130: Chapter 130 Cultivation in the Whale's Belly

What is it like to be eaten by a whale?

Jiang Hanzhou experienced it today.

The moment he was swallowed by the whale, Jiang Hanzhou felt as if heaven and earth had been overturned.

It wasn't 'darkness' in the ordinary sense.

Rather, it was a kind of pure nothingness.

There was no up or down, no left or right, no direction; even time seemed to lose its scale at this moment.

He felt as if his five senses had been stripped away, and he had been cast into a boundless abyss of Chaos.

The only thing he could perceive was the terrifying suction gripping him.

Jiang Hanzhou had seen storms at sea before.

Waves ten zhang high were like moving mountains, tossing and tearing apart thousand-dan merchant ships like children's toys.

That was the might of nature, something human strength could not contend with.

But the experience right now—

Was even more terrifying than a storm.

A storm still had form and substance, but this power was formless and invisible, yet omnipresent.

It didn't tear you apart or crush you; it simply... contained you.

Like the sea containing a drop of water.

Like the Void containing a grain of dust.

He didn't know how much time had passed—perhaps just an instant, perhaps the time it takes for an incense stick to burn—when that suction suddenly vanished.

Jiang Hanzhou's body tumbled out of some indescribable sliding passage, falling heavily onto a soft yet elastic ground.

He immediately flipped up, his tiger soul saber held horizontally in front of him. He pushed his Lihuo Astral Membrane to its limit, and crimson-gold flame patterns flowed beneath his skin, illuminating the area within three zhang with a hazy glow.

Then, he saw clearly where he was.

This was a... domed world made of walls of flesh.

High above his head, a long, narrow, arc-shaped crack was slowly closing.

A faint blue glimmer flowed along the edges of the crack, like the last ray of light on the horizon when the night is about to end.

That was the whale's mouth.

And he was inside the belly of this giant whale.

Jiang Hanzhou slowly looked around.

Beneath his feet was no ordinary ground, but a strange material somewhere between flesh and keratin. It was a deep dark red, its surface covered in fine patterns like a spider's web.

Stepping on it felt moderately elastic and not at all slimy; instead, it had a warm touch, almost like body temperature.

He crouched down, extended his left index finger, condensed a wisp of sharp azure blood-qi, and slashed downward with force.

It left only a white mark so shallow it was almost invisible.

The white mark completely disappeared within three breaths.

Jiang Hanzhou remained silent for a moment, then stood up and walked toward the 'wall' three zhang away.

That was also a wall of flesh, but it was even thicker than the ground. He stood still, took a deep breath, pulled back his right arm, and his spine connected like a great dragon. Two streams of blood essence within his body vibrated simultaneously as his Tidal True Intent and Pure Yang True Intent poured out without reservation.

Great Sun Tide.

This punch condensed a full hundred percent of his current power, enough to blast the protective True Qi and Physical Body of an ordinary Early Stage Primal Elephant Realm Martial Artist into a bloody mist.

The fist-intent slammed solidly into the wall of flesh.

"Bang—"

A dull, almost eerie, loud thud sounded.

And then?

Then, there was nothing.

No piercing through, no cracks, not even a white mark like the one on the ground earlier.

The wall of flesh only dented inward by about half an inch, then with an incredibly supple elasticity, it completely rebounded, neutralized, and absorbed that punch force which was enough to shatter mountains and crack stones.

Jiang Hanzhou withdrew his fist, took a step back, and silently stared at that wall of flesh.

His right fist was trembling slightly.

"..."

He lowered his head, looked at the fine beads of blood seeping from his knuckles, then looked up again at that motionless wall of flesh, as if it had only been lightly touched by a gnat.

An absurd and chilling thought, like a bubble rising from the deep sea, slowly surfaced from the bottom of his heart.

—This is not a Essence Spirit.

Essence Spirits are transcendent beings. Those at the second or third metamorphosis are already considered regional overlords, and those above the fourth metamorphosis can dominate tens of thousands of miles of sea, striking terror into countless human Cultivators.

But the body of a Essence Spirit would never have this kind of... essential suppression.

The feeling that wall of flesh gave him was a fundamental difference in the level of life.

Like an ant trying to shake a mountain, or a drop of water hoping to pierce the vast ocean.

This was not a gap in the strength of power.

This was a chasm in the dimension of existence.

"...Immortal Spirit."

