Chapter 4

Reincarnation of the Devil (4)

The Happiness of Walking.

Today, I realized the happiness of this simple act for the first time.

"Big... Now I can go to the bathroom by myself!"

Humiliating moments that flashed through my mind...

Because I couldn't walk, I always had to lie down to take care of my urine and feces.

And every time, my father helped me without a word.

It was because of this that I came to recognize him as my father.

"Everything in the dantian and internal organs seems fine... It's amazing that I survived a year with the lower dantian shrunk like this."

As time passed, my dantian also began to stabilize.

Although the yang energy from the outer cultivation and the middle dantian still collided fiercely, causing immense pain, I could endure it.

After all, during the time when Tian Jinlin was in the midst of cultivation, he endured and withstood pain several times greater than this every day.

After roughly checking his body condition, Murong Jin sat cross-legged again and began to rouse the inner energy in his dantian.

It was to confirm the enlightenment he had gained earlier.

Faint but infinitely pure inner energy.

This was the strength of outer cultivation, as it directly stored the inner energy in the body without passing through the meridians.

Thanks to this, turbid qi hardly existed, allowing such pure inner energy to be contained in the dantian.

"Hmm..."

As he released the inner energy gathered in the dantian like unraveling a thread, something amazing happened.

Despite not passing through the meridians, the inner energy moved at an incredible speed toward the skin.

In an instant, the inner energy broke through the skin and gathered in front of Murong Jin in the form of particles of light.

"Haha..."

A hollow laugh involuntarily escaped Murong Jin's lips.

A barrier that even the Devil Tian Jinlin's body couldn't surpass.

The enlightenment to reach the next level after the Xianjing, which this young body had realized.

Or rather, it was because this was Murong Jin's body that he could gain such enlightenment.

"If I can use this freely... A completely new world will open up. But what level should this be called?"

Historically, there were no experts in the martial arts above the Xianjing.

In fact, even the Xianjing was ambiguous.

They were all old rumors, and Tian Jinlin himself was also hesitant to call himself a Xianjing.

Because after reaching the peak, he had gained two enlightenments, he only thought of himself as a Xianjing.

Even those enlightenments, Tian Jinlin couldn't fully understand.

Both the first and second enlightenments came about while beating someone up, and it was just a sudden "Ah!"

Although it was just "Ah!" and he didn't know the specifics, his body knew, and after that, there was a tremendous increase in his level, so he gained two enlightenments and only speculated that he was a Xianjing.

"Is it the Shengsijing or the Ziranjing above the Xianjing? I've heard of such things... But to control life and death or use the power of nature at will seems absurd... Ah, I don't know. Whatever. Since I'm the first, I can name it anything, like 'Adult Gongjing,' 'Goujing,' 'Gaijing,' 'Zunjing,' 'Jingjingjingjingjing.' It doesn't matter, right? It's not important, let's just move on."

Despite pioneering a new level, he dismissed it as if it were nothing.

"What's the point of gaining enlightenment in this body? It just means I can use inner energy despite the Gouyang meridians. This will all be resolved once the Gouyang meridians are healed. It's just a bit faster."

It was an incredibly significant achievement, but Murong Jin treated it as if it were nothing.

In fact, his words had some merit.

No matter how high the enlightenment, if the foundation doesn't support it, it's as good as nothing.

His body was still extremely weak, the inner energy in his dantian was minimal, and the collision of yang energy from his internal organs was painful.

"But why do I always forget what I enlightened? Clearly, my mind flashed with insight, but... that... something... something... in... out... Ah, what is it?"

He always failed to describe his enlightenment and, frankly, wasn't sure if he truly understood it.

But his body knew.

How to do it.

"I think others are the same. So when disciples ask for advice on levels, they probably talk about things like clouds. Yes, that makes sense, right? I'm not a fool, so I can't explain it, right?"

As he muttered to himself, trying to convince himself, the door was violently opened, and something was spilled all over the floor.

"Jin... Jin..."

Murong Xie, stepping on the vomit on the floor, slowly walked in.

His face was already a mess of tears and snot.

"Phew... Finally, it's here."

Seeing this, Murong Jin sighed deeply, straightened his posture, and beckoned to Murong Xie.

"I knew this would happen, so I've been preparing my mind for six months... Come! I'm ready!"

* * *

"Huuuuuuu."

Less than a minute after it started, Murong Jin gained enlightenment.

That his mental preparation was insufficient and his resolve was lacking.

Murong Xie, already sobbing for an hour.

Even if he wanted to escape, the huge gap in strength prevented him from moving.

What could he do?

Murong Xie was Murong Jin's father.

His selfless dedication was such that even Tian Jinlin recognized him as a father.

Yes, as a father, he could endure this...

"It's impossible!"

He continued to beg and scream, but Murong Xie's cries were twice as loud as Murong Jin's, and he eventually fainted.

Murong Xie only realized something was wrong when he sensed that Murong Jin had fainted. He hurriedly laid him down and wiped his face.

"I'm sorry... I got carried away with joy again... Our Jin can... stand... Huh..."

Murong Xie, who almost burst into tears again, managed to compose himself when he realized his son had fainted.

"Phew... Our son..."

Murong Xie, wiping Murong Jin's face with a cloth and brushing his hair, noticed something strange.

He could feel inner energy from Murong Jin's body, which he had never felt before.

