Chapter 247: The Method to Break the Seal?

To think the cauldron spirit never breathed a word of something so monumental beforehand! Even knowing the Treasure Cauldron Spirit was adept at keeping secrets, this was taking it too far. Wang Ping had always assumed these phantoms were completely devoid of consciousness.

"Don't blame the little cauldron. It wasn't intentional," the burly man said.

Seeming to see right through Wang Ping's thoughts, the burly man plopped to the ground and laughed. "Our affairs cannot be leaked to the outside world."

"A leak would shatter our state of seclusion. That would in turn cause complications for the qi of the Six Heavens—which remains hidden because of us—and ruin the grand enterprise of Eliminating the Qi of the Six Heavens. Therefore, I can only exchange a few words with you here. After you leave, you will have no memory of me."

Wang Ping was no stranger to this concept.

For instance, he could only recall the secret of the Wood Qi True Lord taking away the lifespans of all Qi Refining practitioners in the world while under the protection of the Ever-Suppressing Six Harmonies Cauldron.

"Besides, I wasn't awake from the start," the burly man added.

He tapped his head and continued. "I was only awakened because you defeated me. The others are the same; they are still slumbering right now."

"Speaking of which, what year is it now?"

The man's face filled with profound curiosity. "How long has it been since the Battle of Seizing Heaven? What about the Battle of Eliminating Qi? How many years has it been since the fall of the Great Rebellion?"

Hearing this, Wang Ping didn't hesitate for a single second.

Thud!

He fell to his knees on the spot.

"Ancestral Patriarch!"

In the blink of an eye, his eyes brimmed with tears as he cried out mournfully, "I am a subject of the Great Rebellion! You have no idea—those people in the heavens are far too wicked!"

This sudden drop to his knees completely flabbergasted the burly man.

"Get up, get up!"

He hurriedly reached out and hoisted Wang Ping to his feet. "There's no need to kneel. We don't practice such customs. A simple bow or a polite greeting is enough, as long as the sentiment is there..."

Suddenly, he frowned.

Wang Ping watched as the burly man grabbed his wrist, seemingly taking his pulse, before declaring in a heavy tone, "Your Divine Powers have been completely locked away."

"What happened?"

Overjoyed at the opening, Wang Ping promptly recounted the affairs of the Great Shun, the situation with Kunyun, and all of his recent experiences in excruciating detail.

In short, his tale went something like this: This humble one was but a carefree Loose Immortal within the furnace, possessing boundless Divine Powers. But who could have known that Qi Refining practitioner would be so arrogant and ruthless? Colluding with the Immortal Gate, he showed no regard for the heavens, seizing my Divine Powers and ruining my immortal path. To survive, I had no choice but to bow my head and endure the humiliation of serving at his side. Yet who could have known that the Qi Refining practitioner would be so utterly sinister...

And his concluding line:

"I cannot share the same sky as the Immortal Gate!"

This time, it was the burly man's turn to be utterly stunned. He had never expected the person before him to have endured such a turbulent, harrowing journey, and he barely resisted the urge to give Wang Ping a thumbs-up.

"...Ahem."

The burly man coughed into his fist to regain his dignified composure. "I understand your situation. That master of yours... his conduct indeed matches the style of the Qi Refining methods."

At this, he suddenly grew indignant.

"A bunch of shameless scoundrels!"

"They call themselves dignified Qi Refining practitioners, yet they spend every day bullying lower-level cultivators! What kind of skill is that? If His Majesty were still here, such despicable behavior would be punished with obliteration by Heavenly Thunder according to the immortal laws..."

Was the Great Rebellion truly that wonderful?

"Save me, Ancestral Patriarch!" Wang Ping dropped to his knees once more. If the burly man hadn't been so visibly opposed to the gesture, he would have already latched onto his leg and refused to let go.

He couldn't help it; he desperately needed guidance.

With his Divine Powers locked away and his cultivation completely stalled, he had no way forward relying solely on his own attainments. Placing high hopes on the Martial Dao and the Qi Ingestion Method had merely been a desperate attempt to treat a dead horse as if it were still alive.

Yet now, an authentic qi-ingesting practitioner stood right before him. Even though his cultivation base was gone, his profound insight remained. How could Wang Ping let such a monumental opportunity slip by?

