owlsbooks Chapter 36: Cultivating Immortality is So Difficult!
Chapter 36: Cultivating Immortality is So Difficult!
In the afternoon, Cao Xing went to the Transmission Pavilion. As soon as he entered, a round-faced fat man walked over with a smile and asked Cao Xing some questions.
"Junior brother, you look unfamiliar. What kind of cultivation technique are you here to buy?"
"Thank you for your trouble, senior brother. I would like to purchase a cultivation technique that can exorcise ghosts and ward off evil spirits." Cao Xing bowed slightly and then stated his request.
"Yes!" The fat man immediately waved his hand, and the bookshelf behind him moved on its own, and soon five or six cultivation manuals appeared in front of Cao Xing.
"This is the Great Sage's Golden Manual. With one move, all demons and monsters will vanish into nothingness. Today's discounted price is two thousand taels."
"This is the Seven Killings Decree of Ghosts and Gods. Once the Seven Killings are issued, all ghosts and gods will perish. It only costs three thousand five hundred taels."
"This, this Spirit Crossing Scripture, is a good thing. It contains many secret techniques for controlling ghosts, and it's only five thousand taels."
The fat man introduced everyone to Cao Xing with a smile.
But Cao Xing felt an urge to run away as soon as he heard the price.
Cao Xing even suspected that these prices might be a form of psychological attack, otherwise why would his head be buzzing when he heard them?
After hesitating for a moment, Cao Xing could only say to the fat man in front of him, "Senior brother, I'm a beginner and don't have much money. Do you have anything cheaper?"
Cheap?
The fat man looked Cao Xing up and down and said, "How about I apply for a loan for you? How about 2% interest?"
Cao Xing's lips twitched, and he turned around to leave.
Seeing this, the fat man quickly stopped Cao Xing: "Junior brother, don't think it's too expensive. As the saying goes, a manual should not be passed on lightly. If you want to buy a cultivation technique, there has to be a price range. Tell me, and I'll help you think it over."
Cao Xing took out one hundred taels of silver, which Gu Su had donated: "That's all."
The fat man stared at the silver with his small eyes, blinked, and asked again to confirm, "No loan?"
"No loan!"
"Hiss~~~" The fat man took a deep breath, cursing inwardly, "I didn't check the almanac today, and a penniless ghost comes to my first day of business. May the heavens grant me peace, it must be because I haven't had time to offer incense to the God of Wealth recently."
The fat man sighed inwardly. After expending countless brain cells in an instant, he finally remembered a cultivation technique.
"Alright, alright, I can't let you come here for nothing since it's our first day of business. Here's a cultivation technique for exorcising ghosts. It's not expensive, not a hundred taels, just sixty-five taels of silver. But let me make this clear first, this technique is not easy to learn. Don't blame me if you can't master it."
The fat man made a hand seal, and the bookshelf behind him began to spin rapidly.
The sound of the bookshelf moving around went on for a long time before a cultivation manual finally popped out from some corner.
Cao Xing took it and looked at it, only to see that the cover was peeling. [Inspiration Yin Yang Measure]
Before Cao Xing could read it carefully, the fat man kicked him out.
Holding the manual in his hand, Cao Xing returned to the back mountain and studied it carefully.
It wasn't until he carefully read through the cultivation method of "Inspiration Yin Yang Degree" that he finally understood why this cultivation manual was so cheap.
This method uses oneself as a tool, using one's own yang energy to refine the other's yin energy, thereby cultivating a pure yin spirit for oneself.
Not only is the cultivation process extremely difficult and requires a large number of elixirs, but more importantly, it requires absorbing one's own yang energy as fuel.
The technique has three levels.
The first level involves transforming one's own yang energy into a pure yin spirit.
The second level: After a pure primordial yin spirit breaks through to the second level, its strength is no weaker than that of an ordinary foundation-building cultivator, and its methods of dealing with yin spirits and evil ghosts are no weaker than those of a golden core stage expert.
The third level is the culmination of Yin Spirit, allowing one to fly and escape into the earth, and to contend with Nascent Soul experts without being at a disadvantage.
Of course, the prerequisite is that one's own yang energy must be sufficient. In fact, the more yang energy one has, the stronger the power. Theoretically, as long as one's own yang energy is strong enough, even a Nascent Soul cultivator is no match for one.
Good heavens, other people's cultivation techniques all lead upwards, but this technique leads directly to the underworld. No wonder no one learns it. Learning this thing is completely damaging to one's own foundation and taking the path of ghost cultivation.
Even Lu Zhishen, after learning the skills, will eventually become Dongfang Bubai.
