Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Su Zimo laid on the stone bed motionlessly and listened intently to the weird sound that was reverberating through his cave abode. Feeling the sensation of the flow in his marrow, a series of realizations came through to him like seeds germinating.
This was the reason why The Mystic Classic of the Twelve Demon Kings of the Great Wilderness was getting more difficult to cultivate – it was a process of internalizing external qualities.
The skin was the first to be tempered, followed by the flesh, tendons, bones. After that sequence, the marrow would be refined – that was the Marrow Cleansing section.
External cultivation techniques were relatively easier to master.
That was because apart from sutra, breathing and expiration methods as foundation, there were other killing techniques used to refine one’s skin, flesh, tendons and bones.
Take the Tri Bovine Style for example. Continuous cultivation of it would result in refinement of the skin while the three styles of the Divine Steed would help to refine the bones.
However, from the Marrow Cleansing section onwards, the mystic classic no longer had any killing techniques – everything would have to depend on Su Zimo’s power of understanding to grasp the profoundness of the sutra.
It wasn’t because the mystic classic was incomplete. Rather, it was because one would not be able to achieve cleansing of their marrow through the mere use of physical techniques!
The marrow was located within the bones. External techniques were able to refine one’s bones at best and could not reach deeper.
That was why another method was required to make use of other forms of energy to refine the marrow.
And… that energy was none other than the sound of tigers and leopards!
Actually, Su Zimo was no stranger to such sounds. Back in Ping Yang Town, Su Xiaoning had once raised a kitten.
The kitten was expressionless and would never speak. However, a rumbling sound could be heard from within its body every now and then, similar to this sound of tigers and leopards.
But of course, be it spirit tigers or leopards, neither of them had the knowledge of the Marrow Cleansing section’s sutra and hence, their marrows would never ever be stronger than Su Zimo’s.
The sound of tigers and leopards was merely a turning point of the Marrow Cleansing section.
The true profoundness of it laid within the sutra.
Su Zimo recalled the sutra of the Marrow Cleansing section and started imitating the sound of tigers and leopards.
“Huff… huff… mmm… mmm…”
Through repeated imitations and attempts, Su Zimo’s body started giving off a unique vibrating sound too.
The reverberation of the sound caused his marrow liquid within his bones to flow, churning at a rapid speed while producing blood that seeped into Su Zimo’s blood and veins.
The true meaning of Marrow Cleansing was to swap blood.
Through vibration of the marrow, new blood that was stronger than Su Zimo’s existing blood would be formed!
According to the Marrow Cleansing section, an initial success would be enough to kill off an early-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. At phenomenal success, one could kill off mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators with ease and could even match against late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivators!
That was how frightening the blood swapping of Marrow Cleansing was!
Be it tempering of the body, tendons or bones, those were external strengths at the end of the day.
From the Marrow Cleansing section on, Su Zimo would be cultivating a strength that comes from within – the power of blood!
Back in the Cang Lang Mountain Range when he was being hunted by the Foundation Establishment Cultivators of Joyful Clan, he had only managed to escape at the brink of death with the Sanguine Ape Transformation.
The reason why the Sanguine Ape Transformation was able to receive such a tremendous amount of power within a short period of time was due to the Power of Blood.
That was also why Su Zimo turned weaker after the Sanguine Ape Transformation – he had yet to start on the Marrow Cleansing section back then and his body could not bear the immense burden at that time.
From now on, the same situation would not happen again.
After the Marrow Cleansing section, the Sanguine Ape Transformation would no longer be of any use to Su Zimo.
After all, with just an initial success of the Marrow Cleansing section, every channel of his blood would send forth a horrifying amount of power!
In the blink of an eye, the night had passed.
He had already gotten a rough grasp of the sound of tigers and leopards.
Standing up, Su Zimo’s heart was filled with joy and his previous disappointment had cleared completely.
He had finally made progress on the Marrow Cleansing section after being stuck for so long.
Looking at the spirit tiger and leopard, Su Zimo smiled; the thought of killing them had disappeared too.
No matter what, both beasts had credit for his newfound understanding of the Marrow Cleansing section.
The two beasts had woken up long ago as well. When they saw Su Zimo smile, a shiver ran down their spines as they shuddered.
Neither of them had seen Su Zimo smile before.
But, now all of a sudden, he was smiling…
“It’s over, it’s over! That human is going to lay his hands on me now!” The spirit tiger cried internally.
For the spirit leopard, it was more of guilt.
It had nearly died on the spot for its killing intent the previous night. Right now, its head was lowered, not daring to look at Su Zimo.
Su Zimo walked forth, whisking the spirit tiger in his left arm and spirit leopard on his right before leaving his cave abode and heading to the front peak.
Crossing the thick fog, he arrived before the sect and placed the two spirit beasts down. “You guys can leave.”
Spirit tiger: “…”
Spirit leopard: “…”
Both beasts were stunned and did not realize what was going on.
He was letting them off just like that?
Even after a while, both beasts laid sprawled on the ground, obediently still like little kittens.
Su Zimo smiled and waved his hand. “Go on and leave. You’re not allowed to harm others from now on.”
This time round, the beasts could tell of the casualness in Su Zimo’s tone.
The human seemed as though he was truly sincere about letting them go?
The spirit leopard got up slowly and moved a little. Upon seeing no reaction from Su Zimo, it headed into the distance.
After taking a couple of steps, the spirit leopard turned around hurriedly and was only relieved after seeing that Su Zimo had not caught up to it.
Even so, the spirit leopard did not dare to run and merely trod further away in small steps, turning back from time to time.
The spirit tiger did not move and watched Su Zimo with slightly agape jaws.
Su Zimo asked, “Why aren’t you leaving?”
The spirit tiger grinned widely in a seducing manner and even wagged its tail.
The moment it did that, the spirit tiger’s heart skipped a beat as it scolded itself internally, “Bloody hell! I’m the king of the forest! Why am I wagging my tail like a dog!”
“If you’re not leaving, I am.”
With that, Su Zimo turned towards the fog.
Hesitating for a moment, the spirit tiger chased after him.
“Mmm?”
Looking at the spirit tiger behind him, Su Zimo smiled. “Why? You want to follow me.”
It nodded its head hurriedly.
The spirit tiger lamented internally, “What kind of a joke is this? This human is so perverted, asking me to cry out repeatedly. How would he let us go so easily? It’s a trap! He’s laying a trap! If we really run, he’ll definitely kill us!”
The spirit tiger turned and looked at the spirit leopard that was walking away warily and mourned in his heart. “Brother leopard, good luck. You’re probably about to die.”
There’s no way Su Zimo knew what the spirit tiger was thinking but since it was so resolute, he brought it with him through the fog formation.
Along the way, the spirit tiger waited for Su Zimo to turn back and kill the spirit leopard.
However, even by the time they crossed the fog formation, Su Zimo did not seem as though he had the intention of turning back.
It was then that the spirit tiger realized that Su Zimo had actually meant to let them off!
“F*ck my life!”
The spirit tiger cursed internally as he grit his teeth.
“Wait, so I was the one who dug a pit and jumped into it myself? I even covered myself in it…!”
“There’s still a chance! Another chance!”
The spirit tiger encouraged itself, ready to run away the moment the opportunity arises.
Right then, a Perfected Golden Core streaked through the air. When he caught sight of Su Zimo below, he murmured a soft surprise and changed direction, descending before the man and beast duo.
