Chapter 631: Sculpting the Body in the Dragon Spring
Su Xiangfei was silent. He did not follow Tang Xiu and work for him but went outside to work by himself. Though securing a foothold for himself in the outside world was difficult, he was still able to find a job to support himself and save some money.
In regards to Tang Xiu, what he felt inside was quite complicated. He had contempt and was hostile towards him in the past. He was full of hatred towards Tang Xiu after the drastic changes that happened to his family. But ever since he came to realize his mistakes and through the sufferings, he quickly and fully regretted it, and the hostility and hatred he had for Tang Xiu vanished.
He was willing to treat Tang Xiu as a relative. But when it came to work and sell his life to him, it was something he couldn’t do at present. He would naturally stand up and face the bystanders who wanted to bully Tang Xiu as his cousin, nevertheless.
Tang Xiu watched him. Though he had already guessed that Su Xiangfei would be like this before, he was still a bit disappointed, regardless. However, he still had another way around it, as he spoke in a deep tone, “Xiangfei, I know you can’t do that now, and it doesn’t matter to me. But if there’s something I can give you, will you be able to make your decision?”
“What is it, exactly?” Su Xiangfei’s brows slightly furrowed.
“You need money, and I can give you money. If it is power that you want, I can give you power. And if you want women, I can do everything with the power in my hands to help you find them as well,” said Tang Xiu with all seriousness. “I can bestow you strength too if that is what you want, and I can even grant you eternal life!”
Eternal life?
With a strange expression, Su Xiangfei stared at Tang Xiu before he dumbly laughed and said, “Don’t say this kind of joke, will you?”
Tang Xiu snorted. After which, his feet slowly floated under the watchful eyes of Su Xiangfei. When he levitated two-plus meters above the ground, he slowly stretched his arms as dozens of pounds, and even hundreds of pounds of sharp stones around floated up. In just several seconds, hundreds of stones were floating around Tang Xiu.
“I-I… am I seeing things?”
Su Quan stepped back. After firmly stabilizing himself, he rubbed his eyes hard and murmured with an aghast and dumbstruck expression.
Su Ben, on the other hand, had his eyes turned saucer with disbelief cast on his face. His heart thumped wildly and his blood flow sped up violently. His whole being was thoroughly frightened by this strange scene.
Su Xiangfei himself was dumbfounded. The look he had on his face when staring at Tang Xiu was as though seeing a ghost. He watched the stones floating around Tang Xiu. It was the scene he had imagined for countless times that, he could become a superhuman one day, being able to fly, moving and toppling a mountain and overturning the ocean. Even he fantasized that the protagonist would be himself upon seeing such a scene in front of him.
But… when fantasy turned into reality, the impact was too big for him to bear, and what was left was fear.
While looking at him from above, Tang Xiu spoke in a deep voice, “The ability I’m showing you now is nothing but a minuscule part of the whole. I’m only using a small trick since I fear that you will be unable to stand it. If you are willing to work for me to the death, to become one of the people I trust the most in the future, I can make you have the ability that is countless times more powerful than this. When that time comes, let alone levitating in the air and controlling some stones to float, it will be easy for you to stand above and control a planet in the boundless universe!”
Su Xiangfei’s mouth was opened, yet he swallowed back his words.
“Tang Xiu, are you… are you some kind of celestial being?” Shouted Su Quan all of a sudden.
“Immortal?” Tang Xiu laughed loudly upon hearing it. “One day in the future, maybe all the Gods and Buddhas in the Heaven will not even be worthy of being my adversary. So what you just called me is not entirely wrong.”
The expression on Su Quan’s face rapidly changed, and a look of ecstasy burst out of his eyes as he loudly shouted, “This Su Quan’s life is yours, Tang Xiu. As long as you can… make me become like you!”
Su Ben didn’t speak at all, but he clenched his fists and a firm expression could be seen filling his eyes.
With his heart thumping hard, there was a longing look on Su Xiangfei’s face, and he loudly spoke, “Tang Xiu, I want to have my parents celebrating the New Year with us. If you can do it, I’ll give my life to you. I’ll do anything whatever you ask me to.”
“No problem.” Tang Xiu nodded. “I have given you my word a year ago that your parents would return to the Su Family Village.”
He then waved his hand as hundreds of sharp stones smashed down the lake 100 meters away. As the sound of crashing rocks falling into the water filled air, Tang Xiu’s feet stepped on the ground again, and then said, “Tonight I’ll teach you all a cultivation technique and help you step into the threshold of the cultivation path.”
Following that, Tang Xiu and the trio came to the periphery of the forest stone, as he then said in a deep voice, “Bear in mind that this forest stone is unusual. If an ordinary person advertently comes inside, they will definitely be lost inside. As a matter of fact, this is a stone array formed by nature and has an illusionary attribute in nature. You must observe clearly the spot I’ve stepped and cautiously follow me.”
“What’s a stone array?” Asked Su Quan curiously. “Is it like the Heavenly Gate Array developed by the Yang Family in The Yang’s Saga miniseries on TV?”
Tang Xiu thought for a moment and then answered, “You can think of it like that. Shortly put, for an ordinary person to rashly rush inside this stone array, they will only be lost inside. It’s like going through a maze, but I’m afraid that it’s impossible for him to get out of it again for his whole life.”
Shocked with the revelation, Sun Quan asked, “Do you have knowledge about arrays, Tang Xiu?”
