Chapter 7: The Mighty Elephant Technique

  In the depths of the tribe, there was an old stone house where a 98-year-old Stone Grandfather lived. The Stone Grandfather was originally a warrior in the Bloodstone Tribe's Battle Squad, but later on, he grew old and couldn't break through, his blood energy dwindling, so he retired from the squad and took charge of entering the mountains to gather medicine to treat the wounded tribesmen.

  Xiao Yi was rescued by Shi Gong from a big mountain several miles outside the tribe. In these fifteen days, Xiao Yi was able to withstand the pain so quickly and walk smoothly, thanks to Shi Gong's herbal medicine. Although his body had not fully recovered, Xiao Yi also knew that his physical condition had improved a lot compared to before.

  However, these days, Xiao Yi also heard Shi Gong say that his physical constitution was too weak, and his blood energy was slightly inferior to that of an old man. If he were to cultivate, it would be difficult to make any progress. In the realm of refining blood, being able to open up one meridian is already a miracle.

  With a forceful push of both hands, the 100-jin stone door creaked open. Xiao Yi's nose tip broke out in a thin layer of sweat. The physical strength of humans in this great technological era was just like that - these ancient ancestors' physiques were strong to an almost absurd degree.

  "I'm back."

  Inside the stone house, a slightly hunched figure was arranging several blue-glazed jars. Seeing Xiao Yi enter, he tapped his pestle twice and turned to hand Xiao Yi a blue-glazed jar, saying lightly: "Drink all the medicinal liquid inside."

  Shi Gong's tone was stiff, but Xiao Yi didn't mind. The old man had always been like this to everyone. Looking at the black liquid medicine in the stone jar in his hand, Xiao Yi's mouth twitched with bitterness. For over ten days, he had been drinking this every day. It was extremely bitter, but it could relax his muscles and tendons, slightly alleviating his pain.

  No holding back, Xiao Yi gulped down the medicine liquid in one big mouthful. Seeing Xiao Yi's action, Shi Gong's dry and expressionless face finally relaxed slightly, but soon returned to normal. He said, "The clan leader has not agreed, you are not a member of my Blood Stone Clan, our clan's martial arts techniques, even if it's just a third-rate technique, cannot be taught to you. Even if you want to join my Blood Stone Clan, you must hunt and provide food for the clan for a year before you can take the assessment. And with your physical condition, this is an impossible task."

  Xiao Yi originally wanted to use cultivation to resolve the alien energy in his body, but now it seems that the Bloodstone Tribe is not willing to teach him the ways of cultivation. Without saying a word, Xiao Yi simply looked at Shi Gong, then knelt down and kowtowed three times with great respect. For someone who has died once, dignity is most important.

  Shi Gong let out a sigh, reached out to help Xiao Yi up, and said: "Foolish child, you will surely lose your life in the desolate ancient forest. Shi Gong can see that you are not an ordinary person, you have a past, and from your eyes, Shi Gong saw a determination to die. Perhaps the tribe leader should not harbor doubts about you, nor should you blame him. My Blood Stone Tribe has nearly 100,000 people, living in these vast mountains and forests, surrounded by other tribes, with too many concerns. Now Shi Gong still has another choice for you, but this path..."

  The old man hesitated slightly, then pulled out a dark green beast skin from his bosom and said: "This is the 'Barbarian Elephant Great Power Scripture', which belongs to a top-notch martial art. I obtained it by chance when I was fighting with foreigners in my early years. Unfortunately, there is only the Blood Refining Volume, and the cultivation is too difficult, requiring extremely high standards. It's almost impossible to penetrate all 108 heavenly veins, nurture the heavenly soldiers, and achieve the power of the barbarian elephant."

  The beast skin entered his hands, and Xiao Yi looked at the row upon row of ancient words. The strokes were ancient, with sharp corners and edges. This text was very old, and Xiao Yi could be certain that such writing would not exist in later generations. However, for some reason, he understood all the words at a glance, as if an inexplicable force was transmitting messages to his mind.

  "Cultivation has three realms: refining blood, tempering bones, and merging souls. Refining the essence of blood, strengthening the blood energy, and connecting the 108 heavenly veins in the human body, condensing the Zhou Tian Qi Hai, and nurturing the 108 heavenly soldiers is called refining blood," Shi Gong began to explain, "To resist the Hundred Realm's great tribes, the ancestors of humanity created a combat method with three levels: third-rate soldier's secret, second-rate soldier's secret, and first-rate soldier's secret. It is said that the highest level of the soldier's secret is the law, which is the law of using soldiers to defend against force. Once understood, the human body's potential will be fully integrated. The Blood Stone Tribe's town-guarding soldier's secret is a first-rate soldier's secret, the Heavenly Fire Soldier."

  "In the vast lands, there are ferocious beasts roaming freely, possessing strength that can uproot mountains and rivers, swallowing clouds and spitting out mist. The strong ones among them gather the essence of the wild stars between their eyebrows, a single star being enough to rival the blood refinement of my human tribe..."

  Shi Gong's voice lasted for two hours, and Xiao Yi finally had a basic understanding of the entire human world and cultivation. He also knew about the difficulties of cultivation, and perhaps it was possible to enter the door, but wanting to achieve something was extremely difficult. Otherwise, the entire Blood Stone Department, with millions of people from various tribes and 2,000 warriors, would not have only the clan leader at the Tempering Bone realm.

  "Alright, you rest, I'll go gather some herbs."

  The stone gate slowly closed, and the Bloodstone tribe's evening was quiet and peaceful. Through the stone window, you could see the vast sky, and the bright moon was close to the earth. Even in the stone house, Xiao Yi could feel the ancient breath of this land.

  Bang! Bang! Bang!

