"Dragon and Tiger True Man, Zhang Taiyi has appeared?!"
Zhong Shenxiu looked back at the peak, seeing a pill furnace faintly appearing amidst the purple and crimson mist.
This pill furnace had five legs, its body enveloped by six types of qi, colorful like Lingzhi mushrooms, with an extraordinary aura, clearly nurturing some incredible spiritual objects.
Five Fire Six Qi Furnace!
Next to this respected furnace, there stood a figure.
He wore a Dragon and Tiger Daoist robe, tall and slender with features fine as jade, his Daoist aura rich, a rare handsome man.
But the next moment, he changed.
On his cheeks, patches of skin turned red, rotted, and oozed pus.
His clothing tore, revealing a body as dry and withered as kindling, his chest shattered, clearly exposing the decayed organs inside...
Those organs, each a different color, moving and decaying...
Vaguely, it seemed as if something unfathomably dangerous was being nurtured.
Just seeing it brought an extreme, terrifying mental shock.
At Zhong Shenxiu’s side, several Innate Martial Practitioners glanced over, their faces pale as if they had been injured.
Feng Xixi sat cross-legged, her expression pained, silently reciting the Heart Clarity Spell.
Only Zhong Shenxiu pretended to pale, yet inside he marveled, "Who would’ve thought that the renowned Dragon and Tiger True Man looked like a ghost..."
Under the gaze of thousands, Dragon and Tiger True Man, Zhang Taiyi, with eyes void of emotion yet seemingly filled with malice, swept his gaze around and a clear voice like jade resonated around, "Five destructions and six demolitions harm the body, fire meets water shocks death, the husband without clothes to cover, the wife’s clothes yellowed by water. Not wishing to become an immaterial immortal, desiring to cultivate the great pill through unorthodox methods... I, Zhang Taiyi, greet my fellow Daoists!"
The Poison Dragon Sword at this moment retracted its light and moved to Zhang Taiyi’s side, revealing an old man in a black robe, as though guarding.
"Ha ha... ha ha... Zhang Taiyi, you’ve truly become possessed by evil, hand over the Spirit Pill and you may be spared!"
Ten Thousand Bone Demon, atop the throne, White Bone Scholar cackled wildly.
But he did not see, atop the bronze chariot, Hao Yunzi watched him with an expression as if seeing a fool, "Indeed... the White Bone Dao Book Divine Skills come to a halt, even the Divine Power Realm isn’t perfect, he’s a Loose Cultivator after all... his insights are a bit shallow."
He then looked solemnly at Dragon and Tiger True Man, "Fellow Daoist, your Daoist power is astonishing, the cultivation destroying six organs, annihilating five viscera has already become perfect, with a mere thought you can condense the Primordial Pill. I congratulate you here, alas... Fellow Daoist is truly born with an innate Daoist essence, but I wonder why set a trap to toy with us?"
The laughter of the White Bone Scholar suddenly stopped, revealing a trace of bewilderment.
He looked towards Zuo Erlang, his heart suddenly sinking.
In the Second Yan Han Empire, the cultivation methods began with the Innate, and the practices in the Gang Sha Realm were to ’consumes the nine Yin and swallow the eight Yang’, then use the ’Seven-locking Technique’ to refine Divine Skills and break through the realm.
Inside, Zhong Shenxiu had always wondered why the Evil Qi and Gang Qi did not align.
This was a revision made after Daoist Skills reached this land, over many years.
Back in the day, Yan Han First Empire, sticking to their incomplete practices, clung to the Daoist methods from Eastern Continent, extracted the experience of Daoist methods and advanced anew by the cultivators of this world.
After all, localized Daoist Skills always have an advantage over the ill-suited original Daoist methods.
The rise of the Second Yan Han Empire drew lessons and made localized improvements to the original Daoist Skills, making the entry into Daoist Skills simpler and its power increased, and cultivation became much faster.
However, the risk also increased slightly.
