Chapter 105: Mind Monkey Initially Subdued, Divine Weapon Nears Completion

Struck by this sudden epiphany, Wang Ping couldn't help but marvel.

No wonder the step of Borrowing Qi to Manifest Magic is so difficult. Even within the Immortal Gate, it is considered a single bound to the heavens. These layers of blockades are simply too severe.

Accomplishing Borrowing Qi to Manifest Magic was no simple task.

First, one had to know the true transmission secret of Drawing Kan to Fill Li. Without those words pointing out the crucial node, a cultivator could rack their brains to the breaking point and still never find the way in.

Second, one needed a secret method like the Inner Landscape Scripture. Even knowing of Drawing Kan to Fill Li, how could anyone perceive the fire of the heart and the water of the kidneys without the Inner Landscape Scripture revealing the changes of the five elements within the body? And without seeing them, how could they merge the two, let alone temper their true nature and life force?

These two hurdles were the essence of a legacy.

Out of the millions of independent cultivators outside the Immortal Gate, ninety-nine percent were deadlocked here. Only a rare few managed to cling to a high branch, obtain a legacy, and seize the opportunity to transform into a dragon.

Including me.

If I hadn't replaced Ye Chao as the Child of Destiny, the only way I could have obtained the Inner Landscape Scripture from Book Mountain would probably have been to wipe out their entire sect.

With that realization out of the way, Wang Ping immediately gathered his spiritual sense.

However, as his spiritual sense drew near, the Mind Monkey—which had been sitting perfectly still—suddenly opened its eyes and vanished right from under his nose.

Wang Ping froze in surprise.

It took him a long while to pinpoint the Mind Monkey's location again. It had simply shifted to another spot within the Water Curtain Cave and resumed its quiet meditation.

Yet, whenever he focused his spiritual sense to capture the Mind Monkey and force it to obey his will, it violently resisted. No matter how much spiritual sense he poured in, it effortlessly dodged and vanished in the blink of an eye, forcing him to start all over again in an endless loop.

"This won't do..."

Wang Ping let out a long breath, already feeling a trace of exhaustion. Inside the Water Curtain Cave, however, the Mind Monkey still looked as vigorous and radiant as ever.

If this war of attrition continued, he would be the only one to collapse.

"The Mind Monkey is not an external entity; it is formed from my own spiritual sense."

Wang Ping pondered deeply. "In a person's life, when a single thought is born, a hundred others will inevitably follow. The former is called one's true nature, while the latter is the impure qi of the mortal world."

"The Mind Monkey is exactly the same."

"Right now, the Mind Monkey looks like an untamed demon precisely because it is shrouded by that impure mortal qi, hiding its true nature."

Reaching this point, understanding dawned on Wang Ping. "So, to subdue it, I must first catch it with my spiritual sense and then chant the Inner Landscape Scripture. That will strip away its arrogance, settle its will, and peel back the demonic guise formed by the mortal impurities layer by layer. Over time, I can restore its true form."

It sounded simple, but putting it into practice was staggeringly difficult.

Wang Ping furrowed his brows.

"Right now, just catching this Mind Monkey is incredibly hard, let alone taming it... No, that isn't right. It shouldn't be this absurdly difficult."

Wang Ping knew his foundation was not weak.

Though he hadn't been cultivating the Immortal Dao for very long, how could the foundations others spent years and months building compare to the sheer mass of power he had devoured using the Life-Stealing Thief?

"There must be another secret!"

Wang Ping's eyes flickered. The Inner Landscape Scripture allowed him to behold the five elements within his body, but there had to be a specific trick or corresponding method to actually subdue the Mind Monkey.

Thinking of this, anger flared in his chest.

"These parasites!"

"They hoard their secrets and seal away vital cultivation legacies behind layer after layer. How is anyone supposed to properly cultivate immortality like this? How the hell did the Immortal Gate turn out this way?"

Wang Ping raged in impotent fury for a long while before an even more intense wave of fatigue suddenly washed over him. Only then did he realize that his spiritual sense had heavily drained away unnoticed. On the other side, the spiritual monkey—which he had worn down over a long period and which had previously shown signs of tiring—was now brimming with energy once again.

"Hiss..."

Seeing this, Wang Ping drew in a sharp breath. "This blasted monkey can actually influence me? It fed me stray thoughts, distracted my mind, and used that to recover itself?"

