Sludge suction system

With only a month left until Wang Jing and Mu Wan's wedding, the Mu family mansion was decorated with lanterns and filled with joy. Everyone was immersed in the busy preparations for the wedding and the anticipation for the future, completely unaware that a deadly shadow was quietly spreading throughout the mansion.

Clutching the bottle of slow-acting poison he'd coerced and bribed Doctor Qian, Wang Jing wore a barely perceptible sneer, his eyes gleaming with greed and ruthlessness. Through his carefully cultivated network of connections, he secretly contacted several greedy servants in the Mu household. These servants, though insignificant in the household, had access to crucial aspects of the family's daily life. Lured by Wang Jing's generous reward, they easily forgot the Mu family's years of kindness and chose betrayal.

Every morning, before the first rays of sunlight had completely dispelled the morning mist, the Mu family kitchen was already bustling with activity. The cook, bribed by Wang Jing, had a hint of tension and cunning in his eyes. Taking advantage of the others' busy movements between the stoves and cutting boards, he swiftly pulled a small poison bottle from his sleeve and carefully poured the poison into the large pot of porridge that was cooking. The poison dissolved in the water without causing the slightest ripple or leaving any suspicious trace, as if it had never been there. The maids responsible for delivering the meals had also been bribed by Wang Jing. Following his instructions, they prioritized delivering the poisoned food to the residences of the important figures in the Mu family, ensuring that the core members of the Mu family, including Mu Yangzi, Mu Wan, and the elders and stewards of each household, would ingest the poison without realizing it.

At first, no one in the Mu household noticed anything amiss. But as the days passed, the poison accumulated in their bodies and gradually took effect. The weaker, older servants were the first to show symptoms. They began to feel frequently weak and listless, often panting and unsteady on their feet even when doing simple tasks. However, they simply attributed it to their advanced age and physical limitations, without considering anything else. Some of the younger, stronger guards were not spared either. They occasionally experienced dizziness, especially during daily training or on missions, where the discomfort was more pronounced. But they simply attributed it to the fatigue from preparing for the wedding and, after a short rest, returned to their work.

As the patriarch of the Mu family, Mu Yangzi bore the heavy responsibility of the entire clan, and was also unknowingly being eroded by the poison. In handling the clan's complex affairs, he gradually felt overwhelmed. Problems he could previously handle easily now required considerable thought and decision-making, and he often felt exhausted, his energy far diminished. However, he attributed all of this to the busy wedding preparations and his advancing age, without suspecting that someone was secretly plotting against him.

Unbeknownst to them, a massive conspiracy was unfolding in the shadows. Wang Jing, like a wolf lurking in the darkness, patiently awaited the wedding day. He envisioned that on that day, when everyone in the Mu family was suffering terribly from the poison, he could use their lives as leverage to force Mu Yangzi to hand over the coveted, ancestral secret manual of the Spirit Serpent Poison Technique, thus realizing his ambition to dominate the martial arts world. At this moment, the Mu family outwardly maintained a peaceful and joyful atmosphere, but in reality, it was shrouded in the shadow of death, their fate hanging by a thread, fraught with danger, and a thrilling life-or-death struggle was about to begin.

Now let's look at Bai Pingping's side.

"Little Zha, after working day and night to treat those patients, do I have enough points to exchange for the ultimate item?" Bai Pingping blinked her big eyes and asked Little Zha beside her with a face full of curiosity.

Xiao Zha replied, "Congratulations, host! In the recent poisoning incident, you have successfully achieved the remarkable feat of saving the entire city's population, and you can now exchange it for a peerless martial arts manual!"

Upon hearing this good news, Bai Pingping was overjoyed and couldn't wait to ask, "Wow, that's amazing! What kind of unparalleled martial arts manual is it?"

As soon as she finished speaking, a dazzling white light flashed by, as brilliant as a shooting star streaking across the sky. When the light faded, a closer look revealed that Bai Pingping had conjured a martial arts manual out of thin air. The cover of the manual bore four large, elegant characters: "Mysterious Heaven Divine Skill."

"Little Zha, you said before that my Ghost Needle can be used as a hidden weapon. Can it be used in conjunction with this Mysterious Heaven Divine Skill? Quickly help me find the instructions!" Bai Pingping looked at Little Zha expectantly.

A long string of text descriptions quickly appeared on Xiao Zha's panel.

