Chapter 40: Five Cauldrons Boiling

Wang Shen sighed: "I naturally know this. Very well, for the moment I can think of no other method; give me some time, and I will surely find another way."

Lin Wanmo nodded, turned to leave, stopped at the doorway, and tentatively asked: "If I were to weave a cage for him..."

"Impossible," Wang Shen said. "That is where the Inner Dan resides, the Dan Xiu's Purple Palace, a place so profound and mysterious it cannot be named. To let another's hands touch it, should even the slightest error occur, would be a minor loss to his Dan Xiu cultivation; if things go wrong, the Gunpowder Inner Dan will explode!"

Wang Shen added: "Do not think of weaving it first and letting him refine it with his food. This method can only be woven by himself. If you weave it, he must refine it with the fire in his belly. Once it touches the fire in his belly, the moment this cage approaches the Gunpowder Inner Dan, the Inner Dan will explode."

The look of worry on Lin Wanmo's face grew even heavier.

Wang Shen, unable to bear seeing it, said: "Wait a moment."

Wang Shen went up to the attic and came down again after a while—this time landing safely, without knocking anything to the ground and breaking it into pieces.

"This is my cultivation method. Ah Yuan likely does not have a cultivation method for the Dan Xiu level yet; take it back and give it to him." Wang Shen handed over a yellowed ancient booklet.

Lin Wanmo stepped back and hurriedly waved his hands: "This is your most precious thing..."

Wang Shen gave a bitter smile, touched the ancient booklet in her hand, and said softly: "In my first half of life, yes, this was indeed the thing I valued most. Back then, whoever asked for it, I could not bear to give it."

Wang Shen suddenly shoved it hard into Lin Wanmo's hands: "Nowadays, who knows if I can even survive until the middle of next July? What precious or not precious, take it. My cultivation method is not ordinary; the Inner Dan produced will be more stable and solid than those from other cultivation methods. It should allow Ah Yuan to last a bit longer."

Lin Wanmo wanted to say something grateful, but this thing was too valuable; any words would seem shallow.

Wang Shen smiled kindly: "Alright, go back quickly. I will think again to see if there are any other methods."

Lin Wanmo said no more, held the ancient booklet, bowed deeply to Wang Shen, and then departed.

Wang Shen's cultivation method is named "Five Cauldrons Boiling".

Practitioners of the Seven Great Gates, as long as they can enter the gate, even without a cultivation method, can cultivate step by step, climbing up bit by bit.

Circulating Qi, Feeding, and Refining; so-called cultivation is nothing more than these few means.

The reason the Seven Great Gates became "Great Gates" is that this foundational convenience is also one of the important reasons.

As long as everyone gets the hang of it, they can continue cultivating, and the number of practitioners will naturally grow larger and larger.

Conversely, some small gates often require various special "aptitudes," or demand strict adherence to a certain cultivation method to progress, and so on.

But the Seven Great Gates actually do have cultivation methods, and as long as a cultivation method has a name, using it will increase the cultivation speed by more than half.

Wang Shen's "Five Cauldrons Boiling" cultivation method was brought from her hometown in Inner Province back then.

The Wang family in her hometown in Inner Province was also a great surname; in theory, something like issuing "River Work Corvée" should not have fallen to the Wang family.

It was precisely because their family's "Five Cauldrons Boiling" was coveted by someone in the Eastern Depot.

They wanted to take it to pass on to one of their adopted sons.

The Wang family was ruined because they still had a tiny bit of integrity.

If some other noble had coveted it, our Wang family would have given it.

We could have negotiated; I would have presented such a precious treasure with both hands, and would the my lord not have given some reward in return?

Great surnames do not have the kind of melodramatic situations found in storybooks, where they fiercely refuse nobles for some family heirloom, end up with their families destroyed, and then a survivor twenty years later comes out to take revenge.

You want it? As long as you are strong enough, we would give it very readily.

But you, one without testicles, our Wang family will not yield!

The result was that the main branch of the Wang family was exiled to Southern Jiaozhi to dig canals, while the other several collateral branches of the Wang family immediately knelt before that person from the Eastern Depot.

They made up a set of incomplete "Five Cauldrons Boiling" to fool them.

On the main branch side, after much death and injury, only Wang Shen remains to this day.

All assets of the hometown in Inner Province were divided among the collateral branches, and the collateral branches dared not recognize Wang Shen and the others as relatives anymore.

Counting from Xu Yuan's grandfather's generation, three generations up to now have not seen a Dan Xiu cultivation method better than "Five Cauldrons Boiling".

