Wet viviparity

Chapter 996, Part Four: Natural Skill
Jinji Mountain, thatched cottage.

The lantern with human heads swayed under the plaque, its eyes, nose, ears, and mouth shining light outwards in all directions.

Three zhang away, in the deep pool, a disheveled, barefoot ghost emerged from the bottom, its claws curled, grasping at the dew floating on the water. It covered the dewdrops, peeking at the thatched cottage while feigning smug delight.

Nearby, on a steep cliff, stood a rooster with iron legs, about six feet tall, its feathers dark blue. Each step it took on the rock face created sparks, its sharp eyes fixed on the dark pool below, occasionally glancing over the thatched cottage.

Zhao Mingyan looked around the scenery outside the thatched cottage with a bored expression, and sniffed hard. The damp, cold, and stuffy smell that came with the continuous rain was getting stronger and stronger.

"It's done!"

Inside the hall, Inugami squatted near the curtain and whispered.

Zhao Mingyan suddenly turned his head and looked into the thatched cottage.

After the righteous god consumed the first pill, he did not sit cross-legged to regulate his breathing in order to break through the barrier of the "Six Jia Spirit Flying Strategy Essence Book". Instead, he adopted a posture of embracing the void with six arms, and his entire earth god body showed an indescribable transparency.

This feeling... it felt like he wasn't cultivating, but rather recalling a path he had already walked, and was simply following in his footsteps, taking a leisurely stroll.

The Righteous God maintained this stance. Although Zhao Mingyan was shocked at the time, he was still convinced that the Righteous God could not succeed. He had already explained the reason: the Righteous God was still missing a human body.

In the hall, Inu Shou-gong said in a dry voice: "The meridians are constructed in the six arms in a completely new way. Although they are not like the twelve regular meridians and eight extraordinary meridians in the human body, this set of meridians can already enable the circulation of qi and blood in the microcosmic and macrocosmic orbits."

In this way, even without attempting to seize the body, the conditions for the true method to operate are already met—it's truly a miraculous feat!

At this moment, Ji Ming did not practice any specific movements of the snake play in the "Six Plays of Lingfei Daoyin", but his qi and blood naturally began to flow according to the profound meaning of the snake play.

By reversing cause and effect, as an accomplished being, he naturally rediscovered the meridian system he had cultivated and guided "once." The originally stagnant true qi belonging to the earth spirits now seemed to be infused with new vitality, like countless spiritual snakes, winding and moving freely.

The Jia Chen dragon in his visualization was not deliberately condensed, but rather seemed to be an imprint that already existed in his mind and spirit, which naturally manifested as the flow of Qi and blood, and took up residence in the major acupoints of his body.

“This is definitely not the demeanor of a beginner!” Zhao Mingyan’s head trembled, his beard and hair danced wildly, and he said, “The flow of qi and blood is smooth and unobstructed, and visualization and concentration can be achieved in an instant, as if it were done by nature. When did he comprehend the essence of this first chapter?”

"It was you, Inugami-kun, who must have been taught by you. But no, that doesn't make sense either."

In just a short while, Ji Ming gave off a sense of vitality. If you ignored his strange appearance, he really seemed like a person full of vigor.

"Chapter One, the Bird Bear Chapter, is complete!"

Dogs keep justice.

Immediately afterwards, the three pills were kneaded into the palm of the hand.

Ji Ming did not draw any external evil energy into his body for tempering, but the six major yang acupoints on his six arms and torso—the coccyx, mingmen, jiaji, dazhui, yuzhen, and baihui—saw a faint light shining in turn, as if they had already been opened.

Guided by the Yang aperture, the essence and blood no longer merely nourish, but spontaneously condense and sublimate, transforming into a fiery white aura that changes between reality and illusion, swirling around the six arms.

This aura is extremely yang and strong, hidden yet leaving no doubt about the terrifying power it contains.

Under deep contemplation, the Jia Chen dragon and his earth deity quietly merged. What circulated within his body was no longer just blood and qi, but the yang and true qi containing the divine intent of Jia Chen.

"The yang orifice opens spontaneously, and essence and blood transform into vital energy?!"
This marks the completion of the second chapter, the Jia Xiang chapter.

Even ordinary cultivators who toil for decades, enduring the trials of malevolent energy, might not be able to condense such pure qi. I cannot watch any longer, or my Dao heart will surely be damaged.”

Zhao Mingyan was acting like a madman outside, constantly stimulated by his preconceived notions. He gradually felt a chill in his Yin spirit, a mental breakdown caused by the extreme stimulation. He seemed to be in a dream, muttering, "Quick, quick, I must return to Luogeng Blessed Land. I must warn the patriarch that this god must be eliminated as soon as possible."

