432: Survival Road

Without hesitation, Xiao Jingyan immediately decided to make the cave his base and study the ancient runes and the bronze Puppet.

Survival was the primary concern.

Outside the cave, miasma permeated the air, and Yao Beasts ran rampant in the forest. Although the cave was safe, there was no food inside.

Xiao Jingyan endured the faint pain in his Meridians, picked up a sharp stone, tore strips of cloth from his tattered clothes, quickly bandaged his wounds, and then walked out of the cave.

The dangers of the Black Miasma Forest far exceeded his imagination.

Just a few steps out, he encountered a pitch-black poisonous scorpion, which was the size of a palm. Its tail stinger shimmered with a faint blue light, clearly indicating extreme toxicity. Xiao Jingyan dared not be careless. Relying on the keen reflexes left over from his past Cultivation, he sidestepped the scorpion's stinger and slammed the sharp stone in his hand toward its head, instantly crushing it.

He picked up the scorpion's corpse, returned to the cave, and started a bonfire—there was enough dry moss and dead branches deep inside the cave for him to make fire and keep warm.

He removed the scorpion's venom gland, roasted it, and began to eat.

The scorpion meat had a fishy odor and was difficult to swallow, but Xiao Jingyan ate it with relish.

For him, as long as he could survive, this small hardship was nothing worth mentioning.

From then on, Xiao Jingyan began his path to survival in the Black Miasma Forest.

Using the cave as his center, he cautiously explored the surrounding area, hunting poisonous creatures like scorpions, lizards, and toxic frogs for food.

These poisonous creatures were inherently highly toxic, but prolonged consumption gradually allowed his body to develop resistance to poison. Although the miasma he inhaled still caused him to cough up blood incessantly, it could no longer fundamentally harm him.

Besides foraging, he also had to deal with attacks from Yao Beasts.

Once, a Black-Maned Bear the size of a water buffalo targeted him. The Black-Maned Bear had thick skin and immense strength; one swipe of its claw snapped a tree trunk as thick as a bowl clean in half.

Fortunately, Xiao Jingyan had an ancestral treasured sword at his waist. The sword was named “Po Sha” and was an heirloom of the Xiao Family. Simple evil-warding runes were carved into the blade. Although it wasn't a Divine Weapon or Sharp Weapon, it was sharp enough. Wielding the Po Sha Sword.

Without Spiritual Qi support, he relied on his physical foundation and past combat experience to maneuver against the Black-Maned Bear.

The Black-Maned Bear's attacks were incredibly fierce, forcing him into dangerous situations every time.

Xiao Jingyan knew this couldn't continue; he had to find the Black-Maned Bear's weakness.

He deliberately exposed an opening, letting the Black-Maned Bear's claw swipe toward his shoulder, then immediately sidestepped and thrust the Po Sha Sword in his hand sharply toward the bear's eye.

The Black-Maned Bear cried out in pain, letting loose an earth-shattering roar, and wildly thrashed its claws.

Xiao Jingyan seized the opportunity, stabbing the Black-Maned Bear's throat several times in succession, finally slaying it.

After killing the Black-Maned Bear, Xiao Jingyan was also exhausted. He collapsed onto the ground, gasping for breath, and the Puppet Heart Contract on his back began to ache faintly again.

He looked at the Black-Maned Bear's corpse, a fierce look flashing in his eyes: “This should feed me for months!!”

Having solved the survival problem, Xiao Jingyan devoted all his energy to studying the ancient runes and the bronze Puppet.

He found a smooth stone slab and used charcoal to copy the runes on the cave wall one by one, then repeatedly scrutinized them.

The script of the Ancient Ba People was obscure and difficult to understand. Every single rune contained complex meanings, and the slightest carelessness could lead to misinterpretation.

Xiao Jingyan had no reference materials, so he could only rely on his Comprehension Ability and perseverance to explore little by little.

Sometimes, it took him several days to figure out the general meaning of a single rune; other times, a misunderstanding would cause him to suffer Qi Deviation, resulting in severe Divine Soul pain and coughing up blood.

