“How come I can’t sense him at all?”
When Shui Miao saw the big monk, he was greatly startled.
This monk was so powerful that even his spiritual awareness couldn’t detect him. How profound must his magical abilities be!
Shui Miao sincerely hoped this monk was a stone statue or an illusion, but reality proved otherwise.
Suddenly, the big monk moved. He opened his eyes and stood up. The “Black Magician” immediately vanished as he looked at Shui Miao and, with a smile, walked out of the cave. In his hand, he carried a miniature “Black Magician.” Bowing slightly to Shui Miao, he recited a Buddhist chant: “Amitabha Buddha, honored guest, allow this humble monk to greet you.”
“Master, greetings. My name is Shui Miao. May I ask for your Dharma name?” Shui Miao quickly returned the gesture.
Looking at the monk, Shui Miao felt an indescribable mysterious aura emanating from him, making him instinctively cautious.
“My Dharma name is He Lian,” the monk replied, his expression unchanged, still smiling.
What was he smiling about? Shui Miao felt uneasy about He Lian’s smile. Since when did monks smile so cheerfully? This guy seemed neither sinister nor holy, his aura ambiguous. Why would he smile upon seeing me? That was too strange. According to Shui Miao’s normal human intuition, powerful beings usually looked down on the weak. They should be aloof, speaking little, their words carrying great weight. But He Lian was just the opposite. What was his intention?
After a pause, Shui Miao decided to test He Lian.
Instantly, Shui Miao transformed his Soul Devouring Force into a black sphere, controlled by his mind, and floated it in front of the big monk. “Master He Lian, I’ve obtained a strange energy, but I don’t know what it is. Do you recognize it?” Shui Miao winked, deciding to test the monk’s strength rather than merely speculate.
“Oh?”
He Lian was momentarily surprised, seemingly not expecting Shui Miao to ask him to identify something. Immediately, he dropped his smile and carefully examined the Soul Devouring Force before him. He frowned, then reached out and grabbed the sphere, turning it over in his hands. Obviously, he couldn’t identify it.
Seeing that the monk couldn’t recognize the Soul Devouring Force, Shui Miao immediately concluded that the monk was merely putting on a show and wasn’t truly powerful. Since he was a strange creature that couldn’t be classified as human or demon, Shui Miao decided to test him further.
According to Shui Miao’s will, the Soul Devouring Force suddenly transformed into mist, instantly enveloping the monk.
The Soul Devouring Force’s powerful corrosive ability was something ordinary demons couldn’t resist.
However, to Shui Miao’s shock, the monk disintegrated upon contact, his body vanishing in an instant!
“What’s going on?”
Shui Miao quickly became alert, sensing the slightest movement around him, trying to locate the monk but failing completely. Shui Miao was confused—was this monk hiding his strength and deliberately feigning weakness, or was there another reason?
At that moment, a gust of wind sounded from behind Shui Miao.
The Crow Lady stumbled down and landed beside Shui Miao at the cave entrance. She seemed to have sensed the Crow Patriarch’s aura. Driven by a desire for revenge, she rushed into the cave to confront the Crow Patriarch. Seeing the Crow Lady charge into the cave, Shui Miao didn’t hesitate and followed closely behind.
“Screech!”
Just a few steps into the cave, a piercing crow scream echoed from inside.
“Screech!”
Provoked by the scream, the Crow Lady also shrieked.
“Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!”
Suddenly, countless crows emerged from the cave.
Shui Miao sensed that these crows were fake, illusions created by the Crow Patriarch’s evil techniques. Instantly, he activated his Immortal Force to suppress them. Easily destroying all the false crows, a merciless wave of Soul Devouring Force wrapped around the Crow Patriarch’s body.
“Monk, save me! Quickly, attack him from behind!”
The Crow Patriarch suddenly screamed.
Shui Miao’s heart tightened. Instantly, he became fully alert, fearing that the big monk might suddenly appear and attack him from behind. However, at that moment, the Crow Patriarch’s body suddenly exploded with a “Boom!” A large crow with a few white feathers on its head “whooshed” out of the cave.
“Oh no! We’ve been tricked!”
Shui Miao suddenly realized he had fallen for the Crow Patriarch’s feint attack.
“Whoosh!”
The Crow Lady chased after him, rushing out of the cave.
The Crow Patriarch fled, and the Crow Lady pursued. A normal-sized old crow and a gigantic Crow Lady flew off one after the other…
Shui Miao tried to chase with his Immortal Force, but he was already too late.
Using wind might harm the Crow Lady.
Shui Miao ran to the cave entrance and saw Jiang Zhihao approaching. Worried that everyone might be attacked by the big monk, he stopped and focused his spiritual senses. He detected that the Crow Patriarch had likely suffered severe injuries from the self-explosion, his power exhausted, leaving only the last breath of his crow form.
Indeed, the Crow Patriarch had flown only a hundred meters before collapsing onto a “Black Magician” plant.
The Crow Lady immediately pounced, her giant claws grabbing the Crow Patriarch’s body, crushing it into pieces.
“Could it really be that easy?”
“Where is the monk?”
Seeing the Crow Lady easily defeat the Crow Patriarch, Shui Miao felt suspicious, sensing that something was off.
“There must be something wrong!”
Shui Miao couldn’t believe it was that simple. Immediately, he sat down cross-legged, concentrating and spreading his spiritual awareness, carefully sensing every inch of the mountain.
The “Black Magician” plants covering the mountain carried strong spiritual energy, interfering with Shui Miao’s perception.
Shui Miao’s mind flickered, and he decided to use his Soul Devouring Force to spread in all directions, absorbing the spiritual energy from the Black Magician plants, causing them all to wither.
Everyone saw Shui Miao sitting cross-legged and dared not speak loudly, quietly waiting.
The Crow Lady had killed the Crow Patriarch’s physical form, but she also felt it was too easy. She came to Shui Miao’s side and waited quietly.
Under the effect of the Soul Devouring Force, all the Black Magician plants on the small mountain withered.
A massive wave of Soul Devouring Force then surrounded the next mountain, corroding and devouring all spiritual energy.
To eliminate all future threats, Shui Miao exerted his utmost effort, conducting a thorough search, not even sparing a single stone. A few minutes later, Shui Miao suddenly felt something and discovered a seemingly ordinary Black Magician plant was abnormal. Under the corrosion of the Soul Devouring Force, the plant transformed into the Crow Patriarch’s soul. A few minutes later, Shui Miao withdrew the Soul Devouring Force and obtained many memories.
Of course, these were the Crow Patriarch’s memories.
It turned out that the Crow Patriarch wasn’t particularly powerful. However, he had a unique skill—he could create powerful illusions that were difficult to detect.
He successfully deceived Shui Miao with these illusions.
Unfortunately, the Crow Patriarch didn’t understand the ways of the world, the minds of ordinary beings, or the demeanor of powerful beings. He didn’t know how to appear aloof and superior, which made Shui Miao suspicious. After testing him, Shui Miao completely destroyed his evil techniques. This evil technique could create illusions and prevent others from detecting the truth, making it highly attractive to Shui Miao.
This evil technique was essentially a combination of spiritual power and the Five Elements’ energy. It was easy to learn but required time to practice.
Shui Miao opened his eyes and saw the Crow Lady, instantly realizing with a shock—now he couldn’t help her regain her original form!
Thinking quickly, Shui Miao immediately closed his eyes again.
He had to find a way to draw out the essence of the natural Dao.
Shui Miao wasn’t the kind of person who went back on his word or made excuses when faced with difficulties. He held himself to high standards, always striving to do his best and pursuing perfection.
With these thoughts, Shui Miao suddenly had a unique but worth-trying idea.
That was to use his own Immortal Force to attack the stone tablets of the natural Dao.
“The stone tablets were placed in my consciousness by the middle-aged scholar. They are like external objects, while my Immortal Force belongs to me. Using my Immortal Force to attack external objects should be no problem,” Shui Miao reasoned before activating his Soul Devouring Force, directing it into his consciousness and enveloping the stone tablets of the natural Dao.
“Break!”
Shui Miao willed the Soul Devouring Force to corrode and devour the stone tablets of the natural Dao. With a loud “Boom!” the tablets generated an incredibly terrifying suction force, even pulling Shui Miao himself in!
Suddenly, in front of the cave, Shui Miao vanished!
Everyone was shocked, frantically searching in all directions…
※※※
“How did this happen?”
Shui Miao suddenly found himself in a strange place. There was no sky, no ground—everywhere was a lush green, filled with the essence of the natural Dao.
He could breathe and walk in this magical place.
However, it wasn’t long before Shui Miao felt pain and noticed that the green essence was beginning to corrode his skin!
“Oh no!”
Suddenly, Shui Miao remembered that he had previously used the stone tablets to kill several enemies. Now, he had inadvertently trapped himself inside the stone tablets, which were now devouring him!
“No!”
Feeling his skin growing increasingly painful, Shui Miao panicked and activated his Immortal Force to resist the essence of the natural Dao.
However, his Immortal Force proved useless against the essence of the natural Dao.
The Immortal Force he summoned seemed to vanish like a cow swallowed by the sea, leaving no trace.
He realized that the essence of the natural Dao was the most terrifying Soul Devouring Force!
Shui Miao lost his composure, an indescribable fear rising in his heart. How ironic—it seemed he wouldn’t be killed by evil forces but by the stone tablets in his own consciousness meant to help him! Struggling to calm himself, Shui Miao pondered his options… but his mind was too chaotic to think clearly.
What should I do, what should I do…
These three words kept repeating in Shui Miao’s mind…
Shui Miao had never imagined he could be so fragile, so panicked, so impulsive, so afraid of death, so easily defeated!
“So what if I die? What’s there to panic about?”
To calm himself, Shui Miao slapped himself twice… surprisingly, the pain helped him regain some composure.
After calming down, Shui Miao recalled that when the stone tablets broke, he could easily absorb their essence and make it his own.
But now, surrounded by the essence, why couldn’t he do the same?
Why was it not working?
What was the difference between now and before?
Suddenly, Shui Miao murmured to himself, “Could it be my mindset? When the stone tablets broke naturally, I was relaxed, so it was easy to absorb their essence. Now, I’m tense, resisting the essence of the natural Dao, so it’s devouring me instead. Yes! That must be it. Those evil beings trapped by the stone tablets could never calm their minds, so they were destined to be destroyed!”
This possibility was very high.
Realizing this, Shui Miao immediately forced himself to calm down, thinking of relaxing thoughts.
If this method didn’t work, Shui Miao couldn’t think of any other solution.
Pain—excruciating pain—relentlessly tormented Shui Miao.
He sat cross-legged, no longer looking at his skin, feeling as if he was being roasted in oil one moment and chewed by countless insects the next!
His skin, devoured by the essence of the natural Dao, slowly transformed into green energy.
His body trembled uncontrollably!
Such pain was unbearable for any normal person.
But he had no choice—he had to endure it and force himself to stay calm, to relax his mind…
How could that be possible?
After holding on for a while, Shui Miao’s will began to waver. When death was imminent, how could he think of relaxing?
But then, Shui Miao thought again—would struggling help? Would screaming help?
He had to grit his teeth and persevere; maybe there was still a sliver of hope!
If he gave up easily, he would certainly die.
Shui Miao continued to hold on…
But the pain kept attacking his mind, making it impossible to calm down!
Finally, unable to bear it any longer, Shui Miao opened his eyes and saw that his body was already a bloody mess, a pitiful sight… Seeing his own state, Shui Miao was momentarily stunned!
Suddenly, Shui Miao thought about the deeper meaning of the stone tablets of the natural Dao.
“Survive by following nature, perish by opposing it.”
“Without sufficient strength and understanding of the Dao, entering the stone tablets would naturally result in being devoured!”
“Now, why not forget the pain and try to cultivate by breathing in the essence of the natural Dao? If I can integrate the essence of the natural Dao into my Immortal Force, I might adapt to this place!”
Previously, Shui Miao had been relying on his Immortal Force to maintain his body without breathing.
Now, Shui Miao calmed his mind and took a deep breath of the essence. It felt like he had inhaled a pot of hot water, scalding his internal organs, his five viscera and six bowels, his entire body!
Previously, Shui Miao had only suffered physical pain, but now the pain engulfed him from inside out.
After a couple of breaths, Shui Miao regretted his decision—he had made another mistake!
Suddenly, Shui Miao wondered—why had his luck been so good before, yet now turned so bad?
“Pu!”
Shui Miao spat out a mouthful of blood, writhing in pain.
He could no longer calm himself, feeling death was imminent.
As the pain intensified, Shui Miao lost consciousness in despair. But miraculously, his consciousness remained!
Shui Miao’s physical body had completely transformed into green essence, not a single bone left.
Even the Immortal Force sphere in his dantian had turned into essence.
Now, he was just a soul.
This soul was wrapped in white Fengshui Dao essence, preventing its destruction.
Thankfully, the Fengshui Dao essence was protecting his soul. Shui Miao gradually calmed down, looking around and at his nearly transparent soul, finding it hard to believe—he had died so pointlessly! Looking around, Shui Miao suddenly noticed a white phantom and a pale black phantom in the green world. Instinct told him these were his earthly soul and heavenly soul. The conscious soul he was now was the human soul. These two souls were also wrapped in a faint Fengshui Dao essence, flying around like kites in the green world…
“How come I didn’t sense him?”
Upon seeing the great monk, Shui Miao was instantly taken aback.
This great monk was undetectable even by divine sense—how formidable he must be, how profound his magical power!
Shui Miao genuinely wished the great monk were a stone statue or an illusion, but the facts proved otherwise.
The great monk suddenly moved. He opened his eyes and stood up. The “Black Mage” vanished right after. He looked at Shui Miao, smiling as he walked out of the cave, holding a miniature “Black Mage” in his hand. He approached Shui Miao, bowed slightly, and chanted a Buddhist invocation: “Amitābha, fellow cultivator, your presence honors me. This humble monk greets you.”
“Greetings, Great Master. My name is Shui Miao. May I ask your monastic name?”
Shui Miao hurriedly returned the courtesy.
Looking at the great monk, Shui Miao felt an indescribable aura of mystery emanating from him, making it impossible to let one’s guard down.
“This humble monk is called Black Lotus.” The great monk’s expression remained unchanged, still smiling.
What is he smiling about? Shui Miao felt uneasy about Black Lotus Monk’s grin. What kind of monk smiles so frivolously? This guy was ambiguous, his aura unclear, and he smiled upon seeing me—it was highly unusual. Shui Miao thought from a normal person’s perspective: the strong should disdain the weak, they should be aloof, sparing with words, yet this Black Lotus was the complete opposite. What exactly did he mean?
After a pause, Shui Miao hatched a plan to test Black Lotus.
Immediately, Shui Miao channeled his Devouring Spirit Power into a black sphere, using his mind to control it and suspend it before the great monk. “Great Master Black Lotus, I obtained a mass of spiritual energy but cannot identify its nature. I wonder if you recognize it?” Shui Miao blinked. Rather than guessing the great monk’s strength, it was better to test him directly.
“Oh?”
Black Lotus Monk was slightly taken aback, seemingly not expecting Shui Miao to ask him to identify something. He put away his smile and carefully examined the Devouring Spirit Power before him, furrowing his brows. He then reached out, took the sphere of Devouring Spirit Power in his hand, turned it over and over, clearly unable to identify it.
Seeing that the great monk couldn’t recognize the Devouring Spirit Power, Shui Miao immediately concluded that the great monk was putting on a front and wasn’t actually powerful. Since he was a monster that was neither human nor demon, hard to distinguish, why not test him further?
