All along, the Wuwang Prefect had been thinking about how to travel from the underworld to that place to retrieve the brush tip, but this journey was truly perilous, with ghosts and spirits everywhere. The ghostly creatures he dispatched often died along the way.
These ghostly creatures weren't very powerful, so even if they reached where the brush tip was, they couldn't get close.
Within Wuwang City, he was the only true expert, but he himself couldn't stray too far from the city.
He had previously hired experts from the mortal realm to search for the brush tip, but the outcos were often more dangerous than promising. Even if soone managed to return alive, they were still too far from the brush tip and had to turn back.
Furthermore, the experts who returned, having been severely eroded by the underworld's Yin energy, often wouldn't live more than a few years before dying.
This ti, he asked Chen Shi to act, believing that with his Corpse Liberation Immortal's physical body, Chen Shi should be unafraid of Yin energy erosion. As long as he was clever and cautious, plus with the cover provided by the large number of ghostly creatures dispatched from Wuwang City, he should be able to find the brush tip.
He never expected Chen Shi to propose going from the mortal realm instead!
This way, the dangers along the journey would be greatly reduced, and the chances of survival would increase significantly.
"There are still two difficulties, however."
The Wuwang Prefect said, "First, how does the geography of the mortal realm correspond to the geography of the underworld? I've traveled too few places to determine a topographic map."
Chen Shi laughed, "That's a difficulty for you, but for Granny Sha, it shouldn't be a big problem."
After obtaining the horn-shaped Underworld Lamp, Granny Sha used this lamp to search the entire underworld, dividing it into nine districts. Presumably, she could determine the location of the Judge's Dragon Whisker Brush in the mortal realm based on its position in the underworld.
"The other difficulty is, how will you enter the underworld?"
The Wuwang Prefect said, "If you go from Wuwang City, you can go directly to the underworld, and your physical body can go. Having a physical body greatly increases your strength and the chance of preserving your life. In other places, a physical body cannot descend into the underworld."
Chen Shi laughed, "This matter, Granny Sha can also solve it. Prefect, you need not concern yourself with this matter. Just wait for my news."
The Wuwang Prefect looked at him deeply and smiled, "Since the True King is so confident, then I will wait here for the True King's victorious return."
He placed the long spear in his hand into Chen Shi's grasp, saying, "Take this spear, True King. This spear and the brush tip are one entity. It is incredibly powerful and can protect your safety. If you encounter the Dragon Whisker Brush, you should be able to subdue it with this item."
Chen Shi stood up and grasped the spear made from a brush handle.
The handle was made of bamboo, infused and refined with the blood and Qi of an underworld judge, and further refined by the Wuwang Prefect over so many years, turning it completely jade-like.
The spear was fourteen feet long, and holding it with one hand gave a substantial sense of weight.
He gripped the spear's butt, holding it level with one hand.
Spearhead, shaft, and butt ford a perfectly straight line.
He gripped the spear with both hands, not exposing the butt, twisted his waist to shake the spear, and the shaft undulated like a swimming dragon moving its body, causing the spear tip to spin, showing remarkable flexibility.
"A good spear."
Chen Shi praised it, examining it carefully. He saw the spear was imprinted with so natural underworld ghost script. When his gaze focused on it, these ghostly, talisman-like characters seed to twist and deform. If he looked away, they would remain still.
Besides the underworld ghost script, there were also so mortal realm talisman imprints, likely the handiwork of the Wuwang Prefect.
Chen Shi examined them closely. These mortal realm talismans weren't top-tier; they could only be considered ordinary, and the talisman crafting skill wasn't particularly high either.
The Wuwang Prefect's origins and status were relatively low; he hadn't had access to top-tier talismans. Later, by a stroke of luck, he beca a Prefect, living a secluded life and unable to go out to search for more cultivation techniques and talismans. The talismans he could obtain were often brought by cultivators from the mortal realm who ca to Wuwang City.
