âMaster Long is back!â
Chun, Xia, Qiu and Dong, the four young ladies were surprised and overjoyed at the same time, they quickly stepped forward and welcomed him, cheering for his return, Qiuâer blinked her eyes and asked probingly, âMaster, what you are going to eatâ¦â
âDonât worry, master is not going to eat you all.â
Zhong Yue was already in his dragon-headed human form appearing as the figure of âLong Yueâ. He waved his hand in the air and said, âMaster is still a vegan, and my way of cultivation wonât allow me to have relations with women. Oh right, where is Elder Qiu?â
The four young beauties heaved a breath of relief, and Chunâer replied with a heavy heart, âElder Qiu was eaten away by a madam that passed byâ¦â
âElder Qiu has been eaten?â
A surge of fury surged in his chest and Zhong Yueâs face darkened as he asked, âWho did it?â
Dongâer whispered lowly, âShe is a madam from the Yanming Mountain, she said that when Master Sun was here, he would treat all the passer-by Qi Practitioners with delicacies, and yet why is it that now Master Long is unwilling to treat them with any food? She insisted on eating someone, and Elder Qiu sent us to request for Master Hu and Master Baiâs help. But he himself was eaten away by that madam. And along with her followers, theyâve wholly devoured every living human in one of the villages located at the foot of the mountainâ¦â
Zhong Yue took in a deep breath of air, solemnly he asked, âThis Qi Practitioner from the Yanming Mountain, whatâs her name?â
Xiaâer instantly blurted out, âFrom what Iâve heard from Master Hu and Master Bu, they call the master that passed by as âMistress Ruâ, even the two masters showed great respect towards her as they sent her off; the two masters told us that the Yanming Mountain is a mountain beside the Gu Xia City, the Qi Practitioners that reside there are all renowned figures, we shouldnât provoke them easilyâ¦â
âMistress Ru?â
Zhong Yue kept the name in his mind, he recollected his thoughts and said, âIâll not be in Falcon Ridge most of the time, and the passer-by Qi Practitioners are countless, there will be some existence that will bully you all and insist on eating you with their higher status. Today, your master is back and I intend to change this status quo. I will leave my totem god pillars down for all the human tribes in my territory. Worship them and I would be able to sense all of you. Although the godly pillars arenât too strong, as long as the supplication continues, their powers can be increased, and it will be sufficient to keep the safety of a territory.â
The four young ladies were filled with surprise and happiness, how could the totem god pillars possibly be something the human tribes could possess? Only those of the monster tribes were fit enough to own the totem god pillars, and they would also have to be large monster tribes.
âAnd the four of you.â
Zhong Yue gazed at the young ladies, the four of them were raised with medicinal pellets, their foundations were well built and their talents were strong. Their skin was like white carrots, and a sudden thought flashed across his mind, âIâll teach the four of you some cultivation techniques, cultivate on your own and if you are talented enough to become Qi Practitioners, I will personally bring you all out to manifest a high-grade spirit, and let you become the Qi Practitioners!â
The four young ladies were shocked and overjoyed, the humans of the East Barren were merely nothing but livestock. How could they possibly be given the chance to cultivate?
And here they were, their Master Long intending to teach them the ways of cultivation, and they might even become Qi Practitioners!
The four of them quickly expressed their gratitude, but as Zhong Yue raised his hand up, the four of them were stopped midway in their act of kneeling. After all, these maidens were only a few years younger than him, and they were of the same ancestry, so how could he accept their genuflections so easily?
My prowess is not very strong yet, I canât afford to expose myself yet, so I canât pass down any techniques of the Swords Gate to them, while the techniques Iâve learned so far are very limited in numberâ¦
Zhong Yue pondered deeply, suddenly, an idea crossed his mind, Well then, Iâll teach them the moon totem patterns, and let them visualize the Bright Moon Star Toad!
It was no longer possible to sense the moon spirits from the moon. Anyone that reached out to the moon would only end up sensing the spirit of that Xiao Mang Celestial God, inadvertently nourishing the godâs spirit further.
While Zhong Yueâs moon spirit was the true moon spirit, he would most probably be the only one other than the Xiao Mang celestial. The moon spirit also had three forms, the first form was the Bright Moon, with a total of thirty-two totem permutations.
