host and guest.

Nie Ruyue raised her hand and the celadon long-necked teapot on the table flew up, pouring spiritual tea for Chen Yuan. She smiled and said, "I haven't seen you for a few years. Fellow Daoist Chen has become more restrained. You must have made further progress on the path of Taoism. Congratulations."

Although he could not tell that Chen Yuan had broken through to the middle stage of foundation building, as a fellow foundation building cultivator and having met Chen Yuan once before, he could tell from the strength of his Qi that Chen Yuan's cultivation had improved.

Chen Yuan picked up the teacup and took a sip: "I have only gained a little, but Nie is still as handsome as he was in the past, and he has maintained his youthful appearance."

Nie Ruyue looked at Chen Yuan carefully for a few times and said with a smile: "Isn't it the same for Fellow Daoist Chen? I once took a youth-preserving pill, but it can only slow down the aging of my face. I will need to find another way to keep my youthful face in the future. I wonder what kind of youth-preserving secret technique Fellow Daoist Chen used? Can you tell me a little bit?"

Chen Yuan's face never ages because his body is strong and full of vitality, so he naturally won't say it out loud. He then replied, "Chen also took a kind of anti-aging elixir by chance before. I don't know the secret technique of anti-aging, so I'm afraid I can't help Master Nie."

Nie Ruyue said regretfully: "That's a pity..."

The two exchanged a few pleasantries before Chen Yuan got to the point: "I have previously asked Master Nie to keep an eye out for two spiritual materials, the Silver Gang Stone and the Phantom Yin Stone. I wonder if Master Nie has any results?"

Nie Ruyue nodded and said, "I have always kept this in mind. Two years ago, I bought a piece of Silver Gang Stone from a customer. However, the Phantom Yin Stone is too rare. I have never seen one in the past few years."

When Chen Yuan heard this, a hint of joy flashed in his eyes. He had not held much hope for this matter, but he did not expect that Nie Ruyue actually bought a piece of silver Gang stone.

He put down the teacup in his hand, bowed and said, "Please ask Master Nie to transfer this stone to me. No matter how many spiritual stones Master Nie paid, I can increase it by 10%. In the future, the matter of upgrading the grade of the magic weapon will also be entrusted to Master Nie of your pavilion."

Nie Ruyue smiled and said, "According to the agreement, this piece of Silver Gang Stone was originally reserved for Fellow Daoist Chen. However, there is one thing. This piece of Silver Gang Stone is quite large. I wonder if you want to buy it all?"

Thanks to the Shicun Village Guardian for the reward!
There were several typos in Chapter 154 and Chapter 155, which have now been corrected. Chen Yuan’s current cultivation level is the middle stage of foundation building, not the peak of the middle stage of foundation building.

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(End of this chapter)