Chapter Thirty-One: The Peach Banquet

  Nine Turns of Mysterious Merit, a method of nine turns; each turn is a boundary, each turn is life and death.

  In the backyard of Ling Xiao Grand Hall, in the exclusive practice room of Jade Emperor, Zhang Youren's face was twisted in agony as he painfully cultivated his skills.

  He stiffly made gestures with his hands and feet, one move at a time, using the strongest physical training technique passed down from the ancient barbarians, the Nine Revolutions of the Mysterious Tao, famous throughout the Three Realms.

  After obtaining the Nine Turns of the Mysterious and Profound Secret from Nezha, Zhang Youren had not been idle for a single day. He practiced diligently every day, working hard to cultivate his skills. He knew that this set of techniques could not be mastered overnight, allowing him to instantly reach the realm of a celestial being or even a golden immortal, making him invincible in all three realms. However, by putting in extra effort and tempering his bones, he could at least make this incomplete immortal body stronger, so that when disaster struck, he would have an additional means of self-protection, and not be left gasping for breath after taking just a few steps in the realm of immortals.

  The Nine Turns of the Mysterious Merit originated from the Secret Canon of the Three Purities, but this set of exercises has been passed down since ancient times and was used by the barbarian tribes to strengthen their bodies. It is a fundamental exercise that everyone in the ancient era wanted to obtain but could not get. Unfortunately, when the great calamity arrived, even the powerful barbarian tribes were defeated by the joint forces of various ethnic groups and became an insignificant footnote in history. After the barbarian tribes withdrew from the historical stage, this set of exercises was collected by the Three Pure Ones and found to be incomplete. The saints then combined their powers to supplement the secret method with immortal techniques and improved it, transforming it into a top-level exercise suitable for human cultivation.

  Unfortunately, this set of skills, although improved, is still extremely dangerous and painful to practice. Few people dare to endure the pain to personally practice it. Gradually, fewer and fewer people asked about this skill, let alone practiced it to its extreme. Even Nezha only cultivated the fifth turn, with no further progress. Yang Jian, the Three Realms War God, only practiced up to the sixth turn, reaching the Golden Immortal period and gaining great fame.

  Jiuzhuan Xuan Gong is divided into nine realms. Each realm is more difficult to cultivate than the last, and each realm's combat power is stronger than the last. First turn body, second turn physique, third turn form, fourth turn essence, fifth turn mind, sixth turn energy, seventh turn soul, eighth turn spirit, ninth turn life.

  At Zhang Youren's level, but just starting to practice the turning body stage, everything needs to be done from scratch.

  "White Tiger Roars at Heaven!"

  "The Deer God Looks Back!"

  "Monkey King wreaks havoc in heaven!"

  "Rampage of the Mad Bear!"

  "Cranes soar in the blue clouds!"

  One move, one style, momentum is strong and powerful, in Zhang Youren's hands it evolves, to the extreme of vigor, whistling wind is born. Vigor penetrates through the skin, slowly seeping into blood, bone marrow, five organs and six viscera...

  The nine-turns Xuan Gong is not comparable to the internal alchemy method of Taoism, which operates the vigorous power in the meridians and stores the immortal yuan force within the dantian. Instead, it progresses through the skin, flesh, bones, marrow, five organs, and six viscera, treating the entire body as a large crucible for self-refining.

  At the time of his cultivation, Zhang Youren felt a surge of numbness and pain that went straight to his heart, giving him a long-forgotten feeling of being too tired from moving bricks. If he hadn't considered that this was the number one body-refining secret method in the immortal realm, and that there were crises lurking everywhere at present, he really would have wanted to throw in the towel.

  However, this feeling of being pierced by a needle and cut by a knife, although it made him feel somewhat painful, also made him clearly feel that his immortal body was slowly recovering, a sense of power rising again, even bringing out a manly heroic aura on his face that the Jade Emperor had never had before.

