On Fire Persimmon Mountain Peak, amidst deep clouds and mist.
The current City Lord of Fire Persimmon Immortal City, Meng Kui, sat cross-legged in the air. Dense twilight surrounded him, with clouds and mist swirling around.
His fingers formed various hand seals, silently chanting incantations. His mana surged like tides, merging with the surrounding world and resonating in harmony.
Meng Kui's entire body emitted a faint green glow.
He had been cultivating like this for eight or nine days.
Meng Kui slowly opened his eyes. With a thought, he retrieved a painting scroll from his storage waist belt.
The painting scroll floated in the air, unfurling with the wind, revealing its full appearance.
It was a portrait of a man with a square face, clad in armor, carrying a battle flag on his back, exuding an awe-inspiring and fierce aura. On the mountain behind him stood a burly, striped yellow tiger, roaring towards the sky.
This person was Meng Hu, a Nascent Soul level body cultivator from Meng Kui's clan, one of the four renowned generals of the Meng Family.
The artist who painted this was also extraordinary, named Han Xiongfeng, skilled in many arts of cultivation, especially in depicting battlefield generals.
Han Xiongfeng's painting of Meng Hu naturally carried great significance. It contained a portion of Meng Hu's spiritual nature, representing part of his talent and destiny.
Meng Kui specially sought this painting because such scrolls were crucial for his spellcasting.
Divine Skill—Mountain Gaze!
In an instant, Meng Kui cast the long-prepared divine skill onto the painting scroll.
The scroll abruptly disintegrated. Meng Hu and the fierce tiger crossed each other, breaking free from the painting. The man and the tiger engaged in a fierce battle, clashing back and forth.
Clouds and mist churned, as man and tiger intertwined, sometimes turning human, sometimes turning tiger, indistinguishable from one another.
The spectral figures of man and tiger clashed and roared amidst the clouds and mist.
Mountain Gaze—Tiger Fight!
The spellcasting was complete.
In an instant, an invisible hurricane swept across the mountain top, clearing away the dense clouds and twilight completely.
The spectral figures of the man and tiger dispersed with the clouds and mist, spreading to the Magma Fairy Palace, Fire Persimmon Immortal City, and the entire Fire Persimmon Mountain!
Meng Kui's face turned ashen, his Adam's apple moved, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
A lock of his hair at the front of his forehead turned white at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Meng Kui, with his talent of Distant Gaze of the High Mountain, could suppress his own destiny and observe the surrounding situation clearly. By relying on this talent, he had cultivated the divine skill, Mountain Gaze.
Mountain Gaze could observe the wind and clouds, the world, all living beings, and also the strife among dragons and tigers, the struggle for supremacy!
Using the portrait of man and tiger, Meng Kui successfully cast a spell, creating an aura field of Mountain Gaze Tiger Fight.
The aura field covered the entire Fire Persimmon Mountain, affecting the destiny of all living beings within it. For a certain period, they would fight each other for various reasons.
The so-called tiger fight naturally was not trivial skirmishes, but life-and-death battles!
Thus, the participants would incur significant losses in their destiny due to mutual conflict. As Meng Kui's destiny remained unaffected, he would achieve an overwhelming advantage in terms of momentum.
He cast this spell not for himself, but for his own grandson, Meng Chong.
Meng Chong received protection, his destiny unaffected by the aura field.
"Chonger has been diligently practicing various spells these days."
"Thanks to recuperation, his destiny has fully restored."
"With my spellcasting this time, the Magma Fairy Palace will be influenced as well. Thus, Chonger will surely gain the upper hand in destiny, progressing smoothly and effortlessly!"
City Lord Meng Kui, overseeing the overall situation, deeply understood the changes in destiny.
The current development of the situation became increasingly unfavorable to the City Lord's Mansion.
On one hand, the Zhou, Zheng, and Ning families combined forces, pressing step by step; on the other hand, recurrent unrest in the Magma Fairy Palace left Meng Kui bewildered. Thirdly, Zhu Xuanji's premature arrival and the mysterious disappearance of the Black Shadow Demon Cultivator.
All these made Meng Kui realize that measures must be taken to change the situation.
Mountain Gaze Tiger Fight was a divine skill used, combined with a crucial painting, to cast a spell. The downside was significant, reducing his lifespan, making it impossible to use often. But for this battle over the Magma Fairy Palace, for his beloved grandson, and for the greater good of the Meng Family, Meng Kui was willing to make the sacrifice.
Meng Chong was unaware of his grandfather's secret sacrifice. Since being defeated by the Golden Blooded War Ape - Dasheng, he had been diligently practicing spells ever since he woke up.
Superior Talent—Frenzied Rushing Thunder.
Spell—One Breath.
With accelerated breath, the shooting speed dramatically increased, instantly becoming a sharp attack spell.
Superior Talent—Frenzied Rushing Thunder.
Spell—Embrace Ice Technique!
Cold air sprayed everywhere from Meng Chong's embrace, covering his face with frost.
He shivered from the cold.
Although he cast Embrace Ice Technique, it did not pair well with his immortal aptitude. If used in actual combat, failing to harm the enemy but instead injuring himself, it would be quite laughable.
