Chapter 372: The Tribulation Arrives

Scripture of Nourishing Qi, Forgetting Words, and Guarding the One.

This was the fourth lineage Wang Ping had encountered—alongside the Qi Refining method, the Brahma Cultivator method, and the Qi Ingestion Method. It also deepened his understanding of the Immortal Gate.

"The path of immortality really is constantly progressing," he mused.

The method recorded in the ancient scripture was incomplete. Rather than a manual detailing cultivation techniques, it read more like one practitioner's annotations and interpretations.

Therefore, alongside the Daoist teachings, the text contained extensive personal commentary. A significant portion fiercely cursed the so-called Qi Ingestion Method, branding practitioners who forcibly swallowed heaven and earth qi—rather than reverently nourishing it—as absolute heretics.

Yet beneath those fierce words lay a deep sense of powerlessness.

Clearly, during the author's era, the so-called Qi Nourishing Method was already being systematically replaced by the newly emerging Qi Ingestion Method.

Wang Ping quickly understood why.

"The method of nourishing qi follows the will of heaven. One nurtures a stream of heaven and earth qi within the body. Over months and years, this allows the heaven and earth qi to assimilate the physical body and resonate with it."

This lineage was indeed orthodox.

Unlike a Corpse Dissolution Immortal, a practitioner of the Qi Nourishing Method retained their physical body. The body was the raft of cultivation, and this was exactly what separated the orthodox Immortal Dao from heterodox paths.

"Therefore, qi-nourishing practitioners, just like qi-ingesting practitioners and Qi Refining practitioners, can smoothly advance to higher stages. Their path forward isn't severed like that of a Corpse Dissolution Immortal, leaving them with no way out."

There was only one problem.

"The Qi Nourishing Method does not allow one to cultivate truth."

Wang Ping sighed. "It makes sense. Nourishing heaven and earth qi, enshrining it, focusing a lifetime of cultivation entirely upon it—how could one possibly combine trigrams?"

Furthermore, the Qi Nourishing Method allowed heaven and earth qi to assimilate and resonate with the physical body. Since a person had only one body, they could only sense a single stream of heaven and earth qi. It was fundamentally impossible to simultaneously cultivate three streams of it. This entirely blocked the path to cultivating truth—which was exactly why the Qi Ingestion Method had emerged.

'They both rely on the physical body to contain heaven and earth qi.'

'The Qi Ingestion Method surpasses the Qi Nourishing Method because it focuses on the transformation of the physical body rather than the heaven and earth qi itself. It truly converts the qi for one's own use.'

Compared side by side, the Qi Ingestion Method was undoubtedly a step forward.

The progressive method would naturally become mainstream, while the outdated one would be beaten down—not to mention that the Qi Ingestion Method resolved the greatest flaw of the Qi Nourishing Method.

It allowed one to cultivate truth!

Therefore, once the first True Person of the Qi Ingestion Method appeared in the world, this ideological clash lost all suspense. The Qi Nourishing Method was swept into the dustbin of history.

"Truly magnificent."

Reading the descriptions within the Scripture of Nourishing Qi, Forgetting Words, and Guarding the One, Wang Ping couldn't help but picture a grand, sweeping era where multitudes of cultivators fiercely contested the Great Dao.

The Great Dao had no end.

"Tribulation Transcending, Qi Refining, cultivating truth, and ascending to immortality—these stages have undergone several transformations. At first it was 'nourishing,' then it became 'ingesting,' and finally 'refining'."

This was only the evolution of orthodox lineages at the Tribulation Transcending and Qi Refining levels. What about higher up? Had the stages of cultivating truth and ascending to immortality gone through similar changes?

What was the original Nine-Word Mantra like?

If possible, Wang Ping wanted to witness that great era of conflict and reform in the Immortal Dao. To some extent, these ancient secrets were a form of cultivation all their own.

"Huh? Wait..."

Wang Ping suddenly raised an eyebrow. "Not necessarily... Perhaps the era I'm living in right now is exactly that kind of magnificent, world-shaking time."

Because of the Brahma Nation!