As Shui Miao’s intentions shifted, the Devouring Spirit Power suddenly turned into mist, enveloping the great monk in an instant.
The potent corrosive power of Devouring Spirit Power was something most demons and monsters couldn’t withstand.
But to Shui Miao’s astonishment, the great monk crumbled at the slightest touch, vanishing in the blink of an eye!
“What’s going on?”
Shui Miao immediately heightened his alertness, sensing every movement around him, trying to locate the great monk’s presence but failing utterly. Shui Miao was baffled. Was the great monk deeply concealed, deliberately feigning weakness, or was there another reason?
Just then, a rushing wind sound came from behind Shui Miao.
Crow Girl stumbled and landed. She stopped beside Shui Miao at the cave entrance, seemingly having caught the scent of Crow Patriarch. Eager for revenge, she immediately charged into the cave to confront Crow Patriarch. Seeing Crow Girl rush in, Shui Miao didn’t dare hesitate and quickly followed.
“Kaaa!”
Just a few steps into the cave, an extremely piercing crow screech echoed from within!
“Kaaa!”
Stimulated by the screech, Crow Girl also let out a shriek.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
Suddenly, countless crows appeared in the cave.
Shui Miao sensed that these crows were illusions, manifestations of Crow Patriarch’s evil arts. He immediately channeled his immortal power to suppress them, easily dispelling all the illusory crows. A wave of Devouring Spirit Power mercilessly enveloped Crow Patriarch’s body.
“Great Monk, save me! Ambush him now!”
Crow Patriarch suddenly screamed loudly.
Shui Miao’s heart tightened, and he immediately went on full alert, fearing the great monk would ambush him from somewhere. But at that moment, Crow Patriarch’s body suddenly exploded with a “bang!” An old crow with a few white feathers on its head shot out of the cave toward the outside.
“Not good! I’ve been tricked!”
Shui Miao suddenly realized he had fallen for Crow Patriarch’s diversion tactic.
“Whoosh!”
Crow Girl pursued relentlessly, charging out of the cave.
Crow Patriarch fled ahead, Crow Girl chased behind—one normally-sized old crow, one enormous crow woman, flying out one after the other…
Channeling immortal power to chase was already too late.
Using wind might harm Crow Girl.
Shui Miao ran to the cave entrance and saw Jiang Zhihao and the others arriving. Worried that the great monk might ambush them, Shui Miao had to stop, focus his senses, and soon realized that Crow Patriarch, likely due to the self-destruction, was already severely injured, his power exhausted, leaving only a remnant of breath in his crow form.
Sure enough, after flying just a hundred meters, Crow Patriarch ran out of strength and fell onto a “Black Mage” plant.
Crow Girl pounced immediately, her massive claws grabbing Crow Patriarch’s body and crushing it outright!
“Was it really this easy?”
“Where is the great monk?”
Seeing Crow Girl easily destroy Crow Patriarch, Shui Miao was instantly suspicious, feeling it was all too effortless.
“There must be a problem!”
Shui Miao refused to believe it was over so simply. He immediately sat down cross-legged, focused his spirit, spread his divine sense, and carefully sensed every inch of the mountain.
The mountain was covered with “Black Mage” plants emitting strong spiritual energy, interfering with Shui Miao’s senses.
With a flash of intention, Shui Miao decided to use Devouring Spirit Power to spread in all directions, absorbing all the spiritual energy from the Black Mage plants, causing them to wither and wilt.
Everyone saw Shui Miao sitting cross-legged and didn’t dare speak loudly. They all sat down quietly and waited slowly.
Crow Girl had killed Crow Patriarch’s true form, but she also felt it was too easy. She came to Shui Miao’s side and waited quietly.
Under the influence of Devouring Spirit Power, all the Black Mage plants on the small mountain withered.
A large amount of Devouring Spirit Power then enveloped the adjacent mountain, corroding and devouring all spiritual energy.
To eradicate the root of the problem, Shui Miao went all out, conducting a carpet-style search, not sparing even a single stone. A few minutes later, Shui Miao’s heart stirred—he discovered that one seemingly ordinary “Black Mage” plant was unusual. Under the corrosion of Devouring Spirit Power, this Black Mage transformed into Crow Patriarch’s soul. After a few more minutes, Shui Miao withdrew his Devouring Spirit Power, obtaining many memories.
Naturally, these were Crow Patriarch’s memories.
It turned out Crow Patriarch wasn’t exceptionally powerful; he just had one unique skill: the ability to create miraculous illusions that were impossible to see through.
He had successfully deceived Shui Miao with illusions.
But unfortunately, Crow Patriarch didn’t understand human nature, wasn’t familiar with the minds of living beings, didn’t know the demeanor of the strong, and even less understood aloofness, which made Shui Miao suspicious. Once tested, his evil arts were completely exposed. These evil arts could create illusions and make them undetectable, which held great appeal for Shui Miao.
These evil arts were simply a blend of spiritual power and the five elements’ energy, easy to learn but requiring time to practice.
Shui Miao opened his eyes and saw Crow Girl. His heart sank—oh no! Now there was no way to help her restore her form!
His mind racing, Shui Miao quickly closed his eyes again.
He had to find a way to draw out some of the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
Shui Miao wasn’t the type to go back on his word, nor was he someone who made excuses when faced with difficulties. He held himself to very high standards, always striving to do his best, and he was a perfectionist.
As his thoughts churned, Shui Miao suddenly came up with a unique but worth-trying idea.
That was to use his own immortal power to attack the stone tablet of the Natural Path.
“The stone tablet was placed in my mental realm by the middle-aged scholar. It’s like an external object, while immortal power belongs to me. Using my immortal power to attack an external object should be fine.” After some consideration, Shui Miao immediately channeled a surge of Devouring Spirit Power into his mental realm, enveloping the stone tablet of the Natural Path.
“Break!”
With a shift in intention, Shui Miao willed the Devouring Spirit Power to corrode and devour the stone tablet of the Natural Path. Suddenly, the tablet shook with a “boom,” generating an incredibly terrifying suction force that even pulled Shui Miao himself in!
In front of the cave, Shui Miao suddenly vanished!
Everyone was shocked and started searching around frantically…
※※※
“How did this happen?”
Shui Miao suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar place. There was no sky, no ground—everywhere was a lush green, filled with the source power of the Natural Path’s fundamental energy.
He stood in this miraculous place, able to breathe and move.
But before long, Shui Miao felt pain and noticed these green energies beginning to corrode his skin!
“Not good!”
Shui Miao suddenly remembered that he had used the stone tablet to kill several enemies before. Now, his clever plan had backfired—he had been pulled into the tablet himself, and it was devouring him!
“No!”
Feeling the pain intensifying, Shui Miao panicked and quickly channeled immortal power to resist the fundamental energy of the Natural Path.
But immortal power was utterly useless against this fundamental energy.
The immortal power he summoned was like a clay ox entering the sea—gone without a trace.
He realized that the fundamental energy of the Natural Path was the most terrifying Devouring Spirit Power of all!
Shui Miao lost his composure, and an nameless fear arose in his heart. How ironic—he hadn’t been killed by evil demons but was instead going to be killed by the stone tablet in his mental realm that was supposed to help him? Shui Miao struggled to calm himself, pondering countermeasures… but he couldn’t quiet his mind or focus on thinking.
What to do, what to do…
The words “what to do” repeated incessantly in Shui Miao’s mind…
Shui Miao had never realized he could be so fragile, so flustered, so impulsive, so afraid of death, so easily defeated!
“It’s just death! So what if I die? What’s there to panic about?”
To calm himself down, Shui Miao slapped himself hard twice across the face… Surprisingly, the slaps actually helped him calm down a lot.
Once calm, Shui Miao remembered that when the stone tablet had broken before, he could easily absorb the fundamental energy inside and make it his own.
But now, enveloped by this fundamental energy, why couldn’t he do the same?
Why wouldn’t it work?
What was the difference between now and before?
Suddenly, Shui Miao muttered to himself, “Is it a matter of mindset? When the tablet broke naturally, I was relaxed, so it was easy to make it my own. Now I’m tense, resisting the fundamental energy of the Natural Path, and instead being devoured by it? Yes! That must be it. Those evil demons sucked into the tablet—how could they remain calm? So they were doomed to be destroyed!”
This was highly likely.
Thinking this, Shui Miao immediately forced himself to calm down, thinking of lighter matters.
If this method didn’t work, Shui Miao truly couldn’t think of any other way.
Pain, waves of heart-wrenching pain, relentlessly assaulted Shui Miao.
He sat cross-legged, no longer looking at the changes in his skin, feeling at times as if he were being fried over fire, at other times as if being chewed by countless insects!
Under the devouring power of the Natural Path’s fundamental energy, his skin slowly turned into green energy.
His body trembled uncontrollably!
This kind of pain was unbearable for a normal person.
But he had no choice. He not only had to endure it but also force himself to stay calm, to keep his mind relaxed…
How was this possible?
After persevering for a while, Shui Miao’s will began to waver. He was about to die, yet he was supposed to think relaxing thoughts? It was simply impossible!
But then Shui Miao thought again: Would struggling help? Would screaming help?
He had to grit his teeth and persevere—maybe there was still a sliver of hope!
If he gave up easily, death was certain.
Shui Miao continued to grit his teeth and endure…
But the pain incessantly disturbed his spirit, making it impossible for him to calm his mind and focus!
Finally, Shui Miao couldn’t help but open his eyes and saw that he was already a bloody, mangled mess, a sight too gruesome to bear… Seeing his own wretched state, Shui Miao was suddenly stunned!
Abruptly, Shui Miao wondered: What was the deeper meaning of the Natural Path’s stone tablet?
“Follow nature to thrive, defy nature to perish.”
“If your strength and cultivation are insufficient, and your understanding of the Natural Path is shallow, entering the stone tablet of the Natural Path will naturally result in backlash!”
“Now, why don’t I ignore the pain, breathe in the fundamental energy of the Natural Path, and try to cultivate? If I can integrate the fundamental energy of the Natural Path into my immortal power, wouldn’t I then adapt to this place?”
Earlier, Shui Miao had been relying on immortal power to sustain his body and hadn’t been breathing.
At this moment, Shui Miao eased his mind, drew in a deep breath of the primal energy, and it felt as though what he inhaled wasn’t air but a pot of boiling water that immediately seared his internal organs, his viscera, everything within his body!
Originally, Shui Miao had only suffered skin-deep pain, but now every part of him, inside and out, was in agony.
After two breaths, Shui Miao regretted it—he had made another mistake!
Shui Miao suddenly wondered: Why had his luck been so good before, but now it had turned so bad?
“Pfft!”
Shui Miao spat out a mouthful of blood, struggling in unbearable pain.
He could no longer calm his mind; he felt he was about to die.
As the pain intensified, Shui Miao lost consciousness in despair, but miraculously, his awareness remained!
Shui Miao’s physical body had completely turned into green fundamental energy—not a single speck of bone remained.
Even the sphere of immortal power in his dantian had transformed into fundamental energy.
He was now a wisp of a soul.
This wisp of soul was enveloped by the white fundamental energy of the Wind and Water Path, protecting it from destruction.
Fortunately, the fundamental energy of the Wind and Water Path was safeguarding my soul. Gradually, Shui Miao calmed down. He glanced around, then at his nearly transparent soul, finding it hard to believe—had he died so inexplicably? As he observed, Shui Miao suddenly noticed a white shadow and a faint black shadow in this green world. Intuition told him these shadows were his Earth Soul and Heaven Soul. The conscious soul now was his Human Soul. These two souls were also enveloped in a faint layer of the Wind and Water Path’s fundamental energy, drifting aimlessly in this green world like kites…
The Heaven Soul, Earth Soul, and Human Soul are held together by Yang Spirit.
Now, Shui Miao’s Yang Spirit was destroyed, and he couldn’t gather his Heaven Soul and Earth Soul.
In this green world, Shui Miao didn’t give up his will to survive. He firmly believed he could be reborn. Free from the disturbance of pain, he sat cross-legged quietly, silently recited the Lingtong Jue and Zongheng Ce to clarify his mind, and began meditating and cultivating calmly.
Cultivating the soul was more efficient than cultivating the physical body.
Since there was no rush, Shui Miao immersed himself in cultivation, slowly absorbing the fundamental energy of the Natural Path into his soul and transforming it into part of his soul.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Shui Miao suddenly opened his eyes, and his Human Soul stood up in this green world.
Through cultivation, he had gained insight into the fundamental energy of the Natural Path.
This fundamental energy contained many miraculous powers—everything one could need. The higher his strength, the more he could comprehend.
Shui Miao looked around and flew toward a faintly white energy, absorbing it into his body.
This energy was none other than Shui Miao’s previous Yang Spirit.
After a while, Shui Miao gathered all his Yang Spirit and retrieved his Heaven Soul and Earth Soul.
With all three souls and seven spirits complete, Shui Miao felt filled with power, stronger than ever before.
“Now, it’s time to reshape my physical body!”
Shui Miao’s soul sat cross-legged again, sinking into prolonged meditation.
During meditation, strands of the Natural Path’s fundamental energy gathered, slowly forming Shui Miao’s bones, meridians, muscles, skin, and hair…
Time passed, and no one knew how long it had been.
Shui Miao opened his eyes again and found he had restored his previous appearance, even handsomer than before, and could now control all the fundamental energy here.
“It appears my fortune still favors me! Now, it’s time to reconsolidate my inner essence.” With a swift thought, Shui Miao witnessed all the primal energies converge, forming a massive green sphere that continuously compressed until it was no larger than an egg, which Shui Miao promptly swallowed whole.
“Whoosh…”
A green light flashed at the cave entrance. Under the vast expanse of twinkling stars, Shui Miao had finally returned!
“How come I didn’t sense him?”
Upon seeing the great monk, Shui Miao was instantly startled.
This great monk couldn’t even be detected by divine sense—how formidable he must be, how profound his magical power!
Shui Miao genuinely hoped this great monk was a stone statue or an illusion, but the facts proved otherwise.
The great monk suddenly moved. He opened his eyes and stood up. The “Black Mage” vanished right after. He looked at Shui Miao, smiling as he walked out of the cave, holding a miniature “Black Mage” in his hand. He approached Shui Miao, gave a slight bow, and chanted a Buddhist invocation: “Amitābha, fellow cultivator, your presence honors me. This humble monk pays respects.”
“Greetings, Great Master. My name is Shui Miao. May I ask your monastic name?”
Shui Miao hurriedly returned the courtesy.
Looking at the great monk, Shui Miao felt an indescribable aura of mystery emanating from him, making it impossible to let one’s guard down.
“This humble monk’s name is Black Lotus.” The great monk’s expression remained unchanged, still smiling.
What was he smiling about? Shui Miao felt uneasy about Black Lotus Monk’s grin. What kind of monk would smile so carelessly? This man was mysterious, his aura ambiguous, and he smiled the moment he saw Shui Miao—it was highly unusual. From a normal person’s perspective, Shui Miao reasoned: the strong should look down on the weak, they should be distant, sparing with words. Yet, this Black Lotus was the complete opposite. What was he trying to convey?
After a pause, Shui Miao hatched a plan to test Black Lotus.
Immediately, Shui Miao channeled his Devouring Spirit Power into a black sphere, using his mind to control it and suspend it before the great monk. “Great Master Black Lotus, I obtained a mass of spiritual energy but don’t recognize its nature. I wonder if you could identify it?” Shui Miao blinked. Rather than guessing the great monk’s strength, it was better to test him directly.
