Chapter 312: Master, I Missed You to Death!

He stepped out of the main hall that housed the Ever-Suppressing Six Harmonies Cauldron.

Wang Ping stretched his limbs, feeling refreshed and content. Even his Invincible Divine Intent had grown noticeably stronger; after all, his overall strength was still steadily rising.

Moreover, it was visibly clear that he still had room to grow.

"The greatest function of Nine Breaths Qi Ingestion isn't dispersing form and gathering qi," Wang Ping realized, "but helping me purify my Blood Qi True Gang, making up for my shortcomings as a martial artist."

Before this, the Martial Dao's biggest flaw was that Blood Qi True Gang was inferior to a cultivator's magical power in both profundity and sheer might. Expending ten parts of true gang only achieved the effect of three parts of magical power. However, after being purified by Nine Breaths Qi Ingestion, Wang Ping's true gang had completely shed its mortal shell.

"It's no longer appropriate to call it true gang," he murmured.

Wang Ping extended his palm, and a speck of golden-white qi surfaced at his fingertips. Guided by his Divine Intent, it shifted and transformed freely before finally melting back into his body.

"Qi moving with Divine Intent—it should be called Divine Gang!"

Wang Ping laughed aloud, joy surging in his heart. This wasn't something the First Seat had guided him toward; it was a path he had carved out himself. This was the true unity of the immortal and martial paths!

"In terms of pure gang strength and physical power, I'm afraid even the First Seat cannot match me!" Wang Ping was confident in this. The First Seat's Martial Dao focused purely on cultivation; whether it was the physical body or true gang, they were ultimately useless remnants to be shed. Naturally, she could not compare to someone like him, who specialized in this path.

As he thought about it, his musings turned somewhat rebellious:

'If the current me were to fight the First Seat...'

'Who would win?'

It wasn't as if he hadn't seen the First Seat fight. She had previously exchanged blows with the Heaven-Stealing Thief, and judging from the strength she displayed then...

'My chances of winning actually seem pretty high?'

For a moment, Wang Ping couldn't help but feel a swell of smug confidence. The next time he saw the First Seat, he absolutely had to give her a massive surprise.

"Cough... alright, calm down."

Wang Ping patted his cheeks, suppressing his restless excitement. The First Seat was someone who could be his mother, after all. He was certain she was still hiding plenty of formidable tricks.

If he wanted to overpower her in the Martial Dao, two Immortal Physiques wouldn't be enough.

He needed more!

Dispersing his physical form, Wang Ping's silhouette transformed into golden-white qi. Riding the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, he traveled in total concealment, quickly arriving at a cliff outside the Capital.

Only then did he re-coagulate his form and look up at the sky.

"Mingyou!"

Before his voice could fade, a flame ignited before the cliff. It wasn't blinding, yet it wasn't dim either—it burned steadily, illuminating everything around it, reflecting deep in Wang Ping's eyes.

"What do you want?"

"I want..."

As Mingyou's face surfaced within the firelight, Wang Ping grinned and held out a hand. "The Celestial Immortals' Secretly Bestowed Ageless Longevity Scripture. Give me the remaining half."

Mingyou let out an exasperated laugh at those words. One volume of the Grand White Traversing the Heavens Tome wasn't enough; the boy now wanted the Celestial Immortals' Secretly Bestowed Ageless Longevity Scripture he held. More importantly, his attitude was far too casual, utterly lacking the posture of someone asking for a favor. Damn it, a disciple should at least know to respect his master!

"Is this how you ask me for a favor?"

Mingyou's tone was icy. "You show absolutely no sincerity. If you want the Celestial Immortals' Secretly Bestowed Ageless Longevity Scripture, kneel and kowtow first. Let me hear you call me Master a few times."

"Thud!"

Wang Ping didn't hesitate in the slightest. In one smooth, fluid motion, he dropped to his knees. After knocking his forehead against the ground three resounding times, he looked up with a smile. "Master, can you give me the manual now?"

Mingyou: "..."

He had miscalculated. He'd forgotten that this little animal was utterly shameless.

With that thought in mind, Mingyou took a long, deep look at Wang Ping. Under the illumination of the firelight, the changes in the young man's physical body couldn't possibly escape his dharma eyes.

"...Hm?"

