Chapter 195: Chapter 195: Lingxi Beast Taming

"I am the Heaven-Taming Immortal Sovereign. I have witnessed the demon hordes from beyond our world run rampant and lamented the decline of the human race. Thus, I created this *Lingxi Beast Taming Technique*.

With ancient immortal Qi as bait and the Primordial Great Dao as a seal.

Master it, and you can enslave the True Dragons of the Nine Heavens to pull your chariot, or capture the Great Celestial Demons from beyond to serve as your hounds! The mounts of All Celestial Gods and Buddhas shall live or die by my will alone!

Future generations who obtain this technique must tame the Demon Beasts of the myriad realms and reforge the Nine Provinces’ Immortal Court!"

Su Yu read the opening, and the corner of his mouth couldn’t help but twitch.

’Capture celestial demons from beyond and keep them as dogs?’

’True Dragons of the Nine Heavens pulling a chariot?’

The ancients’ ability to brag was ten thousand times more ridiculous than the storytellers in Black Stone City.

The Money Toss or White Ape Fist techniques he had practiced before also had their share of exaggerated introductions, but at least they were somewhat grounded, with claims like "thunder at your fingertips, a fist to suppress the heavens."

This Beast Taming technique, on the other hand, went straight for reforging the Immortal Court.

If it were really so powerful, how could it have ended up as a tattered, incomplete scroll, looted from a lowly Water Bandit?

Su Yu decisively filtered out the obviously false nonsense. He calmed his mind, settled his breath, and began to cultivate according to the technique.

A quarter of an hour passed, and new ink-wash characters finally materialized before his eyes.

[Martial Arts]: Lingxi Beast Taming Technique (entry-level 1/100)

"Just as I thought, all talk..."

Seeing the meager 100-point threshold for the entry-level on the panel, Su Yu immediately concluded that this was nothing more than a basic Beast Taming method.

’Still, the panel actually classified this technique under Martial Arts? I thought it would be considered a skill, like Casting Net.’

Su Yu pondered for a moment, then decided not to dwell on it. ’Whether it’s Martial Arts or a skill, as long as I can grind the Skill Level, it’s fine.’

He strolled over to the Yin-Yang Lotus Pool in the backyard. Ever since the Nine-Revolution Green Lotus had taken root there, the pond water had become increasingly clear and vibrant. A few koi leisurely swam within its depths.

’These koi are actually quite lucky. The valuable fish I raised in the pond before didn’t last more than a few days before ending up in my stomach. Yet these common creatures survived, and now they’ve even absorbed a fair bit of spiritual essence from the ancient treasure herb.’

Su Yu felt a bit sentimental, then promptly decided to use them for some practice.

’According to the Cultivation Technique, Beast Taming has three steps: feeding it with Qi and Blood, intimidating it with spiritual pressure, and implanting a telepathic seed...’

He formed a sword-finger and made a light cut on his fingertip. A drop of crimson blood, rich with the potent life force of the Flesh Refining Realm, fell into the pool.

"GLUG GLUG GLUG—"

The moment the Qi and Blood hit the water, the entire fishpond erupted into chaos! To these ordinary koi, Su Yu’s incredibly pure Qi and Blood was a fatal temptation.

A dozen or so koi instantly went into a feeding frenzy, splashing water everywhere.

’Step two, spiritual intimidation. I need to use spiritual power to suppress their ferocity, instilling absolute fear and submission deep within their souls...’

In the current age of declining Martial Arts, practitioners primarily cultivated the physical body and Qi and Blood; an ordinary Martial Artist had no means of projecting their spirit externally.

Su Yu was different, however. He had ground his Reading skill to the point of Breaking Limit and awakened Five Senses Divine, giving him spiritual power that surpassed ordinary people.

But he had no method to control its external projection.

Therefore, he could only resort to a lesser strategy for this step: using his martial aura for intimidation. The most suitable choice for this was naturally his baleful aura!

The next moment, a baleful aura surged from Su Yu’s body, crashing down on the water’s surface like a great mountain.

The koi, which had been thrashing wildly, were instantly frozen in the water as if hit by a paralyzing spell. A few of the weaker ones were so terrified by the pressure that they flipped over, showing their white bellies, and fainted.

’Step three, Telepathic Seed Imprinting!’

Seizing the moment the fishes’ spirits wavered, Su Yu forced out a trace of his essence blood, mixed it with highly concentrated spiritual power, and tapped his finger between the eyes of the largest, dark-golden koi in the pool.

In the next instant, a faint and mysterious connection was quietly established between Su Yu’s consciousness and the koi.

[Lingxi Beast Taming Technique Skill Level +50]

[Martial Arts]: Lingxi Beast Taming Technique (entry-level 51/100)

’It worked just like that?’

Su Yu raised an eyebrow, overjoyed.

According to the annotations in the ancient text, this imprinting step was extremely difficult. An ordinary person would often need to spend a great deal of time repeating the first two steps to wear down the will of the beast they were trying to tame.