"Compared to the Qi Refining Method, the Brahma Cultivators clearly use an entirely different system. Who is to say this isn't a new method of Immortal Dao reform that will one day replace the Qi Refining Method?"

Wang Ping abruptly stood up, a flicker of light in his eyes. "That's it. Whether it was the ideological clash between the Qi Nourishing Method and the Qi Ingestion Method, or between the Qi Ingestion Method and the Qi Refining Method, none of them happened overnight. It was a long, drawn-out process where both sides strove to optimize themselves to eliminate the other."

Today's Immortal Gate and the Brahma Nation were likely in the midst of exactly that kind of process!

This was an era of great conflict!

"Phew..."

Letting out a long breath, Wang Ping looked back at the Scripture of Nourishing Qi, Forgetting Words, and Guarding the One in his hand, flipping to the most critical section.

"Forgetting words ensures the qi does not scatter; guarding the one ensures the spirit does not stray."

"Seal the tongue in silence, hold the spirit in stillness, and thus grasp the profound mystery of nourishing qi... The physical body is the furnace for nourishing qi. It cannot be damaged, and it cannot be flawed, otherwise one will inevitably stray into heterodox paths."

This heterodox path referred to becoming a Corpse Dissolution Immortal.

For the Qi Nourishing Method, this symbolized a flaw in cultivation that required mending—and the ancient scripture did indeed provide a secret technique to rectify this mistake.

It was called the Heaven Mending Method.

"When the physical body is destroyed and the practitioner completely transforms into heaven and earth qi, the only solution is to forge a new physical body. Then, the heaven and earth qi that the practitioner has become must be nourished back into it, reversing their cultivation base to the Tribulation Transcending Stage... The difficulty of this method is exceedingly high. First, it requires a massive amount of materials, and second, it demands extremely precise technique."

"Moreover, the newly forged physical body must perfectly match the practitioner's true spirit and soul."

"During the forging process, there can be absolutely no mistakes. The slightest error ruins everything, and all invested spiritual materials will be completely wasted."

"The loss truly outweighs the gain."

"This is also the great difficulty in returning to the orthodox path from a heterodox one. Therefore, the best method is to carefully guard the physical body from the very beginning, taking care never to stray into heterodox paths."

Wang Ping lowered the ancient scripture.

"So that's how it is. Dashun Taizu hoarded so many spiritual materials because he planned to reforge a physical body for himself and resume his path of Qi Refining."

No wonder he had claimed this would bring massive benefits. If Wang Ping could forge a perfect physical body ahead of time, he could voluntarily break through and become a Corpse Dissolution Immortal to elevate his combat strength and cultivation level. Then, when it was time to step into Qi Refining, he could use the Heaven Mending Method to transfer back into the second physical body, reversing his cultivation base to the Tribulation Transcending Stage.

Both his cultivation and combat strength would progress without delay!

'Furthermore, looking at the technique for forging this physical body, there are countless critical details. It cannot be learned in a hurry. Dashun Taizu, on the other hand, most likely mastered it long ago.'

'He probably assumed that after reading the ancient scripture, I would spare his life just so he could forge a physical body for me in the future. He didn't think I would kill him so easily.'

This was the typical mindset of a lower-tier cultivator.

Even leaving aside everything else, if Wang Ping had truly wanted to keep Dashun Taizu around to forge a physical body, there was absolutely no need to keep him alive. Refining him into a Yin Spirit would have worked just as well.

'Besides... I don't necessarily need to forge a physical body.'

Wang Ping lowered his gaze.

In a flash of thought, his consciousness sank into the Taiping Sutra, looking at the Outer Heavenly Demon scripture scroll: 'Every time I resurrect, I bring a physical body with me!'

Forging a physical body was a complete waste of time.

All he had to do was kill himself once, and a fresh, pristine physical body would instantly emerge. Moreover, it would perfectly match his true spirit and soul without the slightest hint of rejection!

'This Heaven Mending Method is practically tailor-made for me!'

Wang Ping was so pleasantly surprised that it almost frightened him.

Good heavens, wasn't this going a bit too smoothly? From the moment he left the Soul Formation Realm until he tricked Dashun Taizu to his death, the entire process had been unbelievably flawless.

'...Something isn't right.'

