The world is like a prison, my body is holy

Chapter 153 Body Tempering in Blazing Fire
“Scream, scream, scream…”

Wang Wen angrily grabbed a handful of foxtail grass and "fiercely" whipped Hei Erniu's big head with both hands: "So you're the only one with a mouth who can speak human language, huh? Do you think I'm the same as you? Last time you were swept into the water by that fat head, who went down to rescue you? If it weren't for your shout, we would definitely be eating spicy grilled strips tonight! Are you happy now? Eat shit!"

Because of Hei Erniu's shout, he hesitated for a tenth of a second before entering the water, which caused him to fail to catch up with the one-eyed serpent.

The worm was so fast underwater that he couldn't even see its afterimage. It could also change size at will. In the air, it was a huge worm that was twenty meters away and had a waist as thick as a water tank. But once it reached the bottom of the water, it shrank to the length of a chopstick in a few moments.

In addition, the river was swift and the water conditions were complicated. After chasing for two or three miles, he completely lost track of the long worm. He scanned the river upstream and downstream several times with his divine sense, but found nothing.

Blackie Erniu, unable to open his eyes from the whipping, lowered his head and rubbed against his leg, saying meekly, "I was wrong, I was really wrong, I promise I won't lie next time..."

"You!"

Wang Wen tapped its head helplessly, turned around and looked at the rolling upper reaches of the Yellow River, letting out a worried sigh.

Three and a half years after the spiritual energy revival, although the Three Mountains Talismans and many folk magic lines are recovering their vitality.

But from what he saw, the progress of human cultivators was far slower than that of these naturally born mountain spirits.

Moreover, after losing the cross-realm support from Heaven and the Underworld, the combat power of both the orthodox sects of the Three Mountains Talismans and the independent cultivators of folk lineages will be reduced by at least half.

With one side gaining and the other losing, the situation of spiritual energy recovery in the Great Zhou Dynasty will likely become increasingly severe!
Not to mention the great demons and monsters that have survived from ancient times to the present day in the various forbidden areas...

Perhaps it's because of different positions that we see things from different perspectives.

In some people's eyes, the situation of spiritual energy revival in the Great Zhou Dynasty may still be under control.

But from Wang Wen's position, he could clearly sense that the situation between the Great Zhou human race and the demons and monsters was gradually shifting from offense to defense.

If this continues, it might not be long before they are no longer the ones launching attacks to wipe out the demons and monsters causing trouble in various places.

Instead, they were forced to passively defend themselves against the attacks of demons and monsters from their high walls and deep moats...

How does that sentence go?

This is the best time and the worst time.

Good or bad, anything is possible!
Wang Wen took a deep breath and patted Hei Erniu's head: "Let's go back to the fleet, there are still many things waiting for us to do."

Hei Erniu hurriedly asked with concern, "Master, have you mastered your divine skill? Did that plague-ridden snake disturb your practice?"

Wang Wen: "Once I mastered it, they were attracted by the noise of my breakthrough."

Having cultivated the first level of the Nine Tribulations Returning to Origin Body, one's bone marrow is like jade nectar, and one's kidney essence is as deep as the sea, with vital energy soaring like smoke to break through the sky.

Its attraction to demons and monsters is comparable to that of stringy bait for large crucian carp.

He's soaking in the water again; he's basically using himself as bait...

He summoned the Mountain God's Token and glanced at it. He saw that the "+" sign was still flashing after the "Nine Tribulations Returning to Origin Body," which had already become the first level.

This made him realize that the Mountain God's Decree could indeed ignore the harsh external environmental requirements for cultivating this profound skill, and directly replace the power of calamity with merit points.

The second level of the Nine Tribulations Return to Origin Body is the power of mountain fire!
Thinking of the external environmental requirements of the wildfire's power, he paused in his motion of mounting Hei Erniu's back.

"Wait for me a little longer!"

He jumped off the ox's back again: "Since we're already here, let's learn the next level of calculation as well."

The second level is the power of mountain fire. He could neither actually set fire to the mountain to cultivate this profound skill, nor could he cultivate the second level in a densely populated city with many flammable materials.

Who knows what strange phenomena might occur in the second stage? If the fire element becomes too strong and causes a large fire, that would be disastrous.

This place is located near the Yellow River, with abundant water resources. It has also recently experienced several days of heavy rainfall, making the soil humid. It is an ideal place to break through the second layer of the barrier.

In any case, with the Mountain God's Token's breakthrough technique, one breakthrough leads to the peak state. As long as he can adapt to it, he doesn't need to spend time digesting and comprehending it. Continuous breakthroughs won't leave any hidden dangers...

