3 Five Hundred Years of Ivy
The moonlight shone through the window into Dormitory 7. Zang, who was lying on the bed, saw that all his roommates had fallen asleep, so he quietly got out of bed and left the dormitory.After leaving the dormitory building, Zang ran into a woods as if he was familiar with the route. He looked around and when he saw that there was no one around, he sat down cross-legged.
Zang assumed a posture with his five hearts facing upward and began to recall the practice of Diao Chan Jin.
Different from the Taoist practice of Qi, "Diaochan Jin" is a method of practicing strength for martial artists and is an internal martial art.
Although the core of Taoist Qigong and internal martial arts is "essence, energy and spirit", the practice process of the two is completely different.
The core essence of Taoist Qi training is to transcend and ascend to heaven. The physical body is just a precious raft to cross the sea of suffering. No matter what true Qi, golden elixir, Gang Qi, or even diamond indestructibility, jade bones and golden muscles that appear in the process, they are just by-products and trivial details. Only ascending to heaven in broad daylight and becoming an immortal on the spot are the right way and the right result.
Only those who are ignorant will pursue these products. This is called "corpse-guarding ghost" in Taoism. People who truly practice cultivation will not show off even if they have some supernatural powers. They will just live an ordinary life and return to nature.
The internal martial arts of martial artists have abandoned these illusory pursuits and only pursue a strong physique or energy, or tangible attack power. The practice also progresses from internal and external skills to the combination of hardness and softness. The true meaning is to be able to do it with ease or even unintentionally. The profound realm of feeling the coming of autumn before the cicada blows is already close to the Tao. Going further to "break through the void and see the indestructible spirit" and to use great wisdom to understand the true meaning of life is to enter the Tao from martial arts.
Martial artists focus on training their bodies and strength, which is divided into three levels of strength: bright strength, dark strength, and transformed strength, as well as the steps of changing bones, tendons, and marrow.
The "Diao Chan Jin" is a method of self-cultivation, which was obtained in the Wudang Mountain in the previous life.
He also cultivated to the level of Yi Jin, which enabled him to escape death many times.
And now Zang is about to start practicing "Fishing Toad Power" for the first time. Since he entered school for more than a year, he has secretly practiced the standing meditation. Now that his soul power has reached the tenth level, he can give it a try.
Moreover, Zang knew that the strength of one's physical fitness was related to the number of years required to absorb soul rings. It was just that he was too young before, and practicing standing meditation had too much of an impact on his physical development, so he did not practice.
During the day, the master told Zang a piece of news. He knew of a plant soul beast with strong vitality, but its age was slightly older. It was a 500-year-old ivy.
Ivy is famous for its developed roots and vitality. As long as its roots are not dug out, even if it is cut off, it will grow new vines from the roots. Although it has no attack power, it survives by relying on this vitality. This is also what the master accidentally learned when he traveled around the continent.
This just happens to meet Zang's requirements. The vigorous life may make the dead tree root martial spirit "come back to life", and the developed roots can also enhance the extensibility of the dead tree root martial spirit.
The five hundred year old ivy has exceeded the absorption period of the first soul ring. The master also asked Zang many times, and only decided to take Zang to hunt for this soul ring after confirming Zang's determination.
They agreed to meet in a month. During this time, the master had to find a helper to hunt the five hundred year old ivy. After all, this plant soul beast was in the Sunset Forest!
"Practice the theory but not the strength, practice the body but not the moves..."
After Zang recalled the key points of "Fishing Toad Power", he took a deep breath and began a regular breathing pattern.
Gradually, the sound of frogs croaking could be heard from Zang's body.
"Gugu~gugu~gugu~gugu~"
Along with the croaking of frogs, Zang's belly and cheeks suddenly bulged out, just like frogs courting in the fields in spring.
This dull frog-like sound seems to contain vigorous vitality.
Fortunately, the woods where Zang practiced martial arts were far enough away from the dormitory building, and his level of cultivation was not very deep, so the croaking of frogs was not very loud. Even if a professor came out at night, he would just think it was the croaking of an ordinary bullfrog.
In this way, Zang practiced "Diao Chan Jin" for two hours every night for a month.
......
"Zang, the master wants to see you and asks you to go to his office to find him."
Zang, who was eating his meal in big mouthfuls, was patted on the shoulder and his roommate called him.
Hearing his roommate's words, Zang quickly finished the rice in the bowl in a few bites, wiped his mouth and left in a hurry.
"Oh, this is at least enough food for ten people. Tsk tsk." The roommate next to him glanced at the bowl used to store the food and couldn't help but complain.
Zang ran to the door of the master's office, knocked, and pushed the door open after getting permission.