"Shut up!"

The Dog Guardian God let out a low growl, dispelling the demonic obstacles in Zhao Mingyan's heart. At this moment, when the remaining five pills were kneaded into Ji Ming's palm, all nine pills were consumed, and Ji Ming's six-armed body began to change.

Both Quan Shougong and Zhao Mingyan understood that the Righteous God had already reached the third chapter, the True Form Chapter, and that cultivating this chapter would be a natural progression.

Within Ji Ming, the bloodline of the Star Dragon, the already imprinted divine intent of Jia Chen, and the fundamental essence inherent in the body of the Earth God all converge and sublimate naturally, like rivers flowing into the sea.

The six arms, which were originally dark and gloomy, began to radiate a silvery-white starlight, and beneath that layer of skin, patches of silvery-white round scales were growing out.

Flesh and blood, bones and muscles, and even the smallest components are undergoing a fundamental transformation.

That ancient, wandering, yet imbued with the timeless majesty of the dragon race, slowly permeated the thatched cottage.

There was no intense, unbearable pain, nor were there any difficult breakthroughs; it was merely the flow of breath and the sublimation of essence.

However, in just a moment, a completely new true form was created here.

Its form still retains the general outline of six arms, but its skin presents a cold, silvery-white, round scale. The six arms are more slender and powerful, with distinct knuckles, and between the fingers of the three pairs of palms, there are subtle starlight, which is the "true form of the Star Comet".

Zhao Mingyan had lost his voice, and Quan Shougong remained silent as well.

At this moment, Inugami suddenly stepped forward, carefully listening to the gradually ceasing breathing of the righteous god, and staring at the true form that showed no signs of energy leakage.

"Refine your form and solidify it forever. Your physical body will become its own world, locking in your vitality. You will not need external help and will be unharmed by the passage of time."

This is one of the three samadhis of the physical body: "the incorruptible physical body," a goal pursued by countless practitioners of physical cultivation within the sect. You actually achieved it naturally upon reaching the pinnacle of your true body.

Having said that, Dog Guardian shrank back and returned to his original position, waiting with Zhao Mingyan for the next transformation of the righteous god, which was the fourth chapter, "Spirit and Flesh Chapter," and also the last chapter of the "Six Jia Spirit Flying Strategy Essence Book" in the human world, the chapter of attaining immortality.

Once the true form of the Star Comet was complete, Ji Ming did not stop for a moment.

With a slight thought, he felt the vast, boundless essence and blood within his body, brimming with the Yang energy of Jia Chen. This was the achievement that the Zhao family disciples had been striving for—the True Blood of Jia Chen.

He did not perform the initial step of 'self-observation in the furnace' in the chapter on spirit and flesh, because his form and spirit were originally one, and there was no need to regard himself as a furnace to forge the true blood of Jia Chen and refine it into the great medicine of blood essence that enlightens the Yin spirit.

Under the control of his mind, Jia Chen's true blood naturally transformed into a crimson radiance imbued with dazzling starlight, which silently spread throughout Xing Bo's true body. Since form and spirit were one, this true body was naturally also a true spirit, and the initiation began from there.

The six arms twisted and turned as if boneless, intertwining and merging into one, transforming into a single spirit image.

The Spirit Shadow largely maintained the slender, winding form of the Star Dragon, its entire body transparent and ethereal, with four scaled paws growing beneath its body, becoming four claws. It also lacked eyes, where star-branched dragon horns grew, and beside the dragon's mouth, where the whiskers should have been, a pair of arms were replaced.

These two arms hang naturally under the dragon's chin, in a gesture of clasping hands.

The intense sense of horror left Quan Shougong and Zhao Mingyan breathless. The horror did not come from the terrifying appearance of the spirit, but from its source and essence—cold, dark, bizarre, and abnormal vitality.

"When the spirit and form advance together, the spiritual image will naturally emerge."

Only today have I truly understood the meaning of "The Way has no high or low, but understanding has varying degrees."

As Zhao Mingyan spoke, he avoided the gaze of the righteous god, his heart already filled with awe.

Dog Guardian remained silent, but his heart was in turmoil. A thought that had been buried deep for hundreds of years was resurfacing. Perhaps the Righteous God was the hope of the scattered disciples, and perhaps he did not need to follow the rules of the Zhao family.

"It's not over yet, it's still not over. If he really wants to complete the final vacuum refining and reach the realm of a terrestrial immortal, and attain enlightenment in one fell swoop, what kind of monster is he?" Zhao Mingyan said, staring with bloodshot eyes.

(End of this chapter)