Cultivation System (Please Bookmark and Vote Monthly)

The moment Chen Yan heard Liu Fujing say that, he knew things were about to go bad.

Sure enough, the next moment—

"Meow!"

With an angry cry, Facai turned into a blur.

"Ow!"

Then Old Daoist Liu howled in pain. A fresh claw mark appeared on his face, while Facai returned to Chen Yan's feet and smugly lifted his chin.

"You damned cat! If I don't teach you a lesson, you won't know how formidable this old Daoist is!"

Old Daoist Liu rolled up his sleeves in a fury, somehow clutching a thick handful of talismans, his beard bristling and eyes glaring.

"Enough, enough. You're already this old, and you're still picking a fight with a cat."

Chen Yan stopped him with a headache, his face full of helplessness.

Even after being held back, Old Daoist Liu kept grumbling.

"It's only because this fat cat hasn't become a spirit yet. If it became a spirit and dared harm people, just watch whether this old Daoist deals with it or not..."

"Enough. Say one less word."

Seeing Facai about to flare up again, Chen Yan stopped him with a headache and quickly changed the subject.

"You still haven't told me why you wanted me to bring this human skin."

"Why? Of course, to look for clues." Old Daoist Liu snorted irritably.

As he spoke, Old Daoist Liu put away the bundle of talisman paper in his hand, leaving only one. Pinching it between his index and middle fingers, he held it against the tip of his nose and muttered an incantation.

"Disciple Liu Fujing beseeches True Person Chonglong Yudaowei to aid me. Swiftly, swiftly, as the law decrees!"

As the chant ended, the talisman paper ignited on its own. Old Daoist Liu traced twice beneath his nose with the burning talisman, and it turned into a wisp of breeze that Liu Fujing inhaled through his nostrils.

Chen Yan and Facai both stared wide-eyed at Old Daoist Liu performing his ritual, like two curious children.

After inhaling the breeze, Old Daoist Liu's nose visibly swelled by a full circle, making him look rather bizarre. With an enormous nose on his face, he flared his nostrils and took several fierce sniffs at the three sheets of human skin.

The instant he sniffed, Old Daoist Liu cried out strangely, "What a strong fishy smell! You brat killed fish last night and didn't even wash your hands!"

"Hurry it up!"

Chen Yan rolled his eyes impatiently.

Old Daoist Liu snorted, then took another long sniff of the human skin. Closing his eyes, he wore a thoughtful expression.

"Osmanthus Fragrance? Osmanthus... or osmanthus cakes? Where in Shanxi Town are there osmanthus trees?"

"Osmanthus?" Chen Yan frowned. "There are plenty. There are osmanthus trees both inside and outside the town, and quite a few pastry shops sell osmanthus cakes too."

"That makes this troublesome..."

Old Daoist Liu was stumped as well. "That demonic Daoist was quite cautious. He didn't leave behind any other scents."

"Forget it. Leave it to the people below to investigate. Look into these three people's backgrounds before they died and see whether there are any other clues."

"That's all we can do."

Chen Yan nodded, then held out his hand before Old Daoist Liu.

"What?"

The old Daoist looked utterly bewildered.

"The reward silver!"

Chen Yan said as though it were only natural.

"Don't tell me there's no reward silver for eliminating three Skin-Peeling Puppets."

"Just yesterday, this old Daoist gave you a precious saber worth a thousand gold!"

Old Daoist Liu looked incredulous, as though he had never encountered anyone so shameless in all his life.

"One matter is one matter. I appreciate the favor regarding the Fish Dragon Saber, but I'm penniless right now. If I don't earn some money soon, I won't even be able to afford food."

Chen Yan spoke with an earnest gaze, his outstretched hand remaining exactly where it was.

Old Daoist Liu wore the expression of someone who had swallowed a fly. After a long while, he finally forced out a sentence.

"You win!"

As he spoke, he painfully took out half a tael of broken silver from his pouch and, dragging his feet in utter reluctance, placed it in Chen Yan's hand.

"Just this much? Don't tell me you, old Daoist, are lining your own pockets?"

Chen Yan gave Old Daoist Liu a suspicious look.

"This old Daoist only has this much on him! If you don't want it, forget it! How much do you think three mere Skin-Peeling Puppets are worth?!"

Old Daoist Liu shrieked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.

"I'll reluctantly believe you."

Chen Yan said with a grin. He had merely been teasing him; as for whether the money was more or less, he truly did not care. As Old Daoist Liu had said, the Fish Dragon Saber alone was already an enormous favor.

He had only just put away the silver when Old Daoist Liu tossed something toward him.

Chen Yan caught it and saw that it seemed to be a token made of ironwood. The front bore the engraved character for "Guard," while the back depicted a lifelike flying fish.

"What is this?"

"A Flying Fish Token."

