Chapter 98: Gains and Losses Hard to Distinguish, White Bone Prohibition Formed

Sanyin Temple, pill room.

Chen Ci looked at the handwritten booklet in front of him, as well as the two small yellow-skinned gourds, lost in thought.

Putting other things aside, he was actually quite fond of these two small yellow-skinned gourds; although they were not Dharma Artifacts or Spirit Materials, they had two points of clever utility, and hanging them at his waist could add a bit of a cultivator's aura, slightly neutralizing the negative influence of the White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer.

Hmm. It seemed the effect wasn't that great; no matter how one looked at it, he was still a refined demonic cultivator.

Sigh.

"When I go out in the future, I should still use my Daoist robe to cover the White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer a little."

Chen Ci muttered to himself; this time when he went out, apart from retrieving a Heart-Lock Hammer that no one wanted, the value of the other items was hard to gauge.

As for the small gourd of spirit wine, Chen Ci didn't dare drink it; he mixed it with wheat bran and used it to feed the chickens.

The small half-gourd of Five Metal Essence Qi was fed entirely to the Five Yin Evil Qi Bag, which not only nourished the damaged Five Yin Gold Evil back to health but even allowed for the refining of an extra strand of Five Yin Black Evil, saving Chen Ci a full three months of effort.

It was just a pity that most of it was lost during the battle; otherwise, this gourd of Five Metal Essence Qi would have been enough for Chen Ci to refine even more of his Five Yin Black Evil.

Five Yin Evil Qi Bag/Stomach Earth Nourishing Gold Method: 8th layer Prohibition/6/100 (Six strands of Five Yin Black Evil, two strands of Five Yin Gold Evil)

"You really are courting death."

Chen Ci raised his hand and gave the Six Yang Skull in the middle of the White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer a tap; it really was ignorant.

As for the handwritten booklet, it was a Daoist manual of over a thousand words; although the content was very profound, its length was not even as long as Chen Ci's own Three Yin Qi Consumption Method, and it also contained some insights realized by the cultivators of Ma Family Village, as well as some methods for Corpse Refining.

Setting aside those insights and the Corpse Refining methods for now, Chen Ci studied this thousand-word Daoist manual carefully several times; although his vision and experience were not particularly high, having the Three Yin Qi Consumption Method for comparison, he still managed to see some clues within it.

This Daoist manual was called a Qi Refining method, but it was more like a sword manual, very similar to the "Baiyang Sword Solution" Chen Ci had obtained previously; if he didn't have his foundation as a Basic Sword Technique Master, he wouldn't have been able to see the mystery within.

Of course, the intent of this Daoist manual was a hundred times higher than the "Baiyang Sword Solution," and it also solved a question Chen Ci had previously hidden in his heart.

Everyone was a Qi Refining cultivator; he, Chen, practiced the Three Yin Qi Consumption Method, and opening a hundred apertures was already incredibly difficult. For those True Inheritors of major sects who practiced Superior Grade Qi Refining Methods, built Upper Grade Dao Foundations, and opened over three hundred apertures, how difficult must that be? Was it really all just piled up with resources?

If that were the case, then I could do it too.

But after reading it, Chen Ci understood that although Superior Grade Qi Refining Methods were profound and difficult, if a true immortal seedling were to practice them, as long as they could subdue the method, the speed of progress would be shocking.

Taking the "Baiyang Sword Solution" as a comparison, this technique recorded three chapters: Gold Swallowing Method, Lung Gold Method, and Washing Refining Method, using these to nourish gold qi, refine sword qi, and break apertures to kill enemies; it counted as a decent inheritance among miscellaneous rogue cultivators.

Yet this manual was directly aimed at inhaling and absorbing Five Metal Essence Qi from gold and iron objects to refine qi and break apertures; as long as the practitioner could subdue the Five Metal Qi and had enough gold and iron objects, they could likely open an aperture every ten days or half a month, and achieve great success in Qi Refining within sixty years.