The person I saw was still the decadent master Yu Xiaogang, but there was a burly man standing next to him. He was not very tall, but very strong.
"This is the helper I invited. After all, the ivy is outside the Sunset Forest. It's a bit dangerous for you and me to go in. Just call him Mr. Zhao."
Yu Xiaogang introduced himself to Zang.
Zang knew that this person should be "Acalanatha" Zhao Wuji, so he also bowed and respectfully called out "Hello, Mr. Zhao".
There is no way, people under the eaves, have to bow their heads. This 500-year-old ivy opportunity is rare, and Zang can only bow his head and be a man.
"You can hide even if you want to. What you are going to absorb this time is five hundred years of ivy. You have to think carefully. Although it may bring evolution to your martial soul, it may also cause your body to explode and die." Zhao Wuji still reminded.
"I know, but I am an orphan, so I have nothing to worry about. For me, even if I cultivate the dead tree root martial spirit to the level of Soul King, it is difficult to use it in battle. It is better to sacrifice my life to pursue that glimmer of hope."
Zang stared at Zhao Wuji and spoke in a sonorous and powerful voice.
What's more, this month's practice of "Fishing Toad Power" has greatly strengthened Zang's body. Of course, his appetite has also been strengthened. It is not an exaggeration to say that he can eat ten people at once.
"Haha, good boy, you are just what I like. If you can survive, I can let you come to our Shrek Academy." Zhao Wuji laughed and patted Zang's shoulder hard.
Yu Xiaogang stared at Zang with an inexplicable expression, as if he saw his former self.
"I don't know if I had the courage of this child back then."
He asked himself.
...
Seven days later, the three arrived at the Sunset Forest.
"Let's go."
Yu Xiaogang led the way in front, Zang walked beside him, and Zhao Wuji followed them behind.
The three of them walked for a while, and Yu Xiaogang stopped, turned to Zhao Wuji and said, "The ivy is in front of us, but there is a five thousand year old Earth Bear guarding it, waiting for it to bear fruit. It's up to you, Wuji."
"no problem!"
Zhao Wuji summoned his martial soul, his body grew rapidly, the seven soul rings on his body moved rhythmically, and he walked forward calmly.
After a while, Zhao Wuji shouted, "Come here!"
Yu Xiaogang and Zang ran over quickly, only to see Zhao Wuji sitting on the Earth Bear, which was trembling with its hands covering its head.
"Hey, I know you can understand me, go dig up that ivy."
Zhao Wuji clenched his fists, stood up and threatened fiercely.
Upon hearing this, the Earth Bear quickly and secretly glanced at Zhao Wuji, then glanced at Yu Xiaogang and Zang, hurriedly stood up, and began to dig the ivy beside its cave with its claws.
"The roots of this 500-year-old ivy are nearly a hundred meters deep in the ground. It would save us a lot of trouble to send this Earth Bear to dig it out." Yu Xiaogang said softly.
Hidden beside him nodded and agreed with the master's words. If he relied on himself, let alone defeating this five thousand year old earth bear, even digging out the ivy would be difficult to do. After all, it is impossible to kill the ivy without digging out its roots.
The giant earth bear dug dozens of meters and spent several hours. The three also waited for several hours, but both of the bear's paws were bloody.
It looked at Zhao Wuji with tears in its eyes, its two paws mixed with blood and mud.
"Okay, go now." Zhao Wuji waved his hand.
Hearing this, the Earth Bear quickly stood up and ran away.
"Boy, there are still a few meters left. You come and dig. I'm afraid that the bear will kill this ivy. If you dig it out, it will die soon." Zhao Wuji took out a shovel from the soul guide and instructed Zang.
Zang nodded, took the shovel and continued the mission of the Earth Bear. As for asking Zhao Wuji to help? What a joke. Asking a Soul Saint to help is already a big favor, not to mention that he is also a famous "Acala" among the Soul Saints.
While Zang started digging, he was thinking about Yu Xiaogang's introduction to this plant soul beast.
Because of the characteristics of ivy, the only way to kill it is to dig out its roots, and the roots of ivy are particularly long, so few people use it to make spirit rings.
However, after a thousand years, ivy will not only produce fruits rich in soul power, but its roots will also be full of nutrients.
But this also attracted a kind of ant soul beast, which specializes in feeding on ivy roots, so ivy that is more than a thousand years old is considered quite rare.
After more than an hour, Zang finally dug to the bottom. He pulled out the last section of the root and used the shovel in his hand to chop the roots piled on the ivy into several sections.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
Gradually, a yellow ring emerged on the body of the ivy soul beast—a five-hundred-year-old ivy soul ring.
"Hurry up and meditate and take a rest. The soul ring can only last for an hour." Zhao Wuji shouted to Zang at the bottom of the pit.
