Chapter Twelve: Unwavering Ascetic Practices

  "Thanks for saving my life, brother!"

  After a moment of silence, the leading disciple of Qingyunmen came to Wang Qian's side, bowed his head, clasped his fists in greeting, and spoke with utmost sincerity.

  The rest of the young men did the same, each coming forward and greeting Wang Qian with bright eyes.

  Wang Gan nodded secretly in his heart, thinking that these young people were all quite good, at least they didn't have any ungrateful or disloyal emotions.

  After chatting for a while, Wang Qian only knew that the young disciple who was in charge was called Wei Ran. This time he came to Xiongshou Mountain with almost the same purpose as him, capturing a ferocious beast called Bi Xue Ling Hu.

  However, this ferocious beast is cunning in nature and is notorious for being difficult to deal with among ferocious beasts. Although its strength is not considered powerful, it's even weaker than ordinary acquired ferocious beasts, but its intelligence is not low, able to avoid danger and misfortune, making it extremely difficult to capture. Therefore, this Hundred Matters Pavilion mission is a group task, allowing outer sect disciples to gather together to complete it.

  "Wang Qian, brother, what's your mission this time you've come to Beast Mountain? Maybe we can lend a hand."

  Wei Ran asked, and Wang Qian's heart moved, so he said his goal out loud. Originally, he didn't have too much hope, but unexpectedly, this group of people actually knew the whereabouts of Blood Tiger.

  "Senior brother, we once saw a Blood Tiger just tens of miles away from here. That place is all part of the Blood Tiger's territory. When we passed by, we startled it. If that Blood Jade Grass wasn't about to mature, it wouldn't have left, and we might have had to fight it."

  Wei Ran's face was flushed with excitement, and he obviously felt that being able to provide this information to Wang Qian was an honor. There was no way around it - if not for Wang Qian suddenly appearing halfway through, Wei Ran would probably have become a corpse by now. How could he not do his best to help?

  "Oh? Alright, it saves me from blindly searching around here. You guys go ahead and clean up the corpses of these Yu Jian Sect disciples, it won't take long before they're devoured by ferocious beasts, not a big deal anyway. Alright, I'll leave you guys now, be careful on your way back."

  Wang Qian handed over a few words, waved his arm and left in the direction of Blood Tiger without looking back.

  Wei Ran and a group of people watched as Wang Qian's figure disappeared into the distance, only then did they begin to clean up the aftermath. The Yu Jian Zong disciples also had many good things on them, so they naturally divided them among themselves before leaving the Beast Mountain Range with the Bi Xue Ling Hu.

  Wang Qian continued to search for the Blood Tiger, although he had a direction, but along the way, many ferocious beasts that didn't know any better came knocking on his door, and naturally wouldn't have a good ending, all of them were killed by the Exterminating God Halberd in his hand.

  The ferocious beasts outside the mountain range of Ferocious Beasts are not very powerful, but they are not useless either. Some of their blood, fur, scales, and teeth have a certain value. Wang Qian did not waste them and collected them all. He had seen many tasks at the Hundred Things Pavilion that required a certain amount of ferocious beast materials. This time he didn't need them, but maybe next time he would. And he wouldn't have to spend time doing tasks again, which would save him a lot of time indirectly.

  After advancing dozens of miles, the surrounding trees became more robust and ancient. In the dense thicket, a faint scent of rot constantly flowed, and the place where Wang Qian was located became increasingly dark. The sunlight above his head could hardly penetrate through the layers of branches to shine down.

  The surroundings were extremely quiet, with a faint bloody aura lingering, and ordinary fierce beasts did not dare to be active in this area. Wang Qian suddenly understood that this should be the territory of a relatively powerful fierce beast.

  Shen consciousness slowly extended, Wang Qian's eyes lit up, he had already discovered the trail of Blood Tiger.

  "It's indeed the territory of Blood Tiger, and that Blood Jade Grass is about to mature. If not for the correct direction, finding a Blood Tiger wouldn't be an easy task. This Beast Mountain is really too vast, I must thoroughly explore it in the future. In this ancient mountain range, there must be many heavenly treasures hidden deep within."

  Rushing swiftly, Wang Qian soon discovered a stone mountain, where within several miles around, it was all barren and treeless. The soil on the ground reeked of blood, with dark red earth and scattered white bones everywhere, as if countless ferocious beasts had met their demise here.