“Oh?”
Black Lotus Monk was slightly taken aback, seemingly not expecting Shui Miao to ask him to identify something. He put away his smile and carefully examined the Devouring Spirit Power before him, furrowing his brow. He then reached out, took the sphere of Devouring Spirit Power in his hand, turned it over, clearly unable to identify it.
Seeing that the great monk couldn’t recognize the Devouring Spirit Power, Shui Miao immediately concluded that the great monk was putting on a front and wasn’t actually powerful. Since he was a monster that was neither human nor demon, hard to distinguish, why not test him further?
As Shui Miao’s intent changed, the Devouring Spirit Power suddenly turned into mist, enveloping the great monk in an instant.
The powerful corrosive force of Devouring Spirit Power was something most demons and monsters couldn’t withstand.
But to Shui Miao’s astonishment, the great monk crumbled at the slightest touch, vanishing in the blink of an eye!
“What’s going on?”
Shui Miao immediately heightened his alertness, sensing every movement around him, trying to locate the great monk but failing to detect any trace. Shui Miao was baffled. Was the great monk deeply concealed, deliberately feigning weakness, or was there another reason?
Just then, a rushing wind sound came from behind Shui Miao.
Crow Girl stumbled and landed. She stopped beside Shui Miao at the cave entrance, seemingly having caught the scent of Crow Patriarch. Eager for revenge, she immediately charged into the cave to confront Crow Patriarch. Seeing Crow Girl rush in, Shui Miao didn’t dare delay and quickly followed.
“Screech!”
Just a few steps into the cave, an extremely piercing crow screech echoed from inside!
“Screech!”
Stimulated by the screech, Crow Girl also let out a cry.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
Suddenly, countless crows appeared in the cave.
Shui Miao sensed that these crows were all illusions, manifestations of Crow Patriarch’s evil arts. He immediately channeled his immortal power to suppress them, easily dispelling all the crow illusions. A wave of Devouring Spirit Power mercilessly enveloped Crow Patriarch’s body.
“Great Monk, save me! Ambush him now!”
Crow Patriarch suddenly screamed loudly.
Shui Miao’s heart tightened, and he immediately went on full alert, fearing the great monk would ambush him from somewhere. But at that moment, Crow Patriarch’s body suddenly exploded with a “bang!” An old crow with a few white feathers on its head shot out of the cave toward the outside.
“Not good! I’ve been tricked!”
Shui Miao suddenly realized he had fallen for Crow Patriarch’s diversion tactic.
“Whoosh!”
Crow Girl pursued closely, rushing out of the cave.
Crow Patriarch fled ahead, Crow Girl chased behind—a normally-sized old crow and an enormous crow girl flying out one after the other…
Using immortal power to chase was already impossible.
Using wind might harm Crow Girl.
Shui Miao ran to the cave entrance and saw that Jiang Zhihao and the others had arrived. Worried that the great monk might ambush them, Shui Miao had to stop and focus his senses. He discovered that Crow Patriarch, likely due to the self-destruction, was already severely injured, his power exhausted, leaving only a remnant of breath in his crow form.
Sure enough, after flying just a hundred meters, Crow Patriarch lost strength and fell onto a “Black Mage” plant.
Crow Girl pounced immediately, her massive claws grabbing Crow Patriarch’s body and crushing it outright!
“Was it really this easy?”
“Where is the great monk?”
Seeing Crow Girl easily destroy Crow Patriarch, Shui Miao was puzzled, feeling it was all too simple.
“There must be a problem!”
Shui Miao refused to believe it was over so simply. He immediately sat down cross-legged, focused his spirit, spread his divine sense, and carefully sensed every inch of the mountain.
The mountain was covered with “Black Mage” plants emitting strong spiritual energy, interfering with Shui Miao’s senses.
With a flash of intent, Shui Miao used Devouring Spirit Power to spread in all directions, absorbing all the spiritual energy from the Black Mage plants, causing them to wither and wilt.
Everyone saw Shui Miao sitting cross-legged and didn’t dare speak loudly. They all sat down quietly and waited slowly.
Crow Girl had killed Crow Patriarch’s true form, but she also felt it was too easy. She came to Shui Miao’s side and waited quietly.
Under the effect of Devouring Spirit Power, all the Black Mage plants on the small mountain withered.
A large amount of Devouring Spirit Power then enveloped the adjacent mountain, corroding and devouring all spiritual energy.
To eradicate the threat completely, Shui Miao went all out, conducting a carpet-style search, not sparing even a single stone. After a few minutes, Shui Miao’s heart stirred—he discovered that one seemingly ordinary “Black Mage” plant was unusual. Under the corrosion of Devouring Spirit Power, this Black Mage transformed into Crow Patriarch’s soul. A few more minutes later, Shui Miao withdrew his Devouring Spirit Power and obtained many memories.
Naturally, these were Crow Patriarch’s memories.
It turned out Crow Patriarch wasn’t particularly powerful; he just had one exceptional skill: creating miraculous illusions that were impossible to see through.
He had successfully deceived Shui Miao with illusions.
But unfortunately, Crow Patriarch didn’t understand human nature, the minds of living beings, or the demeanor of the powerful, let alone how to act aloof. This made Shui Miao suspicious, and with one test, he completely broke Crow Patriarch’s evil arts. These arts could create illusions and make them undetectable, which held great appeal for Shui Miao.
These evil arts were simply formed by combining mental power with the energy of the five elements. They were easy to learn but required time to practice.
Shui Miao opened his eyes and saw Crow Girl. His heart sank—oh no! Now he couldn’t help her restore her form!
His mind racing, Shui Miao quickly closed his eyes again.
He had to find a way to draw out some of the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
Shui Miao wasn’t the type to go back on his word, nor was he someone who made excuses when faced with difficulties. He held himself to very high standards and always did his utmost. He was a perfectionist.
As his thoughts turned, Shui Miao suddenly came up with a unique but worth-trying idea.
He would use his own immortal power to attack the stone tablet of the Natural Path.
“The stone tablet was placed in my mental realm by the middle-aged scholar. It’s like an external object, while my immortal power belongs to me. Using my immortal power to attack an external object should be fine.” After some consideration, Shui Miao immediately channeled a great amount of Devouring Spirit Power into his mental realm, enveloping the stone tablet of the Natural Path.
“Break!”
With a change of intent, Shui Miao willed the Devouring Spirit Power to corrode and devour the stone tablet of the Natural Path. Suddenly, the tablet shook with a “boom,” generating an incredibly terrifying suction force that even pulled Shui Miao himself in!
In front of the cave, Shui Miao suddenly vanished!
Everyone was shocked and started searching around frantically…
※※※
“How did this happen?”
Shui Miao suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar place. There was no sky, no ground—everywhere was a lush green, filled with the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
He stood in this miraculous place, able to breathe and move.
But before long, Shui Miao felt pain and noticed these green energies beginning to corrode his skin!
“Not good!”
Shui Miao suddenly remembered that he had used the stone tablet to kill several enemies before. Now, his clever plan had backfired—he had been pulled into the tablet himself, and it was devouring him!
“No!”
Feeling the pain intensifying, Shui Miao panicked and quickly channeled his immortal power to resist the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
But his immortal power was utterly useless against this fundamental force.
The immortal power he summoned was like a clay ox entering the sea—gone without a trace.
He realized that the fundamental power of the Natural Path was the most terrifying Devouring Spirit Power of all!
Shui Miao lost his composure, and an nameless fear rose in his heart. How ironic—he hadn’t been killed by evil spirits but was instead going to be killed by the stone tablet in his mental realm that was supposed to help him? Shui Miao struggled to calm himself, pondering countermeasures… but he couldn’t calm down or focus his mind to think.
What to do, what to do…
The words “what to do” repeated incessantly in Shui Miao’s mind…
Shui Miao had never realized he could be so fragile, so flustered, so impulsive, so afraid of death, so easily defeated!
“It’s just death! So what if I die? Why panic?”
To calm himself, Shui Miao slapped himself hard twice across the face… Surprisingly, the slaps helped him calm down quite a bit.
Once calm, Shui Miao recalled that when the stone tablet had broken before, he could easily absorb the fundamental power inside and make it his own.
But now, enveloped by this fundamental power, why couldn’t he do the same?
Why wasn’t it working?
What was the difference between now and before?
Suddenly, Shui Miao muttered to himself, “Is it a matter of mindset? When the tablet broke naturally, I was relaxed, so it was easy to make it my own. Now I’m tense, resisting the fundamental power of the Natural Path, and instead being devoured by it? Yes! That must be it. Those evil spirits sucked into the tablet—how could they remain calm? So they were doomed to be destroyed!”
This was highly likely.
Thinking this, Shui Miao immediately forced himself to calm down, thinking of lighter matters.
If this method didn’t work, Shui Miao really couldn’t think of any other way.
Pain, excruciating pain, relentlessly assaulted Shui Miao.
He sat cross-legged, no longer looking at the changes to his skin, feeling at times as if he were being fried or roasted, and at other times as if countless insects were chewing on him!
Under the devouring force of the Natural Path’s fundamental power, his skin slowly turned into green energy.
His body trembled uncontrollably!
This kind of pain was unbearable for a normal person.
But he had no choice. Not only did he have to endure it, but he also had to force himself to stay calm, to keep his mind relaxed…
How was that possible?
After persevering for a while, Shui Miao’s will began to waver. He was about to die, yet he was supposed to stay relaxed? It was simply impossible!
But then Shui Miao thought again: would struggling help? Would screaming help?
He had to grit his teeth and persevere—maybe there was still a sliver of hope!
If he gave up easily, death was certain.
Shui Miao continued to grit his teeth and endure…
But the pain incessantly disturbed his spirit, making it impossible for him to calm down and focus.
Finally, Shui Miao couldn’t help but open his eyes and saw that he was already a bloody, unrecognizable mess… Seeing his own wretched state, Shui Miao was suddenly stunned!
Abruptly, Shui Miao wondered: what was the deeper meaning of the Natural Path’s stone tablet?
“Those who follow nature thrive; those who defy nature perish.”
“If your strength and cultivation are insufficient, and your understanding of the Natural Path is shallow, entering the stone tablet of the Natural Path will naturally result in backlash!”
“Now, why don’t I ignore the pain, breathe in the fundamental power of the Natural Path, and try to cultivate? If I can integrate the fundamental power of the Natural Path into my immortal power, wouldn’t I then adapt to this place?”
Earlier, Shui Miao had been relying on his immortal power to sustain his body and hadn’t been breathing.
Now, Shui Miao relaxed and took a deep breath of the fundamental power. It felt not like air but like a pot of scalding water that instantly burned his internal organs, his viscera, everything inside!
Originally, Shui Miao had only suffered skin-deep pain, but now every part of him, inside and out, was in agony.
After two breaths, Shui Miao regretted it—he had made another mistake!
Shui Miao suddenly wondered: why had his luck been so good before, but now it was so bad?
“Pfft!”
Shui Miao spat out a mouthful of blood, struggling in agony.
He could no longer calm down; he felt he was about to die.
As the pain intensified, Shui Miao lost consciousness in despair, but miraculously, his awareness remained!
Shui Miao’s physical body had completely turned into green fundamental power—not a single bone fragment remained.
Even the sphere of immortal power in his dantian had transformed into fundamental power.
He was now a wisp of a soul.
This wisp of soul was enveloped by the white fundamental power of the Wind and Water Path, protecting it from destruction.
Fortunately, the fundamental power of the Wind and Water Path is safeguarding my soul. Gradually, Shui Miao calmed down. He glanced around, then at his nearly transparent soul, finding it hard to believe that he had died so inexplicably!? As he observed, Shui Miao suddenly noticed a white silhouette and a faint black silhouette in this verdant world. Intuition told him that these silhouettes were his Earth Soul and Heaven Soul. The conscious soul now was the Human Soul. These two souls were also enveloped by a faint fundamental power of the Wind and Water Path. They fluttered around in this green world like kites…
The Heaven Soul, Earth Soul, and Human Soul are held together by Yang Spirit.
Now, Shui Miao’s Yang Spirit was destroyed, and he couldn’t gather his Heaven and Earth Souls.
In this green world, Shui Miao didn’t give up his will to survive. He firmly believed he could be reborn. Free from the torment of pain, he calmly sat cross-legged, silently recited the Lingtong Jue and Zongheng Ce to clarify his mind, and began quietly meditating and cultivating.
Cultivating the soul was more efficient than cultivating the physical body.
Since there was no rush, Shui Miao immersed himself in cultivation, slowly absorbing the fundamental power of the Natural Path into his soul and converting it into part of his soul.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Shui Miao suddenly opened his eyes, and his Human Soul stood up in this green world.
Through cultivation, he had gained insight into the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
This fundamental power contained many miraculous forces—everything one could need. The higher one’s strength, the more one could comprehend.
Shui Miao looked around and flew toward a faintly white energy, absorbing it into his body.
This energy was none other than Shui Miao’s previous Yang Spirit.
After a while, Shui Miao gathered all his Yang Spirit and retrieved his Heaven and Earth Souls.
With all three souls and seven spirits complete, Shui Miao felt filled with power, stronger than ever before.
“Now, it’s time to reshape the physical form!”
Shui Miao’s soul sat cross-legged, sinking into long meditation once more.
During meditation, strands of the Natural Path’s fundamental power gathered, slowly forming Shui Miao’s bones, meridians, muscles, skin, and hair…
Time passed, and no one knew how long it had been.
Shui Miao opened his eyes again and found he had restored his previous appearance, even handsomer than before, and could now control all the fundamental power here.
“It appears my fortune still favors me! Now, it’s time to recondense my inner core.” With a swift thought, Shui Miao witnessed all the primal energy converge, forming a massive green sphere. This sphere continued to compress until it shrank to the size of an egg, which Shui Miao swallowed whole in one swift motion.
“Whoosh…”
A green light flashed at the cave entrance. Under the starry sky, Shui Miao had finally returned!
In this green world, Shui Miao didn’t lose his will to survive. He firmly believed he could be reborn. Now free from pain, he calmly sat cross-legged, silently reciting the Ling Tong Jue and Zong Heng Ce, clearing his mind before beginning to meditate.
Soul cultivation was far more efficient than physical cultivation.
With no rush, Shui Miao immersed himself in cultivation, slowly absorbing the essence of the natural Dao into his soul and transforming it into part of his soul.
After an unknown amount of time, Shui Miao suddenly opened his eyes, and the human soul stood up in the green world.
Through cultivation, he had comprehended the essence of the natural Dao.
This essence contained countless miraculous powers, with more to be discovered as his strength increased.
Shui Miao surveyed his surroundings and flew toward a faintly white essence, absorbing it into his body.
“How come I didn’t sense him?”
Upon seeing the great monk, Shui Miao was instantly astonished.
This great monk couldn’t even be detected by divine sense—how formidable he must be, how profound his powers!
Shui Miao genuinely hoped this great monk was a stone statue or an illusion, but the facts proved otherwise.
The great monk suddenly moved. He opened his eyes and stood up. The “Black Mage” vanished right after. He looked at Shui Miao, smiling as he walked out of the cave, holding a miniature “Black Mage” in his hand. He approached Shui Miao, gave a slight bow, and chanted a Buddhist mantra: “Amitābha, fellow cultivator, your presence honors me. This humble monk pays his respects.”
“Greetings, Great Master. My name is Shui Miao. May I ask your monastic name?”
