Chapter 98: I Think This Demonic Cultivation Secret Method Resembles Orthodox Daoist Practice

Li Maolin was somewhat surprised by Feng Xue’s excuse, and for a fleeting moment, he genuinely wondered if Feng Xue was one of those luck-driven protagonists from storybooks who fall off cliffs and pick up ancient sect manuals centuries old.

But the thought lasted only an instant.

After all, Feng Xue had too many implausible traits—

First, his clean, unblemished physique didn’t resemble that of an ordinary family; second, spirit ghosts and great demons weren’t things you could just stumble upon, let alone command like Xing Nu Li; even if you somehow found a great demon and a spirit ghost, what about the magical artifacts? Could artifacts possibly be picked up randomly? The jade talismans might be explainable, but what about the Round Light Mirror? He, an ancient who had lived for centuries, knew exactly what the Round Light Mirror looked like a hundred years ago! Could the Shenxiao Sect have developed magical artifact technology centuries ahead of later generations eight hundred years ago? Then why did they vanish?

Even if you took the extreme view that Feng Xue truly jumped off a cliff and found treasure, that would make him even more dangerous to provoke—after all, sect heirs only had cultivators behind them, but if someone’s luck could reach such a level, then heaven itself stood behind him!

But as he always said, he came here to seek losses, so whatever Feng Xue said, he’d pretend to believe it.

Fortunately, the sorting, regulating, filtering, and refining of primordial qi was indeed the core skill of demonic cultivators; even if he’d never considered specifically separating the Five Elements, combining it with practical experience immediately sparked relevant insights.

But he couldn’t abandon the facade of a righteous sect, so he feigned thoughtful hesitation before speaking:

“This method of gathering and refining primordial qi is harmful to cultivators before Dao Entry. The techniques in your lineage likely apply only after Dao Entry—do you truly wish to learn them?”

Feng Xue knew full well that orthodox xuan cultivators risked death by tampering with primordial qi before Dao Entry, but since he’d asked, he’d already prepared his reply—he blinked and said:

“I originally planned to wait until after Dao Entry to explore this myself, but now that I’ve met you, Master, rather than waste this opportunity on a path I’m confident I can cross alone, I’d rather prepare for the future.”

“I’ll pretend you thought that way!” Li Maolin muttered inwardly, yet nodded outwardly and said:

“Every human is born with one breath of primordial qi, considered the closest state to the Primordial One Qi. Forcibly splitting it brings harm, not benefit. The method you mentioned likely refers to the qi generated by the five viscera—this qi sprouts from the primordial qi as seed and grows nourished by nutritive qi, flows into the meridians, transforms into defensive qi, and circulates through the limbs and body. Martial cultivators refine essence and stabilize defensive qi, like opening and expanding rivers. If you want to separate the five qi, you must act at the nodes where the viscera’s primordial qi enters the meridians.”

“An expert!” Feng Xue thought, a flood of ideas rising in his mind, yet veiled as if behind gauze. But why strain to think when such a master stood before him? He dropped his stubbornness and asked directly:

“But the sprouting of viscera qi is a continuous process—if blocked, it harms the body’s nourishment and shortens lifespan. If the sprouting qi has nowhere to go, it dissipates naturally. What ingenious method do you have, Master?”

“Here it comes!” Li Maolin’s heart leapt—this touched on the core technique of demonic cultivators gathering qi. After all, demonic cultivators extract at least a decade’s worth of qi per kill. Never mind whether the soul can absorb it all at once—the qi is saturated with resentment, blood miasma, and the original owner’s life imprint, like congee mixed with sand and pebbles—you can’t drink it raw. Only after stripping away the indigestible parts can you absorb and refine it.

The technique, once explained, was simple enough—even demonic cultivators who didn’t know it at first (they competed fiercely and rarely shared knowledge) would figure it out after killing a few people and realizing how much they wasted. But like where to watch risqué content, illegal matters aren’t openly taught.

He needed a moment to think, to find a plausible cover.

Fortunately, the world had no shortage of sects, great and small, countless of which had vanished after fleeting glory. Scanning his needs, he immediately found a “tiger skin” to wrap himself in—

“What you describe is essentially guiding and storing primordial qi. Speaking of which, you must mention the External Alchemy School. A thousand years ago, they once flourished, but as the world changed, rare medicinal ingredients became harder to obtain, and the External Alchemy School declined. What remains in various sect texts today—ingestion techniques, jade-eating methods, Golden Elixir Dhāraṇī—are their legacy.”

“But external alchemy isn’t something you can just make and use universally. To make it easier for cultivators to absorb, they often used the cultivator’s own primordial qi as a catalyst, aligning the medicine’s nature with the cultivator’s constitution for easier refinement. I don’t know how to make external alchemy, but I happen to possess the Huangbai Sect’s Qi-Extraction Technique.”

Though he disliked how “ancients” always dragged in origins when teaching something, Feng Xue was delighted to hear there was a solution—he didn’t care about all the “fluff” and said directly:

“Master, please teach me!”

Li Maolin nodded, yet continued: “Since I’ve agreed, I won’t renege. Listen carefully!”

Hearing the master was about to begin his lesson, Feng Xue didn’t interrupt—he pulled out paper and pen, ready to take notes.

“You say you’re a lone cultivator? Lone cultivators don’t have such good habits!”

Li Maolin muttered inwardly, yet spoke aloud:

“The Huangbai Sect excels in refining medicines from metals and minerals. The most popular jade-eating method today originated from them. Jade-eating extracts the essence of jade and converts it into primordial qi the soul can absorb. The Qi-Extraction Technique does the opposite—it draws out primordial qi and infuses it into jade. The jade essence condenses and encases it, preserving the qi for three months without dissipation.”

“This method is quite complex, involving multiple transformations of spiritual power—impossible to practice before Dao Entry. I’ll leave you the ritual protocol. Focus on tracing and deconstructing it. Starting tomorrow, I’ll come every You Hour to teach you for an hour. Then you may attempt practical application. If you have other questions, ask me…”

As he spoke, Li Maolin took a sheet of paper and wrote down the ritual protocol and key points, then shifted tone:

“You saw through me three times—I’ll teach you three Hou . Whether you succeed depends on your own fortune!”

With that, Li Maolin turned and vanished from the room.

Feng Xue picked up the paper with the ritual protocol and stared blankly:

“What’s a Hou ?”

Hearing such an ignorant question, Li Maolin, who hadn’t gone far, nearly turned back to explain—but Feng Xue didn’t know, while Mo Ying did. She immediately explained to her clueless master:

“One Hou is five days; three Hou is fifteen days—the span of one qi cycle.”

“Oh, that’s not short at all—much better than those masters who teach once and leave!”

(End of Chapter)