Day after day, year after year, the stone slabs inside the cave piled up into small mounds, and every slab was densely covered with runes and his annotations.

Ten years passed in the blink of an eye.

Over these ten years, Xiao Jingyan's hair had turned gray, and his face was covered with the marks of hardship, but his gaze became increasingly sharp.

After ten years of intensive study, he finally completely mastered the Ancient Ba Script. The runes that were once obscure and difficult to understand became clear in his eyes.

By interpreting the runes, he learned that this cave was a sacrificial relic site of the Ancient Ba People. The runes on the cave wall were their sacrificial runes, and the bronze Puppet was the “Spirit-Suppressing Puppet” used by the Ba People to guard the sacrificial site, using Earth Vein Power as energy, runes as the driver, and the Divine Soul as the core controller.

“Earth Vein Power... rune drive... Divine Soul control...” Xiao Jingyan muttered to himself, a glint flashing in his eyes. “My Meridians are destroyed and I cannot absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, but my Divine Soul is still intact! If I can use this bronze Puppet to absorb Earth Vein Power, perhaps I can forge a different path of Cultivation!”

He immediately walked up to the bronze Puppet and began to dismantle its internal mechanism.

The Puppet's internal mechanism was extremely complex, with gears, chains, and rune arrays interwoven. The slightest mistake could result in complete damage. Xiao Jingyan carefully dismantled it, marking every single part, fearing any error.

Without Spiritual Qi, he used brute force to drive the Puppet's mechanism;

Without a Cultivation Technique, he explored the method of energy circulation from the Puppet's rune arrays.

He carved the sacrificial runes he had deciphered onto the Puppet's broken limbs, attempting to establish a connection with the Earth Vein beneath the cave.

It was another night of the full moon, and the Puppet Heart Contract activated right on schedule.

Intense pain erupted from his back, instantly sweeping through his entire body. His Divine Soul felt as if it had been thrown into a furnace and was being repeatedly burned by raging fire.

Xiao Jingyan curled up on the ground, foaming at the mouth, convulsing uncontrollably, his consciousness gradually blurring.

He felt his Divine Soul dissipating bit by bit, and the shadow of death once again enveloped him.

“I cannot die! I haven't had my revenge yet!”

Just as he was about to completely lose consciousness, he suddenly saw the sacrificial runes on the cave wall light up with a dazzling red glow. The red light flowed along the ground, resonating with the runes on the bronze Puppet.

Immediately afterward, a faint, earthy yellow Spiritual Qi overflowed from the Puppet's body and surged into his Meridians through his fingertips.

Although this earthy yellow Spiritual Qi was weak, it was exceptionally pure. After entering his Meridians, instead of dissipating like Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, it acted like a warm current, slowly nourishing his damaged Meridians. Although it couldn't repair the severed Meridians, it could temporarily suppress the backlash of the Puppet Heart Contract.

“It works! It really works!” Xiao Jingyan was ecstatic. Using the clarity brought by the warm current, he forcefully stabilized his Divine Soul and concentrated on guiding the earthy yellow Spiritual Qi to circulate within his body.

After the night of the full moon passed, the backlash of the Puppet Heart Contract gradually subsided, but the sensation brought by the earthy yellow Spiritual Qi was deeply imprinted in Xiao Jingyan's mind.

The depths of the Bashu Earth Vein contained immense Evil Qi and Earth Spirit Power, and the Puppet Art of the Ancient Ba People was fundamentally based on the Earth Vein as the source, runes as the guide, and the Divine Soul as the control.

“Although I lack a Spiritual Vein, I can use the Puppet to convert external Evil Qi and Earth Spirit Power for my own use! From today onward, I, Xiao Jingyan, shall walk the ‘Crippled Meridians Puppet Dao’!”

The Crippled Meridians Puppet Dao—unprecedented and unmatched.

This path was hundreds or thousands of times harder than the usual path of immortality Cultivation, but once successful, it would possess world-destroying power.