The nine Evil Qi and eight Gang Qi of the Gang Sha Realm represent the most fundamental change, which is to use this slight imbalance of yin and yang to ultimately destroy one’s own vitality after advancing to the Divine Power Realm!
This step in cultivation is known as "Destroying the Six Organs, Annihilating the Five Viscera."
The destruction here is not actual ruin, but rather involving the correspondence of the six organs and five viscera with the Five Elements and Six Harmonies. First, an organ is transformed to give rise to a "Divine" presence, which then replaces the original organ, achieving a rebirth transformation.
At the end, a cultivator’s vitality is exhausted, leaving but a single thread, yet also the strongest point, which can be used as a foundation to form the Primordial Pill, using the Primordial Pill to connect the divine presence in the five viscera and six organs, becoming the core of life! The origin of all methods!
It is because of this that the closer a cultivator comes to the Primordial Pill, the more "inhuman" they become!
If an ordinary person were to see Zhang Taiyi at this moment, they would be traumatized, become listless upon returning, and might even suffer from nightmares for a month.
If it were a Primordial Pill Cultivator instead, the damage to ordinary people would be even more severe.
Those on the level of Primordial Spirit Dharma Body, even seeing their true form might heavily harm another cultivator!
For most cultivators, mere flesh is trivial, hardly worth mentioning.
Rather it was individuals like the Dragon and Tiger True Man, whose five viscera and six organs were nearly extinguished, truly just one step away from forming the Primordial Pill. Given his heritage, the divine skills he cultivated were of the highest tier, and his chances of advancing to the Primordial Pill were immense, even envied by Hao Yunzi.
Faced with Hao Yunzi’s questioning, Zhang Taiyi was noncommittal, merely responding indifferently, "Destroy the Six Organs, Annihilate the Five Viscera? The Corpse Disintegration Immortal Method has significant flaws, once one becomes a Primordial Pill, they are no longer human. I... do not wish to become an immortal, hence my initial Core Formation was a failure, and it even gave rise to a Heart Demon..."
His words left even the White Bone Scholar speechless.
Wasn’t the very purpose of their pursuit of immortality to transcend humanity?
Immortals enjoy eternal life and boundless mana, and although they appear similar to ordinary humans, they are fundamentally a different species.
Cultivators do not complain about immortality making them inhuman, they lament why they remain human!
Yet here was a fool, for the sake of remaining human, who gave up even the Primordial Pill!
That is the Primordial Pill capable of great divine powers and a lifespan of five hundred years!
"If fellow Daoist thinks this way, I have nothing more to say..." Hao Yunzi was at a loss for words.
Though he is referred to as a True Man, he knew that he was still far from Core Formation, and whether he could break through in this lifetime remained uncertain.
Seeing that Zhang Taiyi would relinquish the opportunity to form a Pill over a minor flaw felt incredibly frustrating, akin to a poor man seeing a rich man squandering wealth and still complaining.
Meanwhile, Zhang Taiyi’s voice continued:
"The physical body is just a shell, for the sake of the Great Dao, I’ve given that up... But after seeing the true forms of those Master Uncles and Grandmaster Uncles in our sect, and after examining the secret texts, I realized that once they achieved the Primordial Pill, their natures gradually changed. Yet there is one person I cannot forget, amidst the turmoil of the mundane world, I only do not wish to forget her, that feeling, I... do not wish to become an immortal!"
"It is precisely because of this that I deviated from the scriptures, betrayed the sect, seeking a method that would fulfill both, not betraying the Great Dao nor my beloved..."
"Finally... after much contemplation, searching through ancient texts, and traversing the Yan Han, I found a method that could bypass the drawbacks, forming a pill through alternative ways, but still lacking several crucial herbs. Thus, I set up this situation, and I ask for the help of fellow Daoists!"
Zhang Taiyi stated unemotionally.
Yet to the White Bone Scholar and other Divine Power Practitioners observing this scene, a sudden chill surged in their hearts.
If the Dragon and Tiger True Man hadn’t gone mad,
then today’s situation was entirely a trap!