The attendant beside him advised: "Young Master Meng Chong, it's time for a break."
Meng Chong nodded: "Alright, I know."
He temporarily stopped his special training and stepped outside to rest.
Previously, he would never have done so, driven by the desire for immediate results.
Now, however, he understood the importance of balancing tension and relaxation. Resting now was to prepare for a better push forward!
The various hardships and setbacks he had endured not only honed his skills but also polished his character, making him more mature and resilient.
The attendant treated Meng Chong while comforting him: "Young Master, you are already very successful."
"You must know, splitting water-element mana from five elements mana to cast Embrace Ice Technique is already quite troublesome."
"Plus, you're imbuing it with immortal aptitude, making the spellcasting much shorter. It requires a very high level of proficiency to split water-element mana and then cast Embrace Ice Technique."
"The difficulty is at least a hundred times greater than simply casting Embrace Ice Technique!"
Meng Chong grinned, revealing his white teeth: "Even if it's a thousand times harder, I can overcome it and break through."
"There's no obstacle in this world that I can't surpass!"
Meng Chong's fighting spirit was high, and his confidence was abundant!
At the Ning Ze residence.
Ning Zhuo put down the jade slip, lost in thought.
Ning Xiaoren had sent several jade slips, all related to spirituality.
Most of them were common knowledge, not grand theories like the Theory of Spirituality, nor secret manuals or treasures.
Ning Xiaoren's actions were not considered a breach of promise.
Since he had personally come to console Ning Zhuo once, he had not come again, as if fearing more requests from Ning Zhuo.
Two examples in the jade slips left a deep impression on Ning Zhuo.
One was the Four Seasons Natural Zither.
This was the Heavenly Note Sect's treasure.
The Heavenly Note Sect was a superior sect, influential across several cultivation kingdoms.
The selection of the zither master for the Four Seasons Natural Zither was one of the most important matters for the Heavenly Note Sect. Such treasures often formed the cornerstone of a faction's heritage and strength.
A single mistake in selection could lead to a significant weakening of the sect's power and cause great turmoil.
To become the new master of the natural zither, competitors must personally compose and perform four different pieces on the zither.
These four pieces must correspond to the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Competitors needed immense cultivation to pluck the strings of the natural zither. The zither pieces must be infused with genuine emotions and align with the essence of the seasons to gain the zither's recognition and ultimately become the new zither master.
Because of the great power of the spiritual treasure, the sect cultivator who became the zither master often saw a meteoric rise.
The second story was more ancient.
It was one of the anecdotes about the great artifact refining master, Lu Duan.
It was said that Lu Duan, during his travels, discovered a small country struggling against a rampaging evil deity.
The small cultivation kingdom was tiny, and the evil deity was immensely powerful. But the ruler was kind and brave, deeply loved by the people. United, they barely maintained a balance.
Lu Duan, pitying the innocent lives, devised a plan to work with the ruler and others, ultimately trapping the evil deity.
Lu Duan used this opportunity to create the Herding Wind Whip, temporarily sealing the deity.
Lu Duan gave the Herding Wind Whip to the ruler, telling him: the whip was not yet fully refined! Only the fully refined whip could completely seal the deity and gradually transform the deity into the whip's spiritual nature over long use!
The ruler asked Lu Duan how to fully refine the Herding Wind Whip.
Lu Duan said: It was a critical time, requiring some actions to align with the spiritual nature, thereby allowing the magical treasure to gradually master it. For example, creating a hurricane, or tornado.
The ruler attempted to use the Herding Wind Whip to create various strong winds, hurricanes.
Initially, the results were excellent, but then the efficacy declined rapidly, not enough time to fully refine the Herding Wind Whip before the deity broke free.
Lu Duan had left. The ruler realized privately that creating wind disasters, destroying the civilian residences would maximize alignment with the spiritual nature.
The ruler hesitated greatly, but time was pressing.
He made a painful decision: sacrificing the current citizens for the future prosperity of the kingdom.
So he secretly wielded the whip, creating wind disasters that killed many citizens, leaving countless homeless.
Ultimately, the ruler succeeded in refining the Herding Wind Whip, but his actions were discovered.
He was imprisoned by the enraged populace, and the whereabouts of the Herding Wind Whip became unknown.
In the end, the small country perished as well.
"Although not explicitly stated in these jade slips, the principles should be common."
"The conclusion is that aligning with the spiritual nature enables recognizing the master or refining spiritual nature."
"Applied to mechanism artifacts, to gain deeper control over Yuan Dasheng, I must do what it desires."
"So, what could that possibly be?"
Ning Zhuo felt a slight anxiety in his heart.
According to the Theory of Spirituality, spiritual nature has growth stages, long-term, spirit movement stage, and spirit sensitivity stage.
"If it passes this spirit movement stage, will I lose the only chance to fully control Yuan Dasheng?"
Ning Zhuo mainly referenced the Herding Wind Whip.
Refining the Herding Wind Whip involved aligning with the evil deity's spiritual nature.
That task had time constraints.
Yuan Dasheng likely had the same constraints!