Just as Tianmeng Ice Silkworm was gradually merging with Xiao Huo Yuhao, the originally bright sky suddenly turned dark, a thunderous roar erupted, and immense pressure descended from the sky.
Tianmeng Ice Silkworm couldn't help but turn his head in horror to look at the sky. This scene caught him off guard, making him stammer, "Ba-ba-ba-ba-Bai Hong! Who else is here?"
"Don't worry, don't panic. Continue doing what you need to do."
Seeing a gray stream of air rapidly descending from the sky, directly targeting Huo Yuhao, Bai Hong reached out and grabbed the gray stream.
Then, an ancient voice, filled with an indescribable majesty, rang out: "Holding the sun and moon, plucking the stars, there is no one like me in this World. I never thought that I would still have a trace of a remnant soul remaining."
"Greetings, Mr. Iler克斯. My Lord has decreed, please come to My Lord's Divine Kingdom of Emptiness and Ideation for a discussion immediately."
Bai Hong patted this gray stream of air into his forehead; this was part of the plan.
With Bai Hong present, at the very least, Huo Yuhao would be guaranteed a position as a Sequence 2 Earthly Angel under the Fantasist, which, in the God Realm of this World, would be at least a Third-Rank Divinity. And he wouldn't have to be a dog for God King Tang, that battle-hardened feudal warrior.
Tianmeng Ice Silkworm was a gift from the Plane's will to Huo Yuhao and couldn't be intercepted. But Iler克斯 was an outsider. Currently, he wasn't of much help to Huo Yuhao's path to becoming a Divinity, but as a noble light-attributed necromancer, his magical knowledge was truly invaluable.
Bai Hong was still far from fully controlling the unfettered godhood, and he needed a strong individual who could appear at any time to represent him. So, Iler克斯 was an excellent choice.
The Subordinate Divinity of the Fantasist – Necromancer Saint Magus – was perfect!
...When Bei Bei and Tang Ya finally arrived late, they only saw Huo Yuhao, who had already been arranged by Bai Hong into a cross-legged meditation posture, and Bai Hong, who was protecting Xiao Huo Yuhao, revealing his Mind Dragon Spirit.
The grayish-white Mind Dragon Spirit phantom flew out from his body, flapping its wings in mid-air, dancing silently.
Meanwhile, Bai Hong squatted on the ground, using the dark golden dragon claws from his Spirit Possession to scratch neat squares into the ground, using them to play Five-in-a-Row with himself to pass the time.
Around him, three spirit rings hovered, their colors a normal yellow, yellow, purple configuration.
The true spirit ring configuration of purple, black, black was still too heaven-defying. For those who didn't know Bai Hong's identity as a "favored one," a bit of disguise was normal.
Of course, even if his true spirit ring configuration was exposed, Bai Hong could still use his identity as a "favored one" to steer the conversation towards the secrets related to "God-bestowed Spirit Abilities and increased age."
"You're here?"
Bai Hong explained without lifting his head, "Xiao Huo just absorbed his first spirit ring and is now in deep meditation. I hope you won't disturb him; it's very important to him."
Spirit Masters usually cultivate in two ways: meditation and deep meditation. During ordinary meditation, if disturbed by the outside World or sensing external changes, they will wake up on their own and won't be greatly affected. Therefore, this type of meditation is also known as "shallow cultivation."
Deep meditation, however, is a rare and ideal state, where one gains insights during ordinary meditation, causing their mind to spontaneously sink into cultivation. The entire person enters complete samadhi, no longer sensing external changes, and only wakes up on their own. If interrupted by an external force, they risk qi deviation.
Originally, Huo Yuhao wouldn't have entered a state of deep meditation, but Bai Hong's powerful hand intervened.
Using his first spirit ring, Pure Dream for Truth, he activated his self-created Spirit Ability, Reality Dream Weaving, as a guide, causing Huo Yuhao to fall into a deep meditation dream custom-made for him by Bai Hong. This helped him adjust and adapt to his current state, solidify and improve his cultivation to a certain extent, and he even poured a Mysterious Water Pill and a Spirit Ascension Pill into his mouth...
