Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: [Number]
Chapter Title: Into the Tomb of the True King
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After the demonic transformation incident occurred, Chen Shi no longer dared to approach the Tomb of the True King.
After all, even the kiln works that burned porcelain for the Tomb of the True King were so terrifying—what could make the tomb itself anything less than utterly deadly? If he accidentally triggered some mechanism within the Tomb of the True King, causing a catastrophe or calamity, wouldn't he become a sinner for the ages?
However, this time, he had no choice but to venture into the Tomb of the True King.
He had been cultivating the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art all this time using an incomplete method—one that could handle rats, and with an iron hat on, killing those rats would be even simpler with his strength.
But with his current power, facing Black Mountain Granny's vengeance would be a dead end for sure.
"I can't beat the little Daoist priest from Deer Tail Town, and that little Daoist priest was beaten half to death by Black Mountain Granny—which means I'm absolutely no match for her. Cultivating the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art might still offer a slim chance of survival."
It wasn't until late into the night that Chen Shi returned to Huangpo Village, where he and the dog settled down to sleep first.
The next day, when daylight fully broke, Chen Shi came to pay respects to his Godmother. He bowed and said,
"Godmother, bless me—help me succeed in raiding the Tomb of the True King this time and obtain the complete Three Lights Righteous Qi Art."
He stepped forward and lit incense.
Scholar Zhu reminded him,
"Little Ten, begging your Godmother for protection might not work, but taking that jade seal near the Tomb of the True King just might have some effect."
That jade seal? The Fengtian Precious Seal?
Chen Shi was astonished. Could the Fengtian Precious Seal protect him and let him safely enter the Ghost God Domain of the Tomb of the True King?
Scholar Zhu said,
"Bring it along anyway—it's not heavy."
Chen Shi returned to the village and took out the Fengtian Precious Seal to examine it closely. Suddenly, his heart began pounding wildly.
"Could this Fengtian Precious Seal be the Western King's Jade Seal that Young Master Xiao picked up from the Divine Mechanism Battalion?"
The reason Golden Red Tassel had chased Young Master Xiao was precisely because of the Western King's Jade Seal.
Li Tianqing had even said that Young Master Xiao stole this treasure with the aim of opening the Tomb of the True King.
"Hahaha, that's ridiculous!"
Chen Shi couldn't help laughing and shaking his head. Something as precious as the Western King's Jade Seal—would Young Master Xiao just casually hang it from an old willow tree?
"Besides, Scholar Zhu said the Fengtian Precious Seal was a broken seal from his family's decline. If the Fengtian Precious Seal is the Western King's Jade Seal, then what does that make Scholar Zhu?"
Chen Shi burst out laughing, shaking his head.
"Could Scholar Zhu be a descendant of the True King? That's absurd."
"A descendant of the Western King, hanged outside our village? Impossible."
He casually stuffed the Fengtian Precious Seal into his sleeve pocket and headed toward the Tomb of the True King.
The Tomb of the True King, which countless people dreamed of finding even after spending their entire lives searching, was nothing more than a grave next door to Chen Shi's village.
After a meal, a short walk to aid digestion would bring him right to the Tomb of the True King—it wasn't hard to find at all.
Outside the Tomb of the True King stood towering tomb-suppressing beasts, majestic and solemn.
Chen Shi checked the Galloping Horse Talismans on his legs, then circulated his qi and blood, flooding everything below his head with it in an instant. He grew half a foot taller in a moment, nearly as tall as an adult.
With his preparations complete, he finally stepped into the Ghost God Domain.
The trees around him swayed, branches twisting—as if horrifying changes were taking place.
They resembled evils wielding contorted, coiling tentacles.
And those tomb-suppressing beasts were transforming at this moment from stone into flesh and blood, gradually reviving and emanating overwhelming auras.
Chen Shi quickened his pace, striding forward rapidly. His hand delved into his sleeve and retrieved the Fengtian Precious Seal.
As soon as the precious seal appeared, it seemed to resonate strangely with this Ghost God Domain. Light even shone from the seal, accelerating the revival of the Tomb of the True King's Ghost God Domain.
"The Fengtian Precious Seal isn't protecting me—it's awakening the Ghost God Domain! Scholar Zhu has misled me!"
Chen Shi sensed disaster and immediately charged forward madly against the mounting pressure.
A stone stele blocked the way before the Tomb of the True King, catching his eye—this was the very stele engraved with the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art.
The pressure from all around grew heavier and heavier. Chen Shi pressed on against it, memorizing the text and diagrams on the stele with all his focus.
As expected, the back of the stele recorded the method for the Big Dipper Seven Refinements, only far more detailed than what Young Master Xiao had taught him.
