The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 550 The Cicadas' Mournful Cry
Several months later, in the capital of the Jin Dynasty, it was summer. The sun was blazing, but there was no sandstorm like in later years. The Jin Dynasty was becoming increasingly corrupt, and the common people were suffering more and more, but the capital was still in a state of extravagance and debauchery.

The western market of Zhongdu City was bustling with activity, lined with inns and restaurants, various shops, and large open spaces for people to set up stalls.

In the center of the market, there is a three-story restaurant, Zhongdu Old Shop, Mingzuilou. Those who come here are all high-ranking officials and nobles. The wine is good, the tea is good, and the dishes are even better. There are also musicians playing the zither and singers singing. If you order a few dishes here, it will cost at least ten taels of silver.

The third-floor private room, Xiyun, has an elegant name, yet it exudes a rich aroma of meat. On the table inside the room, there is half a roasted lamb. A tall, slender, and sweet-looking girl is holding a roasted lamb leg. She takes a bite, her mouth full of oil, but her eyes crinkle with joy.

"Well, I won't say anything else about the Jin Kingdom, but their roasted lamb is better than that of Jiangnan. It's not gamey or dry, crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and cooked to perfection. Jing'er, how did your roasted lamb compare to here when you were in Mongolia?"

There were three people in the private room. The one eating meat was Ah Ku. No matter how well the mutton was roasted, it was still extremely greasy. But this girl didn't know what greasy meant. She ate the meat with gusto, just like the chubby little girl who used to train in Bear in the days when she was young.

The other person was also eating meat, but their eating manners were relatively more refined. They had a knife in their hand, cut off a small piece of mutton, pierced it with the tip of the knife, put it in their mouth, and chewed it carefully. Judging from their expression, they were also enjoying it very much.

Upon hearing A-Ku call him, the man immediately looked up. It was Guo Jing: "Master's wife, the people of the Mongolian grasslands are also good at roasting mutton, but they usually just use a handful of coarse salt. Those tribal chiefs might sprinkle some spices on it."

Spices are extremely precious in Mongolia. They are usually traded by chieftains for cattle and sheep. Often, a dozen sheep can only be exchanged for a small handful. So even they don't dare to use too much on ordinary days. If I hadn't followed Temujin Khan back then, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to eat mutton with spices.

In this Jin Guo Restaurant, the half-roasted lamb is sprinkled with no fewer than seven or eight kinds of spices. You can't find such meticulously roasted delicacies on the Mongolian grasslands. These past few years, living in Jiangnan near Taihu Lake, I've mostly eaten fish; it's been a long time since I've had lamb like this.

Guo Jing was very satisfied, but at the same time he turned his eyes to his master, Wu Chengyu, who was leaning against the window, watching the people coming and going and the bustling city life outside, but did not enjoy the food with them.

"Master, this mutton is most fragrant when it's freshly roasted; it will get cold soon. You should eat some first."

Wu Chengyu didn't say anything, but just waved his hand with his back to Guo Jing without turning his head. A-Ku rolled his eyes and pouted.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with your master lately. He’s too lazy to talk and sleeps alone at night. He doesn’t even talk to me anymore. He wouldn’t even look at mutton. Ignore him. Let’s eat together. He’s a big eater. With him, this half a lamb might not be enough.”

Mo Ku's words carried a hint of resentment, so Guo Jing dared not interrupt and quickly lowered his head. Wu Chengyu, who had his back to them, had a bitter smile on his face.

These past few days have been tough for him; it's hard to put into words. It's not that he's neglecting Ah Ku, he would never be like this in his entire life, but he really has his reasons lately.

A few months ago on Peach Blossom Island, he took away the title of Eastern Heretic, which can be considered as quelling the resentment in his heart. This can also be considered as a kind of lingering resentment, which comes from the lingering resentment of his predecessor, Wu Mianfeng.

The bamboo slips also offered a reward, and this time it wasn't some random name, but rather something poetic: "The mournful cry of cicadas in winter."

