I picked up skill fragments in the demon world

#261 - Sand-combining magic

Chapter 260: The Extraordinary Art of Combining Sand

Zhang Xiaohua's face had lost all color, and her expression was filled with horror. To kill thousands of soldiers silently in one night, what kind of method was this?

That was the camp of thousands of experts! Even a Yin God Realm cultivator couldn't force their way in, unable to get close at all.

Moreover, how could there be no struggle or resistance when thousands of soldiers were assassinated? They weren't chicks or ducklings; how could they not know how to resist?

The atmosphere in the field was serious. Zhang Xiaohua couldn't even bother with Zhang Chen. She quickly followed Liu Feng's footsteps and hurried away.

The two walked to the Ancestral Hall in the backyard. Liu Feng seemed to remember something and asked, "Could Zhang Chen be behind this?"

"How could he have that ability? If he had that ability, I would have died long ago," Zhang Xiaohua retorted without even thinking.

"What kind of wounds did the dead have? Any distinguishing features?" Zhang Xiaohua asked.

"Their entire bodies were drained of blood. Only two sharp holes were found on the top of their heads, as if left by animal fangs," Liu Feng said.

Hearing this, Zhang Xiaohua was stunned. "They were all killed by having their blood drained?"

He thought of how he was once inexplicably entangled by a blood-sucking monster, and the blood-red scripture rubbing. If it hadn't been for the fox spirit's protection, he would have been finished then.

Although that strange creature disappeared later, Zhang Xiaohua still remembered it vividly and deeply. If the fox spirit hadn't diverted the trouble and thrown the blood-red rubbing into Zhang Chen's room next door, he would have been finished then.

"Zhang Chen can restrain strange creatures. This kid has some tricks up his sleeve. I just don't know how he subdued that strange creature back then." A thought emerged in Zhang Xiaohua's mind: "Now that I think about it carefully, this kid is really not simple. It seems I need to interact with him more, dig out the secrets on him, and then find a way to kill him."

A fierce look appeared in Zhang Xiaohua's eyes as he quickly followed Liu Feng's figure into the Ancestral Hall to hide.

Meanwhile, Zhang Chen looked at the departing figures of Zhang Xiaohua and Liu Feng, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly, feeling that these two guys were too timid and had been scared by him.

He didn't even think about it. He hadn't encountered this kind of thing. If he had, he probably wouldn't be any better than them.

Zhang Chen's mind was in a daze. He didn't want to think too much, so he went straight back to his room to sleep, not wanting to interfere with what was happening outside. Did he not know if there were any strange creatures?

Zhang Chen returned to his room. Xiao Dou Ding was sitting in the room reading. Seeing Zhang Chen walk in, he mysteriously came closer and said, "Zhang Chen, have you heard? Evil beings have appeared again at the foot of Huangli Mountain. Thousands of soldiers from Prince Pingbian's mansion died inexplicably overnight, all drained of their blood."

"I just heard the Abbot mention it," Zhang Chen said sleepily, lying directly on the bed.

"Do you think that monster will come to the mountain to commit murder?" Xiao Dou Ding climbed onto the bed, his face full of worry, his eyes filled with fear.

Hearing Xiao Dou Ding's words, Zhang Chen touched the other's cute little head. "Don't be afraid. Have you forgotten that I am a cultivator? A mere evil being, daring to come to our door, is nothing more than an easy catch."

After saying that, Zhang Chen's palm fell, and then he fell into a drowsy sleep.

"Hey, why are you sleeping as soon as you come back? Get up and practice martial arts!" Xiao Dou Ding patted Zhang Chen's head, and saw that Zhang Chen's breathing was steady, and he had already fallen into a drowsy sleep.

"Why did you fall asleep?" Xiao Dou Ding looked at Zhang Chen, his eyes full of surprise, but he didn't continue to make noise. Instead, he hid to the side and obediently read.

Zhang Chen had nothing to do now. He didn't even eat lunch and dinner. He slept until dawn the next day and was kicked awake again by Xiao Dou Ding's feet:

"Zhang Chen, it's time for morning class, don't sleep!!!"

Xiao Dou Ding's little feet kicked back and forth, finally waking up the sleeping Zhang Chen. Then Xiao Dou Ding widened his eyes, came closer, and said with a concerned face: "Boy, you're a little off. How can a normal person sleep for so long? Do you want me to call Master over to take a look? Don't tell me you've caught some disease? Or have you been harmed by something dirty."

Xiao Dou Ding's voice was full of worry, and his big, black eyes stared at Zhang Chen, his eyes full of anxiety.

"I've told you that I'm cultivating. Don't worry. Just let me sleep for a few days. Also, don't tell the Abbot about my condition these days, so as not to cause unnecessary trouble."

Although Xiao Dou Ding was still worried when he heard this, he didn't say anything more, but just asked Zhang Chen to get up and wash up.

After the two finished washing up and had breakfast, Zhang Chen continued to fall asleep. Xiao Dou Ding simply hugged his books and sat quietly beside Zhang Chen, watching the books, occasionally reaching out to stroke Zhang Chen's forehead, probing his breath.

