Chapter 221: Slaying The Six Thieves, Nascent Spirit Emerges
But on his body, there was a missing fish scale here and an extra bruise there.
Counting carefully, there were only a little over forty fish scales left, barely enough to cover the tail.
Truly miserable beyond compare.
“Considering your past hardships, enduring all kinds of suffering and working diligently, I gift you this Li Shi Huo Qi.”
Chen Shun’an didn’t care if the Ran Yi Fish could understand, hoping that one day if the Ran Yi Fish reshaped its golden body or was even enfeoffed as a god, it would still feel gratitude and understand his difficulties.
He comforted himself and painted a picture on his own.
Education must start from prenatal instruction.
“Go!”
The Li Shi Huo Qi fell onto the Ran Yi Fish, and with a burn, water vapor rose mistily.
Fire below, water above.
The Ran Yi Fish swam between them, its skin and flesh somewhat charred, but as the water vapor circulated, it turned into pieces of scales.
Seeing the Ran Yi Fish’s appearance, it surprisingly showed a bit of relief and joy.
【Ran Yi Fish remaining fish scales: 43—>46/108—>109】
Not only did it recover three fish scales, but it could even increase the upper limit?
Chen Shun’an saw this and his eyes lit up.
The key was the Ran Yi Fish’s selfless dedication, feeding itself to the fire.
Chen Shun’an quickly compared and analyzed whether his own body could withstand the scorching of the Li Shi Huo Qi.
“Ninety-eight percent certainty, it can hold up!”
Chen Shun’an made the judgment, then without hesitation, drew another strand of Li Shi Huo Qi, only one-tenth to two-tenths the scale of the previous one.
Small amounts repeatedly.
Caution first.
“This should be one hundred percent certainty now, right?”
Rumbling!
The Li Shi Huo Qi fell onto Chen Shun’an, turning into a sheet of fierce flames.
In the center of the flames, Chen Shun’an sat cross-legged, dark red fire tongues climbing up along his robe hem, as if to wrap him into a burning torch.
But his eyes were tightly closed, his face calm like an ancient well without ripples, not even his eyebrows twitching in the slightest, calmly sitting still in this heat that could melt stone and iron.
Even more strangely, the Li Shi Huo Qi, capable of burning through fine iron, truly could not harm him in the least.
His clothes turned to ash, burning away all his body hair and head hair, yet not leaving even half a scorch mark on his skin.
Pale jade-colored light quietly flowed under his skin, like casting an invisible layer of jade armor, impervious to water, fire, blades, or weapons.
His head was just a bit bald and shiny, very round…
The Li Shi Huo Qi entered from the major acupoints all over Chen Shun’an’s body, then under his control, forcibly followed the qi and blood circulation of Flying Immortal Strength, circulating rapidly.
It then turned into nourishment for force and nascent spirit.
As expected, the withering trend in Chen Shun’an’s form suddenly halted.
Especially after repeatedly drawing small amounts of Li Shi Huo Qi and refining it, his body became full and crystalline again, even stronger, containing unimaginable vital essence!
He didn’t know how much time had passed.
In the Niwan Acupoint at Chen Shun’an’s glabella, Xiantian Qi surged violently, and a nascent spirit with the exact same facial features as Chen Shun’an suddenly condensed, lifelike and nearly real.
The nascent spirit sat in meditation within the Niwan Acupoint, just like the external Chen Shun’an, right hand holding yang, left hand holding yin, in a ring-embracing-void posture, circulating the circulation.
Divine light flickered around its body, like mist or lightning, strands of Xiantian Qi surging from various parts of the Niwan Acupoint, turning into scenes of nature like snowy mountains, rushing waterfalls on green peaks.
Rumbling!!
From deep within Chen Shun’an’s body came a rumbling thunder-like shock.
Then, Chen Shun’an sensed his intent—more precisely, his divine essence—rapidly expanding.
Suddenly, a faint shimmering light escaped from his glabella, the tangible sense condensed after slaying the mind thief, rippling out upon leaving the body, first enveloping his entire form, then spreading outward.
The unextinguished residual heat of the fire qi on the ground, charred particles in stone cracks, even the crack patterns on a stubborn stone underground in the quiet room due to sudden cooling after intense heat, all clear as if before his eyes.
Chen Shun’an didn’t move a bit, but his intent had completely shifted away from this quiet room, spreading in all directions.
Underground, a large rat was curled up in a cave; he could clearly see ice crystals on the roots of its fur, the trajectories of snow particles shaken off by each trembling down hair, even the faint sensation of blood rushing through capillaries with each heartbeat;
On the ground, a third-rate mid-stage martial artist was secretly hiding behind a willow tree, and seeing no one around, placed a martial arts manual he had secretly copied into a crack in the willow trunk, as if waiting for someone to retrieve it.
…
One li, two li, three li.
A woman mending clothes by the light through the window lattice;
A sturdy man practicing martial arts in the courtyard by moonlight;
An adulterous man and woman flipping over the wall to have an affair while the male master was away…
Only at five li distance did Chen Shun’an’s projected power of intent barely end.
But messages still came from afar.
He could still faintly perceive things or auras fifty li or even a hundred li away by wind sounds, water sounds, even others’ breathing and mundane qi.
But the further out, the more blurred and chaotic, even producing erroneous or opposite feedback.