Shui Miao quickly returned the courtesy.
Looking at the great monk, Shui Miao felt an indescribable aura of mystery emanating from him, making it impossible to let one’s guard down.
“This humble monk is called Black Lotus.” The great monk’s expression remained unchanged, still smiling.
What was he smiling about? Shui Miao felt uneasy about Black Lotus’s grin. What kind of monk smiled so frivolously? This guy was ambiguous, his aura unclear, and he smiled upon seeing Shui Miao—it was highly unusual. Using normal human logic, the strong should disdain the weak. The powerful should be aloof, speaking sparingly, each word carrying weight. Yet this Black Lotus was the complete opposite. What was his intention?
After a moment’s pause, Shui Miao hatched a plan to test Black Lotus.
Immediately, Shui Miao channeled his Devouring Spirit Power into a black sphere, using his mind to control it and suspend it before the great monk. “Great Master Black Lotus, I obtained a mass of spiritual energy but cannot identify its nature. I wonder if you recognize it?” Shui Miao blinked. Rather than guessing the great monk’s strength, it was better to test him directly.
“Oh?”
Black Lotus appeared somewhat surprised, not anticipating that Shui Miao would ask him to identify something. He quickly composed himself, his smile fading as he scrutinized the Devouring Spirit Power before him, his brow furrowing in concentration. Reaching out, he took the sphere of Devouring Spirit Power into his hand, turning it over repeatedly—yet it was evident that he couldn’t discern its nature.
Seeing that the great monk couldn’t recognize the Devouring Spirit Power, Shui Miao immediately concluded that he was putting on a false front and wasn’t actually powerful. Since he was a monster that was neither human nor demon, hard to distinguish, why not test him further?
As Shui Miao’s intentions shifted, the Devouring Spirit Power suddenly transformed into mist, enveloping the great monk in an instant.
The potent corrosive power of Devouring Spirit Power was something most demons and monsters couldn’t withstand.
But to Shui Miao’s astonishment, the great monk crumbled upon contact, vanishing in the blink of an eye!
“What’s going on?”
Shui Miao immediately heightened his alertness, sensing every movement around him, trying to locate the great monk’s presence but failing utterly. Shui Miao was baffled. Was the great monk deeply concealed, deliberately showing weakness, or was there another reason?
Just then, a rushing wind sound came from behind Shui Miao.
Crow Girl stumbled and landed. She stopped beside Shui Miao at the cave entrance, seemingly having caught the scent of Crow Patriarch. Eager for revenge, she immediately charged into the cave to confront Crow Patriarch. Seeing Crow Girl rush in, Shui Miao didn’t hesitate and quickly followed.
“Kaaa!”
Just a few steps into the cave, an extremely piercing crow screech echoed from within!
“Kaaa!”
Stimulated by the screech, Crow Girl also let out a sharp cry.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
Suddenly, countless crows appeared inside the cave.
Sensing that these crows were illusions created by Crow Patriarch’s evil arts, Shui Miao immediately channeled his immortal power to suppress them, easily dispelling all the illusory crows. A wave of Devouring Spirit Power mercilessly enveloped Crow Patriarch’s body.
“Great Monk, save me! Ambush him now!”
Crow Patriarch suddenly screamed loudly.
Shui Miao’s heart tightened, and he immediately went on full alert, fearing the great monk would ambush him from somewhere. But at that moment, Crow Patriarch’s body suddenly exploded with a “bang!” An old crow with a few white feathers on its head shot out of the cave toward the outside.
“Not good! I’ve been tricked!”
Shui Miao suddenly realized he had fallen for Crow Patriarch’s diversion tactic.
“Whoosh!”
Crow Girl pursued relentlessly, charging out of the cave.
Crow Patriarch fled ahead, Crow Girl chased behind—a normally-sized old crow and an enormous crow woman flying out one after the other…
Channeling immortal power to chase was already too late.
Using wind might harm Crow Girl.
Shui Miao ran to the cave entrance and saw that Jiang Zhihao and the others had arrived. Worried that the great monk might ambush them, Shui Miao had to stop and focus his senses. He discovered that Crow Patriarch, likely due to the self-destruction, was severely injured, his power exhausted, leaving only a remnant of breath in his crow form.
Sure enough, after flying just a hundred meters, Crow Patriarch lost strength and fell onto a “Black Mage” plant.
Crow Girl pounced immediately, her massive claws grabbing Crow Patriarch’s body and crushing it outright!
“Was it really this easy?”
“Where is the great monk?”
Seeing Crow Girl easily destroy Crow Patriarch, Shui Miao was instantly suspicious, feeling that it was all too straightforward.
“There must be a problem!”
Shui Miao refused to believe it was over so simply. He immediately sat down cross-legged, focused his spirit, and spread his divine sense, carefully sensing every inch of the mountain.
The mountains were covered with “Black Mage” plants emitting strong spiritual energy, interfering with Shui Miao’s senses.
With a flash of intention, Shui Miao decided to use Devouring Spirit Power to spread in all directions, absorbing all the spiritual energy from the Black Mage plants, causing them to wither and wilt.
Everyone saw Shui Miao sitting cross-legged and didn’t dare speak loudly. They all sat down quietly and waited patiently.
Crow Girl had killed Crow Patriarch’s true form, but she also felt it was too easy. She came to Shui Miao’s side and waited quietly.
Under the influence of Devouring Spirit Power, all the Black Mage plants on the small mountain withered.
A large amount of Devouring Spirit Power then enveloped the adjacent mountain, corroding and devouring all spiritual energy.
To permanently eliminate the threat, Shui Miao spared no effort, conducting a thorough, carpet-style search, leaving no stone unturned. A few minutes later, Shui Miao’s heart stirred—he discovered that one seemingly ordinary “Black Mage” plant was unusual. Under the corrosion of Devouring Spirit Power, this Black Mage transformed into the soul of the Crow Patriarch. After a few more minutes, Shui Miao withdrew his Devouring Spirit Power and obtained numerous memories.
Naturally, these were Crow Patriarch’s memories.
It turned out Crow Patriarch wasn’t exceptionally powerful; he just had one unique skill: the ability to create miraculous illusions that were impossible to see through.
He had successfully deceived Shui Miao with illusions.
But unfortunately, Crow Patriarch didn’t understand human nature, wasn’t familiar with the minds of living beings, didn’t know the demeanor of the powerful, and even less understood aloofness, which made Shui Miao suspicious. Once tested, his evil arts were completely exposed. These arts could create illusions and make them undetectable, which held great appeal for Shui Miao.
These evil arts were simply formed by combining mental power with the energy of the five elements. They were easy to learn but required time to practice.
Shui Miao opened his eyes and saw Crow Girl. His heart sank—oh no! Now there was no way to help her restore her form!
His mind racing, Shui Miao quickly closed his eyes again.
He had to find a way to draw out some of the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
Shui Miao was not one to break his promises, nor was he the kind to make excuses when confronted with challenges. He set exceedingly high standards for himself and always gave his utmost effort whenever possible. He was a perfectionist through and through.
As his thoughts churned, Shui Miao suddenly came up with a unique but worth-trying idea.
That was to use his own immortal power to attack the stone tablet of the Natural Path.
“The stone tablet was placed in my mental realm by the middle-aged scholar. It’s like an external object, while immortal power belongs to me. Using my immortal power to attack an external object should be fine.” After some consideration, Shui Miao immediately channeled a large amount of Devouring Spirit Power into his mental realm, enveloping the stone tablet of the Natural Path.
“Break!”
As Shui Miao’s intention shifted, he focused on having the Devouring Spirit Power corrode and devour the stone tablet of the Natural Path. With a “boom,” the tablet shook violently, generating an incredibly terrifying suction force—even sucking Shui Miao himself in!
In front of the cave, Shui Miao suddenly vanished!
Everyone was shocked and started searching around frantically…
※※※
“How did this happen?”
Shui Miao suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar place. There was no sky, no ground—everywhere was a lush green expanse, filled with the source power of the Natural Path’s fundamental energy.
He stood in this miraculous place, able to breathe and move.
But before long, Shui Miao felt pain and noticed that these green energies began to corrode his skin!
“Not good!”
Shui Miao suddenly remembered that he had used the stone tablet to kill several enemies before. Now, his clever plan had backfired—he had been pulled into the tablet himself, and it was devouring him!
“No!”
Feeling the pain intensifying, Shui Miao panicked and quickly channeled immortal power to resist the fundamental energy of the Natural Path.
But immortal power was utterly useless against this fundamental energy.
The immortal power he summoned was like a clay ox entering the sea—gone without a trace.
He realized that the fundamental energy of the Natural Path was the most terrifying Devouring Spirit Power of all!
Shui Miao lost his composure, and an unnamed fear surged within him. How ironic—he hadn’t been slain by malevolent demons but was instead being killed by the stone tablet in his mental realm, which was supposed to aid him? Shui Miao struggled to calm himself, attempting to devise a countermeasure… but he couldn’t find peace, nor could he concentrate enough to think clearly.
What to do, what to do…
The words “what to do” repeated incessantly in Shui Miao’s mind…
Shui Miao had never imagined he could be so fragile, so flustered, so impulsive, so afraid of death, so easily defeated!
“It’s just death! So what if I die? What’s there to panic about?”
To calm himself down, Shui Miao slapped himself hard twice across the face… Surprisingly, the slaps actually helped him calm down a lot.
Once calm, Shui Miao remembered that when the stone tablet had previously cracked, he could effortlessly absorb the primal energy within and assimilate it as his own.
But now, enveloped by this fundamental energy, why couldn’t he do it?
Why wasn’t it working?
What was the difference between now and before?
Suddenly, Shui Miao murmured to himself, “Is it a matter of mindset? When the tablet shattered naturally, I was at ease, so it was effortless to make it my own. Now, I’m tense, resisting the fundamental energy of the Natural Path, and instead, I’m being consumed by it? Yes! That must be it. Those malevolent demons drawn into the tablet—how could they remain as calm as still water? They were fated to be annihilated!”
This was highly possible.
Thinking this, Shui Miao immediately forced himself to calm down, thinking of lighter matters.
If this method didn’t work, Shui Miao truly couldn’t think of any other way.
Pain—excruciating, relentless pain—assaulted Shui Miao.
He sat cross-legged, no longer looking at the changes in his skin, feeling at times as if he were being fried over fire, at other times as if countless insects were chewing on him!
Under the devouring power of the Natural Path’s fundamental energy, his skin slowly turned into green energy.
His body trembled involuntarily!
This kind of pain was unbearable for a normal person.
But he had no choice. Not only did he have to endure it, but he also had to force himself to stay calm, to keep his mood light…
How was that possible?
After persevering for a while, Shui Miao’s will began to waver. He was about to die, yet he was supposed to think light thoughts? It was simply impossible!
But then Shui Miao thought again: was struggling useful? Was screaming useful?
He had to grit his teeth and persevere—maybe there was still a sliver of hope!
If he gave up easily, death was certain.
Shui Miao continued to grit his teeth and endure…
But the pain incessantly harassed his spirit, making it impossible for him to calm down and focus!
Finally, Shui Miao couldn’t help but open his eyes—and saw that he was already a bloody, gruesome mess… Witnessing his own ghastly state, Shui Miao was suddenly struck with shock!
Abruptly, Shui Miao wondered: what was the deeper meaning of the Natural Path’s stone tablet?
“Follow nature to live, oppose nature to perish.”
“If your strength and cultivation are insufficient, and your understanding of the Natural Path is shallow, entering the stone tablet of the Natural Path will naturally lead to backlash!”
“Now, why don’t I ignore the pain and try cultivating by breathing in the fundamental energy of the Natural Path? If I can integrate the fundamental energy of the Natural Path into my immortal power, wouldn’t I be able to adapt here?”
Earlier, Shui Miao had been relying on immortal power to sustain his body and hadn’t been breathing.
At that moment, Shui Miao relaxed and inhaled deeply, drawing in the primal energy—yet it didn’t feel like air at all. Instead, it was as if he had swallowed a pot of boiling water, instantly searing his internal organs, his viscera, and everything within his body!
Originally, Shui Miao had only suffered skin-deep pain; now, every part of him, inside and out, was in agony.
After two breaths, Shui Miao regretted it—he had made another mistake!
Shui Miao suddenly wondered: why had his luck been so good before, but now it was so bad?
“Pfft!”
Shui Miao spat out a mouthful of blood, struggling in agony.
He could no longer remain calm; he felt he was about to die.
As the pain intensified, Shui Miao lost consciousness in despair, but miraculously, his awareness remained!
Shui Miao’s physical body had completely turned into green fundamental energy—not a single speck of bone remained.
Even the sphere of immortal power in his dantian had transformed into fundamental energy.
He was now a wisp of a soul.
This wisp of soul was enveloped by the white fundamental energy of the Wind and Water Path, protecting it from destruction.
Fortunately, the fundamental energy of the Wind and Water Path is safeguarding my soul. Gradually, Shui Miao calmed down. He glanced around, then at his nearly transparent soul, finding it hard to believe—had he died so inexplicably!? As he observed, Shui Miao suddenly noticed a white phantom and a faint black phantom in this verdant world. Intuition told him these phantoms were his Earth Soul and Heaven Soul. The conscious soul now was his Human Soul. These two souls were also enveloped in a faint fundamental energy of the Wind and Water Path, drifting around like kites in this green world…
Heaven Soul, Earth Soul, and Human Soul are held together by Yang Spirit.
Now, Shui Miao’s Yang Spirit was destroyed, making it impossible for him to gather his Heaven and Earth Souls.
In this green world, Shui Miao didn’t give up his will to survive. He firmly believed he could be reborn. free from the torment of pain, he calmly sat cross-legged, silently recited the Lingtong Jue and Zongheng Ce in his heart to clarify his mind, and began quietly meditating and cultivating.
Cultivating the soul was more efficient than cultivating the physical body.
Since there was no rush, Shui Miao immersed himself in cultivation, slowly absorbing the fundamental energy of the Natural Path into his soul and transforming it into part of his soul.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Shui Miao suddenly opened his eyes, and his Human Soul stood up in this green world.
Through cultivation, he had gained insight into the fundamental energy of the Natural Path.
This fundamental energy contained many miraculous powers—truly encompassing everything one could imagine. The greater his strength, the deeper his comprehension became.
Shui Miao looked around and flew toward a faintly white energy, absorbing it into his body.
This energy was none other than Shui Miao’s previous Yang Spirit.
After a while, Shui Miao gathered all his Yang Spirit and retrieved his Heaven and Earth Souls.
With all three souls and seven spirits complete, Shui Miao felt filled with power, stronger than ever before.
“Now, it’s time to reshape my physical form!”
Shui Miao’s soul sat cross-legged, sinking into another long period of meditation.
During meditation, strands of the Natural Path’s fundamental energy gathered, gradually forming Shui Miao’s bones, meridians, muscles, skin, and hair…
Time passed, and no one knew how long it had been.
Shui Miao opened his eyes again and found he had restored his previous appearance, even handsomer than before, and could now control all the fundamental energy here.
“It appears my fortune still favors me! Now, it’s time to reconsolidate my inner core.” With a swift surge of will, Shui Miao witnessed all the primal energy coalesce, shaping into a massive green sphere that steadily compressed until it was no larger than an egg. In one swift motion, Shui Miao swallowed it whole.
“Whoosh…”
A green light flashed at the entrance of the cave. Beneath the vast expanse of twinkling stars, Shui Miao had finally returned!
“How come I didn’t sense him?”
