Chapter 21: Diligent Practice

Chapter 21: Diligent Practice

Pang Jian's body was frozen in shock. The bizarre scene before him caused his imagination to go wild.

The bone of the Celestial Phoenix had pierced through the head of the giant serpent. Its head was pressed against the rocky bottom of the pond, and despite its efforts, it could only writhe like a centipede, refusing to succumb to death's grip.

He did not know how long the serpent had been struggling, but regardless, it remained unable to free itself from the bone of the Celestial Phoenix, leading to the loss of flesh on parts of its body.

Even mysterious beings like the giant serpent were utterly helpless when faced with the bone of the Celestial Phoenix.

For a long time, Pang Jian gazed at the giant serpent. Is the giant serpent the reason why Father designated Blackwater Pond a forbidden zone?

His mind was shaken. It felt like a door to a completely new world had slowly opened up to him. It seemed the Solitary Mountain Range was not so simple after all.

He wondered whether every forbidden zone his father designated hid a terrifying being akin to the giant serpent.

Doubts surfaced in Pang Jian's mind.

Did Father know of the existence of such beings, and intentionally concealed them from me? Or was he also unaware?

After some time, Pang Jian continued to inspect the abnormalities at the bottom of the pond.

The scaly giant serpent lay at the center of the pond, surrounded by skeletons that extended as far as his eyes could see.

Some skeletons belonged to wild beasts from the Solitary Mountain Range, while others were unmistakably human skeletons.

There was no way to know how many wild beasts and humans the giant serpent had devoured. The only trace of them that remained was their spat-out bones.

Pang Jian could not help but feel a hint of fear.

If I hadn't listened to Father's warnings and ventured into Blackwater Pond, would I also have ended up as a skeleton at the bottom of the pond?

Pang Jian slowly retreated, hoping to put some distance between himself, the bone of the Celestial Phoenix, and the giant serpent. Rêạd new chapters at novelhall.com afar, he noticed that a third of the giant serpent's body had deteriorated from thick, rough scales into ivory-white bones.

The connection between the serpent's body and head was still covered in flesh and scales. However, it looked like a mysterious force had been consuming its flesh, starting from the end of its tail and slowly moving toward its head.

Pang Jian glanced at the bone of the Celestial Phoenix pinning the giant serpent.

It's the bone of the Celestial Phoenix!

After the bone of the Celestial Phoenix fell from the upper worlds and impaled the head of the giant serpent, it started to devour its flesh.

Throughout the ages, survival of the fittest remained an unchanging and eternal truth in natural selection.

The giant serpent in Blackwater Pond had previously devoured the wild beasts and humans in the mountain. Now, it was destined to meet the same end, suppressed and consumed by the bone of the Celestial Phoenix.

Pang Jian recalled the abnormalities that occurred with the previous bone of the Celestial Phoenix.

Following the trembling, the ground around the bone of the Celestial Phoenix cracked, and bloodthirsty vines emerged to devour the members of the Blood Moon Sect and the Shangguan Clan.

After that, a cluster of gleaming faint light wandered the bone of the Celestial Phoenix.

Pang Jian came to a realization. The bone of the Celestial Phoenix was likely killing and devouring the giant serpent's body to collect essence from its flesh and blood. After that, a second cluster of faint light would likely be born!

Boom!

As Pang Jian was in deep thought, the giant serpent struck the ground again, causing the ground around Blackwater Pond to quake.

However, the tremors this time were slightly weaker than before.

It's not dead yet.

That meant Pang Jian could avoid drawing its attention as long as he refrained from confronting it.

Nervously gripping his Dragonwood Spear, Pang Jian stealthily returned to the withered bone and deliberately selected a spot where he would not be visible to the strange figure.

Pang Jian found himself at a loss. There were cultivators from the Shadow Specter Sect above him, an enigmatic strange figure lurking at the bottom of the pond, and the bone of the Celestial Phoenix gradually consuming the original inhabitant of Blackwater Pond. With no clear path forward, he could only wait uncertainly for what to do next.

Even after racking his brains for a long time, Pang Jian could not think of a way out. He eventually decided to stop overthinking and carried his Dragonwood Spear to find a suitable spot to settle down.

Forget it. I'll just continue with my cultivation.

With the bone of the Celestial Phoenix acting as a shield between himself and the strange figure, Pang Jian leaned back against the withered bone for support. The figure on the other side of the bone continued to remain oblivious to Pang Jian's presence.

Pang Jian used the Dragonwood Spear to prop himself against the body of the giant serpent, where its scales and flesh were still intact, and then steadied himself by holding the spear with both hands.

He started to cultivate.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Streams of corrosive energy were drawn into his dark-green Spirit Cauldron from the black water around him.

The venom of the giant serpent rapidly dissolved the cotton-like impurities within his navel region.

***

After some time, Pang Jian was alarmed to discover the Dragonwood Spear propped against the giant serpent's body had sunk downward.

The bone of the Celestial Phoenix had consumed the part of the giant serpent's body he had been leaning against.

Pang Jian moved toward the head of the giant serpent and once again used the Dragonwood Spear to prop himself against its head before continuing with his cultivation.

This time, as he entered the state of deep focus, Pang Jian sensed that all impurities in his navel region had been cleansed!

He started to concentrate as he slowly observed his navel region. He was like a blind person moving around an empty room. That was until he perceived a membrane-like presence that marked the end of his navel region.

Pang Jian had finally cleansed all the impurities in his navel region and had officially entered the Qi Practicing Realm!

Pang Jian ran through the key points of the nine stages of the Qi Practicing realm as he started the first wave of drawing spiritual qi into his body.

The Qi Practicing Realm consists of nine stages. Each stage requires the guidance of the spiritual qi of heaven and earth to undergo repeated refinement within the navel region.

In the first stage, one must fill the navel region with spiritual qi before refining and cleansing it into spiritual power. In the second stage, one needs to absorb spiritual qi into the navel region until it overflows, refining it until it becomes spiritual power.

As he absorbed the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, Pang Jian soon became aware that he was also absorbing the corrosive energy in the black water alongside it!

Pang Jian was startled. Now that the corrosive energy had dissolved all the impurities, he feared it would damage his navel region and leave him unable to cultivate ever again.

However, as the spiritual qi and the corrosive energy merged into his navel region, he felt no discomfort at all.

These diverse energies filled his navel region, starting the filling process of the first stage.

Seeing as his navel region was unaffected, Pang Jian decided to ignore the potential dangers of the corrosive energy for the moment and use the peculiar energies within the water to cultivate.

He focused on the dark-green Spirit Cauldron and also retrieved the cracked rock from his bamboo basket alongside the spirit stones given to him by Ning Yao.

Disregarding any concerns about conflicting energies, he held the cracked rock and a spirit stone in each hand, leaned against the bone of the Celestial Phoenix, and focused on cultivating.

Danger loomed in all directions. Above the pond were formidable cultivators from the Shadow Specter Sect. Meanwhile, the bottom of the pond housed a strange figure, a dying giant serpent, and the mysterious bone of the Celestial Phoenix.

All Pang Jian could do was to desperately increase his power, even if it meant taking risks.

He could only hope to acquire the strength to protect himself.