Chapter 53

It is said that this is also to prepare for the tribulation of the sisters, Xiangyu and Jiangxue, who are far away in Laoshan.

As they waited for the little fox to refine the turtle treasure, everyone fell silent. Only Wang Jun asked, "Master, why are you and Uncle so nervous about this yellow-furred little fox taking human form? Is it very dangerous?"

Wang Jun's question gave Xuan Kong a headache; it was quite troublesome to explain. He could only start from the beginning: "You must understand that in the time of the great chaos, the Holy Mother Nüwa created humans according to the Heavenly Dao, using the body of a saint as the foundation."

"The body of a saint is the result of countless trials and is the most suitable form for the principles of heaven and earth."

He silently circulated his true essence, wiping it over Wang Jun's eyes to let him see inside his own body. Wang Jun marveled while listening to his master's explanation: the twenty-four vertebrae correspond to the twenty-four qi, the twelve segments of the lungs are called the twelve layers.

The navel is the ancestral palace, the inside is called the Yellow Court, the heart is the Crimson Palace, the lungs are the Flower Canopy, the tongue is the Flower Pool, the soles of the feet are the Gushing Spring, one inch and three points below the navel is Fengdu, the eighteen twists of the small intestine are the eighteen hells, the waterway is the Earth Gate, and the anus is the Dark Gate.

Tapping the left teeth eight times produces the sound of a golden bell, tapping the right teeth eight times produces the sound of a jade chime, and tapping the front teeth eight times produces the sound of a ritual drum. The total of twenty-four sounds corresponds to the twenty-four qi.

Wang Qi awkwardly touched his own body and said, "Oh, so my body is so powerful? Then why can't I even defeat a weak hundred-year-old monster?"

Xuan Kong waved his hand and said, "The Heavenly Dao is the most fair, every action is predestined. What do you know?" He continued, "Think about it, this is the structure verified by the sages, in harmony with the creation of the three realms of heaven and earth. Apart from this, in ancient times, there were countless strange and peculiar life forms."

"All of them saw the benefits of the human body, so they all strove to cultivate, hoping to shed their original bodies and transform into human form. But they didn't know that the body of a saint is not easily obtained. The human race gave up all its innate potential to finally receive compensation from the Heavenly Dao."

Every ordinary creature in the world has its own strengths.

There has never been a creature like humans, who cannot fly as well as birds, swim as well as fish, have as strong a body as beasts, or have as strong a life force as insects.

Wang Qi interjected, "That's strange, Master, you say the human body is most in harmony with the Heavenly Dao, but then you say it is so weak. What do you mean?"

Xuan Kong laughed and said, "Humans are born with a predestined Dao body. You were born with a round head and square feet, with five organs, six viscera, nine orifices, and four limbs. Compared to other beings, you have already saved a lot of cultivation effort. What more do you want?"

You must understand, the Heavenly Dao is fair, for every gain, there is a loss.

Ordinary mountain animals, if they have the opportunity to gain wisdom, can shed their skins after a few decades of cultivation. If they are fierce beasts with strong innate blood, it might take hundreds or thousands of years of hard cultivation to achieve success.

There are also ancient gods and strange beings from the great chaos who are not within Xuan Kong's consideration. These ancient beasts and divine birds are formed by the creation of heaven and earth.

They all have great fortune, and each one has its own cause and effect when it descends into the world.

So they are not among the ordinary creatures.

"Because these other races are innately powerful, it is more difficult for them to transform into human form. But precisely because it is more difficult, their abilities after transforming into human form are even more powerful, and their innate true essence is even more abundant." Xuan Kong touched the dragon pearl hidden in his sleeve, his eyes narrowing into a line.

He secretly laughed, "I am indeed a穿越者 (穿越者 means '穿越者' in Chinese, which can be translated as '穿越者' in English, but in this context, it means 'a person who has traveled through time or dimensions'). I was able to accidentally refine this treasure at such a cultivation level."

His body is human, the easiest to cultivate, but even after cultivation, it still cannot match the vast magical powers of other races. However, Xuan Kong made a big profit. When he just entered the stage of a scattered immortal and had not yet experienced the three calamities, he fused with the dragon pearl of the Eight-Part Heavenly Dragon Vast Power Bodhisattva to form a second soul.

The soul is the source of a person's magical power. Ancient cultivators refined their bodies and true essence into a single entity to condense the soul.

Although the three calamities are vicious, they are the only method to promote this process. Therefore, some powerful beings do not want to intervene to protect their disciples from this tribulation but teach them transformation techniques to avoid danger.

Xuan Kong's luck lies in the fact that his soul was not created in this world but came from another world.

So his body was originally a blank slate, with no concept of an innate soul. He conveniently obtained the dragon's power and condensed a true dragon soul. With the soul, Xuan Kong's perspective on the path of cultivation naturally broadened.

It's like having a map with the destination marked; you just need to choose a path according to your preferences.

Compared to other cultivators, he saved a lot of time and avoided many detours.

Xuan Kong was lost in thought, feeling pleased, when he suddenly sensed a surge of true essence from the little fox. This transformation wave is also one of the sources of negative qi in the three realms and a major component of karma.

Cultivators are in a struggle with heaven and earth. Every step they take cuts off the lifelines of countless other beings.

This causes ghosts to howl and the heavens to envy.

Xuan Kong sensed for a moment, then sighed. After all, the turtle treasure of the Eight Great Kings had been in the world for over a hundred years, and the residual true essence inside was not much. After the little fox refined it, her magical power was not enough to reach the five-hundred-year standard, so it only triggered the transformation thunder tribulation, not the three calamities.

There is a saying that people often talk about a hundred years of cultivation and a thousand years of Dao. This does not mean that a person must cultivate for exactly a hundred or a thousand years.

It is a measure of a person's magical power, with the reference being the three calamities.

The first calamity, the heavenly thunder, is triggered by five hundred years of magical power, and those who survive it can achieve immortality. After another five hundred years of magical power, the yin fire rises from the soles of the feet and burns through the mud palace, and those who survive it can form a soul, but those who do not will have their organs turn to ash and their limbs decay, turning a thousand years of cultivation into nothing.

When another five hundred years of magical power is reached, the bìfēng calamity blows into the six viscera through the fontanelle.

If one can avoid this calamity, they can then be considered a celestial immortal, as old as the heavens and as long-lived as the earth. However, it is not necessary to cultivate for exactly five hundred years. If that were the case, how could Xuan Kong, who has only been cultivating for twenty years, have the chance to survive the heavenly thunder?

Xuan Kong himself had avoided the heavenly thunder in the Huayang Heaven of Mount Maoshan, so he knew the feeling of the heavenly thunder. What he sensed from the little fox was not that feeling but the ordinary elemental thunder used to neutralize negative qi.

Although he felt a bit disappointed that he didn't have the chance to test his new method of avoiding the calamity, Xuan Kong did not hesitate. He secretly cast a spell and prepared to act. The heavenly thunder of the three calamities is formed by karma and is outside the scope of the elemental thunder, so Xuan Kong could only try to avoid it.

But for Xuan Kong, who had received the ancient god's legacy in the Laoshan Sect, this simple transformation thunder was a piece of cake.

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