The reason that Li Mu had spent time studying the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method and the Seventy-two Metamorphoses was because the TV series The Legend of Deification and The Journey to the West were both popular during that time. The old faker took a few glances at the screen and then told Li Mu with a mystifying air that those TV series were just rubbish, for they were way inconsistent with the reality. At those words, Li Mu shot the old faker a disparaging look at once. He did not understand why myths and legends had to conform to reality. But based on what he just learned… Er, Li Mu felt very much ashamed for his rude behavior on that day.
“If everything is real—the Spiritual Fangcun Mountain, the Crescent and Three Stars Cave, the Somersault Cloud, and probably Master Puti and the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation method… Does that mean that the old faker was not just mystifying things but truly knew something?
“When I get back to Earth, I shall kneel down before the old faker and carefully pick his brain.”
With that in mind, Li Mu eagerly pulled off that jade scroll bearing the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method, unfolded it, and thumbed through it. Admiration arose inside him. Although Li Mu could not really follow the content, as it made references to many Taoist terms and abstruse principles of the Great Way, he still felt that the art recorded on the scroll was impressive, unlikely to be a fake.
In fact, the description of the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method was more abundant in The Legend of Deification than in The Journey to the West. The major reason was that in The Journey to the West, the Monkey King was in the leading role, while Yang Jian, the Third-eye God who practiced the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method, was just in a supporting role. But in The Legend of Deification, Yang Jian was the number one combatant of all qi practitioners. Jiang Ziya praised Yang Jian as the man ranking first in regard to both wisdom and courage, who would be remembered for his contributions through the ages. In King Wu’s conquest over Yin, Yang Jian overcame numerous strong enemies with the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method. During that battle, he certainly outshone the rest of the fighters by conjuring thousands of soldiers with beans and blocking stones with his body… Since the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method could be said to be unbeatable, Yang Jian was almost invincible, except for that time that he was caught by Madam Sanshao’s Disrupting Gold Funnel and sucked into the Milky Galaxy deployment. Yet, Yang Jian was not the one to blame for that failure, because Madam Sanshao’s means were just too powerful, and the 12 immortals were captured by her as well.
In Li Mu’s eyes, the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method could not only refine one’s body, but also create disguises and illusions, so it was more potent than the Seventy-two Metamorphoses.
In The Legend of Deification, the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method was the best method of the Chan Faction. Unfortunately, some disciples of the Chan Faction later converted to the Occidental Faction and disclosed the method to that faction. Occidentalism then changed its name to Buddhism.
Li Mu never knew that such a cultivation method truly existed or that one day he could really obtain it.
That was absolutely good karma.
He tried to stow the jade scroll of the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method into his Storage Ring. But to his surprise, it just did not slip in.
“Huh? Is this jade scroll itself a treasure, too?”
Gazing at the glowing jade scroll, Li Mu was suddenly hit by inspiration and cut the tip of one finger to allow a droplet of his blood to fall onto the scroll. Then, with a flash of light, the jade scroll vanished and reappeared in the Mud-pill Palace inside Li Mu’s head. It drifted in his Sea of Consciousness and shone. Li Mu heard vague Taoist preaching in his head, as though a powerful master was elaborating on the secrets of the Great Way in his Mud-pill Palace. It felt extremely amazing.
Li Mu indulged himself in that wonderful experience with astonishment for quite a while. As he noticed nothing else peculiar, he gradually felt relieved.
“But, does this mean that the jade scroll of the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method has chosen me as its owner?”
Li Mu was not sure of that.
Then, his eyes rested on the other jade scroll that the sculpture was still holding.
It was the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures.
Even though Li Mu had not heard of the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures before, it was undoubtedly at least as valuable as the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method, given that the sculpture highly resembling Master Puti was holding them in its hands equally.
At that thought, Li Mu’s grin nearly reached his ears.
When he took the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures and had a look at it, he almost leaped up in excitement.
It turned out to be a book on the refining of his organs.
The five emperors in that title were not the five famous emperors from Chinese history, but the Southern Fiery Emperor, the Eastern Cyran Emperor, the Middle Yellow Emperor, the Western White Emperor, and the Northern Black Emperor, each of whom controlled the power of one of the five elements respectively. That went the same as the compatibility of the five qi and natural elements on the Martial Arts Star, which also corresponded to the functions of the five organs of human beings—heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidney.
Once a practitioner refined all five organs, he would be immortal.
In a nutshell, the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method refined the body, while the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures refined the organs.
Putting them together, it was a way to become refined internally and externally.
That was kind of a combination similar to the Xiantian Skill and Zhenwu Boxing.
After skimming through the second scroll, Li Mu followed the pattern and dripped a droplet of his blood onto the jade scroll of the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures. That scroll instantly vanished as well and then emerged in his Sea of Consciousness in the Mud-pill Palace. It glowed blindingly like the sun at noon. An indistinct voice of the Great Way was ringing, as though the most learned master was lecturing, which was definitely refreshing.
When Li Mu’s mind was concentrated, he could open the jade scroll in his head.
Inside the Sea of Consciousness, a gigantic jade scroll unfurled. It covered the sky like a huge scroll painting, revealing the glinting ancient seal characters, which were rather distinct.
Li Mu then withdrew his spiritual force from the Sea of Consciousness and began to look around the stone chamber again.
He could see nothing special in the room other than the three dust-repelling luminous pearls mounted on the ceiling.
Li Mu swiveled his eyes again to that white jade sculpture that he suspected to be Master Puti.