Once beyond sixty-plus li, the information from intent was almost unusable, left only with vast turbid qi, hard to discern truth.
Even so, this was an ability unimaginable for true intent martial artists!
Chen Shun’an instantly understood.
That day, Lu Jing must have relied on this ability to sense, even from the Vegetable Market Intersection, the Guo Lu Society members who had intruded into Wuqing County from forty or fifty li away.
At this moment, Lu Jing was no longer mysterious in Chen Shun’an’s eyes.
In fact, Lu Jing became just a small milestone on Chen Shun’an’s path forward, far thrown behind like Lin Shou Zhuo.
Now, on the martial path, he almost had no companions.
The only ones who could guide the way and discuss the Dao with spirits were probably those martial dao grandmasters whose traces were even more elusive than immortals, only scales and claws visible.
Moreover, Chen Shun’an had a premonition.
As long as he willed it, he could strip away the six senses of all living beings within his intent’s range whose realm and mental strength were inferior to his!
No perception of time passing or the self’s existence or destruction.
Plunged into eternal icy silence, a state more terrifying than death!
Chen Shun’an’s previous formlessness was rooted in the nose, ear, eye, tongue, and body five thieves, and for the mind thief, the in-the-darkness heartblood surges, with little effect.
Once approaching a same-realm martial artist closely and generating killing intent, he would be discovered.
This was also why Chen Shun’an hadn’t rashly intruded into the underground palace of the mourning hall back then.
But now…
“How is this somewhat like a castrated version of the separation between immortals and mortals?”
Chen Shun’an’s heart stirred.
Just a bit clumsier and narrower, yet already possessing some flair.
Besides that.
Chen Shun’an could clearly sense that he could condense his whole body’s strength into one stream, every move a full-power strike, or divide it into thousands of strands, directing to skin and even fine pores, making his body firm as fine steel, impervious to water, fire, blades, or weapons.
Powerful!
Invincible!
Even with Chen Shun’an’s mindset, at this moment he couldn’t help his heartblood surging uncontrollably.
And this was just true intent perfection, slaying the six thieves.
Chen Shun’an didn’t dare imagine how powerful a martial dao grandmaster would be.
If he was right, once stepping into grandmaster realm, three refinements combined, nascent spirit presiding over the prime, commanding the hubs, it would probably birth a brand-new power.
Comparable to immortal magic power, making up for this status gap!
Nascent spirit leaving body equivalent to spells.
Get a body full of martial world mysterious items, armed to the teeth, closing the gap on magic tools and talismans.
Except for not being able to fly, how were martial dao grandmasters weaker than immortals?!
In the quiet room,
Chen Shun’an’s eyes suddenly opened.
In an instant, his gaze was like lightning, as if seizing all surrounding brightness, even dimming the nearby lamp flames.
In the next moment, the sharp light in his eyes receded, and with strength circulating, energy surging, the burned-away beard and hair regrew at visible speed, not only restoring to original but faintly gleaming with tough luster.
In this instant, Chen Shun’an seemed to return to his prime, wrinkles and scars gone, figure upright, muscles knotted, though his features weren’t outstanding, those eyes were deep as the sea, captivating the mind.
Chen Shun’an smiled faintly, standing tall with a river-surging rumble from within, echoing in the empty quiet room.
But…
He frowned, looking at the vermilion rootlets suddenly drilling from his palm, still playfully waving left and right, undulating.
As if wanting to cultivate too, actually facing the high-hanging jade plate, performing some ritual in breathing posture.
And Chen Shun’an could clearly sense that his body was filled with dense similar rootlets, integrated seamlessly with him.
With Chen Shun’an’s realm breakthrough, only one step from grandmaster realm.
The effects of the passage of exhausting yin dregs and extinguishing corpse qi became ever more severe and obvious.
Omen of misfortune in old age?
A glint of focus flashed in Chen Shun’an’s eyes.
Body qi and blood surged, burning all rootlets to ash in one go.
Forcibly suppressed!
The issue of exhausting yin dregs and extinguishing corpse qi could be resolved with plenty of time later.
The urgent matter now…
“We martial artists must advance courageously! Temporary hibernation is a helpless move; now with true intent perfection, it’s time to wash away past shame and fight for unblocked thoughts!”
In this instant, Chen Shun’an’s domineering aura burst forth, black hair flowing behind him; with a grab, he donned a robe, and his figure vanished from the quiet room.
……
The sky was still immersed in inky darkness, cold wind carrying scattered snow, scraping faces like knives.
“Oh? Advising me not to act impulsively, not to be bewitched, to stay in the Martial Arts Hall and never go out?”
Just leaving the quiet room, Chen Shun’an saw an envelope seemingly accidentally dropped on the ground, leaning in a stone step crack, just visible to him.
He casually opened it; the handwriting was unfamiliar, seemingly written with special ink, and upon exposure to cold wind, the characters dissolved like ebbing tide, leaving faint traces.
Before he could think, “whoosh,” a cluster of dark blue flame shot from the envelope bottom, the fire tongue licking without warmth, instantly incinerating the envelope to flying ash, scattering into the snow mist with the wind.
“Is it… the shopkeeper of Wanlong Pounding House, Huang Xing?”
Chen Shun’an’s expression was calm, capturing a faint aura from the envelope.
It was deliberately left by Huang Xing.
This person was probably hedging bets on both sides.