After the Big Dipper Seven Refinements came no cultivation methods for the Divine Shrine or Divine Embryo stages—instead, it jumped straight to condensing qi and blood, channeling and exerting force, and forging the golden core.
Chen Shi was stunned.
"What about the Divine Shrine Realm and Divine Embryo Realm? Where are the methods for those two stages?"
His mind went blank. He had come here precisely for the later stages of the technique, yet the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art carved on the stele skipped the Divine Shrine and Divine Embryo stages after the Big Dipper Seven Refinements, going directly to the Golden Core Realm. It was clearly an incomplete method.
Despair washed over him. Without those two stages, how could he possibly form a golden core?
"No wonder this technique was carved outside the tomb—the True King had ill intentions, using it to harm people. The True King has misled me."
Chen Shi had just thought this when several more steles came into view.
Only now did he notice that stone steles stood like a forest outside the Tomb of the True King, each one covered in text recording all sorts of cultivation methods.
The Three Lights Righteous Qi Art was just one of them.
Chen Shi quickly scanned them.
"Heavenly Canopy Subduing Demons Great Method—no Divine Shrine or Divine Embryo..."
"Thunder Crystal Hidden Scripture! No Divine Shrine or Divine Embryo..."
"Pure Yang United Qi Art—no Divine Shrine or Divine Embryo..."
"Cavernous Spirit Primordial Transformation Art—no Divine Shrine or Divine Embryo either..."
Chen Shi's scalp went numb. Every single cultivation method carved outside the Tomb of the True King was missing the Divine Shrine and Divine Embryo stages.
"Thank goodness these methods never spread—otherwise, the harm would be incalculable.
Retreat, fast!
Chen Shi rapidly retreated. The surrounding heaven and earth twisted, space warping as the mountains surged like waves, rising and falling. The tomb-suppressing beasts had fully revived, standing tall enough to prop up the sky, blotting out the firmament, and radiating overwhelming auras.
He hadn't understood before due to his inexperience, but now, having seen much of the world, he felt that every one of these tomb-suppressing beasts emitted an aura no less than that of the Evil Bodhisattva.
"Grandpa really charged through here back then, broke into the tomb, and obtained the Water-Fire Tempering Art?"
Chen Shi fled outward with all his might, finding it utterly unbelievable.
It happened in the blink of an eye—before the Ghost God Domain of the Tomb of the True King could fully activate, he finally burst out of it and escaped to safety outside.
He looked back and saw the anomalies from moments ago had vanished. The Ghost God Domain of the Tomb of the True King hadn't erupted, turning into a demonic realm or disaster.
Only then did he let out a sigh of relief and hurry back to Huangpo Village.
Meanwhile, at the front of the Tomb of the True King, the tomb-suppressing beasts revealed their true forms. They watched Chen Shi's hasty departure, each one puzzled and uncertain.
"The eldest brother and holy envoy came holding the Western King's Jade Seal to awaken us—why did he leave without a word?"
A dragon-headed, horse-bodied divine beast covered in azure scales was greatly perplexed and asked.
The sheep-headed, human-bodied tomb-suppressing beast was equally baffled. Chen Shi holding the Western King's Jade Seal represented the supreme authority of the True King. As guardians of the Tomb of the True King, they naturally had to revive and pay their respects.
Who would have thought that before they could fully revive, Chen Shi had run off again? The holy envoy must have had something urgent, right?
The sheep-headed, human-bodied tomb-suppressing beast wasn't sure either.
"I've heard people say humans have three urgencies—he left in such a hurry, so he must have been really urgent!"
"What do we do now?"
Another tomb-suppressing beast asked,
"If the holy envoy comes again next time, should we still greet him?"
The sheep-headed, human-bodied tomb-suppressing beast hesitated, then said,
"Still greet him—who can argue with the Western King's Jade Seal in his hand?"
"Could we just take him out?"
One tomb-suppressing beast suggested,
"His grandpa isn't in the world anymore. If we kill him off, no one will come troubling us. Then we take back the Western King's Jade Seal—perfect solution for everyone, no?"
The sheep-headed, human-bodied tomb-suppressing beast shook its head.
"Whoever holds the Western King's Jade Seal is the holy envoy. How could we kill the True King's emissary?"
The group of immensely powerful tomb-suppressing beasts sighed to themselves and petrified once more, reverting to stone statues guarding the mausoleum.
"This kid was always mischievous and troublemaking before. Now that he's got the Western King's Jade Seal, who knows how he'll mess with us next."
Chen Shi returned home and tossed the Western King's Jade Seal among his books, right next to the stone box. He fumed,
"Useless broken seal—nearly got me killed!"
