The world is like a prison, my body is holy

Chapter 152 Spiritual Smoke
"Boom boom boom..."

The waves on the river roared, and the turbulent currents at the bottom of the river surged. The rapids carried sand and stones, which felt like cold, icy rain slapping haphazardly against Wang Wen's body.

But Wang Wen, standing firmly on the riverbed in a horse stance, was like a steel ingot that had fallen to the bottom of the water, remaining unmoved no matter how the rapids and rocks washed over him.

His inner tranquil and serene state of mind formed a stark contrast with the turbulent and intense environment around him.

He calmly sensed the strange forces surging within his body, like a skilled surgeon sliding a scalpel, peeling away their fierce and menacing outer shell layer by layer to reveal their gentle and benevolent inner nature.

'I see! ’

He thought to himself, finally understanding why he hadn't been able to master this profound skill in the canal before.

However, it was because the surging waves of the canal, with their fierce and violent force, could not suppress the gentle and benevolent intention.

The Nine Tribulations Return to Origin Body technique, a profound body-refining skill, draws upon that fierce and ruthless power, much like using rolling stones to beat a drum and temper the physical body.

If the goal is to use a fierce and aggressive approach, why not use rolling stones and logs to temper the body?
That is naturally because the fierce and violent force of the torrent is the Yang water element, Ren water. Although the power of Ren water can cause destruction, it also contains the power of growth and change, which can greatly increase the upper limit of the physical body's strength at the lowest cost.

Once the fierce and violent force of the torrent is exhausted, Ren water will transform into Gui water, which belongs to Yin. Gui water has the power to nourish and nurture, which can seamlessly heal the wounds of the body, make up for the deficiencies of the body, and strengthen the body's foundation.

To put it figuratively, it's like dipping a belt in iodine and disinfecting it while you're pulling it out!
It should be understood that any profound skill in body refinement is not something that can be achieved overnight, but rather requires long-term accumulation before one can hope to make any progress.

Just like the Flood Power of the first level of the Nine Tribulations Return to Origin Body, it doesn't mean that you can completely master it by simply jumping into a flood and taking a bath once.

Instead, one must jump into the torrent countless times, being swept away by it a hundred or a thousand times, before one can hope to push the first level to its peak state.

Even if you soak a belt in iodine and whip it hundreds or thousands of times, it will still develop a thick callus, right?

One can imagine how much the strength and foundation of the physical body can be enhanced by hundreds or thousands of transformations between Ren and Gui water!

'What an ingenious design! The person who created this profound skill must be a genius!'

Wang Wen thoroughly understood this profound skill and sighed inwardly.

With a firm resolve, his formidable divine sense swiftly guided the rampaging Ren Water energy within his body to circulate through the microcosmic orbit according to the first level of the Ninth-Order Returning Origin Body technique.

After several cycles of the Small Heavenly Circuit, the Ren Water power that surged into his body was all gathered into his meridians by his divine sense. As his Small Heavenly Circuit circulated, it systematically dispersed into his limbs and bones, nourishing every bone in his body while also indiscriminately pounding every inch of his flesh and blood as if electrified.

Once the power of Ren water is exhausted, leaving only a small amount of Gui water essence, he then guides it to slowly return to the kidneys...

This completes one cycle of spiritual practice.

If you want to continue your cultivation, you must draw more Ren water from the torrent again, exhaust the power of Ren water through the microcosmic orbit, refine the essence of Gui water, and return it to the kidneys.

This process repeats itself day after day, accumulating over time, until the bone marrow becomes like a torrent of Ren water and the kidneys become like a deep abyss of Gui water.

But Wang Wen doesn't need to go through all that trouble.

Because the Mountain God's Decree has already included the "Nine Tribulations Return to Origin Body".

[Hundred Schools: Taiyi Salvation and Body Protection Scripture (Fourth Heaven) (+), Nine Tribulations Returning to Origin Body (Entry Level) +, Boundless Ocean Divine Skill (Nine Levels), Lightning Thunder Fist (Six Levels) (+), Palm Thunder (Perfect), Six Harmonies Spear (Divine Mastery)...]

'Haha, the roles have reversed!'

Wang Wen rubbed his hands together excitedly, then used a little thought to press the "+" sign after the Nine Tribulations Return to Origin Body.

[Achievements - 250]

'250? '

He stared at the number, feeling not surprise, but rather puzzlement: 'How could it be so little?'

The amount of merit points consumed is the most direct indicator of the level of a skill.

The stronger the cultivation technique, the more merit points it will consume to reach its peak.

Without exception!

