“That little monkey is really annoying!” Bi Zhen said angrily.
The “little monkey” Bi Zhen referred to was not actually Wukong, the genuine little monkey, but rather the beloved son of Lord Shi.
After being healed by Zhang Shisan, this little fellow immediately displayed, like other children his age, a mischievous talent capable of provoking heaven’s wrath and leaving both men and ghosts speechless.
Originally, when Lady Shi took care of him, everything went smoothly. However, recently, because the Fragrant Sect had been destroyed, Shijia Village, which had been burned by the sect, naturally needed to be rebuilt. Normally, such matters should be managed by the head of the household, unfortunately Lord Shi was always one to shirk responsibility, leaving Lady Shi to shoulder the burden alone.
Lady Shi went to Shijia Village, so naturally the young boy stayed behind with Lord Shi at the Shi residence temporarily. Unfortunately, Lord Shi was truly an inadequate father; each day he either sat drinking with Zhang Shisan or listened to Shi Mengzhu recounting ancient tales and discussing past and present, leaving the boy completely unattended.
When a child of that age is left unsupervised, it’s no surprise things become chaotic. If it had been any other family, knowing the Shis were guests, they might have turned a blind eye. But this little troublemaker, after playing around for a few days, suddenly discovered Bi Zhen’s beloved Wukong. With this new target in mind, he spent each day devising schemes to catch Wukong to play with.
He didn’t consider that although Wukong looked small, in terms of agility, how easily could a half-grown child catch him? After several days of repeated failures, he changed tactics and approached Bi Zhen directly, strongly demanding to borrow Wukong for a few days to play with.
Bi Zhen naturally ignored his request. But this kid was truly a persistent pest, coming to bother Bi Zhen every day until she finally lost her temper, casting a spell to bind him up and giving his bottom a few hard smacks.
The little boy ran off crying, and Bi Zhen angrily came to find Mei Qing, fuming.
Mei Qing, upon hearing the whole story, couldn’t help but smile wryly: “Zhen’er, why get so angry with a child? Besides, children this age being mischievous is actually quite endearing…”
“Endearing!?” Bi Zhen’s eyes widened in disbelief: “I wish I could strangle him! Qing’er, don’t get any funny ideas. I’m your cultivation partner, not your wife. Anyway, I’m definitely not having kids in the future. If you want kids, you have them yourself. Don’t bring them in front of me—I hate kids!”
In the end, Mei Qing gave Bi Zhen a suggestion: let Hou Shen take care of the little boy. After all, with two monkeys, the older one should be able to manage the younger, right?
Bi Zhen’s eyes lit up: “Right! You’re so clever, Ah Zhen. Why not just have Hou Shen take that little monkey as a disciple? Master and apprentice, a pair of monkeys—how fitting!”
Mei Qing could only helplessly watch as Bi Zhen, delighted with her plan, hurried off to implement it.
Slowly withdrawing his spiritual awareness, Mei Qing quietly looked at the small bronze figurine in his hand, a slightly dazed expression on his face.
Mei Qing was no longer the novice he once was when he first began learning forging techniques from Zhang Shisan and Master Ku. After obtaining the forging techniques of Xu Fu and Zhang Liusun and practicing them diligently, his skills in forging had rapidly improved. Combined with his frequent bursts of creative inspiration, the items he crafted often earned praise from Zhang Shisan.
However, Zhang Shisan repeatedly warned Mei Qing that cultivation should always focus primarily on oneself, and forging was merely an external pursuit—never to be prioritized over one’s own spiritual development.
Mei Qing naturally understood that one of his main motivations for devoting so much effort to forging was to uncover the secrets of the bronze figure in his possession and the mysterious cauldron within his body.
But the results were quite disappointing.
First, Mei Qing attempted to manipulate the cauldron inside him. He had assumed that, having made progress in forging, especially after studying Zhang Liusun’s forging techniques, controlling the cauldron should be relatively easy. However, after repeated attempts, Mei Qing discovered that the cauldron was not only difficult to control, but in fact had become even more unpredictable than before.
No matter what methods Mei Qing tried, the cauldron remained impervious to his influence. According to the techniques taught by Zhang Liusun, he couldn’t control it at all. This puzzled Mei Qing greatly. After all, when he encountered danger within the path opened by Xu Fu, Mei Qing had successfully used Zhang Liusun’s techniques to control the secondary cauldron and escape his physical form. Now, however, the same techniques were completely ineffective—an enigma indeed.
Similarly, when attempting to probe the bronze figurine using Xu Fu’s techniques, the situation was little better. Although the bronze figure had shrunk to just a few inches tall, neither Zhang Shisan nor Mei Qing could penetrate it with their spiritual awareness or true energy, making it impossible to understand or refine it.
The only somewhat encouraging progress Mei Qing had made was in his mastery of the palm thunder technique.
In previous battles, Mei Qing’s techniques could be described as flexible and versatile at best, or haphazard and piecemeal at worst. Although Zhang Shisan had taught him many talisman-based techniques, and he had studied the Huayan esoteric methods under Master Ku, these didn’t harmonize well with his practice of the Shenxiao Thunder Dao, so their power never felt as fluid or natural as when the two masters used them.
