Chapter 22: Awakening from Hibernation Technique

  The temptation of the fifth-grade treasure was very strong, and Zhao Wu didn't wait for a few days before arriving at the courtyard where Shen Congru now lived. However, when he went in, he found that he had struck out empty-handed, as Shen Cong had already left.

  Shen Cong didn't know that someone was thinking of his Panyu Pearl, and now he was outside the Wujiguan. The Nourishing Life Scripture had already been fully comprehended, and as an inner disciple, Shen Cong was qualified to choose a higher-grade mental method secret book for his own cultivation. Most outer disciples, who were eager to enter, were also doing it for this reason. Without high-level mental method secret books, they might be able to reach the third stage of Tongli with luck after practicing for a lifetime, but the road ahead would be endless and hopeless.

  The first floor of the Wuji Pavilion was still not crowded, and when they saw someone coming in, they didn't pay attention to him either, but instead continued to search for secret recipes on their own. It wasn't until Shen Cong entered the second floor that they realized he was actually an inner disciple.

  "That figure, looking so young, unexpectedly already an inner disciple, how formidable!" A disciple whispered, with a hint of admiration and hidden fervor in his eyes.

  "Nature is fierce, the outer door is bigger than the first one. I heard that Sun Lin was killed in his prime. Do you think it's fierce?" Someone next to him heard this and smiled softly, but recognized Shen Cong's appearance.

  "Is the first outer gate? Could it be Shen Cong? Ah, I see. That big knife just now didn't recognize it at first, only felt familiar." The disciple suddenly realized and then regretted not going forward to get close. Having heard that Shen Cong was kind and easy-going, if he could establish a relationship with him, there would always be a sense of security in his heart.

  Shen's ears perked up, and he heard the conversation behind him, unable to help but smile. At first, the great battle at the outer gate had not yet passed, and even his Dragon Bird Knife was remembered by people. Now, it could be said that he had some small fame?

  Putting aside these useless thoughts, he stepped into the second floor of the Wuji Building. The layout of the second floor was much smaller than that of the first floor, but there were more people, with inner disciples occasionally walking around, and no one paid attention to Shen Cong's arrival, not even giving him a glance.

  The second floor is smaller than the first, but there are still many secret books. With hundreds of them, it's always available, but finding one that suits your needs is not easy. The foundation of the body uses the Nourishing Life Classics, warming and nourishing the body, which can be said to broaden the path to the future. However, due to being a zombie, there are still very few options, and techniques like Fire and Thunder or Haoran's Righteous Qi cannot be practiced, as their properties are too extreme.

  Pick up a book from the corner, "Liedao Cang". Offensive martial arts, with built-in body method and true energy heart method, high-ranking character secret book. When attacking, flames fill the sky, and when practiced to perfection, it can even be used to fight hard with legs and treasure instruments without falling behind, making it a rather uncommon martial arts secret book.

  However, Shen Cong just took a glance and put it back in its original position. After practicing this secret book, I'm afraid that even if others haven't been burned yet, his own meridians will catch fire, which is faster than the previous one. In ancient times, zombies were also called drought demons, but they could be thousands of miles away on dry land. But those flames are not that kind, but rather the zombie's own demonic fire, which Shen Cong doesn't have now.

  He took a step forward, and Shen Cong didn't rush either. When he arrived at the Wuji Pavilion, he understood that it wasn't easy to choose a good secret book, so he could take his time.

  People come and go in the Wuji Building. Most people choose a secret recipe, print it on the first floor, and then leave. The second-floor secret recipe is slightly different from the first floor. The first-floor secret recipe can be taken away at will and there are not too many restrictions. However, the second-floor secret recipe cannot be taken away, only printed, and the printed secret recipe can only be viewed by the person himself, without permission, it is not allowed to be given to others.

  In the blink of an eye, half a day had passed. Several groups of people came and went on the second floor of the Wuji Pavilion, but Shen Cong was still searching. Even if he only looked at the brief introduction to the secret books, it would take a lot of time, and Shen Cong's heart would also weigh whether the secret book was suitable for him.

