Poor Taoist Qiu Chuji

Chapter 326 Observing Dragons and Snakes to Understand Metamorphosis

Bai Suzhen looked at Xu Xuan, then nodded firmly.

Over the past thousand years, the only person she felt guilty towards was Xu Xuan. Now that Xu Xuan has been resurrected, her inner knot has been untied, and she no longer has any worries about the tribulation of her inner demons.

In reality, all the tribulations and hardships in one's heart are basically just self-examination.

The same applies to inner demons.

If someone were to massacre a city, destroy a country, or even kill everyone in the world, yet not believe they have done anything wrong, then they would not have any inner demons.

When the Buddha awoke from his dream, all the countless worlds vanished, and countless beings perished simultaneously.

What is this?
"Alright! Get ready!"

"Let me know when it's almost time. I will take care of the first four tribulations for you." Qiu Chuji did not tell Bai Suzhen that she was carrying the reincarnation of the God of Literature, and that the problems she was worried about were not actually problems.

There's no worry that after Bai Suzhen sheds her demon form and loses her unique human-demon hybrid blood, the God of Literature might not be born into her womb for some reason.

Delving too deeply is pointless.

Only by taking action can one see the results. This was Bai Suzhen's own choice, and Qiu Chuji did not push her from behind or interfere with her choice. However, he was happy to see the changes happen.

Time flew by, and another half month passed. Bai Suzhen came to find Qiu Chuji, indicating that she was ready.

She had to hurry, otherwise once the fetus in her womb was fully formed, she would have shed her demon form, and for the child, some things would already be predetermined.

The tribulation point that Qiu Chuji chose for Bai Suzhen was located in a low valley in Phoenix Mountain. Qiu Chuji had already set up a diagram of the innate array on the surrounding cliffs of the valley. The array was filled with a large amount of the power of the five elements. When the four tribulations of earth, fire, water and wind fell, they were not only blocked by this array, but also drawn and transformed by the power of the five elements, and gathered into a pure energy, which was injected into the body of the one in the array... that is, Bai Suzhen. This helped her to stabilize her physical condition more quickly after shedding her demon body, and even retain most of her cultivation.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, as long as Bai Suzhen can overcome her inner demon tribulation, then this transformation from demon to human is practically guaranteed.

Xu Xian, Xu Xuan, Xiao Qing, the White Snake, and Qiu Chuji, a group of five, left the Taoist temple and headed straight for the valley.

Midway through the journey, Xiaoqing suddenly asked Qiu Chuji, "Master! Is it really alright that the monk Fahai is left unattended?"

Upon hearing this, Qiu Chuji countered, "Do you want to keep an eye on him, or do you want to not keep an eye on him?"

Xiaoqing's expression changed slightly, and she subconsciously turned her head away, avoiding eye contact with Qiu Chuji.

"Don't worry! If he stays in the Taoist temple, his Buddha will still sit in his heart, though it may be crumbling, it will not be disturbed by worldly affairs. If he leaves the Taoist temple, he will be trapped in a prison, unable to extricate himself..." Qiu Chuji's expression was calm, which gave Xiaoqing, who saw this expression, a strange feeling that everything she had done was within the expectations of this master.

“If he leaves, I will punish you by making you stay in the Taoist temple for a year. After all, you have received your sister’s dragon energy and need time to digest it,” Qiu Chuji then said to Xiaoqing.

Xiaoqing shook her head in confusion, not quite understanding. Was this a punishment...?

In the valley, Bai Suzhen and Xiaoqing simultaneously transformed back to their original forms. The white snake spat out its inner core from its mouth, and on the milky white inner core, dragon-shaped patterns of primordial energy were peeled out and sent into Xiaoqing's body.

Xiao Qing's body, which was originally much smaller than the white snake, began to wriggle and swell as it grew.

The White Snake's thousand-year cultivation is extraordinary, and she shares the same origin as Xiaoqing. Now, with her active cooperation, Xiaoqing's cultivation is increasing at an extremely impressive rate.

This growth is different from when Qiu Chuji helped Xu Xuan forcibly acquire cultivation.

Xu Xuan was promoted directly without any foundation, so it's certain that his foundation is unstable.

Xiaoqing herself has cultivated for seven or eight hundred years, and she and the White Snake have been sisters for many years. Their energy blends and influences each other, so there is not much of an obstacle.

Now that I have acquired the cultivation of the White Snake, although I am somewhat overfed, it is not enough to damage my foundation.

The thick green snake twisted its body, its size more than doubling compared to before.

In contrast, the white snake's size continued to shrink, and its demon core, which was originally as bright as the moon, became as small as a firefly.

As its once bright, emerald-green scales turned grayish-white, Xiao Qing pried open its original snakeskin and emerged from its old body. The color of its scales became even more dazzling, and two protruding fleshy growths appeared on its head.

Xiao Qing opened its mouth and let out a roar, a sound that had lost all its serpentine chill and sounded more like the cry of a dragon.

Qiu Chuji inexplicably thought of the red serpent in the Qinling Mountains again; he hadn't seen it for quite some time.

Having thought of this, Qiu Chuji decided that once this matter was settled, he would definitely return to the mountain to see the Red Serpent and guide it toward a more concrete and complete path to dragon transformation.

