Pingtu looked at Li Yan. "What is it? Boy, this wisp of Divine Sense of mine doesn't have much power. At most, I can use some tricks within this Five Elements Dao-Defiance Pearl. If you want me to help you find trouble with those demonic cultivators outside the Five Elements Dao-Defiance Pearl, killing a few third-tier ones is fine, but fourth-tier ones would be difficult for this old master. You'll have to wait for my main body to wake up. But as soon as you touch the young ones, the old ones will follow the Divine Sense and find their way here. Although they can't find this place at all, they will definitely be on guard. Who knows what kind of trouble they might stir up now. This is not what I want to see right now, because there is still a fifth-tier demonic beast here. If it were in the past, this old master could easily crush him with one finger. But now, even if my main body wakes up, at most, I would be about the same as him. A fight would surely result in mutual injury." Pingtu looked at Li Yan with some doubt. This wisp of Divine Sense of his was sent out after his realm had fallen. At most, it was equivalent to the late stage of the Golden Core. He thought Li Yan had taken a fancy to some demonic cultivator's beast core or something, and wanted him to get it to enhance his physique. Because since ancient times, those who cultivated body refining arts most commonly hunted demonic beasts to obtain their beast cores and flesh and blood. Especially the beast cores, after some refining, swallowing them could greatly enhance one's physique. After all, the bodies of demonic beasts were the darlings of heaven and earth. Most of them were innately gifted, and even their flesh and blood were excellent for body refining.
Hearing Pingtu's words, Li Yan was stunned. This was the first time he had truly come into contact with body refining arts, and he really didn't know some of the cultivation methods.
Looking at Li Yan's puzzled gaze, Pingtu knew he had guessed wrong. He couldn't help but ask, "It's not that? It's not for body refining, then what is it? I've already told you, I don't have any more medicinal pills for you." He looked at Li Yan with some caution, thinking to himself, 'The Gui Water lineage has never had many good people to deal with. Their cultivation methods follow the path of yin and gentleness, and it seems everyone's mind is full of schemes to plot against others. Could he have taken a fancy to something of this old master's again? I can't give it to him. Some things are to be left for Pei Buchong.'
Li Yan blinked and said, "Senior doesn't have any medicinal pills that can quickly restore physical strength?" After this reminder, he felt a bit tempted.
"I said no, I mean no. I've already given you what I could last time. Do you have anything else to say? If not, this old master is leaving," as he spoke, the huge face even shook twice as if shaking its head.
Li Yan was still a little disappointed, but this was not the main matter at the moment, so he did not press further. He quickly said, "Senior, this junior really has a matter. I wonder if Senior can help." He then described the problems he had encountered in his cultivation.
As Pingtu listened, although Li Yan had not finished speaking, with his cultivation and experience, he already understood. A trace of appreciation flashed in his eyes. After Li Yan finished speaking, he slowly said, "I understand what you mean. According to what you've described, your guess is correct. There are two types of body refining arts, one common, one extremely rare. One is to spread spirit power throughout the body, and then use external objects for continuous tempering and stimulation, until the physique becomes stronger and stronger, harder and harder. The method you are cultivating is obviously a very high-level method of refining the foundation. It adopts a rare method from ancient times, using form to lead qi, pulling the meridians to imitate the state of ancient demonic beasts. When the qi and blood in the body circulate in this state, it will gradually change the orientation of your bones, muscles, and meridians, and even finally completely form the internal structure of the ancient demonic beast you are imitating. This kind of cultivation method was rare even in ancient times, let alone now. Perhaps only in the True Immortal Realm are there ancient demonic beasts.
"According to what you've said, it is the latter. And it is even an ancient variant species like Qiongqi. I have been born for millions of years, and I have only seen the appearance of this vicious beast in some images and paintings. I don't know where you got it. Your fortune is truly deep. Your guess that you are unable to successfully cultivate it now because you cannot achieve those postures, thus leading to the inability of your qi and blood to circulate for a full cycle, is basically correct. Normally, it can only mean that you have no fate with this ancient vicious beast.
"You've come to me now, probably because you want me to forcibly fix you in a certain cultivation posture, and then you will circulate the incantation, right?" as he said this, a strange light flashed in Pingtu's eyes. When he heard the name Qiongqi, even with his composure from living for millions of years, he couldn't help but be shocked.
