Chapter 26: The Descent of Punishment, Attaining Immortality through the Nine Paths

In a daze, Luo Zhou felt a power condensing and emerging within his body!

Essence, Qi, and Spirit!

As the essence entered his body, Luo Zhou’s entire being underwent a silent evolution.

Flesh, bone, the five senses, meridians, limbs, internal organs, spirit, and soul—everything was incrementally strengthened and enhanced by the infusion of essence.

As Qi entered his dantian, he obtained strands of true Qi.

Two types of true Qi: one was Heaven-Erosion Qi, and the other was Earth-Borer Qi!

The Blood Parrot—one of Heaven, one of Earth!

With fifteen strands of each type, Luo Zhou obtained a total of thirty strands of true Qi.

Within Luo Zhou's dantian, there was true Qi

Fifteen strands of Heaven-Erosion Qi, fifteen strands of Earth-Borer Qi, twelve strands of Heavy Water Qi, forty-five strands of Sky Water Qi, and twelve strands of Tide Qi!

The Heaven-Erosion and Earth-Borer Qi possessed incredibly powerful characteristics, no weaker than the Heavy Water or Sky Water and Tide Qi!

In total, these strands of true Qi added up to ninety-nine!

Luo Zhou's realm was merely Body Tempering; no matter how much true Qi his dantian could hold, it could not exceed one hundred. Otherwise, he would have had even more Heaven-Erosion and Earth-Borer Qi.

Luo Zhou slapped his thigh. What a waste! He needed to refine more Dragon-Slaying Spikes to make room!

As for the Spirit, he gained the life experiences, cultivation insights, and specialized skills of the Blood Parrot and Fang Ningshuang.

However, this information was completely chaotic and unbearable to recall.

Only one part was complete: the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect, Zhu Mingyao, Duqiong Peak, and Fairy Nanchun!

The Heaven and Earth Dao Sect was also known as the Heaven and Earth Dao Gate!

It consisted of five major lineages—Heaven, Earth, God, Ghost, and Man—with twelve branches beneath them.

Among them were Zhu Mingyao, Sword Sinking...

Duqiong Peak was one of Zhu Mingyao's branches, controlled by Fairy Nanchun, who specialized in the Illusionary World Pearl.

Every time Fairy Nanchun performed her arts, within the thirty-two-mile domain of her Golden Core, her magical power would inevitably give rise to countless bizarre entities.

They could be treasures, magical artifacts, demons, ghosts, or spirit beasts...

Once the ritual ended, those that did not dissipate became real objects!

Because these real objects were created from nothing, they required a physical vessel for support.

There were various ways to deal with them; for instance, spirit beasts required fusion with outer disciples to preserve the beast in the form of a spirit pet.

However, this had to be entirely voluntary; it could not be forced.

The Blood Parrot that was born that time was suspected to be the Blood Parrot of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands, the spirit pet of a Demon Lord.

According to normal procedure, one would need to definitively identify what kind of Blood Parrot it was, and then a disciple would have to volunteer to fuse with it.

But there was a risk that during the identification process, the Blood Parrot would lack physical support and dissipate on its own.

Fairy Nanchun was overcome by greed. "What if?" she thought—after all, it was the Blood Parrot of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands.

Thus, she forced Fang Ningshuang into a compulsory fusion.

As a result, she discovered the next day that it wasn't what she thought.

She banished Fang Ningshuang from Duqiong Peak, leaving her to her own devices.

Fang Ningshuang's father, unable to bear seeing his daughter like this, brought her home.

Three years ago, during the mysterious Full Moon Fifteenth Day Wood-Eating Demon Ritual, the Blood Parrot began eating people.

One year ago, the City Lord, Fang Daoqi, discovered the Full Moon Demon. He killed the Blood Parrot several times, but it simply could not be killed.

Even if burned to ashes, it would be reborn.

Fang Ningshuang and the Blood Parrot were like the undying and indestructible; they could not be slain.

They could only be confined to the back garden, and on the fifteenth night, death row prisoners were sent to the city crossroads to die.

If they were not sent to their deaths, the Blood Parrot would riot and kill more mortals.

The reason Luo Zhou could kill the Blood Parrot this time was due to Fang Ningshuang's suicidal resolve to suppress it; only then would the Blood Parrot die. Otherwise, as a creature of Heaven and Earth, it would be immortal.

As Luo Zhou sensed this silently, his resolve to kill Fairy Nanchun grew even firmer!

Aside from these, the spells and divine abilities of the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect that Fang Ningshuang had practiced were chaotic and impossible to sense.

However, Luo Zhou did obtain Fang Ningshuang's celestial profession: Curse Master.

Because Fang Ningshuang *was* the Blood Parrot, and the Blood Parrot *was* Fang Ningshuang.

Fang Ningshuang was a natural-born Curse Master, so Luo Zhou inherited the profession.

But Luo Zhou felt no joy!

As midnight passed, Luo Zhou could not sleep at all.

After a moment of thought, since he had just obtained the essence, qi, and spirit of the Blood Parrot, he decided to cultivate.

Luo Zhou began cultivating in his room, practicing the Azure Profound Body Tempering Art, then the Purple Cloud Body Tempering Art, then the Brown Scale Body Tempering Art, then the White Yang Body Tempering Art, then the Black Nether Body Tempering Art, and then re-practicing the Azure Profound Body Tempering Art...

Three hundred and sixty styles, circulating the Great Zhou Heaven, practicing repeatedly!

When he reached his limit, he had a sensation as if his entire body was merging, shattering, evolving, and being reborn once more, as if everything were starting anew.

His body evolved, and his realm ascended!

Body Tempering Seventh Layer: Blood Burning!