  "It's really you, half a year without seeing each other, and yet you've already become an inner disciple." A calm voice sounded, Shen Cong was slightly startled, then delighted, turned around to face the person and bowed, "Disciple Shen Cong, greetings elder."

  Standing in front of Shen Cong was none other than Wu Changlao, with whom he had a brief encounter before. It was also Wu Changlao who helped Shen Cong find the Nourishing Life Scripture. The scripture's special function allowed Shen Cong's stiff body to be nourished and tempered, making his previously brittle body now possess even greater explosive power.

  "Hmm!" Wu Chang nodded slightly, examining Shen Cong, "The aura is not bad, half a year to advance to the inner door, later changed to practice some secret book, progress is quite good."

  Shen Cong's aura was now at the second stage of combined force, which Wu Lao could see at a glance. However, half a year ago, Shen Cong wasn't even considered first-rate, and such rapid progress was astonishing, even surprising Wu Lao himself.

  "The disciple has not yet changed the secret book, and here he still wants to thank the elder for helping him choose the secret book at that time, allowing the disciple to sneak into the inner door!" Shen Cong made another courtesy. A favor is a favor, and where gratitude is due, Shen Cong will never be ambiguous.

  Wu Lao's eyebrows furrowed involuntarily, "Exchanging secret manuals isn't a shameful thing, I had expected you to exchange secret manuals. Although the Nurturing Life Manual is not bad, cultivating it to its peak will bring unexpected joy, but its progress is too slow, how can it let you enter the second stage of combined force so quickly?"

  Shen Cong smiled wryly, not expecting that his true words would be believed by no one. However, without the computer's help, it was indeed impossible to cultivate to this realm so quickly. "The disciple has not lied." As soon as the words fell, a layer of true energy shield appeared outside Shen Cong's body, full and self-sufficient, flowing freely, which was a special ability that only a fourth-stage cultivator could possess.

  "True Energy Shield, good cultivation, so young!" A cry of surprise came from a disciple in the distance. Before, when Wu Changlao appeared, they had already seen him, and although they were surprised, they only paid a little attention. But now that Shen Cong's True Energy Shield was revealed, it was shocking to their hearts. There were indeed those with fourth-stage Condensed Yuan cultivation within the inner sect, but ones as young as this were rare.

  "Isn't he a closed-door disciple of some master?" The crowd thought to themselves, and at the same time, they also found the reason for the appearance of Wu Changlao.

  Wu Zonglao looked at Shen Cong in surprise, his vision was not comparable to that of other disciples. He could see what kind of cultivation Shen Cong had with just one glance. Moreover, the true energy shield in front of him flowed and changed as he pleased, but the thickness of the true energy was insufficient, clearly not something that would be emitted from someone in the Condensing Yuan realm.

  "You've actually cultivated the Nourishing Life Scripture to the realm of perfection!" He stared blankly for a moment, then his eyes suddenly flashed with clarity, and a bright light swept across Shen Cong's body. The more Wu Changlao looked, the more his brow furrowed.

  Tianhua's Eye is not some profound divine ability, but rather a skill to examine others' innate talents. Although it's not entirely accurate, it can still reveal one or two things. Now, in the eyes of Wu Changlao, Shen's root bone is rough and uneven, although better than ordinary people by many degrees, but in terms of cultivation talent, he is mediocre, this kind of person is the most common existence in the cultivation world.

  Just discovered that Shen Cong has cultivated the Nourishing Life Scripture to perfection in just half a year. Wu Chang Lao thought he had found an extraordinary genius, but now it seems not so. But how did Shen Cong cultivate the Nourishing Life Scripture to such a perfect state? There is simply no logical explanation.

  "Isn't it because the body and mind are in harmony, that's why you can cultivate so quickly?" There have been cases in history where one cultivates a secret book at an incredible speed, but when switching to a more profound secret book, their speed is immediately brought down.

  Since he wasn't a genius, Wu Changlao's fiery heart suddenly cooled down, and his expression also became calm. "You and I are also fated to meet. This time you came to the Martial Skills Pavilion, what is your purpose?" Although he felt that Shen Cong was able to reach his current realm only by relying on luck, he still planned to help him out a bit.