Upon seeing the great monk, Shui Miao was instantly astonished.
This great monk couldn’t even be detected by divine sense—how formidable he must be, how profound his powers!
Shui Miao genuinely hoped this great monk was a stone statue or an illusion, but the facts proved otherwise.
The great monk suddenly moved. He opened his eyes and stood up. The “Black Mage” vanished right after. He looked at Shui Miao, smiling as he walked out of the cave, holding a miniature “Black Mage” in his hand. He approached Shui Miao, gave a slight bow, and chanted a Buddhist greeting: “Amitābha, fellow cultivator. Your presence honors this humble monk.”
“Greetings, Great Master. My name is Shui Miao. May I ask for your Dharma name?”
Shui Miao quickly returned the courtesy.
Looking at the great monk, Shui Miao felt an indescribable aura of mystery emanating from him, making it impossible to let one’s guard down.
“This humble monk’s Dharma name is Black Lotus.” The great monk’s expression remained unchanged, still smiling.
What was he smiling about? Shui Miao felt uneasy about Black Lotus Monk’s grin. What kind of monk would smile so frivolously? This man was enigmatic, his aura ambiguous, and he smiled the moment he saw Shui Miao—it was highly unusual. By normal human logic, a powerful figure should look down on the weak, should be aloof and sparing with words. Yet Black Lotus was the complete opposite. What was his intention?
After a moment’s pause, Shui Miao hatched a plan to test Black Lotus.
Immediately, Shui Miao channeled his Devouring Spirit Power into a black sphere, using his mind to float it before the great monk. “Great Master Black Lotus, I obtained this sphere of spiritual energy but cannot identify its nature. Would you recognize it?” Shui Miao blinked. Rather than guessing the monk’s strength, it was better to test him directly.
“Oh?”
The Black Lotus Monk appeared somewhat startled, not anticipating that Shui Miao would seek his evaluation. He composed himself, his smile fading as he scrutinized the Devouring Spirit Power sphere with a furrowed brow. He then extended his hand, grasped the sphere, and turned it over repeatedly—evidently unable to discern its nature.
Seeing that the great monk couldn’t recognize the Devouring Spirit Power, Shui Miao concluded that he was putting on a false front and wasn’t actually powerful. Since he was some kind of ambiguous monster, neither human nor demon, why not test him further?
As Shui Miao willed it, the Devouring Spirit Power suddenly turned into mist, enveloping the great monk in an instant.
The corrosive power of Devouring Spirit Power was something most demons couldn’t withstand.
But to Shui Miao’s astonishment, the great monk crumbled upon contact, vanishing in the blink of an eye!
“What happened?”
Shui Miao immediately heightened his alertness, sensing every movement around him, trying to locate the great monk but finding no trace. He was baffled. Was the great monk deeply concealed, deliberately feigning weakness, or was there another reason?
Just then, a rushing wind sound came from behind Shui Miao.
Crow Girl stumbled and landed, stopping beside Shui Miao at the cave entrance. She seemed to have caught the scent of Crow Patriarch. Driven by vengeance, she charged into the cave to confront him. Seeing Crow Girl rush in, Shui Miao didn’t hesitate and followed closely.
“Kaaa!”
Just a few steps into the cave, an extremely piercing crow screech echoed from within!
“Kaaa!”
Stimulated by the screech, Crow Girl also let out a cry.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
Suddenly, countless crows appeared inside the cave.
Sensing that these crows were illusions created by Crow Patriarch’s evil arts, Shui Miao immediately channeled his immortal power to suppress them, easily dispelling all the illusory crows. A wave of Devouring Spirit Power mercilessly enveloped Crow Patriarch’s body.
“Great Monk, save me! Ambush him now!”
Crow Patriarch suddenly screamed.
Shui Miao’s heart tightened, and he immediately went on full alert, fearing the great monk would ambush him from somewhere. But at that moment, Crow Patriarch’s body exploded with a “bang!” An old crow with a few white feathers on its head shot out of the cave toward the outside.
“Not good! I’ve been tricked!”
Shui Miao suddenly realized he had fallen for Crow Patriarch’s diversion tactic.
“Whoosh!”
Crow Girl pursued relentlessly, charging out of the cave.
Crow Patriarch fled ahead, Crow Girl chased behind—a normal-sized old crow and a gigantic crow woman flying out one after another…
Using immortal power to chase was already too late.
Using wind might harm Crow Girl.
Shui Miao ran to the cave entrance and saw Jiang Zhihao and the others arriving. Worried about the great monk ambushing them, Shui Miao had to stop and focus his senses. He discovered that Crow Patriarch, likely due to the self-destruction, was severely injured, his power exhausted, leaving only a faint breath of life in his crow form.
Sure enough, after flying barely a hundred meters, Crow Patriarch lost strength and fell onto a “Black Mage” plant.
Crow Girl pounced immediately, her massive claws grabbing Crow Patriarch’s body and crushing it instantly!
“Was it really this easy?”
“Where is the great monk?”
Seeing Crow Girl easily destroy Crow Patriarch, Shui Miao grew suspicious. It all felt too simple.
“There must be a problem!”
Shui Miao refused to believe it was over so easily. He immediately sat down cross-legged, focused his spirit, and spread his divine sense, carefully sensing every inch of the mountain.
The mountain was covered with “Black Mage” plants emitting strong spiritual energy, interfering with Shui Miao’s senses.
With a thought, Shui Miao unleashed Devouring Spirit Power in all directions, absorbing all the spiritual energy from the Black Mage plants, causing them to wither and die.
Everyone saw Shui Miao meditating and dared not speak loudly. They quietly sat down and waited.
Crow Girl had killed Crow Patriarch’s true form, but she also felt it was too easy. She came to Shui Miao’s side and waited quietly.
Under the influence of Devouring Spirit Power, all the Black Mage plants on the small mountain withered.
A large amount of Devouring Spirit Power then enveloped the adjacent mountain, corroding and devouring all spiritual energy.
To permanently eliminate the threat, Shui Miao spared no effort, conducting a thorough, carpet-like search, leaving no stone unturned. After a few minutes, Shui Miao’s heart stirred—he noticed that an ordinary-looking “Black Mage” plant seemed unusual. Under the corrosion of Devouring Spirit Power, it transformed into the soul of the Crow Patriarch. A few more minutes later, Shui Miao withdrew his Devouring Spirit Power, gaining numerous memories.
Of course, these were Crow Patriarch’s memories.
It turned out Crow Patriarch wasn’t exceptionally powerful; he just had one unique skill—the ability to create miraculous illusions that were hard to see through.
He had successfully deceived Shui Miao with illusions.
Unfortunately, Crow Patriarch didn’t understand human nature, the minds of living beings, or the demeanor of the powerful. He didn’t know how to act aloof, which made Shui Miao suspicious. Once tested, his evil arts were completely exposed. These arts could create illusions and make them undetectable, which greatly intrigued Shui Miao.
These evil arts were simply a blend of mental power and the five elements’ energy, easy to learn but requiring practice.
When Shui Miao opened his eyes and saw Crow Girl, his heart sank. Damn! Now he couldn’t help her restore her form!
His mind racing, Shui Miao quickly closed his eyes again.
He had to find a way to draw out some of the natural path’s source power.
Shui Miao wasn’t someone who went back on his word, nor did he make excuses when faced with difficulties. He held himself to high standards and always strove for perfection.
After some thought, Shui Miao came up with a unique but worth-trying idea.
He would use his immortal power to attack the natural path stele.
“The steles were placed in my mental realm by the middle-aged scholar. They’re like external objects, while immortal power belongs to me. Using my power to attack external objects should be fine.” After some consideration, Shui Miao channeled a surge of Devouring Spirit Power into his mental realm, enveloping the natural path stele.
“Break!”
As Shui Miao willed it, intending for the Devouring Spirit Power to corrode and devour the natural path stele, the stele shook with a “boom,” generating an incredibly terrifying suction force that even pulled Shui Miao himself in!
In front of the cave, Shui Miao suddenly vanished!
Everyone was shocked and started searching around frantically…
※※※
“How did this happen?”
Shui Miao suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar place—no sky, no ground, everywhere was a lush green, filled with the source power of the natural path.
In this magical place, he could breathe and move freely.
But soon, Shui Miao felt pain and noticed the green energy beginning to corrode his skin!
“Not good!”
Shui Miao suddenly remembered using the stele to kill several enemies before. Now, his plan had backfired—he was trapped inside the stele, and it was devouring him!
“No!”
As the pain intensified, Shui Miao panicked and quickly channeled immortal power to resist the natural path’s source energy.
But his immortal power was useless against it.
The released immortal power was like a clay ox entering the sea—gone without a trace.
He realized the natural path’s source energy was the most terrifying Devouring Spirit Power!
Shui Miao lost his composure, and an nameless fear arose in his heart. How ironic—he hadn’t been killed by evil spirits but by the stele in his mental realm that was supposed to help him? He tried to calm down and devise a strategy… but he couldn’t quiet his mind or focus.
What to do, what to do…
Shui Miao’s mind kept repeating these words…
He never realized he could be so fragile, panicked, impulsive, fearful of death, so easily defeated!
“It’s just death! So what if I die? Why panic?”
To calm himself, Shui Miao slapped himself hard twice… Surprisingly, it helped him calm down a lot.
Once calm, he remembered that when the stele broke before, he could easily absorb the source energy inside for his use.
But now, surrounded by source energy, why couldn’t he?
Why wasn’t it working?
What was the difference between now and then?
Suddenly, Shui Miao muttered to himself, “Is it my state of mind? When the stele broke naturally, I was relaxed, so it was easy to absorb. Now I’m tense, resisting the natural path’s source energy, so it’s devouring me? Yes! That must be it. The evil spirits sucked into the stele couldn’t remain calm, so they were doomed!”
This seemed highly likely.
Thinking this, Shui Miao forced himself to calm down and think of lighter things.
If this didn’t work, he really had no other ideas.
Agony, unbearable agony, incessantly tormented Shui Miao.
He sat cross-legged, ignoring the changes to his skin, feeling as if he were being fried in oil or chewed by countless insects!
Under the devouring power of the natural path’s source energy, his skin slowly turned into green energy.
His body trembled uncontrollably!
This kind of pain was unbearable for normal people.
But he had no choice. He not only had to endure but also force himself to stay calm and relaxed…
How was that possible?
After a while, Shui Miao’s resolve wavered. Facing death, how could he stay relaxed? It was impossible!
But then he thought, would struggling help? Would screaming help?
He had to grit his teeth and persevere—maybe there was a slim chance of survival!
Giving up would mean certain death.
Shui Miao continued to endure…
But the pain constantly assaulted his spirit, making it impossible to focus!
Finally, Shui Miao couldn’t help but open his eyes, only to find himself transformed into a horrifying, blood-soaked wreck… Staring at his own ghastly state, he was utterly stunned!
Suddenly, Shui Miao wondered, what was the deeper meaning of the natural path stele?
“Follow nature to thrive, defy nature to perish.”
“If my strength and understanding of the natural path are insufficient, entering the stele would naturally lead to backlash!”
“Now, why not ignore the pain and try cultivating by breathing in the natural path’s source energy? If I can integrate it into my immortal power, wouldn’t I adapt here?”
Earlier, Shui Miao had been relying on immortal power to sustain his body, not breathing.
Now, he relaxed and took a deep breath of the source energy. It felt like swallowing a pot of scalding water that instantly burned his internal organs, his very core, everything inside!
Originally, only his skin and flesh hurt; now, every part of him, inside and out, was in agony.
After two breaths, Shui Miao regretted it—he had made another mistake!
Shui Miao suddenly wondered, why had his luck been so good before but so bad now?
“Pfft!”
Shui Miao spat out a mouthful of blood, struggling in agony.
He could no longer stay calm; he felt death was imminent.
As the agony grew unbearable, Shui Miao succumbed to unconsciousness in despair, yet miraculously, his awareness persisted!
Shui Miao’s physical body had completely turned into green source energy—not a single bone fragment remained.
Even the immortal power sphere in his dantian had transformed into source energy.
He was now a wisp of a soul.
This soul was enveloped by the white source energy of the wind-water path, protecting it from destruction.
Fortunately, the source energy of the wind-water path was safeguarding his soul. Gradually, Shui Miao calmed down, surveyed his surroundings, and then gazed at his nearly transparent soul. It was hard to believe he had died so inexplicably!? As he looked, he noticed a white phantom and a faint black phantom within the green world. Intuition told him these were his earth soul and heaven soul. The conscious soul was his human soul. These two souls were also enveloped in a faint wind-water path source energy, drifting around like kites in the green world…
Heaven soul, earth soul, and human soul are held together by yang spirit.
Now, Shui Miao’s yang spirit was destroyed; he couldn’t reunite his heaven and earth souls.
In this green world, Shui Miao didn’t lose the will to live. He firmly believed he could be reborn. Free from pain, he sat cross-legged calmly, silently recited the Lingtong Jue and Zongheng Ce to clear his mind, and began meditating and cultivating.
Cultivating as a soul was more efficient than with a physical body.
Since there was no rush, Shui Miao immersed himself in cultivation, slowly absorbing the natural path’s source energy into his soul and making it a part of himself.
After an unknown amount of time, Shui Miao suddenly opened his eyes, and his human soul stood up in the green world.
Through cultivation, he had gained insight into the natural path’s source energy.
This source energy was imbued with numerous mystical powers—everything one could possibly need. The greater one’s strength, the more one could comprehend.
Shui Miao looked around and flew toward a faint white energy, absorbing it into himself.
This energy was none other than his previous yang spirit.
After a while, Shui Miao gathered all his yang spirit and retrieved his heaven and earth souls.
With all three souls and seven spirits complete, Shui Miao felt filled with power, far stronger than before.
“Now, it’s time to reshape my physical form!”
Shui Miao’s soul sat cross-legged and entered another long period of meditation.
During meditation, wisps of natural path source energy gathered, slowly forming Shui Miao’s bones, meridians, muscles, skin, and hair…
Time passed; no one knew how long.
Shui Miao opened his eyes again and found he had restored his previous appearance, even handsomer, and could now control all the source energy here.
“It seems my good luck is still here! Now, it’s time to reform my inner core.” With a thought, Shui Miao gathered all the source energy into a huge green sphere. The sphere continuously compressed until it was the size of an egg, which Shui Miao swallowed whole.
“Whoosh…”
Green light flashed at the cave entrance. Under the starry sky, Shui Miao had finally returned!
“How come I didn’t sense him?”
Upon seeing the great monk, Shui Miao was instantly astonished.
This great monk couldn’t even be detected by divine sense—how formidable he must be, how profound his powers!
Shui Miao genuinely hoped this great monk was a stone statue or an illusion, but the facts proved otherwise.
The great monk suddenly moved. He opened his eyes and stood up. The “Black Mage” vanished right after. He looked at Shui Miao, smiling as he walked out of the cave, holding a miniature “Black Mage” in his hand. He approached Shui Miao, gave a slight bow, and chanted a Buddhist invocation: “Amitābha, fellow cultivator, your presence honors me. This humble monk pays his respects.”
“Greetings, Great Master. My name is Shui Miao. May I ask your monastic name?”
Shui Miao hurriedly returned the courtesy.
Looking at the great monk, Shui Miao felt an indescribable aura of mystery emanating from him, making it impossible to let one’s guard down.
“This humble monk is called Black Lotus.” The great monk’s expression remained unchanged, still smiling.