Thinking of this, Wang Ping abruptly narrowed his eyes. Destiny was fair. When you gained something in one place, you inevitably lost something in another.

'I still haven't survived my life tribulation yet!'

Previously, he had concealed his karma. With the blessing of the Kan Trigram, his life tribulation couldn't locate him, and he had been fine leaving it in a stagnant state. But a complication had occurred along the way.

'I used dragon appears in the field to kill Dashun Taizu.'

Dragon appears in the field meant that in that very instant, he hadn't continued hiding. Instead, he had actively revealed his existence—his life tribulation had definitely locked onto him at that exact moment!

'It shouldn't be a True Person. Since a True Monarch dispatched me to handle this task, what Kunyun said about True Persons and True Monarchs temporarily refraining from lightly interfering in the mortal realm should be true. Otherwise, the moment I killed Dashun Taizu, Daoist Master Xuanxiao Yingyuan would have appeared and slapped me to death.'

Even so, Wang Ping didn't dare lower his guard.

After all, just because True Persons didn't emerge into the world, didn't lightly step into the mortal dust, and didn't entangle themselves in karma, it didn't mean they were powerless against him. If they really wanted to act, there were plenty of methods available.

Take the Eight Trigrams Furnace, for example.

Such a massive Immortal Decree had been pasted right onto it, yet hadn't Daoist Master Hanguang Danyang still sent an arhat inside to test the immortal?

That pitiful arhat didn't even leave a name behind. He died an incredibly stifling death, although being killed by an immortal could be considered a glorious end.

'That's exactly it!'

As this thought struck him, a sudden realization surfaced in Wang Ping's mind: 'Since immortal cultivators don't want to enter the mortal dust and taint themselves with karma, they might simply let the Brahma Cultivators come and test the waters...'

It was the Brahma Cultivators!

'Dashun Taizu originally wanted to defect to the Brahma Nation. But without a connection, on what basis could he defect? If he just ran to the Brahma Nation, they might assume he was there to challenge them and swat him to death... That's right. He had a Brahma Cultivator serving as his contact. A Brahma Cultivator had made him a promise, which was why he wanted to flee to the Brahma Nation...'

Then the question was...

If the Brahma Cultivator responsible for receiving Dashun Taizu noticed that he hadn't arrived on time, was it possible they would secretly infiltrate the Immortal Gate to investigate the situation?

This was bad!

In a flash, Wang Ping's mind achieved boundless clarity. He violently snapped his head up to scan his surroundings. Divine light bloomed in the depths of his eyes, abruptly tearing apart a hazy phantom vision in the void.

The Gongshun Grotto-Heaven?

Not anymore!

What met his eyes was an entirely unfamiliar starry sky. Some sort of immeasurably grand and profound power had silently pulled him out of the Grotto-Heaven!

In this instant, the Kan Trigram resonated!

The danger was extreme!

Wang Ping lifted his gaze toward a dim region in the starry sky. He saw a person slowly step out of the shadows, strolling leisurely as if walking through a courtyard, clad in a kasaya adorned with seven treasures and eight virtues.

He wore monk shoes. The hands pressed together over his chest were as pale and flawless as jade. A string of prayer beads coiled around his wrist, each bead resembling a star. His face displayed a majestic and wrathful expression, and hovering above his head was a Spiritual Treasure Wang Ping was all too familiar with—it was none other than the Secret Traces Vajra Pestle. A white tuft of hair curled between his brows, constantly emitting boundless light.

Looking at the newcomer, Wang Ping suddenly let out a long breath.

'So that's how it is. This is no surprise...'

Killing Dashun Taizu? He was just a heavily injured Corpse Dissolution Immortal. What did that amount to in the eyes of a dignified direct disciple of a True Monarch or a Dao Child of the immortal realms? It wasn't worth mentioning at all.

Dashun Taizu was merely the bait, which was why the whole process had gone so smoothly.

The person standing before him was the true big fish!

"Amitabha."

The newcomer lightly chanted the Buddha's name. His tone was perfectly calm as he spoke. "This impoverished monk is Shasheng, the master of Baohu. I have come this time only to guide you, benefactor, on a trip to our Brahma Nation."