406: Chapter 50 The Origin of the Eight Extraordinary Techniques

The Six Treasury Immortal Thief was observed by Meng Li on Balun using the Daluo Cave Observation.

This was also the last Peculiar Skill he acquired.

Once the Six Treasury Immortal Thief was in place, Meng Li had completely collected the Eight Peculiar Skills.

Among them, the Daluo Cave Observation originated from Gu Ji Ting, the Divine Mechanism Hundred Refinements came from Ma Xianhong, the Shuangquan Hand was acquired by observing and completing deficiencies from Lü Liang, the Qi Source Flow was obtained by observing Zhang Chulan, the Restraining Spirits and Dispatching Generals was gained from observing Feng Zheng Hao, Feng Xingtong, and Wang Bing, the Wind-After Odd Gates was observed from Wang Ye, and the Heavenly Scroll originated from a Secret Manual given by Lu Jin.

When the Eight Peculiar Skills gathered within him, it was as if they touched some rule in the unseen world. The secret imprints formed within the Beiming Fish's body emitted light, illuminating each other.

When the light from the eight secret imprints converged, they formed a light and shadow projection within Meng Li's inner landscape.

Meng Li sensed this and transformed his spirit into a human form, sitting atop the Beiming Fish to observe.

The first thing to appear in the vision was a wisp of pure Qi.

Subsequently, the vision unfolded from the perspective of this wisp of pure Qi.

It found itself in an unknown place.

This place was entirely filled with Qi, varying in size, but at a glance, it seemed boundless, like an endless ocean.

And the Qi in this Sea of Qi was not entirely pure Qi; there was also turbid Qi.

Though called turbid Qi, they were not truly murky, but rather, compared to the pure Qi, they contained some elements within themselves. These elements made them appear less clear and pure than the pure Qi, with varied colors and shapes, relatively appearing turbid, and even somewhat bizarre.

Upon careful observation, Meng Li discovered that the pure Qi merely drifted with the currents in the Sea of Qi.

The turbid Qi, however, would sometimes suddenly fly away, disappearing without a trace.

After an unknown period, the vision abruptly shifted, revealing a corner of the edge of the boundless Sea of Qi.

In the vision of this edge corner, Meng Li saw many pure Qi being drawn away from the Sea of Qi by an invisible force, heading to an unknown destination.

Simultaneously, countless turbid Qi returned to the Sea of Qi.

After these turbid Qi returned, influenced by an unknown force, they gradually transformed from turbid to pure. The speed of transformation was related to their own volume; smaller ones transformed relatively faster, while larger ones transformed slower.

Furthermore, blurry human figures would often appear at the edge corner. They would use some method to take away some pure Qi and turbid Qi from the Sea of Qi.

Some turbid Qi would also receive a summoning and automatically fly away from the Sea of Qi, vanishing.

Pure Qi left, turbid Qi returned, and the returned turbid Qi gradually reverted to pure Qi.

Although changes sometimes occurred due to those human figures and apparent summonings, the general change in the Sea of Qi was the alternation between pure and turbid, cycling back and forth.

Soon, the wisp of pure Qi that served as the main viewpoint was drawn away and left the Sea of Qi.

It arrived inside a human body.

Not long after, the pure Qi began to be utilized, circulating within that body along a certain path.

This indicated that this person was an Outsider.

As it circulated continuously, the pure Qi grew stronger and simultaneously acquired elements it did not possess before, beginning to transform into turbid Qi.

Seeing this, Meng Li formed some conjectures.

This Qi should be the Primordial Qi.

That boundless Sea of Qi was the source of the Primordial Qi.

The transformation of pure Qi into turbid Qi, with varied forms, was due to its integration with a life form, being perceived and utilized by it, thus generating different abilities.

Their varying sizes were due to differences in their individual strengths.

Those blurry human figures who arrived at the Sea of Qi should be powerful Outsiders who reached a certain level. By chance, they learned of the existence of the Sea of Qi and came here through some means to absorb the primordial pure Qi to strengthen themselves, or to obtain abilities from the primordial turbid Qi.

Some turbid Qi flying away from the Sea of Qi upon receiving a summons likely meant that the life forms they previously merged with left behind some method through their derivative abilities.