Although the talisman-crafting skill contained within this long spear wasn't high, its power was terrifyingly imnse!
The Wuwang Prefect's cultivation was too profound. Even simple talismans gave a feeling of turning the ordinary into the miraculous.
The cultivation technique he practiced wasn't a top-tier inheritance either, yet over a thousand-plus years, relying on a simple technique, he refined his cultivation to unfathomable depths, making one sigh at the wonder of fate.
"I gave this spear a na: Wuwang."
The Wuwang Prefect said, "It can sever good and evil, determine life and death."
Chen Shi had always used any weapon that ca to hand, but the Wuwang Spear was still too long and didn't feel right. He said, "This spear is too big. Prefect, do you have any short swords, daggers, or similar weapons?"
The Wuwang Prefect laughed, "This spear isn't big. True King, you can place the Wuwang Spear on this offering altar, light a stick of incense, and make an offering to it. Then you'll understand why."
Chen Shi followed his words, placing the Wuwang Spear on the offering altar, lighting a stick of incense, and inserting it into the small tripod in front.
The energy of incense offerings drifted toward the spear, as if there was a spirit within the spear absorbing the incense.
Chen Shi gradually sensed that his mind seed to be connecting with this spear.
This feeling grew clearer and stronger as the incense burned.
The Wuwang Prefect said, "Now, True King, hold this spear and think in your heart."
Chen Shi grasped the Wuwang Spear and thought, "Smaller."
The Wuwang Spear indeed beca smaller.
Chen Shi thought of the bamboo rod used for flying swords, and the Wuwang Spear transford into a length of one or two feet, flying around his body.
Chen Shi raised his hand and grabbed Wuwang. The spear transford again, becoming fourteen or fifteen feet long.
Chen Shi held the spear and ran, the spear tip pointing diagonally at the ground. He rushed out of the pavilion at high speed, leaped into the air, and shouted, "Big!"
The Wuwang Spear roared and swelled, pushing open his hand. The spear tip plunged into the ground, transforming into a thickness of one foot and a length of over thirty feet!
However, when Chen Shi wanted it to beco even larger, the Wuwang Spear remained completely motionless. Clearly, over thirty feet was the limit of this magic treasure.
Chen Shi stood atop the Wuwang Spear, looking down. Wuwang City was beneath his feet, a sight that lifted his spirits.
With a thought, the Wuwang Spear grew smaller and smaller, gradually returning to a length of one foot.
Chen Shi landed and grasped the spear in his hand.
The Wuwang Prefect walked up and smiled, "So-called 'offering refinent' requires incense offerings. Without incense offerings, it cannot be called an 'offering.' Continuously refining a weapon with one's own blood, Qi, and talismans is called 'tempering,' which is different from 'offering.' After being refined with incense offerings for a long ti, a treasure will beco sentient and can change according to one's will. Only then can it be called a magic treasure. True King, take this spear with you. Offer three sticks of incense to it every morning and three every evening. Do not treat it poorly."
Chen Shi laughed, "This journey concerns both our lives. How could I treat it poorly?"
He stood up to take his leave.
The Wuwang Prefect enthusiastically saw him off. Chen Shi walked out of the mansion and saw Nannan sleeping soundly on Black Pot's back. Chen Shi picked her up and placed her in the wooden cart.
When they returned to Huangpo Village, it wasn't yet dawn.
Nannan had played all night and was truly exhausted. She didn't wake up the entire journey.
Chen Shi carried her back to her room to rest. Hu Feifei was still sleeping, lying drowsily under the covers. Seeing him carrying Nannan in, she woke up but didn't get up. Instead, she lifted the covers.
Chen Shi placed Nannan under the covers. Hu Feifei covered her with the quilt, sat up from under the covers, and whispered, "I waited for you to co back last night, but I was too tired and fell asleep first. Have you eaten? If not, I'll get up and cook for you."
Chen Shi said, "There's still so ti before dawn. You sleep first. We'll talk after it's light."
