Wen Tail laughed heartily, his voice brimming with confidence as he said, “Master Zhang, at this moment, aside from trusting me, do you really have any other path to take? Simply hand me the cauldron first, and I shall pass on to you the method of cultivating the Yuan Shen (original spirit). After that, I shall erase the Yuan Shen of this rebellious disciple of yours. You may then enter his body and leave freely. Following my method, you can either cultivate within that vessel or seek another suitable body. As they say, the sea is vast and allows fish to leap as they will—why not?”
Mei Qing remained silent. On the side, Tao Zhongwen and Duan Chaoyong were both greatly alarmed. Duan had already prepared himself mentally, but when Tao heard Wen Tail’s words, he was secretly astonished. Yet he knew Wen Tail’s temperament well—knowing that the more one pleaded, the more useless it would be. He could only lower his head, silently calculating in his mind.
Mei Qing shook his head slightly and said, “I’m sorry, Master Wen, but our bodies, hair and skin included, are gifts from our parents. I dare not hand this body over to you.”
“Gifts from parents?” Wen Tail laughed loudly. “As for what happened back then, who among us doesn’t know the truth? Do you really still consider yourself an ordinary son of parents?”
As he spoke, Wen Tail suddenly gazed at Mei Qing’s face and sighed, “You and Wuduo—what I mean is this physical body—it truly resembles Wuduo back then. Alas, the past is gone, the past is gone. Master Zhang, I ask you one last time: will you agree or not?”
“No matter whether Mei Qing agrees or not, Ning Gu certainly won’t agree,” a suddenly aged voice rang out, startling both Mei Qing and Wen Tail.
Looking toward a nearby stream, suddenly a tree sprouted from the ground.
The tree grew incredibly fast, reaching over a person’s height in the blink of an eye. Several green leaves glistened with vitality. Beside the tree, a figure had appeared seemingly out of nowhere, sitting cross-legged on the ground, his somewhat hazy eyes gazing calmly at the two of them. “Ning Gu still needs guidance from young Master Mei. If you wish to use force, you must first get past me.”
Wen Tail’s eyebrows knitted tightly together, filled with doubt.
It was no wonder Wen Tail was shocked. This place had originally been his own cultivation retreat, with numerous magical arrays set up both outside and inside the gate. Although he wouldn’t dare claim it was as impregnable as a fortress, it definitely wasn’t a place anyone could easily infiltrate.
Yet this Master Ning Gu had managed to enter and leave freely without alerting Wen Tail and his companions. Such a level of cultivation was truly astonishing.
“There’s no need for surprise, Master Fan,” Ning Gu, who must have overheard their conversation, directly addressed Wen Tail’s hidden techniques. “My cultivation path differs greatly from yours. Although I cannot forcefully break through your methods, they are also powerless against me. Mei Qing hasn’t yet answered my question. If you insist on forcing him, I cannot stand idly by.”
Wen Tail’s expression darkened ominously as he coldly asked, “Master Ning Gu, although your cultivation is indeed high, your physical body has not undergone refinement. You are already at the brink of death. If you insist on challenging me now, you might immediately face the danger of losing your life.”
Ning Gu nodded and replied, “Master Fan speaks truly. However, since I don’t have many days left, I naturally must take a chance. Since the celestial deity has given me a vision, it must not abandon me.”
Mei Qing, standing aside, frowned and said, “Master, why must you go to such lengths? I’ve already said that I am young and inexperienced, with shallow insight. How could I possibly guide you? I fear you might have misunderstood the deity’s will. If something unfortunate were to happen because of me, I would bear a grave sin indeed.”
Upon hearing Mei Qing’s words, Ning Gu’s face broke into a smile as he said, “Young Master Mei, your words reveal your kind-hearted nature. But how could the will of the celestial deity be wrong? You simply don’t realize it yet. It is my own choice to act for you, and even if it means shattering my body and bones, it is the decree of heaven. You needn’t feel any guilt.”
Wen Tail became greatly irritated. It was bad enough that Ning Gu had come to interfere, but now he spoke so confidently, as if truly acting on divine will. Seeing that the old man showed no sign of yielding, Wen Tail’s pride flared up. He thought to himself, “Could it be that you think I actually fear you? Although your methods are impressive, who knows if you’re not just a paper tiger? Since I can’t avoid it, I might as well test his true abilities first.”
Having made his decision, Wen Tail let out a cold chuckle and said, “If that’s the case, I shall have to be impolite!”
Without any noticeable gesture, he took a single step backward. Instantly, two figures identical to him appeared on the scene.
These two figures looked exactly like Lu Ze you, except their eyes appeared slightly dull. Their movements were ghostlike, and they floated upward, one to the left and one to the right, rushing toward Ning Gu. At the same time, both let out a long, piercing howl.
Mei Qing felt his mind momentarily shaken and instinctively took several steps back toward Ning Gu, thinking to himself, “This move of Wen Tail’s is indeed impressive. Rare, very rare.”
It turned out that these two humanoid figures were created by Wen Tail using his Plum Blossom Thunder Method as a foundation, combined with puppetry techniques and his own Yuan Shen cultivation method.
The essence of these two figures was actually gathered clouds and qi formed through the Thunder Method, each possessing a fragment of Wen Tail’s Yuan Shen.
