I bear witness to immortality in the human world.

Chapter 188 The Secret of the Character '者'
The next day.

Wu Ming left his residence and went to the 'Taoist Academy' located south of Qianlong Academy.

The Hidden Dragon Academy is divided into two parts: the Taoist Academy and the Martial Academy. All disciples of the Hidden Dragon Academy can freely enter and exit the two academies. Generally speaking, martial artists who specialize in martial arts rarely cultivate their spiritual soul, especially after the unity of spirit and body, when the soul and body are one, there is no need to cultivate the spiritual soul. However, Taoist cultivators who cultivate Taoist arts often cultivate a little bit of martial arts as well.

The Taoist temple occupies a spacious area and is very quiet, because very few people are qualified to enter the Hidden Dragon Academy. The various servants who serve here are all people who are good at reading people's expressions and are careful and cautious in serving all parties.

Wu Ming walked all the way to the main building in the very center of the Taoist temple.

This is where the Taoist temple stores various Taoist scriptures, and it was also the first stop that Wu Ming had planned long ago.

Since he began cultivating the Dao, he has swept aside his peers and mastered top-tier Dao techniques. However, sometimes it is not the best to cultivate only one supreme secret technique. The higher one goes, the more one needs to understand and comprehend the origins of Dao techniques.

This was also the lesson Wu Ming had learned when he tried to break the Xuanmen Formation. Since he began his cultivation, he had either specialized in supreme secret techniques or directly comprehended some profound Daoist methods under the guidance of Liu Muyuan. He lacked a solid foundation, otherwise, it would not have taken him two whole hours to break the seventh gate of the Xuanmen Formation.

After all, the seventh gate, in terms of difficulty alone, could be easily broken through by brute force with his fifth level of primordial spirit refinement.

Breaking the formation with force takes only an instant, but carefully comprehending and understanding it took two hours. This shows that although his realm is high enough and his talent is high enough, his foundation is lacking and his understanding of the essence of the Dao is insufficient.

The Hidden Dragon Academy in the capital city is naturally the most suitable place for him to replenish his foundation. With his photographic memory, he only needs to browse through a large number of Taoist classics to memorize them. He does not need to study and cultivate each book one by one. He only needs to understand them roughly and read them once to increase his knowledge. This will also lay a solid foundation for him to break through to the seventh level of refinement and master the formation in the future.

soon.

Wu Ming entered the Taoist tower without any hindrance.

The entire Dao Tower was filled with a powerful force of heaven and earth energy. Wu Ming could feel this energy permeating the surroundings. Even with his current level of cultivation, he could not forcibly break through it. Once touched, he would be instantly suppressed.

Without a doubt, this is the power of the array covering the Dao Tower. It is an array rarely seen in the Jingye City area, but it can be seen everywhere in the Qianlong Academy in the capital.

"Heaven and earth, wind and thunder; metal, wood, water and fire; yin and yang, ghosts and demons..."

As soon as Wu Ming entered the pavilion where the books were stored, he showed a hint of amazement. Although it was called a pavilion, it was actually like a grand hall. There were bookshelves everywhere, and Taoist scriptures were placed everywhere, covering almost all kinds of things.

The pavilion is divided into three floors. On the first floor, the Taoist scriptures are made of the leather of ordinary demons and can remain intact for thousands of years. On the second floor, the Taoist scriptures are no longer made of demon leather, but are special soul crystal jade slips.

By using the power of one's primordial spirit to probe into the jade slip, one can decipher the Daoist methods recorded within.

"Then let's get started."

Wu Ming let out a soft breath, a glint of light flashing in his eyes, and then began to peruse the books one by one on the first floor.

At noon, Wu Ming read Taoist scriptures in the Taoist building. In the afternoon, he went to the 'Earth Cave' in the Taoist academy. This was the northernmost area of ​​the academy, where an artificial mountain was located. The artificial mountain was connected to the underground and led all the way to the deepest part. Inside, there were many caves, and the power of the earthly evil was extremely strong. It was a place to cultivate earthly evil techniques.

Wu Ming came here, naturally for the purpose of cultivating the Earthly Fiend Yuan Magic Form.