Seeing that Pingtu had figured out his intention with just a rough description, and from his words, Li Yan also confirmed that his direction was right, he couldn't help but nod repeatedly. He was not afraid that Pingtu would know the cultivation method of the Qiongqi Purgatory Art and thus lose Gong Chenying's trust in him, because he would only show Pingtu the first diagram of the cultivation, but had not copied the incantation. Pingtu would not be able to know the incantation. Having the diagram was useless.
Li Yan had also decided to do this after repeated consideration. With Pingtu's cultivation and loyalty to the Five Immortal Sects, he had abided by his promise for millions of years. After confirming Li Yan's identity, he had immediately given the heaven-defyingly precious "Earth Mark" to Li Yan according to the promise. This showed the importance of the Five Immortal Sects to him, which had been deeply engraved in his life.
Seeing Li Yan nod in agreement, Pingtu hesitated for a moment, then said, "Show me the cultivation diagram first."
Li Yan did not hesitate. He directly took out a jade slip and tossed it toward the huge face that Pingtu had conjured.
The jade slip flew straight toward the huge yellow face. But just as it was about to arrive, as if attracted by some force, the jade slip floated in front of the face. Looking at the floating jade slip, Pingtu felt a bit frustrated. This was clearly something Li Yan had prepared beforehand.
'This Gui Water Immortal Sect has never had a good person since ancient times. To take out the cultivation method jade slip so quickly, it can be seen that he had planned for me to act long ago. Sigh, I still miss that child Pei Buchong. How pure and persistent. He is worthy of being the one chosen by True Lord Qianchong, worthy of continuing the profound virtues of my earth element lineage,' Pingtu sighed. Amidst his grumbling, a very fine yellow light flashed from the forehead of the huge face and shot into the jade slip.
Just a moment later, the moment Pingtu raised his head to look at Li Yan, the jade slip shot back like lightning and was caught by Li Yan and placed in the "Earth Mark." He did not immediately destroy this jade slip.
"Senior has seen the diagram clearly?" Li Yan asked with some doubt.
"Mm, this diagram is a bit strange. Although it is a copy, there is an inexplicable stripping force within it. Alright, you can start cultivating. I'll just watch. This old master will act when it's time," Pingtu said calmly, looking at Li Yan.
Hearing this, Li Yan was first surprised. He had not expected Pingtu to be able to see the diagram in the jade slip with just this wisp of Divine Sense. Although he had copied that jade slip, he still couldn't see it too clearly without circulating his power.
Immediately, his body couldn't help but tremble. He hadn't even started cultivating yet, but he felt that the soul-piercing pain had already arrived. Gritting his teeth, after Li Yan stood firm, he recalled the incantation and diagram he had just finished reading before, and slowly began to assume that strange posture. As the posture slowly took shape, a series of muffled groans came out continuously, and large beads of sweat began to appear on Li Yan's forehead and body.
Looking at Li Yan's slowly forming posture, and recalling the cultivation diagram he had just seen, a yellow light flashed in Pingtu's eyes, and he said in a low voice, "What a good cultivation method. Based on that diagram, it can be roughly judged that this should be a Heaven-rank, intermediate-grade body tempering art. It's a pity it's only two ranks away from being a Saint-rank cultivation method. But even so, even if it were placed in the Spirit Immortal Realm, it would still cause a bloody storm.
"Mm, I remember now. In the secret realm this time, their Malevolent Spirit Sect had two young women whose bodies were extremely tough. Was it because they cultivated this art? I never thought the Malevolent Spirit Sect would have such a heaven-defying treasure. I wonder how they have preserved it. Could it be that no one in the Spirit Immortal Realm knows about it? True Lord Qianchong didn't seem to have discovered this cultivation method back then either. It's truly strange." But these thoughts just flashed in his mind, and he didn't think about it anymore.
Since this cultivation method had been in the Mortal Realm for so long without being discovered by the Spirit Immortal Realm, it seemed its inheritance was extremely secret. The cultivation method belonged to Li Yan's current master's sect, so it was really not good for him to snatch it. What's more, even if he did snatch it, he couldn't cultivate it with his artifact spirit body. At most, it would just be a treasure for the Five Immortal Sects. But now that Li Yan was already cultivating it, it was, of course, their own thing. At this thought, a sinister smile appeared on Pingtu's face.
'Since Li Yan has it, as long as it's not the Gui Water Immortal Sect's own cultivation method, then it belongs to the Five Immortal Sects. Then can't Pei Buchong...'
