Chapter 53 Cultivating Hidden Dangers

  Hu Gao has never had much reverence for the so-called truth of history. The true stories of those four great gods and ten great sages are probably buried under the embellishments of later historians, leaving only descriptions that are almost divine in their perfection.

  Although relying on a warrior's powerful martial arts to establish a unified continental empire is infinitely fascinating, these are still too far away from the current Hu Gao. He was just slightly curious with some extravagance, if one day he also had the good fortune to stand at that peak, how would later generations describe him?

  Hehe, a scholar who doesn't want to be an emperor isn't a good martial artist!

  Hu Gao rubbed his temples, took a deep breath, and after sorting out the historical materials, he refocused his energy on his cultivation.

  The realm of condensed shadows is the first hurdle in cultivation. In fact, this realm did not exist at the very beginning. When humans discovered that some powerful warriors with strong spiritual energy could condense totems through summoning their souls, how to transform these totems into a part of themselves became the most important premise for cultivation.

  At this point, the Condensed Shadow Technique took a detour to tell Hu Gao that the grade of Totem was not the only ultimate realm for warriors, because two of the Four Great Gods, Li Hu and Wang Zhong, were pitifully low-grade Totems, and they had never even tried to possess Double Totems in their lifetime. The key to all this lay in whether the relationship between the warrior and the Totem had truly reached a state of fusion.

  Totem will be even more powerful, if it cannot truly merge with the warrior, it will not be able to exert its maximum effect. Even some warriors in history who accidentally obtained some powerful variant totems created records of transcending levels, but ultimately they were short-lived and few achieved great success. Among them is a warrior who once possessed the Blood Light Snake, who mysteriously self-destructed after obtaining two totems in the Spatial Heart, even after reaching the late stage of Breaking Empty Realm.

  Is having two totems in itself a hidden danger? Hu Gao couldn't help but think that although this point hadn't clearly appeared on him, he could feel the abnormal Blood Bull Snake in his own Dantian was indeed suffocating. In terms of communication, it didn't have the same harmony as Xiao Wu's. Perhaps there existed an mutually exclusive relationship between totems, after all, one mountain couldn't contain two tigers.

  It seems that I will have to try communicating with the Blood Python's mind in the future!

  In Hu Gao's view, Xiao Wu is a growing divine beast. When he was first summoned, he said that he was only his own contract totem, and at the time, he didn't think much of it. Now, thinking carefully about it, the two words "contract" represent a relationship where both parties are equal, which means that although Xiao Wu has always called himself "master", in fact, he is not truly his totem in the real sense.

  He had always gotten along exceptionally well with Xiao Wu, but he hadn't realized this point at all. Now that he thought about it, he had only been focusing on levelling up and stepping on others to become a better writer, even Yuan Yu was practicing across levels, it really was a bit too hasty! Was it because of the bet with Hu Wushuang?

  The importance of the realm of condensed shadows lies in establishing a harmonious dualistic relationship between the warrior and their totem, condensing the totem into reality. The key point is what Elder Hu Feng said: "Contain strength within the sea, condense the totem, breathe as one, heart and mind self-generated, nurture chaos, open up the sky and earth, and let the condensed shadow form naturally."

  This sentence is indeed obscure, according to the example in the book, Kong Meng Xian Zhe had once created a record of killing a strong man from the Yuan Jing realm with a single blow while he was still in the Ning Ying realm. This case was recognized by Wang Zhong Da Shen after him and acknowledged that there was such a possibility. The key lies in the fact that Kong Meng's Qi Hai and Totem had merged into one during his time in the Ning Ying realm, with the Qi Hai containing a vast world within itself, like a second world, allowing him to exert the maximum power of the Totem.

  Huhao's simple understanding of this point is that when Confucius and Mencius were in the realm of condensed shadows, they allowed the totem to reach the functional entity of the transformation realm, so they could kill warriors in the explosive yuan realm!

  What kind of freak is this guy? He can actually do such a perverted thing, cultivating land and raising turtles in his dantian? Is that what it means...

  Isn't this also a transmigrated otaku who likes to watch farming streams? Otherwise, why would the name Kong Meng seem like it's paying tribute to Confucius and Mencius, and even claim to be the leader of the top ten sages, making outstanding contributions to the construction of the cultivation system that are not inferior to those of Yao? This is indeed a surprising coincidence.

  Hu Gao put down the book and sighed, "Recently, it's been a frequent blow indeed! This Tiantong Continent is full of freaks. Compared to these guys, I seem to be just a frog at the bottom of the well who thinks he's a genius but is actually a waste."

  Fortunately, there is still Elder Hu Feng to remind us. However, if Qinglian were here, it would be even better. Who knows where she went for her training? If she knew about the misfortune that befell Qingfeng's branch, who knows how she would react? This terrifyingly powerful woman with a twisted spiritual force, if she really suddenly awakened to her true potential, it's unthinkable what kind of power she would possess. The mainland would definitely have another freakishly strong character emerge.

