A fierce and powerful dark soldier was cut down by a single knife, transformed into thin strands of ghostly energy that were sucked into the mouth of the Ghost General. With each dark soldier killed, the Ghost General's body expanded slightly, becoming more solid and substantial. "No wonder the Ghost General didn't appear earlier - it was busy killing its own kind!" Zhou Qing suddenly realized, but his heart was also filled with a hint of fear. The Ghost General instantly struck down another hundred or so dark soldiers, its body growing even larger, almost rivaling the six-zhang golden giant behind Zhou Qing. The originally crowded ghostly spirits in the Heavenly Star Great Hall became sparse and scattered.
Zhou Qing was in a desperate situation, with no way to retreat and pursuers closing in. His heart racing, he made a sudden movement, and a flash of golden light illuminated the area. The ghost general took advantage of the distraction to strike down the last of the dark soldiers. A loud roar shook the grand hall, causing the 107 star pillars that supported it to tremble with energy. The ghost general raised his sword, summoning a massive gust of wind as he struck at the nearest pillar. Clang! A blood-red longsword, radiating an aura of malevolent energy, came crashing down towards the ghost general's head from behind. The ghost general swiftly turned his blade to meet the attack, and the two swords clashed in mid-air. With a swift twist of his body, the ghost general took a large step forward, his massive frame moving with unexpected agility and lightness.
Zhou Qing recalled the Blood God Knife, holding it horizontally in front of his chest. The six-zhang golden body behind him also disappeared from view. In the grand hall, only starlight shone brightly, yet everything was clearly visible. Zhou Qing's body shifted slightly backward, his back facing the distant blue stone gate. Earlier, that one knife strike would have shattered the divine intent attached to the blade if not for Zhou Qing's greatly increased spiritual awareness. The ghost general didn't even know what method he used to actually slash at the intangible and formless divine intent, leaving Zhou Qing perplexed.
The ghost general's knife strike towards the star pillar was blocked by Zhou Qing, who became enraged beyond measure. His eyes widened, but there were no eyeballs within; instead, two fist-sized balls of ghost fire floated and flickered. A flat, horizontal slash shot towards Zhou Qing's waist, and before the blade even arrived, a cold light that seemed substantial tore through Zhou Qing's clothes, sending several tattered pieces of fabric falling to the ground. This strike was incredibly ferocious!
Zhou Qing didn't dare resist head-on and instead rolled away on the spot like a lazy donkey, escaping by a hair's breadth from being cut in half at the waist. The ghost general's knife skills had reached an extraordinary realm; naturally, he wouldn't let Zhou Qing escape so easily. The giant blade spun through the air, creating a whirlwind of blades that descended upon Zhou Qing once more like a swarm of flies on rotting flesh.
Zhou Qing was shocked to find himself completely unable to counterattack under the ghost general's assault. None of his techniques or magical tools could be deployed in time due to the speed being too fast.
Zhou Qing had no other choice, he could only recall the Blood Slashing Knife, his entire body glowing with golden light as he formed the Unmoving Bright King Seal to resist the attack. Pu! Zhou Qing was split by a single slash and flew back three zhang, spitting out ten dou of blood as he heavily crashed into the farthest end of the grand hall's blue stone gate. The gate seemed like an illusion, Zhou Qing crashing into it without encountering any obstruction, as if falling into water, directly disappearing from sight. The blue stone gate slowly disappeared afterwards. The Heavenly Star Hall violently shook, and finally a streak of starlight descended from the ninth heaven, filling the entire grand hall with starlight. The raging Star True Fire brought extremely strong magnetic force, burning the entire grand hall into molten rock at the bottom of the earth. One hundred and seven star pillars were all refined by this boundless Star True Fire. The ghost general let out a roar, then was submerged in the true fire without making another sound.