250 points for beginners, while not a small amount, is clearly far from what he had previously assessed about this profound skill.

Based on his previous assessment, it would take at least seven or eight hundred, or even over a thousand merit points to master this profound skill in order to meet the grand scale of this profound skill, which draws the power of calamities into the body and cultivates a body that is unharmed by all laws!

Before he could come up with a clue, his mind was overwhelmed by the images that came flooding in.

At the same time, his whole body seemed to turn into a hornet's nest. A massive amount of Ren water power rushed into his body through his pores. Under the control of an invisible great force, it obediently circulated rapidly in his meridians. In a very short time, it evolved from the small circulation to the large circulation, directly releasing the rolling Ren water power through the two bridges of heaven and earth, flowing into his body like a floodgate being opened.

Logically speaking, his current meridians are not capable of handling this level of Ren water power.

But that invisible, powerful force not only restrained the surging power of Ren water, but also protected his meridians, and even accelerated the process of refining Ren water into the essence of Gui water.

It was as if the flow of time had accelerated a thousandfold in his case...

Hei Erniu, who was anxiously waiting on the shore, saw a whirlpool suddenly appear where his master had just entered the water.

The vortex was not very noticeable at first, only about the size of a round table.

But once it appeared, it expanded rapidly, and in just a few dozen breaths, it cut off the entire river surface, as if a bottomless hole had appeared under the riverbed...

The surging torrent, upon plunging into the whirlpool, immediately lost its indomitable and overwhelming momentum, transforming into a gentle river that emerges from the lower reaches of the whirlpool and flows downstream at a leisurely pace.

"What the hell?"

Black Ox stood up in shock, raised its hooves and rubbed its eyes hard before confirming that it wasn't seeing things. Then, it excitedly swung its thick tail and shouted, "Master is awesome!"

Although it still doesn't quite understand what's so amazing about that awesome thing.

But that doesn't matter. Since everyone in the General's Mansion is eager for awesomeness, let's just give them awesomeness!
The turbulent eddy blocked the rushing river for a full day and night, giving the people downstream who were suffering from flooding ample time to salvage their property and crops.

By noon the next day, the torrential rain that had lasted for days finally turned into a light drizzle.

"Om."

With a muffled thud, a bright red beam of light shot into the sky from the center of the vortex, piercing the gloomy heavens and drawing down a dazzling ray of sunlight that struck the center of the vortex directly.

At the same time, a powerful and majestic aura, like a towering city wall, swept outwards from the center of the vortex in all directions.

The black oxen on the shore were initially overwhelmed by the overwhelming aura.

But then it smelled a strong, fishy odor. It subconsciously smacked its lips, and a strong urge to follow the scent suddenly surged within it! This urge suppressed the intimidating aura and made it involuntarily take two steps forward.

Fortunately, it was a domesticated cow, possessing more wisdom and less wildness than wild animals. It quickly came to its senses, stood up on its hind legs, and slapped itself hard across the face: "Pah, what are you thinking? Your master is down there!"

It raised its head, gazing up at the thick, bright red pillar of light that stretched from the sky to the earth. While filled with admiration, it also felt somewhat worried.

Sure enough, it soon detected a demonic aura filled with a faint fishy smell.

It suddenly turned its head and saw a turbid, terrifying wave, two or three zhang high, rolling in from two or three li upstream.

Without much thought, it leaped into the center of the river, its four hooves pounding the billowing black mist as it charged headlong into the monstrous wave, its neck craned wildly: "Moo!"

With a powerful roar, a strong black aura surged from its body, forming a bull-shaped phantom, which lowered its head and rammed into the monstrous wave.

"Boom."

With a deafening roar, as if a towering city wall had been pushed aside by a tidal wave, the wave split in two.

Black Ox stretched its neck and pawed at the ground, roaring angrily with great momentum: "Where did this petty thief come from? This is the place where my master, the Demon-Slaying General of Huainan Road, is in seclusion. If you don't want to die, get out of here right now!"

"Wow..."

The river surface exploded, and a ferocious monster, as large as a mountain and with the head of a dragon and the body of a fish, burst out of the water. Floating on the surface, it looked around with its pair of yellowish fish eyes, and replied in a gruff voice, "What, General Demon Slayer? Never heard of him!"

After saying that, the monster plunged back into the river, its huge tail fin, which resembled a sampan, swung heavily across the surface, and its dorsal fin, like a blade, charged straight at the Black Two Bulls blocking its path.

"You son of a bitch, die!"

