Chapter 725

Ban Ji clutched his heart and gasped for a long time before he finally calmed his mind.

But his cold, sunken expression could not be changed no matter what.

His plan had been severely disrupted!

He subconsciously looked up at the sky, feeling a deeper layer of mystery and malice regarding the human tribulation.

"That Che Zhuzi is a member of the Wanxiang Sect; how dare an outsider like Pan Si Niangzi actually try to make a move on him."

"Even if it's just seduction, once discovered, the consequences will be dire! If Che Zhuzi realizes it, it would be perfectly reasonable for him to kill Pan Si Niangzi directly."

"This guy's guts are way too big!"

Ban Ji felt regret.

"Such a rogue demonic cultivator, even if she knows the Wanxiang Sect's rules, her understanding is only superficial; she doesn't know how to grasp the details and boundaries at all!"

"Once the case breaks and they investigate me, I will also be severely implicated."

"Damn it."

Ban Ji clenched his fists tightly.

He had to seek the best countermeasures for the worst-case scenario.

Once Pan Si Niangzi was caught, he couldn't expect her to keep her mouth shut for him; the most likely outcome was that she would drag him down with her.

In a word, don't count on the bottom line of a demonic cultivator.

"In fact, even if Pan Si Niangzi is killed, the world has never lacked methods for soul-searching."

"No!"

"I must cut ties with this matter as soon as possible—"

Ban Ji frowned deeply, and thinking of this, a chill could not help but rise from the deepest part of his heart.

Clearly, if he were to completely cut ties with the four demonic cultivators now, the heavy gold he had spent previously would certainly not be returned, and he would be unable to use this method to contain and entangle Unlike Ning Zhuo.

"Is this the human tribulation? Forcing me to face it head-on?"

"No!"

Ban Ji's expression turned fierce: "I only need to cut ties with Pan Si Niangzi and immediately have the other three sign new contracts to prevent them from breaking the unspoken rules and dragging me down if something goes wrong."

"But regardless, Che Zhuzi cannot be touched."

Ban Ji knew very well that if he were to firmly execute his original plan, the consequences could be quite severe!

Even if Unlike Ning Zhuo didn't participate, once the Fangxiang Sect investigated and found that Ban Ji was the mastermind behind Pan Si Niangzi, and that he had ultimately passed Che Zhuzi's Xingyun Trial and obtained actual benefits.

What would the Wanxiang Sect think?

Ban Ji knew very well: according to the Wanxiang Sect's style, they would certainly punish him without mercy!

"Void Spider Silk, my Void Spider Silk—"

Ban Ji lamented in his heart, forced to give up in pain.

He felt deeply aggrieved, all because this time Unlike Ning Zhuo hadn't even made a move; the true source of his obstruction was none other than himself!

Unlike Ning Zhuo woke up from his sleep, his exhaustion gone, feeling refreshed and clear-headed.

"My soul is a million-person soul, and my physical body has been tempered many times, almost completely capable of bearing the million-person soul!"

The foundation of his soul and body manifested its power at this moment.

His past accumulation and efforts had not been in vain.

His previous state had been too poor, and only now did Unlike Ning Zhuo have the energy to conduct a review.

"This time, I used almost all the means at my disposal to learn, and the results were not small."

"I understand the twelve types of spiral muscle-stacking structures in the 'Blood-Stained Muscle Art,' which are more blood-qi efficient than the basic condensation method and can increase strength by at least thirty percent."

Unlike Ning Zhuo finally tore away the fog covering the "Blood-Stained Muscle Art," revealing its true face.

"Hanging the head by the hair can sweep away distracting thoughts. Stabbing the thigh with an awl can produce penetrating thoughts, helping to break through learning difficulties."

"When spiritual sense is exhausted, one can passively consume literary style to produce wisps of literary qi, nourishing the Lower Dantian and extending learning time."

"The Luoshu pages are equivalent to always using the correct abacus, ensuring that every calculation result and direction I make is correct."