What was he smiling about? Shui Miao felt uneasy about Black Lotus’s grin. What kind of monk smiled so frivolously? This guy was enigmatic, his aura unclear, and he smiled upon seeing Shui Miao—it was highly unusual. Applying normal human logic, the strong should disdain the weak. The powerful should be aloof, speaking sparingly, each word worth its weight in gold. Yet this Black Lotus was the complete opposite. What was his intention?
After a moment’s pause, Shui Miao hatched a plan to test Black Lotus.
Immediately, Shui Miao channeled his Devouring Spirit Power into a black sphere, using his mind to float it before the great monk. “Great Master Black Lotus, I obtained this sphere of spiritual energy but cannot identify its nature. Do you recognize it?” Shui Miao blinked. Rather than guessing the monk’s strength, it was better to test him directly.
“Oh?”
Black Lotus seemed slightly taken aback, not expecting Shui Miao to ask for his appraisal. He put away his smile and examined the Devouring Spirit Power seriously, frowning. He then reached out, took the sphere in his hand, turned it over, clearly unable to identify it.
Seeing that the great monk couldn’t recognize the Devouring Spirit Power, Shui Miao concluded that he was putting on a false front and wasn’t actually powerful. Since he was some kind of ambiguous monster, neither human nor demon, why not test him further?
As Shui Miao willed it, the Devouring Spirit Power suddenly turned into mist, enveloping the great monk in an instant.
The corrosive power of Devouring Spirit Power was something most demons couldn’t withstand.
But to Shui Miao’s astonishment, the great monk crumbled upon contact, vanishing in the blink of an eye!
“What’s going on?”
Shui Miao immediately heightened his alertness, sensing every movement around him, trying to locate the great monk but finding no trace. He was baffled. Was the great monk deeply concealed, feigning weakness, or was there another reason?
Just then, a rushing wind sound came from behind Shui Miao.
Crow Girl stumbled and landed, stopping beside Shui Miao at the cave entrance. She seemed to have caught the scent of Crow Patriarch. Driven by vengeance, she charged into the cave to confront him. Seeing Crow Girl rush in, Shui Miao didn’t hesitate and followed closely.
“Screech!”
Just a few steps into the cave, an extremely piercing crow shriek echoed from within!
“Screech!”
Stimulated by the shriek, Crow Girl also let out a cry.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
Suddenly, countless crows appeared in the cave.
Shui Miao sensed that these crows were illusions created by Crow Patriarch’s evil arts. He immediately channeled his immortal power to suppress them, easily dispelling all the illusory crows. A wave of Devouring Spirit Power mercilessly enveloped Crow Patriarch’s body.
“Great Monk, save me! Ambush him now!”
Crow Patriarch suddenly screamed.
Shui Miao’s heart tightened. He immediately went on full alert, fearing the great monk would ambush him from somewhere. But at that moment, Crow Patriarch’s body exploded with a “bang!” An old crow with a few white feathers on its head shot out of the cave.
“Oh no! I’ve been tricked!”
Shui Miao suddenly realized he had fallen for Crow Patriarch’s diversion tactic.
“Whoosh!”
Crow Girl gave chase, rushing out of the cave.
Crow Patriarch fled ahead, Crow Girl pursued behind—one normal-sized old crow, one gigantic crow woman, flying out one after another…
Using immortal power to chase them was no longer possible.
Using wind might harm Crow Girl.
Shui Miao ran to the cave entrance and saw Jiang Zhihao and the others arriving. Worried about the great monk ambushing them, Shui Miao had to stop and focus his senses. He discovered that Crow Patriarch, likely due to the self-destruction, was severely injured, his power exhausted, leaving only a faint breath of life in his crow form.
Sure enough, after flying just over a hundred meters, Crow Patriarch lost strength and fell onto a “Black Mage” plant.
Crow Girl pounced immediately, her massive claws grabbing Crow Patriarch’s body and crushing it outright!
“Was it really this easy?”
“Where is the great monk?”
Seeing Crow Girl easily destroy Crow Patriarch, Shui Miao grew suspicious. It all felt too straightforward.
“There must be a problem!”
Shui Miao refused to believe it was over so simply. He sat down cross-legged, focused his spirit, and spread his divine sense, carefully sensing every inch of the mountain.
The mountain was covered with “Black Mage” plants emitting strong spiritual energy, interfering with Shui Miao’s senses.
With a thought, Shui Miao unleashed his Devouring Spirit Power in all directions, absorbing all the spiritual energy from the Black Mage plants, causing them to wither and die.
Everyone saw Shui Miao meditating and dared not speak loudly. They sat down quietly and waited.
Crow Girl had killed Crow Patriarch’s true form, but she also felt it was too easy. She came to Shui Miao’s side and waited quietly.
Under the influence of Devouring Spirit Power, all the Black Mage plants on the small mountain withered.
A large amount of Devouring Spirit Power then enveloped the adjacent mountain, corroding and devouring all spiritual energy.
To eradicate the threat completely, Shui Miao went all out, conducting a carpet-like search, not sparing even a single stone. A few minutes later, Shui Miao’s heart stirred—he noticed an ordinary-looking “Black Mage” plant was unusual. Under the corrosion of Devouring Spirit Power, it transformed into Crow Patriarch’s soul. After a few more minutes, Shui Miao withdrew his Devouring Spirit Power, gaining many memories.
Of course, these were Crow Patriarch’s memories.
It turned out Crow Patriarch wasn’t exceptionally powerful; he just had one unique skill—creating incredibly realistic illusions that were hard to see through.
He had successfully deceived Shui Miao with illusions.
Unfortunately, Crow Patriarch didn’t understand human nature, wasn’t familiar with the demeanor of the powerful, and didn’t know how to act aloof, which made Shui Miao suspicious. Once tested, his evil arts were completely exposed. These arts could create illusions and make them undetectable, which greatly appealed to Shui Miao.
These evil arts were simply a combination of mental power and the five elements’ energy, easy to learn but requiring practice.
Shui Miao opened his eyes and saw Crow Girl. His heart sank—oh no! Now he couldn’t help her restore her form!
His mind racing, Shui Miao quickly closed his eyes again.
He had to find a way to draw out some of the natural path’s primordial power.
Shui Miao wasn’t someone who went back on his word, nor did he make excuses when faced with difficulties. He held himself to high standards, always striving to do his best, and he was a perfectionist.
After some thought, Shui Miao came up with a unique but worth-trying idea.
He would use his immortal power to attack the natural path’s stone tablet.
“The stone tablet was placed in my mental realm by the middle-aged scholar. It’s like an external object, while immortal power belongs to me. Using my immortal power to attack an external object should be fine.” After some consideration, Shui Miao channeled a surge of Devouring Spirit Power into his mental realm, enveloping the natural path’s stone tablet.
“Break!”
Shui Miao willed it, intending for the Devouring Spirit Power to corrode and devour the natural path’s stone tablet. With a “boom,” the tablet shook violently, generating an incredibly terrifying suction force that even pulled Shui Miao himself in!
In front of the cave, Shui Miao suddenly vanished!
Everyone was shocked and started searching around frantically…
※※※
“How did this happen?”
Shui Miao suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar place. There was no sky, no ground—everything was a lush green, filled with the primordial power of the natural path.
He stood in this miraculous place, able to breathe and move.
But before long, Shui Miao felt pain and noticed the green energy beginning to corrode his skin!
“Oh no!”
Shui Miao suddenly remembered using the stone tablet to kill several enemies before. Now, his clever plan had backfired—he was trapped inside the tablet, and it was devouring him!
“No!”
As the pain intensified, Shui Miao panicked. He quickly channeled immortal power to resist the natural path’s primordial energy.
But his immortal power was useless against it.
The released immortal power was like a clay ox entering the sea—gone without a trace.
He realized the natural path’s primordial energy was the most terrifying Devouring Spirit Power!
Shui Miao lost his composure, an unnamed fear rising in his heart. How ironic—he hadn’t been killed by evil demons but was instead going to be killed by the stone tablet in his mental realm that was supposed to help him? He tried to calm down and devise a strategy… but he couldn’t quiet his mind or focus on thinking.
What to do, what to do…
The words “what to do” echoed incessantly in Shui Miao’s mind…
He had never realized he could be so fragile, so flustered, so impulsive, so afraid of death, so easily defeated!
“It’s just death! So what if I die? Why panic?”
To calm himself, Shui Miao slapped himself hard twice across the face… Surprisingly, the slaps helped him calm down quite a bit.
Once calm, Shui Miao remembered that when the stone tablet had broken before, he could easily absorb the primordial energy inside for his own use.
But now, surrounded by this primordial energy, why couldn’t he?
Why wasn’t it working?
What was the difference between now and then?
Suddenly, Shui Miao muttered to himself, “Is it my state of mind? When the tablet broke naturally, I was relaxed, so it was easy to absorb. Now I’m tense, resisting the natural path’s primordial energy, so it’s devouring me instead? Yes! That must be it. The demons sucked into the tablet couldn’t possibly remain calm, so they were doomed to be destroyed!”
This seemed highly plausible.
Thinking this, Shui Miao immediately forced himself to calm down, thinking of lighter matters.
If this method didn’t work, he really had no other ideas.
Pain, excruciating pain, relentlessly assaulted Shui Miao.
He sat cross-legged, no longer looking at the changes to his skin. He felt at times as if he were being fried over fire, at other times as if thousands of insects were gnawing at him!
Under the devouring power of the natural path’s primordial energy, his skin slowly turned into green mist.
His body trembled uncontrollably!
This kind of pain was unbearable for ordinary people.
But he had no choice. Not only did he have to endure it, but he also had to force himself to stay calm, to relax…
How was that possible?
After persevering for a while, Shui Miao’s resolve began to waver. He was about to die—how could he possibly relax?
But then he thought, would struggling help? Would screaming help?
He had to grit his teeth and persevere—maybe there was still a chance!
If he gave up easily, death was certain.
Shui Miao continued to grit his teeth and endure…
But the pain incessantly harassed his spirit, making it impossible to calm down and focus.
Finally, Shui Miao couldn’t help but open his eyes. He saw that he was already a bloody, mangled mess—a horrifying sight… Seeing his own wretched state, Shui Miao was suddenly stunned!
Abruptly, Shui Miao wondered, what was the deeper meaning of the natural path’s stone tablet?
“Follow nature to thrive, oppose nature to perish.”
“If my strength and cultivation are insufficient, and my understanding of the natural path is shallow, entering the stone tablet would naturally result in backlash!”
“Now, why don’t I ignore the pain and try cultivating by breathing in the natural path’s primordial energy? If I can integrate it into my immortal power, wouldn’t I adapt to this place?”
Earlier, Shui Miao had been relying on immortal power to sustain his body and hadn’t breathed.
Now, Shui Miao relaxed and took a deep breath of the primordial energy. It felt not like air but like a pot of scalding water, instantly burning his internal organs, his viscera, everything inside!
Originally, Shui Miao had only suffered skin-deep pain; now, every part of him, inside and out, was in agony.
After two breaths, Shui Miao regretted it—he had made another mistake!
Shui Miao suddenly wondered, why had his luck been so good before, but now it was so bad?
“Pfft!”
Shui Miao spat out a mouthful of blood, writhing in unbearable pain.
He could no longer calm down. He felt death was imminent.
As the pain intensified, Shui Miao lost consciousness in despair, but miraculously, his awareness remained!
Shui Miao’s physical body had completely turned into green primordial energy—not a single bone fragment remained.
Even the sphere of immortal power in his dantian had transformed into primordial energy.
He was now a wisp of a soul.
This wisp of soul was enveloped by the white primordial energy of the wind-water path, protecting it from destruction.
Fortunately, the wind-water path’s primordial energy is protecting my soul, Shui Miao gradually calmed down. He looked around, then at his nearly transparent soul, finding it hard to believe he had died so inexplicably!? As he looked, Shui Miao suddenly noticed a white shadow and a faint black shadow in this green world. intuition told him these shadows were his earth soul and heaven soul. The conscious soul now was his human soul. These two souls were also wrapped in a faint layer of the wind-water path’s primordial energy. They fluttered around like kites in this green world…
Heaven soul, earth soul, and human soul are held together by yang spirit.
Now, Shui Miao’s yang spirit was destroyed; he couldn’t gather his heaven and earth souls.
In this green world, Shui Miao didn’t give up on surviving. He firmly believed he could be reborn. Free from pain now, he sat cross-legged quietly, silently recited the Lingtong Jue and Zongheng Ce to clear his mind, and began meditating and cultivating calmly.
Cultivating the soul was more efficient than cultivating the physical body.
Since there was no rush, Shui Miao immersed himself in cultivation, slowly absorbing the natural path’s primordial energy into his soul and converting it into part of his soul.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Shui Miao suddenly opened his eyes, and his human soul stood up in this green world.
Through cultivation, he had gained insight into the natural path’s primordial energy.
This natural path’s primordial energy contained many miraculous powers—you name it, it had it. The higher his strength, the more he could comprehend.
Shui Miao looked around and flew towards a faintly white energy, absorbing it into his body.
This energy was none other than Shui Miao’s previous yang spirit.
After a while, Shui Miao gathered all his yang spirit and retrieved his heaven and earth souls.
With all three souls and seven spirits complete, Shui Miao felt filled with power, stronger than ever before.
“Now, it’s time to reshape my physical form!”
Shui Miao’s soul sat cross-legged again, entering a long period of meditation.
During meditation, strands of the natural path’s primordial energy gathered, slowly forming Shui Miao’s bones, meridians, muscles, skin, and hair…
Time passed; no one knew how long it had been.
Shui Miao opened his eyes again, finding he had restored his previous appearance—even handsomer—and could now control all the primordial energy here.
“It appears my fortune still holds! Now, it’s time to recondense my inner elixir.” Shui Miao concentrated his thoughts, and all the primordial energy gathered, forming a massive green sphere. This sphere continuously compressed until it was the size of an egg, which Shui Miao swallowed in one swift motion.
“Whoosh…”
Green light flashed at the cave entrance. Under the starry sky, Shui Miao had finally returned!
“How come I didn’t sense him?”
Upon seeing the great monk, Shui Miao was instantly startled.
This great monk couldn’t even be detected by divine sense—how formidable he must be, how profound his magical power!
Shui Miao genuinely hoped this great monk was a stone statue or an illusion, but the facts proved he was not.
The great monk suddenly moved. He opened his eyes and stood up. The “Black Mage” vanished right after. He looked at Shui Miao, smiling as he walked out of the cave, holding a miniature “Black Mage” in his hand. He approached Shui Miao, gave a slight bow, and chanted a Buddhist invocation: “Amitābha, fellow cultivator, your presence honors me. This humble monk pays his respects.”
“Greetings, Great Master. My name is Shui Miao. May I ask your monastic name?”
Shui Miao hurriedly returned the courtesy.
Looking at the great monk, Shui Miao felt an indescribable aura of mystery emanating from him, making it impossible to let one’s guard down.
“This humble monk is called Black Lotus.” The great monk’s expression remained unchanged, still smiling.
What was he smiling about? Shui Miao felt uneasy about Black Lotus Monk’s grin. What kind of monk would smile so shamelessly? This guy was ambiguous, his aura unclear, and he smiled the moment he saw Shui Miao—it was too abnormal. Shui Miao reasoned based on conventional logic: the strong should look down on the weak, they should be aloof, speak sparingly, and value each word. Yet this Black Lotus was the complete opposite. What exactly did he mean?
After a pause, an idea occurred to Shui Miao. He decided to test this Black Lotus.
