Chapter 75: Golden Core Elder! (Please subscribe! Please vote for monthly ticket!)

Seven days later.

Yunhe thoroughly renovated his cave dwelling and arrived at the Technique Pavilion of the Qingzong Sect.

For any cultivator, techniques are of utmost importance.

Every selection or change of technique must be made with utmost caution.

Outside the Technique Pavilion.

Yunhe held the token given by Sect Master Kong Zhibo, entered the hand seal, and a ray of light shot from the token, opening a passable gap in the formation outside the Technique Pavilion.

No matter the sect, techniques are always what they value most.

Because techniques are one of the most important foundations of a sect, and as a sect that has been passed down for a thousand years, the Qingzong Sect naturally possesses countless techniques.

There are techniques personally developed and created by the sect's ancestors of extraordinary talent.

There are also techniques gathered over thousands of years by the Qingzong Sect through various channels.

Furthermore, some were simply seized.

Moreover, any sect disciple who can submit a technique not yet recorded in the sect's Technique Pavilion can exchange it for a large amount of contribution.

It is said that there was once an official disciple of the Qingzong Sect who, from somewhere, obtained a technique that was not only unrecorded in the Technique Pavilion but also quite remarkable; after submitting it to the sect, he was directly bestowed a Foundation Establishment Pill.

For such an important place, protective measures are naturally quite thorough.

According to Sect Master Kong Zhibo, the formation guarding the Technique Pavilion is a three-tier formation; even a Golden Core Stage expert would not necessarily be able to easily break through.

If the formation is controlled by a cultivator within, even a Golden Core Stage mighty one would likely only be able to look on in despair.

It is one of the safest places within the Qingzong Sect, to the point that the 'one of' could be dropped.

As he entered the formation, the gap behind him slowly closed.

Huh?

A faint sound came from the corner.

Following the sound, when he saw the person making it, Yunhe froze.

He saw a girl who appeared to be only seven or eight years old, wearing a red outer robe embroidered with large yellow flowers, her little face rosy, cheeks puffed as if she were eating something, utterly adorable.

She sat casually on the ground, with a large number of Jade Slips placed before her.

In her hand, which was not even as big as a Jade Slip, she held a string of candied hawthorn, a very ordinary candied hawthorn, as if bought from the mundane world.

While eating the candied hawthorn, she played with the Jade Slips, seemingly infusing her divine sense into them, and thus did not immediately notice the change in the formation of the Technique Pavilion.

Only when Yunhe entered did she notice, her expression at that moment showing a hint of dullness and astonishment.

Their gazes met.

The girl's already red face became even redder.

With a flip of her palm, the string of candied hawthorn instantly vanished.

Immediately afterward, her gaze turned somewhat hostile.

This person was actually one of the Qingzong Sect's several Golden Core Elders, Hua Xin!

An Elder, a young girl?

Feeling the change in the gaze directed at him, Yunhe shuddered, reacted, and hastily clasped his hands in salute.

"Disciple Yunhe greets Aunt Hua!"

"What did you see?"

Her voice and tone were immature, yet they sounded cold and somewhat unfriendly.

At the same time, Yunhe instantly felt a terrifying aura belonging to a Golden Core Stage expert; cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his thoughts flashed as he quickly replied:

"Disciple saw Aunt Hua diligently deriving a technique, with utmost seriousness!"

Hearing this, Hua Xin was stunned for a moment.

She had thought Yunhe would say 'Disciple saw nothing,' which would obviously not satisfy her.

But saying half-truthfully that she was deriving a technique made her more believable.

The magical power fluctuations of a Golden Core Stage cultivator gradually dissipated.

Yunhe secretly let out a sigh of relief.

He had the feeling that he had seen some tremendous 'secret'.

Hua Xin rose to her feet, hands behind her back, she sized Yunhe up and down; seeing the token at his waist, she understood why he had come.

"A newly promoted Foundation Establishment cultivator from within the sect?"

"Yes!"

Yunhe's attitude was extremely respectful.

"Hmph."

Hua Xin let out a soft hum, her expression somewhat displeased, having pent-up frustration with nowhere to vent, she muttered: "Before entering next time, knock first—do you not know the rules?"

"Knock on the door?"

Yunhe looked at the entrance of the Technique Pavilion; aside from the grand formation, where would a door come from?

But he hurriedly replied, "Disciple understands."

"Go ahead and choose." Hua Xin waved her hand with an air of seniority.

"Yes!"

Yunhe performed another salute and hurriedly walked toward the inside of the pavilion.

This was his first time seeing a Golden Core Stage cultivator.

The Qingzong Sect, as the great sect governing a thousand li of the Qingyu Domain, naturally has Golden Core Stage mighty ones within.

Although he didn't know the exact number, he certainly hadn't expected that the first Golden Core Stage cultivator he would see would appear as such a young girl.

However, as he walked into the pavilion, his attention was quickly drawn to the vast number of Technique Jade Slips before his eyes.

This is the Qingzong Sect's complete collection of cultivation methods!

Numbering in the thousands, even up to tens of thousands, of cultivation methods!

Finding a cultivation method that suits oneself among so many is not easy.

Fortunately, he had done some homework in advance.

In the world of cultivation, cultivation methods are broadly divided into four categories based on power and cultivation efficiency.

The first category: after cultivation, one's cultivation base progresses relatively quickly, with few bottlenecks during the process, belonging to the type that is easy to get into and easy to cultivate.

However, correspondingly, after mastering this type of cultivation method, one's magical power and spiritual sense will be relatively weak, and the method contains hardly any powerful spells or divine abilities, few life-saving means; when fighting other cultivators, one is often at an absolute disadvantage.