The Mind Monkey was formed from stray thoughts.

To settle the Mind Monkey, one had to remain completely single-minded. But throughout this process, the monkey would constantly evade while generating all sorts of distracting thoughts for the cultivator.

If one was swayed by those thoughts, all their efforts would instantly be ruined.

Yet even if one started out steadfast against the stray thoughts, the Mind Monkey remained incredibly hard to catch. Over time, frustration would breed, and the cultivator would slowly succumb to those distracting thoughts anyway.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

Wang Ping instinctively cursed. That single lapse in concentration was enough; by the time he snapped back to attention, he had almost no spiritual sense left and was forced to withdraw from his heart.

"..."

Closing his eyes in thought, Wang Ping quickly calmed his frustrated emotions and analyzed the situation. "Given my current spiritual sense, I have absolutely no chance of winning a magical battle against the Mind Monkey."

The Mind Monkey resided within the body's five elements. The heart was its home ground, while he was fighting on enemy turf. Furthermore, the monkey's intrinsic nature made it exceedingly difficult to seize. It was just like that piece of Divine Treasure Iron in the Kidney Water Dragon Palace. Wang Ping had already tried, and his spiritual sense couldn't budge it at all.

Come to think of it, only the Mind Monkey could likely lift that iron.

"Heart fire, kidney water... compared to these two, the remaining spleen earth, lung metal, and liver wood are much simpler. Using my spiritual sense to capture and drive them is easy..."

...Wait.

Suddenly, a gleam flashed in Wang Ping's eyes.

"The five elements within the body... that's it! Drawing Kan to Fill Li only involves water and fire, but there are three other elements. Could they really be completely useless? The five elements are fundamentally one body!"

Could the trick to subduing the Mind Monkey lie with the remaining spleen earth, lung metal, and liver wood?

"It's entirely possible!"

A spark of inspiration struck him. He suddenly recalled a famous novel he had read before crossing over to this wretched world, and its contents perfectly mirrored his current predicament.

"Don't tell me I need to get a golden headband, too?"

A golden headband... where would a golden headband come from?

"Lung metal!"

In an instant, everything clicked for Wang Ping. After a brief rest to recover, he circulated his spiritual sense again. This time, he didn't plunge into his heart, but instead submerged into the depths of his lungs.

Compared to the spiritual monkey in his heart, the lung metal qi was far more obedient. With just a gentle tug of his spiritual sense, a surging golden light was immediately drawn out.

It then charged straight into his heart.

"Boom!"

The moment the metal qi entered his heart, Wang Ping looked at the spiritual monkey again. Its previous demonic appearance shed away by more than half, and it began fleeing at top speed, darting and tumbling wildly around the Water Curtain Cave.

However, just like the monkey, the lung metal qi was also one of the body's five elements. Where the monkey tumbled, the qi tumbled. Within a few breaths, it successfully caught the spiritual monkey. The golden light linked end to end and clamped downward, locking the monkey firmly in place beneath it. The creature could only roll around endlessly, completely devoid of its former arrogance.

"It actually worked!"

Overjoyed, Wang Ping immediately pushed the lung metal qi even further... But right at that moment, he suddenly heard the ringing hum of a blade echoing from within his lungs.

The Dragon Head Guillotine!

When he practiced the Sacred Lord of Five Weapons earlier, Wang Ping had fused this semi-divine weapon into his flesh. Now, it was suddenly answering his call.

With the enhancement of this divine weapon, the already potent lung metal qi grew blindingly radiant. The golden band clamped tightly around the spiritual monkey's head and sharply contracted. The monkey wailed endlessly in agony, now too terrified to even roll around. It dropped straight to its knees before Wang Ping and continually kowtowed for mercy.

"Is it... caught?"

Wang Ping's gaze burned like a torch, completely taken aback. "The Sacred Lord of Five Weapons has such a miraculous effect? Right, the five organs—this method also pursues the five elements within the body!"

Was it merely a coincidence?

The Sacred Lord of Five Weapons allowed martial artists to break through to the Grandmaster Rank, while the Inner Landscape Scripture allowed cultivators to break through to become a Loose Immortal. Yet both focused on refining the five elements within the body.