Hu Feifei shrank back under the covers, only her head peeking out. She giggled, "It's not dawn yet. Don't you want to do sothing with ?"
Chen Shi thought for a mont and said, "I'm going to practice my cultivation."
He walked out of the room. Hu Feifei crawled up and peered through a crack in the window lattice. Sure enough, Chen Shi was in the courtyard practicing the Eight Extres Golden Palace Divine Chapter. She thought to herself, "I'm a fox spirit, he's a scholar. Can't sothing develop between us? That's what all the books say. It seems the books are lying to ..."
She yawned and lay back down.
When dawn arrived, Hu Feifei heard Chen Shi's voice in the courtyard, filled with surprise and joy, "Tianqing has written to !"
Hu Feifei got up, opened the door with sleepy eyes. Chen Shi was holding a letter, very excited, and laughed, "Feifei, Tianqing has written!"
Hu Feifei rubbed her eyes and said, "Which fox spirit is Tianqing?"
"Li Tianqing, my friend! You've t him!"
Chen Shi shook the letter, laughing, "He says in the letter that he has verified our speculation!"
Hu Feifei read the letter. In it, Li Tianqing greeted Chen Shi and recounted how he found an ancient temple, completely sealed off all the doors, windows, and walls around it, prepared various life-saving dicinal herbs and drugs, as well as drinking water and food, and then destroyed his Golden Core.
He nearly died because of it. After a month of recuperation, he finally recovered.
"This person destroyed his Golden Core?"
Hu Feifei was shocked. Was he that ruthless?
Chen Shi paced back and forth excitedly, saying, "Keep reading!"
Hu Feifei continued reading. Li Tianqing said in the letter that he began cultivating anew in the temple. At first, nothing unusual happened. On the tenth day, suddenly a ray of sunlight shone down into the temple.
Now, after a month of secluded cultivation, he had refined his Golden Core back and discovered his lifespan had reached two hundred years. He speculated that as his cultivation increased, his lifespan would continue to grow.
Chen Shi was extrely excited and laughed, "Now I can confirm it's not a problem with the cultivation technique, nor a problem with the Divine Embryo, but a problem with sunlight and moonlight!"
He looked up at the sky. Two suns shone upon the earth. Those were the eyes of the Celestial True God. Sunlight bathed all living beings, containing infinite heat.
"Sunlight and moonlight allow cultivators to advance in realm without increasing their lifespan!"
Chen Shi struck his palm with his fist, laughing, "Tianqing's action has rits covering the nation, benefiting future generations! Truly worthy of being my close friend!"
Hu Feifei saw the bright light in his eyes and thought, "Is this the ambition of a man?"
She didn't quite understand this kind of ambition.
But she also felt that when a man had a determined ambition, it possessed a very charming allure.
Chen Shi excitedly ran to grind ink, picked up a brush to write a reply to Li Tianqing. He wrote one version, wasn't satisfied, crumpled the letter into a ball and tossed it aside, then wrote another version, still not satisfied.
He wrote over ten versions like this before he was satisfied and had Hu Feifei read it first.
Hu Feifei read it. In the letter, Chen Shi was full of passion, praising Li Tianqing's heroic feat with fervent words. Hu Feifei could feel the surging, turbulent emotions between the lines and smiled, "It's written really well."
Chen Shi excitedly ran out, saying, "I'm going to the provincial capital to mail the letter!"
Hu Feifei quickly said, "Co back! Eat breakfast before you go!"
Chen Shi had to stop, though even while eating he seed sowhat anxious. He wolfed down his food and imdiately rushed out.
Hu Feifei shook her head.
By the afternoon, Chen Shi returned from mailing the letter, still sowhat excited. He couldn't help but tell Hu Feifei about how Li Tianqing destroyed his Golden Core and re-cultivated, what imnse courage that was, what a great achievent.
The next day, just as night fell, the village's Godmother Sangyu notified Chen Shi, saying, "There's a little ghost outside looking for you."
