Seven days later, inside the Hall of the Heavenly Venerable.
Wang Ping sat upright before the shrine. He pushed his spiritual sense to its limits, his vitality surging alongside it, as his eyes remained fixed upon the statue of the Heavenly Venerable that showed only its back.
Yet the outcome remained unchanged.
Seven days had passed. No matter what Wang Ping did, how he circulated his spiritual sense, or how he tried to sense the world's spiritual energy, the statue before him refused to turn around for him.
*What kind of trash cultivation is this!*
With that thought, Wang Ping looked down at the jade slip in his hand. It had been given to him by Daoist Nun You. As he extended his spiritual sense into it, a passage of scripture immediately surfaced in his mind:
*Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method.*
"This is a secret technique from Dragon Rearing Peak, one of the eight peaks of the immortal sect. It is a method of rearing beasts within one's own body, gathering six types of desire beasts into oneself, and ultimately forging a waste spiritual root.
"Although cultivators with a waste spiritual root cannot refine Qi and have no hope of attaining the Great Dao, they can still practice Dharmic arts. Many strongmen and Daoist generals in the sect possess waste spiritual roots. They have virtually no future, but they serve as beasts of burden for the immortal sect, running errands and performing hard labor for true immortal cultivators."
Wang Ping read through the jade slip intently.
Unlike the *Heavenly Scripture of Other-Transformation Governing the Desire Realm*, the *Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method* was clearly aimed at the lower-end market, and its contents were far more thorough and detailed.
Among them was an explanation of the realms of immortal cultivation.
"What is immortal cultivation?
"In summary, it comes down to nine words: Crossing Tribulations, Refining Qi, Cultivating Truth to Ascend to Immortality.
"It is said that these nine words were true words left behind by the immortal sect's founder, the Heavenly Venerable, at the end of the primordial era, spoken out of deep compassion after witnessing the suffering of all living beings.
"The Heavenly Venerable's word became law; with nine words he established the laws of heaven and earth. Ever since, the lineage and system of immortal cultivation have been anchored to these nine words.
"When mortals cultivate immortality, they must first cross three tribulations: the Mortal Tribulation, the Heavenly Tribulation, and the Destiny Tribulation.
"The first tier of Tribulation Crossing faces the Mortal Tribulation.
"The so-called Mortal Tribulation refers to trials of the mortal flesh. In the mundane red dust, weapons are difficult to guard against, and any slight mishap can lead to injury and damage the Dharmic body.
"To complete the first tier of Tribulation Crossing, one must attain four qualities: spiritual awareness, an unblemished true body, cosmic respiration, and manifestation of arts through Qi. Only then can one successfully extract true Dharmic power. And only with Dharmic power can one cultivate Dharmic arts to their highest realm; otherwise, it is like scooping the moon out of water."
Reading up to this point, Wang Ping's gaze flickered slightly.
*No wonder...*
His Qi Restriction, even bolstered by the strongman's experience, had long reached the level of mending bones and connecting sinews, yet it had never been able to take another step forward.
*I used to think my comprehension was too poor.*
Realization dawned upon Wang Ping, solving a lingering doubt in his heart:
*Now it seems it was because I hadn't refined Dharmic power. My hardware wasn't up to par, which is why I couldn't reach the realm where true Qi covers the body and makes one invulnerable to blades and spears.*
In the second tier of Tribulation Crossing, cultivators face the Heavenly Tribulation.
And this tribulation refers to the three tribulations of wind, fire, and thunder.
Once cultivators extract Dharmic power, they can master Dharmic arts, using art to access the law, and using the law to comprehend the Dao, until the Dharmic arts undergo a qualitative change and manifest as divine abilities.
This is a refining process.
The entire process is like forging a weapon: the Bifeng Gale shears away the impurities of the arts, the Yin Fire tempers the foundation of the arts, and the Heavenly Thunder tests their strength.
Once the Heavenly Tribulation is crossed, a cultivator's Dharmic arts sublimate into divine abilities.
As for the third tier, the Destiny Tribulation, the *Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method* contained no details, seemingly deeming that anyone practicing this method would never reach that tier anyway.
"Only when all three tribulations are crossed can one begin to refine Qi."
