I bear witness to immortality in the human world.

Chapter 168 The Pulse-Suppressing Stone

Wu Ming's primordial spirit entered the rift and continued deeper into it.

As his primordial spirit gradually penetrated deeper, after about a hundred feet, the rift not only did not widen, but became narrower and narrower, to the point that even an infant could hardly crawl through it, and even gave Wu Ming the feeling that he was about to reach the end.

Just as the thought flashed through Wu Ming's mind, his expression suddenly changed slightly. He continued forward for a while, and his vision suddenly opened up. What appeared before him was a complex and interconnected network of underground ley lines deep underground!

"interesting."

Wu Ming narrowed his eyes slightly.

During his exploration of the earth's depths, he had explored various fissures and caves, but he had never encountered an underground passage as deep and open as the one before him. Moreover, judging from the condition of this place, there were no traces of excavation; it was entirely formed naturally.

After a moment's thought, Wu Ming chose a passageway and began to explore deeper into it.

The accumulated earth vein energy within this passageway is extremely thick, becoming even more substantial the deeper one goes. However, since this is not a solidly accumulated earth, but rather a wide passageway, this earth vein energy, though thick, has no support and cannot create substantial pressure.

If this place were filled in with soil and rocks, connecting the entire earth vein into one, then the immense power of the earth vein would have a substantial foundation. Not to mention the human body, even the ethereal primordial spirit could be crushed and crushed.

Wu Ming carefully ventured deeper into the passage, and after going more than a thousand feet, the passage finally became narrower and narrower.

As the passageway narrowed, the rock walls on both sides became increasingly compact, gradually showing signs of crystallization. This was due to the accumulation of a large amount of earth vein power, which was tempered over many years and could already be called 'mountain jade'.

This kind of jade has a certain value and can be carved into some ornaments. For example, wealthy families in Jingye City even acquired large pieces of mountain jade and carved them into artificial mountains to be displayed in their gardens. However, its value was limited to this.

The passageway narrowed, making it impassable, but this did not prevent Wu Ming's primordial spirit from continuing to penetrate deeper. As the passageway narrowed further, the rock strata on both sides became more and more transparent, and the quality of the mountain jade increased.

at last,

When Wu Ming's primordial spirit squeezed into the last small, extremely narrow space, his gaze fell upon the narrow, crevice-like rock wall, where one after another, translucent and shiny dark brown mineral blocks appeared.

"The Pulse-Suppressing Stone... there really is such a thing."

Upon seeing these dark brown ore blocks, Wu Ming's eyes finally lit up slightly.

To him, even the finest mountain jade was of little value, merely a more precious ornament. It had no other use besides decoration and was not worth the effort of his soul power to mine.

However, he had read extensively in the Ministry of Justice, and had read through all kinds of records of the world's treasures. In one of the records, he read that in the depths of a mine with extremely rich earth vein power, some of the finest mountain jade, after being tempered for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years, may undergo a qualitative change and transform into another completely different mineral, which is called Zhenmai Stone.

This is completely different from mountain jade.

No matter how high the quality of mountain jade is, it is just an ornament. But Zhenmai stone is a rare and precious object. It is extremely heavy. A piece the size of a finger can often weigh over a hundred kilograms.

This material can be used to forge special heavy weapons, serve as the core of hammer-type weapons, and also be used as a 'suppressing stone'. For example, the central tower of the Shenxing Division has a suppressing stone at its base, as do the city walls of Jingye City. This makes the buildings as stable as Mount Tai, and they will not collapse even in the event of an earthquake.

A top-quality piece of mountain jade is worth at most several thousand taels of silver.

However, even a single Zhenmai Stone, if it is only the size of a fist, can be worth more than 100,000 merit points.

In Wu Ming's line of sight, deep within the narrowest ley line fissure, there were at least a dozen ley line stones that he could detect, and their value was quite considerable.

"This thing is quite good, but it might not be easy to carve it out."

A glint flashed in Wu Ming's eyes. With a thought, he released a weapon from the Demon Subduing Diagram and cleaved it along one of the stone pillars.

Even with his top-tier weapon-controlling power at the fourth level, these few attempts only managed to carve out a depression about half a finger deep around the Zhenmai Stone. Clearly, the Zhenmai Stone was too heavy, and the surrounding earth vein power was extremely dense, making it difficult to move.

"Earthly Fiend Dharma Form, arise!"

Upon seeing this, Wu Ming immediately activated the Earthly Fiend Yuanfa Dharma Form. Although the crack was narrow, the Dharma Form was something that was between half-illusion and half-real, so it could still be used in this narrow space. Moreover, although the power of the earth veins was thick and stagnant here, it had no effect on the Earthly Fiend Yuanfa Dharma Form. On the contrary, it felt like a fish in water, merging into it without any hindrance.

After casting the Earthly Fiend Yuan Magic Form, Wu Ming reached out and pulled, forcibly suppressing part of the earth vein power near the Zhenmai Stone. Then, he once again wielded his killing weapon to chisel it out. This time, it was very easy, and he chiseled out a piece of Zhenmai Stone in just a few moves.

However, when Wu Ming tried to pick up the Zhenmai Stone with his primordial spirit, he couldn't lift it at all, and he was speechless for a moment.