Black Ox snorted out two streams of hot air from its nostrils in anger, revealing a pair of scimitar-like horns, and charged forward. Rolling black smoke followed its charge, forming a huge phantom of a beast with horns on its head and scales all over its body.

In the blink of an eye, the two enormous demonic beasts transformed into two streaks of black light across the wide river, slicing through the hundreds of feet of water like needles against wheat awns, and collided fiercely.

"Boom."

Water gushed up seven or eight zhang high, and the black ox slid backward more than ten zhang on its four hooves in the riverbed.

The sharp, razor-sharp fin that had been visible in the water had vanished.

It shook its drowsy head vigorously, its eyes red with anger, and roared, "Monster, where do you think you're going!"

With that, it leaped into the water, about to plunge into the river.

Just then, the river surface exploded again.

A naked figure, resembling a white streak in the waves, leaped into the air, its arms moving like afterimages as it pounded a giant fathead fish. With a powerful whip kick, it sent the fish, which was desperately flapping its short, thick fins, flying several dozen feet across the river before crashing heavily into the rocky shore.

"master!"

Upon seeing the naked figure, Hei Erniu was overjoyed and rushed forward, rubbing his head against the man's leg.

Wang Wen gently patted its head and chuckled, "Silly boy, you forgot again? You're a cow! Why would you go fight a fish in the water?"

Hei Erniu nodded vigorously: "Yes, yes, I will definitely pay attention in the future!"

Wang Wen rubbed its head, glanced at the churning river upstream, and then, without turning his head, reached out and grabbed some clothes from the bank, slowly putting them on.

Hei Erniu glanced at him, then turned and leaped into the air towards the fathead fish struggling to jump into the river, intending to smash it to death.

To be a mount, you have to be observant and quick to act!

Just as Hei Erniu was about to crash headfirst into the fathead fish, a water arrow suddenly shot out from the bottom of the river upstream, striking Hei Erniu's head with lightning speed.

At the critical moment, a gleaming silver steel spear shot out and accurately shattered the water arrow into a spray of water, drenching Hei Erniu.

Hei Erniu suddenly turned his head and saw that on the surging waters upstream, a huge group of fish, shrimp and crabs had risen up, surrounding a dragon with a single horn on its head and black scales all over its body.

Wang Wen stared directly at the dragon, and with a wave of his hand, the Dawnbreaker Spear flipped and landed in his palm.

Upon seeing this, the dragon flicked its tail and transformed into a majestic middle-aged man with golden eyes, wearing a black four-clawed python robe, a purple-gold crown, and a silver-sheathed sword at his waist.

He stared at Wang Wen and said in a deep voice, "Why has this fellow Daoist dared to offend my Yellow River Dragon Palace?"

Wang Wen pondered for a moment, then his figure suddenly transformed into a bolt of lightning, swiftly crossing the hundred-foot-long river and appearing before the black dragon.

"clang."

The gleaming silver sword precisely blocked the Dawnbreaker Spear.

Wu Jiao stared at Wang Wen with a sinister expression.

Wang Wen stared at him expressionlessly, then suddenly twisted and pressed down on the Dawnbreaker in his hand.

"Thorn."

A dazzling golden lightning bolt suddenly exploded from Wang Wen's center, quickly engulfing all the surrounding shrimp soldiers and crab generals. Within the bright golden light, large swaths of black gas rose at a visible speed, and a strong, acrid smell immediately filled the air.

"Ow..."

With an angry howl, the black dragon transformed into its true form and soared into the sky.

Wang Wen then charged forward, rapidly wielding his Dawnbreaker Spear to clash with its claws and long tail, producing a series of loud metallic clangs.

Seeing this from afar, Hei Erniu turned around and leaped into the air. Then, with a "Mount Tai Pressing Down" move, his large head, carrying the force of the impact from above, slammed heavily into the belly of the dragon-headed, fish-bodied monster that was still struggling and jumping on the rocky beach.

The monster with the head of a dragon and the body of a fish was struck so hard that its eyes bulged out, and its head slammed heavily onto the rocky beach, where it fell silent.

Black Ox landed heavily with a cool pose, wagging its tail excitedly and raising its head, shouting loudly: "Mere fish demon, how laughable!"

It had barely finished gloating when it heard a heart-wrenching scream from mid-air.

It turned its head and saw the black dragon with blood gushing from one eye, desperately diving into the water, while its master was chasing it into the water with a big spear in hand...

"Sir, you're a human being! Why are you fighting with a snake in the water?"

Wang Wen, who was hot on his heels, was nearly knocked out of his breath by its shout.

(End of this chapter)