Chapter 5: Dao Heart

As far as Chen Ci knows, the He Mountain Sect does possess a method to achieve a superior-grade Golden Core, but the secret arts of Longevity within the sect's fundamental scripture, the *He Mountain Scripture*, are not Perfected and are difficult to complete, which is why they can only maintain a foothold among the heterodox sects.

If one wishes to attain Longevity, the He Mountain Sect is not a good choice.

But what does this have to do with Chen Ci? What kind of cultivation level does he even have?

"Writing books has made my brain dull; the predecessor came to the Changping County area to rot away, retire, and enjoy life. I, however, am an ambitious youth. This year's annual tribute was only paid in full, but I forgot to grease the palms of the Deacons and Elders at the main altar, Red Dragon Temple."

"If you don't send, and I don't send, how can the Deacon Elders advance? If the Deacon Elders don't advance, how can I advance? It seems I need to hurry and join into this cycle of advancement."

Chen Ci tapped his forehead. For an Outer Sect Disciple like him, it is not impossible to return to the He Mountain main sect, but wanting to advance is not that easy. Trying to pull strings from top to bottom cannot be solved just by spending a little gold and silver.

"Annoying. I want to get ahead, but what do I have to give? Right now, aside from a handsome face, I really have nothing at all."

When it comes down to it, it's just being too poor.

Chen Ci glanced at the sky; in just this short while, it had already reached the Hai hour.

Fine, it's time for Qi-eating and practicing the method again.

Chen Ci felt a moment of trance; transmigrating to cultivate immortality, he didn't even have any free time to slack off.

The so-called Three Yin Qi-eating Method—the three yins are: yin land, yin time, and yin qi. Practicing Qi and opening acupoints daily is most effective during the Hai, Zi, and Chou hours; if done at the Wu hour, the effect is greatly diminished.

To put it simply, this cultivation method is best practiced between 9 PM and 3 AM; it is truly staying up late to cultivate immortality.

Fortunately, Chen Ci had already adapted to such a schedule in his previous life, and it even fits the practice time of this Three Yin Qi-eating Method better than his predecessor did. It's only 3 AM; who are you looking down on?

Chen Ci returned to the quiet room in the backyard. This was a yin site he had opened up; besides practicing Qi, he also nurtured a few Corpses here, and planted a few Corpse Ganoderma on the Corpses, which could be considered a good example of being diligent and thrifty.

"It really is a talent for farming in the bloodline."

The strange thought flashed and vanished. Chen Ci closed his eyes and began to meditate. As strands of cold yin Qi entered his body, the Three Yin True Qi he had cultivated for years began to stir, opening new Acupoints bit by bit.

Three hours later.

"Hoo!"

Chen Ci exhaled a breath of turbid air and began to slowly regulate the somewhat restless True Qi in his body, ending this session of practice, and habitually checked the progress of the Three Yin Qi-eating Method.

Three Yin Qi-eating Method: 29/100 (Holding this divine sand to circulate Qi, one jin can equal five days of effort)

Seeing this, Chen Ci was stunned for a moment.

Although the progress of the Three Yin Qi-eating Method had not changed—it was still at the cultivation level of having opened twenty-nine Acupoints—the detailed explanation of the Dao method behind it had changed, from "Practice three times a day, one can advance once every three hundred days" to "Holding this divine sand to circulate Qi, one jin can equal five days of effort."

He took out the Jade Yin Sand from his bosom to look; sure enough, not only was there no cold sensation upon touching it, but even the previous jade-like quality had regressed into the state of ordinary sand.

"One jin can equal five days of effort?"

Chen Ci had a realization; the Five Elements Divine Sand indeed has an auxiliary effect on cultivation.

The Gold Finger seems to be able to quantify this auxiliary effect, which seems somewhat useful.

In reality, it doesn't seem to have any use at all.

"Cultivating in seclusion for three hundred days can open one Acupoint, which converts to sixty jin of Jade Yin Sand; four thousand two hundred jin of Jade Yin Sand would allow one to refine the Hundred Apertures within three months."

"Very good, it's just that I don't know where to collect these four thousand-plus jin of Jade Yin Sand."

Chen Ci leaned back; how is his Gold Finger just like those dog experts from his previous life, only teaching how to spend money but not how to make it?

A piece of trash.

Ptooey~

"I wonder if I can get some more Jade Yin Sand from Shi Sanniang?"

The Five Elements Divine Sand is not an overly rare spiritual item. As long as one is willing to spend the effort, one can always find it in the five-element sites of mountains, rivers, and marshes. However, it might take over a month to find a few jin, which is not worth the effort. Only disciples of major immortal sects who have people specifically to provide for them can rely on this for cultivation.

If ordinary cultivators are lucky enough to find a little, they still treasure it quite a bit and won't easily give it to others.

Chen Ci pondered for a moment, his hand subconsciously reaching for the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag at his waist.

Chen Ci:.

Can't do it, can't do it!

