Chapter 6: Dragon Slayer's Thorn" and "Turning the Tides

After a long afternoon of running about, Luo Zhou finally returned home.

Not wanting to go through the trouble of cooking, he ordered a set of meals from a roadside restaurant.

Soon, the waiter delivered the food: twice-cooked pork, *di san xian*, and hot and sour soup. Luo Zhou ate a hearty meal.

After filling his stomach and resting for a while, he brewed a pot of green tea and began his cultivation.

The cultivators of Cuiling City, even the likes of the vermin-demon Gu Shanhe and his ilk, all practiced the three basic body-refining techniques of the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect: the White Sun Body-Refining Art, the Azure Profound Body-Refining Art, and the Purple Firmament Body-Refining Art.

Once they advanced from Body Refining to Qi Refining, they would naturally switch to the White Sun Qi-Refining Art, the Azure Profound Qi-Refining Art, or the Purple Firmament Qi-Refining Art.

But Luo Zhou was different. Beyond the three basic body-refining techniques, he had also mastered the Black Nether Body-Refining Art and the Brown Scale Body-Refining Art, taught by the Daoist Academy of the outer prefecture.

Each of the five great body-refining techniques consisted of seventy-two forms. Mastering forty-nine forms of any one technique was considered a success, potentially triggering one's innate spirituality.

Luo Zhou began his cultivation at the age of seven. After eight years of arduous training, he had mastered all three hundred and sixty forms of the five great body-refining techniques.

In truth, the Luo family were not local natives; the family had a deep heritage and had once produced a Golden Core ancestor, making them one of the original immortal-cultivating families of the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect.

However, the family later fell into decline, the ancestor perished, and over several hundred years, the family fractured, leaving his parents to end up here.

Even in decline, they retained their heritage. The family possessed the secret manuals for all five great body-refining and qi-refining techniques, as well as a secret oral tradition.

The secret tradition stated that if all three hundred and sixty forms of the five great body-refining techniques were mastered, one would inevitably give birth to a great acquired spirituality.

This was not actually a great secret; within the Heaven and Earth Dao Sect itself, everyone knew it.

It was just that mastering all five great body-refining techniques was as difficult as ascending to heaven, fraught with countless obstacles.

The Daoist Academy stipulated that mastering forty-nine forms of a single technique was considered a great success; to master all five was simply impossible.

Luo Zhou had also discovered during his cultivation that reaching forty-nine forms in any single technique was incredibly difficult.

He had spent six years without completing forty-nine forms of even one technique, but during his practice, Luo Zhou gradually discovered the profound mysteries of the five great body-refining techniques.

These five techniques secretly contained the Dao of the Five Elements.

White Sun was Metal, Azure Profound was Wood, Black Nether was Water, Purple Firmament was Fire, and Brown Scale was Earth.

The principles of the Five Elements generating and overcoming each other were known to everyone in his past life.

Following the rule of the Five Elements generating each other, Luo Zhou practiced Azure Profound first, then Purple Firmament, then Brown Scale, then White Sun, then Black Nether, and then back to Azure Profound...

Wood is the beginning of the Five Elements; Water is the end; Earth is the center.

Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, Water generates Wood...

Form followed form, never rushing, the Five Elements interacting, generating and overcoming.

In this way, two years passed, and he progressed by leaps and bounds, meeting no further obstacles.

The many bottlenecks that had previously existed seemed to vanish, all easily broken through.

Thus, sixty-eight days ago, all three hundred and sixty forms of the five techniques were fully mastered.

In reality, once forty-nine forms of any technique were completed, an acquired spirituality would begin to emerge, but Luo Zhou had suppressed it firmly, refusing to let it awaken.

Only by gathering all three hundred and sixty forms would he awaken!

And thus, he gained the ability: Reward the Good and Punish the Evil!

As the great cycle of practicing the three hundred and sixty forms of the five techniques concluded, Luo Zhou let out a long breath and wiped the sweat from his body.

He downed the now-cooled green tea in one gulp.

After resting for a moment, Luo Zhou took out several pieces of spirit wood from his cabinet.

Spirit Birch Wood, a specialty of the Great Profound Mountains, contained a faint trace of spiritual energy and could be used to make various clubs, costing about fifty copper coins per piece.

It was everywhere on the mountain and sold throughout Cuiling City; some wealthy families even used it as firewood.

He took out a piece of Spirit Birch Wood, about four feet long and three inches thick.

Luo Zhou carefully inspected it, took out his wood-carving knife, and slowly trimmed it, gradually shaping the Spirit Birch Wood into a straight, short spear, three feet long and one inch thick.

The short spear was covered in various runes, all carefully carved without the slightest error.

He had to hunt the dragon tomorrow; he had to prepare the Dragon-Slaying Thorn!

Luo Zhou silently activated his divine ability, Dragon-Slaying Thorn...

"Heavy Radiance Jade Dawn, Profound Scenery Opens Bright, Distant Truths Revealed, Shaking the Seven Treasures' Essence, One Thought Passes Difficulty, Forever with the Supreme, Rotating Offerings of Yellow Scenery, Solar Radiance Born of Void, Great Cavern True Precepts, Profoundly Sensing the Demon King..."

As he silently recited the incantation, the geomagnetic energy of Gu Shanhe stored in his dantian slowly circulated and emerged.

This spiritual energy converged onto the short spear, the two quietly merging, and the short spear gradually became crystal clear.

One year of true essence cultivation fused into the short spear, and the spear quietly shrank, becoming two feet and one inch long.