  A number of Bloodstone tribe members, wearing cyan beast skin armor, holding dark wooden bows or gripping cyan bone swords, gray iron spears passing by outside the window, their bodies emitting a strong bloody aura, their eyes gleaming sharply, shining brightly in the darkness, even brighter than moonlight.

  This is the warrior of the Bloodstone Tribe. Shi Gong said that every tribe has a war division, like the Bloodstone Tribe, which has two thousand-man divisions. Each ten people form a squad, led by the squad leader, and ten squads form a team, led by the hundred-man captain. A thousand people form a division, with the thousand-man captain as the commander. Every tribal warrior is at least a strong man who has opened up ten heavenly veins. Even in the entire Bloodstone Tribe, there are only two thousand such warriors. Shi Gong said that apart from the thousand-man divisions, there are also ten-thousand-man divisions, but they cannot be seen within a radius of ten thousand miles. Within a radius of a thousand miles, there is only their Bloodstone Tribe, and the human world is too vast. Like these small tribes, many times they can only fight on their own.

  Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yi dispelled his distracting thoughts. Shi Gong's medicinal liquid was very effective and temporarily suppressed the pain in his physical body, but it was only temporary. If he couldn't cure it from the root, it would be an eternal burden.

  Sitting cross-legged on the stone bed, a dark green beast skin was spread out on his knees. The "Barbarian Elephant Great Strength Technique" was a set of exercises that even surpassed the "Tian Huo Burning Soldier Technique" of the Blood Stone Tribe. However, after carefully reading through the entire beast skin, Xiao Yi's eyes narrowed and he realized that what Shi Gong said was true - this technique was indeed too demanding. To cultivate the "Barbarian Elephant Great Strength Technique", one needed to absorb a large amount of blood energy to strengthen their physical body, connect their heavenly pulse, and condense their battle energy. An ordinary person would need to absorb a certain amount of blood energy to connect one heavenly pulse, but if they were to practice this technique, they would need ten times that amount. Even with a strong physique, it was impossible to make up for the difference of ten times.

  Of course, this Mahayana is also very powerful once it's cultivated. It can possess the power of the Mahayana, which is a kind of wild beast. As for how strong it is, even Shi Gong doesn't know. However, according to Shi Gong, even a one-star wild beast is enough to rival the two great thousand-man commanders within the tribe, and only the tribal leader can hunt it down.

  After a moment, Xiao Yi memorized all the texts and incantations on the beast skin. In addition to the Blood Refining Volume of the Barbarian Elephant Great Strength Technique, there was also a Barbarian Elephant Gun Technique with three moves attached, but this gun technique did not penetrate the heavenly pulse, and when displaying war energy, it only had its shape, unable to show its power.

  Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yi began to gaze intently at the center of the beast skin painting. It was a fierce elephant, similar to the elephants of later generations, but more majestic than mammoths. The thick elephant legs were like four pillars supporting the sky, and the two tusks were like two heavenly swords, sharp and gleaming. The entire body was covered in a thick layer of scales, which shone with a dazzling green light as Xiao Yi's gaze intensified.

  The first step of the Wild Elephant Great Power Technique is to visualize this wild elephant diagram, mobilize one's own blood and energy, resonate with the 108 heavenly vessels in the human body, and start to open up the first heavenly vessel. Shi Gong said that those with strong physical constitution can open up more than one heavenly vessel at the beginning of their practice by relying on their own blood and energy. The stronger the physique, the more heavenly vessels are opened up, while the weaker ones may need to absorb a large amount of blood and energy just to open up the first heavenly vessel.

  Xiao Yi had heard of this, for example, Shi Lei, who was among the best in physical strength among the young people of the Bloodstone Tribe, only a few people could compare with him. He sat in meditation for four days at the beginning of his cultivation and relied on his own blood energy to open up four heavenly meridians. After two years of cultivation, he had already opened up eleven heavenly meridians, exceeding the minimum requirement for joining the Warrior Division. Once he came of age, he would become a warrior of the Human Tribe. The current strongest person in the Bloodstone Tribe, Tribal Chief Shi Zhenxuan, had directly opened up six heavenly meridians at the beginning, shocking everyone. Later, he bravely and diligently broke through his limitations and entered the Tempering Bone Realm.

  Staring at the picture of the barbaric elephant, in Xiao Yi's mind, a majestic elephant was gradually outlined. Because it was the first time he imagined it, the shape of the elephant was not clear. As time passed, Xiao Yi's gaze swept over every part of the elephant picture, and after two hours, a magnificent elephant with scales all over its body was finally imprinted in his mind.

  In that instant, in Xiao Yi's mind, the ferocious elephant seemed to come back to life. It let out a long roar towards the sky, its trunk held high, and its entire body shone with a bright green light. A faint, ancient aura wafted out, and as it spread, Xiao Yi vaguely saw inside his own body - a world of blood, 108 heavenly veins connecting his limbs, filling every part of his body. Apart from that, Xiao Yi also saw between his flesh and blood, strands of pale golden energy flowing and surging. This energy was majestic, filling every inch of space within his muscles, faintly emitting an ancient, noble aura.

  "Sure enough, it's them!" Xiao Yi suddenly opened his eyes, and a faint green light flashed by. "Now I know that the air currents in my body are actually the essence of the dragon egg, but they're too powerful. Although I didn't know what reason allowed me to escape at the time, now it seems that even so, it's still not something I can refine and absorb. I can only wait until my cultivation is strong enough to slowly refine them, but who knows when that will be."

  Taking a deep breath, Xiao Yi's eyes flashed with determination: "No matter what, as long as there is hope, since I'm not dead, I'll come and take a look at what this world is like. I won't listen to those four people's one-sided words. Since I can come here, I must be able to return, there will always be a path under my feet."