The Body Tempering realm consists of ten layers: First Layer Body Tempering, Second Layer Skull Solidification, Third Layer Ice Skin, Fourth Layer Flesh Refinement, Fifth Layer Tendon Forging, Sixth Layer Bone Purification, Seventh Layer Blood Burning, Eighth Layer Viscera Casting, Ninth Layer Marrow Strengthening, and Tenth Layer Body Integration!

It begins with Body Tempering and ends with Body Integration!

After awakening one's spirituality, one can absorb spiritual qi to cultivate and undergo Body Tempering, which is the first layer.

With one evolution, one ascends to the second layer, Skull Solidification, beginning the condensation of the skull.

With this breakthrough, the five senses became stronger and more expansive; touch was enhanced, and hearing and sight became sharper.

Continuing to cultivate and evolve leads to the third layer, Ice Skin.

This makes a cultivator radiant, with skin as smooth as ice and jade.

After Ice Skin, upon reaching the limit, one evolves again to change their very self, strengthening all muscles in the body to reach the fourth layer, Flesh Refinement.

By incrementally strengthening the flesh to the limit, one strikes at the fifth layer, Tendon Forging.

At the fifth layer, the meridians and tendons are automatically strengthened, becoming tough and resilient!

The sixth layer is Bone Purification, where the entire skeleton is tempered, becoming stronger and sturdier!

Now, Luo Zhou was at the seventh layer, Blood Burning!

Luo Zhou felt as if the blood in his body was burning endlessly!

Influenced by this, his body seemed to surge with infinite strength, his essence was abundant, and his spirit was vigorous.

His five senses expanded: he could see further, hear clearer, smell more subtly, and even food tasted more delicious!

A faint glow emanated from his skin, and his muscles swelled and compressed, becoming as hard as bronze and iron. His meridians expanded, becoming even more resilient and powerful.

His bones became hard and dense, even faintly developing a jade-like luster.

Gradually, his blood seemed to ignite, turning into a stream of heat.

This heat flowed through his limbs and into his hundreds of meridians; he felt a warmth permeating all ten thousand, eight thousand pores of his body.

From head to toe, from inside to out, every inch of bone, every bit of skin, and every pore moved according to his will. In every fiber of his being, he could act with total freedom.

June 29th, cloudy!

It still hadn't rained a single drop, and Luo Zhou was almost going mad.

Early in the morning, Luo Zhou arrived at the City Lord's mansion back garden, the place where Fang Ningshuang had dissipated.

He lit three sticks of incense for her.

He lay down where she used to lie, motionless, watching the white clouds on the horizon.

He stayed like that, lying there all day!

In the evening, he stood up and said slowly

"Ningshuang, I am leaving!"

"I will come to see you again!"

"I will surely kill Fairy Nanchun. If I do not kill her, I shall enter the Avici Hell and never be reborn!"

Having made his vow, Luo Zhou prepared to leave.

But then, he heard a voice!

"Little friend, take care on your way!"

Luo Zhou froze. He turned around to see none other than the City Lord of Cuiling City, Fang Daoqi!

Fang Daoqi looked at Luo Zhou and said slowly

"Actually, I have been here all these days!

It's just that I could not make a sound; I could only watch!

Meeting you was her luck, Ningshuang. It was time for her to dissipate."

Luo Zhou did not know what to say and could only stare at Fang Daoqi!

"I dared not say anything, nor did I dare offer you any help, not even a single spirit stone!

I was afraid—afraid that if you failed to kill Fairy Nanchun and she discovered my help, she would retaliate, and all eight thousand, three hundred and fifty-one members of my clan would die!"

"I didn't even dare to harbor a single thought of revenge, for fear she would sense it!"

At this point, Fang Daoqi stopped speaking. In this moment, he appeared incredibly old and terrified.

"But your last vow, to kill her... it stirred me!

I hate her too! She was my daughter, whom I raised with such care. She was born a natural Curse Master. My child...

The most outstanding daughter of my Fang family turned into blood just like that, and I didn't even dare to build her a grave..."

As he spoke, Fang Daoqi produced an object. It looked like a piece of skin covered in various spiritual runes, though they were impossible to discern clearly.

"This is a spiritual material found yesterday by a merchant caravan in a collapsed cave in the Great Xuan Mountains.

They didn't understand what it was, but these are Ancient Spiritual Runes!

This is one of the Nine Great Immortal Paths of the cultivation world!

No one knows that I possess it. You found it yourself. If you fail, it has nothing to do with me."

As he finished speaking, the Ancient Spiritual Rune flew toward him. Luo Zhou removed his upper garment, and it landed on his back.

Then, blood sprayed from Luo Zhou, coating the entire rune. Suddenly, the rune seemed to come alive, burrowing beneath Luo Zhou's skin!

Looking closely, Luo Zhou's back was covered in massive tattoos!

A "Big Flower Back"! He looked like a common thug!

He was no longer pure...

The tattoo was also particularly ugly; one couldn't even tell what it was supposed to be...

Luo Zhou couldn't help but ask, "What is this?"

"The Spiritual Runes of the Nine Paths of Cultivation!

Within the process of cultivation, nine great immortal paths are hidden!

Miraculous Enshrinement, Golden Seal Script, Innate Wisdom Fate, Blessed Land Grotto, Heavenly Might Chess, Dao-Martial Ancestor, Immortal Bone Divine Cluster, Demon Organ Magic Tool, and Spiritual Rune Witch-Blood.

Each has a positive and a negative, an internal and an external. When combined into one path, those who obtain the complete path can step onto the road of immortality, leading directly to the Great Luo Hunyuan Golden Immortal."

(End of Chapter)