Chapter 314: External Avatar

Great Shun, Jingyuan Pass.

Wang Ping arrived at the imposing pass once again. Without a moment's pause, clutching the Shamanic Disciple Token, he charged straight back into the territory of the household immortal.

Then, he repeated his previous routine.

"Rumble!"

As the ancestral hall's shrine shattered, the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode emerged. Wang Ping stepped into this heavenly domain once more and respectfully called out to the space above him:

"Senior Tianqu, your disciple Dousheng seeks an audience!"

As his words fell, familiar profound sceneries sequentially manifested. The wind of eight directions blew to follow heaven and respond to the people. One Yin and two Yang arranged themselves in order before finally condensing into a human figure.

"What is it?"

The Mysterious Wood Qi Daoist Master appeared once again, wearing Tianqu's face. His complexion was visibly ashen and frail. Seeing this, Wang Ping immediately put on a look of deep concern.

"Senior, what happened to you?"

The Mysterious Wood Qi Daoist Master had been waiting for Wang Ping to ask. Seeing him cooperate so well, the Daoist immediately sighed. "It is a hidden injury left from my previous battle with Danyang. I must enter secluded cultivation to recover today, and I fear I will lack the strength to look after you. From now on, you must be far more cautious in your actions."

Trying to deceive a lower-level cultivator like me again?

Wang Ping cursed inwardly, but on the surface, he revealed a look of sheer panic. He perfectly played the part of a helpless junior who had no idea how to resist a True Person's schemes without his senior's protection.

"I beg for Senior's pity."

With a thud, Wang Ping dropped to his knees and kowtowed heavily. "This junior needs a wisp of Earth Yang Wood—a spiritual item containing the Heavenly Pillar Immortal-Bearing Undecaying Qi."

"...Alright."

The Mysterious Wood Qi Daoist Master proved remarkably straightforward. Before long, a pair of unedged heavy maces forged from ironwood smashed into the ground in front of Wang Ping with a loud clang.

"You wish to use this spiritual item to practice the Qi Ingestion Method, condense an Immortal Physique, and advance your Martial Dao... The idea is sound, yet the future prospects of the Martial Dao remain entirely unknown. I am not certain if you can use this to break through to the locked Divine Powers, so I can only offer this meager assistance. Even so, you are currently merely piecing things together haphazardly."

The Mysterious Wood Qi Daoist Master sighed.

"Immortal Physiques each possess their own profundities. You lack a suitable cultivation method, yet you forcefully cobble different Immortal Physiques together. This will only harm your life and offer no benefit."

Hearing this, Wang Ping raised his head. "Can Senior guide me?"

"Naturally."

The Mysterious Wood Qi Daoist Master stared down at him. "Open your mind and do not resist. I will pass my cultivation insights and experience onto you. This will aid you in deducing your Martial Dao."

And conveniently search my soul while you're at it, right?

Go fuck your mother!

Wang Ping immediately lowered his head. Moving like lightning, he stowed away the heavy maces. He said nothing, simply locking down his sea of consciousness even tighter.

Seeing this, the Mysterious Wood Qi Daoist Master felt somewhat helpless.

"You do not trust me?"

"How could that be?" Wang Ping shook his head, his face the picture of absolute sincerity. "Senior, you are my benefactor. Your grace to me is as weighty as a mountain! How could I possibly not trust you?"

The grace was as weighty as a mountain, yet he absolutely refused to open his sea of consciousness.

The Mysterious Wood Qi Daoist Master felt a mix of exasperation and grudging admiration. This little animal truly refused to yield to persuasion or pressure. Had it been any other time, the Daoist would have resorted to threats long ago.

He could have withheld the spiritual item containing the Heavenly Pillar Immortal-Bearing Undecaying Qi, telling him that if he didn't obediently let his soul be searched—ahem, obediently accept his experience and guidance—he wouldn't get the item. Unfortunately, he was currently playing the role of a kind and venerable senior, a good friend to all lower-level cultivators. He couldn't just do as he pleased.

"Never mind, never mind. Since you are unwilling, I naturally will not force you."

"You may leave."

"This junior takes his leave!"

Having obtained the spiritual item, Wang Ping didn't linger for even a second. He turned and left, quickly vanishing from the Heavenly Craft Cave Abode. Shortly after, two heavenly voices descended from above:

"He doesn't trust you either."