As fellow Spirit Masters, Bei Bei and Tang Ya naturally wouldn't rashly disturb Xiao Huo Yuhao, who was in a state of deep meditation. Bai Hong also spoke vaguely, merely saying that he happened to encounter a mental-type Spirit Beast suitable for Xiao Huo Yuhao to absorb here, thus glossing over the matter.
The conversation quickly shifted from Xiao Huo Yuhao to Bai Hong.
"Little Brother Bai, could you tell me about your Spirit?"
Bei Bei was very curious. Bai Hong's Spirit was clearly a dragon-type Spirit, yet it made his Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Spirit feel a faint sense of higher-level suppression.
Considering that Bei Bei's Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Spirit possessed the bloodline of a mutated Holy Light Dragon, which was already stronger than ordinary Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Spirits, all of this indicated that the quality of Bai Hong's dragon-type Spirit was far superior to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Spirit.
"My Spirit? There's no secret to it. My Spirit is called the Mind Dragon. It's a special dragon species derived from the Silver Dragon lineage, belonging to a mental-type Spirit, but it also possesses powerful strength attributes."
As they weren't close, Bai Hong didn't elaborate too much.
In reality, as a high-sequence mythical creature form of the Audience Pathway, the Mind Dragon is not a Spirit Beast and is completely independent of any dragon species in this World. Rather than saying it originated from the Silver Dragon lineage, it's more akin to a fusion of gold and silver dragons, like a Dragon God.
The Dragon God is a Divinity who simultaneously controls the laws of elements and power. Bai Hong's Mind Dragon Spirit is similar; when its mental force reaches a certain level, it also possesses the potential to control elements, and its strength attribute has the potential to cultivate to the concept of ultimate power on the Douluo Plane. In the World of Mysteries, it was once the sole dragon-species mythical creature that controlled the entire Audience Pathway, roughly equivalent to a miniature Dragon God Spirit.
However, when Bai Hong awakened his Spirit, his Mind Dragon Spirit, because it wasn't a Spirit Beast Spirit of this World, had a meager innate spirit power of less than one level, almost akin to a Waste Spirit, aside from maxing out its talent points in mental force.
If it weren't for the Audience Pathway golden finger arriving in time, and the Mind Dragon itself possessing strong mental force amplification, and the Audience Pathway sequence abilities being adept at navigating human society and building connections, Bai Hong might not have cultivated to his current Spirit Elder, Level 38 spirit power with three rings, at the age of thirteen.
More negative buffs truly equal more positive buffs... However, as a thirteen-year-old three-ring Level 38 Spirit Elder, Bai Hong can indeed be called a young genius now.
At the very least, Bei Bei envied Bai Hong's current highly dragonized state with Spirit Possession. Not only was he tough, able to take and deal damage, but he also possessed the ability to fly.
It wasn't until Bei Bei started asking about Bai Hong's family situation that Bai Hong truthfully replied, "I've been an orphan since birth. I have no family."
Tang Ya, standing nearby, immediately rejoiced and blurted out, "That's wonderful!"
"?"
Bai Hong's expression stiffened, and he retorted, "Sister Ya, your emotional intelligence..."
Bei Bei, on the other hand, looked speechless and raised a hand to tap Tang Ya on the head, "How can you say that?"
Tang Ya also realized her slip of the tongue, glared at Bei Bei, and said, "I didn't mean it, Xiao Bai. Since you don't have any other plans, why don't you join our Sect?"
"Sorry, I have no intention of joining a Sect," Bai Hong said.
Bai Hong was genuinely repulsed by the Tang Sect. Although the Tang Sect was in decline, it was still a qualified capture device for the Son of Destiny and easily attracted the attention of God King Tang. There was no telling when God King Tang's invisible big hand would arrange something for him.
Afterward, God King Tang would be the one to invite, behead, and take him as a dog. What a miserable Dai Yuhao; he would be in a terrible state now.