For example, mental will, summoning incantations, or similar things.

Next, the Primordial Qi serving as the main viewpoint underwent a new change. The 'turbidity' representing its ability materialized, revealing a glimpse—the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams.

This led Meng Li to a further guess.

These visions were projected by the secret imprints formed by the Eight Peculiar Skills, and the content must be related to them.

Among the Eight Peculiar Skills, the one related to the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams was only the Wind-After Odd Gates!

So, was the person merged with this wisp of Primordial Qi Zhou Sheng?

Meng Li thought it possible but remained uncertain and continued watching.

The vision remained focused on the circulation and growth of the Qi.

As time passed, the turbid Qi grew stronger, and the abilities contained within it became increasingly profound and mysterious. Under the influence of this ability, or rather, that Outsider, it gave birth to a faint trace of consciousness, within which lay a weak thought—Control Change!

After an unknown period, this wisp of Primordial Qi separated from that Outsider, was drawn back to the Sea of Qi by an unseen pull.

During this process, a tomb flashed past.

Meng Li instantly understood: after a person or living being dies, the Primordial Qi automatically returns to its source.

With the Qi containing the Wind-After Odd Gates returning to the Sea of Qi, the content related to it concluded.

However, the vision did not end. Subsequently, it unfolded from the perspectives of the other seven wisps of pure Qi.

The content displayed in these seven perspectives was generally the same as before, the difference being the resulting abilities generated by the people they merged with were different.

The abilities of the seven wisps of turbid Qi precisely corresponded to the other seven Peculiar Skills, though the timing varied.

This confirmed to Meng Li that the people they merged with, who were the creators of the Eight Peculiar Skills, were not Zhou Sheng, Zhang Huaiyi, and the other eight.

However, since the vision unfolded from the perspective of the Qi, it did not reveal the appearance of the people they merged with.

Meng Li thus could not know who exactly created the Eight Peculiar Skills, but based on their actions—creating Peculiar Skills and still leaving an imprint in the Primordial Qi after death, causing it to generate faint consciousness—he concluded that these people were extremely powerful.

If nothing unexpected happened, they should be the founders of certain transcendent Schools in this world.

Furthermore, in the successively unfolding perspectives of the eight wisps of pure Qi, Meng Li keenly noticed that the quantity of Primordial Qi in the Sea of Qi was increasing, but the volume of individuals was decreasing.

The reason for this, he speculated, was that the Primordial Qi of the Sea of Qi corresponded to the life forms, or the Human Race, of the world, but its total amount was limited. As the era changed and the world's population grew, the quantity of Primordial Qi increased subtly, leading to a decline in quality.

The overall strength of ordinary people and Outsiders consequently decreased.

Besides this, Meng Li also noticed that the blurry human figures entering the Sea of Qi to absorb Primordial Qi were decreasing, indicating that fewer and fewer Outsiders were coming to the Sea of Qi as time went on.

This corroborated, to some extent, the guess that the overall strength of the Human Race was declining.

Of course, the decreasing number of Outsiders entering the Sea of Qi might also be due to some unforeseen event causing fewer people to know about the Sea of Qi.

When the content regarding the origin of the Eight Peculiar Skills was fully presented, the vision returned to the Sea of Qi.

After an unknown period, a powerful wisp of pure Qi was drawn away from the Sea of Qi.

Then, one day, this powerful wisp of pure Qi returned in the form of an infant and opened a door.

From the other side of the door came eight voices, sounding like wishes.

"Master change, I wish to master the changes of all things in the world."

"I wish to clearly see the entirety of all things in the world."

"I wish to possess the ability to cure all diseases."

"I wish to make the drawing of Talismans simpler and their power stronger."

"I wish for all spirits in this world to be at my command."

"I only wish to have no worries about food and drink, and live a few more years."

...

The eight voices, filled with intense hope, attracted the attention of the eight wisps of Primordial Qi that possessed the power of the Peculiar Skills and faint consciousness.

Soon, the two sides resonated.

The eight wisps of Primordial Qi responded to the call and flew together towards the door opened by the Qi Infant.

Thus, the vision concluded.

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