473: Immortal Foundation Method

The pitch-black, fan-sized palm struck like lightning, carrying a massive force capable of shattering mountain rocks. "Pa! Pa!" Two crisp sounds rang out!

This was no longer a probe, but two palms imbued with the Fire Element power of a Peak Nascent Soul, striking Yao Delong's shoulders and back without any trickery!

If it were an ordinary Early Stage Spirit Transformation Cultivator, they would have had their Qi and blood stagnate from the surprise!

However, Yao Delong's figure remained motionless, a faint ripple of colorful light shimmering around his body.

A resilient Qi and blood, more masculine and vast, carrying the phenomenon of the Golden Crow incinerating everything, acted like a calm, waveless deep pool, quietly swallowing and dissolving that violent impact. Not even a corner of his clothing fluttered!

"Ho!" A bright light flared in Liu Duan's eyes, as if a starving ghost had spotted a grand feast.

"This Foundation! This 'Great Sun Body Forging Art' has truly had some of its true essence refined by you, kid!"

"I must thank Elder Liu for your generous gift of the technique back then!" Yao Delong smiled sincerely.

The two did not stand on ceremony and walked over to sit on the ground beside an old, massive stone stool in the courtyard.

Liu Duan slapped open the mud seal, and a rich, mellow wine aroma, carrying a fierce, fiery aura, instantly filled the air!

He didn't use a cup, but instead grabbed a jar directly and tilted his head back to chug it. The fire-red wine flowed down his tangled beard, sizzling and steaming as it splashed onto his chest muscles. He laughed even more boisterously in response.

Yao Delong was equally unconstrained, picking up a jar to drink with him.

As the spirit liquid entered his throat, it was like swallowing a galloping fire dragon!

An ordinary Nascent Soul Cultivator would likely need to refine it, but to his current Physical Body, it was nothing more than a sweet spring that warmed the body and cleared the mind.

From high noon to the moon rising in the sky, the man and the dragon, along with Liu Duan, exchanged drinks. As the spirit wine went down, their conversation opened up.

Yao Delong did not hide his admiration for the "Great Sun Body Forging Art":

"Elder Liu, this Body Refining technique of yours... is truly unfathomable! Refining the skin and flesh to be like metal and stone is secondary; the key is the method of drawing Essence Fire to forge the bones and fuse the marrow. It secretly aligns with the Heavenly Dao. Among those of the same rank, in terms of Physical Body and blood energy alone, I dare say... it is hard to find an equal!"

He shook his fist, and colorful light faintly appeared between his knuckles, causing the space to emit subtle, strained distortion sounds. Resisting ordinary Heaven-Grade Weapons head-on? That was just a basic operation!

Liu Duan was beaming with joy as he listened. He took a heavy gulp of strong wine, slapped his thigh, and laughed, "Listen! Listen! This is what it means to know one's goods! You are a hundred times more knowledgeable than those cowards who get scared and tremble at the knees just by seeing how difficult the entry is or that they need to be struck by lightning!"

A glimmer of excitement flashed in his eyes, as if he were admiring a peerless divine weapon he had painstakingly crafted: "You kid, you are the most worthwhile bet I have made in this life... no, in several lifetimes!"

In the midst of the spirited drinking, Liu Duan's expression suddenly turned solemn. Deep within his murky eyes, fragments of time that had weathered many trials seemed to flicker.

He waved his large hand, and an invisible, scorching force field instantly enveloped the entire small courtyard, cutting off any thoughts of prying. The furnace-like air seemed to congeal slightly.

"Kid Yao," Liu Duan's voice carried a rare formality and a hint of imperceptible heaviness. He put down the wine jar and stared intensely at Yao Delong: "We've had enough to drink; it's time to talk business. Regarding this 'Great Sun Body Forging Art', what I told you last time about obtaining it by chance... I was deceiving you."

Yao Delong's mind raced, his smile fading slightly. He understood instantly. No wonder... How could such a technique that points directly to the Origin of the Body Refining Dao be "obtained" so easily? Seeing through the core and Origin of the asura war puppet at a glance? I fear Elder Liu's background is not simple at all!

Liu Duan continued: "This technique! It is rooted in the core Dao of my Sect from my previous life! It is a Legacy from the ancient times, capable of proving the Mahayana, with hope of knocking open the Heavenly Gate of Undergoing Tribulation! It points directly to the immortal Foundation of the Body Refining Dao!"

