Chapter 76: with translation of chapter title

Flaws? Risks?

To be honest, after looking at so many techniques, the ones truly without flaws or risks are just the most ordinary, widely practiced techniques.

"But a technique that would make even a Golden Core cultivator take notice surely isn't simple, right?"

Yunhe focused his main attention on these three Jade Slips.

After a brief hesitation, he casually picked up a Jade Slip, placed it on his forehead, and infused his spiritual sense.

Sect techniques all have restrictions; viewers can only see a general outline and cannot see the full content.

But for most techniques, seeing a general outline is enough.

"《Yunliu Freely Sword Art》."

Upon browsing the first Jade Slip, Yunhe clearly felt the difference from the techniques he had previously browsed.

This technique is a top-tier technique of the Yunliu Sect, an immortal sect from thousands of years ago, suitable for cultivators with gold-water dual-attribute spiritual roots.

Just from the spiritual root attribute perspective, it matches him very well.

The cultivation requirements are high, entry is not easy, and during practice, due to the technique's special nature, one may often 'encounter' inner demons, especially when breaking through a bottleneck.

It is well known that inner demons are absolutely feared by any cultivator; many cultivators swear oaths to the great dao inner demon to show sincerity.

Other cultivators avoid them at all costs, but practicing this technique one often 'encounters' them.

Those with weak will, eight or nine out of ten will be taken over by inner demons.

But it also has an advantage: each time you slay an inner demon, your dao heart becomes a bit firmer, and you also gain considerable benefits, such as a surge in mana and a great increase in spiritual sense, etc.

One could say it is a technique that often wanders on the edge of life and death, establishing a pure heart by slaying inner demons.

Yunhe gave up on this technique after just a glance.

First, not mentioning its danger and the fact that the incomplete technique can only be cultivated up to the late Golden Core Stage, these two points are shortcomings.

When cultivated to the end, this technique can produce the two great secret arts of Kui Water and Xin Metal, which are quite formidable.

But the problem is, Kui Water is yin water, and Xin Metal is yin metal.

Extreme yin is fine; everyone has yin and yang, at most an excess of yin and deficiency of yang just makes one effeminate.

But dual extreme yin likely brings more than just simple yin excess.

This is a female cultivator's technique!

Male cultivators can also practice it, but under the influence of dual extreme yin, male characteristics will gradually fade as the technique is practiced deeper.

In the end, whether one becomes neither male nor female or directly turns into a woman, Yunhe does not know.

Putting down the Jade Slip, he gave a complex look at Huaxin sitting by the door.

"You gave me this technique to look at; are you sure you're not joking?"

Yunhe, who originally had great curiosity about these three Jade Slips, now also felt uneasy in his heart.

But after a little hesitation, he still turned his gaze to the second Jade Slip.

As his spiritual sense was infused, the technique's name and some of its special nature surfaced in his mind.

"《Great Longevity Great Five Arts True Scripture》?"

"The five elements generate each other, giving rise to the five elements; the five elements overcome each other, overcoming the self."

According to the Jade Slip's description, this technique is also a legacy technique of the top sect, the Great Five Elements Sect, from ten thousand years ago.

At first glance, the prerequisites for cultivating this technique are extremely low; regardless of the attribute or grade of spiritual root, one can cultivate it.

Even theoretically, an ordinary person without spiritual roots can cultivate it!

Because regardless of who, everyone inherently possesses all five elements; the so-called 'spiritual root' is merely a cultivator being relatively 'outstanding' in one or more attributes, like Yunhe's gold-water dual spiritual root, which possesses all five elements but leans toward gold-water dual attributes.

And the degree of being 'outstanding' represents the grade of the spiritual root.

But upon closer examination, one finds that although this technique has little requirement for spiritual roots, it does have other harsh conditions.

According to the technique, to cultivate it one must first possess at least the essence blood of a five-element spirit beast or that of its descendant!

What is a five-element spirit beast?

True dragons, phoenixes, qilins, black tortoises, and the like.

Not to mention letting an ordinary person search for spirit beast essence blood; even if you let a Foundation Establishment Stage great cultivator, or even a Golden Core Stage great expert, search for it, could they find it?