Within the Taoist academy, regardless of the type of Taoist method or Dharma form one cultivates, there are special areas that can enhance cultivation. As he has just entered the fifth stage of the Primordial Spirit Refinement, there are many things he needs to cultivate, and he must start from the beginning. In comparison, the Earthly Fiend Primordial Dharma Form is the easiest method to cultivate, and it is also the first Taoist technique he cultivates.

that's it,
Wu Ming settled down completely in the Hidden Dragon Academy. His knowledge of Taoist arts grew steadily every day, and his cultivation of various Taoist techniques accumulated step by step, gradually improving.

……

Time flies.

It has been more than a year.

It is located in a separate cave on the fifth floor of the Thunder Tower, which faces north of the Taoist temple.

Wu Ming slowly opened his eyes.

"It's done."

He exhaled softly, his eyes flashing with lightning.

The cultivation of Taoist methods emphasizes accumulation. The more profound the Taoist method, the more difficult it is to cultivate and the longer it takes to master.

After more than a year, he had only mastered the third level of both the Earthly Fiend Yuan Magic Form and the Heavenly Gang Thunder Yuan Magic Form. As for the Divine Firmament Upper Purity Talisman, he mastered it more quickly and had just completed the condensation of the ninth thunder talisman.

At the fifth level of the primordial spirit realm, one can master a maximum of nine thunder talismans. He has already reached the limit of this realm. Although the ninth thunder talisman is only initially completed and has not yet been fully refined, the combined power of the nine talismans is still quite astonishing, enough to reach the pinnacle of the fifth level!

Over the course of more than a year, Wu Ming read through almost all the Taoist scriptures collected by the academy. Although he only memorized most of them, his understanding of Taoist magic was much deeper than before. For example, he understood the level of the thunder magic, Shenxiao Shangqing Lu. Even in the Yongguo Taoist Academy, similar ancient Taoist magic was very rare, with only a dozen or so.

And even fewer people are able to learn and master it.

At least after he mastered the Divine Firmament Upper Purity Talisman, he indeed did not need to practice any other complicated methods. With just this one thunder technique, if he practiced it to the limit of his current realm, it would be enough to reach the top level in terms of supernatural powers.

"Try the power."

After taking a deep breath, a glint flashed in Wu Ming's eyes, and he suddenly flicked his finger.

boom! ! !
A beam of lightning burst forth from his fingertip, within which nine lightning runes instantly took shape, intertwining and forming a unified whole. The resulting lightning was dazzling and surging, like a nimble lightning dragon pouncing forward. With a deafening roar, this lightning dragon crashed straight into the stone wall directly in front of him.

Crackling!

A beam of light flowed across the stone wall; it was the light of the array that maintained the Thunder Tower.

The Thunder Tower is a cultivation ground within the Dao Academy, and its internal formations are naturally extremely powerful. According to Wu Ming's understanding, almost all the formations in the Dao Academy were set up by Dao cultivators at the eighth level or above. They were all top Dao cultivators born in Yong Kingdom. Some went to the cultivation holy land of Da Jin, while others passed away in Yong Kingdom. However, they all left behind their own inheritances in the Dao Academy to varying degrees.

Leaving aside the inheritance for the moment, these arrayed cultivation grounds set up by Dao cultivators at the eighth or even ninth level of cultivation are naturally extremely sturdy. No single cultivation cave among them can be broken by a mere fifth-level Dao cultivator like Wu Ming.

Therefore, Wu Ming could freely practice his Taoist arts in these caves without fear of causing damage.

Splat, splat.

After a series of shifts in the light of the array, it quickly swallowed the lightning released by Wu Ming, leaving no trace on the stone wall.

Looking at the power of his move, Wu Ming revealed a thoughtful expression. After taking a deep breath, he released the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique again without much hesitation, this time with full force.

He wanted to see where his limits were.

boom! boom! boom! !

Beams of lightning continuously burst forth and spread from in front of Wu Ming, bombarding the stone wall relentlessly. Wu Ming did not catch his breath at all, and even maximized the power of the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique.

After bombarding him like this for nearly a quarter of an hour, his soul power finally ran out, and a feeling of dizziness washed over him.

"Even with all our might, we can only maintain it for fifteen minutes?"

After feeling dizzy, Wu Ming stopped, took a deep breath and nodded slightly. He had indeed reached the top level of the fifth refinement when he used the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique with all his might. It only took a quarter of an hour to drain his soul power.

It should be noted that he has been in the fifth level of cultivation for more than a year, and his primordial spirit realm has long been consolidated. His soul power is now at least 30% stronger than when he first broke through. In terms of the depth of his soul power, he is even comparable to the older generation of fifth-level cultivators like Daoist Ziyuan.