"What's going on... I can feel inner energy from my son's body..."

Thinking something was wrong, Murong Xie examined his son's body, but his complexion was better, and his ashen skin was regaining color.

Although Murong Jin could use inner energy, he hadn't achieved a high level, so he couldn't diagnose anything further.

"I need to call a doctor."

* * *

When he woke up, a familiar face was in front of him.

Not his father, Murong Xie, but another familiar face.

He was Han Tanghai, his attending physician and a quack.

He knew he was a quack from the first time he saw him.

That didn't mean he wasn't a doctor.

He just couldn't use the knowledge he had.

But this time, his quackery saved him from suspicion.

"The Gouyang meridians are healing naturally. This is very good news."

"Is that so, sir! Thank you! Thank you, really!"

Healing naturally, my ass.

How much effort did I put in to achieve this, and you're calling it natural healing?

And why are you acting like you did something great, you quack!

...He wanted to shout but held back.

If he caused unnecessary suspicion, it would only make things more troublesome for him.

He would just pretend not to know about the inner energy and show his cultivation later.

That eight-armed father would probably be delighted to call him a genius.

Although he didn't like that his father gave money to the quack, the herbs he prescribed were indeed good for the Gouyang meridians.

They couldn't cure it, but they helped him endure a bit longer.

Better than nothing, at least.

The quack left with his father's money, and Murong Jin pretended to still be asleep.

He felt that if he woke up now, that mountain bandit would launch another festival of tears.

But it didn't take long for his father, who had an uncanny eye, to realize he was awake, and the festival began.

"Uaaaaa! Please stop! I'm going to dieeeeee!"

After that day, Murong Jin gave his father the nickname "Tears, Cries, and Devil" (泪泣哭魔).

"泪泣哭魔" means "a devil who cries and cries and cries."

Later, when Murong Jin said, "I've met many devils like Blood Devil, Sword Devil, and Heaven Devil, but the 'Tears, Cries, and Devil' is the strongest," it became a very famous nickname, but that's a story for the distant future.

Thus, the Devil Tian Jinlin lived as the son of "Tears, Cries, and Devil" Murong Xie.

Even though he could walk, it was only a little. His body was still too weak to go anywhere, so Murong Jin continued to live at home.

But he didn't just sit around and gather inner energy.

Now that he could move a bit, he started to exercise.

He knew he needed a strong body to build inner energy and learn martial arts, so he gritted his teeth and focused on exercise.

Exercise, outer cultivation, and the secret techniques of Jueyang Meridians.

Murong Jin spent each day repeating these three things, and after a year, he had completely transformed.

Although still young, his body had gained some muscle and flesh.

He had turned his frail body into that of an ordinary child.

He could now run a bit and practice the Sancai Sword Technique (三才劍法) with a branch.

The Sancai Sword Technique (三才劍法) is a basic sword technique consisting of horizontal cuts, vertical cuts, and thrusts, a third-rate martial art.

Some people dismiss such third-rate martial arts as unnecessary trash, but Murong Jin was different.

Simplicity is the best.

To Tian Jinlin, who preferred simple things over profound ones, the Sancai Sword Technique was the best martial art.

Not that he could conquer the martial world with just the Sancai Sword Technique.

It was just good for practice.

After all, a sword that is fast, powerful, and accurate is all that matters.

Murong Jin thought the Sancai Sword Technique was better than the crude martial arts used by third- and second-rate martial artists.

From then on, while practicing the Sancai Sword Technique, Murong Jin began to use a new inner energy cultivation technique alongside outer cultivation.

The name of this inner energy cultivation technique was "Rexia Shen Gong" (熱火神功).

It was a new technique created by Tian Jinlin based on the "Lihuo Shen Gong" (離火神功), an extreme yang technique, which Murong Jin roughly created in about an hour.

"To think the Lihuo Shen Gong from Huashan Sect would be used like this."

It was called "received," but at the time, Tian Jinlin beat up the Huashan Sect's leader and stole the Lihuo Shen Gong.

There was no reason.

He just wanted to see it because it existed.

The inner energy cultivation technique of the Lihuo Shen Gong, Huolong Huyan Shu (火龍呼炎術), was characterized by heat in the breath. Murong Jin used this to try to reduce the yang energy in his body, and it was successful.

The Lihuo Shen Gong was such that the heat couldn't be fully contained due to the extreme yang technique, so it escaped through the breath. Murong Jin used Huolong Huyan Shu to extract the yang energy from his body.

A technique that converted the fire into heat and forcefully expelled it through the mouth.

That was the Rexia Shen Gong.

Although all his meridians were severed, he used the method gained through enlightenment to control the inner energy through his skin and flesh. The pain from the yang energy converting into heat was endured by Murong Jin.

In the process, he managed to accumulate a small amount of inner energy, and as the massive yang energy that collided with the outer cultivation's yang energy decreased to a similar level, Murong Jin's body rapidly improved.

Another year passed.

And another year.

At eleven years old, Murong Jin.

He still had the Gouyang meridians, but he was now strong enough to climb a cliff with his bare hands.

Without taking a single breath, he climbed the high cliff in an instant, his black hair fluttering in the cool breeze.

A scene like a painting.

In that scene, Murong Jin shouted:

"Damn, it hurts so much I might dieeeee!"