  Shen felt a slight joy in his heart, "The Cultivation of the Nourishing Life Scripture is complete, my disciple wants to exchange it for a more profound and mysterious scripture to cultivate, as long as it's a bit more peaceful than before."

  "Still want to be peaceful?" Wu Lao raised an eyebrow, on the path of cultivation, although only seeking the great way, but if there is no external power to protect, it will definitely be cut off halfway. And the power of contention is the external power to protect, so the peaceful gong method has always been the least welcome, and the number of people who cultivate it is naturally the smallest.

  "Being able to enter the inner gate means you have a good aura, but it's not always the case." Wu Changlao hadn't asked about worldly affairs for many years and didn't like to pay attention to many things in the sect, especially small matters. He naturally didn't know that the rules of this year's outer gate competition had been greatly changed. He still thought Shen Cong relied on his true energy to protect himself and forced his way through, and also hadn't encountered a powerful enemy.

  "The disciple understands, then it's peaceful with a hint of aggression." Since the elder proposed it, Shen Cong naturally didn't dare to refute.

  "You little scamp!"

  Wu Changlao was speechless with anger, this disciple actually dared to make demands, and had both peaceful and attacking abilities. Even the Nourishing Life Classic only attacked strongly in the last stage, otherwise the previous stages were just nourishing techniques. The original intention was to let Shen Cong change to other attribute techniques, but it ended up being a waste of words, and Shen Cong still looked serious and solemn.

  Shen Cong smiled and said that his previous request was just a casual remark. The peaceful skill method is not for attacking, even if it's true that there's an attack, it would be extremely rare to come, only possible after several layers later. Shen Cong also sensed that Wu Changlao had a good sense of self-awareness, so he dared to make such a request.

  "Wait, I'll be right back." After a moment of contemplation, Wu Zhanglao vanished into thin air, only to reappear in front of Shen Cong with two ancient tomes in hand. The dusty covers suggested that they had not been disturbed for a long time.

  "Yuan Jing, Jing Gong, take a look."

  Shen Cong nodded, carefully taking the secret book and examining it closely. The Nourishing Yuan Jing can be considered a follow-up to the Nourishing Life Jing, refining the essence and nourishing the yuan, with considerable power in its later stages. If cultivated to perfection, one may possess special abilities within. However, the only drawback is that progress is too slow. The cultivation speed is even slower than that of the Nourishing Life Jing, but its power has increased several fold.

  Shen Cong nodded slightly, this was in line with his own intentions. He opened another book on the Shocking Scorpion Technique, and the first page had a drawing of a huge scorpion, its tail raised high, as if it were about to sting at any moment, extremely vivid. As he continued to flip through the pages, Shen Cong's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but the further he looked, the more they relaxed.

  After some thought, Shen Cong found it difficult to make a decision. Logically, he should choose the Nourishing Origin Classic, which would be consistent with the Nourishing Life Classic and probably wouldn't be inferior in terms of skill. However, another book, the Awakening from Hibernation Technique, was more in line with Shen Cong's intentions, but it had a huge drawback.

  "Really?"

  "Choose the Surprising Cicada Skill!" After some deliberation, Shen's mind was made up and he said it resolutely. As soon as the words fell, Shen's state of mind cleared up unexpectedly, and he felt a sense of sudden enlightenment, his mental cultivation unknowingly rising by several degrees.

  "Oh? You've actually chosen the Stunning Insect Skill, do you know its weaknesses?"

  "During the cultivation, various poisonous insects and even many extreme items need to be applied to the body to stimulate the potential of the body. The requirements for the cultivator are very high, and it cannot be abandoned halfway, otherwise the power will rapidly decline, and even become a useless person!" Shen Cong said with a calm expression.

  Wu Zonglao stared at Shen Cong, seeing him speak these words lightly, and couldn't help but praise in his heart. "Although these flaws are harsh, my sect is not without great ability and perseverance, but this secret book has been unpracticed for decades, do you know the reason?"