  If the shadow is still there, he should know where Qinglian is, right? Next time I go to Zongtang, I'll really find someone to ask clearly. Maybe only myself and Qinglian are left in the Qing family, this little loli is my first relative since I came to this world, I must find her back!

  After a moment of contemplation, Hu Gao began to calm his mind and eliminate distractions. He sat cross-legged on the bed with his hands clasped behind him, attempting to condense the True Essence according to the method described in the book.

  Unlike the impact boundary, this time he began to seriously experience the flow of yuan force in his body, slowly incorporating it into the air sea, and through introspection, he could see that the air sea still had a scene like the chaos before the opening, and the yuan force was like a layer of thin fog, shrouding his two totems.

  Hú Gāo continuously poured more yuan force into it, feeling the ebb and flow of yuan force in his dantian, slowly searching for that harmonious breathing sensation. But the Bloodlight Serpent was as unresponsive as a wooden stake, without even a hint of reaction! His fingers were numb from the effort, not even a drop of water had emerged, what a cold and unfeeling fellow it was!

  Hugao thought for a moment and felt that it might be because of Xiao Wu's fault, so he started communicating with him, "Xiao Wu, come out!"

  "Why is that, Master? I'm cultivating inside your body and it feels so comfortable." Xiao Wu was being utterly shameless.

  As expected, it was this shameless guy. Hu Gao didn't have the patience to idle chat with him, and directly summoned him out, pinching his soft little ears, and patted his tender buttocks. "Speak quickly, is the Blood Light Snake in my body being suppressed by you?"

  "Hey, big brother! Only newcomers laugh, where have you ever seen old-timers cry!" Xiao Wu suddenly flipped over and broke free from Hu Gao's grasp. The movement was so comical that he bumped into Hu Gao's head and jumped up a few times, "Let me teach you a lesson!"

  Hu Gao was speechless, this guy who was always fooling around was really annoying. "Little Five, why don't you go play at Mount Hua yourself? That's where your favorite demon pills are."

  "Alright, I'll spare you for the sake of the demon pill." Xiaowu jumped up and down a few more times before disappearing into the room in a flash.

  Watts, who is the master after all! Hu Gao stretched out his hand and placed it on Xiao Wu's disheveled hair, smoothing it out. It seems that having two Totems is indeed a huge hidden danger... Originally thought that one's trump cards were being played one by one, but in the end, the backyard caught fire without even knowing...

  Hu Gao refocused his mind and calmed down, drawing in the power of the sea to control the thin mist-like yuan energy that was making contact with the Blood Serpent inside his dantian. After Xiao Wu left, this guy indeed slowly showed some reaction, originally bunched up body began to stretch out, neck also slowly raised up.

  What surprised Hu Gao was that after careful introspection, he found that the skin of the Blood Python had become somewhat dull and lusterless, with a slightly turbid gaze. According to his understanding of the previous life's snake, this was indeed a sign that the snake was about to shed its skin.

  But Hu Gao was also somewhat indecisive, the beast clans of Totem Continent might not be consistent with the characteristics he learned in his previous life, and after all, this was just a totem and not a real snake, it was really hard to judge.

  Hú Gāo continued to absorb the energy of heaven and earth, transforming it into yuan force. It was really too difficult to breathe in sync with him. Snakes were supposed to be reptiles that breathed through their lungs, so they shouldn't have been affected.

  Time flew by quickly, and Hu Gao still had no clue, the Blood Light Snake finally fell back into a deep sleep, he had to put away his technique and stood up.

  "Never mind, let's take it slow. This matter can't be rushed." Hu Gao stood up, thought for a moment, and decided to go to the North Pole branch to find Yu Le. He planned to head to the Dragon Slaying Mountains in two days to cultivate, as three months was indeed too short a time. If he were to cultivate in the city, it would be impossible to surpass Hu Wu Shuang, after all, one had to use extreme methods to suppress their own potential.

  He inquired all the way to the gate of Jile's home, and when he saw the white lanterns hanging around the house, he suddenly remembered that a few days ago, during the Li Qing rebellion, Jile's father had died in battle. His own head of green hair was indeed a bit eye-catching.

  However, this is also an unavoidable thing, the body and skin are given by parents, what kind of person to be depends on oneself.

  Hu Gao puffed out his chest and knocked on the large door. Before long, the door opened a crack, and from inside squeezed out an older man with a head full of silver hair, who gave Hu Gao a strange look.

  Is this the heir of our Hu family? I heard that only he is left in the Liqing sect, but I didn't expect him to be such a weak and thin little brother.

  He thought for a moment and asked: "Are you here looking for Xīlè (Extreme Joy)?"

  Hu Gao nodded slightly. This person seemed to be a core disciple of the North Pole branch judging from his hair color, and he didn't know how he had guessed that Hu Gao was looking for Extreme Joy.

  "Hehe, you're Hu Gao, right? I'm Ji Yue's third brother, Ji Kuai." As he spoke, Ji Kuai slightly pulled the door inward and made room for him with half his body. "Come in quickly."

  Hu Gao smiled and stepped over the threshold, entering the mansion of the Arctic Branch's master for the first time.