Chapter 89: Pointing at the Hammer and Calling it a Sword

"You say that Chen Ci of Sanyin Temple received the Dharma first, and asked about matters later?"

Hutou Daoren opened his eyes slightly and asked indifferently: "What did he ask? Tell me."

Ding Jiang knelt on the ground, inexplicably feeling sweat drenching his back. He recounted the events of that day, not daring to omit a single detail. Finally, gritting his teeth, he took a bank note from his bosom: "After he heard what this Apprentice said that day, he took the wooden box directly and thanked the teacher for bestowing the Dharma. Later, he even gave this Apprentice a thousand-tael bank note, saying it was just some local specialty, so this Apprentice accepted it."

Hutou Daoren glanced at him a few times, staring until Ding Jiang broke out in a cold sweat. After a moment, he commanded: "Go down."

"Yes!"

Watching Ding Jiang's figure backing out, Hutou Daoren closed his eyes slightly, but sighed inwardly.

He had spent most of his life rushing about for the sake of the Dao path, and had no extra energy to cultivate apprentices or helpers. Now, he truly did not have a single person he could rely on to handle matters. Take the Registered Disciples in Fuhu Altar, for instance; they were fine for managing mundane affairs, but when it came to doing something important, not one was useful. Otherwise, he would not have needed to cultivate an outsider like Chen Ci.

After all, they were only of the same sect, not the same lineage; the distance between them was actually quite far.

However, looking at it now, he was someone who could be put to use. Although his cultivation was a bit low, below the Hundred Apertures, as long as the True Qi was not vastly different, fighting was not much of a problem.

"After building an Upper Grade Dao Foundation, I must also begin to cultivate trusted apprentices. The higher the cultivation, the more there are things that cannot be done personally; otherwise, where would I find the time to refine Dharma Power and charge toward the Dan Realm."

A 'King' character wrinkled on Hutou Daoren's forehead, and he suddenly spat out two streams of Blood Qi from his nose, continuing to regulate the True Qi within his body.

He did not come from a noble family and lacked the support of kin from the start. If he did not have his own foundation, even if he occupied a seat within the He Mountain Sect in the future, once a crowd of trivial matters pressed down, even if he were not bullied by fellow disciples, he would easily be marginalized, with no possibility of advancing further.

On the path of cultivation, there truly is a difficulty at every step.

Not to mention inside Fuhu Altar.

In Sanyin Temple, Chen Ci scratched his head; his cultivation had also encountered some problems.

It was not a problem with the cultivation methods, but rather the practice of the Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method and the refining of the White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer.

Fire Control Spell: Entry/1/100 (Daily control of Dan fire, ten can advance one)

Qi Observation Spell: Entry/1/100 (Daily observation of Dan Qi, ten can advance one)

Looking at the display on his Gold Finger panel, the fact that the Qi Observation Method within the Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method had reached entry level was originally a happy event, but Chen Ci suddenly discovered that these two pill-making skills had not progressed for several days. Trying to continue practicing by boiling mundane herbs and chicken soup seemed to have lost its effect.

"Dan fire? Dan Qi?"

Chen Ci moved his lips up and down, thinking of a terrifying fact: "This wouldn't refer to the spiritual changes within pill methods, would it? If this means I have to actually refine pills to progress, this master will really have to go out and sell his looks to earn pill materials before I can advance bravely."

Even for the cheapest furnace of Xiaohuan Dan, it would be fine if the pill was successfully refined, but if not a single pill was made, he would lose everything to his grandmother's house.

Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method: Not yet entered/3/4 (Medicine absorption method, Fire control method, Qi observation method, Condensing pill method, three already obtained)

Condensing Pill Method: Not yet entered/49/100

Not to mention refining Spirit Pills, he didn't even have a pill formula suitable for him to start with, and this Condensing Pill Method was still quite a distance from entry level. Chen Ci could currently condense water vapor into four drops of liquid, but if he were to open a furnace to condense pills, he didn't have much confidence even in focusing on condensing a single pill.

Fine, the pill method cultivation could be considered to have hit a bottleneck; either bite the bullet and push through, or wait until the Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method reached entry level.

Then there was the refining of the White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer.

Chen Ci had a bit of a headache.