  When the practice is exciting, the whole courtyard is filled with wind and sand, fists flying, which looks like a fairyland, but instead has some worldly battlefield's iron-blooded heroic spirit.

  The Nine Turns of the Mysterious Merit emphasize weight but not intention, which is opposite to immortal techniques. This is exactly why many gods and immortals in the Immortal Realm think it harms the free-spirited nature of the immortal soul, so they abandoned it.

  "Come again!"

  "Rampage of the mad bear!"

  Zhang Youren let out a loud shout, his fist technique gradually becoming more skilled, his movements also becoming more fluid. A bright, dazzling light burst forth from his upper body, emitting a strong masculine aura.

  "Boom!"

  The solid practice room's jade stone floor emitted a dull thunderous sound under this punch, and with this sound, Zhang Youren's body also burst forth like shattering glass, causing his entire body to tremble.

  "Bang!"

  A loud, bean-like sound erupted within him, and his muscles and bones visibly bulged and stretched, causing him to grow taller by a noticeable margin, exuding an even more mature masculine aura. If Zhang Youren had previously been merely handsome and elegant in the eyes of the crowd, now he seemed to possess a unique air of composure and dominance. This was the profound strengthening that cultivating the Nine Turns of the Mysterious Merit had brought him from the inside out!

  "It... it's done!"

  Upon hearing the explosion within his body, Zhang Youren's eyes shone with golden light, revealing an excited expression.

  During this period, Zhang Youren has been diligently practicing the Nine Turns of the Mysterious Merit without interruption, cultivating day and night. With the support of the Heavenly Treasury, he is not lacking in various heavenly materials and earthly treasures, and every day he uses all kinds of body-refining elixirs and secret treasures to soak and practice, and he has successfully strengthened his physical body with the first turn of the Nine Turns of the Mysterious Merit.

  Now he is no longer an ordinary mortal with limited strength, but a cultivator who can reach the level of an ordinary foundation-building period.

  But this is far from his goal, it's just getting started!

  Zhang Youren took a deep breath and felt that all his hard work over this period of time was worth it.

  Just as he was about to enter a state of meditation once again, a discordant voice echoed from outside the temple.

  "Your Majesty, the Peach Festival is about to begin. Immortals are arriving one after another at Lingxiao Hall. Please prepare to ascend to the hall and receive them."

  "Ah...... it's coming so soon, the Peach Festival is just around the corner?"

  Practicing for countless years, I don't know how many cold winters have passed!

  Zhang Youren, who was immersed in his cultivation, didn't realize that time had passed so quickly. The most important day he had been waiting for - the Peach Blossom Banquet - was just around the corner.

  The palace maid was hastily summoned, and clean water was brought in. After washing up, Zhang Youren looked at his muscular body with satisfaction, put on the dragon robe, and regained his usual elegant demeanor. Under the guidance of the palace attendant, he headed towards the Lingxiao Hall.

  Although this time the Peach Festival, Zhang Youren made a thorough preparation, from the source, directly inviting Sun Wukong to participate in the Peach Festival, eliminating the root cause of the chaos in heaven. Moreover, he picked 9,000 years' worth of mature peaches in advance to prevent any accidents, and knowing the plot, it should not happen again that would hurt the Heavenly Court, hurt Emperor Zhang Youren's face.

  But as he walked towards Lingxiao Hall, his heart grew more and more apprehensive.

  "It should... absolutely... probably... won't happen again, right?"

  Zhang Youren once again went through the plot of "The Great Chaos in Heaven" from inside out, making sure that nothing was missed, before striding into the palace with a smile.

  General Zhang Youren walked in with a dignified and majestic demeanor, taking small steps. General Sha Xin hastily lowered his square face, which was full of whiskers, bowed his waist, and lifted the door curtain to let him pass through calmly.

  "Your Majesty has arrived!"

  A loud and drawn-out voice with an unparalleled majestic tone resounded in the vast space of Lingxiao Hall, with sparse echoes, showcasing the revered and supreme status of the master of the three realms.