At the same time, he harbored a little scheme: 'What if we could lure that blind serpent back?'

Aren't they said to be cold-blooded animals with a strong desire for revenge?

The old man is giving you a chance; it's up to you whether you can seize it!

Wang Wen strode to the rocky beach where Hei Erniu had killed the fathead fish, casually found a clean bluestone, sat down cross-legged, and then used his mind to press the plus sign after "Nine Tribulations Return to Origin Body".

Then, he clearly saw a line of bright red characters floating on the Mountain God's Token.

[Achievements - 2000]

Wang Wen: ? ? ?
Entry level 250.

The second level is 2000 points directly?

Eight times, eight times more?

Are you treating me like a Japanese soldier?
He was completely baffled, but the next second, a barrage of images overwhelmed his mind.

In countless images, he is depicted sitting cross-legged amidst the flames.

However, his position and environment differ in each picture.

In some scenes, he sits cross-legged on the edge of a burning hill, his body radiating a soft blue light as he resists the flames licking at him.

In some scenes, he is depicted sitting cross-legged atop a small, burning hill, his body radiating both azure and fiery red light, like a world of ice and fire.

There are also many scenes where he is atop a towering mountain engulfed in flames, his body glowing a golden-red as if forged from an iron ingot by terrifying flames...

He quickly realized that these images demonstrated both the gradual process of spiritual practice and the goals to be achieved at each stage of it.

From the very beginning, the body was protected by the power of Gui water, and only a small amount of Bing fire energy was absorbed into the body, allowing the physical body to slowly adapt to the temperature of Bing fire energy.

Then, the power of Gui water and the power of Bing fire reach a balance, allowing the two forces of destruction and rebirth to circulate repeatedly within the physical body.

Finally, the physical body was used directly as a refining material, and repeatedly forged with the powerful Bing Fire!
It would be illogical if a body forged in this way were weaker than steel!
'What a magnificent 'Nine Tribulations Return to Origin' technique!'

Even though Wang Wen had pondered and comprehended the essence of the Nine Tribulations Return to Origin Body technique countless times, after thoroughly understanding the many profound meanings of the second level, he still sincerely admired the grand scale and ingenious design of this profound technique.

It's absolutely intricate and flawless!
In the instant his mind was overwhelmed by the numerous images, flames spontaneously ignited around him as he sat cross-legged on the rocky beach, swirling around him like satellites orbiting their host star.

A soft blue light emanated from his body, repelling the licking flames. It was exactly the same as the scenes that had been projected into his mind!
Soon, the flames surrounding him rapidly suppressed the shimmering blue light emanating from his body, merging with the blue light and slowly burning away the clothes he was wearing.

Strangely, even though he was also in the flames, his clothes were burned to ashes, but his shoulder-length hair remained completely intact!

The fire continued to spread, rising higher and higher like oil being poured over a raging fire.

In just three or four hours, it shot up from a few feet high to more than ten feet high, covering the entire rocky beach, burning the pebbles on the beach with crackling sounds and blasting stone chips all over the ground.

Wang Wen, who was sitting naked in the center of the raging flames, was also burned to a golden color by the raging flames, just like the images in his mind.

Just like a lump of molten gold melted by high temperature!
This gradual process was accelerated a hundredfold by the Mountain God's decree.

Forced back dozens of feet by the raging flames, Hei Erniu stared wide-eyed at his master, who was emaciated and scorched by the flames. He wanted to wake him, but remembered his master's instructions not long ago, so he had to suppress the urge to shout and whispered tremblingly, "Master, you're almost burned to a crisp!"

It wasn't the only one trembling.

Upstream, a golden vertical pupil, hidden beneath the turbulent surface, trembled as it gazed at the towering flames.

That's too cruel!

It muttered to itself in terror, 'These humans are too ruthless!'

With its knowledge, it could certainly tell that the enemy who had blinded one of its eyes on the rocky beach was not setting himself on fire, but was using the fire to cultivate an extremely profound and mysterious skill!

If you're this ruthless to yourself, how can you not be even more ruthless to these spirits?
This might be a good opportunity for revenge...

It was confident that with a single spit, it could extinguish the raging flames and ruin the human cultivator's plans.

But it dares not!

It dared not face the ruthless man in the fire who was forging himself like steel!
Even the mere thought of him chasing after it with a steel gun fills it with such terror that it feels like it needs to pee, and it can't hold it in...

'Never mind, never mind!'

It slowly sank to the bottom of the water, its massive body undulating upstream: 'Don't mess with it, don't mess with it...'

Downstream, Hei Erniu suddenly sniffed and looked around in confusion: "Where is that urine smell coming from?"