"call."

After experiencing the state of near-exhaustion of soul power, a glint flashed in Wu Ming's eyes.

Deep within his primordial spirit, a mysterious rune suddenly bloomed. It was the fourth true mantra, different from the three true mantras of 'Lin', 'Bing', and 'Dou'. Its meaning was also immediately apparent—"Zhe"!
hum.

It's like water falling from the sky into a dried-up pond.

The almost depleted soul power surged and rose rapidly with an astonishing rate of recovery.

In just a short while, Wu Ming's depleted soul power was fully restored, and he returned to his peak condition!
Normally, if a master of the fifth level of primordial spirit exhausts their soul power, without relying on any special treasures, it would be difficult for them to fully recover their depleted soul power in less than half a day using only their own recovery ability.

However, after Wu Ming activated the Secret of the Word of the One, his depleted soul power was completely restored in less than a quarter of an hour!
You should know that he used the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique for a quarter of an hour before exhausting his soul power, but now he only needs half a quarter of an hour to recover. In other words, if he uses the Word of the Master to release the Divine Firmament Thunder Technique at the same time, his soul power will be almost inexhaustible!

"As expected of a supreme secret technique, its restorative power is truly extraordinary..."

As Wu Ming reflected on his own condition, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Not long ago, he used the resources supplied by the Hidden Dragon Academy to exchange for a large number of Yin-attribute spiritual objects. These spiritual objects were all devoured by the Demon Subduing Diagram, which then summoned the fourth supreme secret technique, the "Zhe Zi Jue," for him.

The "Zhe" technique, as a supreme secret method on the same level as the "Lin," "Bing," and "Dou" techniques, naturally has its amazing aspects. It is a type of restorative secret method.

As Daoist cultivators gradually reach higher realms and their primordial spirit and soul power become stronger, the soul power they consume when performing Daoist arts also increases. At this point, recovery is not as easy as when their realm is lower. Therefore, recovery-related secret techniques are a kind of technique that primordial spirit Daoist cultivators must master. There are many recovery-related Daoist manuals in the Daoist Tower.

but,
Even the most profound recovery technique in the Daoist scriptures of Daolou is far inferior to the 'Zhe' character technique!
Wu Ming knew very well that after cultivating the "Zhe" technique, although his primordial spirit did not become much stronger in terms of 'tenacity', its recovery ability reached an astonishing level. Even if his primordial spirit was shattered and scattered by bombardment, leaving only some fragmented thoughts, he could instantly reassemble his thoughts and reconstitute his soul by simply activating the "Zhe" technique!
For a normal Taoist cultivator, once their primordial spirit is shattered, it is a severe injury.

If it breaks several times in succession, it may be beyond saving and can never be restored. The broken primordial spirit will soon perish.

However, after Wu Ming mastered the "Zhe" technique, he would no longer be like that. Even if his primordial spirit was ambushed and shattered in an instant by some special means, he could recover in a moment. Only if his soul power was completely exhausted and his primordial spirit was repeatedly crushed while his soul power was exhausted could his primordial spirit be completely annihilated.

Even so, it's still not enough to kill him now!

After cultivators of the Primordial Spirit reach the Fifth Refinement stage, although their ability to divide their souls and thoughts becomes stronger and they can divide more soul thoughts, once the original form of the Primordial Spirit is destroyed, the separated soul thoughts will also disintegrate and shatter, making it impossible to evolve a complete Primordial Spirit.

But the "Zhe" technique works!

As long as Wu Ming leaves a wisp of his soul in his physical body, and his primordial spirit flies out to fight with others, even if his primordial spirit is destroyed and completely disintegrated, as long as a wisp of his soul remains in his body, he can use this wisp of soul as a guide to reassemble his primordial spirit and recover again.

Of course, his physical body is still his weakness. Once his physical body dies, even if he has mastered the "Zhe" technique, he will still not be able to survive in the world for long before breaking through the seventh level of the Primordial Spirit Refinement. As for seizing another body and being reborn, he will naturally not be able to do so either.

However, with such terrifying regenerative ability, his direct combat skills are extremely strong. He is not afraid of losing energy in a fight with anyone. Unless someone can kill him directly with a method far superior to his own, it is almost impossible to wear him down by attrition.

(End of this chapter)