Immediately, Shui Miao channeled his Soul-Devouring Force into a black sphere, using his will to control it and suspend it before the great monk. “Great Master Black Lotus, I obtained a mass of spiritual energy but cannot identify its nature. I wonder if you recognize it?” Shui Miao blinked. Rather than guessing the great monk’s strength, it was better to test him directly.
“Oh?”
Black Lotus Monk was slightly taken aback, seemingly not expecting Shui Miao to ask him to identify something. He put away his smile and examined the Soul-Devouring Force seriously, furrowing his brow. He then reached out, took the sphere of Soul-Devouring Force in his hand, turned it over and over, clearly unable to identify it.
Seeing that the great monk couldn’t recognize the Soul-Devouring Force, Shui Miao immediately concluded that he was putting on a false front and wasn’t actually powerful. Since he was a monster that was neither human nor demon, hard to distinguish, why not test him further?
As Shui Miao’s intention changed, the Soul-Devouring Force suddenly turned into mist, enveloping the great monk in an instant.
The powerful corrosive force of the Soul-Devouring Force was something most demons and monsters couldn’t withstand.
But to Shui Miao’s astonishment, the great monk crumbled at the touch, vanishing in the blink of an eye!
“What happened?”
Shui Miao immediately heightened his alertness, sensing every movement around him, trying to locate the great monk’s presence but failing utterly. Shui Miao was baffled. Was the great monk deeply concealed, deliberately showing weakness, or was there another reason?
Just then, a rushing wind sound came from behind Shui Miao.
Crow Girl stumbled and landed. She stopped beside Shui Miao at the cave entrance, seeming to have caught the scent of Crow Patriarch. Eager for revenge, she immediately charged into the cave to fight Crow Patriarch to the death. Seeing Crow Girl rush in, Shui Miao didn’t dare delay and quickly followed.
“Kaaa!”
Just a few steps into the cave, an extremely piercing crow screech echoed from inside!
“Kaaa!”
Stimulated by the screech, Crow Girl also let out a scream.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
Suddenly, countless crows appeared in the cave.
Shui Miao sensed that these crows were all illusions, created by Crow Patriarch’s evil arts. He immediately channeled his immortal power to suppress them, easily dispelling all the crow illusions. A wave of Soul-Devouring Force mercilessly enveloped Crow Patriarch’s body.
“Great Monk, save me! Ambush him now!”
Crow Patriarch suddenly screamed loudly.
Shui Miao’s heart tightened, and he immediately went on full alert, fearing the great monk would ambush him from somewhere. But at that moment, Crow Patriarch’s body suddenly exploded with a “bang!” An old crow with a few white feathers on its head shot out of the cave.
“Oh no! I’ve been tricked!”
Shui Miao suddenly realized he had fallen for Crow Patriarch’s diversion tactic.
“Whoosh!”
Crow Girl pursued closely, rushing out of the cave.
Crow Patriarch fled ahead, Crow Girl chased behind—a normally-sized old crow and a gigantic crow woman flying out one after the other…
Using immortal power to chase was already too late.
Using wind might harm Crow Girl.
Shui Miao ran to the cave entrance and saw that Jiang Zhihao and the others had arrived. Worried that the great monk might ambush them, Shui Miao had to stop and focus his senses. He discovered that Crow Patriarch, likely due to the self-destruction, was already severely injured, his power exhausted, leaving only a remnant of breath in his crow form.
Sure enough, after flying just a hundred meters, Crow Patriarch ran out of strength and fell onto a “Black Mage.”
Crow Girl pounced immediately, her massive claws grabbing Crow Patriarch’s body and crushing it instantly!
“Could it be this easy?”
“Where is the great monk?”
Seeing Crow Girl easily destroy Crow Patriarch, Shui Miao was puzzled, feeling it was all too simple.
“There must be a problem!”
Shui Miao refused to believe it ended so simply. He immediately sat down cross-legged, focused his spirit, spread his divine sense, and carefully sensed every inch of the mountain.
The mountains were covered with “Black Mages” emitting strong spiritual energy, interfering with Shui Miao’s senses.
Shui Miao’s intention shifted, and he decided to use the Soul-Devouring Force to spread in all directions, absorbing all the spiritual energy from the Black Mages, causing them to wither and die.
Everyone saw Shui Miao sitting cross-legged and didn’t dare speak loudly. They all sat down quietly and waited slowly.
Crow Girl had killed Crow Patriarch’s true form, but she also felt it was too easy. She came to Shui Miao’s side and waited quietly.
Under the effect of the Soul-Devouring Force, all the Black Mages on the small mountain withered.
A large amount of Soul-Devouring Force then enveloped the adjacent mountain, corroding and devouring all spiritual energy.
To eradicate the threat once and for all, Shui Miao spared no effort, conducting a thorough, carpet-style search, leaving no stone unturned. A few minutes later, Shui Miao’s heart stirred—he noticed that one seemingly ordinary “Black Mage” appeared suspicious. Under the corrosive influence of the Soul-Devouring Force, this Black Mage transformed into the soul of the Crow Patriarch. After a few more minutes, Shui Miao withdrew the Soul-Devouring Force and acquired a wealth of memories.
Naturally, these were Crow Patriarch’s memories.
It turned out Crow Patriarch wasn’t very powerful; he just had one exceptional skill: creating miraculous illusions that were impossible to see through.
He had successfully deceived Shui Miao with illusions.
But unfortunately, Crow Patriarch didn’t understand human nature, wasn’t familiar with the ways of all living beings, didn’t know the demeanor of the strong, and certainly didn’t grasp aloofness, which made Shui Miao suspicious. Once tested, his evil arts were completely exposed. These evil arts could create illusions and make them undetectable, which held great appeal for Shui Miao.
These evil arts were simply concocted from mental power combined with the energy of the five elements. They were easy to learn but required time to practice.
Shui Miao opened his eyes and saw Crow Girl. His heart sank—oh no! Now he couldn’t help her restore her form!
His mind racing, Shui Miao quickly closed his eyes again.
He had to find a way to draw out some of the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
Shui Miao wasn’t the type to go back on his word, nor was he someone who made excuses when faced with difficulties. He held himself to very high standards and always did his utmost. He was a perfectionist.
As his thoughts turned, Shui Miao suddenly came up with a peculiar but worth-trying idea.
That was to use his own immortal power to attack the stone tablet of the Natural Path.
“The stone tablet was placed in my mental realm by the middle-aged scholar. It’s like an external object, while the immortal power belongs to me. Using my immortal power to attack an external object should be fine.” After some consideration, Shui Miao immediately channeled a great amount of Soul-Devouring Force into his mental realm, enveloping the stone tablet of the Natural Path.
“Break!”
As Shui Miao’s intention changed, he focused on having the Soul-Devouring Force corrode and devour the stone tablet of the Natural Path. Suddenly, the tablet shook with a “boom,” generating an incredibly terrifying suction force that even pulled Shui Miao himself in!
In front of the cave, Shui Miao suddenly vanished!
Everyone was shocked and started searching around frantically…
※※※
“How did this happen?”
Shui Miao suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar place. There was no sky, no ground—everywhere was a lush green, filled with the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
He stood in this miraculous place, able to breathe and move.
But before long, Shui Miao felt pain and noticed these green energies beginning to corrode his skin!
“Oh no!”
Shui Miao suddenly remembered that he had used the stone tablet to kill several enemies before. Now, his clever plan had backfired—he had been pulled into the tablet himself, and it was devouring him!
“No!”
Feeling the pain intensifying, Shui Miao panicked and hurriedly channeled immortal power to resist the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
But the immortal power was utterly useless against the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
The unleashed immortal power was like a clay ox entering the sea—gone without a trace.
He realized that the fundamental power of the Natural Path was the most terrifying Soul-Devouring Force of all!
Shui Miao lost his composure, and an nameless fear arose in his heart. How ironic—he hadn’t been killed by evil demons but was instead going to be killed by the stone tablet in his mental realm that had helped him? Shui Miao struggled to calm himself, pondering countermeasures… but he couldn’t calm down or focus his mind to think.
What to do, what to do…
The words “what to do” repeated incessantly in Shui Miao’s mind…
Shui Miao had never imagined he could be so fragile, so flustered, so impulsive, so afraid of death, so easily defeated!
“It’s just death! So what if I die? What’s there to panic about?”
To calm himself, Shui Miao slapped himself hard twice across the face… Surprisingly, the slaps actually helped him calm down a lot.
Once calm, Shui Miao remembered that when the stone tablet had broken before, he could easily absorb the fundamental power inside and make it his own.
But now, enveloped by the fundamental power, why couldn’t he do it?
Why wouldn’t it work?
What was the difference between now and before?
Suddenly, Shui Miao muttered to himself, “Is it a matter of mindset? When the tablet broke naturally, I was relaxed, so it was easy to make it my own. Now I’m tense, resisting the fundamental power of the Natural Path, and instead being devoured by it? Yes! That must be it. Those evil demons sucked into the tablet—how could they remain calm? So they were doomed to be destroyed!”
This was highly possible.
Thinking this, Shui Miao immediately forced himself to calm down and think of lighter things.
If this method didn’t work, Shui Miao really couldn’t think of any other way.
Pain, waves of heart-wrenching pain, relentlessly assaulted Shui Miao.
He sat cross-legged, no longer looking at the changes in his skin, feeling at times as if he were being fried over fire, at other times as if being chewed by countless insects!
His skin, under the devouring force of the Natural Path’s fundamental power, slowly turned into green energy.
His body trembled uncontrollably!
This kind of pain was unbearable for a normal person.
But he had no choice. He not only had to endure it but also force himself to stay calm, to keep his mood light…
How was that possible?
After persisting for a while, Shui Miao’s will began to waver. He was about to die, yet he was supposed to think light thoughts? It was simply impossible!
But then Shui Miao thought again: would struggling help? Would shouting help?
He had to grit his teeth and persevere; perhaps there was a slim chance of survival!
If he gave up easily, death was certain.
Shui Miao continued to grit his teeth and persevere…
But the pain constantly assailed his spirit, making it impossible for him to calm down and focus!
Finally, Shui Miao couldn’t resist opening his eyes, only to find himself covered in blood, a truly gruesome sight… Staring at his own ghastly state, Shui Miao was momentarily frozen in shock!
Abruptly, Shui Miao wondered: what was the deeper meaning of the Natural Path’s stone tablet?
“Follow nature to live, go against nature to perish.”
“If your strength and cultivation are insufficient, and your understanding of the Natural Path is shallow, entering the stone tablet of the Natural Path will naturally result in backlash!”
“Now, why don’t I ignore the pain, breathe in the fundamental power of the Natural Path, and try to cultivate? If I can integrate the fundamental power of the Natural Path into my immortal power, wouldn’t I then adapt to this place?”
Earlier, Shui Miao had been relying on immortal power to sustain his body and hadn’t been breathing.
At this moment, Shui Miao relaxed and took a deep breath of the primal energy. It felt as though he wasn’t inhaling air, but rather a large pot of boiling water that seared his internal organs, his viscera, everything within his body!
Originally, Shui Miao had only suffered skin-deep pain; now, every part of him, inside and out, was in agony.
After two breaths, Shui Miao regretted it—he had made another mistake!
Shui Miao suddenly wondered: why had his luck been so good before, but now it had turned so bad?
“Pfft!”
Shui Miao spat out a mouthful of blood, struggling in agony.
He could no longer calm down; he felt he was about to die.
As the pain intensified, Shui Miao lost consciousness in despair, but miraculously, his awareness remained!
Shui Miao’s physical body had completely turned into green fundamental power—not a single speck of bone remained.
Even the sphere of immortal power in his dantian had transformed into fundamental power.
He was now a wisp of a soul.
This wisp of soul was enveloped by the white fundamental power of the Wind and Water Path, so it wouldn’t be destroyed.
Fortunately, the fundamental power of the Wind and Water Path was safeguarding his soul. Gradually, Shui Miao calmed down, glanced around, and then looked at his nearly transparent soul. It was hard to believe—had he died so inexplicably!? As he observed, Shui Miao suddenly noticed a white shadow and a faint black shadow in this green world. Intuition told him these shadows were his Earth Soul and Heaven Soul. The conscious soul now was his Human Soul. These two souls were also enveloped in a faint fundamental power of the Wind and Water Path. They were like kites, drifting aimlessly in this green world…
The Heaven Soul, Earth Soul, and Human Soul are held together by Yang Spirit.
Now, Shui Miao’s Yang Spirit was destroyed; he couldn’t gather his Heaven Soul and Earth Soul.
In this green world, Shui Miao didn’t give up his will to survive. He firmly believed he could be reborn. Now, free from the disturbance of pain, he sat cross-legged quietly, silently recited the Lingtong Jue and Zongheng Ce to clarify his mind, and began to meditate and cultivate calmly.
Cultivating the soul was more efficient than cultivating the physical body.
Since there was no hurry, Shui Miao immersed himself in cultivation, slowly absorbing the fundamental power of the Natural Path into his soul and converting it into part of his soul.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Shui Miao suddenly opened his eyes, and his Human Soul stood up in this green world.
Through cultivation, he had gained insight into the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
This fundamental power contained many miraculous forces—everything one could need. The higher one’s strength, the more one could comprehend.
Shui Miao looked around and flew toward a faintly white energy, absorbing it into himself.
This energy was none other than Shui Miao’s former Yang Spirit.
After a while, Shui Miao gathered all his Yang Spirit and retrieved his Heaven Soul and Earth Soul.
With all three souls and seven spirits complete, Shui Miao felt filled with power, stronger than ever before.
“Now, it’s time to reshape my physical form!”
Shui Miao’s soul sat cross-legged and once again entered a long period of meditation.
During meditation, strands of the fundamental power of the Natural Path gathered, slowly forming Shui Miao’s bones, meridians, muscles, skin, and hair…
Time passed; no one knew how long it had been.
Shui Miao opened his eyes again and found he had restored his previous appearance, even handsomer than before, and could control all the fundamental power here.
“It appears my fortune hasn’t abandoned me yet! Now, it’s time to reconcentrate my inner essence.” Shui Miao’s focus shifted, and all the primal energy coalesced into a massive green sphere. This sphere continued to condense until it was no larger than an egg, which Shui Miao then swallowed whole.
“Whoosh…”
A green light flickered at the entrance of the cave. Beneath the vast expanse of twinkling stars, Shui Miao had finally made her way back!
Shui Miao’s soul sat cross-legged again, entering a long period of meditation.
During meditation, strands of the natural Dao’s essence gathered, slowly transforming into his bones, tendons, muscles, skin, and hair…
Time passed, with no one knowing how long.
When Shui Miao opened his eyes again, he had regained his previous appearance, even more handsome, and could now control all the essence here.
“How come I didn’t sense him?”
Upon seeing the great monk, Shui Miao was instantly astonished.
This great monk couldn’t even be detected by divine sense—how formidable he must be, how profound his magical power!
Shui Miao genuinely hoped this great monk was a stone statue or an illusion, but the facts proved he was not.
The great monk suddenly moved. He opened his eyes and stood up. The “Black Mage” vanished right after. He looked at Shui Miao, smiling as he walked out of the cave, holding a miniature “Black Mage” in his hand. He approached Shui Miao, gave a slight bow, and chanted a Buddhist invocation: “Amitābha, fellow cultivator, your presence honors this humble monk.”
“Greetings, Great Master. My name is Shui Miao. May I ask your monastic name?”
Shui Miao hurriedly returned the courtesy.