  On the rocky mountain, there was a pitch-black cave entrance, from which a faint fragrance wafted out, and the Blood Tiger and Blood Jade Grass were inside.

  Taking a big step forward, Wang Gan had no place to hide, and in less than a moment, a loud roar came from the stone cave, followed by a blood-red shadow that rushed out, stirring up a bloody wind, and pounced on Wang Gan.

  "Good rascal!"

  Wang Gan's heart was excited, his blood was boiling, he had cultivated the Nine Turns Body Refining Technique, his physical body was strong, this kind of close combat was what he liked the most.

  With a loud roar, Wang Gan clenched his fists tightly, without even drawing the Divine Halberd. On his skin, streaks of cyan-colored aura flashed, and with just a slight tremble, the air around him kept quivering. Feeling the powerful force within his body, Wang Gan's eyes widened, and he faced Blood Tiger's ferocious pounce with unyielding courage, directly colliding head-on.

  Iron bridge hard horse, straight hit horizontal rush, one man and one tiger crash into each other.

  Bang! The Blood Tiger let out a mournful howl as it was struck by Wang Qian's double fists on its forelimbs, its bones creaking in agony, seemingly on the verge of shattering. It let out a series of anguished roars, yet its body refused to retreat.

  Wang Qian's mind was racing, not relaxing for a moment, with a bit of the feeling of hitting someone like kissing them, sticking to it without letting go. His fists and palms danced in the air, his offense continuous.

  The deafening roar continued, the sound of flesh colliding with flesh made one's blood boil with excitement. The battle raged on without pause, and Wang Qian felt his spirit soaring to unprecedented heights. He felt as if all the pent-up energy in his chest had been unleashed, his blood vessels were unobstructed, and his blood flowed like liquid lead through his meridians. His heart was strong and powerful, like a war drum thundering away. The spiritual energy of heaven and earth continuously seeped into his flesh and blood, tempering his tendons and veins to be even more resilient, like divine steel wires. They vibrated with a crashing sound, as if countless giant bows were hidden within him, their bowstrings crackling with electricity, trembling ceaselessly.

  In the space of a few breaths, Wang Qian unleashed tens of thousands of punches, his physical strength being pushed to its limits at this moment. The Nine Turns Body Tempering Technique's internal energy circulation was even more effortless, with a feeling of perfection and unity. His power and will merged as one, his spirit and flesh blending together. Unbeknownst to him, he had entered the Easy Tendon Realm, beginning to temper his entire body's tendons and meridians.

  Roar, roar, Wang Qian and the Blood Tiger fought and retreated, unknowingly entering a dense thicket. Large trees were destroyed in their battle, reduced to piles of debris. Although this Blood Tiger had strong flesh and bones, it was no match for Wang Qian's physique, tempered through long training. It was battered by countless fists and palms, its skeleton shattered, its flesh and blood mangled, a pitiful sight.

  Half a minute later, the Blood Tiger let out a mournful cry, its massive body crashing to the ground, its breathing almost imperceptible, fresh blood flowing continuously from its mouth and nose, clearly on the verge of death.

  "Finally took care of this guy, might as well go pick that Blood Jade Grass while I'm at it."

  Back in the lair of the Blood Tiger, Wang Qian found a plant with blood-red leaves like jade in a corner of the stone cave. A faint halo was circulating above it, and taking a breath, he felt a pure spiritual energy, although not very thick, but winning in purity.

  The task is complete, and Wang Qian didn't stay in the Beast Mountain for long. With his current strength, he could at most wander around the outer perimeter of the mountain. Even if there were some spiritual medicines or something, they wouldn't be very precious. As for deep within the mountain, that's not a place where his current strength can reach. If he accidentally encounters a beast above the foundation-building stage, he won't have many methods to deal with it. Unless he turns into an undead body, but that's not what he hopes for. What if someone discovers him? That would be a result of everyone shouting and chasing after him.

  Half a day later, Wang Qian had returned to Qingyun Mountain.

  In the PepsiCo headquarters, he handed over the corpse of Blood Tiger along with the treasure bag, and his mission for this month was considered complete.

  The outer disciples are generally relatively relaxed, with a large number of people but not too much conflict, as everyone is busy breaking through the innate boundary and entering the inner gate.