It was said that in ancient times, cultivators who obtained powerful beast bodies or the remains of deceased cultivators often created Yuan Shen avatars. Some legends even spoke of cultivators capable of splitting their bodies into hundreds or thousands of forms, much like Sun Wukong’s hair transformation technique in *Journey to the West*. In battle, such avatars could unleash immense power.
These Yuan Shen avatars surpassed ordinary puppets by far. Because they housed fragments of the Yuan Shen, they could be controlled effortlessly and wield various magical techniques, acting in perfect coordination with the original body, as if several versions of oneself were fighting together.
Seeing this, Mei Qing inwardly admired Wen Tail’s skill. Beside him, Duan Chaoyong was completely entranced.
As an expert in puppetry techniques who had also mastered the Plum Blossom Thunder Method, Duan had often pondered how to combine the two. Although his own path had involved many innovations, it still remained within traditional boundaries—puppets remained puppets, and Thunder Methods remained Thunder Methods. How could they compare to Wen Tail’s technique of directly manifesting avatars from his own body? Upon witnessing this, Duan almost forgot his own perilous situation, his heart filled with both shock and joy, and he couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.
However, Master Ning Gu merely smiled slightly, remaining seated motionless. The tree beside him, however, suddenly began to grow rapidly.
Although Mei Qing knew this was merely a small cave dwelling, for a brief moment, he felt as if he were standing in the middle of a vast, endless jungle deep within ten thousand mountains.
As if unchanged since ancient times, a primordial and boundless cosmic aura suddenly filled the space between heaven and earth, like the birth of the universe itself. The desolate, barren land stretched endlessly beneath a scorching sun that beat down mercilessly upon cracked earth. A lifeless, silent stillness seemed to solidify, repelling all signs of life.
The two strange and ghostlike avatars of Wen Tail, originally moving in a coordinated attack from both sides, suddenly recoiled in fear the moment they touched Ning Gu’s oppressive, lifeless aura.
Wen Tail was greatly alarmed. Earlier, when Mei Qing had acted twice—first with that strange stone and then with the giant bronze figure—the ancient, primordial aura emanating from them had already astonished him.
Although Wen Tail possessed great knowledge, he lacked the deep heritage of a major sect. Moreover, these ancient Daoist transmissions were rarely seen by modern cultivators. Since the Han Dynasty, the transmission of cause and effect had shifted, and cultivation techniques had become increasingly clever and intricate, yet unknowingly, they had lost the original simplicity and vastness of ancient cultivation.
Now, when Wen Tail’s clever avatars encountered Ning Gu’s silent but overwhelming aura of ancient wisdom, represented through a single tree symbolizing the vastness before life’s extinction, Wen Tail couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe. If even he felt this way, how much more so for his two avatars?
Watching from the sidelines, Mei Qing, as an observer, clearly saw the situation unfold. Witnessing Ning Gu’s technique, he couldn’t help but inwardly admire. Ning Gu’s move was purely about overwhelming the opponent with sheer presence—using his inherited ancient wisdom to suppress the opponent’s confidence and create a sense of insurmountable superiority. Truthfully, if Mei Qing hadn’t previously witnessed the ancient divine mountains within the Jieshi Minghai and seen the techniques of Zhang Liusun and Xu Fu, he might have instinctively retreated under the pressure of this ancient aura.
If Mei Qing, merely an observer, felt this way, how much more so for Wen Tail, who was directly in the midst of it. The overwhelming ancient aura pressed down on him like an unstoppable mountain. In Wen Tail’s perception, it was as if the vast earth had become a desolate wasteland, with only himself standing alone, yet even he felt invisible, intangible, and powerless to move even the slightest muscle. The sunlight burned like molten lava, purple smoke billowed everywhere, as if he had entered a great furnace, surrounded by blinding red heat.
But Wen Tail was no ordinary man. Knowing he had momentarily lost his composure, he showed no sign of yielding. With a strong effort, he broke free from the pressure, his golden elixir circulating within, and both palms moved simultaneously like twin dragons diving into water, shattering the oppressive sunlight and roaring, “Heaven!”
Master Ning Gu sighed softly, his eyes tightly shut, his long eyebrows trembling. Suddenly, the shattered sunlight and sky transformed once again.
The heavens above were now filled with stars, and a bright, silvery full moon hung high, radiating a calm, gentle glow that bathed the world in serene light, making it seem spotless and pure.
Moonlight flowed like water, and silence reigned across the land. From the previous scorching heat, the scene had suddenly shifted to one of tranquil peace. Mei Qing suddenly felt a stirring in his spirit and slowly raised his hand, forming a mystical seal—the Total and Distinct Seals of the Huayan Six Aspects.
Unaware of his own actions, Mei Qing’s spirit drifted along with the artistic conception displayed by Master Ning Gu, fluctuating between emotions, neither resisting nor clinging, gradually entering a state of wandering and detachment.
Wen Tail laughed heartily, both palms forming mysterious mudras. His left palm opened four times and closed once, while his right palm closed four times and opened once, continuously changing like blooming flowers. Chanting a spell, he cried out, “From one comes ten thousand; from yin springs yang! Celestial gods and earthly spirits, evil ghosts and dark emperors—obey my command! Yuan Zhe (Primordial One)!”
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