This stone, which is only the size of a fist, weighs more than a thousand kilograms!
A martial artist who has achieved four stages of blood coagulation can lift it with physical strength, but their primordial spirit is not made of flesh and blood, making it extremely difficult to grasp such a heavy object. Fortunately, the Demon-Subduing Diagram deep within Wu Ming's soul was unaffected. With a thought, he directly absorbed the Pulse-Suppressing Stone into the Demon-Subduing Diagram. Then,

Wu Ming followed the same method, carving out one stone after another from the nearby Zhenmai Stones and storing them in the Demon Subduing Realm. In the end, he collected a total of thirteen stones, each weighing more than a thousand catties, and together they weighed at least twenty or thirty thousand catties!
This terrifying weight would crush even a martial artist who has achieved four levels of blood coagulation, but when placed in the Demon Subduing Realm, it had no effect on the Demon Subduing Diagram itself.

"If you throw this thing out of the blue, it can be quite powerful."

Wu Ming thought to himself.

If he were to fly to a sufficiently high altitude using his primordial spirit and then drop the Zhenmai Stone from the sky, the force of tens of thousands of kilograms falling from such a height would undoubtedly be astonishing. Not to mention a martial artist who has reached the fourth stage of blood condensation, even a martial artist who has reached the fifth stage of blood condensation might not be able to withstand it.

However, this method is just wishful thinking. After all, a martial artist who has achieved five blood clotting techniques is not stupid. They cannot stand still and foolishly try to catch a bunch of pulse-suppressing stones falling from the sky. They only need to dodge.

True Daoist cultivation battles, or martial arts duels, are not solely based on the power of the moves. It's not that if a move's power reaches the peak of the Fourth Refinement stage, it can sweep away Fourth Refinement masters. Otherwise, when Daoist cultivators or martial artists fight, they wouldn't need to actually fight. They could simply unleash their ultimate moves in an open space and compare whose move is more powerful to determine the winner.

The power of techniques is only one part of combat.

The Daoist lineage encompasses thousands of Daoist techniques, each with its own unique characteristics. Among them are numerous Daoist methods of immense power. Some Daoist techniques, when cultivated to perfection at the fourth level of refinement, can also possess the top-tier power of the fourth level. But why is the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique the best among them?
Because the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique is extremely domineering, there are almost no means to counter it. In fact, many evil Taoist techniques are countered by the Thunder Technique. Moreover, once the Thunder Technique is unleashed, it is a technique that is very difficult to defend against and dodge. Therefore, it is considered a top-tier Taoist technique!

Some Taoist techniques may be more powerful than the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique, but releasing them requires not only condensing multiple magic seals but also spending time accumulating power. When they are released, there are obvious signs that make them easy for people to dodge. Even if one truly masters such a technique, it is impossible to directly join the ranks of top-level fourth-level experts based on this method.

These were all teachings Liu Muyuan gave to Wu Ming.

In Taoist cultivation, there are usually only two paths: one is to cultivate those extremely difficult ancient secret techniques, such as the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique, which has almost no flaws and is top-notch in terms of power, spell casting, and other aspects. Once mastered, one becomes a top expert.

Alternatively, one must read extensively and cultivate several or even dozens of Taoist techniques, encompassing day and night, the five elements, yin and yang, and all sorts of situations, spending time slowly studying them. In this way, one can also become a top expert, but one's potential is naturally far less than the former.

After collecting all the Zhenmai Stones into the Demon-Subduing Realm, Wu Ming searched around again to make sure nothing was missed. Then, he withdrew his Yuan Magic Form and returned along the narrow passage.

After walking through the passageway for a while, Wu Ming's gaze suddenly changed slightly.

"Ok?"

As they looked out, the passageway narrowed again, and the scene seemed vaguely familiar. After crossing the narrow crevice, they found themselves in a pitted and uneven mountain cave, as if it had been carved out!
This is clearly the place where he just started carving the Zhenmai Stone!
I was supposed to turn around and go back the way I came, but somehow, after traveling for a while, I ended up back here.

"Ghosts and goblins, playing tricks on others."

Wu Ming narrowed his eyes slightly, but remained calm and composed. The phenomenon of being trapped in a maze of ghosts might scare ordinary people, but to think that it could frighten a Taoist master like him was wishful thinking.

If everything before him was indeed real, not a false illusion, then there was only one conclusion: something had subtly affected his perception, causing confusion in his sense of direction, which led him back to where he started.

"I am like a god, impervious to all laws—break!"

Almost instinctively, Wu Ming's thought fell, and the Lin Word Technique was immediately activated. In an instant, his soul became clear and transparent. The soul, which was originally covered by a light veil, tore the interfering 'veil' to shreds!

As soon as the interference dissipated, Wu Ming immediately sensed that not far behind him, a chaotic and violent evil thought was only a few dozen feet away. Its form was invisible and intangible, and it did not have any demonic aura. It was actually an Abyss Demon!
Wu Ming had encountered similar demons several times during his months of exploring the Abyss, but none of them had given him the same sense of oppression as the demon before him. Its malevolent and evil intentions even made him feel a strong threat!
now,

In the narrow passageway, a dark demonic aura gathered and manifested into a series of distinct faces, some resembling infants and others resembling old people, each emanating a variety of mixed thoughts.

"whee."

"Discovered."

"This place is perfect, we won't disturb them, we can take it all for ourselves, hehehe."

"Hurry up and eat him! What a delicious soul! I can't wait any longer."

“Kill kill kill kill kill!!”

Seeing that Wu Ming had noticed his tricks, the demon finally stopped hiding and fiercely pounced on Wu Ming's primordial spirit. In an instant, a surge of powerful demonic energy erupted and filled the entire passageway!
boom! !

Within that vast, sea-like demonic energy, one after another, bizarre human faces emerged, all ferocious and terrifying, with blue faces and fangs, their mouths split open to reveal a mouthful of sharp teeth, charging forward violently as if to tear Wu Ming's primordial spirit apart and devour it!
(End of this chapter)