The God of Heavens

Chapter 261 Journey to the Wilderness
Spring is late in arriving; the capital city of Yujing is only just beginning to warm up, while in the South China Sea, the waters are already rippling and a warm breeze is blowing.

A massive fleet sailed across the sea, with three giant cloud-piercing ships leading the way and nine five-toothed warships arrayed like halberds, their banners fluttering in the wind.

An invisible aura gathered at the top of the ship, surging endlessly, exuding a menacing aura.

However, this fleet was not flying the flag of the Jinghai Navy, but rather the flag of the Jade Navy.

Lin Yu, dressed in silver shark armor, with a black robe over it and a crimson-gold crown on his head, stood alone at the bow of the ship, his posture upright.

His spiritual consciousness had reached the level of the fifth tribulation, far surpassing his current martial arts and Qi cultivation. Therefore, he decided to focus his cultivation efforts on these two paths and devote himself to breaking through them.

The way of cultivating Qi begins with refining the internal organs, opening the nine orifices, and breathing in and out the primordial Qi of heaven and earth.

Once the marrow cleansing is completed, one can glide on the wind; then, the Qi enters the Niwan Palace, merges with the soul, the spirituality surges, forming a spiritual domain, leveraging the primordial energy of heaven and earth, and achieving physical flight. This state is comparable to that of a martial saint.

Afterwards, opening up the acupoints and connecting the meridians, although one can perform magic, it is only a quantitative change.

The more acupoints one has, the more abundant one's vital energy becomes; with unobstructed meridians, one's reactions become more acute and one's methods more diverse.

But Lin Yu was still pondering and exploring the path of Qi cultivation.

Human strength is finite, but the power of heaven and earth is infinite. Divine soul techniques require undergoing tribulations to absorb the will of heaven and earth and transform. Human immortal martial arts require opening acupoints to connect with celestial stars and strengthen the physical body and spirit.

Therefore, if one's innate true energy desires to transform, striving in this direction is the right thing to do.

Lin Yu's initial idea was to absorb the Qi of the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Fiends, using the lightness of the Heavenly Gang and the turbidity of the Earthly Fiends to change the nature of his true Qi.

The effectiveness of this method, and even whether it can ultimately achieve the unity of the three treasures, remains to be seen.

The road ahead is uncertain, so we can only take it one step at a time. If we can become the "master of the future," it would be good to do some deduction; if we can find "guinea pigs" willing to try and verify it first, it would be even more prudent.

"The human heart is perilous, the moral heart is subtle; only through refinement and unity can one truly hold fast to the mean..."

Lin Yu held a book in his hand and read it aloud softly.

The Confucian way of self-cultivation emphasizes "being refined and focused, and holding fast to the mean," which is even better than the Daoist concept of "maintaining the mean."

Unfortunately, people today study for fame and fortune or for immortality, but they go astray, unaware that the classics of sages contain profound principles of self-cultivation.

Of course, Confucianism emphasizes the Way over techniques, and although it can achieve "inner sage and outer kingship," it lacks the skills to save the world; Taoism, on the other hand, focuses on techniques but neglects the Way, like a rootless duckweed.

Just like a martial artist, those who only possess brute strength but lack skill, or who only learn techniques but do not cultivate a solid foundation, will find it difficult to achieve greatness.

The Way is the foundation, and techniques are the means. The Way and techniques are like the two wheels of a cart; neither can be dispensed with.

The way of sages needs to be supplemented by the art of saving the world, and the art of self-cultivation should be complemented by the way of establishing oneself. Only by cultivating both the way and the art can one achieve unity of knowledge and action and realize one's true self.

The path of cultivation is unpredictable. Although he is confident in his possession of the "Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Technique" and believes his future is limitless, he should not underestimate the classics of the world because of this.

Just as Yang Qi eventually relinquished the marks of the gods, Lin Yu will one day also abandon the "Divine Elephant Suppressing Prison Technique" and embark on his own path.

"Once you've caught the fish, you forget the trap; once you've caught the rabbit, you forget the snare."

Although this may be something that happens infinitely many years from now, we should plan ahead now.

……

"Your Highness, we'll soon be approaching the desolate wilderness," Blood Blade reported.

"Yes, be careful and on guard against enemy attacks," Lin Yu instructed.

This desolate land, located in the South China Sea, is not only teeming with monsters, but also rife with dangers due to the cult of witchcraft that once corrupted the natives.