Looking at Li Yan's already twisted face, Pingtu's expression slowly became grave. He said, "This art is extremely precious. If my guess is correct, it should be a Heaven-rank, intermediate-grade cultivation method. In the future, not only the incantation, but also the cultivation diagram, you should not show them to others easily. Otherwise, it might bring about a fatal disaster." At this moment, Li Yan's mind was buzzing. He didn't even hear what Pingtu said about the Heaven-rank, intermediate-grade cultivation method, but he did remember the words not to show it to others easily. Even Pingtu was so solemn, so he was naturally even more careful.
"Then you'd better be prepared," after saying this, Pingtu looked at Li Yan, who was constantly trembling and had already started to shake, and gave a deep shout.
The moment his words fell, a gentle but powerful force directly fixed Li Yan in place. Then another force began to continuously compress and twist Li Yan's body. The sound of bones about to crack came continuously from Li Yan's body. Li Yan's mouth continuously let out heavy, muffled groans. The veins on his head seemed about to burst and leave his body, bulging high into sections of green earthworms. Then, trickles of blood began to seep from the corners of his mouth.
Looking at Li Yan's extreme pain and his expression that was so ferocious it was terrifying, Pingtu's expression also became more and more grave. He couldn't help but secretly praise Li Yan's perseverance. Those who achieve great things must be those with a firm will.
In fact, this matter was not as simple as Li Yan thought. This process was extremely dangerous. Every moment was a walk on the razor's edge of broken bones, torn tendons, and burst internal organs. Even a Nascent Soul Old Monster might not dare to do this. The reason Pingtu had agreed was that his cultivation back then had truly reached the late stage of Void Refining. His use of spirit power was not something that cultivators in the Mortal Realm could imagine. Even with his current wisp of Divine Sense, which was only at the late stage of the Golden Core, he still had a certain degree of confidence. After all, Li Yan was only at the Qi Condensation stage. What was required of him now was not how high his magical power was, but his understanding of cultivation and absolute control. This was also why even if Zhao Min's family had a Nascent Soul-level existence, they couldn't forcibly cultivate the "Qiongqi Purgatory" art. They could only rely on their own karma and fortune.
Pingtu was on one hand, adjusting Li Yan's cultivation posture, and on the other hand, carefully using spirit power to repair the muscle tears and tendon ruptures caused by the excessive squeezing. This process was done very slowly. He had to ensure that Li Yan's spirit power circulation was not affected by his own repairs, and at the same time, ensure that Li Yan's body was recovering while being constantly torn.
Li Yan only felt that the pain in his body had reached its limit. Waves of fainting spells came one after another. But he held on to that sliver of clarity, continuously circulating the incantation of the Qiongqi Purgatory, letting his spirit power flow bit by bit. He could even hear his own muscles being torn apart like cloth, making a "ripping" sound. That was his own flesh being pulled apart bit by bit, thread by thread. Perhaps between two muscles, only a few tendons were connected. The intense pain that pierced his marrow made his body tremble like a sieve.
In his daze, Li Yan felt as if he had been rolled around in a pot of hot oil several times. His body was already covered in blisters, and his entire skin was in pain as if it was about to be peeled off in the bloody, floating water. Li Yan gradually lost consciousness. He didn't even know that besides his body constantly trembling, if not for Pingtu's control, his body couldn't move at all and would have collapsed to the ground long ago.
At this moment, his body was already covered with beads of blood and some faint gray substance.
In the darkness, Li Yan only had a sliver of consciousness that was still barely circulating the incantation. But this wisp of consciousness was also beginning to dissipate. When this bit of consciousness completely dissipated, it would be the time he fainted. At that time, the circulation of the cultivation method incantation would stop, and this time would be a failure. What awaited him was either to go through this hellish journey all over again, or to give up directly.
Just as he was about to faint, Pingtu, who had been watching him, had a flash of yellow light in his eyes. He no longer held back. With a loud shout, the spirit light in his hand suddenly pressed down, and he instantly bound Li Yan's body, which was already twisted into an impossible angle, into shape.
With a 'crack,' several sections of white bone directly pierced through Li Yan's two ribs. A large amount of blood instantly shot out from the holes in his ribs. At the same time, Li Yan opened his mouth and sprayed out a large mouthful of blood. The large hand conjured by Pingtu tapped several fingers on Li Yan's abdomen. The fountain-like blood immediately stopped flowing. But the several sections of broken ribs were still blindingly white, with trickles of blood on them. And Pingtu's sharp shout was like a thunderclap in Li Yan's mind, instantly waking him up.