Since acquiring the palm thunder technique and witnessing Zhang Liusun’s mastery of it, Mei Qing naturally favored this method. During this period of cultivation, aside from forging techniques, the palm thunder method was the one he focused on most.
Palm thunder was one of the most fundamental Daoist techniques in the Shenxiao sect, yet it was also among the most powerful. Compared to the elemental thunder techniques of other sects, palm thunder wasn’t particularly refined—it was based on the Shenxiao thunder Dao, combining the primordial elements of the five phases. However, when practiced, it offered a wide range of variations, all dependent on the practitioner’s ingenuity.
All the Daoist techniques Zhang Shisan taught Mei Qing originated from talismans. Even when Mei Qing later learned to perform them without talismans, the fundamental principle still relied on talisman-based cultivation. Since Mei Qing didn’t follow a purely talisman-based cultivation path, his techniques always felt somewhat detached when he used them, making it hard to achieve true unity between mind and action.
But palm thunder required no external aids—it relied entirely on one’s own cultivation to activate the primordial energies and generate the five elements. Combined with Mei Qing’s Shenxiao thunder Dao, it was like giving a tiger wings. His progress accelerated rapidly, and within days, he began to feel a deep understanding and increasing proficiency.
“Five Elements facing the sun, Heaven’s Origin and Earth’s Fire, as the command is given—swiftly!” With a flip of Zhang Shisan’s five fingers, a blank talisman “whooshed” into the air. Mysterious talismanic symbols appeared out of nowhere on the paper, crisscrossing and forming intricate patterns. As Zhang Shisan chanted his incantation, the talisman ignited in a burst of pale white flame, turning to ash and vanishing into the air before him.
As the ashes scattered, three black orbs the size of marbles suddenly appeared in the air, forming a triangular formation as they shot rapidly toward Mei Qing, who sat calmly atop his spirit crane, a confident expression on his face.
Mei Qing naturally knew the power hidden within Zhang Shisan’s small fireballs. Once, Zhang Shisan had used this technique to fight against a nightmare spirit that had emerged from underground. At that time, Zhang had combined thunder and fire, but now he was using only earth fire. Although it was a restrained attack, launching three at once clearly meant they weren’t easy to deal with.
“The origin of Taiji, the root of heaven and earth—swiftly!” Mei Qing’s expression remained calm as he chanted the incantation, raising both palms. Instantly, five small orbs formed between each of his hands.
The five elemental orbs spun rapidly, continuously shifting and darting between his fingers. Without hesitation, Mei Qing raised both hands simultaneously, unleashing all ten orbs in a sweeping barrage—one after another.
With a series of sharp crackling sounds, the elemental orbs collided head-on with Zhang Shisan’s three fireballs. Upon impact, two of Zhang Shisan’s fireballs exploded immediately, sending waves of intense heat sweeping across the water surface within a radius of dozens of zhang, creating a hazy mist.
Then, Mei Qing softly intoned, “!” and with a twist of both hands, the ten elemental orbs simultaneously split apart, spinning wildly.
The ten orbs danced and whirled in midair, tracing dark trails as they enveloped Zhang Shisan’s remaining two fireballs. The fireballs kept exploding and expanding, darting left and right, scorching the surrounding seawater and causing it to churn violently, but ultimately failing to break free.
Finally, with a dull boom, a massive cloud of mist was suddenly blown apart by a gust of wind, and the sea surface erupted into several rings of towering waves radiating outward.
“Haha, kid, you’ve definitely improved—you’ve got some real skill!” Zhang Shisan flicked his sleeve, instantly drawing the re-forming sea mist into his sleeve. With another wave of his hand, the massive waves created by their battle instantly calmed.
“This palm thunder technique is indeed wondrous—the Shenxiao sect’s methods are truly impressive.”
“Master flatters me,” Mei Qing remained seated on his crane, his expression calm and composed, seemingly unmoved by praise: “Compared to the Grandmaster of the Xuan Sect, my skills are still mere child’s play.”
As the saying goes, after seeing the Five Sacred Mountains, no other mountains seem worth viewing. Although Mei Qing’s cultivation was not yet at the peak, the experiences and encounters he had accumulated over this period were all with the top cultivators in the cultivation world. His perspective had broadened greatly, and his mindset had evolved far beyond what it once was.
“Very well, this mindset is especially rare,” Zhang Shisan naturally didn’t hesitate to praise his prized disciple: “Before, I was worried that your progress was too rapid, potentially leading to instability in your temperament. But now, it seems my concerns were unfounded. Oh, by the way, your bald master has some matters to attend to within his sect and probably won’t be available for a while. Since you’ve recovered sufficiently, let’s start preparing for entering the formation soon.”
Mei Qing nodded, sitting calmly atop his spirit crane, gazing out at the vast expanse of the ocean below.
To avoid drawing unwanted attention, they had specially flown out to the Minghai Sea for their sparring match. It was just at sunrise, with a thin veil of sea mist in the distance. The rising sun was a vivid red, dripping with color, casting purple-gold rays that shimmered on the sea surface in countless wavering golden reflections. The water was no more than a zhang deep, the sunlight penetrating it like a vast, boundless emerald expanse stretching endlessly in all directions.
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