"The stacking of Bitter Ink and the Intent Brush multiplies the wondrous effects. It can bring me hidden knowledge of a higher level beyond words and pictures, and allow me to grasp it quickly."

"The drawback is that bitterness remains in the sea of consciousness and the Lower Dantian."

"What a pity. If I had the original manuscript of the 'Blood-Stained Muscle Art' left by the Three Sects' masters, the combination of Bitter Ink and the Intent Brush would have extremely powerful effects."

"The text I am learning now is just something I personally copied into a jade slip."

Even a jade slip made by a Golden Core cultivator practicing the Blood-Stained Muscle Art would be better than what Unlike Ning Zhuo made himself.

Because others' understanding will always have differences from one's own.

With the combination of the Intent Brush and Bitter Ink, Unlike Ning Zhuo had the ability to acquire this subtext through the original manuscript.

"It's truly a pity!"

"The Three Sects' masters once left behind an original manuscript of the 'Blood-Stained Muscle Art,' and it was even a true scripture!"

"As a result, without my knowledge, it ended up as a treasure material for refining Yuan Yuan Dasheng."

The meaning contained in a true scripture would not be ordinary deep meaning, but true meaning.

Cultivators can absorb true meaning and directly comprehend the various mysteries of the techniques in the true scripture, which is very convenient.

This also meant that the value of a true scripture was extremely high; very few cultivators could produce true scriptures, and they almost never circulated on the market.

Unlike Ning Zhuo subconsciously twisted his fingers, pushing this review to the end.

"The help of literary style is also not small."

"It's a pity I cannot concurrently study Confucianism, otherwise I could transform literary style into more and higher-quality literary qi!"

"Seeing the small to know the large, one can see the huge advantage Confucian cultivators have in learning."

"Therefore, this 'Songtao Nourishing Qi Art' must be learned."

"Additionally, although Confucian Songtaosheng allows me to absorb the Songtao qi on the mountain at any time, this behavior, while taking advantage on the surface, might actually have a greater cost."

Free things are always the most expensive!

"Therefore, I still have to personally find pine trees and plant them, striving for self-sufficiency."

With this, the review ended.

Unlike Ning Zhuo summoned Chen Cha, gave him the Ghost Dao Jin Dan, and had him go out to purchase pine trees, as well as related cultivation materials and tools.

"Literary style is so important; it is a necessity for my future cultivation."

"It would be better to directly choose an empty cabin in the Ten Thousand Mile Wandering Dragon and plant pine trees."

After several months, following the Spirit Hidden Willow, Unlike Ning Zhuo began to build the Ten Thousand Mile Wandering Dragon again.

Unlike Ning Zhuo took out the jade slip for the Songtao Nourishing Qi Art.

"Without a doubt, it was a reward specifically customized for me by the Confucian cultivator group. However, my performance this time should not have made things difficult for them."

This was also Unlike Ning Zhuo secretly expressing his own sincerity in cooperation!

Unlike Ning Zhuo sat cross-legged like a pine tree.

On the desk in front of him, the Intent Brush lay still like a dormant dragon, and the Bitter Ink in the inkstone was as deep as solidified night. In the Shuyu Study, Sun Lingtong sat upright in front of the Water Vortex Array, his eyes blooming with spiritual light, seeing the Luoshu pages, allowing Unlike Ning Zhuo to share the Dao artifact's mysterious power.

He took a deep breath, his gaze sinking and condensing like an ancient pool.

"Hang the head by the hair!"

The sea of consciousness shook, the hemp rope tightened the hair, the scalp felt tight, and various distracting thoughts in the sea of consciousness were swept away like dust.

"Stab the thigh with an awl!"

The wooden awl pierced into his thigh, the sharp pain like a red-hot iron rod penetrating into the bone marrow!

His mind and spirit were immediately like a tightened bowstring.

Sharp thoughts emerged one after another, arising in succession.

Unlike Ning Zhuo slowly stretched out his arm and reached out to hold the brush.

The Intent Brush touched the Bitter Ink, the warm light of the brush body and the deep darkness of the ink intertwined.