  As for treasures like the Law of Precious Stones, they are not something that a cultivator in the Post-Heaven realm can use.

  "This Baisi Temple has many tasks that can earn sect contribution points, which is equivalent to a kind of spiritual stone currency. It can be used to exchange for many treasures, but it's not very useful to me. I just need to complete the designated tasks."

  Looking at the outer disciples who came to the Bai Shi Tang to hand in their task items, Wang Qian was unmoved. The outer disciples' strength was limited, and they couldn't get anything good. For example, the Blood Tiger that Wang Qian had hunted was considered a strong beast among the later-stage fierce beasts, but its value was only 1 contribution point, which was really not worth it.

  Back in his own hut, Wang Ganping calmed down and began to cultivate again. He looked at the task list on the Hundred Things Pavilion and saw many task names. This time when he went to Beast Mountain, he killed a lot of beasts, and those beast materials were all piled up in his storage bag. When it was time to receive tasks next month, he would just take one casually and hand over the materials, saving him from going out again and wasting time.

  "In three years' time, it's neither too long nor too short. The more I cultivate the Nine Revolutions Body Refining Art, the harder it becomes. I mustn't waste any time."

  From that day on, Wang Qian thoroughly became a cultivation madman. In one day, except for two hours of rest time, most of the time was spent in bitter practice.

  Jiuzhuan Lian Ti Jue, Lie Tian Ji Fa, is his main cultivation method.

  Sometimes swallowing and spitting out the spiritual energy, refining the flesh and blood meridians, sometimes wielding a large halberd in hand, fierce winds raging, killing intent heavy, as if tearing heaven and earth apart.

  Wang Qian seems to have forgotten time and neglected the passage of days and months, spending almost all his time in his thatched cottage compound except for a monthly visit to the Baidu Temple.

  A thread of muscle in the body was tempered, flesh and blood became more tenacious day by day, a large amount of spiritual energy was swallowed by him, transformed into his own strength.

  Buzz!

  Two months later, Xiū Wèi's cultivation broke through again. His entire body's meridians were like divine silk, extremely tough and resilient. Even if he used ordinary divine weapons to slash at himself, there wouldn't be the slightest injury. His skin was like the hide of a divine cow - soft as cotton yet hard as iron. His flesh and blood were robust, and it could be said that he no longer seemed human.

  Up to this point, the Easy Tendon Chapter cultivation is complete. In the first turn of the Nine Turns Body Tempering Technique, he has already cultivated the second level and begun to enter the third step of Forging Bones realm.

  "Good, keep it up!"

  He reached out and took out the God-slaying Halberd placed in the room, Wang Qian began to cultivate the Sky-rending Halberd Technique. The black halberd danced wildly, like a ferocious black dragon, roaring continuously, with howling air currents shaking non-stop, and waves of mournful tearing sounds kept ringing out. His whole body was filled with an aura of majesty, dancing until the end, in the small courtyard where Wang Qian was standing, only black winds were seen, but no person, awe-inspiring to the extreme.

  The 72 moves of the Heaven Splitting Halberd Technique, each move is a pure killing technique, without any unnecessary elegance. This halberd technique, as Wang Qian continued to practice, he realized that it was a true battle array killing technique, the more fierce the killing intent, the stronger the halberd technique became.

  Gradually, the entire Qingyun mountain range's majestic momentum seemed to merge into Wang Qian's hand-held halberd. His aura became increasingly solemn and thick, emitting an atmosphere akin to that of the heavens and earth. The entire set of halberd techniques had transcended mere technical skill, ascending to a realm of Daoist artistry.

  In this situation, Wang Qian's cultivation became even more selfless, seemingly crazy, but his heart was calm as water, clear and transparent. His soul merged with the momentum of the mountains and rivers to cultivate, allowing his spiritual awareness to continuously rise. The original foundation-building early-stage soul realm naturally broke through to the foundation-building mid-stage.

  This is a cultivation method discovered by Wang Qian a month ago. Every time he cultivates the Split Heaven Halberd, it's not just about understanding the secrets of the halberd, but also about understanding the natural laws of heaven and earth, the transformation of the soul, the sublimation of the spirit, and the breakthrough of divine consciousness, all of which are as smooth as water flowing into a canal.