In his sleep, Zhang Chen seemed to be standing in endless wind and sand. In the wind and sand, countless runes flickered, evolving into countless scripture formulas, which were understood and absorbed by Zhang Chen.

This kind of life lasted for half a month. On this day, late at night, Zhang Chen suddenly opened his eyes, looked at the moonlight outside the window, and a dreamlike expression appeared in his eyes.

"The Extraordinary Art of Combining Sand, it's really incredible. This divine power is the prerequisite divine power for the legendary Samadhi Divine Wind. If you can find the legendary divine power 'Calling Wind' and the legendary 'Shaking Earth', you can combine them into the supreme divine power, Samadhi Divine Wind." A touch of excitement appeared in Zhang Chen's eyes.

How strong is the Samadhi Divine Wind?

The blue sky vibrates the Dou and Niu palaces, almost scraping down the Senluo Hall. Five hundred Arhats made a lot of noise, and the eight Vajras roared together. Manjusri lost his blue-haired lion, and Samantabhadra's white elephant was hard to find. Zhenwu's tortoises and snakes lost their group, and Zi Chi's mule floated its saddle. The immortal mountains and caves were dark, and the island of Penglai was dim. Lao Tzu had no time to take care of the alchemy furnace, and the God of Longevity collected the dragon beard fan. The Queen Mother was going to the Peach Festival, and a gust of wind broke the skirt waist bracelet. Erlang lost his way in Guanzhou City, and Nezha had difficulty taking the sword from the box. The Leiyin Treasure Palace collapsed three layers, and the Zhaozhou Stone Bridge collapsed two sections. A round of red sun was dimmed, and the stars in the sky were dim and chaotic. The Dragon King searched for Yakshas all over the sea, and the Thunder God searched for lightning everywhere. The ten generations of Yama sought out the judge, and the ox-headed ghost of the underworld chased the horse-faced ghost. This wind blew down Mount Putuo, and rolled up a volume of Guanyin's scriptures. The white lotus flew off the coast, blowing down the twelve courtyards of the Bodhisattva. Pangu has seen the wind to this day, but it is not as unkind as this wind. The Hula Lala Qiankun was almost not blown up, and the mountains and rivers of thousands of miles were trembling! (Two hundred words are charged, and 199 words are left for everyone.)

The Samadhi Divine Wind is so strong. Once practiced, it will be truly earth-shattering.

"The Extraordinary Art of Combining Sand is divided into two parts, upper and lower. The upper part talks about wind, and the lower part talks about sand. When wind and sand are combined, the divine power is formed." Zhang Chen pondered the various formulas: "The main purpose of the upper part, which talks about wind, is to refine nine different kinds of wind between heaven and earth with the formula. The stronger the refined different kinds of wind, the stronger the divine power will be after it is practiced. The main purpose of the lower part of the formula, which talks about sand, is to find nine kinds of strange sand between heaven and earth. Once practiced, the power of the nine kinds of divine sand will be combined, and then with the nine kinds of different winds blowing, the power will be truly earth-shattering." Zhang Chen pondered carefully.

When wind and sand are combined, the Extraordinary Art of Combining Sand is completed!

Furthermore, to advance, one must find the legendary divine ability, 'Summon Wind,' and combine it with the divine ability 'Shake Earth.' Only then can its power be upgraded. When the wind and sand blow, heaven and earth will be reversed, reaching up to the highest heavens and down to the darkest depths. It will be truly unstoppable.

This Samadhi is the combination of Wind and 'Summon Wind,' Sand and 'Shake Earth,' and then unifying their Qi. This is the essence of this Samadhi.

"I am only at the Qi Refining stage now, so I can only refine one type of unique wind and one type of unique sand," Zhang Chen thought to himself. "But I don't know how powerful they will be."

"I still need to carefully search for the divine and extraordinary wind and sand between heaven and earth. I can't just use ordinary wind and sand to fool myself," Zhang Chen thought as he got out of bed.

"Sand is easy to find. The sand in the spiritual world is not bad. The sand in the spiritual world inherently contains divinity. But where should I find this wind?"

Zhang Chen pondered constantly. He wouldn't consider ordinary wind. Since he was going to cultivate, he would cultivate the strongest divine ability, otherwise, it would be a waste of time and energy.

"Extraordinary wind is hard to find in the real world. I still need to look for it in the spiritual world, or in the Great Tomb of the Primordial Gods and Demons. Perhaps I can find what I want," Zhang Chen mused to himself.

With that thought, Zhang Chen focused his mind, and when he reappeared, he was already in the first heaven of the spiritual world. Only then did Zhang Chen have the energy to examine the Feng Shui of the entire mountain, only to see that the entire mountain was covered in black sand, which looked very strange. Zhang Chen thought of the power of the Wind Pouch before and felt that this black sand would be good for practicing divine abilities.

"This black sand comes from the deepest part of the underworld, containing the power of death. It is formed after countless wronged souls and wild ghosts die, and then are refined by the karma of the underworld. This wind and sand is the foundation for constructing the underworld, equivalent to the soil of the human world, the cornerstone of the underworld," Zhang Chen squatted down and looked at the soil, a hint of contemplation in his eyes.

