Chapter 8

The Taiji Yin-Yang diagram had expanded to the size of a millstone, completely formed by the Yin and Yang energies. A vast amount of the essence of heaven and earth was drawn towards the Taiji Yin-Yang diagram, then surged into Gu Fei’s body, gathering in his dantian before spreading to the already unblocked twelve main meridians. From the meridians, it seeped into his muscles and bones, refining his physical body.

In the vast cave, a wondrous scene appeared. Countless unknown caves were connected, and an endless amount of spiritual energy was continuously drawn into the cave, forming numerous large and small spirit energy pillars like tornadoes.

The concentration of the essence of heaven and earth forming the spirit energy pillars, although not reaching the terrifying point of condensing into a solid substance, was still sufficient to be captured by the naked eye.

Flecks of spiritual light appeared, making the dark and cold cave seem like a fairyland.

The black water xuan snake coiled up a few dozen feet away from Gu Fei immediately rushed into the largest and most concentrated spirit energy pillar, spitting out a black, egg-sized bead from its mouth.

This was the inner core, also known as the demon core, that the young black water xuan snake had condensed within its body. The black water xuan snake’s inner core, emitting a faint dark light, flew out of its blood-red mouth, and the surrounding essence of heaven and earth quickly gathered towards the demon core.

The young black water xuan snake, still in its juvenile form, instinctively began to cultivate. As it swallowed and expelled the demon core, it actually absorbed all the spiritual energy from the entire spirit energy pillar.

The black water xuan snake was an ancient savage beast, and it was not easy for it to develop intelligence. Generally, the higher the rank and the better the potential of a demon beast, the more difficult it was for it to develop intelligence comparable to humans.

Heaven was fair. Demon beasts possessed powerful physical bodies but lacked human-like intelligence, while humans had intelligence but lacked powerful physical bodies.

For demon beasts to develop intelligence and for humans to cultivate extraordinary abilities, they must go through arduous cultivation.

Gu Fei opened his eyes and was stunned by the strange phenomenon caused by the Yin-Yang fish pendant. The shocking scene left his brain momentarily short-circuited, and it took him a while to regain his composure.

The cultivation technique within his body continued to run without stopping. He never expected that a small pendant could gather the essence of heaven and earth from all directions.

The spiritual energy continued to flow into Gu Fei’s body. How could he let such a rare opportunity pass? He began to use the essence of heaven and earth to冲击奇经八脉。

As long as all the extraordinary meridians in Gu Fei’s body were fully unblocked, the second step of the ancient body refinement technique, "Unblocking the Meridians," would be completed, and he would then enter the third step, "Transforming the Tendons."

The spiritual energy poured into his body, repeatedly impacting his meridians and improving his constitution. At this moment, subtle changes were occurring within his body. The spiritual energy’s flushing caused a small amount of impurities to be expelled from his body through his pores with sweat.

After half an hour, Gu Fei’s body trembled as one of the extraordinary meridians was unblocked. Streams of essence energy flowed through the newly unblocked meridian, making Gu Fei feel as refreshed as if he had eaten a ginseng fruit, with a sense of well-being throughout his body.

Unblocking a meridian undoubtedly consumed a massive amount of essence energy. Unlike cultivators, who do not use any essence energy to refine their bodies because their cultivation focuses on the "spirit" among the essence, energy, and spirit, directly transforming essence into energy and using energy to nourish the spirit.

To cultivators, the body is just a stinking bag of flesh that will eventually be discarded. Thus, there are concepts like the soul leaving the body and ascending to heaven in broad daylight.

Gu Fei’s body refinement process was a continuous transformation of his constitution, staying with his original body, allowing his body to constantly evolve and release its potential.

The potential of the human body is infinite. When martial arts cultivation reaches its peak, even without any supernatural abilities, one can naturally develop supernatural powers. Without deliberately cultivating supernatural abilities, they can spontaneously arise.

The endless essence of heaven and earth gathered by the Yin-Yang fish pendant finally allowed Gu Fei to make another breakthrough. After four or five hours, he finally broke through the barrier of "Unblocking the Meridians," completely unblocking the extraordinary meridians and entering the "Transforming the Tendons" stage.