’It seems, one, these koi are too weak, and two, my Ape-Demon Baleful Aura combined with my spiritual power is a perfect match for this Cultivation Technique!’

Having figured this out, Su Yu’s enthusiasm surged. He tentatively issued a command in his mind:

’Swim to the corner.’

In the pool, the dark-golden koi shuddered, then swished its tail. Dazed but compliant, it swam to the designated corner.

’Come back!’

At the command, the koi obediently turned back.

"Haha, interesting! After being imprinted, this koi seems to have gained a sliver of intelligence. If I were to try this on a Demon Beast with innate intelligence, the effect would probably be even better!"

Su Yu decided to strike while the iron was hot. Following the same method, he began to chain-imprint the other dazed koi in the pool.

However, it seemed his luck had run out. He tried more than ten times in a row without a single success. Each condensed imprint disintegrated the moment it entered the fish’s brain, extinguishing most of his newfound enthusiasm.

’It’s not that simple after all... Still, it wasn’t a total loss. I farmed a lot of Skill Level.’

[Martial Arts]: Lingxi Beast Taming Technique (entry-level 62/100)

Su Yu glanced at the panel and noticed that although the imprinting failed, each attempt steadily added 1 point to his Skill Level.

Not only that, but when he controlled the successfully imprinted dark-golden koi to swim around or interacted with it by feeding it, the Skill Level would also slowly tick up, like a spring rain nourishing the earth.

Half an hour later, a strong wave of dizziness washed over him. Su Yu felt his temples throbbing, exactly like when he had frantically ground his Reading skill.

’This Martial Arts technique consumes a lot of spiritual power. I’ll have to stop here for today. After I recover, I’ll grind again tomorrow. I might even break through to the Skillful Realm.’

...

「Thirty li outside Black Stone City, on the desolate main road to Jian’an Prefecture.」

A horse-drawn carriage sped madly down the dirt road, its wheels kicking up gravel as it jolted violently.

Behind the carriage, amidst a cloud of roiling dust, three black-clothed, masked figures on magnificent Black-scaled Horses pursued them relentlessly.

"Kill them quickly! Don’t let them get away!"

The black-clothed man on the far right had a hoarse voice, tinged with urgency and killing intent.

The other two exchanged a look, a flicker of mockery passing between them. Nevertheless, one of them said, "Rest assured, Young Master. The Young Miss gave the order. We won’t let them escape!"

In the next instant, the man in the center launched himself from his horse. With a dull THUD, the saddle of the Black-scaled Horse actually buckled slightly under the force. He shot several zhang into the air like a night owl spreading its wings, crossing a distance of over ten zhang in a flash, before plummeting like a meteor toward the top of the carriage!

"BOOM—!"

A palm strike, charged with fury, descended from mid-air! The violent force of the blow instantly blasted the sturdy carriage roof to smithereens.

The carriage horse let out a piercing neigh. The driver was none other than Zhou Hai, the senior brother of the Bone-breaking Martial Arts Hall. His face was a mask of shock and fury as he desperately pulled on the reins, forcing the runaway carriage to a halt by the side of the road.

The carriage shattered, and Zhou Heng tumbled out, landing miserably in the dust. He clutched his cheek, which had been cut by a wooden splinter, and roared with bloodshot eyes:

"Why won’t you let us go, you scum from the White Ape Martial Arts Hall!"

However, the only response was the sound of something slicing through the air—the sound of death arriving.

The black-clothed man on the far right had, at some unknown point, closed the distance. His right arm shot out like a great spear. A faint roar of a white ape could be heard from his fist!

It was White Ape Asks the Way from the White Ape Fist!

"BANG!"

Like a ripe watermelon smashed by a sledgehammer, Zhou Heng’s head exploded, splattering red and white matter all over the ground.

"No! Junior Brother!"

Zhou Hai’s eyes looked ready to split from their sockets. His grief-stricken roar echoed across the desolate landscape. He drew the long saber from his waist and charged madly at the black-clothed man.

But the man who had shattered the carriage with a palm strike had already landed.

He shot Zhou Hai a cold glance. His figure moved as if Shrinking Earth into Inches, and with the swiftness of a pouncing rabbit and a diving falcon, he appeared right in front of him.

Such astonishing speed—he was undoubtedly in the Muscle Forging Realm!

"PFFT!"

A palm, so fast it left no afterimage, struck Zhou Hai squarely in the chest. Amidst the dull crack of bone, a savage Hidden Force instantly pulped his internal organs. Zhou Hai spat out a mouthful of blood, his eyes wide, and fell to the ground, dead.

Beside the wrecked carriage, only Zhou Jing remained.

Watching his senior and junior brothers die one after another, he felt as if he had been plunged into an icy cavern. He knew that in the face of an assassin at the Muscle Forging Realm, any resistance was futile.

He closed his eyes in despair, looked up at the gloomy sky, and cried out in anguish, "Master... your disciple is useless!"

A flash of a saber.

"THWCK!"

The wilderness returned to a deathly silence.