“I know a bit,” said Tang Xiu with a smile.
Immediately, not only Su Quan looked at Tang Xiu with admiration, but also Su Ben and Su Xiangfei. They were unaware of when and how Tang Xiu could have become so powerful, but the methods he displayed before had already made them convinced.
Soon after, the quartet had arrived at the vicinity of Spirit Spring inside the stone forest.
Tang Xiu squatted at the edge of the Spirit Spring and used his fingers to gently stroke the spring water that produced white mist. He felt the spiritual force flooding into his body and let out a faint smile. Following that, he got up and turned to look at the trio, “I think you all already know the meaning of washing the marrows and cleansing blood vessels—shortly put, remodeling your body thoroughly! This is a Spirit Spring, also known as Dragon Spring of the Earth. If cultivators are to cultivate here, they will have twice the results with half the effort. But if an ordinary person comes here, it has a great effect on his body and he at least won’t catch a cold for several years. However, they will undoubtedly die if they are to bathe themselves in this Spirit Spring. And you all will soak yourselves inside tonight. To wash your marrow, purify its essence and cleanse your meridians, hence achieving the foundation toward cultivation.”
“But Tang Xiu, we don’t have any cultivation at all,” said Su Quan, panicked. “Didn’t you just say that ordinary people will definitely die if they go inside? Yet you …”
Tang Xiu lightly smiled, “Those who will die are only those who don’t have a cultivation technique. I’ll be imparting you all a cultivation technique before you soak yourselves in it.”
Following that, Tang Xiu spent more than two hours explaining the anatomy of meridians and acupuncture points in the human body to the trio. He forced them to memorize them completely. Then, Tang Xiu taught an ordinary cultivation technique from the Immortal World.
“The process of washing the marrow and cleansing your meridians is very painful at first. People who don’t have great perseverance will find it difficult to bear it. But if all of you want to become beings above humans, possessing the ability to float above the earth and fly, and becoming a cultivator, you must endure it no matter how painful it is,” said Tang Xiu, solemnly serious.
The trio nodded repeatedly.
Tang Xiu took a deep breath and spoke in a deep voice, “Take off your clothes now and then soak yourselves in the Spirit Spring. Do remember to sense and follow the route of practice in the cultivation technique I just taught you. Try to control it, and immediately call me whenever you can’t endure it anymore.”
Su Ben was the first who took his clothes off and jumped into the Spirit Spring. Su Quan and Su Xiangfei also jumped into the spring. The Spirit Spring was not big, and two-thirds of its surface was occupied by the trio after they jumped inside.
“It’s truly miraculous. It unexpectedly makes us float,” commented Su Quan in shock.
Tang Xiu only smiled lightly. The spiritual force in the Earth’s spiritual veins was in the liquid state, hence it possessed a very powerful upward force exerted by its liquid state. Let alone a human, it could even make thousands of pounds of huge stones stay afloat.
“Restrain your mind and begin to meditate according to the cultivation route.”
The trio began to silently sense the qi flowing inside their meridians according to Tang Xiu’s instructions. In just several seconds, they felt extremely comfortable and were even able to feel all the fine hairs in their pores stretching out, as countless streams of qi flowed into their bodies. Following that, they could feel an intense itchiness beginning to appear in their bodies, followed by a slight sense of oppression and then a faint pain after, before severe pain replaced it.
The pain was so intense that it was hard for them to breathe.
Gradually, they felt that their bodies seemed to be torn by countless force and that rending painful pain caused them to scream.
“ENDURE IT! Meditate according to the cultivation route. Mark my words and bear it in mind. This is the test of your willpower, and it will bring you endless benefits later. Give your full concentration and keep focusing!” Tang Xiu, who stood at the side, shouted in a heavy tone.
Time passed by, and screams kept undulating as the bodies of the trio continued to twitch inside the Spirit Spring. All the veins and blood vessels protruded on their bodies, with their skin turning red and bleeding. They looked like newborn mouses as all the blood vessels in their bodies could be seen clearly. And yet, their physical fitness was also rapidly strengthening under the painful suffering.
“I can feel it!” Su Quan suddenly opened his eyes and called out in ecstasy.
“SHUT UP! CONTINUE TO SENSE AND TRY TO CONTROL IT!” Yelled Tang Xiu sternly.
Su Quan was immediately startled and then constricted his mind again.
The curtain of the night receded and the day came. The trio was still soaking themselves inside the Spirit Spring. They were now able to adapt to the rending pain. Even if they really wished to jump out from inside, they continued persisting in order to be as powerful as Tang Xiu said.
Sou!
A stream of Primal Chaos Force was released by Tang Xiu and wrapped the bodies of the trio as it pulled them out of the Spirit Spring. He then ordered them to sleep in the cave. After enduring the pain and exerting all their mental strength all night long, the three of them had reached their limits, and Tang Xiu needed to make them rest so as to restore their mental strength.
As noon came, Tang Xiu woke the trio up and threw them into the Spirit Spring again. He pulled them out when night fell, ordered them to rest again and then threw them into the Spirit Spring yet again.
As time passed by, the quartet was unaware that the Su Family Village had turned upside down because of their disappearance. Some people even rushed to the public security bureau and organized a group of people to venture deep into the mountain.
At this time, it was already the end of the year. The night of the 30th day of the last month.