After the death of his small cat in his previous life, Teng Qingshan poured all his focus into pursuing the pinnacle of martial arts. The pinnacle of martial arts!
This was the deepest yearning in Teng Qingshan's heart. Even in this life, Teng Qingshan had never given up on forging a path for internal martial arts!
However, for so many years, he had been wandering in darkness, unable to find the way! Until he stepped onto the great grasslands, where enlightenment dawned.
Although interrupted, it clarified his direction! Should he head to the Northern Sea Continent to witness the Thirty-Six Forms of Mountain Splitting?
Teng Qingshan was no longer in a hurry. His sole focus now was to create a higher level of internal martial arts!
"If I reach the 'Northern Sea Continent' in the future, and arrive at Divine Axe Mountain! Seeing the Thirty-Six Forms of Mountain Splitting.
All arts share the same foundation! Whether it's Mani Temple, Yu Huang Clan, or the Ying Family, reaching the Bodhisattva or Void realms involves the same comprehension of heaven and earth.
My internal martial arts, upon reaching that level, will be the same!" "Witnessing the Thirty-Six Forms of Mountain Splitting will benefit my comprehension of heaven and earth." Teng Qingshan understood this clearly. "However..." Teng Qingshan also felt a doubt in his heart, "If it weren't for the Sky Flood Palace strengthening my body with the energy condensed by the Mountain Splitting Divine Axe!
My body would likely only possess a strength of around two hundred thousand jin. Pure physical might would only compare to that of a 'Xiantian Void Pill'!" "I can comprehend the Heavenly Dao now?" Teng Qingshan was somewhat skeptical!
He knew clearly that his sudden surge in strength within the Sky Flood Palace was purely external power! It wasn't achieved step-by-step through cultivating his fists or techniques.
Despite the doubt, Teng Qingshan practiced assiduously on the grasslands! ** Teng Qingshan shouldered his pack, resembling an ascetic monk, walking step by step across the vast grasslands.
With the sky as his blanket, and the earth as his bed! Forgetting all worries and grudges, his mind held only the pursuit of the Great Dao!
In the first month after entering the grasslands, the area Teng Qingshan traversed was still under the influence of the Snow Eagle Clan. This was the outer perimeter of the great grasslands.
Along the way, Teng Qingshan encountered minor troubles, but nothing significant. In the second and third months, Teng Qingshan walked within the spheres of influence of the three great Grassland Kingdoms.
During these two months, Teng Qingshan had a bloody massacre! That time, blood flowed like rivers!
This occurred because a band of horse bandits, sweeping through the grasslands to loot and pillage, discovered the lone traveler, Teng Qingshan. At that time, Teng Qingshan wore ragged clothes, his face covered in a thick beard, and his shoes were worn through—he looked like a beggar.
Perhaps the bandits hadn't found any other prey, and as they whooshed past Teng Qingshan, one bandit casually swung his saber, intending to kill him! Bandits killing indiscriminately on the grasslands was far too common!
Unfortunately for them, this time they had kicked an iron plate! Of the ninety-odd men in that group, over thirty were immediately slain by Teng Qingshan; the rest immediately spurred their horses and fled.
Teng Qingshan paid them no mind and continued his arduous cultivation, pondering the 'Earth Element' fist technique. But Teng Qingshan never expected— This bandit group turned out to be a contingent of the 'Azure Wolf Legion' from 'Azure Wolf Kingdom,' the capital of the three great Grassland Kingdoms.
The three great Grassland Kingdoms were mutually hostile. Due to the inherent brutality and wildness in the nature of the Grassland people, the three kingdoms often allowed parts of their armies to disguise themselves as bandits and raid within the territories of their rivals!
Having lost over thirty men to Teng Qingshan, the surviving sixty-odd soldiers fled to the kingdom's border, where the 'Northern Garrison' of the 'Azure Wolf Legion,' numbering one hundred thousand soldiers, was stationed! As one of the five garrisons of the 'Azure Wolf Legion,' would the Northern Garrison mobilize for a mere thirty-odd deaths to search for a lone wanderer in the great grasslands?