Shi Sanniang was already entangled with evil energy and was only willing to take out one jin of Jade Yin Sand; even if she still had some stock, it probably wouldn't be much.

Moreover, it would be a pity to kill such a "female bodhisattva."

"Those who kill will be killed by others. Fighting and seizing treasures is one thing, but not even sparing the meager belongings of people around you is too low."

Chen Ci took a few deep breaths: "I don't know if it's because I've watched too much 'gangster cultivation' or if there's something wrong with this He Mountain Sect's cultivation method. Why do I keep thinking about bullying the weak? I haven't gone into Qi Deviation, have I?"

However, it is also possible that when one carries a sharp weapon, the intent to kill arises on its own; this Five Yin Evil Qi Bag is much more powerful than ordinary firearms from his previous life.

"Reflect on oneself three times a day; one must never rely solely on killing to solve problems. This is not what a wise person does."

Chen Ci made up his mind: "When it really comes to the last resort... must remember to kill cleanly. Remember, remember."

However, long-term success requires patience; since he has the skills for cultivating immortality, there will always be opportunities to do business in the future.

Thinking of this, Chen Ci turned his gaze to two skills he hadn't paid much attention to before:

Soul Fixing Talisman: Minor Success/3/100 (Talisman paper and cinnabar ink, ten parts make three, every ten talismans, one can advance)

Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method: Not yet entered/0/4 (Medicine absorption method, Fire Control Method, Observation Qi Method, Condensing Pill Method, none yet obtained)

The Soul Fixing Talisman is a talisman method ranked in the middle-to-lower tier among the thousand mountains and thousand methods of the He Mountain Sect, and it is also one of the very few spells in the He Mountain Sect that does not require harming people, but can instead save them.

He Mountain Sect disciples practice Qi and methods, mostly requiring the flesh and blood of living beings, and their methods are not very humane, easily becoming tainted with resentment and evil energy, so they basically all learn this method to drive away resentment and ward off evil, maintaining their own clarity.

However, this method is easy to learn but difficult to master. Ninety-nine percent of Outer Sect Disciples can only learn the basics and do some low-class things, making the He Mountain Sect's already heterodox reputation shift even further toward the left-hand path.

Ahem, to put it simply, if one only learns the basics of the Soul Fixing Talisman, it has no great use for those in cultivation, but sticking it on a mortal can make them unable to move, while their eyes, expressions, and inner thoughts remain unaffected.

Dear readers, take a look, what kind of script setting is this?

The name "Soul Fixing" also comes from this.

But if one has some degree of cultivation, fixing a fierce ghost and warding off evil to protect oneself is not a problem.

"A real tough guy should be fixing a few female ghosts to play with—ahem!"

Now is not the time to think about these things.

And the Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method is not taught by the He Mountain Sect; this method comes from the Eight Views Palace, a major immortal sect, which is a top-tier immortal sect in this world and is even more famous throughout the world for its pill methods.

This Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method was originally a lineage of alchemy inheritance within the Eight Views Palace and is quite extraordinary, but for some reason, it leaked out; in any case, over the past five kalpas, the miscellaneous schools and heterodox sects of the world have all learned a bit of it, allowing every cultivator in the world to have pills to refine and pills to eat.

And the True Person Longevity of the Eight Views Palace seemed not to pursue the matter, as if he had tacitly accepted it; it is rumored that back then, several heterodox sects even clamored that the immortal sects and great factions should learn from the high moral character of the Eight Views Palace and spread their teachings to the world, and those who echoed them were countless.

However, not two years later, after those few heterodox sects were wiped out by evil cultivators drifting in from who knows where, no one mentioned this topic again.

It was too miserable; the entire mountain was burned into glass-like material, just as if it had been refined in an alchemy furnace.

Tsk.

"The Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method has not yet been mastered, so it is temporarily placed on the plan; the surroundings of Changping County are mostly mountains, the terrain is steep, and swamps and underground rivers are everywhere, so there is no telling how many people have died unnatural deaths—this Soul Fixing Talisman will definitely have a market."

"It's just that the Miscellaneous Cultivators in the mountains are mostly poor devils who can at most trade some wild beasts from the mountains; the Five Elements Divine Sand will likely have to depend on fate, but for now, it seems to be enough."

Life is not easy; making talismans to sell for a living.

"Originally it was about consuming Qi for Longevity and refining artifacts to protect the Dao, but now I also have to make talismans to earn money; this kind of cultivation life is truly a proper blessing."

Chen Ci came to the study, rummaged for a while, and quickly sorted out the corresponding items for making talismans.

A golden brush, a stack of talisman paper, and a bottle of cinnabar ink.

It's just a Soul Fixing Talisman, let's do it!

A quarter of an hour later, Chen Ci looked at the ten half-ruined talismans on the table and couldn't help but scratch his hair.

"Is there something wrong somewhere?"

"Wasn't it supposed to be a thirty percent success rate? Where are my Soul Fixing Talismans? Where did my three big Soul Fixing Talismans run off to?"

(End of chapter)