Wang Ping quickly realized just how terrifying this revelation was. "The cultivation system of the Immortal Gate is unimaginably vast, yet the martial arts created by that First Seat of the Tribute Hall actually align perfectly with it! Even if it is just the starting phase, in a way, this is already on par with the Immortal Dao!"

Incredible!

With the help of lung metal, Wang Ping successfully captured the Mind Monkey. Next, he only needed to proceed step by step, using the Inner Landscape Scripture to peel away its demonic guise.

Soon after, however, he stumbled upon an unexpected boon.

The Mind Monkey was far from docile. Even after being temporarily suppressed, it would inevitably act up again, requiring him to constantly drive his lung metal qi to clash with it.

And after every clash, Wang Ping noticed something:

"The progress of the Dragon Head Guillotine has sped up!"

The Sacred Lord of Five Weapons used the body as a furnace to temper and forge divine weapons. Originally, for the Dragon Head Guillotine to truly become a divine weapon, it would have to wait until Wang Ping broke through to the Grandmaster Rank.

But things were different now. Wang Ping could clearly sense that if he maintained this current pace, he wouldn't need to wait for his breakthrough. The Dragon Head Guillotine would become a divine weapon ahead of time, which would in turn spur a qualitative transformation in his physical body... That would massively accelerate his progress toward reaching the Martial Dao Grandmaster Rank!

"The Dragon Head Guillotine helps me settle the Mind Monkey."

"And the Mind Monkey helps me forge the Dragon Head Guillotine."

"Good heavens... the Immortal Dao and the martial dao are complementing each other! I'm stepping on my left foot with my right foot and ascending directly to the heavens! I'm probably the first person in history to achieve this!"

After all, those capable of cultivating the Immortal Dao generally wouldn't bother practicing martial arts. As for those who possessed talent for both, it was highly unlikely they could cultivate both paths all the way to his current Realm.

Thinking of this, Wang Ping felt even more anticipation.

Could this also be the influence of being the Child of Destiny? Whenever I nod off, someone hands me a pillow. Just one copy of the Inner Landscape Scripture has brought me massive benefits!

Were there any more fated encounters?

Keep them coming!

Wang Ping silently made a wish. The Sacred Lord of Five Weapons required smelting five weapons, and he was currently lacking a second semi-divine weapon that matched his internal five elements.

He hoped his destiny would ship it out to him quickly!

...

Book Mountain.

Upon the Bagua Daoist platform, the Book Mountain Sect Master knitted his white brows in slight confusion. "The Child of Destiny... how did he get so strong? He shattered my spiritual sense in a single strike."

"And he didn't even use magic."

"Was it martial arts?"

"Furthermore, his qi signature is wrong. I can't feel the presence of the Fate-Peering Bone-Slicing Mirror. It seems to have been hidden away by some secret technique."

"Where did that secret technique come from? That wasn't a fated encounter I arranged in advance. Could it be related to the sudden change in the Child of Destiny's strength... Demonic arts? Could some old demon have divined the Child of Destiny's existence and set up their own plot ahead of time to snatch a share of his fortune?"

The Book Mountain Sect Master's face darkened.

The Child of Destiny was Book Mountain's five-hundred-year master plan. Forget about fortune—even the shit he took was already designated for a specific sect's spirit beast to eat.

Even taking a massive step back.

The patriarchs needed to be bribed, and sharing a portion with their righteous peers from Fangxian Dao was somewhat acceptable, but did the demonic path of the Myriad Demons Cave actually dare to come and steal from him?

Not to mention the martial artists.

"Where did the Child of Destiny learn martial arts? And judging by its aura, it felt a lot like that fierce individual from the Capital... No, his martial arts must be crippled."

That fierce individual was not someone to be trifled with.

If the Child of Destiny became entangled with them, and that fierce individual came knocking at his door, he might really be forced to surrender some benefits. That would be a massive loss.

"It seems I must have the Child of Destiny formally join Book Mountain as soon as possible, cutting off his karmic ties with the demonic path and the martial dao."

With this thought in mind, the Book Mountain Sect Master made a decision.

"I'll have the pre-arranged demonic tribulation begin ahead of schedule... Hmm?"

Just then, the Book Mountain Sect Master's expression suddenly shifted. He abruptly stood up and looked in a certain direction, shock spilling from his eyes.

"Brahma Cultivators!?"