A second later, a flicker of genuine surprise appeared in Mingyou's eyes. "Two Immortal Physiques. You actually managed to master the Grand White Traversing the Heavens Tome."

"Did you eat that Heavenly Yin Metal?"

Mingyou saw through the origin of Wang Ping's Immortal Physique at a glance. He correctly guessed that the boy had devoured the Frost-Sunk Golden Battle-Axe Saber; only then could he have cultivated the Taibai Immortal Body so quickly.

For a moment, a faint smile graced Mingyou's face. This had been his exact goal in giving away the Grand White Traversing the Heavens Tome in the first place. Otherwise, with Wang Ping constantly holding onto the Frost-Sunk Golden Battle-Axe Saber, if the boy ever lost his mind and used it to shatter the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart, he would truly be left weeping with no tears.

Now, things were just right.

'Having eaten the Frost-Sunk Golden Battle-Axe Saber, he can't instantly shatter the Divine Power. That buys me time to transfer the inherited imagery of the Yin Fire onto the Martial Dao.'

For instance, he could sense it right now.

'This little animal's Martial Dao has grown stronger... Is it because he condensed two Immortal Physiques? So that's why he came to me for the Celestial Immortals' Secretly Bestowed Ageless Longevity Scripture.'

'He wants a third Immortal Physique? He intends to gather all five elements?'

In the blink of an eye, Mingyou deduced Wang Ping's line of thought. He let out a soft chuckle. "Good disciple, our bond as master and student is deep. How could your master refuse you?"

With that said, a Daoist manual abruptly flew out from the flames.

It was the complete text of the Celestial Immortals' Secretly Bestowed Ageless Longevity Scripture. Wang Ping caught it with one hand, his eyes immediately lighting up—this was actually the original copy of the scripture!

Not some temporary duplicate.

In other words, just like Observing Heaven and Earth Qi from before, it carried a massive amount of Mingyou's consciousness fragments. He could completely use Spirit-Invoked Mingyou once again!

'On purpose?' Wang Ping looked at Mingyou.

'That's right. On purpose.'

Mingyou wore a half-smile. He didn't know what use this would be to Wang Ping; he had merely made a similar choice based on his previous experience with Observing Heaven and Earth Qi.

In that moment, Wang Ping was deeply tempted.

'This old bastard, a ten-thousand-year-old Qi Refining practitioner practically on the verge of dying from old age, really has a ton of treasures on hand. No wonder so many people were coveting his legacy earlier.'

He was still missing the water and fire Qi Ingestion Methods and their corresponding spiritual materials. If this old geezer had them, he might as well extort them all at once, then use Spirit-Invoked Mingyou to master them all in a single push and directly achieve the five-element Immortal Physique... Looking at it this way, taking the Martial Dao a step further was going to happen today!

But the question was, how should he extort him?

It was a bit urgent!

Judging from his attitude, this old geezer seemed to want to support his Martial Dao. Perhaps he could start from that angle and choose his words carefully.

Watching Wang Ping, Mingyou was somewhat speechless. "You little animal, your eyes are darting all over the place. You're thinking about how to squeeze more good stuff out of my hands, aren't you?"

"I would never!"

Wang Ping blinked innocently.

Mingyou sneered. "Cut the act, you little animal. I invented those tricks you're playing back in my day. Do you think I don't know them? You still want to fool me?"

"Thinking back to those years... I clearly could have achieved Qi Refining Entering the Dao early on, but for the sake of the Eight-Crossed Fate Tribulation, I deliberately suppressed my realm and refused to break through. It grew harder and more grueling each time, yet I still carved out a bloody path. In the end, I was utterly unmatched in Qi Refining; even the direct lineage of a True Monarch wasn't my opponent."

Mingyou clasped his hands behind his back, a nostalgic look in his eyes.

"During that time, however much bluffing and swindling... I mean, however many hardships and obstacles there were, I survived them all... You're just a wet-behind-the-ears brat. Your cultivation is far too shallow!"

"...Alright."

Wang Ping sighed upon hearing this. "Master sees clearly. Since you've already said so, I won't pretend anymore. Do you have the water and fire Qi Ingestion Methods and their spiritual materials?"

"If you don't, I'm going to the Brahma Nation to kill myself."

Mingyou: "..."

Damn it, a tiger descending to the flatlands is bullied by dogs!