Chen Shi said, "Let him co in."
Godmother Sangyu thus let the little ghost in. When he arrived at the Chen household, Chen Shi initially thought it was a child from another village. Up close, he realized it was indeed a little ghost.
It was the tea-serving boy from the Wuwang Prefect's side, with green skin, a ghostly face, and fangs.
He was accompanied by a lantern ghost, probably responsible for lighting.
The little ghost said, "My Master sent to ask you, sir, when will you set off?"
Chen Shi was in a great mood and laughed, "Go back and tell the Prefect that I keep my word. I'll go in a few days."
The little ghost left with the lantern ghost.
Chen Shi continued his cultivation, offering incense to the Wuwang Spear every morning and evening.
After another two or three days, that little ghost ca to Huangpo Village again with the lantern ghost. Godmother Sangyu let him in. The little ghost requested to see Chen Shi, saying, "My Master sent to inquire, sir, when will you set off?"
Chen Shi said, "Wait another two days. Tell the Prefect I'm not trying to keep his spear; I just don't have enough confidence yet."
The little ghost went back.
Chen Shi offered incense for two more days, refining the Wuwang Spear until it responded to his will, his control over it becoming unified.
That evening, he was practicing the Eight Extres Golden Palace Divine Chapter when suddenly a great fire erupted in his dantian. The Golden Core floated in the fire, neither rising nor falling, neither rotating nor shaking, as if his blood and Qi had entered a state of stillness.
There was no sound in Chen Shi's ears, no color before his eyes, no thoughts in his mind. His five senses were completely lost, sinking into utter silence.
The sea of fire was like a field, the Golden Core like a seed. In the deathly silence, only a thread of vitality remained hidden within the core.
This mont was crucial.
Two days passed like this. The little ghost ca again with the lantern ghost, wanting to enter the Chen household, but all he saw was a vast fire filling the void, impossible to approach.
This fire was invisible to ordinary people, but ghosts and spirits could see it, blocking his path.
The little ghost stood at the edge of the sea of fire, looking forward. He saw the sea of fire stretching boundlessly, countless miles wide, a vast expanse impossible to cross.
He waited a long ti. He saw the sea of fire continuously contracting, gradually shrinking to an area of a few feet. Vaguely, he seed to see the outline of an adult figure sitting cross-legged in the void. The few-feet-wide sea of fire was located within that adult's abdon.
Suddenly, a yellow sprout grew within the fire, gleaming with golden light. Abruptly, the yellow sprout grew two leaf-like petals, resembling a person growing arms, slowly stretching out and raising upward, like a person lifting its head.
The yellow sprout took root, like a person's feet. Gradually, it looked more and more like a human, absorbing the sea of fire like sucking in a rainbow.
Suddenly, the yellow sprout leaped from the sea of fire, transforming into a bean sprout-sized Nascent Soul, soaring upward as if leaping into the azure heavens!
The little ghost looked up and saw that the Nascent Soul had both form and spirit, vaguely resembling Chen Shi's face.
This scene precisely corresponded to a saying by a sage nad Bai Yuchan from the Divine Continent.
"The ninth revolution of the Golden Core is called the Nine Reversions. Like a dung beetle dying, its dung ball splitting, and its cicada flying away, both form and spirit beco wondrous. (Excerpt from Bai Yuchan's 'Haichuan Chuan Dao Ji')"
Suddenly, the various strange phenona before the little ghost's eyes dissipated, and the adult's outline grew clearer and clearer. Internal organs gradually appeared, then bones and ridians also beca clear, finally revealing skin and clothing.
By the ti the strange phenona completely vanished, only Chen Shi remained, sitting in the courtyard.
The little ghost steadied his mind, walked forward with the lantern ghost, bowed, and said, "My Master sent to inquire, sir, when will you depart?"
Chen Shi stood up and smiled, "Now that I have cultivated to the Nascent Soul stage, my chances are even higher. Go back and tell the Prefect: after daybreak, we can set off!"
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