Chapter 377: Confrontation

  At night, in a room.

  Tang Qing sat cross-legged, his mind sunk into the Dan Tian, examining his own situation. Since he had already decided to go against the flow and rise up, he would naturally use all his might to cultivate his second Ben Yuan. His Jie Ling was powerful, but once it was brought out, his state of mind would also step into the realm of "only I". More importantly, the Jie Ling belonged to a scattered immortal's body; if it were frequently exposed, it would be easy for people to guess the identity of the scattered immortal.

  The Loose Immortal was already unwelcome in the world, let alone that he had also killed an immortal as a Loose Immortal. Therefore, unless it was a special situation, he absolutely could not reveal his identity. If he didn't use the Calamity Spirit, relying on his Nine-Calimity Loose Immortal body, the Earthly Body wouldn't fear anyone else. Although it would be difficult to shake, this way Tang Qing's combat strength would be somewhat weak. After thinking about it, it was still more important to quickly improve his cultivation.

  Tang Qing still clearly remembered that when the heavenly punishment came to attack in Yongyang City, he had trapped the golden thunder with his Jie Ling, thinking that if he could refine it, it would be very helpful for his cultivation. At this time, he was drifting leisurely in his own sea of consciousness.

  The dark sea was still as usual, and a giant still stood at the western horizon. The giant seemed to cover the sky with both hands and step on the ground with its feet. Its left eye was like the sun, and its right eye was like the moon, which was very majestic. Compared to before, there was no change on the surface of the giant, it was still like a statue, but Tang Jing felt that it seemed to have an extra hint of vitality from it.

  He knew that his last move had brought heavenly punishment and was certainly related to the body of the earth, but he didn't know if the giant's added vitality was also related to this.

  They say that good land produces good scenery, a good master produces good views, and rebirth produces good omens.

  Also, when the Tian Di Bao body is cultivated to a certain level, a magnificent and majestic scenery will appear above the head. This scenery contains powerful momentum. When the Tian Di Bao body advances another layer, the treasure scenery will evolve into a treasure image. Once the treasure image emerges, it contains great power. The Tian Di Bao bodies are different, so the treasure sceneries are also different. At the same time, the treasure images are also different.

  As for how Baojing and Baoxiang were cultivated, Tang Qing didn't quite understand. Although he had high intelligence, it was also his first time forming a heavenly treasure land, so he wasn't very familiar with this thing. After pondering for a moment, he still couldn't think of a reason.

  In the sea of knowledge, on the eastern horizon, a blurry mist still lingered. It seemed to alternate between black and white, Tang Jing knew this was the Yin-Yang Curse, one of the four great curses of legend. He was confident, but not arrogant enough to provoke it, he didn't seek to touch it, just hoped it wouldn't bring disaster upon himself, that would be good luck already.

  Nine tombstones, nine carved statues. The old man was still carefully carving the tenth statue, and it was unknown how long he had been carving. The statue still had no outline, Tang Qing tried to communicate with him again, just like the previous times, this old man seemed not to have heard anything, continuing to carve the statue.

  Tang Qing didn't expect this old man to communicate with himself either. This time, he entered the sea of consciousness to find his own nemesis, but still couldn't find any signs of it in the sea of consciousness. He really can't understand where that thing is hiding and why there isn't even a hint of its consciousness in his own sea of consciousness.

  Just as Tang Qing was about to leave, the mysterious old man's hoarse and ethereal voice came. "Foolish child... The path of cultivation should be heartless, but you have too many attachments in your heart, being swayed by emotions. It's hard to say whether this is good or bad for you. Why choose to go against the natural order? You don't know that the path you've chosen is fraught with danger and hardship. The heavens won't tolerate you. But it's not just you, there are others who won't be tolerated by the heavens either."

  The old man stopped carving, his turbid eyes gazing at the giant in the western sky, saying, "This land's overlord, who once committed a heinous crime against heaven, has been sealed for a long time. Now that you've opened the first seal, I wonder what kind of terrifying heavenly punishment this sky will bring when it is completely unsealed."

  "Haha... " The old man looked towards the eastern horizon, where a black and white misty veil was rising, and muttered to himself, "He has chosen this path now, but it will only serve to complete the Great Earth's supremacy. What will you do then?"

  "Alas..." The old man shook his head and sighed, saying, "The Great Earth is not willing to be lonely, and you are so restless. You two were once rulers, while this young one..." The old man's gaze swept over the statues and tombstones, then he smiled bitterly and said, "If Heaven knew that you three were gathered together, I really can't imagine what kind of expression it would have... It should be... quite rich, huh? Hmm? Hahahahaha..."

  "Hmm... I suppose by this time, all of your old friends have also been reborn? Sigh... one reincarnation after another, endless reincarnations, when will it end..."

  "Alright, alright, I'm just a passerby, a reincarnated passerby..."

  ……

  Leaving the sea of knowledge, Tang Qing pondered for a moment before standing up and casting several seals to thoroughly seal off the house.