"Stop calling me Ancestral Patriarch. My Dao title is Heavenly Work," the burly man said with an exasperated expression. "It's not that I don't want to help you, but your situation is genuinely troublesome. If my cultivation base were still intact, it would be simple. I would just beat you to death, wait for you to reincarnate, and then go enlighten you so you could start your cultivation over from scratch."

Hearing this, Wang Ping firmly shook his head.

Reincarnation and resurrection were two very different things. The latter meant he would still be himself, but the former carried the mystery of the womb, leaving his true spirit shrouded in ignorance. That was absolutely unacceptable to him.

"Is there... truly no other way to resolve this?"

Wang Ping was unwilling to resign himself to this fate.

Seeing this, Heavenly Work also knitted his brows tightly. Only after a long while did he murmur, "Well... not entirely. The Twenty-Four Qi of heaven and earth always possess cycles of generation and restriction."

At those words, Wang Ping's head snapped up.

"Senior, please instruct me!"

Heavenly Work pondered for a moment, appearing to calculate something in his mind, before finally giving a slight nod. "Take the path of water qi. Among the various qi, only water qi does not fear Human Yang Earth."

"After all, in the past, when we were Eliminating the Qi of the Six Heavens, only the water qi managed to escape. That was the grand feat of water qi. Your Divine Powers are currently governed by the Origin-Governing Battle-Axe-Wielding Fate-Governing Qi. To break free from its suppression, your only hope is to find a way to pivot to water qi and recreate that ancient feat of escaping."

"This..."

Wang Ping blinked. He felt a flash of comprehension, yet confusion remained. He naturally knew and understood the old tale of the water qi escaping, but how was he supposed to actually execute it?

"Does Senior mean I should elevate my magic power?"

After all, his magic power was earth-yin water. It was solely thanks to this attribute that his magic power could coexist peacefully with his Divine Powers; otherwise, they would have violently clashed and run rampant long ago.

So, as long as he further elevated his magic power, he would have a chance to break the suppression over his Divine Powers?

However, a second later, Heavenly Work shattered his fantasy.

"That won't work."

Heavenly Work explained:

"Earth-yin water is known as Hidden Dragon Meridian Circulation. It is inherently water concealed beneath the earth, perfectly yin and perfectly soft. It can survive underground, but it completely lacks the power to escape."

"Furthermore, it isn't just earth-yin water—heaven-yin water and human-yin water won't work either. They are too weak and lack the necessary fierceness. How could they possibly shatter the suppressive seal of yang earth? Therefore, you must draw upon yang water. Yang water is Ren, steadfast, righteous, and the source of all rivers; earth cannot restrain it. There is simply no other alternative."

"Ren water..."

Wang Ping furrowed his brow, his mind racing. His Dao insights were profound enough that he fully grasped Heavenly Work's meaning, but the problem was: where was he supposed to find this Ren water?

'Pivoting my Dao path.'

'From what I currently understand, only Uniting Earth to Behold Fire can allow me to pivot from yin water to yang fire. Then there is also the technique Heavenly Work used earlier: Uniting Metal to Form Water...'

Hm?

In a flash, Wang Ping experienced a sudden supreme enlightenment. The collision of his Dao insights sparked a wave of inspiration, jolting him into a sudden awakening. "I've got it! It's the path of Uniting Metal to Form Water!"

Uniting Wu earth and Gui water can generate yang fire.

Uniting Bing fire and Xin metal can form yang water!

These two paths seemed entirely unrelated, but in truth, yang fire was Bing! They could actually be linked together into a single, continuous line through yang fire!

At this thought, Wang Ping abruptly looked up at Heavenly Work and declared excitedly, "Senior means that I should first take the path of Uniting Earth to Behold Fire to convert my energy into yang fire. Then, I must extract a wisp of Xin metal to undergo a secondary convergence—Uniting Metal to Form Water. This way, I can invoke yang water to smash through the siege of the yang earth Divine Powers!"

Xin metal was yin.

Simply put, he needed a stream of yin metal!

"And only the Qi Ingestion Method can acquire this yin metal for me, because only the Qi Ingestion Method allows a cultivator to absorb another stream of heaven and earth qi out of thin air!"

