Wet viviparity

Chapter 770 The Rat's Den, Emerging from Seclusion
The door closed, and things returned to normal. Ji Ming blinked his sore eyes and said, "Go and play!"

A cheer erupted from his eyes, his pupils vanished instantly, and he ran off to play wildly outside the cave. This childlike mischief made Ji Ming chuckle.

"Zhao Chi!"

He uttered a soft sound, and with the power of his primordial spirit, he lifted the golden casket and placed it into the small temple.

The reason he cast the spell on Zhao Chi was because Zhao Chi was opportunistic and lacked composure, making him a suitable pawn for him. He would transfer the Qigong Divine Chariot and the Tianhe Divine Sand through Zhao Chi's hands to his second primordial spirit body, and ultimately into his own hands.

Thus, it was only natural for him to take control of the divine chariot and the divine sand, and the two-pole gold magnet mother that was taken away by the green dragon would become an unsolved mystery.

Unless the immortals of Huangting Palace invite the Longevity Ancestor to personally calculate the mystery using the Taiyi Divine Calculation, the difficulty of deducing the secrets of Qigong Kingdom that Qingjiao touched in the Ancient Forbidden Land, as well as the Yellow Heaven Treasure "Emperor's Incense Chariot" that even the Deputy Commander of Shenxiao is searching for, is unprecedented.

Ji Ming guessed that although the two-pole gold magnet mother was a rare treasure, would Huang Ting Palace dare to alarm the patriarch for it?!

Ji Ming was very satisfied with his actions, feeling that he had taken care of everything. After the final operation, he could finally use the magic car with peace of mind.

Of course, the final outcome is still far off, as the second primordial spirit has not yet reached its full potential. The second primordial spirit still has a long way to go before it can become the resources that enable Ji Ming to break through to the fifth realm.

Ji Ming sat quietly on the lotus platform for about an hour before his mental energy from using the Golden Chest Nightmare Technique finally recovered.

Although the use of nightmare magic is inauspicious and easily damages one's virtue, it must be admitted that its effects are indeed outstanding.

He had possessed this rare Nightmare Treasure, refined by Baicaozi of Kuangshan, for many years. In these years, Baicaozi had even offered him the treasure book for refining the Golden Chest, making it increasingly convenient for him to use. He could now determine the intensity of the Nightmare spell at will.

But Ji Ming also knew that although the treasure was good, it should not be used greedily.

If it weren't for the significant connection with Zhao Chi, who bore a heavy responsibility for many of his future visions, he wouldn't have lightly touched this golden chest.

Now, in his second primordial spirit body, limited by various conditions, the second chapter of the "Secret Record of Transformation and Mysterious Fiends" is about to be verified. And in his case, this second chapter has already been verified, and everything is going unexpectedly smoothly.

But Ji Ming knew that success wouldn't be achieved until the very last moment.

In this final third chapter, "The Embryo Talisman Turns to Ashes, Shedding its Material Form to Transform into a Spirit," one must transform the embryo into a talisman, burn it to ashes, and finally swallow the ashes to transform into a physical form. Only in this way can one refine the 'demon' into an 'external elixir'.

The idea behind this talisman ash comes from the talisman water method in the Taiping Mountain Canglu Book, and it is also a foreshadowing of the "Seven Emotions Spiritual Blood Restriction" sealed on the demon fetus in the first chapter.

In Chapter Three, besides swallowing talisman ash, the key to obtaining the demon form is the invisible demon-refining true fire that burns the embryo to ash, which is also one of the guarantees that Ji Ming dared to pass on the manual.

This true fire originated from the formless true fire and was refined with the assistance of the Six Ding Divine Fire.

Back then, he spent decades at Magnetic Peak refining the Two Elements Ruyi Curved Cloud Handle. During this time, he drew upon the Yin tides and poisonous fires of the midnight and noon hours, refining Magnetic Peak day and night. In the process of refining with water and fire, he continuously comprehended the profound principles of the generation, transformation, and restraint of the Five Elements.

On that magnetic peak, he refined his own unique invisible true fire in a sunny spot, but unfortunately he failed to refine the primordial magnetic true thunder in a shady spot.

He only passed on this invisible true fire to his younger sister, Ling Gu. In addition, he once gave a flower to Zao Ling'er at the Qingyang Immortal Dojo, but Zao Ling'er did not know how to refine it. At most, she could only understand it by analogy and be inspired by the mystery of fire techniques.

In order to refine this invisible demon-refining true fire, Ji Ming even took the initiative to seek out the old golden rooster for the first time. With the old rooster's help, he studied the Winged Fire Divine Technique in the eight hundred Winged Fire Serpent Tribulations.

That consultation served two purposes: first, to create this true fire, and second, to solidify the relationship with the old golden rooster.

After these gambling battles, although there were many twists and turns, he eventually realized that he had been tricked and had one foot in Old Golden Rooster's boat.

Over such a long period of time, I have seemingly been engaged in a back-and-forth mental battle with Old Golden Rooster, but I have actually gained quite a few benefits, both overt and covert.

Not to mention the Taiyi Purple Qi Golden Needle that made his progress in the late stage of the fourth realm, the fact that he was able to stay on the immortal mountain for a long time was not only due to the help of his two divine brothers, but also because the old golden rooster had specially made arrangements for him in Qinghua Palace.