Luo Zhou let out a long breath. It hadn't shattered; it was a success!

He took out another piece of Spirit Birch Wood, crafted a short spear, and once again injected the geomagnetic energy.

After a long while, another success!

Luo Zhou smiled and tried to merge the two short spears. Under the activation of his divine ability, Dragon-Slaying Thorn, the two spears merged into one.

It only became shorter, now only two feet long!

Luo Zhou crafted a third short spear and fused it in, making it even shorter, at one foot and nine inches.

When he went to craft the fifth, however, it shattered with a *crack*.

A strand of spiritual energy dissipated, and Luo Zhou felt a pang of heartache.

Ordinarily, such refining could only be performed by those in the Qi Refining realm.

But Luo Zhou, through Reward the Good and Punish the Evil, had obtained the true energy of a Qi Refining cultivator, allowing him to refine the Dragon-Slaying Thorn across realms.

In the past, before he had killed vermin-cultivators to obtain true energy, he had used shattered spirit stones to refine them, which had pained him even more.

He continued to condense. This time, the condensation was successful, and it merged into the short spear—one foot and eight inches...

He failed once more later, but Luo Zhou successfully condensed nine short spears, merging them all into one crystal-clear short spear dart, one foot and three inches long!

The short spear that had killed Gu Shanhe was just like this!

However, Gu Shanhe's forty-seven strands of spiritual energy were now reduced to thirty-six.

But in his dantian, there were still fifteen strands of other true energy.

Including the geomagnetic energy, his dantian held four types of characteristic spiritual energy.

Geomagnetic, Heavy Dust, Three-Eye, and Water Tide!

Heavy Dust came from the Yellow Earth Demon, Three-Eye from the Eye-Eating Demon, and Water Tide from the Crocodile Dragon.

Looking at this one-foot-three-inch, crystal-clear short spear, Luo Zhou was overjoyed.

This was his confidence, his sure-kill, his Dragon-Slaying Thorn!

With this Dragon-Slaying Thorn, Luo Zhou could kill Qi Refining cultivators while still in the Body Refining realm, and slay the Five Demons.

In truth, the divine ability Dragon-Slaying Thorn could kill across realms, and the explanation was very simple.

The refined Dragon-Slaying Thorn was like the firearms of his past life.

In his past life, as long as one had a gun, even a child or an old man could easily kill a strong man.

With a gun, one still needed to aim, and Luo Zhou's aim was his spirituality—the Sharp-Piercing Eye.

Add to that a characteristic like pulling a trigger—the Strength of Four Oxen.

In battle, within a distance of one *zhang*, he would activate the divine ability Dragon-Slaying Thorn, lock onto the opponent's left and right eyes with the Sharp-Piercing Eye, and throw it with the Strength of Four Oxen, activating the refined Dragon-Slaying Thorn.

The Dragon-Slaying Thorn would activate, instantly turning into a beam of light, launching, piercing, impossible to block or dodge.

Nine years of spiritual energy erupting into a single point of light, transforming into the most terrifying damage; a Qi Refining stage's energy shield could not block it, thus piercing the eye and blowing the head!

Just like firing a gun in his past life, a single shot to kill!

Looking at the divine ability, it seemed wondrous and infinitely magical, but once understood, it was plain, simple, and extremely straightforward...

The divine ability Dragon-Slaying Thorn was obtained from Wang Heyu.

It was just that Wang Heyu's spirituality was the ability "Full Power Burst," but after Luo Zhou obtained it, it evolved into the divine ability Dragon-Slaying Thorn.

Perhaps this was a divine ability deep within Wang Heyu's bloodline; because his strength was insufficient, its external form was just the ability "Full Power Burst."

What Luo Zhou had obtained, however, was the divine ability Dragon-Slaying Thorn from deep within his bloodline.

He let out a long breath and once again began refining a second Dragon-Slaying Thorn.

This time, it was as if he had divine help; he didn't fail a single time.

The second Dragon-Slaying Thorn was completed, and Gu Shanhe's geomagnetic energy had twenty-seven strands remaining.

Luo Zhou took two intact pieces of Spirit Birch Wood, made them into a staff, and hid the refined Dragon-Slaying Thorns inside.

Not a trace left!

Everything was finished; he just had to wait for tomorrow to go dragon hunting!

Additionally, there was one more thing: waiting for the midnight reward for punishing evil.

He waited silently, having already tossed and turned for most of the night, and soon it was midnight.

"Luo Zhou, evil spirit detected, punish it!"

"Saving a child, punishing an evil father; punishing evil is a virtuous act!"

"Reward the Good and Punish the Evil completed, reward!"

In a trance, Luo Zhou felt a power descend from the sky and pour into his body.

Could it be the bald Old Wang's haircutting ability?

His whole body shook, and in his trance, he felt countless ocean tides, giant waves towering to the sky, destroying everything in their path!

"Water..."

"Wave, vortex, surge, billow, tide, float, flow, gush, swell..."

"Overturning rivers and seas, giant waves towering to the sky!"

"Reward the Good!"

"Reward: Ability 'Vortex Guard', one of the nine components of the divine ability 'Overturning Rivers and Seas'!"

Luo Zhou was stunned. He hadn't expected to obtain a second divine ability, besides the Dragon-Slaying Thorn.

No, it couldn't be called a divine ability yet, just one-ninth of one.

This bald Old Wang was just like Wang Heyu; he had secrets hidden deep within his body!