"The fallen souls have strengths and weaknesses. The strong ones are like the innate demon gods of the immeasurable kalpa. The sand after their fall is naturally extremely powerful. The weak ones are ordinary souls. How much power do they have? It's really worrying." Zhang Chen picked up the black sand. After mastering the Odd Sand Combining Technique, he was extremely familiar with all kinds of wind and sand in the world, and could automatically identify them.

After identifying the black sand for a while, Zhang Chen hesitated, "These are just the sand and ashes after the fall of ordinary dead souls. Although they are better than ordinary mortal dust, they cannot meet my needs. Even if I use this sand to practice divine abilities, I'm afraid it will have almost no effect on cultivators after the divine abilities are completed."

What's the point of refining a divine ability that can't deal with cultivators?

Zhang Chen put down the sand and swept across the surrounding mountains. He saw that all the surrounding mountains were covered by the black sand, and the world within a hundred miles was all black sand.

As for the temple ruins, there seemed to be a mysterious force of law flowing. That force was full of compassion and had the power of salvation, and could constantly save the countless sand that fell from the sky.

Those sands were left by the dead souls, so of course Buddhism can save them.

Zhang Chen stood on the top of the mountain and looked into the distance. He saw a piece of darkness in the distance, and the black sand dyed the sky dim.

The sky was an endless green, as if there was a layer of light green mist flowing.

The feeling was like a hazy, overcast weather, but the overcast weather in front of him was a green sky.

"That's not right! I can now enter the underworld through the Yellow Springs. If I'm not satisfied with this black sand, then can't I just go to the netherworld to find satisfactory sand? That's the netherworld! Can't I find the sand I want?" Zhang Chen looked at the mountains of black sand, and a flash of inspiration surged in his heart.

"I'm not in a hurry to explore the spiritual world. I'll figure out how to refine the Odd Sand Combining Technique first. I always feel that this spiritual world seems inappropriate, full of inexplicable and unknown strangeness, such as this temple, which is extremely strange." After Zhang Chen flashed through his mind, his figure flashed and disappeared directly into the first heaven of the spiritual world.

After leaving the spiritual world, Zhang Chen opened his eyes and began to think about the feasibility of going to the netherworld to collect sand.

"The main cultivation method in this world is the divine soul system. If I use the sand and strange wind in the underworld to refine divine abilities, it will inevitably have a great restraining effect on the divine soul cultivation system," Zhang Chen silently deduced and explored:

"The only thing I need to consider is how high the feasibility of me going to the underworld to collect divine sand is." Zhang Chen constantly sorted out the information in his mind, analyzed and simulated: "First, the ferryman on the Wangchuan River is my biggest trouble. However, I have the Soul-Snatching skill, so I may not be afraid of him. Second, are there any other strange things blocking the way in the underworld?"

Zhang Chen thought for a long time, and felt that no matter what, he had to sneak in and try. If he didn't try, how could he be willing?

He doesn't lack ordinary divine abilities now. What he lacks are the means to truly pose a threat to those old guys.

"I still need to find a place to set up the Nine Bends Yellow River Formation, so I can meet that old guy on the Wangchuan River again." Zhang Chen estimated the time and felt that it was almost time for morning class, so he didn't act rashly, but waited patiently.

Sure enough, Zhang Chen didn't have to wait long. The bell for morning class resounded through the darkness, breaking the tranquility of the Taoist temple.

"Zhang Chen, get up!" Xiao Douding shouted subconsciously, then reached out and touched the bed, only to touch empty space.

Xiao Douding shuddered, quickly sat up, and saw Zhang Chen sitting in front of the window.

"Why did you get up so early today? Could it be that you're better?" Xiao Douding's eyes lit up when he saw Zhang Chen sitting on the edge of the bed. He quickly kicked open the quilt and jumped out of bed, looking at Zhang Chen with joy.

"I'm considered better," Zhang Chen said with a smile, stroking Xiao Douding's head. "Thank you, Senior Sister Xiao, for taking care of me during this time. Senior Sister, go wash up quickly, lest you be late for morning class."

Xiao Douding nodded happily, and ran to the side to wash up.

Soon after, Xiao Douding finished washing up and happily pulled Zhang Chen, saying, "Let's go to morning class."

"How is the situation in the Taoist temple now? How are the strange things at the foot of the mountain being handled?" Zhang Chen asked.

"The Pingbian Prince's Mansion sent experts to investigate, but they didn't find anything. They only said that all the soldiers were killed by strange things. The Patriarch descended divine power overnight to investigate the entire Taoist temple, but he didn't find any trace of the strange things. This matter can only be left unresolved. However, I heard people say that the army sent by the Pingbian Prince this time is even larger, with as many as three thousand soldiers, and there are also thirty or so martial arts experts who have cultivated their Qi and blood sitting in town," Xiao Douding said:

"However, the brothers in our Taoist temple have no confidence in their hearts. They always feel that the monster hasn't left, and is still quietly hiding somewhere. Maybe the monster ate three thousand soldiers and is now resting. When it's hungry, I'm afraid it will come out to hunt again. Then we're going to be in big trouble."