The Mysterious Wood Qi Daoist Master shook his head. "He doesn't trust anyone."

One of the voices carried the muffled rumble of thunder. "To think you went to such great lengths to scheme and replace Tianqu's identity, yet he still suspects you."

"You cannot blame him."

Rosy light beamed down, swirling with twenty-four colors. "After all, in his eyes, not a single one of the three of us shares his interests."

"Any assistance we offer appears to rely purely on goodwill."

"And that is the most fragile foundation of trust in the world."

The thunderous voice reverberated, "Thinking back to the old days, things were never this troublesome. Why wait for these mortal fakes to open their minds when we could simply search their souls directly? The world truly is in moral decline."

"This is the good deed Gan Wujiu left behind."

"That manual for the Five Thieves Stealing Heaven Method spread throughout the Cosmos, practically placing a copy in the hands of every immortal gate cultivator. Ever since then, soul searching has become far more troublesome."

"Just keep watching."

"We only need to guard against Water Qi entering the board... Additionally, that bald donkey from the Brahma Nation is urging us again. Fellow Daoist Xuanxiao, your arrangements on that end should be settled by now, right?"

"Naturally."

The rumbling heavenly voices rapidly faded, shifting into a hushed conversation on a higher dimension. To Wang Ping, who had already left, these were naturally unknowable secrets.

However, he did not care about that. Instead, he utilized the profundity of Land-Walking, instantly teleporting from the imposing border city back to the great hall in the Capital.

Sitting cross-legged beside the Ever-Suppressing Six Harmonies Cauldron, Wang Ping had two objects placed right in front of him. One was naturally the Spiritual Embryo Clay Figurine obtained from Ghost Axe Grotto-Heaven, and the other was the pair of ironwood maces he had just acquired. The former corresponded to the Fire Qi Immortal Physique, while the latter was a top-tier spiritual item of Wood Qi.

"Rather than a spiritual item, it would be more accurate to call this a magical treasure."

Wang Ping reached out and lifted the pair of ironwood maces. As their profundities activated, a massive amount of related information quickly flooded his divine sense.

This treasure was named the Water-Fire Striking Profound Maces.

It was aligned with Earth Yang Wood.

Because it was a twin-mace set, it also harbored two profundities. It utilized Jia Wood to command both water and fire; the fire focused on slaughter, while the water focused on defense. Each had its own merits.

"Hm?"

Gripping the maces, Wang Ping gave them a few test swings. In an instant, the treasure maces began to devour his Earth Yin Water mana like a whale swallowing the sea, flowing with a lustrous radiance.

Earth Yin Water and Earth Yang Wood.

Water gave birth to wood, Yin and Yang mutually generating. Although both belonged to the Earth position of the Three Powers—making this mutually generative relationship less than absolute—they still brought out the best in each other when combined here.

Wang Ping felt somewhat pleasantly surprised. However, in a place he could not see, the three towering figures surrounding him expressed a hint of disappointment. "His mana has not undergone a third qualitative transformation. Otherwise, the Water-Fire Striking Profound Maces would have resonated and created a phenomenon far grander than this."

"This is Earth Yin Water; could he have hidden it?"

"If it were Divine Powers, that would be one thing, but mere mana is insufficient to remain concealed before the Water-Fire Striking Profound Maces. Yet, what could he possibly use to cultivate Divine Powers?"

"Furthermore, Earth Yin Water doesn't possess any Divine Powers with such concealing effects."

"That makes sense..."

Three towering figures, three pairs of star-like eyes, gazed down at Wang Ping from a higher dimension, as if perfectly dissecting his sea of consciousness and physical body.

...

Holding the Water-Fire Striking Profound Maces, Wang Ping sat back down and immediately attempted to practice the Celestial Immortals' Secretly Bestowed Ageless Longevity Scripture. He then discovered:

It's too smooth!

Unlike the Grand White Traversing the Heavens Tome, which conflicted with the Heaven-Bearing Immortal Physique and inflicted the agony of a thousand cuts, practicing the Celestial Immortals' Secretly Bestowed Ageless Longevity Scripture met absolutely no resistance.

The entire process was unimaginably smooth, accomplished almost in a single stroke. Compared to his previously conflicting Metal and Earth Immortal Physiques, this Wood Qi Immortal Physique was incredibly docile. It yielded completely, terrified of clashing with the other two Immortal Physiques before finally integrating into his liver.