Looking at the great monk, Shui Miao felt an indescribable aura of mystery emanating from him, making it impossible to let one’s guard down.
“This humble monk’s name is Black Lotus.” The great monk’s expression remained unchanged, still smiling.
What was he smiling about? Shui Miao felt uneasy about Black Lotus Monk’s smile. What kind of monk grinned so frivolously? This guy was enigmatic, his aura unclear, and he smiled upon seeing Shui Miao—it was highly unusual. Applying normal human logic, the strong should disdain the weak. The strong should be aloof, speaking sparingly, each word carrying weight. Yet this Black Lotus was the complete opposite. What was his intention?
After a moment’s pause, Shui Miao hatched a plan to test Black Lotus.
Immediately, Shui Miao channeled his Devouring Spirit Power into a black sphere, using his will to suspend it before the great monk. “Great Master Black Lotus, I obtained a mass of spiritual energy but cannot identify its nature. I wonder if you recognize it?” Shui Miao blinked. Rather than guessing the great monk’s strength, it was better to test him directly.
“Oh?”
Black Lotus Monk was slightly taken aback, seemingly not expecting Shui Miao to ask him to identify something. He put away his smile and examined the Devouring Spirit Power seriously, furrowing his brow. He then reached out, took the sphere of Devouring Spirit Power in his hand, turned it over, clearly unable to identify it.
Seeing that the great monk couldn’t recognize the Devouring Spirit Power, Shui Miao immediately concluded that the monk was putting on a false front and wasn’t actually powerful. Since he was a monster that was neither human nor demon, hard to distinguish, why not test him further?
As Shui Miao’s intent shifted, the Devouring Spirit Power suddenly turned into mist, enveloping the great monk in an instant.
The potent corrosive power of Devouring Spirit Power was something most demons and monsters couldn’t withstand.
But to Shui Miao’s astonishment, the great monk collapsed upon contact, vanishing in the blink of an eye!
“What’s going on?”
Shui Miao immediately heightened his alertness, sensing every movement around him, trying to locate the great monk’s presence but failing utterly. Shui Miao was baffled. Was the great monk deeply concealed, deliberately feigning weakness, or was there another reason?
Just then, a rushing wind sound came from behind Shui Miao.
Crow Girl stumbled and landed. She stopped beside Shui Miao at the cave entrance, seemingly having caught the scent of Crow Patriarch. Eager for revenge, she charged into the cave immediately to confront Crow Patriarch. Seeing Crow Girl rush in, Shui Miao didn’t hesitate and followed closely.
“Kaaa!”
Just a few steps into the cave, an extremely piercing crow screech echoed from within!
“Kaaa!”
Stimulated by the screech, Crow Girl also let out a shriek.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…”
Suddenly, countless crows appeared inside the cave.
Sensing that these crows were illusions created by Crow Patriarch’s evil arts, Shui Miao immediately channeled his immortal power to suppress them, easily dispelling all the crow illusions. A wave of Devouring Spirit Power mercilessly enveloped Crow Patriarch’s body.
“Great Monk, save me! Ambush him now!”
Crow Patriarch suddenly screamed loudly.
Shui Miao’s heart tightened, and he immediately went on full alert, fearing the great monk would ambush him from somewhere. But at that moment, Crow Patriarch’s body suddenly exploded with a “bang!” An old crow with a few white feathers on its head shot out of the cave toward the outside.
“Not good! I’ve been tricked!”
Shui Miao suddenly realized he had fallen for Crow Patriarch’s diversion tactic.
“Whoosh!”
Crow Girl gave chase without hesitation, rushing out of the cave.
Crow Patriarch fled ahead, Crow Girl pursued behind—a normally sized old crow and an enormous crow woman flying out one after the other…
Channeling immortal power to chase was already too late.
Using wind might accidentally harm Crow Girl.
Shui Miao ran to the cave entrance and saw that Jiang Zhihao and the others had arrived. Worried that the great monk might ambush them, Shui Miao had to stop and focus his senses. He discovered that Crow Patriarch, likely due to the self-destruction, was already severely injured, his power exhausted, leaving only a remnant of breath in his crow form.
Sure enough, after flying just a hundred meters, Crow Patriarch ran out of strength and fell onto a “Black Mage” plant.
Crow Girl pounced immediately, her massive claws grabbing Crow Patriarch’s body and crushing it outright!
“Was it really this easy?”
“Where is the great monk?”
Seeing Crow Girl easily destroy Crow Patriarch, Shui Miao was puzzled, feeling it was all too straightforward.
“There must be a problem!”
Shui Miao refused to believe it was over so simply. He immediately sat down cross-legged, focused his spirit, spread out his divine sense, and carefully sensed every inch of the mountain.
The mountains were covered with “Black Mage” plants emitting strong spiritual energy, interfering with Shui Miao’s senses.
With a flash of intent, Shui Miao decided to use Devouring Spirit Power to spread in all directions, absorbing all the spiritual energy from the Black Mage plants, causing them to wither and wilt.
Everyone saw Shui Miao sitting cross-legged and didn’t dare speak loudly. They all sat down quietly and waited patiently.
Crow Girl had killed Crow Patriarch’s main body, but she also felt it was too easy. She came to Shui Miao’s side and waited quietly.
Under the influence of Devouring Spirit Power, all the Black Mage plants on the small mountain withered.
A large amount of Devouring Spirit Power then enveloped the adjacent mountain, corroding and devouring all spiritual energy.
To eradicate the root of the problem, Shui Miao went all out, conducting a carpet-style search, not sparing even a single stone. A few minutes later, Shui Miao’s heart stirred—he discovered that one seemingly ordinary “Black Mage” plant was unusual. Under the corrosion of Devouring Spirit Power, this Black Mage transformed into Crow Patriarch’s soul. After a few more minutes, Shui Miao withdrew the Devouring Spirit Power and obtained many memories.
Naturally, these were Crow Patriarch’s memories.
It turned out Crow Patriarch wasn’t exceptionally powerful; he just had one unique skill: creating miraculous illusions that were impossible to see through.
He had successfully deceived Shui Miao with illusions.
But unfortunately, Crow Patriarch didn’t understand human nature, wasn’t familiar with the ways of all living beings, didn’t know the demeanor of the strong, and even less understood aloofness, which made Shui Miao suspicious. Once tested, his evil arts were completely exposed. These evil arts could create illusions and make them undetectable, which held great appeal for Shui Miao.
These evil arts were simply a combination of mental power and the energy of the five elements, easy to learn but requiring time to practice.
Shui Miao opened his eyes and saw Crow Girl. His heart sank—oh no! Now he couldn’t help her restore her form!
His mind racing, Shui Miao quickly closed his eyes again.
He had to find a way to draw out some of the fundamental power of the Natural Path.
Shui Miao wasn’t the type to go back on his word, nor was he someone who made excuses when faced with difficulties. He held himself to very high standards, always doing his utmost, and he was a perfectionist.
As his thoughts churned, Shui Miao suddenly came up with a unique but worth-trying idea.
That was to use his own immortal power to attack the stone tablet of the Natural Path.
“The stone tablet was placed in my mental realm by the middle-aged scholar. It’s like an external object, while immortal power belongs to me. Using my immortal power to attack an external object should be fine.” After some consideration, Shui Miao immediately channeled a great surge of Devouring Spirit Power into his mental realm, enveloping the stone tablet of the Natural Path.
“Break!”
With a shift in intent, Shui Miao willed the Devouring Spirit Power to corrode and devour the Natural Path’s stone tablet. Suddenly, the tablet shook with a “boom,” generating an incredibly terrifying suction force that even pulled Shui Miao himself in!
In front of the cave, Shui Miao suddenly vanished!
Everyone was shocked and started searching around frantically…
※※※
“How did this happen?”
Shui Miao suddenly found himself in an unfamiliar place. There was no sky, no ground—everywhere was a lush green, filled with the source power of the Natural Path’s fundamental force.
He stood in this miraculous place, able to breathe and move.
But before long, Shui Miao felt pain and noticed these green energies beginning to corrode his skin!
“Not good!”
Shui Miao suddenly remembered that he had used the stone tablet to kill several enemies before. Now, his clever plan had backfired—he had been pulled into the tablet himself, and it was devouring him!
“No!”
Feeling the pain in his skin intensifying, Shui Miao panicked and hurriedly channeled immortal power to resist the fundamental force of the Natural Path.
But the immortal power was utterly useless against this fundamental force.
The unleashed immortal power was like a clay ox entering the sea—gone without a trace.
He realized that the fundamental force of the Natural Path was the most terrifying Devouring Spirit Power of all!
Shui Miao lost his composure, an unnamed fear rising in his heart. How ironic—he hadn’t been killed by evil demons but was instead going to be killed by the stone tablet in his mental realm that was supposed to help him? Shui Miao struggled to calm himself, pondering countermeasures… but he couldn’t quiet his mind or focus on thinking.
What to do, what to do…
The words “what to do” repeated incessantly in Shui Miao’s mind…
Shui Miao had never imagined he could be so fragile, so flustered, so impulsive, so afraid of death, so easily defeated!
“It’s just death! If I die, I die. What’s there to panic about?”
To calm himself down, Shui Miao slapped himself hard twice across the face… Surprisingly, the slaps actually helped him calm down a lot.
Once calm, Shui Miao remembered that when the stone tablet had broken before, he could easily absorb the fundamental force inside and make it his own.
But now, enveloped by the fundamental force, why couldn’t he do it?
Why wouldn’t it work?
What was the difference between now and before?
Suddenly, Shui Miao muttered to himself, “Is it a matter of mindset? When the stone tablet broke naturally, I was relaxed, so it was easy to make it my own. Now I’m tense, resisting the fundamental force of the Natural Path, and instead being devoured by it? Yes! That must be it. Those evil demons sucked into the tablet—how could they remain calm? So they were doomed to be destroyed!”
This was highly likely.
Thinking this, Shui Miao immediately forced himself to calm down, thinking of lighter matters.
If this method didn’t work, Shui Miao really couldn’t think of any other way.
Pain, waves of heart-piercing pain, relentlessly assaulted Shui Miao.
He sat cross-legged, no longer looking at the changes in his skin, feeling at times as if he were being fried in oil or roasted over fire, and at other times as if thousands of insects were chewing on him!
Under the devouring power of the Natural Path’s fundamental force, his skin slowly turned into green energy.
His body trembled uncontrollably!
This kind of pain was unbearable for a normal person.
But he had no choice. He not only had to endure it but also force himself to stay calm, to keep his mood light…
How was that possible?
After persevering for a while, Shui Miao’s will began to waver. He was about to die, yet he was supposed to think light thoughts—it was simply impossible!
But then Shui Miao thought again: was struggling useful? Was shouting useful?
He had to grit his teeth and persevere; perhaps there was still a sliver of hope!
If he gave up easily, death was certain.
Shui Miao continued to grit his teeth and hold on…
But the pain incessantly assailed his spirit, making it impossible for him to calm his mind and focus!
Finally, Shui Miao couldn’t help but open his eyes and saw that he was already a mangled, bloody mess, a sight too gruesome to behold… Seeing his own wretched state, Shui Miao was suddenly stunned!
Abruptly, Shui Miao wondered: what was the profound meaning of the Natural Path’s stone tablet?
“Follow nature to live, go against nature to perish.”
“If your strength and cultivation are insufficient, and your understanding of the Natural Path is shallow, entering the stone tablet of the Natural Path will naturally result in backlash!”
“Now, why don’t I ignore the pain, breathe in the fundamental force of the Natural Path, and try to cultivate? If I can integrate the fundamental force of the Natural Path into my immortal power, wouldn’t I then adapt to this place?”
Earlier, Shui Miao had been relying on immortal power to sustain his body and hadn’t been breathing.
Now, Shui Miao relaxed his mind, took a deep breath of the fundamental force, and felt as if what he inhaled wasn’t air but a large pot of hot water. This pot of hot water instantly scalded his internal organs, his viscera, everything inside his body!
Originally, Shui Miao had only suffered skin-deep pain; now, every part of him, inside and out, was in agony.
After two breaths, Shui Miao regretted it—he had made another mistake!
Shui Miao suddenly wondered: why had his luck been so good before, but now it had turned so bad?
“Pfft!”
Shui Miao spat out a mouthful of blood, struggling in agony.
He could no longer calm his mind; he felt he was about to die.
As the pain intensified, Shui Miao lost consciousness in despair, but miraculously, his awareness remained!
Shui Miao’s physical body had completely turned into green fundamental force—not even a speck of bone remained.
Even the sphere of immortal power in his dantian had transformed into fundamental force.
He was now a wisp of a soul.
This wisp of soul was enveloped by the white fundamental force of the Wind and Water Path, so it wouldn’t be destroyed.
Fortunately, the fundamental force of the Wind and Water Path was safeguarding my soul. Gradually, Shui Miao calmed down, glanced around, and then at his nearly transparent soul, finding it hard to believe that he had died so inexplicably!? As he observed, Shui Miao suddenly noticed a white shadow and a faint black shadow in this green world. Intuition told him that these shadows were his Earth Soul and Heaven Soul. The conscious soul now was the Human Soul. These two souls were also enveloped in a faint fundamental force of the Wind and Water Path. They drifted aimlessly in this green world, like kites…
The Heaven Soul, Earth Soul, and Human Soul are held together by Yang Spirit.
Now, Shui Miao’s Yang Spirit was destroyed; he couldn’t gather his Heaven Soul and Earth Soul at all.
In this green world, Shui Miao didn’t give up his will to survive. He firmly believed he could be reborn. Now, free from the torment of pain, he calmly sat cross-legged, silently recited the Lingtong Jue and Zongheng Ce in his heart to clarify his mind, and began to meditate and cultivate quietly.
Cultivating the soul was more efficient than cultivating the physical body.
Since there was no rush, Shui Miao immersed himself in cultivation, slowly absorbing the fundamental force of the Natural Path into his soul and converting it into part of his soul.
He didn’t know how much time had passed when Shui Miao suddenly opened his eyes, and his Human Soul stood up in this green world.
Through cultivation, he had gained insight into the fundamental force of the Natural Path.
This fundamental force of the Natural Path contained many miraculous powers—you could say it had everything. The higher your strength, the more you could comprehend.
Shui Miao looked around and flew toward a faintly white energy, absorbing it into his body.
This energy was none other than Shui Miao’s previous Yang Spirit.
After a while, Shui Miao gathered all his Yang Spirit and retrieved his Heaven Soul and Earth Soul.
With all three souls and seven spirits complete, Shui Miao felt filled with power, stronger than ever before.
“Now, it’s time to reshape my physical body!”
Shui Miao’s soul sat cross-legged and once again sank into prolonged meditation.
During meditation, strands of the Natural Path’s fundamental force gathered, slowly forming Shui Miao’s bones, meridians, muscles, skin, and hair…
Time passed; no one knew how long it had been.
Shui Miao opened his eyes again and found he had restored his previous appearance, even handsomer than before, and could now control all the fundamental force here.
“It appears my fortune hasn’t abandoned me yet! Now, it’s time to reconsolidate my inner essence.” With a swift surge of will, Shui Miao witnessed all the primal energy converge, instantly coalescing into a massive green sphere. This sphere continued to condense until it shrank to the size of an egg, which Shui Miao promptly swallowed whole.
“Whoosh…”
A green light flashed at the cave entrance. Beneath the vast expanse of twinkling stars, Shui Miao had finally returned!
“Hu…”
A flash of green light at the cave entrance, under the starry sky, Shui Miao finally returned!
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