Demon Cultivator with Celestial Book-Chapter 120 - 102: The Cat Master Displays Marvelous Divine Techniques; Who Dares Shake [Tai Yang]?
After seeing the old Daoist off, Jiang Yi settled in at the Merit Supervision Institute.
Two child attendants were assigned to serve him here. However, their Cultivation was too low for them to stay for long periods; otherwise, the Qi Mechanisms of Bing Fire and Ren Water would easily harm them, endangering their lives.
Thus, they usually waited outside for orders, doing chores like sweeping and running errands.
All in all, the Merit Supervision Institute wasn’t much different from the Grass Hall Meditation House in Cuihuang Forest. Both could be considered quiet places with few disturbances.
Jiang Yi wasn’t in a hurry to suppress the Fire Cave and Water Cave. Before leaving, perhaps because Jiang Yi had greased his palms, the old Daoist had left an extra stack of talisman paper to insulate against the Qi Mechanism from the caves.
He weighed the stack of talisman paper. It was enough for him to slack off for three to five days.
"Cat Master, we’re right under the nose of a Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer master. If we pull some shenanigans, we won’t expose ourselves and get discovered, right?"
Jiang Yi lightly waved his sleeve, and the hall doors swung open. He stepped inside, found a random meditation cushion, and sat down cross-legged.
True Master Xuanmiao leaped from his robes and sniffed around, as if familiarizing himself with the new environment.
Hearing Jiang Yi’s question, he answered brazenly:
"Hmph, forget a mere Lower Cultivator at the Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer. Not even someone at the True Monarch Level could secretly spy on this True Master or eavesdrop on a single word."
Jiang Yi thought to himself:
’So besides eating, drinking, and sleeping, the Cat Master isn’t entirely useless after all.’
It made sense. Even the Celestial Book needed "eight thousand eight hundred years" to investigate True Master Xuanmiao’s origins.
From this perspective, Sect Leader Liu Huan’s Qi Cultivation Twelfth Layer really wasn’t enough to pose a threat.
"Then I’ll be relying on you, Cat Master."
Jiang Yi knew how to play along and fed him two strips of Spirit Bird Jerky.
He had specifically given Zhou Fan of the Qi Gong Institute a sum of talisman money, asking him to have the Inner Peak kitchens purchase Long-Feathered Pheasants to make the Cat Master’s favorite "Snacks."
True Master Xuanmiao meowed happily as he ate, his round eyes squinting into a line. He patted his chest and guaranteed:
"When this True Master handles things, you can rest easy, Xiao Jiang!"
Immediately filled with vigor, he took the Fire Essence Jade Gui and went to get busy.
Jiang Yi’s eyelids lowered slightly. He sat cross-legged, placed his hands over his Inner Mansion, and formed the Meditation Seal.
This was the first time he was circulating his True Qi for a full Circulation cycle in a place with such abundant Bing Fire.
At first, his entire body and organs felt warm and harmonious, as if a pleasant, warm current was washing through him. It was quite comfortable.
After about half an incense stick’s time, things gradually started to feel wrong.
Wisps of scorching heat seeped into his flesh and blood, boring into his muscles and bones. It felt like being pricked by countless red-hot, ox-hair-thin needles, a searing pain.
If it were just this, Jiang Yi could have endured it. Compared to the suffering in the Quenching Room—breathing in choking smoke and having the skin on his face scalded until it cracked—this was truly nothing.
Another two hours passed.
Jiang Yi’s breathing grew ragged. An inexplicable manic agitation surged in his heart, like pouring oil on a fire, burning fiercer and fiercer until he could barely maintain his meditation.
’Bing Fire in the heavens is the sun and lightning; on the earth, it is the furnace and the forge.’
’Though it is a yang fire, it is also called a dead fire, for it is scorching to the extreme.’
Jiang Yi recalled what the Celestial Book had shown. The Qi Mechanism emitted by this Fire Acupoint was yang with a baleful edge. It eroded the organs, seared the body inside and out, and scorched the Heart Spirit.
In terms of harmfulness, it was several times more ferocious than Ding Fire.
’I might as well see how far I can push myself.’
Jiang Yi did not stop. Instead, he began to circulate the Mixed Refining and Forging Yuan Fire Control Technique, attempting to dissolve the Bing Fire Qi that was continuously swarming him.
The Qi Cultivation General Outline was indeed useful.
The Bing Fire Qi was slowly ground down and absorbed into his body. His organs, which had felt like they were being fried, immediately felt some relief.
But he didn’t last long. The clusters of flames glowing from his mouth and nose suddenly surged, spreading up and down to engulf his whole body, turning him into a man of fire!
Jiang Yi’s brows furrowed tightly, as if in torment.
The Bing Fire and Ding Fire clashed, unable to harmonize within his body, causing the heat to intensify dramatically.
Viscous balls of fire, like fists, assaulted his seven orifices. They grew more and more solid, even tumbling down into his Inner Mansion and evaporating the Spiritual Liquid he had accumulated.
’Is this what the old Daoist meant by suppressing the Fire Cave and Water Cave would cause a pointless loss of Merit?’
Jiang Yi pondered. He didn’t panic just because his Spiritual Liquid was dwindling. The process he was currently experiencing had already been shown to him in the deductions when he had begged the Celestial Book.