Gu Fei underwent a process of washing his marrow and refining his constitution, significantly changing his body. His cultivation, which was originally at the third level of the "Awakening Self" realm, soared to the sixth level before gradually stopping.

At the moment he broke through to the sixth level of the "Awakening Self" realm, when all his meridians were unblocked, his muscles and bones vibrated, and almost imperceptible threads of five-colored essence energy emerged from his flesh and blood, then gathered in his meridians.

"This is..." Gu Fei sensed the abnormality in his body and could not contain his joy, "Five-element essence energy, I have actually cultivated five-element essence energy."

By unblocking all his meridians and generating five-element essence energy, Gu Fei finally took a crucial step in his cultivation.

The five-element essence energy generated in Gu Fei’s body, although weak, was extremely pure. It emerged from his flesh and blood, then gathered in his meridians and surged into his dantian, forming a small, thumb-sized, colorful essence energy ball.

This was a force generated by his own body, not refined from external essence of heaven and earth. Under the continuous refinement and nourishment of the external essence of heaven and earth, the five-element essence energy was refined from his flesh and blood, which could be considered the fundamental force of Gu Fei’s body.

The fundamental force is the basis for deriving martial arts supernatural powers.

The five-element essence energy slowly rotated in Gu Fei’s dantian, spreading waves of spiritual energy. The operation of the ancient cultivation technique gradually calmed down.

The dirt and grime originally stuck to Gu Fei’s body were continuously washed away by the surging spiritual energy, and his clothes turned to ashes, revealing a powerful and robust physique with a faint glow.

The Taiji Yin-Yang diagram covering Gu Fei’s body gradually stopped rotating, and the Yin and Yang energies retracted back into the Yin-Yang fish pendant.

At this moment, Gu Fei suddenly felt a warmth in the Yin-Yang fish pendant on his chest. Then, a scene that left him speechless appeared before his eyes.

The Yin-Yang fish pendant slowly fused into his skin from his chest, and finally, a faint Taiji Yin-Yang diagram pattern appeared on his chest.

"What... what’s happening?" Gu Fei was stunned. The magical pendant had actually entered his body. Could the pendant have a spirit and become a spirit itself?

Gu Fei touched the Taiji Yin-Yang diagram on his chest, and it felt slightly warm. Under the touch of his fingers, he did not feel any hard lumps under the skin.

The Yin-Yang fish pendant seemed to have disappeared, transforming into a Taiji Yin-Yang diagram imprinted on Gu Fei’s chest.

Unable to understand why such an incredible event had occurred, Gu Fei decided not to think about it, as he could not figure out the reason no matter how much he pondered.

Gu Fei was not someone who would get stuck in a rut. With his greatly increased cultivation, he wanted to test his current strength. His gaze fell on the black water xuan snake.

The Yin-Yang fish pendant had fused into Gu Fei’s body, and the pendant that served as the light source in the cave disappeared, plunging the cave into darkness.

However, the vast amount of essence of heaven and earth gathered by the Taiji Yin-Yang diagram had not yet dissipated. The spirit energy pillars had already dispersed, but the points of spiritual energy that had condensed into light spots were like fireflies, dancing in the cave.

With Gu Fei’s eyesight, he could clearly see everything in the cave under the faint light of the remaining spiritual energy.

Fifty feet away, in a large water pool at the base of a cave wall, a huge black snake had half of its body protruding from the water, its blood-red mouth wide open to the sky. In its mouth, it was swallowing and expelling a black, egg-sized bead surrounded by black energy.

The part of the black water xuan snake’s body exposed above the water was about two or three feet long, with a head the size of a basket, looking fierce and terrifying. Its blood-red mouth was filled with densely packed, backward-facing sharp teeth, and one could imagine the terrifying sight of being bitten by it.

As the demon core was swallowed and expelled in the snake’s mouth, the points of spiritual energy in the cave quickly gathered towards the demon core, merging into the black, glowing demon core.

"Such powerful demon energy." The vast demon energy emanating from the demon core left Gu Fei, whose cultivation had greatly improved, speechless. Even with the strength of the sixth level of the "Awakening Self" realm, facing this black water xuan snake still seemed a bit risky!