Master of Strange Dao

Sure, here is the translation of the given Chinese novel excerpt into English:

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In an instant, everything was settled.

The Joy Lamp Priest didn't even have a chance to escape with his shattered Yin God, nor could the force behind him take him away.

After Cece threw the Yin God into the abyss at the end of the slope, it returned to its original state, as if the paused Despair Abyss had resumed its old appearance, showing no apparent change.

Yu Ziqing did not pay much attention to these things. He stood in place, closing his eyes to feel the changes in his body.

Each time he unleashed his power, the strength he temporarily gained would not dissipate immediately after the opponent's death. This brief moment was, in Yu Ziqing's view, the most crucial.

The enemies he encountered before were too weak; even if he could draw his sword and instantly kill them, the power acquired was not that strong.

Yu Ziqing had speculated that, firstly, it might be due to insufficient information, barely meeting the trigger's minimum criteria.

Secondly, there might be no need to "use a sledgehammer to crack a nut." Of course, Yu Ziqing didn't find this hypothesis very accurate; it was more likely his opponent had only a hundred health points while he could inflict ten thousand damage, but would only decrease one hundred health, making a large margin of damage sufficient.

The last time he drew his sword, it triggered the Body Refining Technique, making his Qi-Blood surge like a furnace.

However, this time, Yu Ziqing expected to gain some flashy sword technique, but to his surprise, like with the Joy Lamp Priest, he received the power of the Refining God Dao.

The abundance of mental power overflowed without fine control. His Divine Soul became robust and transparent, consciousness remarkably clear while able to perceive invisible things, and discern the essence of opponents' Secret Techniques at a glance. The speed of his thoughts also accelerated considerably.

From seeing, feeding back to the brain, making judgments, to giving reactions, this process's time consumption was fast enough to almost be in sync with his opponent—truly a mind over matter situation.

The Qi-Blood boiling inside his body also became exceptionally clear, easily grasped with a single thought.

The essential quality of the power he received this time was too high, allowing him only instinctive control, unable to understand its core. Now, he could only strive to familiarize himself, letting his body and consciousness remember and get accustomed to this feeling.

If he had to start over and walk this path again, it would be easier for him compared to others, at least knowing by instinct the right way, preventing any mistakes.

If these powers were likened to a car, he now knew how to drive it and use it.

And the path of cultivation was building a car from zero, from various intricate parts to the operating system, ultimately creating a car of one's own, then undergoing various modifications and precise operations.

He had never ventured into the Refining God Dao, not even at the introductory level. Naturally, he was utterly clueless compared to cultivators with similar power in Refining God, resembling more a mud truck ramming into enemies...

Once his body and consciousness had recorded that feeling, Yu Ziqing stopped further exploration.

Trying to let someone who hasn't even finished elementary first-year study complex functions theory is pointless; even dreams won't help...

To avoid wasting time, Yu Ziqing concentrated on using the power acquired now to complete Body Refinement.

Using this power to control proved incredibly handy.

The moment the idea emerged, the agitated Qi-Blood became docile as sheep, operating entirely as Yu Ziqing envisioned. The Marrow Cleansing phase of his cultivation was quickly completed, then he continued to open one hundred fifty-eight orifices, still brimming with energy, wasting very little, and consuming almost nothing.

To not squander this rare "hacked" experience, Yu Ziqing first opened thirty-six Death Orifices, then the remaining seventy-two vital points, and finally, the fifty strange orifices too.

At this moment, a sense of emptiness overwhelmed him; his consciousness grew somewhat blurred, and everything astonishingly clear before seemed shrouded in mist, no longer discernible.

Yu Ziqing stood in place, gradually adapting, only then regaining composure.

Though nothing around had changed, descending from affluence to frugality was challenging, leaving him somewhat uncomfortable.

Old Yang had mentioned more than once that the one hundred eight vital points and fifty strange orifices weren't particularly significant, especially the one hundred eight, which were relatively dangerous. Some top-notch Body Refining experts had opened only two or three hundred during the Returning to the Orifices phase.

At this stage, the more orifices opened, the stronger the Qi-Blood indeed, but this enhancement utterly paled compared to the Blood Sea Realm stage.

Speaking of benefits, it was theoretically assumed that the fatality of Death Orifices would plummet, but that was merely theoretical. In practical, high-leverage combat, it had little significance.

Yu Ziqing did not blindly trust Old Yang's words. He had long seen through Old Yang's disregard for Body Cultivation, knowing more about other fields.

Anyway, Yu Ziqing believed, useless or not, he should consider them ordinary orifices. At least, when he had the capability, he should resolve the difficult parts, slowly dealing with the simple ones on his own.

He wouldn't believe why, with seven hundred twenty of them, anyone wouldn't open them all. If the orifices were so utterly useless and dangerous, who initially marked them? How did they know opening these orifices posed great danger?

After pondering, Yu Ziqing ultimately felt that it all boiled down to too limited scope in his knowledge acquisition.

Old Yang slightly maintained his character, too embarrassed to admit his limited understanding...

While Yu Ziqing was still lost in thought, Er Han, having been knocked away, charged into the Despair Abyss again. Seeing Yu Ziqing and the Joy Lamp Priest's corpse, he hurriedly asked a redundant question.