As the weather grows colder, the cicadas' lifespan is coming to an end. The cicadas' chirping in their final days carries a touch of melancholy in the ears of scholars and poets. Most people believe that cicadas only live for one summer, but this is actually a big misconception.

The cicada's complete lifespan begins with an egg, followed by a nymph, and then an adult. They do not pupate but molt repeatedly until they emerge from the soil and stand on the treetops to make their own sounds.

So cicadas don't actually have such a short lifespan. Depending on the species, some only live for two or three years, while the longest is said to be seventeen years. Once they leave the soil, it means the end of their lives. They only sing for one summer, which is why people think they are short-lived.

And this mournful chirping of cicadas is actually a breathing technique, a breathing technique of cicadas.

Breathing techniques are generally just the rudiments of internal energy cultivation, not even qualifying as true internal energy cultivation. Wu Chengyu's martial arts are unparalleled, and his current cultivation method is the Innate Qiankun Gong, which incorporates various mental techniques. Breathing techniques are insignificant to him.

Of course, what bamboo slips provide cannot be measured by normal standards. For example, the "Turtle Grandson Method" given to Wu Chengyu back then caused Wu Chengyu to complain about it for a long time.

The Turtle Grandson Method is a method that imitates the breathing of a turtle grandson. Its greatest effect is to expel the old and take in the new, expelling impurities from the food we eat every day through breathing, thus continuously maintaining the purity of the body.

At the same time, it can actively isolate itself from substances harmful to the body, such as sleeping potions. Even when Wu Chengyu drank strong liquor, he could expel the alcohol as a harmful substance.

After years of experimentation, Wu Chengyu had completely integrated the Turtle Grandson Technique with his own breathing, and could maintain the frequency of the Turtle Grandson Technique even when he was sleeping.

However, for Wu Chengyu now, the Turtle Sun Technique is already a passive skill, and it's becoming more and more like a useless skill. Maintaining a good physical condition over the years can naturally prolong life, but after Wu Chengyu's transformation and the addition of the top-level Taoist divine skill, the lifespan increase from the Turtle Sun Technique is just icing on the cake.

Wu Chengyu did not expect that, having reached his current level of cultivation, the bamboo slip would provide him with yet another breathing technique. For someone who had already made the Turtle Sun Technique an instinct, changing to a new breathing method would be a loss.

However, after learning about the bamboo slips, Wu Chengyu became interested again. The "chirping of cicadas" was indeed a breathing method, but it was not done through the nose or mouth.

According to the bamboo slips, cicadas do not have organs like noses. They breathe through spiracles located on the sides of their abdomen, with a pair on each segment, which connect to the tracheal system. When humans breathe through their pores, they do not repeat the method of the tortoise.

This is not the first case of its kind. Chu Liuxiang in Gu Long's novels is the same. The difference is that he has a bad nose and is often congested. In modern terms, Chu Liuxiang is actually a patient with severe rhinitis.

After that, not knowing how to operate it, this guy switched to breathing through all his pores and benefited greatly from it. This is also why his lightweight function has a significantly longer battery life.

Later, when he was dealing with the jellyfish Yin Ji, he couldn't defeat her, so he dragged her into the water, blocked her mouth and nose with his own mouth, and breathed oxygen in the water through his nostrils, eventually suffocating her to death.

The breathing method provided by the bamboo slips also had the same effect, allowing one to breathe through the mouth and nose during high-speed attacks and underwater, but it was of no use to Wu Chengyu.

At first, Wu Chengyu had no interest in practicing this breathing technique, but the last addition to the bamboo slip caught his attention: it could be used in conjunction with the Turtle Sun Technique to nourish the spirit.

This sentence was like opening a door for Wu Chengyu, solving his biggest problem at the moment.

After absorbing the Ice Silkworm to replenish his accumulated internal energy, he reached the pinnacle of his cultivation and could not advance any further. He had no other way to go but to break through to the Innate Realm.

The reason Wu Chengyu finally decided to come to Peach Blossom Island was twofold: firstly, there were some scores that really needed to be settled; secondly, deep down, Wu Chengyu felt that the resentment of his predecessor had to be resolved, otherwise he would never be able to transcend the innate realm.