Cao Xing had an urge to throw the thing into the fire halfway through reading it.
But after thinking about it, it was such a waste to burn sixty-five taels of silver, so I could only patiently continue reading.
However, as he flipped through the pages, Cao Xing suddenly narrowed his eyes.
There was a page in the book that read, "The Pure Yang Treasure can replace one's own depletion."
"Hmph, another delusional fool. If he had a pure yang treasure, wouldn't he just cultivate immortality directly?" Cao Xing sneered, but then he suddenly remembered something, opened his mouth, and spat out the relic core.
Looking at the golden, exquisite relic core in his hand, Cao Xing's heart stirred.
I don't have any Pure Yang Treasures, so I don't know if this relic inner elixir counts.
Thinking of this, Cao Xing put away the cultivation manual. This cultivation manual was so difficult to practice, and it also required pills to enhance one's own yang energy. He decided to wait until he had performed the rites of deliverance for Song Fang and the others, and then use the power of yin virtue to bless it, which would be more convenient and less troublesome.
Thinking of this, Cao Xing got up and went to the corpse-dissolving pit, where Song Fang and the other three immediately came to greet him.
"How did it go when you asked around last time if anyone was willing to travel with you?"
Upon hearing Cao Xing's question.
Song Fang and the other three exchanged glances, their expressions troubled.
"Well... Brother Cao, I've asked around, but they all said to think about it some more."
"have a look?"
Cao Xing raised an eyebrow and instantly understood what "take a look" meant; to put it bluntly, it meant he still didn't believe in himself.
Fine, if you don't believe me, you don't believe me. We'll take it slow.
"Brother Cao!"
At this moment, Song Fang stepped forward and handed a roll of white cloth to Cao Xing.
"What is this?" Cao Xing didn't take it, but glanced at the white cloth, where he saw that there were blood-written words on it.
"It was the old ghost in the cave who asked me to give it to you. He said... it's a fortuitous opportunity related to a low-grade magic weapon," Song Fang said.
magic weapon!
Cao Xing's heart skipped a beat. He looked down to check with his sister inside her sleeve, and only after confirming that there was no problem did he take it.
I lifted the white cloth and glanced at it; there were four characters prominently written at the beginning of the scroll…
A grand gathering at the Jade Pavilion!
Cao Xing quickly read through the contents and then put the item away. He wasn't sure if the information on it was true or false; he would ask those old ghosts for clarification when he had the chance.
They cut off sections of Song Fang and the others' bodies, trimming their toenails and a section of hair to make it inconspicuous and avoid being noticed.
The corpse was burned to ashes, mixed with soil, fingernails, and hair, and then molded into clay figures.
The next morning, Cao Xing brought the clay figure to the corpses of Song Fang and the others. The souls of the four men quickly entered the clay figure, making Cao Xing feel that the clay figure in his hand was slightly heavier. He weighed it and it seemed to have increased in weight by about an ounce.
Before heading down the mountain, Cao Xing made a detour back to his cave dwelling.
Cao Xing hadn't seen Wu Peng for several days, but when he finally saw him, he was shocked. He stared at Wu Peng and said, "Junior Brother Wu, what happened to you?"
Before them, Wu Peng was completely green; his hair, eyebrows, and even his eyes were green.
Wu Peng waved his hand dismissively, saying, "It's normal. This is a Seven-Colored Nourishing Essence Pill refined by the Grand Elder of the Alchemy Pavilion. There will be a slight side effect after taking it, but it will be fine after the effects wear off."
After Wu Peng finished speaking, he smiled and said to Cao Xing, "Compared to these side effects, I'm already at the third level of Qi Refining, and I'll soon be able to advance to the fourth level. Isn't that rapid progress?"
Hearing Wu Peng's words, Cao Xing understood. He scrutinized Wu Peng carefully and asked, "So... you went to test the drug? Just like Wang Kaixuan!"
Seeing that Cao Xing had seen through him, Wu Peng nodded, suppressed his smile, and stretched out his palms, looking at his green hands.
"Yes, I have no choice. The weapon refining workshop requires heavy work, which I can't do. The Treasure Talisman Palace and the Wind Rising Tower are places that only the rich can study. I can only go to the Alchemy Pavilion."
Wu Peng's vision gradually blurred. Even after entering the Alchemy Pavilion and working desperately all day, he could only earn five coins of silver, which wasn't even enough to have a full meal in the canteen.
Wu Peng looked up at Cao Xing with teary eyes, his voice choked with emotion: "Senior Brother Cao, cultivating immortality... is really so hard, sob sob sob... ah."