More importantly, the most precious treasure of the Great Zen Temple, the Qiankun Bag, was also stolen and taken away by the monk Jingren, one of the 108 Bodhisattvas.

Within the Qiankun Cloth Bag, a world of its own exists; this small cloth bag can hold countless things.

The treasures inside, accumulated over thousands of years, along with countless divine weapons, could be retrieved and used to suppress the national treasury, enough to grant a ten-year pardon for all taxes and provisions.

According to folklore, a thousand years ago, when the Daheng Dynasty was founded, its 200,000-strong army was in dire need of food.

The Great Zen Temple sent someone with a Qiankun Bag to help. The bag contained a continuous supply of food and fodder, which fed an army of 200,000 for half a year, demonstrating its remarkable nature.

These were not Lin Yu's main objectives. Rather, it was the general outline of the "Present Tathagata Sutra" hidden within that text, which explained the path of cultivation for humans and immortals and was of great inspiration to him.

Before long, a deserted island appeared ahead.

The island is covered with towering peaks and dense forests, with giant trees blocking out the sun. The air is thick with the smell of sulfur and lava, and volcanic craters are everywhere.

Looking out, it was a vast, dark expanse, like a newly formed continent, boundless and limitless.

Just then, a piercing, sharp cry suddenly came from afar.

Then, a humanoid monster with two huge, fleshy membranous wings appeared hundreds of feet in the air, circling around.

"Magnetic cannon, prepare!"

On the flagship's deck, three pitch-black steel turrets slowly rose.

These specially made magnetic cannons are entirely black, with intricate cyan magic array patterns etched on the surface of the cannon barrels.

At this moment, the lightning-storing bead embedded at the bottom of the cannon base is flashing with dangerous electric light, charging the magnetic array.

"Target locked!"

The gunner turned the precise aiming mechanism, and the magnetic arrays on the gun barrel lit up one by one.

The blue lines seemed to move across the steel surface like living things, emitting a "buzzing" sound of electricity.

As charging was completed, the entire barrel was enveloped in a layer of ethereal blue light.

"put!"

In an instant, three steel bullets burst from the barrel. With the support of the magnetic array, these seemingly ordinary steel bullets tore through the air at several times the speed of sound, leaving three dazzling trails behind them.

Just as the winged demon tried to flap its wings to dodge, a steel bullet from the leader pierced through its left wing.

With a loud crack, the entire fleshy wing was reduced to charred remains in a flash of electricity. The remaining two shells followed in quick succession, one shattering its skull and the other blasting it in half. The mangled remains fell into the waves, where the sea breeze swept them away without leaving a trace.

Lin Yu stood with his hands behind his back at the bow of the ship, watching the light from the magic array on the magnetic cannon barrel gradually fade away.

Blood Blade gazed at the calm waves and couldn't help but gasp: "This Yuan Magnetic Cannon is truly domineering!"

Lin Yu shook his head, looking at the gradually fading array patterns on the cannon barrel: "It's just something for dealing with some grunts. For now, it can only be considered a large-scale toy."

These were just things Lin Yu made on a whim. The Thunder Pearl was a replica of the Immortal Capital Jade Pendant. As for the heavenly thunder inside, it was even simpler—just a thunder-attracting array would suffice.

However, it can only deal with some mindless zombies at present. The Martial Saint's sudden inspiration can almost completely defeat it.

Inscribing array patterns on cannonballs would be possible, but that would make them essentially one-time-use magical artifacts, which wouldn't be cost-effective, unless one mastered the industrial production of magical artifacts.

In summary, it is quite powerful and has a promising future; it can easily take down small soldiers and ships.

The fleet found a port and began to anchor. After Lin Yu instructed them to set up an advance camp, he took off and quickly disappeared into the horizon.

In the desolate lands, the ways of witchcraft and ghosts are prevalent. These are methods of sacrificing the dead and cultivating demonic powers. They follow the path of cultivating external demons to suppress inner demons, using demons to control demons.

They typically cultivate external bodies, using the bones and corpses of humans and beasts to create iron corpses, bronze corpses, silver corpses, gold corpses, flying corpses, witch corpses, heavenly corpses, and corpse emperors, eventually becoming supreme demon lords.

Those external bodies are all physical entities, possessing immense strength, with wings on their backs, allowing them to fly and burrow through the air like eagles and giant birds, making them extremely terrifying. Even masters of Taoist arts are unwilling to provoke them.