If found, could they obtain it?

Moreover, the technique says that if one can gather the essence blood of all five-element spirit beasts and then refine it with the 'Great Longevity Great Five Arts True Scripture,' one can cultivate a 'Great Five Elements Spirit Body' even rarer than a heavenly spirit root!

Of course, with such harsh conditions, not to mention Yunhe, even the former Great Five Elements Sect would probably not be able to gather them.

Therefore, this technique has a secondary option.

It can be to use the essence blood of demon beasts that contain the five-element spirit beast bloodline, and according to bloodline concentration, refine them into a 'Five Elements Spirit Body' and a 'Lesser Five Elements Spirit Body' respectively.

Furthermore, a more humanized point is that one does not need to gather all five kinds of essence blood at once; similarly, one only needs to first find one kind for refinement, and that counts as entering the door.

However, refining just one kind does not form a spirit body; at most it slightly improves the spiritual root.

If it's just that, then this technique seems acceptable.

Although demon beasts containing the five-element spirit beast bloodline are hard to find, if it is a major power such as the Qingzong Sect, as long as the sect elders are willing to spend time and cost, they should still have some chance to obtain some.

Spending a great cost to cultivate a seed for a sect's rise, I believe many sects would be willing.

But this technique still has one limitation!

Namely, the two characters 'Great Longevity' in the 'Great Longevity Great Five Arts True Scripture'!

Refining the five-element spirit beast essence blood into the body is fine, but to reshape it via a secret method into a 'Five Elements Spirit Body' requires paying a certain price.

As Yunhe said in his previous life, seizing the creation of heaven and earth inevitably requires paying a price.

Therefore, the first sentence at the beginning of the technique.

"The five elements generate each other, giving rise to the five elements" refers to constructing a 'Five Elements Spirit Body'.

And 'the five elements overcome each other, overcoming the self' refers to 'overcoming' one's own lifespan.

Could this be the legendary 'overcome' destiny cultivation?

Seeing this, Yunhe couldn't help but have a thought flash through his mind.

How important is lifespan to cultivators?

Foundation Establishment cultivators can extend their lifespan to two hundred years, Golden Core old ancestors to five hundred years, and Yuan Ying cultivators at most a thousand years of lifespan.

How many cultivators perish midway due to insufficient lifespan?

Indeed, it lives up to being a top-tier technique of the fourth category; each one is like dancing on a blade's edge. 'Cloud Flow Pure Heart Sword Manual' plays with the heart demon, while 'Supreme Longevity Great Five Elements True Manual' plays with lifespan—both are techniques where a slight misstep can cost one's life.

Although the technique does not specify exactly how much lifespan it will 'overcome', Yunhe estimates it should be related to the concentration of the Five Elements Spirit Beast's bloodline in the refined demon beast essence blood.

The higher the concentration, the more lifespan will be lost.

Is it to cultivate a spirit body by consuming one's own lifespan, then use the spirit body to boost cultivation to a higher level?

To drive oneself into a desperate situation, relying only on the little remaining lifespan—if not successful, then become benevolent!

Yunhe finally understood why those great sects from tens of millions of years ago would easily be wiped out; possessing such top-tier techniques, perhaps they played themselves into extinction.

But then he thought of something else.

If I cultivate this technique, in 'Overcome Self Body', does the 'overcome' apply to the lifespan of my cultivator body, or to both bodies together?

After all, although he has a lot of lifespan, it is entirely pulled up by his demon beast body alone.

When the cultivator body breaks through Foundation Establishment, the lifespan increase it brings is almost negligible.

If it is only 'overcoming' the cultivator body, then could he give it a try?

I also don't know whether my demon beast body counts as containing the Five Elements Spirit Beast's bloodline. Moreover, extracting the essence blood causes considerable damage.

However, unfortunately, this technique is also severely damaged.

Although following this technique one can cultivate all the way to the early Yuan Ying stage, only the method for refining the Minor Five Elements Spirit Body is present; the methods for refining the Five Elements Spirit Body and the Great Five Elements Spirit Body are missing.

He put down this jade slip and looked at the last piece.

"Four Expansion Great Metal Sword Canon".