He really wanted to go to Fuhu Altar to trade for the refining method of the Hundred Spirits Poison Dragon Sword. Not to mention anything else, with his Master-level Basic Sword Technique, if he had a Dharma sword in hand, he would be able to pierce anyone without a sound.

But what was the reason?

Chen Ci could stick to his bottom line of not killing indiscriminately, but since he was in the He Mountain Sect, he could not let others know even a bit, otherwise he might become a double agent in the eyes of his superiors.

Not killing people? Doing good deeds?

You tell me, are you trying to wash yourself clean!

Moreover, with his cultivation and experience, he could see at a glance that this White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer was likely much stronger than most of the Dharma Artifacts in the He Mountain Sect, at least on par with the top-ranked spells in the "He Mountain Scripture".

If he didn't have a suitable reason, he feared he would be kicked out directly by Hutou Daoren.

"I think, this White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer, it looks too ugly."

Chen Ci sighed.

He had to refine it; if one day Hutou Daoren summoned him to do something, and he didn't have a hard Dharma Artifact in his hand, he would likely be a goner.

The embryo of this White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer required the Six Yang Skulls of five cultivators, the kind with the spine attached. Five are refined into one; the higher the cultivator's cultivation, the better the quality of this artifact.

Furthermore, this Heart-Lock Hammer had another benefit: if any of the hammer heads were damaged, or if his cultivation became higher in the future, he could take new Six Yang Skulls to refine onto it, which was very convenient.

Then there was the Bone Great Strength Restriction.

And the Bone Yin Fire Method, and the Five Ghosts Soul-Confusing Method.

The Bone Great Strength Restriction, taking the bones of humans and beasts to refine into the restriction, could make this bone hammer harder than Spirit Iron and as heavy as a mountain; each layer of restriction could grant the user an extra hundred catties of strength.

The Bone Yin Fire Method, taking human and beast bones buried for years to refine Yin Fire, could be hidden within the five-skull hammer head. With one strike, Yin Fire could spray from the seven orifices of the hammer head; once stained, it was difficult to extinguish with True Qi, and those struck would immediately have their flesh rot and bones melt.

The Five Ghosts Soul-Confusing Method, taking five Yin ghosts to practice this method, hidden in the hammer head; with a thought, the five-skull hammer head would turn and roar in unison, the demonic sound circling the ears, causing the listener's spirit to collapse and their True Qi to be difficult to maintain.

Chen Ci was somewhat silent.

This Baigu Daoren Xu Jia was truly a talent of the heterodox path.

Chen Ci was heartbroken and threw the booklet aside: "What White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer, such a heterodox item simply lowers one's character. How could it be worthy of me, Master Chen? Not refining it, not refining it, this master wants to use a sword!"

Eh, who dropped this White Bone Heart-Locking Sword here?

I don't know who was so careless, even the character for 'sword' was written wrong. What 'hammer', it's just a phonetic loan character; 'hammer' is interchangeable with 'sword', how delightful, how delightful.

What, you say this is clearly a hammer?

This master says it is a sword, so it is a sword. Do you understand exotic weapons or not? So what if this sword looks a bit like a hammer? In the end, am I the Master of the Sword Dao, or are you the Master of the Sword Dao?

"This White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer... Sword, let's not refine it for now. Although there are cultivators in Changping County, they are either sending holiday gifts to Sanyin Temple or are mere nodding acquaintances. Where am I supposed to find five Six Yang Skulls?"

Chen Ci shook his head and could only wait quietly for a fated person.

"However, this Bone Yin Fire Method and the Five Ghosts Soul-Confusing Method can be practiced first. This Yin Fire looks much more useful than lime powder, and besides, the Five Ghosts Soul-Confusing Method..."

Chen Ci rubbed his chin. Hutou Daoren giving him the refining method for this White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer was likely because he practiced the Five Ghosts Transportation Method; otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that a matching spell was delivered to his door?

"Red Bell, sing a little tune for this master."

Chen Ci summoned the five little ones from the Ancient Bronze Lamp and couldn't help but curl his lips as he looked at the five ghosts' bewildered expressions.

You can't even sing a little tune, what use are you?

"Come, this master will teach you the Soul-Confusing Method. In the future, when facing an enemy, sing a song for them; it can also count as an elegant affair. One hammer, and they won't make a sound."

"Hehe~"

(End of chapter)