Old Daoist Liu answered, "From now on, you will temporarily serve as an unaffiliated Flying Fish Guard of my Heavenly Supervision Department."

After saying that, Old Daoist Liu added in a sinister, ill-intentioned tone, "Brat, this old Daoist's money isn't so easy to take! If you don't solve the true culprit behind those Skin-Peeling Puppets, don't even think of running!"

Chen Yan shrugged indifferently. He had planned to do so anyway. He could get this old Daoist as a free hired hand while earning merit besides—why not?

The two of them then left the yamen and headed toward Tianmen Village.

Tianmen Village lay ten li west of Shanxi Town and fell under Shanxi Town's jurisdiction. Among the villages under Shanxi Town's control, Tianmen Village was considered one of the closer ones.

Chen Yan and Old Daoist Liu moved quickly, leaving the town in no time.

Walking along the broad official road, Chen Yan hurried onward as he asked curiously, "Old Daoist Liu, what is the cultivation system for cultivators like you?"

The old Daoist glanced sideways at him and slowly said, "Cultivators like us all follow the path of the Inner Elixir. At the beginning of cultivation, we chiefly focus on Consolidating the Foundation and Cultivating the Origin. This is called Essence Cultivation. Once one's essence origin is complete, one may breathe in an unbroken flow, like a child in the womb; thus it is called Embryonic Breathing. Once qi is subdued beneath the navel and the spirit is guarded within the body, spirit and qi join as one, and only then does one obtain a Dao Foundation. This is the Dao Foundation."

"Once the Dao Foundation is established, one may subdue the White Tiger and slay the Red Dragon, achieving Refining Essence into Qi. After that comes refining qi into spirit, in pursuit of the Golden Core Great Dao..."

Chen Yan nodded thoughtfully. In other words, the cultivation realms of Martial Dynasty cultivators were divided into Essence Cultivation, Embryonic Breathing, Dao Foundation, then Refining Essence into Qi, refining qi into spirit...

After thinking for a moment, Chen Yan asked again, "Then how does martial cultivation compare to cultivators? Could someone like me, in the Blood Qi Realm, stand against an Essence Cultivation cultivator?"

Old Daoist Liu rolled his eyes irritably. "Setting aside rookies who have only just entered the Dao, any accomplished Essence Cultivation cultivator has essence origin strength comparable to a Martial Master of the Third Blood Qi Realm. Unless that Essence Cultivation cultivator is an idiot, an Essence Cultivation cultivator who knows Daoist arts will generally win more often than lose against a Qi and Blood Martial Artist. A Martial Master of the True Force Realm would be more fitting."

After saying that, the old Daoist changed his tone. "But nothing is absolute. Spell battles place great importance on the right time, place, and people; they cannot be judged wholesale by realm alone. Cultivators are people too, and as long as they are people, they will still die if they suffer fatal wounds."

Chen Yan nodded to show he understood.

But overall, Essence Cultivation cultivators armed with Daoist arts possessed countless methods, while Qi and Blood Martial Artists had nothing but brute strength. If both sides were prepared, Martial Masters generally found it difficult to defeat cultivators.

As for the true force Old Daoist Liu spoke of, it was the martial realm after the Third Blood Qi Realm. The Martial Dynasty's martial path began with the three Blood Qi Realms. Once the three Blood Qi Realms were completed and blood qi reached perfection, one could condense the power of blood qi within the body into another kind of force: true force. This realm was also known as the True Force Realm.

Above true force was the Grandmaster realm—the Martial Grandmaster. At that point, one's true force was abundant, true qi could be released beyond the body, and one could even achieve power not inferior to a cultivator's spells.

Chen Yan vaguely knew that above Grandmaster was a realm called Innate. However, Innate Martial Masters were as rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns even in the Martial Dynasty, so Chen Yan knew very little about that martial realm.

Having learned the cultivation system of Martial Dynasty cultivators, Chen Yan could not help glancing at Old Daoist Liu ahead of him before asking, "Then what realm are you in, old Daoist?"

"Me?" The old Daoist glanced sideways at Chen Yan, the corner of his mouth curling up as he stroked his beard. "This old Daoist is untalented, merely in the Dao Foundation realm. Not worth mentioning, not worth mentioning!"

Though his mouth said it was not worth mentioning, anyone could see the smug pride on his face.

Chen Yan rolled his eyes, but inwardly he greatly admired him. The Dao Foundation realm was two entire levels above Essence Cultivation. Even Martial Masters of the Third Blood Qi Realm might not be able to defeat an Essence Cultivation cultivator; Chen Yan did not even dare imagine how powerful a Dao Foundation cultivator was.

Even True Force Martial Masters probably would not be enough. Only Martial Grandmasters capable of releasing true qi beyond their bodies could barely contend with one, perhaps?