Regarding "Refining Qi" above Tribulation Crossing, the *Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method* gave no concrete details either, only an abstruse, esoteric passage:
"The body is the cavernous abode of spirit and Qi. When Qi resides within the body, the spirit rests peacefully in the ocean of Qi. From this, Qi connects to the spiritual realm, drawing from the mysterious spring and striking the heavenly drums, entering through the Heavenly Gate into all parts of the body within and without to incinerate the form. The body shares the same radiance as the flame. Preserving this until form and Qi merge as one and abide in true nature, only then does one attain the fruit of ancient immortals refining Qi to enter the Dao."
Wang Ping felt utterly bewildered.
The cultivation manual praised "Refining Qi" to the utmost heights, referring to such practitioners as Qi Refiners. It seemed to be an entirely different concept from the "Qi refining" he had in mind.
The so-called lack of hope for the Great Dao for those with waste spiritual roots actually meant being unable to refine Qi.
These various descriptions stirred immense curiosity within him.
What mighty power did a Qi Refiner possess?
*Daoist Nun You... is she a Qi Refiner? Or is she still crossing tribulations? What a pity I haven't seen a Qi Refiner's divine abilities; it's hard to make an accurate assessment.*
Wang Ping let his imagination wander for a moment before gathering his thoughts.
*I shouldn't aim too high for now. I should focus my main efforts on the Six Desire Heavens Accomplishment Method. Whatever happens, I need to forge a waste spiritual root first.*
Wang Ping rose to his feet, patted his robes, and walked out of the Hall of the Heavenly Venerable.
Daoist Nun You's Daoist monastery was grand in scale, complete with all manner of pavilions, terraces, and towers. However, the place where he stayed was not inside the monastery, but outside it.
Strangely enough, outside the monastery lay an even larger monastery. Yet when Wang Ping stepped out of the inner cloister and turned back to look, he discovered that the immense inner cloister appeared from the outer cloister as merely a gate painted on a wall. Only by holding a token could one freely enter and exit between the inner and outer cloisters.
"A whole separate world within..."
Watching the gate on the wall slowly close and transform from a solid structure back into a mural, Wang Ping clicked his tongue in wonder, marveling at the heights of immortal methods.
Only then did he examine his surroundings.
Unlike the inner cloister, the world's spiritual energy in the outer cloister was considerably thinner, almost on par with the world of the Dashun Celestial Dynasty, noticeably lacking in immortal grace.
Nevertheless, the monastery itself was still quite large, seemingly built upon a mountain. The structures were new, evidently erected not long ago, with a few visible signs of touch-ups. Unfortunately, the materials looked to be mundane goods. Furthermore, although there were many rooms, every single one was empty; aside from him, not a soul was to be seen.
"Seems to be my predecessor's fault."
Wang Ping recalled what Daoist Nun You had told him before going into secluded cultivation. It was said that back when the previous attendant boy was around, he had recruited many fair maidservants to wait upon him in the cloister.
Unfortunately, the man was dead now.
Consequently, the rules had been scrapped, all the maidservants had been sent back to the mortal world, and his belongings had been swept clean, leaving behind only some miscellaneous odds and ends.
"Wonder what mistake he made to be so unlucky..."
Wang Ping shook his head, then followed the resonance of the cultivation technique to a corner of the monastery. Pushing open the gate, he looked at several massive dark figures crouching inside.
These were the cultivation resources Daoist Nun You had mentioned his predecessor had left for him.
Looking across, they were indeed several exotic beasts: an eagle-vulture, an ape, a hunting leopard, and a white whale shrunk countless times over and kept inside a vat.
"So these are the six desire beasts..."
The *Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method* had four layers in total. In the first three layers, each required controlling two desire beasts, while the fourth layer merged all the desire beasts into one.
Once the six desire beasts were fused into unity, integrating oneself with them would forge a Six Desires Primordial Fiend, serving the function of a waste spiritual root.
Wang Ping's gaze swept across the beast pen as he calculated in his mind: *Eagle, ape, snake, whale, leopard, flood dragon... Four of them are gathered here. The snake and the flood dragon reportedly died suddenly when the previous attendant boy caused trouble, so I'll have to raise those two exotic beasts myself.*
It was decent enough; at least four were gathered.
