Tumor Sword Immortal

Chapter 162 Upstream
When this divine artifact was first discovered, something was strange. Although it was precious, it seemed insignificant compared to the scale of the entire underground palace.

However, if we combine this with what Pei Xia heard in her mind while chatting with the spider, such as "a lot of smart people get together to study things that can make people smarter."

Perhaps, beneath its crude and outdated appearance, this divine machine possesses another layer of special value.

“Do you think,” Pei Xia asked Lu Li, “could this be the so-called ‘first divine machine’?”

Lu Li was taken aback by his words and instinctively wanted to laugh at him.

But after a moment's hesitation, she had to fall into a serious silence.

This is a question that few people would explore.

Just as almost no one in the martial arts world has any concept of "ancient cultivation methods," it seems that since the beginning of time, with the existence of the Nine Provinces and humankind, the "Twelve Realms of Martial Arts" have been born in this world, becoming a ladder of life progression that seems like a predetermined law.

But in fact, Pei Xia knew very well that in the ancient past, when the path of cultivation was just beginning to sprout, the land of Kyushu was a place where a hundred flowers bloomed.

Most of these cultivation methods are extremely unorthodox and driven by a desire for quick success, and may even lead to demonic possession.

By today's standards, the end of a certain "path to heaven" might only allow cultivators to reach the Profound Realm, or even lower.

Don't even mention dividing it into body refinement and martial arts cultivation; there might be cultivation of either.

Pei Xia's inherited techniques, "Supporting Heaven" and "Martial Uniqueness," are among the most likely ancient methods to approach the pinnacle of the twelfth realm of martial arts, and were considered supreme techniques back then.

However, the brutality of his cultivation process and the randomness of his martial arts insights caused Pei Xia to sigh countless times in the dead of night.

So, given the nature of martial arts, could Master Su and his companions have truly possessed these nine realms from the very beginning?

Pear finally shook her head: "Judging from Master Su's realm standards, the traces of artificial definition are very obvious. Perhaps in that era, there really was no existence of the Seven Realms in the Nine Provinces."

It was only after generations of masters reached the sixth level that they realized that human computing power had reached its limit.

Perhaps, at that time, the Six Realms was synonymous with the strongest cultivator.

Until someone, or a group of people, started to have wild ideas and asked themselves, is it really impossible for humans to master the magic of burning a city with a thousand fires?
So they began to try to break through the inherent limitations of human computing power.

Until one day, the divine machine was born.

Listening to Pei Xia's guess, Pear was unsure whether to be shocked or uneasy. She touched her bald scalp and muttered softly, "Why have I never heard my master mention these things before?"

"Maybe she doesn't know either, or perhaps..."

For no apparent reason, Pei Xia recalled how her master's wife would subconsciously avoid discussing the origin of her divine weapon.

He reached out and patted his little apprentice on the back: "Don't overthink it. You just broke through to the sixth realm and need to consolidate your cultivation. Rest well today. You can stay in the village tomorrow. I'll go upstream to see what's going on with the stinky water."

Nothing happened that night. When the group came out of the underground palace, they were all exhausted. There was nothing to be wary of in this small village, so they were able to get a good night's sleep, which was a rare treat.

Even Pei Xia, while resting with her eyes closed, dozed off for a while.

The next morning, the village delivered breakfast again: pickled vegetables, cured meat, and salted duck eggs—a real treat.

After dinner, the four of them met up and discussed their upcoming itinerary.

We'll definitely need to rest in the village for a while, so in exchange, we'll leave the matter of the stinky water upstream to Pei Xia.

Lu Li has just broken through and needs to consolidate her realm. Han Youzhi has the highest cultivation level among the four and urgently needs to recover her strength as a guarantee. As for Ye Lu, he has to burn his superior today and doesn't have time.

“Alright, it’s convenient for me to go alone. I’ll be right back.” Pei Xia never hesitated in her actions. She asked the village chief about the situation and then set off.

As you travel upstream along the lake and river, you enter a dense forest, and the slope gradually becomes steeper.

When we reached the mountainside, we discovered that there was a cliff in front of us, where the water flowed down to form a waterfall.

Looking at the stone cliff that was more than ten feet high, Pei Xia finally understood why the villagers had never been able to figure out why the water smelled so bad for so long.

This is a place that is generally inaccessible to the average person.

Pei Xia looked around and found that there were no good alternative routes nearby. She decided to just climb.

Fortunately, I came out of the underground palace yesterday and my spiritual power has recovered a lot today, so I can use my qi to climb the wall. Otherwise, I would really be at a loss.

Reaching the top of the waterfall, Pei Xia panted as she surveyed her surroundings.

Few people venture here, and the jungle grows even denser. Even along the waterway, one is often blocked by branches and thorns, forcing Pei Xia to use his inner energy to break through the path.

As he went deeper, a strange, foul odor began to fill his nostrils.

It's a complex odor that's hard to describe in words. If you're brave enough to smell it closely, you can detect almost any odor you can think of.

The pungent, overpowering effect made Pei Xia's vision go black, and she almost collapsed on the spot.

He could only hold his breath and continue forward, while constantly wondering to himself.

What could possibly smell this bad?

He had initially speculated that there might be the carcass of some large animal rotting upstream, or, more horrifyingly and coincidentally, that some kind of江湖 (jianghu, a term referring to the martial arts world) feud had broken out upstream, resulting in rivers of blood.

But now it seems that's not the case.

Something that can stink like that is definitely not an ordinary thing.

With a hint of wariness, Pei Xia turned another corner and saw a very neat little wooden house on the riverbank ahead.

He was taken aback. How could anyone live in this remote, desolate place?

As they got closer, the stench became even stronger.

Holy crap, this house definitely has something stinking inside it.

Pei Xia suppressed her nausea, took a deep breath before getting close, and then held her breath completely as she walked towards the house.

Before we even reached the door, it was suddenly opened from the inside.

Pei Xia immediately became alert—the stench was so bad it made it hard to breathe; if a fierce battle broke out now, it would be a huge disadvantage.

Then, an unusually obese man walked out of the house.

This person was not tall, a head shorter than Pei Xia, and extremely obese; not only was his waist invisible, but his neck was also completely hidden.

But that's not the point.

What truly made Pei Xia's pupils shrink was the dense, festering sores on the fat man's massive body, as well as many dark blue chapped mouths that looked as if they had been torn apart by fat and were mixed with blood streaks.

The moment he stepped out of the room, the intense stench seemed to transform into some kind of sharp, hard object, which actually made Pei Xia's eyes sting!
(End of this chapter)