No matter how much one hears, it never compares to seeing it with one’s own eyes.
A single trip to Green Sprout Market instantly broadened Han Yu’s horizons.
Witnessing the scale and situation of the entire market firsthand also made him realize that, as a nial disciple like himself, even if he went to the market, he would only intersect with the bamboo shed area and reed mat area, rarely interacting with outer sect disciples or cultivators of higher cultivation.
Green Sprout Market wasn’t without danger, but the risk wasn’t nearly as great as he had imagined.
If needed in the future, being more cautious and prepared, it wouldn’t be impossible to visit again.
Thinking this through, Han Yu recalled his interaction today with that junk vendor Zhu Lao San—he really didn’t have a single reliable item, which was quite rare.
The talisman Sister Wei bought earlier that only provided two protections—could it have co from Zhu Lao San?
With that in mind, Han Yu took out the plain jade slip from his pocket.
Zhu Lao San’s gimmick of “destined person” had given Han Yu the chance to copy this “bottom-secret” jade slip containing a secret technique.
Now he could take a look and see what this secret technique was all about and how it might accelerate cultivation.
Pressing the jade slip against his forehead, after a mont, Han Yu removed it with a subtle expression.
That Zhu Lao San really was sothing else—selling useless junk that no one expected, and the things he sold truly had no use at all.
Inside the jade slip was indeed a secret technique left by a Golden Core realm cultivator.
The secret technique was called Spirit Refining Technique, aning refining spiritual roots, turning multiple spiritual roots into fewer, or even a single spiritual root, thereby accelerating cultivation progress and making the cultivator a prodigy. At first glance, it seed very good, but there was a huge pitfall!
This Spirit Refining Technique, devised by that Golden Core cultivator himself, was to refine away extra spiritual roots one by one until only one spiritual root remained in the body, thus becoming a cultivation prodigy.
But the problem was that spiritual roots were determined by birth. So had none, so had one, so had five, and so had a single spiritual root. This cultivation aptitude was integrated with one’s flesh and blood and basically unchangeable.
The process of refining away spiritual roots consud a massive amount of spiritual herbs and materials, which ant constantly damaging one’s own foundation and flesh, ultimately delaying cultivation, weakening the body, making it prone to illness, and shortening lifespan.
For example, a Qi Refining realm cultivator who refines one spiritual root, reducing from four to three, would likely spend cultivation resources enough to break through to the Foundation Establishnt realm; after successfully refining, having lost flesh and lifespan, his cultivation level would fall far behind peers. How aningful would such an aptitude increase be?
Weak, sickly, and with a shorter lifespan—could it even cause earlier death than before? Spending an enormous amount of cultivation resources just for such a result?
If cultivators at Foundation Establishnt or Golden Core realms practiced Spirit Refining Technique, they could use the sa resources to refine one spiritual root and increase aptitude. Wouldn’t that be better?
But it didn’t work that way.
As cultivation advanced, spiritual roots naturally beca more tightly integrated with their owner, just like how bones grow naturally as a person grows.
At Foundation Establishnt or Golden Core realms, higher cultivation ant the cost of refining a spiritual root was even greater.
In short, practicing Spirit Refining Technique from the Qi Refining realm already resulted in heavy losses, and at Foundation Establishnt or Golden Core realms, it only worsened, leading to total loss of resources and damage to body and lifespan.
Moreover, each major realm could only refine one type of spiritual root at most, and the later the refinent, the more resources it consud.
Therefore, this secret technique was truly impossible to practice!
After putting down the plain jade slip, Han Yu felt quite regretful: “Finally found a way to increase cultivation faster, but it can’t be practiced. What a pity.”
Still sowhat reluctant to give up, he carefully studied the jade slip again and gradually beca thoughtful.
The Golden Core cultivator added a supplent at the end of the Spirit Refining Technique.
If one could also advance body refining cultivation accordingly, then the flaws of Spirit Refining Technique might be mostly compensated for—the weak body would disappear, and lifespan loss would be completely within tolerable limits.
Perhaps… this hadn’t been verified yet.
However, the idea seed reasonable—since Spirit Refining Technique caused serious body damage, and body refining was ant to strengthen the physique, it could indeed compensate.
But doing so would require even crazier resources for Spirit Refining cultivation.
If a Qi Refining realm cultivator wanted to refine one spiritual root at minimal cost, they would need resources enough to cultivate to Foundation Establishnt, plus another set of resources to cultivate body refining to Foundation Establishnt, plus their own daily cultivation resources.
In other words, nearly three sets of Foundation Establishnt cultivation resources might be needed to try this privately invented secret technique that hadn’t even been verified.
This resource consumption was truly enormous, and there was the risk of becoming weak and ill, shortening lifespan without the ability to restore the root source.
Under normal circumstances, no nial disciple would attempt this; even those with wealthy backgrounds would never recklessly try such an unverified and extrely dangerous secret thod.
Han Yu clarified his thoughts and also didn’t attempt it.
His foundation was too thin, his experience too limited, and he lacked thods for body refining cultivation. Even with a relatively clear idea, he could only wait until conditions were t before trying.
In the days that followed, Han Yu no longer went to Green Sprout Market with Old Taoist Li.
He patrolled the spirit fields daily and followed the routine of consuming Mystic Heart Fruit to steadily refine dicinal power and increase spiritual energy, though limited by his four spiritual root aptitude, he reached the absorption limit daily.
Even so, his cultivation improved every day, the spiritual seed in his dantian increased, becoming rounder and glowing more brightly, signaling he was getting closer to Qi Refining Second Layer.
During this ti, Old Taoist Li no longer invited Han Yu to the market; instead, he got involved with Zhang Shan and a few other nial disciples. Occasionally, Han Yu saw him following Zhang Shan or other nial disciples, nodding and kowtowing as if trying to please them.
Han Yu was quite familiar with Old Taoist Li and knew he wasn’t kind-hearted or ek—when Steward Wang injured him with Wind Riding Technique, he still harbored resentnt. How could he be so friendly with Zhang Shan and the others?
Recalling that Old Taoist Li had once used living chicken blood nourishnt, refined fine horse essence blood, and the essence blood of spirit-stealing mice, Han Yu vaguely guessed sothing.
Could it be that the Taoist had already been using people for…
Thinking of this possibility made Han Yu’s feelings complicated.
If it was senior disciple Sun Kang, Han Yu would certainly try his best to protect him; as for others, like Zhang Shan who seed to raise spirit-stealing mice, Han Yu naturally wouldn’t interfere.
Unconsciously, so ti passed again. One night, after consuming Mystic Heart Fruit, Han Yu was cultivating, refining dicinal power, when his entire cycle suddenly accelerated and crossed an invisible threshold.
Imdiately, the spiritual seed in his dantian sprouted a tender bud, and his whole body’s spiritual energy surged by several tens of percent, making him feel comfortable and relaxed.
Finally, Qi Refining Second Layer!
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