As for the missing two, the beast pen held their corresponding desire beast eggs. By using the cultivation method to stimulate their growth, raising them anew was merely a matter of time.
"Roar!"
Just then, a roar interrupted Wang Ping's thoughts. The prowling leopard, which had been dozing with its eyes closed, was now glaring hungrily at him.
In the next instant, the world before Wang Ping's eyes felt like an animation that had suddenly lost a frame. The leopard that was crouching before him appeared directly in front of him in the blink of an eye, gaping wide with a bloody maw, razor-sharp steel teeth carrying a dizzying stench as it snapped viciously toward his neck!
In a flash of lightning, Wang Ping swung a backhanded palm.
As the palm struck, bones and sinews clashed inside his body with sounds like the roaring of tigers and dragons, as though a mighty bow were being drawn taut within him.
*Bang!*
Arm acting as bow and palm as arrow, he whipped an afterimage as swift as lightning across the leopard's head, forcibly deflecting that ferocious feline head by three inches.
"So tough..."
Wang Ping knitted his brows. Backing away while rotating his wrist, he once again felt the gap between cultivating immortality and practicing martial arts, a gulf wider than any chasm.
*This leopard is definitely no ordinary beast; its physique is ridiculously strong. Even with the empowerment of my internal strength, I could only knock it aside. Although it hasn't learned martial arts, it clearly possesses other miraculous abilities, like that frame-skipping speed just now... no worse than an internal strength martial master!*
And this was merely a single exotic beast.
Under the Dashun court, an internal strength martial master could dominate an entire county, yet in the immortal sect, such an exotic beast was nothing more than cultivation material for menial disciples.
At this thought, Wang Ping felt even more stirred.
*Cultivating immortality really is the only way!*
*Waste spiritual root or not, I must find a way onto the immortal path first. Even if there's no hope for the Great Dao, that's something to worry about only after I reach the end of the road.*
Next, he glanced at the other desire beasts in the pen. With the leopard taking the lead, the remaining desire beasts were visibly growing restless.
No matter.
With a thought from Wang Ping, the world before him froze in place. His vision split into two halves: one half was reality, and the other was a towering tome.
Classic of Great Peace, activate!
Entering the space of the Classic of Great Peace, Wang Ping immediately walked before the third volume, *A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold*. Concentrating his will, he began to write:
*I promise to train the "Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method" to...*
Wang Ping paused slightly. As faint light shimmered across the tome, a sudden flash of insight struck him: "I can't go straight to perfection.
"With my current talent, the time limit for A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold is a thousand days—nearly three years."
In other words, it had to be something he could accomplish within a thousand days for *A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold* to loan out the finished result in advance.
"Which means, in the judgment of the scripture, I cannot master the technique to completion within three years."
At this thought, Wang Ping pondered for a moment before filling in the rest of the promise:
*...the second layer.*
The brush finished, the sentence concluded, and dazzling radiance instantly erupted from the volume. In a daze, Wang Ping seemed to witness scene after scene of himself practicing the art.
In the next second, countless insights regarding the *Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method* gushed forth in his heart like a burst dam. In the process, his eyes gradually changed; rings of eerie purple light illuminated within his pupils one after another.
"Aha, I understand!"
Returning to reality, the four desire beasts in the pen had already surrounded him. Yet Wang Ping showed no fear whatsoever, merely casting a calm glance at them.
The purple light in his eyes flickered faintly.
Instantly, all four desire beasts froze in their tracks. Their once-ferocious eyes gleamed with purple light just like Wang Ping's, and they prostrated themselves on the ground.
"It really works."
Wang Ping nodded in satisfaction. All desire beasts inherently possessed flaws, and the *Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method* counteracted them perfectly.
Soon, however, he lowered his eyelids.
In his field of vision, the tome of the Classic of Great Peace flickered in and out, but that particular volume had now turned gray, evidently unavailable for further use.
*To use it again, I must cultivate the Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method to the second layer on my own. Right now, I've merely borrowed the technique's effects and practical experience in advance; I haven't actually reached that realm. But with all this in hand, reverse-engineering the cultivation will only be faster.*
Wang Ping made a rough estimate.