To avoid Huo Yuhao's bad ending of being locked down by God King Tang with a Frankenstein's monster, he had to stay away from the Tang Sect! Stay away from Shrek Academy!
Outside Shrek, Mingde Hall, Body Sect... these places could heavily invest in Huo Yuhao during his early development when he only had one Spiritual Eye Spirit.
This was much better than working himself to death in the first year of Shrek Outer Court and getting nothing good out of it.
The situation was similar for Bai Hong.
Moreover, Huo Yuhao at least had the chance to be invited, beheaded, and taken as a dog by God King Tang, but Bai Hong couldn't. After reaching Sequence 0 at the top of the Audience Pathway, he would be at least a First-Rank Divinity or higher in the God Realm, and it wouldn't be impossible to even contend with a God King.
If God King Tang couldn't control him, it was very likely he would deal with Bai Hong the same way he dealt with Iler克斯, bringing about his demise!
However, Tang Ya was not God King Tang himself, and Bai Hong's facial expression management in front of Tang Ya was very good. He just patiently listened to Tang Ya promoting the Tang Sect.
Then, a thought struck him, and he said, "Sister Ya, I've heard all that you've said, but as far as I know, when Sea God Tang San founded the Tang Sect ten thousand years ago, the Tang Sect's famous unique skills weren't just Hidden Weapons, but also toxicology and herbalism, right?"
"Eh?" Tang Ya didn't expect Bai Hong to suddenly bring that up.
"No way? Didn't you say you're the current Tang Sect Master? How could you not even know this?"
Bai Hong then began to argue with Tang Ya, "Because the organization I come from has also existed for ten thousand years. The situation of the Tang Sect back then is clearly recorded in our organization's historical archives.
For example, your Tang Sect's Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record. I just heard you say it only has six unique skills, but according to our organization's archives, the Tang Sect's unique skills ten thousand years ago had eight."
"Eight? How could there be eight?!" Tang Ya's beautiful eyes widened.
"Yes? Eight?"
Bai Hong counted on his fingers for Tang Ya: "For example, the Mysterious Heaven Skill, a superior internal cultivation method that, once mastered, can clear the body's eight extraordinary meridians, allowing one to achieve innate full spirit power aptitude in the acquired stage, giving anyone a chance to become a Spirit Master; the Mysterious Jade Hand, which makes one's hands flexible and versatile, immune to all poisons, and beneficial for mastering Hidden Weapons and poisons; the Purple Demon Eye, which enhances one's eyesight for convenient use and creation of Hidden Weapons; Controlling Crane Catching Dragon, which improves the ability to grapple and throw Hidden Weapons; and the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track light body movement technique..."
These were all things Tang Ya had just mentioned when promoting the Sect, but in Bai Hong's words, they became even more exaggerated.
Is the Mysterious Heaven Skill really that powerful? Tang Ya's mouth hung open.
"And most crucially important among the Tang Sect's unique skills are the Poison Scripture, which records numerous secret poison formulas of the Tang Sect, multiplying the lethality of Tang Sect Hidden Weapons, and even enabling Sea God Tang San to use them to harm Titled Douluo and even Divinities; and the Medicine Scripture, which records all pharmacological information on rare flowers and exotic herbs in the World!"
After Bai Hong finished speaking, seeing Tang Ya staring blankly without speaking, he kindly helped her with her pointed chin, which seemed about to drop to the ground.
After a long while, Tang Ya murmured, "All these things you mentioned... the Mysterious Heaven Skill, the Poison Scripture, the Medicine Scripture... how come our Tang Sect has no records of them at all?"
"I'm also very curious. As the Tang Sect Master, how could you not know your own unique skills? Logically speaking, your Tang Sect, like our organization, should have received the favor of a Divinity and endured for ten thousand generations. How is it that your Tang Sect's unique skills were lost, while our organization's historical records have been preserved to this day?" Bai Hong coaxed.