The only two difficulties lay in extracting the Five Metal Essence Qi and subduing the Five Metal Essence Qi.

In the cultivation world, among the Five Elements methods, Water and Wood True Qi were the most common; water could nourish all things, and wood could grow lushly. The intent of these two methods was subtly in harmony with the flesh and blood body, making them relatively stable to practice. It was the same principle for why the Three Yin Qi Consumption Method leaned toward Yin and Water, and the famous Long Spring Technique leaned toward Wood and Longevity.

Earth-attribute True Qi was upright and peaceful, so there were no major problems practicing it either.

However, the True Qi cultivated by the Gold and Fire methods was difficult to harmonize with flesh and blood; although they were powerful in battle, they were fraught with difficulties in practice, not to mention how easily they led to Qi Deviation, harming the body and life.

If one could subdue the Five Metal Essence Qi with this manual, one's cultivation would rise incredibly fast; using gold essence to refine True Qi, and using True Qi to transform into sword qi, one wouldn't need to seek other methods for battle and killing—a sword in hand was enough. But if one couldn't subdue the Five Metal Essence Qi, one careless mistake would surely lead to the flesh being corroded by the Five Metal Essence Qi; as long as one piece of flesh or meridian turned into gold or iron, the path of cultivation would be severed.

"High risk, high reward. Which major sword sect's Superior Grade Qi Refining Method is this?"

Chen Ci swallowed his saliva, quite suspicious: "Directly absorbing Five Metal Essence Qi into the body is no different from suicide for an ordinary cultivator. Is the gap between me, Chen, and a major sect's True Inheritor really that big?"

Impossible, absolutely impossible.

That man surnamed Ma practiced this method and only reached around forty apertures after seventy-odd years, relying purely on slow, grinding effort to improve his cultivation bit by bit; he was truly too trash!

If he, Master Chen, were to practice it, it would definitely be a sure thing.

However, since he was a member of the He Mountain Sect, this external method was not worth learning.

Chen Ci touched his chin; this Daoist manual was severely incomplete, at most allowing one to cultivate up to around eighty apertures; unless he could be accepted into that major sword sect later, there was absolutely no possibility of going further.

That Ma Family Ancestor used the method in this remnant manual to inhale and absorb Five Metal Essence Qi into his body, and combined with his own inheritance of Corpse Refining, he refined his own flesh to be like copper and iron, making it hard to age, thereby extending his lifespan.

But it was also because of the Five Metal Qi entering his body that the Ma Family Ancestor needed to stay in a Zhenjin Cauldron year-round and swallow large amounts of spirit medicine, using the spirit energy of plants and trees to foster life force to resist the corrosion of the Five Metal Essence Qi; this was also why the Ma Family Village was determined to get that Spirit Spring Medicine Field.

Once the amount of spirit medicine couldn't keep up, or as time went on, the Ma Family Ancestor would eventually turn into a gold and iron statue and die miserably.

"Is there truly great terror between life and death?"

Chen Ci was silent for a moment; he could understand, but he didn't quite understand the Ma Family Ancestor's choice. For such a method of life extension, it would really be better to just die, at least retaining some dignity as a cultivator.

"But I am only thirty-two; I cannot understand the terror of one's lifespan coming to an end, but it is precisely because of this that our generation of cultivators pursues Longevity, because Longevity can encompass all desires and pursue the infinite possibilities of the world."

Chen Ci slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, and after memorizing the contents of the booklet, he used his True Qi to shred it into powder, leaving no trace behind.

Sword cultivators had always liked to speak with their swords; as for reason, it came after the sword.

He didn't want the He Mountain Sect to be wiped out by some wandering evil cultivator one day; that would be too miserable.

"Although this True Qi method is of no great use, it has increased my knowledge somewhat. This method of extracting Five Metal Essence Qi is worth learning, as it is much stronger than the Stomach Earth Nourishing Gold Method, and it will be much faster to refine evil qi in the future."

Chen Ci subconsciously glanced at his panel again.

