Chapter 41: The Snake's Transformation
The place where Changsheng Palace punishes disciples who violate the rules is in the mountains behind this continuous group of temples, where Feilongzi's ancestor transformed a piece of land into a desolate and barren landscape, with swamps, mud, gray fog, and white mist, where no grass or trees grow, and no living creatures exist, a place completely devoid of life!
Fortunately, the disciples of Changsheng Palace's Qigufeng and Dingyunfeng were not unfamiliar with this place, at least they had been here once, and Muyuan was even more familiar with it. He searched for a clean place in the muddy swamp and casually set up a temporary residence, and then settled down.
Facing the wall seems to be a process that all cultivators must go through, cultivating their minds and natures, cutting off worldly desires, tempering their Daoist hearts, reflecting on their past mistakes, and inquiring into their original nature. Mu Yuan's three-month-long period of facing the wall and reflecting on his mistakes began with each passing day being spent in torment. The place where he faced the wall was a location with thin spiritual energy that made one's hair stand on end, but fortunately, it was filled with marshes, and the water-type primordial energy was still abundant. Mu Yuan spent his days listlessly sitting in meditation, absorbing enough spiritual energy to transform into tidal true energy. Once the tidal true energy was full, he would then transform it into long-lasting true energy that flowed like a gentle brook. When both types of cultivation methods were nearing completion, he would then ponder the sword incantations and sword techniques, and his days passed in relative peace and quietude.
His body's acupoints were gradually condensed by Mu Yuan, forming a complete set of seven or eight. In each acupoint, the majestic true energy converged into a vortex, mixed with the power of thunder and lightning. The wonderful use of tempering the body was even more extraordinary. Three layers of Taoist physical skills had already been achieved, leaving only the remaining acupoints to be condensed. Once all the meridians were connected in one breath, the primordial energy would surge endlessly, as strong as refined steel, and then he could start refining his spirit.
Originally, Chen Ta wanted to punish a few people, just to let them calm down and ponder the Longevity Art. The Longevity Palace's cave heaven has an extremely rich wood spiritual energy, far surpassing other places. Various rare and precious woods have been collected, observed, and contemplated, with the mind operating and internal breath transforming into wood, which is different in thousands of ways. Therefore, in the Longevity Palace, these fundamental practices for accumulating law power are not as difficult to progress as the cultivation of one's mental state.
This face-the-wall meditation is exactly Chen Taiyi's painstaking effort. The three of them all went down the mountain to practice and returned, experiencing a bit of worldly noise. Although their cultivation has made significant progress, they can't help but have their hearts sullied by dust, and their Daoist hearts are somewhat lacking. It's just right to take this opportunity to stabilize their Daoist realm, don't let hidden troubles accumulate.
In a place of spiritual desolation, the wooden spiritual energy is extremely thin, fortunately, there is still water-attributed spiritual energy, and the wooden energy calms down. Every day, it practices the true method of tidal flow, gradually feeling that the true energy in the body is increasingly full, and the bones throughout the body seem to be softened, like flowing water, freely changing and transforming, and the control over oneself is even more subtle and wonderful.
Two months passed in this way, and Mu Yuan was isolated from the world. His clothes were a bit dirty and disheveled, but his eyes became even more spirited, shining brightly with an inner light. When he looked inward, he saw that the true energy of the tide in his dantian was like a vast ocean, and the Longsheng Sword had transformed into a green dragon swimming and playing in it. Above it was a thick layer of clouds born from the Dragon King's movement, with lightning flashing in between. Sometimes the clouds would rise and rain would fall, with thunder booming, and sometimes the lightning would flash brightly, with fine rain falling like a tapestry, forming a small whirlpool in Mu Yuan's dantian.
"Ah," Mu Yuan stretched out a lazy waist, lying on the ground without care, gazing at the clouds in the sky, feeling content and satisfied. Although the days of facing the wall were dull, his cultivation had increased greatly, and it was ultimately a joyful thing!
The accumulation of law had reached its limit, and Mu Yuan was lying comfortably, but his mind was pondering the sword mantra of the Wu tribe. The Wu tribe was born to be good at war, with a strong physique, and it can be said that their combat power was unmatched. Now, the magic gate's cultivation of indestructible flesh is inherited from the Wu tribe, and this set of sword mantras also carries the Wu tribe's love of war. It is different from the two sets of sword mantras that Mu Yuan has cultivated, with a strong killing intent, sharp and unmatched. Mu Yuan had always been carefree, and such an obvious killing technique didn't seem to match him, but he was indeed obsessed with sword techniques, and still carefully comprehended them.
With a strange hand seal, the surrounding spiritual energy suddenly condensed, and in an instant, several agile flying swords appeared. These days, Mu Yuan had been absorbing spiritual energy to fill his meridians, pondering sword techniques, and also recalling the insight of that light person about condensing energy into a sword. Although he hadn't reached the realm of transforming his body into a sword, condensing energy into a sword, or even condensing an external field, he had caught a glimpse of the doorway.
Several flying swords hummed and whirred, circling Mu Yuan in flight for several rounds. Mu Yuan's hands were raised, and a hazy aura suddenly appeared around him, containing dozens of flying swords with different shapes, all shining brightly. The newly condensed flying swords also entered the aura, and the group of swords sang in unison, like jade and stone colliding, metal trembling, extremely pleasant to hear.
Mu Yuan watched as the dozens of flying swords danced and revolved together, his heart filled with indescribable joy. He then changed his finger movements, and suddenly a powerful and violent aura burst forth from the swords, like the evil spirits of hell. The air was filled with a mournful howl, as if heaven and earth were lamenting, and all things were trembling with fear at this aura.
Mu Yuan suddenly released and then retracted this momentum, it was also his first time using this sword technique. The powerful aura startled him as well, but he saw that a nearby swamp not far in front of him suddenly started churning violently, a string of bubbles gushing up, as if something below was stirring!
"Huh," Mu Yuan muttered to himself in surprise, "I thought it was said that there were no living things behind this wall, what is this thing?" Thinking that he was in the Long Life Palace, which must be a safe place, he took a few steps closer and went forward to take a look.
Then, the swamp with an area of over a dozen square meters started to produce more and more bubbles, until it was like boiling water, stirring up all the muddy water vapor to rise, emitting a low hum. However, Mu Yuan only felt a bone-chilling aura being transmitted from the swamp, which made him shiver uncontrollably!
"Could it be some kind of monster?" Just as Mu Yuan was wondering, a surge of great power came rushing in. Despite his advanced cultivation, he was still shaken by this force and stumbled backward several steps, causing mud to fly everywhere and water vapor to burst forth. A gigantic creature emerged from the marsh, causing Mu Yuan to gasp in shock!
But all he saw was a monster shaped like a snake, with a pair of flesh wings on its back. Its huge face hung down, like a human face, with a pair of slender eyes staring straight at Mu Yuan, not blinking for an instant, making Mu Yuan's scalp feel numb.
"This is... a serpent demon?" Mu Yuan saw the appearance of this monster and immediately thought of the records in his own Longsheng Palace's book "Ling Shou Ji", and was even more shocked!
It's said that the Huan Snake is a spiritual species, after ten thousand years it can transform into a dragon, achieving an indestructible body, and also controlling water spirits, driving all the waters in the world. It's a rare and precious spiritual beast, who would have thought that there was one in the back mountain of the Longevity Palace!
Just then, Mu Yuan suddenly remembered that it was said that the ancestor of Changsheng Palace, Feilongzi, had once tamed a snake demon as the guardian spirit beast of Changsheng Palace. But over the past thousand years, no one had ever seen it. Now it seemed that this must be the very creature before his eyes!