"Brother Yu, are you alright?"

"I didn't know what happened just now, couldn't get in here, it worried me to death."

"We'll talk after leaving," Yu Ziqing replied, then from a distance, saluted Cece: "Thank you, Miss, for your assistance. Since we're all family, I will skip the formalities."

Cece ignored him, still lost in her inner drama, unable to free herself.

Yu Ziqing pointed at the corpse of the Joy Lamp Priest.

"Clean it up, don't dirty the place, take it out and dispose of it."

Er Han obediently dug a foot down, lifting both soil and corpse together.

Outside the Despair Abyss, the village chief and Old Yang were already waiting, along with some red-eyed, heavy-breathing villagers, seemingly impatient.

"I'm fine; that Joy Lamp Priest is dead," Yu Ziqing said, glancing back at the Despair Abyss: "Cece acted suddenly, throwing that Joy Lamp Priest's cultivated Yin God into the abyss behind the slope."

"Dismissed," the village chief waved for everyone to disperse.

He wasn't blind; it was clear at a glance the Joy Lamp Priest had been cleaved in half by someone. Yu Ziqing wasn't lying, but also only revealed half of the truth.

Once everyone left, facing Old Yang and the village chief, Yu Ziqing spread his hands.

"Alright, I suddenly unleashed a surge of power, cleaving the Joy Lamp Priest in half, but that guy had cultivated a Yin God. While his body was destroyed, the Yin God remained.

Moreover, some foreign power suddenly emerged within his Yin God, some runes forming chains, attempting to forcibly drag his Yin God from Cece's Despair Abyss.

Then, for some reason, Cece suddenly acted, snatching his Yin God and threw it into the abyss behind the slope, after which the Despair Abyss reverted to its original state."

Old Yang glanced at the Joy Lamp Priest's corpse, gesturing for Er Han towards the locust forest.

"Throw it to the locust forest, take nothing from him, throw everything inside, including those white robes."

The storage bag on the Joy Lamp Priest seemed pretty advanced, no doubt containing many valuable items, but Er Han had no concept of what was valuable or not. Upon hearing, he promptly threw everything into the locust forest.

This strange locust forest cared not for dietary restrictions and consumed everything, including those white robes completely.

At the edge of the locust forest, new saplings began to sprout, starting to spread, but somehow, not a single new sapling extended towards the Despair Abyss, while those reaching towards the village's interior withered the moment they emerged.

Only the saplings growing sideways began to sprout and grow, transforming into a towering tree in mere moments.

Old Yang sighed.

"The chain you saw came from what they call the White Sun Holy Mother.

It seems this generation of the White Sun Evil Cult learned from past lessons, brewing enough before daring to act. This generation's White Sun Holy Mother has already emerged.

Things are likely to become more chaotic later.

They won't miss this opportunity, certain to make significant moves in the Wilderness.

We must make plans early on; it's not safe here anymore."

These words left everyone somewhat silent.

Conversely, they weren't that concerned with the changes in the Despair Abyss.

Yu Ziqing, however, had a feeling that the Despair Abyss kept changing, growing stronger somehow.

...

In the snowy wilderness sky, a blaze of fire rushed through, followed closely by azure blue Divine Light.

Suddenly, ten azure golden streams of light shot out from the azure Divine Light, turning, their speed abruptly multiplying several-fold, attacking the fire ahead from all sides.

Loud explosions ensued, and countless icy shards burst from the fire, causing the fireball to plummet towards the ground.

Once the halo vanished, General Gongze of Dali, covered in blood that had frozen into ice chips, found his armor shattered and partially fallen off, while his Fiery Flame Dragon Horse beneath him had its intact parts transformed into a massive ice porcupine, pierced from inside out by countless ice spikes, with most of its body shattered into large blood-stained ice fragments.

Gongze opened his mouth, spitting out pieces of frozen blood, consumed in flames encompassing him. He glanced upwards at the glowing sphere descending from the sky.

"An Lan, stop pretending. You think changing to a new Magical Treasure and altering a bit of aura could make you pass off as Dazhen's people?

Who in Daqian can compare to you in applying the Ice Frost Secret Method to such a level?"

As Gongze finished his words, the azure light floating mid-air faded, revealing a woman in a black robe with a cold demeanor, and beside her floated an icy spike Magical Treasure, continuously shedding and forming new ice spikes.

"So, it is you," Gongze sneered coldly.

With a formidable new Magical Treasure in her grasp and this environment, An Lan's overall strength increased by at least thirty percent, convincing Gongze he had no chance.

Despite being exposed, An Lan's expression barely changed, speaking to herself.

"Gongze, you intercepted and killed the Dean Chu Ye of our Daqian Langya Institute. Today, I'll kill you here, and even Emperor Li couldn't say otherwise."

"Bullshit!" Gongze swore outrageously, having never even seen Chu Ye's shadow, let alone intercepting the Dean of the Langya Institute.

Cursing out loud, Gongze understood she was merely seeking an excuse to kill him, truth or lies were irrelevant.

As long as he died, it would become the truth.