"If we could get a cultivation technique from the East Sea Dragon Clan, and also some dragon blood, dragon pearls or something, that would be wonderful."

Thinking of Chi Hui brought back many memories for Qiu Chuji. If Chi Hui hadn't donated blood multiple times to help him increase his power, he might not have been able to overcome some of the earlier difficulties so easily.

It can be said that encountering the Red Serpent was the first major opportunity Qiu Chuji had encountered since the 'Jade Void Bell'.

With this thought in mind, a slight movement stirred within him. Looking at Xiaoqing's transformation, the inspiration that had been dormant before suddenly burst forth.

"So that's how it is. Was I blind to what was right under my nose, or was I trying to find fish by climbing a tree, or was I looking for something far away instead of what was near?" "The transformation of a snake into a dragon means extracting the essence of flesh and blood from the original body, discarding those things that restrict and imprison it, and growing a more promising body from the old body."

“I don’t need to do that, but I can use some methods to squeeze out the potential and energy of the physical body. I can extract the hidden power of this physical body, which is made of five-colored golden lotus root powder, and integrate it into my own true qi, so that the true qi can be sublimated and changed.”

"Martial artists cultivate internal energy by extracting the vital energy from their physical body. This is the path I came from, but I have become so accustomed to directly taking from heaven and earth and the outside world that I have neglected this path."

"The road has always been under my feet, but I have never bowed my head."

Qiu Chuji couldn't help but think of Nezha's final transformation in this world.

With the power of boundless demonic fire, the body of the Crimson Lotus was tempered and sublimated, thus fully 'growing' and gaining a six-armed body capable of supporting the heavens.

While its inherent potential as a demonic orb is certainly one of the reasons, its lotus root form also plays a significant role.

The five-colored golden lotus bestowed by the Primordial Celestial Venerable is no ordinary treasure.

His arrival in this world coincided with the moment when Nezha was struck by lightning. If taking advantage of the lightning tribulation was the first opportunity, then acquiring a lotus root body was the second.

Although the 'master' he had never met had never given him any positive guidance on his cultivation, all the arrangements he made were extremely appropriate.

He only needs to go with the flow and then understand the intention at the right time.

Standing on the hilltop, above me, thunder and lightning roared, and deep within the earth, anger surged.

The White Snake's tribulation to shed her demonic nature has arrived.

Amidst wind, rain, thunder, and earth-shaking tremors, and as the calamity of fire descended, Qiu Chuji activated the Innate Array, using the Five Elements to cut through earth, fire, water, and wind, refining them and sending them to Bai Suzhen, dispersing them into pure, ownerless spiritual essence so that the white snake in its molting process could absorb them.

Compared to Xiaoqing's planned, directional, and purposeful transformation in order to take another step forward, the White Snake's transformation is more like crushing and tearing herself apart before reassembling her form.

This might not necessarily be better, and could even make things weaker.

But it might also be a strategy of retreating to advance.

If you take a step back, you'll see a more expansive view.

Having transformed from a demon into a human, this human body is not an ordinary mortal body, but rather close to the body of the ancient people, an innate body.

Within the white snake's shattered body, strands of spiritual light converged and intertwined, forming a snow-white and delicate body as if 3D printed.

Xu Xian and Xu Xuan both looked at Qiu Chuji, hoping that the 'outsiders' present would behave themselves.

Qiu Chuji, however, was unaware of this. His gaze contained no disrespect, yet he saw every change clearly and meticulously.

The wonders of creation seemed to unfold before his eyes.

Qiu Chuji's primordial spirit fully activated, rapidly deducing the next steps in his physical cultivation plan, gradually forming a complete logical trajectory.

The first step is to unleash the full potential of the physical body, gathering the power originating from the five-colored golden lotus root into 'my' power.

The second step is the physical body's reversal, reshaping and recreating, as if cutting away from the past.

"One more step!"

"There is one more step... before it can be completed."

"It's a complete step up from the previous level."

Qiu Chuji's gaze unconsciously shifted to Bai Suzhen's lower abdomen, which had completely solidified into human form.

The place was pristine and clean, but Qiu Chuji felt no romantic feelings whatsoever. Instead, he seemed to see through the physical body and gaze at the seed that was taking root and sprouting.

"This third step should fall on the unborn child."

"Perhaps when he is born, that will be the time when I realize the third step."

"After completing these three steps, my physical body and true qi will be sublimated to a higher dimension and node, just like my primordial spirit. At a certain stage, my physical body and primordial spirit will be in harmony. Perhaps at that time... I will truly achieve 'life as long as heaven'."

Xu Xuan and Xu Xian, both staring intently at Qiu Chuji, felt their heads grow heavy.

However, the changes within the Innate Formation were too drastic. They couldn't remind Bai Suzhen to put on her clothes, nor could they rush into the formation to cover their wives with clothing. They could only try to create some noise to attract Qiu Chuji's attention and distract him from his intense gaze.

Finally, Xiaoqing changed again. She coiled her huge body around herself, protecting Bai Suzhen's solidifying flesh in the center, and also blocking Qiu Chuji's 'scorching' gaze from the naked eye's perspective.

This made the two Xus feel much more relaxed. They looked at each other and felt a strange sense of mutual appreciation.

(End of this chapter)