Jiang Hanzhou whispered these two words.

The three ranks of exotic beasts: Vicious Beasts, Essence Spirits, and Immortal Spirits.

Vicious Beasts are still mortal; they have powerful physical bodies and fierce instincts, but no intelligence or path of Dao, and they die when their Lifespan ends.

Essence Spirits have entered the transcendent realm; their intelligence is wide open, they breathe in Heaven And Earth Spiritual Essence, condense inner cores, can Cultivate a path of Dao, and have Lifespans of several hundred years.

And Immortal Spirits—

They are legends.

They are ancient beings equivalent to, or even surpassing, human Mysterious Glimpse Realm powerhouses.

They have existed since the beginning of the world, passing through endless ages, consuming the spiritual essence of heaven and earth, and evolving innate Divine Abilities. Every single one is a living natural disaster.

They rarely appear, and they disdain competing with humans.

In the records of the East Sea Cultivation World, the number of times Immortal Spirits have appeared is very few, and each time was accompanied by world-destroying disasters.

And right now.

He, Jiang Hanzhou, an Outer Sect Disciple of Dragon Abyss Palace who had only entered the Primal Elephant Realm for just over a month, was standing inside the belly of an Immortal Spirit.

Jiang Hanzhou did not try to throw a second punch.

He lowered his arm, sheathed his saber, and slowly sat cross-legged on that dark red ground that was as warm as body temperature.

He looked up at the dome above that had completely closed, where not a single ray of light could be seen.

"So," he whispered to himself, his tone actually carrying a hint of self-mocking calmness, "this is what it feels like to be swallowed by an Immortal Spirit?"

There was no answer.

There was no echo in the giant whale's belly, only that constant, heartbeat-like, low and distant pulsation coming from all directions through the unknown thickness of flesh.

Thump—thump—thump—

Every pulsation was like the beating of a heavenly drum, making his blood-qi churn slightly, yet not enough to cause injury.

It was a feeling... of being completely encompassed.

Like a fetus in the womb.

Like a fallen leaf entering the soil.

Jiang Hanzhou closed his eyes.

He recalled the only small passage about Immortal Spirits in the volume 'Records of East Sea Anomalies' in the Dragon Abyss Palace's Library.

Just a few words, the handwriting messy, as if the author themselves were reluctant to mention more:

"...Immortal Spirits are the spiritual wombs of heaven and earth. They cannot be rivaled by human strength, nor trapped by techniques. If encountered, do not fight, do not flee, do not pry. Simply wait for destiny."

Do not fight. Do not flee. Do not pry.

Simply wait for destiny.

When he first read this sentence, Jiang Hanzhou only felt the author was too pessimistic, almost cowardly.

Only now did he realize that it wasn't cowardice.

It was clarity.

He opened his eyes, no longer looking at the seamless dome, no longer testing the unbreakable wall of flesh.

He looked down at the few blood marks on his right knuckles that had already healed on their own.

Then, he made a decision that would seem almost insane to an outsider.

—Cultivate.

Since he couldn't get out, since he didn't know how long he would be trapped here, and since he couldn't break the situation with force—

Then he would Cultivate.

He would treat this place as a unique secluded cultivation chamber.

Such a massive dome of flesh, such a terrifying level of life, such rich Spiritual Qi.

Although it was mixed with the giant whale's own blood-qi and some indescribable Dao charm, its purity far exceeded any Spiritual Vein in the outside world.

Jiang Hanzhou focused his mind and took out that Low-Grade Spirit Stone, which was already covered in cracks, from his sumeru pouch.

He closed his eyes.

He held the Spirit Stone in his palm.

He began to circulate the fourth layer of the Li Huo Golden Body Art's mental mantra.

Crimson-gold blood-qi flowed slowly through his Meridians, and the wisp of Lihuo Astral Malice in his Dantian, as thick as a child's arm, vibrated slightly with it, like a sleeping fire dragon turning over.

He began to Cultivate.

Without haste. Without agitation.

Just like those three months in the Shattered Star Archipelago when he formed a cocoon and observed the sea.

Just like those days and nights in the stone house at Fishing Ground No. 4 where he polished his fist techniques.

Inside the giant whale's belly, there were no sun or moon, no hours.

There was only that low pulsation, constant as a heartbeat, without beginning or end.

And a grey-robed youth sitting cross-legged, eyes closed in concentration.