This is a technique of pure metal attribute.

No longer is it an inherited technique from a great sect that was wiped out tens of thousands of years ago; rather, it is the technique of the current top sect, the Sword Heart Sect, although it is far from the Qingzong Sect, and by chance a fragment ended up here and was collected by the Qingzong Sect.

In fact, many cultivators who possess dual or even multiple spiritual roots, if they cannot find a technique matching their multiple attributes, will choose to cultivate a single attribute spiritual root.

Although this may somewhat waste the advantage of multiple spiritual roots, if one can find a superior technique, it is actually not a bad choice.

This technique emphasizes killing over training, stressing that with the sword one can break myriad laws, one force can overcome ten assemblies, one sword equals one person, and refining the sword also refines the heart.

Sword cultivator!

This technique is actually a sword cultivator technique; its entry requirements are quite harsh, requiring a piece of pure metal to forge a sword.

Then, by refining the metal sword into one's body, from then on the person is the sword and the sword is the person.

When the sword heart is refined, the metal sword can completely replace the cultivator's original spiritual root attribute, becoming a unique 'Sword Heart Spirit Body'.

However, correspondingly, damage to the sword means damage to the person; if the person perishes, the sword perishes.

Moreover, due to the influence of the metal sword's qi, besides a sword, one cannot use any other spiritual artifacts or treasures, otherwise the sword heart will become impure.

It is very suitable for those who are devoted to the sword way, sword cultivators.

Of course, pure metal is not that easy to find.

Such an extremely rare material like metal would even move a Yuan Ying stage cultivator, let alone a mere Foundation Establishment stage cultivator.

Most importantly.

This technique is also the one among the three techniques found by Huaxin that is the most severely damaged.

"Cloud Flow Pure Heart Sword Manual" can be cultivated up to the late Golden Core stage.

"Supreme Longevity Great Five Elements True Manual" can be cultivated all the way to the early Yuan Ying stage.

But this "Four Expansion Great Metal Sword Canon" can only be cultivated up to the middle Golden Core stage.

Put down the jade slip.

To speak frankly.

After browsing these three techniques, Yunhe somewhat looked down on the techniques he had previously browsed.

However, the advantages and disadvantages of these three techniques are laid out completely.

Yunhe looked at the somewhat wilted Flower Old Ancestor, who didn't care which technique he chose and seemed to have no intention of giving advice.

According to the sect's regulations, he can make a copy.

Afterward, if he wants to obtain another technique, he must make the corresponding contribution.

"No matter what, first make a copy of the most valuable one; if that's not possible, then later we can exchange contributions for it."

After hesitating for a long time, Yunhe finally made a choice.

Supreme Longevity Great Five Elements True Manual!

No matter from which angle, this technique should be the most suitable for him among the three top-tier techniques.

He is not lacking in lifespan for now; even if his demon beast body lacks the Five Elements Spirit Beast's bloodline, spending a bit more time should allow him to find one or two in the Demon Beast Realm.

If he can refine the Minor Five Elements Spirit Body, then his low-grade spiritual root constitution might possibly be improved!

Moreover.

It can be cultivated all the way to the Yuan Ying stage, without needing to spend time, energy, and resources on the hassle of switching techniques.

Of course, the premise is that he must be able to cultivate this technique.

He immediately stopped hesitating, took out the jade slip to make a copy.

After finishing, he carefully put the jade slip into his storage bag.

He will go back and slowly study whether it is suitable for cultivation.

"Have you decided?"

Seeing Yunhe finish the rubbing, Huaxin's eyes lit up and she asked.

En, thanks for the guidance, Martial Uncle. Yunhe bowed and said.

Good, good, good.

Huaxin smiled charmingly and waved her hand.

Bang!!

Yunhe felt a strong force shove him hard out of the formation, staggering a few steps and almost falling to sit on the ground.

Under his astonished gaze, Huaxin flashed away from the Technique Pavilion, disappearing into the horizon in the blink of an eye.

Before he still had doubts, but now it seems.

Really a Golden Core Patriarch!

I don't know if the sect has any Yuan Ying Stage cultivators.

(End of chapter)