*Without A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold, relying on myself alone, it probably would have taken at least a year to cultivate the Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method to the second layer.*
*But now... half a month more.*
*Within half a month, I can truly reach the second layer. When that time comes, I can take out another loan. My cultivation speed will far exceed anything outsiders could imagine!*
Stepping on his left foot with his right to soar into the heavens—such was his hopelessly terrifying, peerless talent!
Filled with motivation, Wang Ping immediately began cultivating to pay back his loan while simultaneously nurturing the two missing desire beasts to prepare for a second borrowing.
...
Three months later, inside the Daoist monastery.
Inside the beast pen, Wang Ping sat cross-legged, forming hand seals with a serene countenance. The light of the setting sun shone on him through the window, casting a long shadow behind him.
Presently, the seal gestures in Wang Ping's hands shifted.
As his seals changed, the shadow behind him twisted into bizarre shapes: now a hunting leopard, now an ape, now a soaring eagle-vulture...
Once the hand seals had shifted six times in succession, six exotic beasts surrounded his body, purple rings of light swirling in the eyes of each creature.
"Phew..."
Only then did Wang Ping exhale a long breath, a satisfied smile spreading across his face. *Finally paid it off. Only the final step of merging remains.*
Two and a half months ago, he had taken out another loan to advance the *Six Desire Heavens Sovereign Accomplishment Method* to the third layer, spending the time since then repaying the debt. But with *A Promise Worth a Thousand Gold* unlocked once more, he could already see the gateway to the fourth layer's perfection and the condensation of a waste spiritual root opening before him.
Who could possibly match such cultivation speed?
At least according to the records in the jade slip, achieving perfection in three months was a feat none of those who had practiced this technique throughout history had ever attained.
The peerless prodigy of borrowing—who else could it be but him?
*Loan it to me!*
With a thought from Wang Ping, the bottleneck that had felt rock-solid and impervious shattered instantly, dissolving into countless inspirations that flooded his mind.
Following these inspirations, the hand seals in Wang Ping's fingers shifted once more. His ten fingers intertwined until they formed a seventh seal entirely distinct from the previous ones.
Almost simultaneously, the six desire beasts coiled around him raised their heads together before dissolving. Turning into streams of shadow, they began piecing together: the leopard's speed, the eagle's wings, the ape's strength, the whale's respiration, the flood dragon's physique, the snake's recovery... Numerous traits were reassembled.
At last, a brand-new shadow emerged.
This shadow overlapped with Wang Ping's own, and finally stepped slowly out of the darkness, manifesting as a towering, burly giant standing behind him.
"Oho..."
Wang Ping examined the burly giant with keen interest. "So this is the Six Desires Primordial Fiend condensed after uniting the six desire beasts described in the technique?"
Powerful, exceedingly powerful!
Standing nearly three meters tall, every inch of muscle seemed packed with explosive power. Its fingers were thicker than his arms, and its breathing sounded like wind and thunder.
Then, Wang Ping looked down.
Standing in the light of the setting sun, he cast no shadow beneath his feet... or rather, his shadow had merged into the Six Desires Primordial Fiend before him.
Standing Upright Without a Shadow!
"In this state, unless it's a Dharmic art, any attack directed at me will be diverted to the Six Desires Primordial Fiend without harming my true body."
This was the manifestation of reaching technique perfection. Furthermore, this Six Desires Primordial Fiend could serve as his third eye to investigate everything around him.
Closing his eyes, Wang Ping's consciousness merged into the Six Desires Primordial Fiend. Looking around, though his physical eyes saw nothing, surveying the myriad phenomena of heaven and earth was as clear as reading the lines on his palm.
This was spiritual awareness.
At this thought, a sudden sense of satisfaction welled up within Wang Ping.
Although this was only one of the four cultivation qualities required to complete the first tier of Tribulation Crossing—a small step on the long road to immortality—it was a giant leap for him.
"In other words, from this day forth, I am an immortal cultivator."
Thinking carefully, practicing martial arts wasn't truly all that great. Though carefree and spirited, a mortal life spans a mere few decades, and when one turns back to look, one's hair is already gray.
How could it ever compare to long life and enduring vision?
Cultivating immortality was truly far sweeter!
Chapter 34