Logically, the matter should have ended there. But— Teng Qingshan traveled steadily northward!
Finally, he reached the border area of the Golden Wolf Kingdom! Moreover, he was spotted by patrolling soldiers among the sixty-odd survivors from the initial encounter!
These soldiers, grinding their teeth, swore vengeance for their fallen brothers and immediately notified their superiors! Since the lone wanderer was right under their noses, they naturally sent men to kill him!
This act pierced the heavens! One hundred thousand soldiers of the Northern Garrison!
When the general of the Northern Garrison learned that one man had killed eight hundred of his soldiers, he roared with fury and commanded: "Even if he's a Xiantian Golden Pill expert! He is still just one person.
Exhaust his Xiantian true essence and kill him!" On the great grasslands, even the Eight Great Sects did not possess the authority to control the three great kingdoms. In the central grasslands, the three great kingdoms held the supreme power!
The slaughter immediately commenced! The Grassland people were fiercely wild.
Having lost so many brothers, they fought with the resolve to exhaust the opponent's true essence to secure the kill. This brutal fighting raged from noon until dusk, the crimson afterglow spreading across the western horizon.
But that stretch of grassland... was stained crimson with blood!
Initially, the lone wanderer killed slowly, but as time went on, he grew faster. His seemingly slow, mill-like fist technique became lightning-fast, killing over ten men in the blink of an eye.
In that final short half-hour, the number of soldiers who died matched the total from the nearly three hours preceding it! In that one battle!
The Northern Garrison army lost over sixteen thousand men! With over three thousand wounded!
From the initial arrogant stance of executing Teng Qingshan, to the subsequent mindset of exhausting him as countless soldiers surrounded him, and then to the point where so many had died that many soldiers went red-eyed and frantic! Until finally— They were beaten into terrified submission!
Retreat! Fall back!
Flee! Save yourselves!
The general of the Northern Garrison was utterly pale: "He is not human, not human! He is Alada!
The demon 'Alada'!" Cultivating hard on the grasslands, Teng Qingshan also witnessed the lives of the Grassland people. On the Nine Provinces Continent, Teng Qingshan knew that the You and Yan Prefectures were bitter and cold lands, constantly engaged in strife with the Grassland people, resulting in an extremely fierce populace.
The ferocity of the populace in the You and Yan Prefectures was unparalleled in the Nine Provinces! And the Grassland people of the great grasslands perpetually attacked the You and Yan Prefectures!
From this, one could imagine the fierceness of the Grassland people! More accurately, it wasn't just fierceness, but sheer savagery!
And after months of walking thousands of miles, from the periphery to the heartland, Teng Qingshan discovered— The average Grassland tribe was quite hospitable to outside travelers. Usually, if Teng Qingshan wanted a meal, he would stop at a tribe, eat, and offer some silver fragments in return.
The small tribes scattered across the grasslands were the lower stratum of the great grasslands! They herded sheep and cattle, moving with the grass, weak in strength!
But the larger tribes! They were domineering and brutal, oppressing the smaller tribes.
Sometimes even robbing them like horse bandits! And the three great kingdoms were even more bloodthirsty entities!
Powerful martial artists, even Xiantian experts, existed within the kingdoms! Because the land was vast but sparsely populated, the territories of the three great kingdoms had reached the limit of their control.
Their usual focus was weakening rivals and strengthening themselves! The armies of the three great kingdoms were even more terrifying than the horse bandits!
... Facing these savage armies intent on killing him, Teng Qingshan naturally showed no mercy!
However, originally, Teng Qingshan intended to kill some people and then gracefully depart. But who knew...
those soldiers all had warhorses, moving like the wind, completely encircling Teng Qingshan! Arrows!
Divine crossbows! Boiling oil!
Even charges by masses of heavy cavalry! In short, their plan was to wear down and kill Teng Qingshan alive!
If he were truly a Xiantian Golden Pill expert, being surrounded by thousands of troops, being worn down to death was not impossible! Unfortunately...
They encountered Teng Qingshan! The only Grandmaster of internal martial arts across the entire Nine Provinces Continent.