I heard about this from Little Shougu, and it's said that it's already spread in heaven.

Now, almost everyone in the Heavenly Palace knows that in addition to the Longevity Palace, his background also includes that old golden rooster.

Several times after emerging from meditation, Ji Ming felt extremely frustrated and couldn't help but shout, "Who told you, Old Golden Rooster, to give me permission? Do we even have that kind of relationship?!"

Regardless of the outcome of this bet, Ji Ming may have already been labeled as the "Old Golden Rooster" without even realizing it.

He roughly knew that Old Golden Rooster was deliberately trying to curry favor with him, and over time, he would gradually be seen as someone favored by Old Golden Rooster, and eventually, his social circle might even become Old Golden Rooster's faction. Now, looking back, Ji Ming had to admit that Old Golden Rooster's cunning and manipulative tactics were truly remarkable, given how long he had lived.

Even if he knew Old Golden Rooster's thoughts in advance, he wouldn't be able to crack them.

When the gap between the two sides is too large, he doesn't even have the right to refuse the old rooster, let alone break this open scheme.

However, it is not irreparable. He has other labels on him—Taipingshan Zhenren, Yanshougong Shangli. As long as he continues to strengthen these labels and obtains a very high position in Taipingshan and Yanshougong, he may be able to dilute his background as the Old Golden Rooster.

Clearly, once this point is understood, the contest with the old golden rooster will enter a new level, a level never before seen.

He took the initiative to seek help from the old golden rooster in order to comprehend the tribulation thought, stabilize the relationship, and make the old golden rooster feel that his efforts had been rewarded, and that Ling Xuzi had opened his heart and taken the initiative to accept the old golden rooster's kindness.

Ji Ming's decision was not easy, but he believed it was worth a try.

Without this willingness to risk one's life and the courage to forge ahead, how would he be any different from those unorthodox practitioners, or even people like Zhao Chi from the True Spirit Sect?

Calming his mind, Ji Ming exhaled softly on the lotus platform. With that exhale, his entire body dispersed into wisps of breeze, drifting out of the cave, passing over the Fire Cloud Bridge in front of the peak, and heading towards a spot in the mountains.

In the deep of night, under a bright moon, a group of large, fiery red rats stood on the cool stone platform.

At this moment, the bright moonlight shines down, and the silver frost spills onto the ground, reflecting off the red fur of the rats as if they were wearing crimson gauze. They use their claws as combs to slowly groom their fur.

"Squeak. Back to the house, back to the house, the master is here."

A small mouse came running in fright, banging on a gong and shouting.

In an instant, the rats ran about, pushing and shoving each other, tripping and tugging at each other's legs, and in the midst of their commotion, they rushed into a house of crimson gold, the abode of the fire spirit.

The walls and gates of this house are all made from igneous rocks from the mountains, mottled with red and black, faintly gleaming with a dim, burning light. The door knockers are cast from black iron, having been tempered and refined over a long period of time, with dense, intricate patterns.

The dwelling is a deep and secluded cave, with smooth and scorching stone walls; sulfur crystals are scattered like stars on the walls, glowing faintly in the darkness. The house is covered with glazed tiles, layer upon layer, which by day obscure the sun with smoke and by night cast flickering firelight, making the surrounding rocks look like splashed clouds.

This is the Huohuan tribe, which was built on Yanxu Mountain a decade or two ago. Outsiders call it the Fire House or the Rat's Abode.

In this mansion, swarms of rats roamed about, each with fluffy red fur like flowing fiery clouds, and each fine hair as lustrous as brocade.

As wisps of wind gathered in the shrine deep within the mansion, Ji Ming's physical body appeared in the wind. The rats frantically crowded outside the shrine, and if the rat elders inside hadn't gone out to scold and reprimand them, the threshold would have been broken.

After calming the young fire rats, the three old rats came into the hall and knelt down before Ji Ming, saying, "Master."

"Get up!"

With his back to the outside of the hall and Old Rat, Ji Ming looked at the statue of Xuanming Star General inside the hall and said, "Who told you to go through all this formalities? This isn't some secular officialdom."

"No."

The rat elders, their protruding mouths and long whiskers trembling, cried out, "If it weren't for you, Master, relocating our Fire Rat Clan from the Southern Wilderness to here, how could we rats have escaped the control of the Heavenly Candle Golden Court? Not to mention that we now enjoy such high esteem, are bathed in the Daoist teachings, and have been enlightened by civilization. No amount of worship is too much for us."

Ji Ming sat down casually and laughed, "You guys are really something. This is a great job done by Rat Four, but you all keep praising me. Now all the fire rats in this house are wandering around Jade Screen Peak, hoping to catch a glimpse of me."

"I then ordered them not to approach the sacred peak."

"Alright, let things take their course."

Ji Ming waved his hand and said.

"Take me to see the true fire that is being nurtured in the house."

An old rat jumped up from the ground first and said, "Sir, I'll lead the way."

After Ji Ming left, the two old rats left in the hall hurriedly summoned the Day Wanderer God who was stationed there from the underworld and said, "Go quickly to Crane Temple and tell him that the master has come out of seclusion."

(End of this chapter)