Until the moment he left Peach Blossom Island, the resentment of his former self, which had not been apparent until then and was thought to have been merged into one, finally dissipated. Wu Chengyu suddenly found his mind clear and had a sense of understanding of himself.

Having truly gained self-awareness, Wu Chengyu now understood how to transcend the Innate Realm, or what conditions he needed to meet first. These conditions were essential for breaking through the Innate Realm; only after encountering opportunities or insights could he easily break through.

Otherwise, even if a tremendous opportunity falls into your lap, it will be in vain if you don't meet the necessary conditions.

Wu Chengyu has read extensively in Taoist scriptures. Now, he can easily find a Taoist master to discuss Taoism with for three days and three nights without showing any fear. According to Taoist teachings, breaking through to the innate level requires the three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit to reach the limit of the mortal body, and to be in balance with each other. None of them can be missing.

Essence refers to the human body, including bones, meridians, blood, and marrow. After Wu Chengyu underwent a complete transformation, he had already surpassed this boundary, and his body could be considered an innate body.

In the martial arts world, this "qi" refers to internal energy. Wu Chengyu initially laid the foundation with the Quanxing Nameless Divine Skill and gradually perfected the Xiantian Qiankun Skill. Now, he has perfected the five elements and harmonized pure yang and profound yin. In terms of qi, he can be said to be uniquely endowed.

So the only thing he lacks now is a god, or rather, spiritual power. Breaking through to the innate level requires an even higher level of spiritual power, just like a sudden enlightenment. So-called opportunities and insights usually lie in the spiritual realm.

This is his biggest weakness now. In his past life, he was a playboy who indulged in pleasure, living a life of debauchery and leaving a trail of broken hearts. How energetic could he have been? He was probably worn down and riddled with holes by the worldly pleasures.

As for his predecessor, Wu Mianfeng, he was dull-witted and had mediocre comprehension. He died at the age of ten, and his resentment lingered. But how strong could the mental strength of a ten-year-old child be?

The combined spiritual power of the two individuals from their previous lives was probably not even as strong as that of masters like Huang Yaoshi, who were among the Five Greats. Whether they could even achieve the Innate Realm in this life was still unknown. Now, Wu Chengyu's spiritual power was completely below standard.

When I first transmigrated into this life, I had extraordinary five senses. I originally thought that my mental strength was also special, but it has not improved much over the years. These extraordinary five senses are more like a cheat code given to me when I transmigrated, and they are not completely compatible with my mental body.

In addition to the nameless divine skill and the method of protecting the Dao, the Quanxing Daojing also left behind the method of refining the spirit, which Wu Chengyu also practiced a few years ago after reaching the pinnacle.

Perhaps because times have changed, this method of refining the spirit is extremely difficult to cultivate, and so far no one has even begun to grasp it. It is unknown whether it is simply incompatible with the current world.

Therefore, after Wu Chengyu understood his own body, he was at a loss as to how to break through to the Innate Realm. At the current pace, if he slowly cultivated his spiritual power, it would probably take him forty or fifty years to reach the perfection of his spiritual power.

If Wu Chengyu encounters an opportunity at that time, he will naturally become a Xiantian (innate) cultivator. At that time, Wu Chengyu will probably be sixty or seventy years old. Breaking through to Xiantian at that age is definitely not slow.

However, Wu Chengyu is a time traveler with special abilities. From the time he officially started practicing martial arts until now, he has reached the pinnacle in just over ten years. His rapid progress is astonishing to Huang Yaoshi and the others.

How could Wu Chengyu possibly endure the prospect of someone who was used to rapid progress and quick improvement suddenly having to learn to crawl like a tortoise, slowly grinding away at the other side?

But cheating is cheating, and the mournful sound of cicadas in the bamboo slips perfectly solved this problem.

In his early stages of cultivation, he only opened the pores on his cheeks. The strange power generated by his breathing and the strange power generated by the Turtle Sun Technique began to merge within Wu Chengyu's body.