The second category is almost the complete opposite of the first: after mastery, cultivation base advancement is extremely slow, with many bottlenecks, extremely hard to break through. However, the divine abilities and techniques attached to this type of cultivation method are often formidable, allowing cultivators to gain an advantage when fighting peers of the same realm. But breaking through to Golden Core? Its difficulty can be imagined.

The third category almost possesses all the advantages of the first two: cultivation is fast and comes with powerful divine abilities and techniques. However, this type of cultivation method is almost entirely demonic path cultivation; its practice is extremely ruthless, often slaughtering countless lives to refine the method, for example, the 'Blood Sacrifice Method'.

This type of cultivation method also has a fatal flaw: its side effects are enormous—mildly, one becomes addicted to killing, with muddled consciousness turning into a great demon; severely, one completely loses reason and becomes a shell that only knows killing.

However, such demonic path cultivation methods naturally do not exist within the Qingzong Sect.

The fourth category, also the last, consists mostly of top-tier cultivation methods, possessing all the advantages of the first two categories, and lacking the many hidden dangers and flaws of the third category.

However, to cultivate this type of method, one usually faces extremely harsh conditions; merely entering the door is extremely difficult, and the cultivation process may also be dangerous—one slip could even directly destroy oneself, ruining one's cultivation base instantly. One needs great fortune and great perseverance to practice it.

For example, cultivation methods requiring a special spiritual body, those needing a heavenly or earthly spiritual root, or those needing special spiritual roots such as lightning or ice spiritual roots.

Besides the fact that the Qingzong Sect has no third-category cultivation methods, the second-category methods were the first to be abandoned by Yunhe.

He yearns for the Great Dao; stagnation in his cultivation base is something he cannot accept.

Although one can rely on the demon beast body to slowly raise one's cultivation base, demon beast cultivation is inherently slow; from the middle Qi Refining stage to Foundation Establishment, it is almost always the cultivator body pulling the demon beast body forward, letting the demon beast body pull the cultivator body in return—but what if the demon beast body encounters an insurmountable bottleneck?

So many demon beasts, most have long lifespans, but how many truly cultivate to a high realm?

Actually, relatively speaking, Yunhe favors the first-category cultivation method the most.

This type of cultivation method progresses quickly; by using the cultivator body to nourish the demon beast body, one can raise the demon beast body's cultivation base as fast as possible, while also gaining him a long lifespan.

However, this way, the cultivator body's self-defense capability is insufficient; if the two bodies are not as he imagined, able to enter each other's worlds, then without the demon beast body's assistance, facing enemies would become very dangerous.

Even if one has spiritual artifacts or treasures to boost combat power, the deficiencies of insufficient magical power and spiritual sense cannot be made up for.

Most importantly, this way, isn't the cultivator body just a 'power bank' for the demon beast body, an accessory for boosting the demon beast body's cultivation base?

In his previous life as a human, although he does not look down on the demon beast body, he also does not wish to completely abandon the cultivator body.

As for the idea of cultivating to a certain realm and then specializing in another method?

Not to mention that the higher the realm, the harder it is to switch methods; just the existing phenomena caused by prior cultivation already determine that many methods cannot be specialized in—for example, weak magical power makes it impossible to cultivate methods that require strong magical power, and so on.

And if the fourth category is possible, Yunhe naturally also wants to give it a try.

However, the entry requirements for fourth-category cultivation methods are extremely stringent; with his low-grade gold-water dual spiritual roots, it remains uncertain whether he can find a suitable match.

"First take a look, anyway, after eliminating some, we'll talk again."

He knew selecting a cultivation method would be troublesome, so he dealt with trivial matters in advance, but he never expected it to be this complicated.

But given that cultivation methods are of utmost importance, he had to be extremely cautious, only able to calm his mind and search slowly.

Soon, he piled up a large number of jade slips before him, just like the Golden Core expert Huaxin.

However, browsing through many cultivation methods also opened Yunhe's horizons, letting him see all kinds of strange and varied cultivation methods.

Thus, half a month passed in this way.

"Are you still not done finding one?"

Huaxin's slightly impatient voice broke Yunhe's search for a cultivation method.

"Um." Yunhe set down the jade slip, stood up, and, feeling a bit embarrassed, performed a salute, saying: "Martial Uncle, regarding cultivation methods, I, as a disciple, must choose carefully."

Actually, Huaxin also knows the importance of cultivation methods for a cultivator; let alone half a month, spending a year and a half is also normal.

But she has important matters to attend to outside.

The candied haws are finished!

He scratched the back of his head with a hint of worry, gazing longingly at the outside of the formation.

"Forget it, tell me what spiritual root you have, and I'll help you choose."

Yunhe hesitated a moment, then said:

"I, the disciple, possess low-grade gold-water dual spiritual roots."

"Low-grade?" Huaxin was somewhat surprised, gave him a thorough look, clicked her tongue, and said: "Then your luck isn't bad."

Given her experience, she naturally knows how difficult it is to establish a foundation with low-grade spiritual roots, but that doesn't mean it's impossible.

Moreover, she wouldn't go so far as to wonder how a cultivator who just managed to establish a foundation did so by sheer luck.

She didn't dwell on this matter too much.

With a wave of her hand, a large number of jade slips flew off the shelf and landed before Yunhe.

A flicker of hesitation crossed Huaxin's face; after thinking, she waved her hand again, and three more jade slips fell down.

"First, let me remind you: these three cultivation methods have flaws and carry certain risks; you must weigh them carefully yourself."

Having said that, she no longer paid attention to Yunhe, moved over a small stool, sat at the entrance of the cultivation method pavilion, propped her chin with both hands, gazed outside, and licked her lips.

She felt hungry, really wanting to eat some candied haws.

(End of chapter)