The two of them quickly followed the pit and came to Zang's side.
Zang meditated for a while to recover his strength and communicated with the soul ring with his mind.
This five hundred year old soul ring was attracted by Zang and floated into Zang's body.
"Is it not too late for you to give up?" Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but say.
"it's useless!"
Zhao Wuji interrupted Yu Xiaogang and said, "He has already started to absorb the spirit ring. It is too late to give up now. Master, it depends on the perseverance of this child. If he succeeds, it will also correct your martial spirit theory."
"Yeah." Yu Xiaogang murmured.
"pain!"
This is Zang's feeling. After all, he has exceeded the maximum lifespan of the first soul ring.
Fortunately, Zang started practicing Zhuang Qi over the past year, and practiced "Diao Toad Power" this month, and began the bone-changing practice. His physical fitness has greatly surpassed that of his peers, otherwise he would have exploded and died at the beginning.
The feeling of pain was also well controlled by the "Second Martial Soul".
Apart from the pain brought by the first wave, the subsequent sensations were already quite bearable.
Zhao Wuji and Yu Xiaogang watched as Zang saw that except for the trembling of his body when the soul ring first entered his body, the rest of the process went smoothly.
"Hey, Master. Next, it depends on whether this child's martial soul can be evolved. However, this is a rare ivy soul ring after all. If it can be evolved, does it mean..."
Zhao Wuji didn't finish his words, but Yu Xiaogang understood what he meant, and in his heart he couldn't help but wish Zang success in absorbing the soul ring.
After a while, Zang opened his eyes, and a yellow soul ring appeared around him, moving up and down rhythmically.
"First Soul Skill: Growth!"
Zang stretched out a tree root from his right hand, extending it like a spirit snake.
Zang's mind moved, and the roots of the tree raised their heads like a giant python, and then the roots twisted into various shapes in the air.
"Success!"
Yu Xiaogang cried out in shock upon seeing this, because he had seen how difficult it was to control Zang's previous dead tree root martial spirit. This kind of dexterous operation was simply impossible to do, let alone twisting it into various shapes, even a simple bend was difficult to do.
At this moment, Yu Xiaogang felt mixed emotions. Only he knew that the soul ring attached to his Luo Sanpao martial soul, although a hundred-year soul ring, was not from a dragon soul beast. It was just an ordinary hundred-year soul beast. After all, dragon soul beasts were very rare, so of course they had to be provided to the family's geniuses as much as possible.
"If, if I had been able to attach a dragon spirit beast's spirit ring, maybe I wouldn't have..."
Zang looked at Yu Xiaogang's mixed emotions of anger, sadness and happiness, and he knew what was on Yu Xiaogang's mind.
He estimated that perhaps "Fishing Toad Power" would allow Yu Xiaogang to strengthen his bones and marrow, transform himself, and be able to break through the 30th level of soul power.
But asking Zang to hand over "Diao Chan Jin" to Yu Xiaogang is a joke. That is of course impossible.
Zang asked himself, people like him have personalities similar to Yi Ling Yi or the Evil Emperor Xiang Yutian, they are extremely cunning, unpredictable, and find it difficult to trust others, and they are not afraid to use the most vicious thoughts to guess about others.
For example, the Evil Emperor Xiang Yutian, even had to be on guard against treasures like the Evil Emperor's relics in order to protect his good buddy Yan Fei.
If he handed over "Diao Chan Jin", he would be asking for trouble. Zang wanted to put away all the good stuff.
It was already a great thing to let Yu Xiaogang know that a suitable spirit ring could improve the essence of his martial spirit. At worst, I could tell him that physical fitness could increase the age of the spirit rings he could absorb.
"Boy, how did you do it?" Zhao Wuji asked in surprise.
Zang manipulated the tree roots into various shapes at will. Sometimes they twisted and coiled into his name, and sometimes they formed into the shapes of small animals.
"What flexible control!" Yu Xiaogang couldn't help but sigh when he saw Zang's operation.
"Maybe it's because I have strong physical fitness. Most of my classmates can't beat me."
Zang answered nonchalantly, but in fact he had already prepared himself mentally.
"Really? Come here and let me feel your bones."
Zhao Wuji called Zang to his side and squeezed Zang's shoulder, hand and arm bones with his hands.
"This child's body is indeed stronger than his peers. Could it be that his physical fitness will affect the years it takes to absorb the spirit ring?"
Zhao Wuji and Yu Xiaogang looked at each other.
"Who knows? If that's the case, maybe my second spirit ring can absorb spirit rings that are close to a thousand years old."
Zang said something shocking nonchalantly.
"Okay, let's go back!"
Yu Xiaogang clapped his hands and made a decision.
(