Moreover, "Five Cauldrons Boiling" is a very complete and comprehensive cultivation method; it not only covers cultivation but also methods for condensing the Inner Dan and Outer Dan.

For cultivation, it has its own unique methods for Circulating Qi, Feeding, and Refining.

Many famous cultivation methods of the Imperial Ming are actually only good at one of these aspects.

Cultivating with this method, "Great Fire Cauldron Boiling" is extremely fast, generally more than three times, and the highest can even exceed five times!

Moreover, the Inner Dan, Outer Dan, Circulating Qi, Feeding, and Refining are exactly five methods; the predecessor who created this cultivation method back then, by forced interpretation, took the name "Five Cauldrons Boiling".

The Wang family fell to its current state precisely because of this cultivation method; plus, the Imperial Ming has always emphasized the so-called "methods are not lightly transmitted"; even ordinary cultivation methods are not easily taught, so Wang Shen placed special emphasis on this cultivation method.

For example, Xu Yuan's father once thought Wang Shen intended to take "Five Cauldrons Boiling" to her grave.

The stepmother brought "Five Cauldrons Boiling" back home, but Xu Yuan was nowhere to be seen.

After hanging the clothes to dry, Xu Yuan went out.

Master Qiao's residence in the county town is located in "Wangjing Ward" at the northeast corner inside the city wall.

This place is a completely different scene from River Work Lane.

River Work Lane is old, low, and dilapidated; here it is solemn, grand, and tidy.

It is the only area in the entire Shanhe county town that has ward walls and ward gates.

The ward wall circle has a total of thirty-six prism pillars, each topped with an auspicious beast painted with cinnabar eyes. Before the ward gate, two stone lions one person tall are placed.

These things deter evil spirits far better than door gods; thus, even on nights of "Night Ban," there is a fifty percent chance of surviving while walking within the ward.

It is impossible to completely eliminate the eerie; even the inner palace of the Northern Capital Imperial Palace cannot do it.

Wangjing Ward is where the wealthiest and most powerful people in the entire Shanhe county town live.

Master Qiao, who makes the whole town tremble with a stomp of his foot in Qihe Tai Town, is just a small character here.

The reason this place is called "Wangjing Ward" is because it is located in the northwest corner, the place closest to the Northern Capital in Inner Province within the entire county town.

When the river was opened back then, which official, soldier, or commoner helplessly stranded here did not think of returning to Inner Province?

Xu Yuan first went to "Jinzhuang Tower" to buy a new set of clothes; only this place in the entire county town sells ready-made clothing.

It cost a full three taels and two mace of silver.

In the past, Xu Yuan's annual clothing expenses never amounted to this much.

Coming out of Jinzhuang Building, Xu Yuan, dressed in silk and brocade, looked every bit a Young Master.

During the day, two "civil defenders" always guarded the marketplace gate—Xu Yuan's earlier attire would never have gotten him inside.

Elder Qiao had a three-court courtyard in the southwest corner of Wangjing坊, with over ten wives, concubines, servants, and maids.

Xu Yuan scaled the wall into the back courtyard, using his skills to avoid people, and began searching for Qiao Ziaang's study.

For literary cultivators, the best treasures are always hidden in the study.

The back courtyard had nine rooms altogether; Xu Yuan could tell at a glance through the window cracks whether a room was a study.

He checked two rooms and found none, but when he reached the third, he suddenly heard a muffled sound coming from inside.

It sounded like a cat softly mewing.

Xu Yuan peered quietly inside—it was a bedroom. A beautiful woman in her early thirties had half her body exposed outside the curtains; hmm, she must be quite cold.

Between her teeth she bit a crimson silk embroidered with mandarin ducks mating, her sweat dampening her cloud-like hair.

Inside the curtains, a robust shadow was exerting great force.

The shadow and the large bed swayed incessantly.

Xu Yuan glanced a few more times, compared the woman with Widow Yang, and concluded: Elder Qiao truly had great fortune!

Too bad the one enjoying it now was someone else.

Fortunately, Xu Yuan remembered his main task, and reluctantly moved on to the next room.

He searched three more rooms before finally finding the study.

But Xu Yuan did not enter immediately; instead, he crouched and peered through the door crack to observe inside.

Qiao Ziaang was deeply calculating and treacherous; Xu Yuan did not believe his study lacked any defensive measures.

Cough cough, this morning I was still thrilled to see my name on the list, but by noon I was kicked off and couldn't find it again—how embarrassing.

Poor me, begging for monthly votes.

Also, regarding the stepmother issue from the previous chapter: she and Xu Yuan are merely "older sister and younger brother"—no romance whatsoever.

Also: there's more tonight.

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(End of Chapter)