Chapter Sixty-Two: On the Formation of Monk Tang's Flesh

Luo Zu, who constantly monitored the happenings upon the earth, found himself at a loss for words at the startled awakening of the Grand Marshal and his generals. This was not the result of some cunning plot between the barbarians and the demonfolk, but rather the demonfolk abandoning their ranks of their own accord, leaving the barbarians to bear alone the brunt of the human race’s concentrated assault.

Once the humans had gathered their full strength, even the most gifted Barbarian Lords could not withstand the onslaught. Thus, the barbarians suffered their bitter fate.

As for why the demonfolk deserted their allies, the reason, strangely enough, was tied to Luo Zu himself. It all stemmed from the pheasant-demon, created from the flesh and blood of Qiu Zhi. When Luo Zu sent it to this land, an inexplicable summons stirred within the demonfolk, compelling them to journey westward into the wilds to rescue the pheasant-demon.

Thus, the barbarians suffered a crushing defeat. The humans believed the barbarians and demonfolk were still plotting in secret, when in truth, the remaining barbarians were cursing the demonfolk atop desolate mountains, berating them as witless, faithless, and shameless for abandoning their allies at such a critical moment, bringing about disastrous losses and their own downfall.

Luo Zu, naturally, had studied this peculiar resonance among the demonfolk. With the wisdom of his nine spiritual brains, he reached a conclusion on the day of the final battle between humans and barbarians.

Qiu Zhi’s flesh was simply too enticing.

To the demons, it was an irresistible temptation. The pheasant-demon’s form was substantial compared to those bound within the Internal World, and Qiu Zhi himself was extraordinary; even after being torn to pieces, his flesh remained vital and could still hunt...

No, upon reflection, that was not hunting—it was the lure of his “fragrance” drawing others to prey upon him, only for them to become his prey instead.

And this “fragrance”? It originated from Qiu Zhi himself. At such a level, his flesh and blood had been refined countless times, saturated with tremendous energy, repeatedly tempered by spiritual essence and the sun and moon’s subtle energies, and further honed by his own demonic arts. The result was a concentration of energy in every morsel of his flesh—one bite could bring a demonfolk a profound metamorphosis.

Previously, Luo Zu had focused only on the minute structure of Qiu Zhi’s flesh, not the degree of energy concentration within. Now, by fortunate accident, he had learned of it.

“This energy-dense structure is truly remarkable. If I could apply it to my own body, could I become similarly irresistible to demonfolk?”

“...In that case, would I not become like the monk Tang Seng?”

But Luo Zu quickly abandoned this notion, for a greater possibility occurred to him—could a body of such energy concentration unleash extraordinary power in magical combat? Might it also nurture a more wondrous spirit, and offer greater benefits to the cultivation of both Yin and Yang souls?

With these questions in mind, and being ever a man of action, Luo Zu began his experiments in the “Celestial Realm” above the Internal World.

He had already infused the Celestial Realm with immense spiritual energy, making its concentration thirty times that of the Internal World.

As Luo Zu shaped his first body modeled after a fragment of Qiu Zhi’s flesh, the war between humans and barbarians on earth reached its conclusion.

The Barbarian Lord detonated his own form, perishing along with seven of the human masters besieging him. The surviving barbarians took advantage of the chaos to escape, only to be cut off by Lord of the Five Viscera at the city of Boyang in the west and utterly destroyed.

Thus ended the barbarian invasion, with a pyrrhic victory for the human race.

Luo Zu, far away in the Celestial Realm, cared little for this outcome; his entire attention was devoted to the study of Qiu Zhi’s flesh.

This was, without question, a matter of great importance. In cultivation, one must refine both body and spirit; to cultivate only the spirit is futile, and the body, too, cannot be neglected.

Though Luo Zu had attained the Yang Spirit, and though that spirit’s power had strengthened his body—rendering his flesh tough and tight, his sinews strong and wide, his bones denser, and his organs more energy-rich—his bodily form still lagged behind his spiritual achievements.

Now, the energy structure of Qiu Zhi’s flesh could perhaps bridge this gap.

But understanding the structure was not enough; to truly embody it, Luo Zu knew he would need many trials before he could succeed.

Fortunately, with his nine spiritual brains operating at full capacity, he finally unraveled the mystery by dawn of the following day.

After sacrificing three hundred sixty-nine avatars in failed attempts, Luo Zu accepted that he could not achieve instant mastery. Qiu Zhi’s level was far beyond his own, as was the strength of his flesh; to emulate that energy structure could not be accomplished in a day, but only step by step.

Luo Zu divided the process into thirty-six stages.

Yet he did not dare call it the Thirty-Six Transformations of Heaven’s Might; he was not so vain. Besides, he already had the Luo Zu Breathing Method and the Luo Zu Qi Refining Technique; to add another eponymous art would mark him, in the annals of the “Cave People,” as insufferably self-absorbed.

In the end, he named it the Profound Art of Four-Nines.

Thirty-six stages—four nines. Should he develop further transformations in the future, he could rename it Five-Nines, Six-Nines, and so on, up to Nine-Nines...

The starting point for these thirty-six transformations was not Luo Zu’s current physical strength, but the body of a newly matured human of the primordial era.

After all, Luo Zu devised this art not only for himself, but for all “Cave People,” and even the entire human race of the primordial world.

As for his own current progress, he had reached the ninth transformation—still a long way from the thirty-sixth.

But now he was determined to complete the tenth transformation on the spot.

At dawn’s first light, Luo Zu opened his mouth and inhaled a vast quantity of spiritual energy, his pores and acupoints flaring open to draw all the energy from the cave in an instant, then pulling in even more from outside.

At the same time, he used his Yang Spirit Soul Art to capture the first ray of sunlight at daybreak.

This time, Luo Zu did not settle for a mere ten-thousandth of a sunbeam’s essence, but took in a whole ray.

Boom!

A muffled thunder echoed within the cave.

Startling as it was, Luo Zu remained unflustered; he had failed nearly four hundred times already. If failure is the mother of success, how many mothers did he now have?

His nine spiritual brains, his Yang Spirit, and his own mind all worked in unison, finally stabilizing the tenth transformation of the Four-Nines Profound Art.

The energy structure of the tenth transformation settled within his flesh and blood, from the microscopic cells to sinews, bones, and skin—all stabilized.

This transformation was akin to a wild beast suddenly awakening, receiving the veneration of all life beneath the sun and moon, and drawing a ray of their essence to achieve wisdom.

It was a fundamental change in his being; not only did his body transform, but his mind grew keener and his spirit more robust…

Still, this change was not as profound as the divine arts once gifted by Lady Nuwa.

Yet Luo Zu could sense his own lifespan had increased—by about three years.

He then tested the new strength coursing through his body.

One punch could subdue a primordial tiger.

One kick could crush a primeval dragon.