Zhou Qing's head crashed into the green stone gate, as if he had entered another world. The scene was similar to when he first entered the Tian Ren He Yi Dao. Zhou Qing regulated his internal injuries and suppressed the surging energy in his body. Fortunately, it was only a shock to his internal organs, and there was no major harm. After a moment, Zhou Qing's injuries healed, and he observed the surroundings. "What kind of array is this?" This time, Zhou Qing knew that it was not an illusion, but rather being trapped in a large array. Even with his high level of understanding of arrays, he couldn't see any clues. However, there didn't seem to be any danger in the midst of the chaos, and it seemed like he was only being confined. Zhou Qing let out a sigh of relief and didn't think about breaking the array. He sank his mind into the舍利 (a Buddhist relic) between his eyebrows, separating his primordial spirit from his physical body and storing it within. A vast and pure spiritual energy surged forth. Zhou Qing manipulated his hand seals, silently operating the Eight-Nine Xuan Gong to refine the spiritual energy from over a hundred fierce ghosts.
In the midst of obscurity, Zhou Qing's body shone with a brilliant golden light, and his six-zhang-tall golden giant form reappeared behind him. His eight arms gradually took shape, and his four faces became even clearer, indistinguishable from those of a living person. The eight arms waved about, each hand holding something: one held a lotus flower, one held a clean bottle, one held a sharp spear, one held a giant sword, one held a scepter, one held a dharma wheel, one held a command plate, and one held a scripture.
Zhou Qing's entire consciousness was immersed in the pigeon egg-sized, pure white and flawless Sarira. As his hand seals changed continuously, the Sarira carried Zhou Qing's entire spirit out of his body and merged into the six-foot-tall golden giant statue.
The Dharmakaya is eternal and indestructible! The ultimate realm of spiritual cultivation is to condense the formless and intangible spiritual mind into a Dharma body through various methods, and then transfer the spiritual consciousness into the Dharma body. This principle is similar to that of demonic and heretic schools' soul-snatching techniques. The physical body is substantial, no matter how strong it is, it cannot withstand the erosion of eternal time, and will eventually disappear into nothingness.
Some demons and monsters, when their physical bodies are rotten and unbearable, would find a new fresh and intact one to transfer their yuan Shen (original spirit) into. Even among the Taoist practitioners or those who were severely injured, or had their physical bodies destroyed by heavenly tribulations and took over someone else's body, such cases have never been rare since ancient times. As for those who use spiritual condensation to create a new body and then transfer their yuan Shen into it, they are extremely few in number. But let's not mention how difficult this spiritual cultivation method is to practice; even if we don't talk about the difficulty of condensing a new body, just turning it into a tangible form is already an enormous challenge. Moreover, the methods for condensing a new body vary greatly, and the power of the new body also differs greatly in strength. There isn't a single cultivation method that can guarantee the creation of a superior new body; if one ends up with a new body that's even worse than their original physical body, then all their efforts would have been for naught. Even during the ancient times, when the Three Altars and Sea Convention took place, Nezha's physical body collapsed, but he still used the Kunlun Seven-Colored Lotus Flower to recreate his physical body; he didn't dare use this spiritual condensation method.
Zhou Qing's heart was like a clear mirror, gazing at his brand new body, with four arms and eight eyes, his divine spirit was unmatched. In an instant, Zhou Qing understood the true purpose of the Eight-Nine Mystical Technique, which was indeed a shocking and earth-shaking cultivation method. The first half of the Eight-Nine Mystical Technique was to cultivate spiritual energy and condense it into a divine body, while the second half was the technique for cultivating the divine body.
With the help of the power of the Doutu Tian Shen Sha array, Zhou Qing absorbed the spiritual energy of over a hundred fierce ghost soldiers, and surprisingly succeeded in practicing this ancient and mysterious technique. Once the divine body was formed, the physical body could be discarded, but Zhou Qing did not want to reveal himself to others with such an appearance. The majesty was indeed majestic, but he feared that whether it was humans or ghosts, anyone who saw his true form would be frightened to death.
Zhou Qing's massive body shook and transformed into a golden light that merged into his physical body. He moved his muscles and bones around, feeling awkward, as if he were controlling a second divine spirit with his own spiritual energy!
"Whatever, my true form is now that four-armed golden body, no wonder it's so awkward!"