The fire on the rocky beach burned for a full day and night!
The fire did not gradually subside until after noon the following day.

Wang Wen, who had been burned to a golden-yellow color and whose human form was almost unrecognizable, gradually revealed his facial features and body shape as the fire subsided, turning into the color of flesh and blood.

But he did not wake up, and the last remaining flame enveloping his entire body did not extinguish...

It wasn't until dusk that he finally opened his eyes and immediately saw the fiery clouds on the horizon.

'Has only two or three hours passed?'

He waved his hand, using his magic to conjure a white robe to cover himself, then stood up and waved at the rushing river beside him. Immediately, a crystal-clear column of water gushed from the river's surface, continuously flowing into his mouth.

After gulping down his drink until he was full, he let out a satisfied "Ah!" and exclaimed, "I was so thirsty!"

As soon as he got up, Hei Erniu had already wagged his tail and come over, stammering with lingering fear, "Master, you're finally awake! You don't know, you were burning up last night, you were practically melting, you were barely human. I wanted to wake you up, but I was afraid you'd scold me..."

Wang Wen chuckled and patted its forehead, looking around as he asked, "Has that big serpent shown its face?"

Black Ox shook its head vigorously: "No, no, how dare it show its face? If I were it, seeing you burned like that, I would run as far away as possible..."

"You are the only one who is smart!"

Wang Wen, both amused and annoyed, flicked it on the forehead, thinking with a touch of regret, "If I miss this opportunity, it'll be much harder to get my hands on it next time."

……

Before nightfall, the man and the ox drove the fleet back to the Xuzhou dock.

"Get me something to eat right away..."

As soon as he landed on the ship, Wang Wen waved to interrupt Xu Wu and the others who crawled out of the cabin to greet him: "I'm so hungry I could practically eat Erniu!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Wu quickly turned around and waved to the officers behind him, saying, "Go and bring over the cooked food from the warehouse so the general can have something to eat... Shi Tou, tell the cooks to hurry up and prepare some hearty dishes to serve the general."

Soon, several cooks carried out a square table, which was filled with braised beef, braised pig's head, braised chicken, braised goose and other cooked foods.

Wang Wen glanced at it, grabbed the braised beef from the plate, threw it into the river, and said with a sullen laugh, "Didn't we already say that we in the General's Mansion don't eat beef?"

Xu Wu glanced at Hei Erniu, who was glaring at him, and chuckled awkwardly, "It's just that Erniu hasn't been around these past few days, so it's rare to find beef vendors at the market..."

Wang Wen devoured a piece of braised pork, glancing at the group of battalion commanders behind Xu Wu as he ate, including several unfamiliar officers clad in the armor of the Demon Suppression Division: "What? Something's up?"

Xu Wu slapped his forehead and quickly stepped forward to introduce them: "Reporting to the general, these are my colleagues from the Xuzhou Demon Suppression Division. This is Yu Qifeng, the deputy director of the Xuzhou Demon Suppression Division, and this is You Haoran, the junior officer of the Xuzhou Demon Suppression Division..."

Several officers and soldiers from the Xuzhou Demon Suppression Division stepped forward and saluted with their hands clasped.

While gnawing on a piece of pig's head, Wang Wen waved to them and said, "We're all brothers, no need to be polite, just get to the point!"

Upon hearing this, the officers and soldiers of the Xuzhou Demon Suppression Division all looked embarrassed.

After scanning the area, Xu Wu stepped forward and whispered in his ear, "Brother, the brothers of the Demon Suppression Division in Xuzhou have encountered a tough opponent. Many of them have died or been injured and have returned empty-handed. We have come here to ask for help."

Wang Wen, gnawing on a piece of pig's head, said without changing his expression, "Tell me in detail!"

Xu Wu: "That was a den of weasels. They had taken over a dilapidated city god temple on the east side of Xuzhou at some point. They gained power by receiving incense offerings from the local people. A few days ago, a wandering Taoist priest stumbled upon them. The brothers from the Xuzhou Demon Suppression Division were ordered to surround and exterminate them, but they repeatedly fell into illusions and ended up killing each other..."

Wang Wen scratched his ear, then turned his head to look at him in surprise: "Didn't you ask the temple's priests to go and take a look?"

What kind of strength could a group of weasels occupying the City God Temple possess?
More than fifty Xuanmen cultivators at the Master level couldn't handle it?
"Master Jingzhen has already gone there with his men..."

Xu Wu said in a low voice, "We're unharmed, but we've returned empty-handed!"

"These little Taoist priests are getting more and more disappointing..."

Wang Wen couldn't help but curse, and finally said, "Wait, I'll go check on this after I finish eating this pig's head!"

(End of this chapter)