Worship Rakshasa Method: Not yet entered/1/10 (Worship this method, enter my gate)

At least this thing didn't cause any commotion if he ignored it. After being on edge for a few days, Chen Ci finally managed to put his heart back in his stomach.

Ahem, Great Rakshasa, it's not that you aren't good, it's just that I am a person who is relatively loyal and nostalgic. I hope you can understand; a forced melon is not sweet. Let this ill-fated connection drift away with the wind.

"Although I didn't have high expectations to begin with, the feeling of only getting a little bit of opportunity, neither up nor down, is indeed not very good."

Chen Ci stood up and leisurely went to the backyard.

Five Ghosts Transportation Method: Minor Success/7/100 (Refine three drops of Essence Refining daily, one can advance, subdue the heart ghost, and the spirit ghost will be born naturally)

This Five Ghosts Transportation Method would likely take about two years to reach perfection; after practicing the Five Ghosts Possession Great Method, within ten years, he should be able to make some progress here in the He Mountain Sect.

"Senior Brother Hutou, you need to strive for improvement."

Chen Ci was heartbroken: "How long has it been? You haven't even broken through your Dao Foundation yet; you really are disappointing. With you, the big one, not striving, how are we, the small ones, supposed to strive? Sigh."

Never mind him, time to practice; whether it is cultivation or Dharma Artifacts, both hands must grasp, and both hands must be hard.

"It's snowing?"

Sanyin Temple, backyard. Chen Ci slowly woke up from his meditation, looked at the snow drifting in the sky, and calmed the restless True Qi in his body: "In the blink of an eye, it's already the end of the year; it really is fast."

Chen Ci gently waved his sleeve, and Three Yin True Qi surged from his palm. Strands of strange power formed in mid-air, condensing the falling snowflakes into snow pellets the size of longan fruit, which he then took into his palm.

If one counted carefully, it was exactly the number of thirty-six small heavenly cycles, not one more, not one less.

"This Condensing Pill Method is truly hard to practice, but in front of a 'liver emperor' (grinder), everything is just floating clouds."

Chen Ci looked at the snow-white pill in his hand, feeling very satisfied.

Condensing Pill Incantation: Entry Level/1/100 (Condense a Spirit Pill daily, ten can advance one)

Small Heavens Qi Absorption Pill Method: Entry Level/0/4 (Four incantations already completed, pill method entered)

His own pill method had finally reached the entry level; it was time to look forward a little to the happy days after refining a Spirit Pill!

He shifted his gaze slightly to the Gold Finger panel.

Three Yin Qi-Eating Method: 39/100

White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer: First Layer Prohibition/1/100

His fundamental Qi-refining method was moving forward steadily, which was nothing worth mentioning, but this White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer made Chen Ci sigh at the profoundness of Dharma Artifacts.

When he first refined this White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer, it weighed only a little over ten catties, but after refining ten thousand catties of white bone into it, its weight had risen to over a hundred catties, while the five Six Yang Skulls upon it had shrunk and condensed a circle; the original bone texture already possessed half the quality and luster of gold and jade, and although it remained ferocious, looking at it for a few more moments, it unexpectedly had a strange, wicked, and fallen aesthetic.

Most importantly, when Chen Ci held it in his hand, he still only felt the weight of ten-plus catties; the law of conservation of mass fled covering its face in the world of immortal cultivation, which was truly miraculous.

"Bone Great Strength Restriction, so that is what it means; if refined to the top level, wouldn't the hammer body alone weigh five thousand three hundred catties?"

Chen Ci swung his new Dharma Artifact, the wind whistling with power, and he chuckled while rubbing his chin: "Good, good, good, so that's how we're playing, is it? Then I really must call you the White Bone Heart-Locking Sword; a heavy sword has no edge, great skill is not crafted—this is reasonable, this is very reasonable!"

"Bang, bang, bang~"

A knocking sound rang out; Chen Ci put away the White Bone Heart-Lock Hammer and asked toward the outside: "What is the matter?"

"Master, a letter has been sent from Fuhu Altar."

(End of chapter)