’Bing Fire is Pure Yang in nature. As long as I can dissolve the Dense Qi and baleful intent mixed within the acupoint’s energy, I can actually use it to refine my Merit, strengthen my foundation, and advance my Cultivation.’
Through the Qi Cultivation General Outline, "Mixed Refining Origin, Commander of Ten Thousand Truths," Jiang Yi managed to hold on for another two hours.
Only when his entire body and organs felt like they were about to ignite, burning from both inside and out, did Jiang Yi finally, slowly, withdraw his Cultivation.
When he opened his eyes again, the sky was dimming, and twilight had fallen.
Inside the Merit Supervision Institute, however, it was as bright as day. The cave entrance in the ceiling, resembling a caisson, continued to spew out a dense Spiritual Energy.
A pillar of fire so thick it would take two people to encircle it illuminated the great hall, shining in and clearly lighting up his features.
’The mixed refining method can only alleviate the suffering from the Fire Cave and Water Cave and increase my Cultivation time. It won’t excessively drag down my progress.’
’But to completely solve the problem, and even turn this dire situation into a treasured land, I must turn to that Long-term Nourishing Daoist Embryo Skill.’
Jiang Yi had roughly grasped the situation. The Qi Cultivation General Outline of the Mixed Refining Origin could, at most, refine the Bing Fire’s Spiritual Energy, but it struggled to dissolve the Dense Qi and baleful intent.
He had to rely on the Long-term Nourishing Daoist Embryo Skill; only by combining the two could he achieve a beneficial effect.
Thinking of this, he looked up at the Cat Master, who had been uncharacteristically diligent, busying himself for half the day.
He saw that True Master Xuanmiao had acquired Materials from somewhere and had cobbled together a crude and simple "Magic Altar" out of Cinnabar Wood Shavings.
The Fire Essence Jade Gui, obtained in exchange for the Yuan Containing Pill, was placed firmly in the center.
Jiang Yi could faintly hear the round, calico cat muttering to himself:
"How do I get the thing out... How did this True Master used to do it? Walk four steps backward? Recite the previous master’s Daoist title? But what was that title again?"
Watching the Cat Master lift a paw to scratch his head, the corner of Jiang Yi’s mouth twitched.
And to think he had placed such high hopes on the Cat Master earlier. Who knew he’d be so disappointing?
"Cat Master..."
Just as Jiang Yi was about to speak, True Master Xuanmiao suddenly let out a loud MEOW.
"This True Master has achieved enlightenment!"
He then mumbled a few sentences. Jiang Yi leaned closer, but couldn’t hear a single word, as if a low, rumbling thunder was drowning out the Cat Master’s voice.
About a dozen breaths later, the Fire Essence Jade Gui in the center of the Magic Altar abruptly dissipated, as if blasted apart by a Great Magical Power, instantly turning into the purest Spiritual Qi.
At first glance, it was like a surging tide breaking through a dam, SPLASHING loudly, then it seemed to be devoured by the vast, dark void in an instant, and all was quiet again.
A few more breaths passed, and a round, brightly shining light appeared out of thin air. True Master Xuanmiao shot out a paw, swift as lightning, and snatched it.
"Xiao Jiang! Refine it, quickly!"
The plump Cat Master was unusually agile at this moment. With a leap, he jumped onto Jiang Yi’s shoulder and pressed the point of light to the center of his brow.
BOOM!
Before Jiang Yi could react, he felt a clap of thunder strike within his Primordial Gate. The deafening peal nearly shattered his Brain God.
He felt his Divine Thought stir, and from an infinitely remote and mysterious distance, a grand Daoist sound seemed to drift down, expounding the ultimate principles of the universe.
"Before Primordial Qi took form, what was there but silence? The Supreme Essence was moved, and the True One was born. The Primordial Qi circulated, and heaven and earth were established. Creation unfolded, and the ten thousand things came into being."
"Chaos is emptiness within and nothingness without, vast and boundless, unnamable. Though its great principles are not exhausted in the classics, the foundation of its secret mysteries can be seen in the arcane scriptures..."
Jiang Yi listened for only a moment before his head swam. He found it impossible to comprehend or understand.
The louder the Daoist sound became, the more confused he grew. It was like looking at the Celestial Book; he knew every word was profound, yet he couldn’t find the way in, and he grew extremely agitated.
"The Great Dao has no form; I compel myself to call it form. The form of that which has form, the form of that which has no form, is used daily without being depleted, and there is nothing it cannot be used for..."
The Daoist sound boomed, reverberating through his Primordial Gate. Jiang Yi suppressed the urge to study it earnestly and sighed softly.
’What’s with all this gibberish? I’ll just beg the Celestial Book!’
...
...
DANG!
An unknown distance away on the Dongsheng Continent, in a magnificent Daoist Palace of unknown height.
A large, ancient bell, suspended between two colossal mountains that scraped the heavens, seemed to have been struck. It rang nine times in succession.
The rolling sound waves washed over tens of thousands of miles, scattering the sea of clouds and astral winds, churning the void until it trembled and could not be calmed.
It was clearly the time of day when the sun was setting in the west, filling the sky with the colors of twilight.
Yet all the cultivators of the Immortal Dao on the Dongsheng Continent couldn’t help but raise their heads and look up, as if they had sensed some kind of change.
’Did the sky just brighten?’
Within the boundlessly magnificent Daoist Palace, a confused voice rang out:
"Who is shaking the [Tai Yang]? Who dares to shake the [Tai Yang]!"