The news of over sixteen thousand dead and three thousand wounded—a total casualty count of twenty thousand—could not be concealed. It spread across the great grasslands like the wind.
Countless horse bandits were terrified, fearing any encounter with this lone wanderer! Experts from the three great Grassland Kingdoms also felt their hearts tremble.
To kill nearly twenty thousand people... only a 'Void Realm expert' with endless true essence could accomplish such a feat.
* It was the fourth month since Teng Qingshan entered the grasslands! A lake as smooth as a mirror was embedded in the great grasslands like a pearl.
Sunlight shone upon the water's surface, and a gentle breeze stirred ripples, making the reflected sun also waver. By the lake shore.
Teng Qingshan was practicing his fist technique, which consisted of only three moves, repeated over and over. Yet, these seemingly simple three moves, when executed by Teng Qingshan, carried an aura of complete, heavy intent, and their speed was strangely disorienting to the eye.
"Buzz~~ Ling~~" With every movement, Teng Qingshan’s entire body vibrated, the sound of his tendons and bones clattering audible even to bystanders. It was much louder than when practicing the Tiger Form God Infusion Art!
Faintly, specks of earth-yellow electrical light occasionally flashed and vanished across Teng Qingshan’s skin! From noon until the sun set, painting the western horizon crimson.
"Hoo!" Teng Qingshan finally stopped his movements. "To hear the Dao in the morning and die content in the evening is enough!" Teng Qingshan murmured.
These four months were the most astonishing period of transformation for Teng Qingshan. Since the first day he entered the grasslands and attained enlightenment, Teng Qingshan had devoted himself to arduous practice...
using the sky as his blanket and the earth as his bed, he faintly felt that he seemed to be sensing the earth itself! When he encountered some pitiful small tribes, Teng Qingshan no longer remained a detached observer but offered help.
Teng Qingshan seemed to feel the broad tolerance of Mother Earth. Especially that battle against the Northern Garrison army, which allowed Teng Qingshan to grasp the third move amidst the slaughter.
At this moment, Teng Qingshan finally understood that killing was a natural part of the cycle of heaven and earth. The death of animals and the death of humans held no distinction for heaven and earth.
... After grasping the third move, Teng Qingshan meditated for another month to integrate the three moves into a unified whole.
"The Dao of Heaven and Earth can be divided into Five Elements. My fist technique should be the first segment of the 'Earth Element' fist technique." Teng Qingshan sensed...
that his technique was still far from completely interpreting the 'Earth Element' Dao within the Heavenly Dao! However— Even so, Teng Qingshan discovered an astonishing result!
"I was wrong before, and I was thinking incorrectly!" Teng Qingshan sighed, extending an arm. With a flicker of thought, faint earth-yellow electrical light flashed.
"Last time, I was vague and confused, but this time, by creating the first segment of the 'Earth Element Dao' fist technique, everything has finally become clear!" In Buddhist cultivation, ordinary monks cultivate inner strength, which then merges with 'Spirit' in the Niwangong (Mud Pill Palace), making 'Spirit' the primary focus, leading to the formation of a Sarira, whose power is also called Buddha Essence. In Daoist cultivation, ordinary martial artists cultivate inner strength, which then transforms in the Dantian, where a sliver of Spirit merges with the inner strength, making 'inner strength' the primary focus, forming a Golden Core, which is Xiantian True Essence, or Xiantian True Yuan for short.
In internal martial arts cultivation, ordinary martial artists also cultivate inner strength, but what comes next? All the meridians being unblocked, allowing control over tendons, bones, muscles, and internal organs!
In reality, this is merely the prerequisite for the 'Grandmaster' realm. Just as having reached the limit of the Dantian and possessing sufficient Spirit is the prerequisite for reaching Xiantian!
What is the next step? Internal martial arts possess no established method of cultivation.
The so-called Tiger Form God Infusion Art was merely a method devised in his previous world where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was scarce, intended only to increase strength! But the 'Earth Element Fist' that Teng Qingshan now created, although only the first segment!
Allowed Teng Qingshan to discover the profound secret!