Who Was Purified, I Was Purified

After Yang An left with the Muckworm Children, the heavy stone door carved with mysterious patterns closed, and Mother Diviner True Person then looked at Old Man Fate Crane.

"Senior, the ancient treasure at the bottom of Xi Yue River will open in half a year. I hope Senior will assist me in opening it then!"

"There's no rush for this matter. This old man has his own considerations. You are not the only one who knows about the ancient treasure. We need to plan this carefully."

Old Man Fate Crane's expression was calm, and his Crane Head didn't even bother to look up at Mother Diviner True Person again.

Mother Diviner knew better than anyone the entanglements within the ancient treasure matter, but before the benefits were clearly allocated, there was still room for negotiation.

Mother Diviner True Person smiled faintly, naturally understanding what this old fellow was up to.

She temporarily set aside the topic and spoke about the Flood Dragon Demon matter.

"I went to great lengths to find a Flood Dragon Demon at least five hundred years old. I have already ordered people to extract its heart and marrow. Senior can enjoy them to your heart's content later."

"Agreed!"

Old Man Fate Crane nodded with no joy or sorrow, but his Crane Head's eyes suddenly lit up.

On the other side, as Yang An followed several Muckworm Children through the dark and silent cave, he discovered that beneath the isolated island was a hidden world.

It was likely that the entire island was riddled with holes, like a sieve.

It was eerie and dim, like entering a giant nest.

After winding through hundreds of steps, Yang An was quickly led to a stone chamber.

Several Muckworm Children respectfully retreated, leaving Yang An alone in the stone chamber. After a heavy stone door was closed, complete silence fell all around.

If he didn't know this was a quiet room arranged for him by Mother Diviner True Person, where he could move about freely, Yang An would truly feel like he was imprisoned.

The stone chamber was very simple. In the center was a stone platform integrated with the ground. On the platform sat an exquisite bronze incense burner and a candlestick.

A small candle flame illuminated the interior of the stone chamber slightly.

Wisps of gentle smoke rose from the incense burner, filling the stone chamber with a faint, fresh scent.

Out of caution, Yang An held his breath and gently touched the ancient incense burner and candlestick with his hand. He then touched the rising smoke in the burner with his finger. There was no reaction.

He then felt at ease.

After sitting down beside the stone platform, the mouth of the Flesh-Buried Talisman opened, taking out the scroll it had stored. Under the faint light of the candle, Yang An slowly unrolled the scroll.

The scroll was not very large when unrolled, about three inches wide and a meter long.

It recorded the method for testing cultivation method compatibility in the Resonance Stage, followed by the cultivation methods for the early, middle, and late stages of the False Eater Realm.

The text was interspersed with some mystical diagrams. At first glance, it was very obscure, but after repeatedly studying it, Yang An gradually understood.

From another perspective, since his ability could detect complete information about this cultivation method, it meant that Old Man Fate Crane had not tampered with it. He could cultivate it with peace of mind.

Soon, through analysis, Yang An confirmed his previous guesses and ultimately arrived at two results that greatly pleased him.

First, the Resonance Stage, as a stage to test the compatibility between a cultivation method and a cultivator, was originally intended to allow the cultivator to first experience whether they could fully adapt to and bear the cultivation cost of the method.

If they could not adapt or bear it, forcibly entering the False Eater Realm for cultivation would only increase the difficulty of cultivating the method, or even lead to more severe consequences.

However, Yang An possessed the ability to purify and eliminate the cultivation cost of cultivation methods. This meant that with no cultivation cost to bear, the Resonance Stage was meaningless to him. He could directly begin cultivating from the False Eater Realm without any issues.

Second, it was the same problem.

Unlike the cost of using magic artifacts and spells, the cost of cultivating a method was essentially the tribulations a cultivator would encounter.

For example, in this "Mysterious Dao Solution Method," every time three Dao of Fate techniques were fused, which was exactly one major realm, a tribulation had to be overcome.