Cultivation essentials

Foundation of Xuan Tian Divine Skill

- Spiritual Qi Absorption: Cultivators must sit facing east at dawn (5-7 AM) in a place where the spiritual energy of heaven and earth converges, such as a deep mountain cave or a secluded valley. They must clear their minds of distractions and use their spiritual awareness to sense the subtle fluctuations of the surrounding spiritual energy, slowly absorbing the free-floating energy into their body, transforming it into primordial chaos energy, and storing it in their dantian. This is the beginning of the cultivation method.

- Meridian Foundation Building: Following the unique meridian pathways of the Mysterious Heaven Divine Skill, the primordial Qi in the Dantian is guided through the perineum, ascending along the Du Meridian of the spine, successively breaking through the coccyx, Jiaji, and Yuzhen acupoints, reaching the Baihui acupoint, and then descending along the Ren Meridian back to the Dantian. This process requires precise perception of the meridian pathways, control of the strength of the Qi, and repeated circulation to gradually widen and strengthen the meridians, ensuring unobstructed flow of Qi, like a spiritual spring flowing through the body's meridians.

- Internal Organ Refinement: Guide the Qi deep into the internal organs to nourish the heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys, strengthening their functions. At the same time, practitioners need to study the principles of internal organ transformation contained in the Xuan Tian Divine Skill, so that the absorbed spiritual Qi can be integrated with their own Qi and blood, transforming into a more refined internal strength, stored between the internal organs for later use.

Ghost Needle Fit

- Acupuncture Intent Connects with the Divine: Based on the cultivation of the Mysterious Heaven Divine Skill, the practitioner must accompany the Spiritual Needle day and night, perceiving its spirituality. In a quiet room, holding the divine needle, close your eyes and concentrate, extending your spiritual sense to the needle, experiencing its subtle texture and unique aura, until you can control the needle with your mind, as if it were an extension of your arm, reaching the state of oneness with the needle.

- Tempering the Needle and Nourishing its Spirit: The inner strength condensed from the Mysterious Heaven Divine Art is injected into the Ghost Needle, repeatedly tempering it. At the same time, the Yin essence of heaven and earth, such as the essence of moonlight and the Yin energy of a cold pool, is collected and integrated into the needle to nourish its spirituality. This makes the needle not only incomparably sharp but also possess a strange and cold power, complementing the strong Yang inner strength of the Mysterious Heaven Divine Art.

Practical application

Phantom Needle Technique

- Mystic Needle Control: In battle, the practitioner swiftly circulates the Mystic Heaven Divine Art, channeling internal energy into the Ghost Needle. Using this internal energy, the needle spins at high speed, shooting towards the enemy like a black phantom.

- Shifting Reality and Illusion: During flight, the practitioner, with exquisite control over the aura of the Mysterious Heaven Divine Art, can suddenly split the divine needle into several needle shadows in mid-air, making it difficult to distinguish the real from the fake. Enemies are often confused by this sudden change, finding it difficult to judge the true trajectory of the divine needle, thus making them vulnerable to attack.

Needle Force Combination

- Entangling Energy: When facing a powerful enemy, the practitioner first uses the Ghost Needle as a medium to release the internal energy of the Profound Heaven Divine Art, forming visible threads of energy that wrap around the needle. These threads of energy contain immense destructive power, like sharp blades.

- Combined Strike for a Deadly Kill: The cultivator controls the ghost needles wrapped with powerful threads of energy to shoot at the enemy. The moment the needles hit the target, the internal energy threads will quickly wrap around and tighten, like a python strangling its prey. At the same time, the powerful force of the Mysterious Heaven Divine Art will be released, destroying the enemy's body defense from the inside and delivering a fatal blow.

Spirit needle protection

- Needle Array Defense: When attacked by an enemy, the practitioner moves swiftly using the footwork of the Xuan Tian Divine Skill, simultaneously scattering ghost needles around their body to form a tight needle array. Supported by the internal energy of the Xuan Tian Divine Skill, the needles float in the air, echoing each other to construct an indestructible defensive barrier.

- Counterattack: When an enemy's attack touches the needle array, the practitioner uses the ingenious method of the Mysterious Heaven Divine Skill to guide the enemy's attack force to the Ghost Needles. Then, with the help of the needles' elasticity and the counter-force of internal energy, the enemy's attack is deflected back, causing the enemy to suffer the backlash of their own attack, thus gaining the initiative in the battle.

"Then I need to hurry up and go into seclusion to cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Divine Art," Bai Pingping said in a low voice.