The second form was the Star Moon Jade Toad, fifty-six totem permutations and lastly, the third form of the Moon God, one which would require the state of Spirit Body as One to cultivate.
Along the way here, Zhong Yue had already fully mastered all thirty-two totem permutations of the moon spiritâs first form, but teaching it to the four young ladies who hadnât the slightest inkling about cultivation was way harder than gaining insights on the moon spirit. More than half a monthâs time elapsed before Zhong Yue was able to successfully make the young ladies remember the thirty-two totem permutations and form into the shape of the moon.
As for the abstrusity and profundity hidden in the totem patterns, it was simply something beyond what their brains - that were still ignorant of all matters pertaining to cultivation - could comprehend. Only when their cultivation base had increased would they have a chance to understand the profundity hidden in the totem patterns. Now, all they needed to do was to keep on visualizing the bright moon and strengthen their psyche.
These young ladies, their starting points are way above mineâ¦
Zhong Yue could not help but heave a breath in deep emotion. His eyes were filled with envy as he cast his gaze over to the young ladies who were striving in their cultivation. Only a few years before, he was only starting off with the Swords Gate Visualization Art, visualizing the Sword Gate, one of the most mediocre techniques of all. He wasnât privileged with such things as medicinal pellets or spiritual herbs to strengthen his physique; a few moments of cultivation would exhaust his psyche and cause him to fall into a slumber, or otherwise, it would inflict a heavy toll on his body.
Hence, the poorer the children were, the slower their cultivation speed. With limited food to be consumed for energy and being subject to wearing ragged clothes that could never retain the warmth ⦠how could the peasant children have enough strength to even fathom cultivation? Zhong Yue himself hailed from the smallest and poorest tribe among the three thousand inhabiting the Great Wilderness, the other outer hall disciples would at least have resources and pills provided by their tribal people to supplement their cultivation whereas Zhong Yue ⦠he was alone and entitled to nothing. Surely, his cultivation speed would invariably be slower than the others.
However, these four young ladies started off with the ãBright Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã as their first step of cultivation. Visualizing the bright moon and refining their psyches, not only that, but the ãBright Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã itself was also a physique refining art. It could allow their physiques, psyches, and souls to advanced in tandem with one another, strengthening them all at the same time!
The starting point of the ãBright Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã, was way higher than Swords Gate Visualization Art!
In addition, these four young ladies were raised as herbal ladies by Sun Xiao, fed with all kinds of spiritual herbs, even the pores on their skin were brimming with spiritual energies. It was as if a gentle pinch could have nipped out water from their skins!
The ãBright Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã and the ãGreat Sun Prodigious Emanation Artã, I wonder if I can cultivate them at the same time?
Zhong Yue was visualizing the ãBright Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã while he forged its respective totem god pillars. A bright moon revolved around him in a circular motion. The moonlights irradiated on his body and psyche, and he was meticulously reaching out to sense the disparity between it and the ãGreat Sun Prodigious Emanation Artã.
The ãGreat Sun Prodigious Emanation Artã concentrated more on refinement; smeltings away the impurities from his mortal body. With the strong and vibrant force of Yang to purge away the impurities, the beast god inner core would release its essence and replenish the newfound vacuum in the mortal body. As the impurities grew lesser and lesser, the mortal body grew stronger and stronger accordingly.
In stark contrast, the ãBright Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã focused on cleansing; it gently washed away the impurities from the body, like a riverâs serene flow that carried mortal detritus downstream on its gentle current. Through this, the mortal body would receive a tender nourishment, invariably become stronger with every round of cleansing.
Because there were two different physique refining arts, they could not be cultivated simultaneously or else, the clash their diametrically opposing philosophies would invariably have an adverse effect on Zhong Yueâs body. Hence, Zhong Yue could only cultivate by switching back and forth between the ãGreat Sun Prodigious Emanation Artã and the ãBright Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã, it was thus very inconvenient.
Which was why, he was currently entertaining the possibility of merging the two arts together
Not long later, Zhong Yue took out a totem god pillar, on which was engraved the Xiang Dragon totem. If the denizens worshipped it, their psyches would reach out to the totem pillar and cast the Xiang Dragon totem, from the totem pattern on the totem god pillar, a Xiang Dragon would manifest to stalwartly protect the village.