“The sculpture is odd. Just now, it offered me two stunning Cultivation Methods after I did a few kowtows. If I do that again, perhaps it will…”
Throwing his pride and esteem to the wind, Devil Li went down on his knees again and banged his head on the floor in front of the sculpture several times in a row. He did it with such force that loud whams were heard and the floor almost cracked.
After that, Li Mu looked up only to find that the white jade sculpture was still standing in its old posture and did not offer anything new.
“Well, it seems that there are no other Cultivation Methods to collect other than the Ultimate Yin and Yang Cultivation Method and the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures.”
Li Mu got to his feet, feeling a little dispirited.
Reluctant to admit that fact, he took another fruitless tour through the stone chamber. Eventually, he decided that it was already enough and gave up on the idea of stuffing that sculpture into his Storage Ring.
Laughing with his mouth askew, Li Mu went back to the hall.
Perhaps those were all the treasures that the three rooms and one hall in the stone chamber had.
It was a good haul.
Li Mu then headed for the outside with a light heart.
At that time, the ape was still sitting in the doorway of the stone chamber with a look of despair. The treasures it had guarded for years were robbed by Devil Li just like that. No wonder it was devastated. It had thrown itself through that door several times, attempting to break through the restriction. But every time, it was tossed out by the lightning placed in the corridor. It felt like weeping but had no tears. As it saw Li Mu reappeared in the hall, it howled furiously and hammered its chest in wrath.
Li Mu, however, burst into laughter.
“You asked for it!
“How dare you trick me!”
Li Mu considered if he should go out right away. As he felt very gratified for obtaining so many treasures, he felt no need to search in other places in the Everlasting Heaven. Since the lightning restriction at the exit of the stone chamber was alarmingly powerful, he reckoned he had better stay there to practice those methods rather than go through the lightning torture again. When the time came, he would be sent out of the Everlasting Heaven anyway.
Therefore, he boldly settled himself on the pouf in the hall, closed his eyes to concentrate, cleared his mind, and started to practice.
The method that Li Mu picked to practice first was the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures.
The internal qi of the consummation of the Natural Realm would soon get out of his control. He had been suppressing it by force due to the fact that he had no better Cultivation Method to lead him to the Celestial Being Realm. But after that day’s exploration, he attained the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures, which was the precise Taoist way to enhance his organs. Although it was not a real method of Celestial Being practice on that planet, Li Mu believed that it would be more efficient than any of the authentic methods of the Celestial Being Realm. Perhaps the Celestial Being methods that the top nine Holy Clans had were far less impressive than the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures.
Li Mu let his spiritual force sink into his Sea of Consciousness to read the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures.
The colossal jade scroll released countless rays of light as it slowly unfurled.
“The heart houses spirit. The acquired is consciousness, inherited is etiquette. Spirit will be steady if without a decline of the two. To avoid the decline, the fire qi of the Southern Fiery Emperor is necessary…” The voice sounded again, reading the exact content written in the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures. Li Mu felt as though there was a megaphone inserted in his Sea of Consciousness.
He was soon engrossed in that voice inside of him.
The first organ that the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures picked to refine was the heart.
According to the theories on cultivation in the Celestial Being Realm on the Divine Land, the heart qi was the most difficult one to refine among the five qi. It was also the most time-consuming one. Thus, many practitioners preferred to refine the qi in their other four organs first before tapping into the qi in the heart. So, they usually waited until they completed the refining of the other four organs to be in a perfect state and became a fourth-stage Celestial Being before they finally started to work on the qi in the heart.
But the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures went the opposite way.
The heart qi was the pillar of the five qi. When the heart qi was completely refined, the practitioner could gain the power to control the Way. If he proceeded with the rest of the qi, he would meet the goal of returning to nature and purifying his qi with the Way. What’s more, the secrets and wonders that normal practitioners were unable to experience would be thoroughly unveiled before him.
Li Mu believed that this method was obviously more scientific than the mainstream way of the Celestial Beings on the Divine Land.
Hence, he began to practice following the instructions in the Five Emperors’ Immortality Scriptures without further ado.
The first section was titled the Mental Scripture of Fire Emperor.
Li Mu was fully immersed in the voice inside his head. He was spirited and intensive, definitely in the zone.
All his internal qi transformed into the power of fire and circulated in his body according to the path recorded in the Mental Scripture of Fire Emperor. It ran down his Eight Extra-Meridians and slowly poured into his heart.
Li Mu’s whole body turned scarlet.
His flesh and bones grew transparent, only his scarlet heart was remarkably distinct. His heart was beating unhurriedly with a bizarre rhythm. Each time his heart throbbed, it absorbed some fire qi and then squeezed it out, just like it did when pumping blood.
The fire qi that was discharged by the heart would flow along his veins to reach every part of his body.
It was a fairly long process.
Time passed relentlessly.
Soon, a month had passed.
Li Mu was still in the zone, as he usually was in closed-door training. Not once did he open his eyes.
He was nearly transparent by that time. Only his dim outline was visible, except for his heart and veins—all his arteries, veins, and capillaries were perceivable. His heart continuously took in and poured out the fire qi, sending it into the veins and then all the limbs and bones without pause. The whole process was done in silence, though it might appear to be eerie.
An inconceivable change was occurring inside Li Mu.
Another month slipped by.
The ape was waiting outside the stone chamber, peering down the corridor with prickling expectancy.
As the days passed by, an idea had been brewing in its mind.