Wang Ping's eyes lit up.

"That makes sense. Because I am currently bearing the identity of the Great Rebellion, the Earth Yang Wood corresponding to this Longevity Immortal Physique is still in an eradicated state!"

"Under these circumstances, my other two Immortal Physiques—Human Yang Earth and Earth Yang Metal—are both manifest qi of the current age. They have never been eradicated."

Under this dual suppression, the Wood Qi Immortal Physique had no choice but to obediently yield.

"Longevity Immortal Physique... Its profundity is named Extracting Primal Yang. Primal Yang is the fundamental essence of a person's life and the foundation of their lifespan. This is a life-stealing profundity!"

Wang Ping abruptly stood up, his eyes darting back and forth. "This is a rather nice profundity. It's useless to me, but to a major cultivator like Mingyou who is nearing the end of his lifespan, it's like sending charcoal in a snowstorm... Wait, no. After his last life-stealing endeavor, Mingyou extended his lifespan by at least a few hundred years."

That won't do.

If my dearest master no longer has to worry about his lifespan, how am I supposed to continue deepening our master-disciple bond? I need to find a way to deduct his lifespan back down.

It would be best to reduce it until he only has three to five years left.

Make it so he can never leave me... Perfect. Using suicide as a pretext doesn't seem to threaten him much lately anyway, so it's time to switch tactics.

Wang Ping pondered for a long time before temporarily setting the thought aside. He turned and picked up the other object: the Spiritual Embryo Clay Figurine gifted by Ghost Axe, the Corpse Dissolution Immortal. This was the only Immortal Physique completely unrelated to the Qi Ingestion Method. According to Ghost Axe, this clay figurine could be refined into an external avatar.

"Form!"

Wang Ping formed the hand seals for the Indeterminate Illusionary Form Technique, splitting his divine sense. A streak of bright light fell into the clay figurine, instantly molding it to match his own appearance.

Immediately after, a brilliant light flashed.

In the next second, a figure bearing his exact appearance and aura appeared out of thin air. A scorching surge of masculine energy washed over its body.

Fire Qi Immortal Physique!

Wang Ping stroked his chin. "An external avatar. If it merges with my main body, I can also gain the enhancement of the Fire Qi Immortal Physique, but it can be used in reverse too..."

With that thought in mind, he shoved the Water-Fire Striking Profound Maces into the avatar's hands. Circulating the Nine Breaths Qi Ingestion, he converted half of his body into heaven and earth spiritual qi and stuffed it into the avatar as well. Following that, he had the Treasure Cauldron beside him transfer the profundity of Bearing Heaven to the avatar.

"Rumble!"

In an instant, the avatar formed from the Spiritual Embryo Clay Figurine let out a series of crisp cracking sounds. It was clearly unable to bear the overwhelming burden, and fissures began surfacing on its face.

However, as a Corpse Dissolution Immortal, Ghost Axe's craftsmanship was more than sufficient.

Thus, despite showing signs of shattering under the immense strain, the avatar was not destroyed. It barely managed to stabilize itself in this state of continuous damage.

That was enough.

Wang Ping excitedly clapped his hands together.

"The avatar comes with the Fire Qi Immortal Physique inherently. I've made it cultivate the Wood Qi Immortal Physique, shared my Metal Qi Immortal Physique with it, and had the Treasure Cauldron enhance it with the Earth Qi Immortal Physique."

By doing this, I don't need to endure the agony of four Immortal Physiques clashing! Instead, I can dump it all onto the avatar and let it undergo trial and error in my place. It can cultivate for me, and once it completely harmonizes the four Immortal Physiques, I can simply refine the avatar and directly absorb all of its successful experience!

As for the issue of the avatar being unable to bear the burden...

If it breaks, I can just repair it! I have Extracting Primal Yang and Nine Breaths Qi Ingestion. The former will maintain the core of its life, while the latter can fill in the damaged portions.

Not a big problem at all!

"This is exactly what an avatar is for!"

Besides, looking at it from another angle, the avatar and the main body are ultimately one and the same. The avatar's suffering is the main body's suffering, and the main body's suffering is suffering on behalf of the avatar.

So don't just see it as the avatar taking all the pain while the main body reaps the rewards. In reality, it's still me, the main body, suffering on its behalf. My life is truly too difficult!