He didn't criticize the Tang Sect in front of Tang Ya, but merely detailed the achievements that the Tang Sect's unique skills should have had, letting Tang Ya combine this with the current state of the Tang Sect to fill in the blanks herself.
"I... I don't know any of this..." Tang Ya shook her head in distress.
She had never even seen the Poison Scripture or the Medicine Scripture. As for the Mysterious Heaven Skill... wasn't the Mysterious Heaven Skill just a cultivation method beneficial for Spirit Masters to clear and nourish their meridians? How could it allow cultivators to improve their innate aptitude in the acquired stage?
Tang Ya's aptitude was not good to begin with, and her innate spirit power was not high. Her cultivation journey had been particularly arduous. Suddenly learning that her Tang Sect's cultivation methods and unique skills had such great abilities, her mindset immediately became unbalanced.
She pulled out a copy of "Mysterious Heaven Skill" from her storage spirit tool and looked at Bai Hong eagerly: "Little Brother Bai Hong, since you know so much, can you help me take a look at this 'Mysterious Heaven Skill'!"
Bai Hong took the copy of "Mysterious Heaven Skill" and slowly flipped through it. When he came to the records concerning the human body's meridians and acupoints during the cultivation process, he couldn't help but frown.
"As expected, it's incomplete. There are no detailed records of the eight extraordinary meridians: the Governing Vessel, Conception Vessel, Thoroughfare Vessel, Girdling Vessel, Yang Linking Vessel, Yin Linking Vessel, Yang Heel Vessel, and Yin Heel Vessel. The corresponding meridian-clearing methods are also missing. Your copy of 'Mysterious Heaven Skill' is completely a fragmented piece, with less than thirty percent of its effective content."
"How could this be?!" Tang Ya exclaimed.
"I'm not sure what went wrong with your Tang Sect, but in any case, your 'Mysterious Heaven Skill' has no detailed records of the eight extraordinary meridians," Bai Hong said, shaking his head and sighing.
"Then... can you return the complete version of the Mysterious Heaven Skill, as well as the Medicine Scripture and Poison Scripture, that your organization recorded, to our Tang Sect?" Tang Ya stammered hesitantly.
Bai Hong's expression immediately darkened, and he flatly refused, "Impossible!"
"Why? Aren't these our Tang Sect's unique skills?" Tang Ya was somewhat agitated.
"Your Tang Sect lost its own foundational skills, and you still want our organization to make up for it?"
Bai Hong shook his head and said in a deep voice, "Moreover, our organization's archives only have historical records of the Tang Sect's unique skills. We have never collected the complete Mysterious Heaven Skill, Poison Scripture, or Medicine Scripture; we merely have related records..."
"However..." he changed the subject, "Among the basic cultivation methods our organization teaches to newcomers, there has always been a practice for clearing the eight extraordinary meridians. Cultivation methods that can change innate aptitude in the acquired stage are not exclusive to the Mysterious Heaven Skill. The presence or absence of a method to clear the eight extraordinary meridians is merely our organization's standard for judging the quality of a cultivation method."
Ever since he transmigrated to the Douluo Continent and awakened his Spirit, Bai Hong had already known the importance of the eight extraordinary meridians for Spirit Master cultivation.
In his previous life, although he wasn't from a traditional Chinese medicine background, he often received acupuncture for personal health maintenance and was interested in acupuncture and physical therapy. He still remembered knowledge related to meridians and acupoints.
The so-called basic cultivation methods taught to newcomers by the organization were the 100% meridian-clearing methods for the eight extraordinary meridians that Bai Hong developed by scientifically summarizing the widely circulated common cultivation methods in the Douluo Continent's Spirit Master's world, combined with his memories of meridian and acupoint knowledge.
It was by relying on these cultivation methods as a beginner's welfare that Bai Hong had gathered many people during his travels across the Continent in recent years.
He then used this as a foundation to establish the organization he spoke of, above the Divine Kingdom of Emptiness and Ideation in the mental World.
Its name was the "Unfettered Church"!