The brush tip was saturated with the mysterious brown ink, which was as heavy as mercury, and with Unlike Ning Zhuo's brush stroke, it fell heavily onto the paper.

What Unlike Ning Zhuo wrote first was the general outline of the "Songtao Nourishing Qi Art."

"Heaven and earth have righteous qi, which is endowed in various forms. Pine and cypress possess strength and health, and in the cold of winter, their spirit is revealed—"

The brush tip fell, moving with difficulty on the paper. For Unlike Ning Zhuo, the style of Confucian cultivation techniques was unfamiliar, and since he was a beginner, it was harder than a tumor climbing a mountain.

The words and sentences were profound and obscure. "Righteous qi," "flowing forms," "strength and health"—and so on, information was chaotic and swarmed in, making it difficult for Unlike Ning Zhuo to grasp the key points.

The meaning conveyed by the Intent Brush to his heart, however, formed a sharp contrast with Unlike Ning Zhuo's understanding.

It was continuous, but overall it was blurry.

Unlike Ning Zhuo vaguely felt something, but he wasn't anxious, knowing well that this was just the beginning of accumulation.

This was only the first copy.

The stagnation of the Bitter Ink was particularly strong; every word written consumed immense mental effort, as if wading through a quagmire, his mind and spirit suppressed by the heavy "bitterness" until he couldn't breathe.

Fortunately, Unlike Ning Zhuo was good at enduring hardship and had great tenacity, forcibly memorizing the shapes of the characters, giving it his all.

The "Songtao Nourishing Qi Art" didn't have many words. After Unlike Ning Zhuo finished the first copy, he had many gains, but he was also extremely exhausted.

He closed his eyes to meditate and rest for a long time before slowly opening them and starting the second copy.

Writing the passage in the Literary Pine chapter, "The literary pine emits clear sounds, like reciting the classics of the sages. Its qi rises like mist, its color like jade and crystal—," the meaning accumulated in Unlike Ning Zhuo's heart changed from quantitative to qualitative.

The Intent Brush became somewhat "clear and transcendent," the heaviness of the Bitter Ink remained, but the brush tip of the copy became a bit firmer.

Unlike Ning Zhuo's understanding rose by a level: "The so-called wind of the pine waves is the mixing and rhythm of qi."

When he wrote the passage in the "Martial Pine chapter," "The martial pine shakes metal and iron, like hearing the sound of war drums. Its qi is biting and cold, its color like mysterious iron blue," the Intent Brush clearly transmitted a completely different "meaning," making Unlike Ning Zhuo feel as if he saw pine branches dancing wildly in the whistling wind like warriors waving spears! A scene of angry pine waves and metal and horses.

His understanding deepened by another level: "Literary qi, martial qi—literary and martial have the same source but different flows!"

The second copy ended, and Unlike Ning Zhuo's rest time was half of what it was before.

Third copy.

Writing a passage: "Literary cultivates the heart, martial tempers the form. Heart and form help each other, and the Dao can be achieved."

At this moment, Sun Lingtong, far away in the Shuyu Study, seemed to see the Luoshu pages gently vibrate!

Luoshu brought Unlike Ning Zhuo the most correct deduction, making Unlike Ning Zhuo deepen his understanding again: "The power of strength and fierceness needs to be driven by a heart of flexibility and toughness; a heart of flexibility and toughness also needs to be supported by a will of strength and fierceness! Just like the pine and cypress, the branches are strong enough to resist wind and snow (martial), but the pine needles are flexible enough to remain evergreen all year round (literary)!"

"So, heart and form helping each other is the core true meaning of this technique!!"

With this, Unlike Ning Zhuo finally had his first personal, hazy realization of the core mysteries of the Songtao Nourishing Qi Art.

The brush tip stopped with difficulty at "Righteous qi resides within, why fear the floating life."

The third copy ended!

Unlike Ning Zhuo slowly put down the brush, his face pale, his body and mind exhausted, the stinging pain in his legs clearly surging up at this moment, his whole body drenched in cold sweat.