Boom! Mahayana! Undergoing Tribulation! Immortal Foundation! These words struck Yao Delong's heart like Nine Heavens divine thunder! Even with his current mindset, he could not help but let a look of shock erupt from his eyes! If this was the case, that was at least a Legacy that touched the level of immortal techniques!

"How about it?" Liu Duan said, each word striking like a great bell against the heart: "I can give you this Dao Legacy that points directly to the Peak! The true continuation! A complete path that reaches the very pinnacle of what one can imagine for Body Refining! But..."

His voice grew increasingly heavy: "The price is that you must bear the Karma of my Sect from my previous life! This Karma is not in the present, but in the future! When you ascend to a level where you can touch that realm! I need you to do something for me... a task that is extremely difficult, perhaps even a nine-in-ten chance of death! The depth of this matter's involvement is far beyond what you can imagine now."

Liu Duan's gaze was like a red-hot branding iron, examining Yao Delong: "I will not force you. The choice is yours. If you learn it, you will forge this monstrous Karma, which you must repay in the future. If you don't learn it, treat today as me talking nonsense after drinking; you will remain the prodigy of Luoxia Peak, and this introductory method of the 'Great Sun Body Forging Art' is already the greatest Opportunity I have gifted you."

The air seemed to stagnate. Only the low roars occasionally coming from the depths of the magma lake and the faint crackling of the furnace fire remained. An immortal technique was before him, a smooth path to the Dao within reach! Yet, the massive debt of a future with a nine-in-ten chance of death... Yao Delong subconsciously rubbed the smooth, cold edge of the stone stool, falling into a whirlpool of weighing his options.

Since he began to Cultivate, he understood one truth: there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world that falls from the sky without a price. The more heaven-shaking the Opportunity, the more likely it is that behind it lies a bloody web of fate that is difficult to escape!

Liu Duan did not urge him, but simply picked up the wine jar again and silently took a large gulp, the complex vicissitudes deep in his eyes like a magma lake that had settled for ten thousand years. He was also anxious; placing such a heavy bet on a kid who had just entered the Soul Transformation stage was a shocking, high-stakes gamble! But what he saw was Yao Delong's immense fortune, like a rising sun that could not be blocked!

The air was congealed like iron. The sweltering heat of the backyard of Spirit Forging Peak seemed to be frozen by an invisible pressure, and only the unwilling churning sounds from the depths of the magma lake beneath their feet became clearer in the silence.

Liu Duan gulped down a large mouthful of strong wine, his Adam's apple rolling, but the scorching wine could not extinguish the "heart fire" that had settled in his eyes for who knows how many years.

Yao Delong's fingers were almost embedded into the cold, smooth edge of the stone stool. Immortal technique! A heaven-reaching immortal technique that pointed directly to the Mahayana and Undergoing Tribulation! The temptation was too great! It was enough to drive any Cultivator crazy! As long as he accepted this Legacy, his future path of Body Refining would be paved with a golden road; achieving sainthood with his Physical Body and resisting Immortal Artifacts would no longer be a distant, unreachable dream.

However, the monstrous Karma of a "nine-in-ten chance of death"! The massive debt that needed to be repaid! What Liu Duan's Sect from his previous life encountered must have been a heaven-shaking catastrophe that stirred up all the nations and regions! Once he took that step, one day in the future, he might have to face that terrifying storm capable of causing even Mahayana Cultivators to perish!

Scenes flashed rapidly through his mind: the despair when he first began to Cultivate—a seven-year-old child, tested with a Spiritual Power Affinity of only 2 points, falling into an ice cave. The countless gazes of disdain or pity within the Sect. If it weren't for his Revered Master Leng Yuekui overriding all objections to take him in as a disciple... even with the heavy investment his Revered Master poured in, the eighty years of stagnation at the eighth level of Qi Condensation, the painful struggle, had almost extinguished the last sliver of his Dao Heart.

It was their first meeting at Spirit Forging Peak when repairing a Puppet! This scruffy, unkempt Elder Liu had not shown the slightest disdain for him, a "Trash," but instead marveled at his ideas for tinkering with broken Puppets. At that time, the pure "inquiry" rather than disdain in Elder Liu's eyes... was a glimmer of light in the darkness back then.