Just as Heavenly Work had done during their earlier battle.

Looking at the utterly elated Wang Ping, whose mind was now perfectly clear, Heavenly Work smiled and nodded. "Your Dao wisdom is quite high. It's no wonder you were deliberately targeted."

"Senior praises me too highly."

Wang Ping shook his head, cupped his hands again, and said solemnly, "With my limited insights, I can only deduce this far. I still require Senior's guidance."

"You speak of yin metal, but specifically which one would work?"

Heavenly Work let out a heavy sigh. "You already have your suspicions, don't you?"

"..."

Wang Ping lowered his eyelids. He indeed had his suspicions, but he would much rather be wrong this time.

The logic was actually quite simple. Wu and Gui merged into Bing fire; Bing and Xin then merged into Ren water. If he could deduce this path, how could Mingyou fail to see it?

Since that was the case, why wasn't Mingyou worried?

The Qi Ingestion Method was virtually extinct and impossible to find anywhere. That might be one reason, but it certainly wasn't the main one. After all, you could never be entirely certain about the circulation of cultivation methods.

What if another Qi Refining practitioner placed a pawn on the board and imparted the method to him? Wouldn't Mingyou be left in an awkward position? Being as cautious as Biyang's was, there was no way such a flaw would be left unaddressed.

'There is only one answer. He believed that even if I knew this method could break the seal on my Divine Powers, I still wouldn't have the capability to pull it off. Not only would I lack the ability, but even if other Qi Refining practitioners wanted to help me, they wouldn't be able to do it either. He was completely convinced that this was still a dead end.'

Thinking of this, the truth became glaringly obvious.

"It's Heavenly Yin Metal!"

Wang Ping snapped his eyes open and gnashed his teeth. "The heavenly frost seasonal slaughter premier qi. What I need is this old qi of the Six Heavens that has already been utterly eradicated!"

This was exactly why Mingyou remained as steady as Mount Tai.

Even if Wang Ping figured it out, he would be completely helpless. To date, the Immortal Gate had only managed to recover a tiny remnant of the Heavenly Craft Supreme Yang Nine Smeltings Qi, let alone any of the other old qi.

"Why must it be Heavenly Yin Metal?"

Wang Ping forcibly suppressed the bitter disappointment welling up in his heart and looked at Heavenly Work.

However, Heavenly Work could only spread his hands helplessly in response. "Yin metal of the heavens takes the imagery of frost. When smelted by fire, it turns into water. As far as I know, only this specific qi will work."

"But while I am well-versed in the Twenty-Four Qi, my primary cultivation remains Earth Yang Fire... If you wish to break out of this deadlock, I'm afraid you'll have to ask a cultivator whose primary focus is Heavenly Yin Metal."

Heavenly Work raised his hand and pointed at the sky.

Wang Ping followed his gesture, his gaze instantly locking onto the Cauldron Interior Grotto-Heaven. Among the five-colored glowing rays, his eyes fixated on a pure white beam, a deep yearning surfacing in his eyes.

That was it. Among the five qi-ingesting practitioner phantoms within the cauldron, one of them possessed the heavenly frost seasonal slaughter premier qi. A grand cultivator of Heavenly Yin Metal would certainly be able to clear up his doubts!

"This senior... which number is she?"

"You're in luck. She is the very next one."

Heavenly Work smiled, his figure gradually fading away, leaving behind only an echoing voice: "Defeat her, and she should awaken just as I did."

"When that time comes, if you have questions, you can naturally ask her yourself."

Rumble!

As his voice faded, the second of the five-colored rays crashed down from above. Just like Heavenly Work before her, a graceful figure materialized from within the light.

A woman?

Wang Ping narrowed his eyes. The person before him was actually a woman as cold as frost, possessing peerless beauty. In her hands, however, she gripped a massive battle-axe the size of a grinding wheel.

The moment she appeared, an eerie, bone-chilling frost filled the surrounding air, radiating intense killing intent. It was immediately obvious that she was the complete opposite of Heavenly Work.

'I'm afraid this one... excels at combat!'

Even so, Wang Ping didn't retreat a single inch. This concerned his great Dao. He would carve his way forward through a thousand hardships and ten thousand dangers—let alone a mere phantom!