How the tables turn. Back then, it was always me playing both sides and holding others by the throat. I never expected that today, I'd be held hostage by a wet-behind-the-ears little animal!

"...Ghost Axe Grotto-Heaven."

After a moment of silence, Mingyou spoke in a low voice. "Kunlun's Ghost Axe Immortal Physique is a fire-qi Immortal Physique. The Ghost Axe Corpse-Liberation Immortal forged it for him."

"What you really want is an Immortal Physique, not the Qi Ingestion Method, right? I'll send a greeting on your behalf. The Ghost Axe Corpse-Liberation Immortal will prepare the fire-qi Immortal Physique for you."

"Many thanks, Master." Wang Ping cupped his hands together. "And what about the water-qi Immortal Physique?"

"There isn't one!"

Mingyou flicked his sleeve, speaking crossly. "I am a fire-qi Qi Refining practitioner. What could I possibly give you for water-qi? Besides, those people always keep their things tightly hidden."

Wang Ping nodded. "Then I'm going to kill myself."

Snap!

This time, Mingyou couldn't even be bothered to speak. His figure directly vanished, and the firelight instantly snuffed out, leaving Wang Ping standing alone in place with a thoughtful look on his face.

'Leaving in such a hurry... looks like he really doesn't have it.'

Oh well, there was no rush.

You had to shear a sheep slowly; after shearing, you had to let the wool grow back before the next round. Given their current master-disciple bond, borrowing a Spiritual Treasure or two wouldn't be going overboard, would it?

For some reason, an inexplicable sense of urgency filled Wang Ping's heart. It wasn't an urgency to break through the blockade of Divine Powers, but an urgency to raise his sheer combat strength. His intuition told him that in the future, there would be a massive event requiring absolute power. Because of this, he had to become stronger!

At this thought, Wang Ping immediately split off a strand of divine sense.

Immediately after, he unleashed Nine Breaths Qi Ingestion, severing one of his fingers. He transformed it into the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, then reshaped it into a physical body that merged flawlessly with that strand of divine sense.

Just like that, an incarnation was created.

"Go."

With a mere thought from Wang Ping, this incarnation rode a streak of escaping light, leaving the Eight Trigrams Furnace and flying toward Ghost Axe Grotto-Heaven exactly as Mingyou had instructed.

Yet all his actions were witnessed by three towering figures orbiting him from a higher dimension.

"A pity."

A muffled, thunderous voice rumbled and echoed, "If his true body had stepped out of the Eight Trigrams Furnace, we could have probed deeply to see if any water-qi pawns were planted on him."

Then, light fluctuated through the radiant clouds:

"The Grand White Traversing the Heavens Tome. Mingyou gave it to him."

"He is quite capable. The moment he saw the Heavenly Yin Metal, he immediately deduced our intentions. Therefore, he settled for the next best thing and decided to nurture the boy's Martial Dao."

"Will this harm the grand scheme?"

"It is of no hindrance. Mingyou was always extraordinarily cunning. Placing pawns separately to scheme against both the Ten Thousand Gods Terrestrial Chart and the Martial Dao simultaneously was simply like a cunning rabbit digging three burrows."

From within the twenty-four-colored radiant light, a clear and bright laugh rang out:

"This move is irrelevant to our grand scheme. Moreover... since he wishes to cultivate immortality, it is only right that he harbors the resolve to gamble against us, seeking life amidst certain death."

"There is no need to pay him any mind."

"If he can truly leverage this momentum to succeed, we shall simply go and offer our congratulations."

"As for the Martial Dao..."

At this point, the voice deep within the radiant light gradually lost its mirth, turning utterly indifferent. "A five-element Immortal Physique? It's nothing more than a haphazardly patched-together, whimsical fantasy."

"This person is not Lian Ruzhao. He lacks that level of skill."

"Even if we actually let him gather all five, at most it would only elevate his combat capabilities in magical duels by a few margins. Relying on that to break through the lockdown of Divine Powers is absolutely impossible."

"Rather... it's just perfect."

"If he wants the five-element Immortal Physique, then let him have it."

"Since he has placed his focus on the Martial Dao, he might seek out Lian Ruzhao's guidance... If we keep our eyes on him, we might just be able to find Lian Ruzhao."

"And conveniently eliminate this hidden threat while we're at it."