The literary style that had originally wrapped around his whole body had long since been completely exhausted during the second copy.

The paper was soaked through by the Bitter Ink and completely destroyed, and his thighs were a bloody mess.

His scalp was in pain, and many broken hairs were scattered beside him.

"The 'moistening' of literary qi, the 'sharpening' of martial qi, the 'stillness' of the heart and spirit, the 'movement' of the physical body—so these pine waves, this heaven and earth, and the person himself, are all within the two words 'Nourishing Qi,' operating endlessly according to the principle of mutual aid between strength and flexibility."

Unlike Ning Zhuo closed his eyes, as if he heard the sound of pine waves on the mountain that day.

This sound of waves was already different in his heart. It was no longer just a sound, but a magnificent movement containing vivid breath and revealing the ultimate principles of heaven and earth.

Carrying a feeling of joy, Unlike Ning Zhuo went straight to sleep this time.

When he woke up, he was refreshed again.

"This learning method is not something an ordinary person can bear."

"Fortunately, my foundation is sufficient!"

"The paper is not good enough; that is a shortcoming. Otherwise, the Intent Brush and Bitter Ink could bring even more help."

Unlike Ning Zhuo didn't go to solve this problem himself.

He had a feeling—the Confucian cultivator group of the Wanxiang Sect would very likely solve this weakness for him in the next Xingyun Trial.

"First the Intent Brush, then the Bitter Ink—"

"The 'Songtao Nourishing Qi Art' might have been Confucian Songtaosheng's impromptu decision to give me an extra gift."

"The brush, ink, paper, and inkstone are likely coming in this order."

"Let's look forward to it for now."

Unlike Ning Zhuo got up, walked out of the cave abode, and headed to the previous Pine Mountain Literary Temple.

This mountain peak had long since opened its array, forbidding outsiders from entering, but Unlike Ning Zhuo was unimpeded.

He came to the Literary Temple and saw that the temple doors were open, with no one inside.

Unlike Ning Zhuo sat in his previous position and tried to activate the "Songtao Nourishing Qi Art." His Five Elements magic power was not compatible with this technique, and it would consume more to achieve the same power as Confucian magic power.

A large amount of wind qi was absorbed by Unlike Ning Zhuo and added to himself.

This time, it wasn't just literary wind, but also martial wind.

"I absorb literary wind more and more easily, and consume much less magic power!"

"So this Literary Temple also has corresponding support for me when I perform Confucian cultivation techniques."

Unlike Ning Zhuo discovered this secret and finally understood that the convenience Confucian Songtaosheng gave him was more than what was said on the surface; he secretly hid this gratitude in his heart.

"If I learn here, can I also get the support of the Literary Temple?"

Unlike Ning Zhuo thought of it and did it, but just as he started, he felt an invisible force pushing him out the door.

Although this force was gentle and small, Unlike Ning Zhuo still followed the trend and walked out of the Literary Temple.

The Literary Temple doors closed behind him.

Unlike Ning Zhuo was definitely not Pan Si Niangzi; he had been a righteous person since he was a child and immediately understood the boundaries.

"It seems that giving me the convenience of collecting pine wind is already the limit for this group of Confucian cultivators."

"If I learn in the Literary Temple, that would break the limit and involve the Confucian cultivators."

"Since they don't want this, I can't force it."

By now, Unlike Ning Zhuo's cooperation with the Confucian cultivator group was quite tacit, and the feeling was also very good, so he naturally didn't want to spoil this relationship.

Unlike Ning Zhuo left this mountain peak, returned to his own cave abode, and received the latest intelligence.

"Qing Qing Huangzi is going to hold the second trial?"

"Hmm—need to prepare the Mother Sound Bamboo Puppets in advance."

"Every type of reed component in the 'Mother Sound Reed Book' must be made."

"This is not difficult!"

Unlike Ning Zhuo immediately focused his attention on this matter.

Qing Qing Huangzi's Xingyun Trial was different from others'.

With inheritance as the goal, its value was undoubtedly the highest at the moment.