Chapter 149 - 129: Obtaining the Great Formless Scripture

Chapter 149: Chapter 129: Obtaining the Great Formless Scripture

The four special invitations Zhang Ji had Orlando and the others send out didn’t take long to reach their intended recipients.

The first to receive one was Ferguson, who was cultivating on Kahong Mountain in Teti Country.

The one who delivered the letter was Ymir himself.

They were especially diligent in carrying out this first order from Zhang Ji.

In the local tongue, Kahong Mountain translated to the "Mountain of Roaring Thunder." The terrain was unique, causing air currents to drive storm clouds to collide above its peak, which was shrouded in lightning year-round.

However, at this very moment, a figure stood on the summit, withstanding the barrage of lightning strikes.

The bolts of lightning looked incredibly powerful, and even Ymir, watching from the foot of the mountain, couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread.

After a long while, Ferguson descended from the mountain. Only after an assistant helped him dress did he formally begin his discussion with Ymir.

Ymir explained the situation and handed over the invitation.

"The Ultimate Fighting competition?"

Ferguson looked slightly disdainful as he opened the invitation and took out the silver-white card inside. A dragon was engraved on its surface.

The moment he took the card, he sensed the energy fluctuations within it.

He drew out a wisp of purple Primordial Qi, letting it settle in his palm.

The moment the Primordial Qi left the card, it grew unstable and seemed about to explode. Lightning crackled in Ferguson’s palm, forming a cage as he attempted to contain the wisp of Primordial Qi.

The two energies collided violently, resulting in an explosion.

BOOM!

A violent shockwave billowed outward. Ferguson was unharmed, but the blast sent his assistant staggering, struggling to keep his footing.

At that moment, Ferguson’s expression changed slightly.

’I have to go to this Ultimate Fighting competition,’ he thought.

...

In the days that followed, the other three future Saint Kings also received their invitations.

The little old man in Yis Country sighed and carefully put the invitation away.

Giles of Color Cluster Country scratched his cheek, looking eager to give it a try.

Still in Mammon Country looking after a child, Tran took the silver-white metal card from Melia, a slightly resigned smile on his face.

-----------------

「Duxi Village」

A village located in the southernmost part of Dragon Country.

Zhang Ji had no intention of disturbing the villagers.

Instead, he went directly to a cliff behind their village.

Below the cliff was a wide river that flowed into the deep, dark interior of the mountain, forming an underwater tunnel.

Passing through the tunnel and into its deepest reaches revealed a whole new world.

It was an open-air, ring-shaped sinkhole.

The area was overgrown with dense vegetation, and vines covered the sinkhole’s walls.

With a sweep of his Spirit particles, Zhang Ji knew where to find what he was looking for.

With a mere thought, his Spirit particles brushed aside the moss, mud, and vines, revealing a giant metal disk protruding from the rock wall. It had seven grooves set into its surface.

The disk was about two meters in diameter, with the seven grooves arranged at various points.

Two grooves were in the center, one above the other: one for Yin, one for Yang.

The five surrounding them corresponded to the Five Elements.

The normal way to clear this would be to listen to the villagers’ stories, then find seven different elemental keys to open it.

In reality, however, one could also open it simply by inputting Primordial Qi of the seven corresponding attributes.

Back in the day, players who didn’t want to collect keys could just form a party for the dungeon run and input their Primordial Qi together to open the door.

Zhang Ji raised his hand and pressed his palm directly against the disk.

Zhang Ji infused purple Primordial Qi into the disk.

The grooves for Yin and Yang quickly began to glow. The Circulation Qi Body Divine Origin Skill Zhang Ji had created already contained both Nine Yin and Nine Yang Primordial Qi, so fulfilling the Yin and Yang requirements was easy.

Next was the Five Elements Primordial Qi.

The light representing the Metal Attribute was the first to flare up, followed by Wood, and then Water. The lights for Fire and Earth, however, were weaker.

The Vajra Primordial Qi from his [Vajra Indestructible Body], the Cyan Prosperous Primordial Qi from his Lishan Qingsheng Skill, and the Five Elements Primordial Qi from his [Five Forms True Skill]—all three met the activation standard. For the remaining Fire and Earth attributes, however, Zhang Ji’s Circulation Qi Body Divine Origin Skill was still a little lacking.

But Zhang Ji wasn’t particularly surprised. With a thought, a stream of crimson Primordial Qi and a stream of yellowish-brown Primordial Qi extended from his body.

The Five Elements Primordial Qi from the [Five Elements Longevity Skill].

It possessed all five attributes simultaneously, which was more than enough to supplement the remaining two.

Sure enough, the remaining two colors on the disk lit up at once.

RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!

The mechanism was a bit sluggish, having not been operated in a very long time and being affected by shifts in the terrain.

With a great rumble, the disk began to rotate, and a passage appeared in the wall.

Zhang Ji extended his Spirit particles inside and immediately got a clear picture of what was within.

"That’s right. This is the place," Zhang Ji nodded slightly.

Without further hesitation, he strode right in.

He stepped through the passage, and after just a couple of steps, the world before him completely transformed.

A vast world appeared before his eyes.

Birds danced in the sky, the land was lush with vegetation, and various Exotic Beasts roamed freely. In the distance stood a sprawling complex of palaces.

’The Wuxiang Sect really was wealthy back in the day.’

’Even their grotto-heaven was enormous.’

’In modern terms, this place is the size of a metropolis that could house tens of millions of people.’

Zhang Ji ignored the mobs along the way and flew straight toward the Wuxiang Sect’s grounds.