The Xiang Dragon was the representation of himself, after all. The identity that Zhong Yue adopted in the monster land was of a dragon race whose name was called âLong Yueâ. That was why he had used the Xiang Dragon totem so that whenever the other monster Qi Practitioners would arrive at his territory, they would be able to conclude that they were currently in his domain from the totem pillars.
He then proceeded in making the second totem pillar. Behind him, a sun emerged, attempting to revolve around with the bright moon. He was trying to cultivate the ãBright Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã and the ãGreat Sun Prodigious Emanation Artã at the same time to refine his body.
But as soon as he started visualizing the sun and moon at the same time, both of the celestial stars collided into each other a few moments later, causing Zhong Yue to lock his brows in frustration.
When I was in the space, all of the celestial stars were orbiting the sun; whereas from the ground, it seemed as if the sun and moon were orbiting the earth.
Zhong Yue thought to himself, While the ãTai Chi Artã Xin Huo showed me depicted the sun and moon revolving around the Tai Hao and the Fuxi Emperor. This is most probably the key to the sun and moon to revolving around one another without colliding into each other!
He then started to modify the ãBright Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã and ãGreat Sun Prodigious Emanation Artã. The two arts were using the Prodigious Emanation to strengthen his mortal body, it was evident that there was a real and present danger of a conflict occurring.
It will of course be very hard to cultivate the two arts at the same time, and the harmonic merging of these two arts are even harder. So, in order to merge them into one, there is still a missing key I will need to incorporate in between the Yin and Yang - that is the shape of the dragon, a dragon carving in between the sun and moon in the ãTai Chi Artã! Separating the Yin and Yang, while the sun and moon revolves around that dragon carving, then only I can gather the forte of the two arts!
The dragon-headed, snake-bodied Tao Hao Fuxi was the natural dragon carving that separated the Yin and Yang, thereby forming the ãTai Hao Tai Chi Artã.
The Tai Hao of the Tai Chi Art would be too complicated to be visualized; hence, Zhong Yue had replaced it with a dragon carving.
Itâs just nice that I have the totem patterns of the Jiao Dragon and Xiang Dragon, I can barely form the dragon carving I need in the middle of the ãTai Chi Artã. While the Jiao Dragon totem pattern itself belongs to a physique-refining art; this will be like gathering three physique refining arts into one!
His eyes brightened up, and were gradually growing increasingly radiant, he had finally found the best way to merge three physique refining arts together!
Zhong Yue was carving on a totem god pillar while he tried to merge the three arts together. When all of the totem pillars were fully made, he had also completed the preliminary merging the three arts together.
Zhong Yue gave it a try, the dragon carving wreathed on him while the sun and moon revolve around him, although the movements were a little sluggish and tardy, his corporeal body could feel the refinements from the ãGreat Sun Prodigious Emanation Artã and the cleansings from the ãBright Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã, along with the augmentation of the dragonâs power!n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
This newly formed physique refining art ⦠itâll be named as the ãSun Moon Prodigious Emanation Artã!
Zhong Yue stood up and summoned the four ladies: Chun, Xia, Qiu, and Dong. He handed them the completed totem pillars and instructed them to distribute the totem pillars to every human tribe under his jurisdiction.
âMistress Ru, Yanming Mountain!â
His eyes flashed with a cold light as he left the monastery and walked down the mountain. And out of nowhere, Xin Huo suddenly said, âBrat Yue, the meaning behind the name of âMistress Ruâ is concubine, and one who is truly doted upon and conferred with a status no lesser than the wife! If you kill this Mistress Ru, her lover would surely not stand still. This madam herself is already a Qi Practitioner, her loverâs prowess would be very strong and his status would be correspondingly high!â
âEven if she is the royal concubine of the Heavenly Emperor, as long as she has eaten humans, I will still make her pay!â
Zhong Yue shook his body, his bones crackled like snapping twigs, âIâm reserved and restrained in Swords Gate, unable to hurt anyone ⦠unable to kill anyone. But now, I am of the monster race, I shall don the skin of an evil dragon, and whoever provokes me, I will devour!â