Unfortunately, it was completely countered by the Yuan Magnetic Cannon that Lin Yu had set up.

Unless one has cultivated to the level of an unparalleled demon lord, equivalent to having survived several tribulations, they would not take him seriously.

However, that's impossible now. If there were such a powerful figure, he would have gone to the Great Qian Dynasty to spread his teachings long ago, instead of hiding in this place.

Of course, there are also those who can command vengeful spirits and set up deadly Yin formations; their cultivation is profound, and they follow a different path.

A small island, like a green snail, floats between the blue sky and the sea.

Deep in the island's jungle, several wooden buildings stand scattered about, torches burning eternally outside. A group of dark-skinned natives, clad in animal hides, work tirelessly day and night.

At the top of the wooden building sat a thin, middle-aged Taoist priest, dressed in a cotton Taoist robe, holding a bone staff, with a long beard reaching his chest.

Suddenly, the Taoist's expression changed drastically. The celestial corpse he had sent out to hunt for food had abruptly lost contact with him.

"presumptuous!"

The Taoist priest roared, and a terrifying aura filled the air.

"How dare you attack my Heavenly Corpse! No matter who you are, I will make you pay the price!"

"Really? I'll give you a chance to rephrase your words!"

A faint, ethereal voice came from beyond the heavens, and Lin Yu appeared, surrounded by a faint halo, his black robe fluttering in the wind.

The middle-aged Taoist priest's expression changed drastically. He raised his bone staff, pursed his lips, and let out a long howl, the soul-capturing demonic sound immediately resounding throughout the surroundings.

Upon hearing the sound, the busy, dark-skinned natives immediately knelt down and prostrated themselves in worship.

"You sorcerer, stop resisting and surrender. Your soul-capturing demonic voice has no effect on me."

As Lin Yu spoke, he stepped onto the invisible stairs and slowly descended from mid-air.

The Taoist's eyes flashed with green light, and he sneered, "You ignorant brat, how dare you trespass into my Taoist temple with your bare body!"

He slammed his bone staff down heavily, causing the ground to tremble violently and kicking up clouds of dust.

"Roar--"

A mournful roar resounded, dust exploded, and six black shadows burst forth.

These days, fleshy wings have sprouted from their backs, and their dark blue scales gleam with an eerie, ebony light. Their faces are twisted, their fangs are foot-long and protrude, and their blood-red eyes are eerily bright like gemstones, exuding a menacing aura.

They held steel forks, covered in blood and grime, exuding an aura of slaughter.

"Shoot-"

Wherever the steel fork passed, six blood-red trails were torn open in the void, accompanied by a sharp, piercing sound and a chill that went straight to the spine.

Six attacks came from different angles, completely blocking all of Lin Yu's escape routes!
"There's something, but not much." Lin Yu smiled and exhaled a breath of sword energy.

Buzz! Buzz!
The air vibrated, and in an instant, the sword energy accelerated and vanished into thin air.

The next moment, it appeared out of thin air without warning, suddenly splitting into six sharp rays.

The sword flashed, lightning bolts streaked across the sky, and a deafening sound reverberated throughout heaven and earth.

As heaven and earth resonated, those menacing celestial corpses instantly shattered into hundreds of pieces under this sharp edge, scattering across the ground.

"Well, do you now recognize my methods?"

Before the Taoist could speak, Lin Yu grabbed him by the back of the neck and threw him to the ground like an eagle lifting a chick.

"What kind of sorcery is this?"

The thin Taoist priest stared wide-eyed and said tremblingly.

He was a Taoist priest who manipulated corpses and practiced witchcraft; he would be considered a "demon" anywhere. Yet he actually turned around and said that Lin Yu's methods were sorcery.

It’s really against Tiangang!
"You don't need to resist anymore, and you don't need to use any tricks. Even if your sect leader comes, he may not be a match for us."

You must answer my questions honestly. If you can't reason with me, I have a few sword energies left for you.

Lin Yu looked at the Taoist priest and said something that immediately extinguished any thoughts of resistance the priest might have.

He had witnessed the power of that sword energy firsthand; killing those bronze-skinned, iron-boned celestial corpses was as easy as killing chickens. How could he withstand even a single blow?
The middle-aged Taoist hurriedly said, "Don't kill me. I'm just a nobody sent by the Witchcraft and Ghost Path to guard the sea route from Tianzhou to the Wilderness. Please ask me anything, and I will tell you everything I know."

(End of this chapter)