The palaces here had been damaged by the passage of time, with signs of vegetation everywhere.

The once-clean roads were also overgrown with weeds.

Zhang Ji flew all the way to the main hall at the very core of the complex. Inside, a massive, winged white Tiger was coiled up.

According to the official game data, the creature was over seven meters long, stood more than four meters tall, and had a wingspan exceeding twenty meters.

Right now, however, it was just sprawled out, fast asleep.

’Big cats only come out to hunt at night, sleeping for most of the day.’

Zhang Ji stepped inside and released a little bit of his aura.

The next moment, the fierce tiger was startled awake.

ROAR!

Startled, the massive tiger opened its maw and immediately unleashed a ball of energy formed from swirling air currents.

The attack was no weaker than a fully mastered Wind God Kick.

But Zhang Ji just raised a hand, using Primordial Qi and Spirit particles to block it in front of him, then casually tossed it back at the tiger.

BOOM!

With a loud bang, the tiger’s head exploded. Its body slumped to the ground with a heavy THUD, and then it was still.

Zhang Ji had expected it to last at least a few rounds. Seeing this outcome, he couldn’t help but let out a surprised laugh.

’I’ve even taken down a Saint King, so one-shotting a B-rank mini-boss with a casual strike is perfectly reasonable, right?’

’Besides, you could say it killed itself with its own attack.’

"It’s Exotic Beast meat, at least. I’ll store it away and try eating it later."

Adhering to the principle of not letting anything go to waste, Zhang Ji sent the winged Tiger into his [Ark of Hope].

After doing this, he headed straight for the area behind the main hall.

Behind the hall lay a huge courtyard and a long, covered walkway, interspersed with medicinal herb gardens that were now overgrown with weeds.

However, only a few of the precious herbs remained. After so many years of neglect, their plots had been mostly overrun by common weeds.

Finally, Zhang Ji arrived at the living quarters where Master Wu Xiang once resided.

The outer door was still perfectly intact, for the entire structure had been built from various types of jade.

Living within it was extremely comfortable—warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

The grand, vermilion jade doors were carved with intricate patterns. Zhang Ji felt they probably held some special significance or meaning.

But he wasn’t an archaeologist, after all, and didn’t understand these things, so he didn’t think much about it.

His Spirit particles probed into the door, unlocking the jade lock from the inside. Zhang Ji pushed, and the door opened, revealing the layout within.

Inside was a bedstead carved from white jade, a bookshelf, a desk, and a massive mirror made of a special purple copper that covered an entire wall.

There was a fair amount of dust near the door and windows, but surprisingly, the items inside were not badly damaged.

Even the few jade brushes hanging in a rack on the desk were still in perfect condition.

And on the white jade bed, a figure was sitting cross-legged.

It was the physical shell Master Wu Xiang had left behind when he passed away in meditation.

A-rank fighters, with the exception of the more extreme practitioners like those from the Concentration Sect, generally develop extraordinary physical bodies.

Even after death, their bodies can remain incorruptible for millennia.

’From a certain point of view, it could even be considered a very useful material.’

’But I have my principles,’ Zhang Ji thought. ’I’m not about to do something like that.’

Zhang Ji came before Master Wu Xiang and studied him carefully.

He was just a small, thin old man with two wisps of a white mustache. Nothing particularly special.

The black robes he wore, patterned with white, were another story, however.

’If I remember correctly, that’s a Jade Thread Robe.’

’Jade Thread is a material refined from jade. Robes made from it can’t be easily damaged even by a B-rank fighter. It also conducts Primordial Qi energy with ease, which helps avoid the undignified spectacle of one’s clothes exploding in the middle of a high-level fight.’

’Maybe later I can cut off a piece of the fabric and give it to the Physics Department to see if they can replicate it,’ Zhang Ji mused.

’As for wearing Master Wu Xiang’s clothes myself... I’ll pass.’

’When I was a player in the game, I could just equip it directly, but now... it just feels weird.’

Spirit particles reached out, and from Master Wu Xiang’s sleeve pocket, a golden sheet of paper flew out.

It was almost identical to the golden paper that recorded the Tathagata Divine Palm.

It looked like metal, but it wasn’t.

’It must be some kind of fiber extracted from a mineral,’ Zhang Ji guessed, ’similar to Jade Thread.’

’I suppose the experts of that era all recorded their techniques this way.’

The golden sheet unfurled before Zhang Ji, revealing it was over a meter and a half long.

It was densely covered in text, along with dozens of diagrams illustrating meridian circulation paths.

It was all in the script of the Ancient Xia Yu Country, which Zhang Ji had already learned, so reading it was not difficult.

Most of these meridian diagrams were for demonstration purposes; only a small portion actually detailed the cultivation method.

The text explained the principles.

It explained the principles: how to cultivate Primordial Qi until it was colorless and formless, and then how to rapidly simulate a corresponding type of Primordial Qi when using it, giving it color and form.

"So it’s true! The Great Formless Scripture doesn’t lack attributes—it encompasses all of them! That’s why it can simulate the Primordial Qi of any attribute!"

Seeing that the Cultivation Technique confirmed all of his suspicions, Zhang Ji’s face lit up with delight.

With this Cultivation Technique in hand, it would no longer be difficult for him to devise a top-tier, Epic-grade Primordial Qi Sect technique for himself.

’However,’ he considered, ’perhaps I don’t have to master it all in one go. I could split this technique into ten parts, cultivate ten ’Excellent’ grade crystals, and then merge them into one through my [Limit] ability. That might yield an even better result.’