This was what Old Man Fate Crane meant by it being both the long stairway to immortality and the reliance during the descent of tribulation!

Those who fuse three techniques see true and false, those who fuse six techniques see the turbid world, those who fuse nine techniques see their mirror selves, those who fuse twelve techniques see the lower...

From the information displayed in the information box, these obscure words represented different tribulations.

This even made Yang An think of more.

For example, why would Old Man Fate Crane use the Lighting Method as a condition for selecting direct disciples?

The Lighting Method would cause the caster to rapidly lose their sanity and fall into madness, while Old Man Fate Crane's condition for selecting disciples was to require the caster to maintain sanity for a sufficiently long time in the flame.

Combined with Old Man Fate Crane's satisfaction with his performance and his words at the time, Yang An had a vague guess:

Perhaps the tribulations required to cultivate the "Mysterious Dao Solution Method" were closely related to the ability to maintain sanity!?

If this were the case, each advancement to a major realm would be a very significant test for the cultivator.

However...

This seemed to have nothing to do with him.

His ability to purify and eliminate the cultivation cost of cultivation methods meant that he had no cost to bear when cultivating this method, and therefore, no tribulations would descend.

While others needed to bear costs and overcome tribulations to cultivate a method, He only needed to cultivate step by step to break through realms without any obstacles, easily.

If this got out, in this dangerous world, Yang An would be an anomaly standing out from the crowd, the kind of person they'd capture for dissection and research.

He stroked the text on the scroll, his fingertips feeling no texture, no bumps or indentations. The words seemed inlaid within, smooth to the touch.

But just as he was about to purify this cultivation method and then begin practicing it, he suddenly stopped.

Recalling the doubts that had been lingering in his mind, it seemed like a good opportunity to conduct an experiment.

An experiment with what?

It was to test his special purification ability, to verify whether purified items only affected him or if they could also affect others.

Since arriving in this world, Yang An had only encountered two items with detailed written records.

The first was a fragment of paper he'd found at home, which contained the practice method for the Lighting Method.

The second was the scroll he was currently touching, which recorded the cultivation method for the Mysterious Dao Solution Method.

Back when he was in Jiu Nan Town, under threat from demons and pressed for time, Yang An was also using his purification ability for the first time. He hadn't had the chance to examine the text on the paper fragment closely before purifying it.

As a result, he had no way of knowing if any changes had occurred to the writing on it.

Now, he had obtained the False Eater Realm cultivation portion of a cultivation method. Before purifying it, the text was still original. Yang An decided to try something.

He spent half an hour memorizing all the text and diagrams on the scroll, repeatedly comparing them with the original content to ensure he hadn't made any mistakes.

If, after purification, the text or diagrams on the scroll changed, meaning the cultivation method's content was altered, it would indicate that the cultivation method recorded on the scroll itself had been purified, thereby eliminating the cost. In that case, if someone else obtained the scroll, they could also cultivate it without bearing any cost.

But if, after purification, everything on the scroll remained unchanged, with no alterations...

Then things would get interesting...

With a sense of anticipation, Yang An pondered for a moment, then solidified the memories in his mind before choosing to purify.

His gaze was fixed on the content of the scroll, ensuring he would notice any change immediately, even the alteration of a single character.

The next moment, a faint warm current flashed across his fingertips touching the scroll, as if nothing had happened.

A message box immediately popped up before his eyes: the cultivation cost for the Mysterious Dao Solution Method had changed to "None."

After the message box disappeared, Yang An looked at the content recorded on the scroll again, falling into deep thought.

Whether it was the text or the diagrams on the scroll, after purification, nothing had changed. It was still the same!

To avoid any errors, he spent another quarter of an hour confirming repeatedly, finally reaching a conclusion:

It was identical!

"So... it wasn't the cultivation method that was purified? But..."

"I was purified?!"