Suddenly, clamor erupted from outside the village. Chen Shi stepped out of the courtyard and followed the noise, only to see many villagers gathered outside, the ground littered with dead chickens that had been bitten.
Old Lady Wuzhu stamped her foot.
"What kind of thing bites them to death and doesn't even eat them? What a sin!"
At that moment, a voice called from the fields,
"You killer of Black Mountain Granny's dear grandson—you deserve retribution! Chickens today, ducks tomorrow, your whole family the day after. Everyone in your village, just await death."
Chen Shi gave chase, but saw a gray-clothed rat fleeing at top speed through the fields.
Chen Shi pushed off with his feet, closing in on the gray-clothed rat bit by bit.
Suddenly, the gray-clothed rat stopped, turned around, pinched a sword art with both hands—left sword art inserted below the right—and stomped heavily with one foot, shouting,
"Granny, Granny, possess me—lend me your spiritual might and divine power!"
No sooner had it spoken than its aura surged violently. Azure smoke billowed around its body, its sleeves fluttering as the smoke coalesced into a handprint several zhang across. It slapped toward the charging Chen Shi.
Chen Shi circulated his qi and blood, feet stepping into the Seven Stars pattern, and unleashed a punch with all his power.
"Bang..."
His body jolted violently. The azure smoke palm force nullified his momentum, sending his figure bouncing backward.
Chen Shi flew three or four zhang before crashing to the ground.
The gray-clothed rat sneered,
"Now you know Granny's power, huh? Daring to kill Granny's grandson."
It turned to flee, but a black shadow darted out from the side, clamping onto the gray-clothed rat's neck—it was Blackie Pot.
The dog and rat tumbled to the ground together, rolling over and over.
Chen Shi flipped to his feet, worried Blackie Pot was hurt, and rushed right up.
The gray-clothed rat's neck was already bitten through—it was dead.
"Blackie Pot, good boy!"
Chen Shi relaxed and praised him, still shaken.
That gray-clothed rat had somehow gotten Black Mountain Granny to possess it, borrowing part of her magic power to send him flying.
If he hadn't constantly tempered his body, he would have been injured for sure.
Blackie Pot was thrilled, dragging the gray-clothed rat back toward the village for a feast.
"Even just a possession wields such fearsome power—Black Mountain Granny's true body must be something else entirely."
Chen Shi clipped off the tip of the gray-clothed rat's tail, thinking to himself,
"Since I didn't find the best method, I might as well start with the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art and refine the Midnight-Noon Evil-Slaying Sword first."
Among the books Li Tianqing had given him before leaving was a volume of the Heavenly Heart Righteous Qi Art, and the Midnight-Noon Evil-Slaying Sword was one of its spells.
With Chen Shi's single true qi unbroken now, he could maintain the Divine Shrine for half a shichen. As long as the Divine Shrine held and true qi remained, he could cast spells.
The Midnight-Noon Evil-Slaying Sword had the greatest power and was the easiest to learn.
So he planned to refine this spell first for self-defense.
He went to the yellow earth hill outside the village and immersed himself in studying the Midnight-Noon Evil-Slaying Sword.
The Midnight-Noon Evil-Slaying Sword had six forms: thrust, slash, wipe, flick, sweep, and chop—extremely straightforward.
In no time at all, Chen Shi had gotten the hang of it and began borrowing the Divine Shrine to condense true qi.
With a thought, his mind focused in concentration. In the empty Divine Shrine, an invisible sword qi slowly took form.
Chen Shi thrust out with sword fingers.
"Shoo..."
The air before him rippled as the invisible sword qi whistled forth like a gale, slicing through tough grass and streaking straight to the Jade Belt River surface a hundred paces away.
The river surface exploded.
Chen Shi practiced the six moves repeatedly, growing more proficient. When his qi and blood began to churn, he slowly ceased.
As his qi and blood sank to his dantian, he suddenly recalled the golden core forging method from the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art on the stele.
The qi and blood and spirit in his body began rotating and converging in the same direction, condensing in his dantian.
From within his body came the grinding sound of millstones turning against each other.
The vast qi and blood, true qi, and spirit rotated and merged into a stream at this moment.
This was exactly as the Three Lights Righteous Qi Art described: Using the void as medicine, righteous qi as fire—refine in the three fields, true qi unbroken, form like cradling an egg. This is the first revolution of the nine-turn golden core.
"No, no."
Chen Shi suddenly snapped awake.
"This is all wrong. Without cultivating the Divine Shrine Realm or Divine Embryo Realm, how could I possibly form a golden core?"
End of chapter.