  He sat cross-legged on the ground, and when his eyes were closed, black smoke began to emanate from all over his body. The smoke was thread-like, strand by strand, line by line, as if it was overflowing from every pore of his skin. Tu Ba, who was sleeping soundly beside him, seemed to sense something and suddenly opened his eyes, shrinking his pupils in fright, backing away continuously.

  What's wrong with this kid... What is this black smoke?

  Touba didn't know, but he clearly felt that the aura of this dragon and tiger in front of him was changing. Could auras change? Touba had never heard of such a thing before. As the black smoke around Tang Qing's body grew thicker, the aura also became more terrifying, enveloping Touba and making his whole body tremble with fear, scaring him into a panic, retreating to the corner, his dog face full of shock, his dog eyes full of astonishment.

  Hiss... Hiss!

  The sound of chains echoed, and Tu Ba felt a chill run down his spine. Just as he was wondering what it was, he suddenly saw that the black mist surrounding Tang Jing had transformed into a massive creature. This strange creature was unrecognizable, with no visible face, only nine chains wrapped around its body, resembling a imprisoned Nine-Yin Demon God. In its hand, it grasped a dazzling golden thunderbolt.

  Seeing this massive object, Tu Ba's body hair stood up all at once, and he could no longer bear the fear in his heart. He turned around and ran, but with a loud crash, it was as if he had hit an invisible wall and bounced back. Crash! Crash! Crash! After several attempts, Tu Ba still couldn't escape, and when he saw the black smoke monster wildly ravaging the golden lightning bolt, his eyes rolled back and he fainted completely.

  Tang Qing's Jie Ling was bound by the nine-chain lock, and Jin Lei struggled violently, like a golden dragon roaring. He didn't know if his body of nine calamities plus the earth could withstand this thing. After a moment's thought, he took a deep breath and began to absorb it. When a spark of lightning-like light was absorbed into his body, it suddenly exploded, causing Tang Qing's blood to churn and his true yuan to roll over.

  His true yuan was transformed from thousands of years of true energy, and he thought it was already violent, but unexpectedly, in the face of a flash of lightning, it was so vulnerable to a single blow. Fortunately, Tang Qing possessed the Nine-Calamity Body and the Earthly Body; otherwise, this one flash of lightning would have ended him early. Taking a deep breath, he absorbed three more flashes of lightning, and his internal energy and blood surged even more turbulently without stopping. With renewed determination, Tang Qing continued to absorb wildly: four flashes, five flashes, ten flashes, fifty flashes... At this moment, his body was like a thousand bolts of lightning raging in the ocean.

  Crackling and popping sounds continued nonstop, the gray true yuan was decreasing, and the lightning light was also disappearing. However, in his dantian, a small amount of golden true yuan had appeared, which contained lightning light and was crackling at all times. Tang Qing himself wasn't doing well either, his body was a mess, and after one night, he didn't know how much he had absorbed, but felt that if this continued, he would explode. He quickly recalled the calamity spirit, wiped his mouth, and suddenly discovered that blood was flowing out. With a horizontal smile, he said, "It's indeed the punishment lightning from the Heavenly Punishment Eye, it's so violent, even my Nine Calamities Body and Earthly Body almost couldn't withstand it. However... after a few days, I'll absorb and refine you completely, condense you into a yuan species... hmm... what kind of yuan species will be formed by the punishment lightning..."

  After tidying up a bit, Tang Jing slept until noon after the ban was lifted. If it weren't for the knocking on the door waking him up, he wouldn't have gotten out of bed either.

  The door opened, and it was a middle-aged man. His skin was dark, his face was stern, he wore a long gown, and there was a long sword hanging on his back.

  "Wan Yuan, a disciple of the Water Cloud Sect, has been entrusted by Shuang Feng to inform you that you are an honored guest of our sect. I have come to ask if there is anything you require."

  Tang Qing glanced over and saw that the man who claimed to be worth tens of thousands was probably over forty years old, yet he was calling a twenty-year-old girl like Ning Shuang "Shifu" (master), which seemed rather strange.

  Actually, this situation is quite common among the upper class. After all, only those who have broken through to the Yuan boundary in the lower class can qualify for the upper class cultivation. In this world, geniuses like Ningfeng are rare, and not everyone has excellent qualifications. Most people who can enter the Yuan boundary before the age of 30 or 40 are already worthy of attention.

  Practice has no age limit, those who attain it become teachers.

  This is an era where saints are emperors and immortals are revered, and also an era where the level of cultivation determines one's status.

  "It's Brother Wan, I see." Tang Qing stretched his waist and glanced at the sky outside, another scorching day, "Nothing much, you guys go ahead with your business, I'll just take a stroll around."

  Tang Jing was thinking of going out to get some law ink, his own cultivation couldn't leave the formation method, and the situation of Shuiyun Sect wasn't optimistic either. He planned to set up more formations to help them. Originally, he was going to go by himself, but Yuan Wanjun said that since he had nothing better to do, he might as well accompany him. Tang Jing declined, but Yuan Wanjun found a reason and insisted on accompanying him. This made Tang Jing feel somewhat amused - could it be that Ning Shuang was still afraid he would run away?