One is an insect with only one short lifespan after it emerges from the ground, and the other is a turtle that can live for at least several hundred years once it dives into the water. The two forces represented by them slowly merge in Wu Chengyu's meridians.

The power of the Tortoise Sun Technique was relatively mild, while the power of the Chirping Cicada was cooler. After the two powers merged, they went straight up the spine and uncontrollably merged into Wu Chengyu's brain.

The brain is the most mysterious organ in the human body. Even with all sorts of amazing skills and techniques that can regulate the internal organs, few dare to interfere with the brain.

Outside of Jin Yong's martial arts world, there are not many martial arts techniques that can achieve this. The Heaven-Shattering Earth-Striking Technique, which is suspected to be from Huang Yi's world, may have such a function.

However, Jin Yong's martial arts world is a low-level martial arts world, and martial arts that interfere with the brain are definitely beyond the scope of the art.

After feeling the power of the fusion surge into his brain, Wu Chengyu was somewhat frightened, but at the same time, he felt as if his mind was being baptized by a creation-like baptism.

At that moment, Wu Chengyu had a sudden inspiration and began to practice the Quanxing Refining Spirit Method. With the help of the supernatural force, the Refining Spirit Method began to operate smoothly, like a machine being lubricated with oil, until the supernatural force disappeared and the Refining Spirit Method stopped automatically.

Wu Chengyu immediately understood that to cultivate this Refining Spirit Method, one must have this kind of extraordinary power as fuel. He did not know how the Quanxing Daoist Sect had done it a thousand years ago, but in this world, without this extraordinary power, the Refining Spirit Method would be difficult to advance.

At this point, Wu Chengyu's path to refining his spirit was finally smooth. He used the "Cicada's Chirping Breathing Method" to breathe through all the pores of his body, while simultaneously using the "Turtle Sun Method" to exhale and inhale through his mouth and nose.

The two processes proceed simultaneously, generating different forces that merge and replenish the brain, nourishing the spirit. At the same time, the method of refining the spirit with the whole nature is used to enhance spiritual power until spiritual power reaches perfection and the three treasures of essence, energy, and spirit are balanced. In this way, one has truly reached the threshold of the innate realm, waiting only for him to take the first step.

But things aren't that easy. The supernatural power generated by the two breathing methods is simply not enough. He has practiced the Turtle Sun Technique for more than ten years, and it has long become an instinct of his body, which can provide what he needs.

Having just acquired the Cold Cicada's Lament, it's not enough to rely on time alone to rival the Tortoise Sun Technique; one must transform every pore on one's body.

This is when Wu Chengyu started to suffer. When he was working on the pores on his cheeks, it was as painful as being slapped dozens of times.

This kind of transformation of the human body cannot be achieved overnight. The transformation of pores will be accompanied by discomfort, just like the feeling of wet skin being blown by a cold wind.

But this is only the feeling of ordinary people when they are being transformed. After Wu Chengyu was reborn, his skin was so tough that it was difficult to be hurt by ordinary sharp weapons. Moreover, white scales could be seen. Therefore, when the pores were being transformed, it felt as if countless steel needles were being pierced.

The human body has between two and five million pores. Although it is possible to modify the pores in sections, it also means that at least tens of thousands of steel needles are being drilled into one's body at the same time.

When Wu Chengyu killed Guihua, he took forbidden drugs, which destroyed his foundation and caused his body to deteriorate. The suffering he endured when he was in such a state was nothing compared to the pain of being covered in needles now.

Fortunately, his physical condition and skill level are now at the top of humanity, which is why he can barely maintain his current state. Although he can still fight, the pain is even more intense once he starts fighting.

During this period, Wu Chengyu was working on reshaping his pores, which would probably take another two or three months to complete. During this time, he not only had no appetite to eat, but he also avoided sleeping with A-Ku as much as possible, which explains why A-Ku was somewhat resentful.

However, once all the pores have been transformed, and the spiritual energy generated by the two breathing methods is used to nourish the spirit and promote the whole-body refining spirit method, it will not take more than a few years for his spiritual power to reach perfection. At that time, there will be no more obstacles to breaking through to the innate level.

(End of this chapter)