Two Uses of the Hidden Spirit Art

There were quite a few concealment-type sorceries, but most of them were movement or footwork techniques. After searching for a long time, she hadn't found a single one that could hide one's cultivation.

"Is there really no sorcery that can hide cultivation?"

Xu Chunniang put down the sorcery in her hand and picked up a new one with some helplessness. After reading a few pages, she shook her head and tossed it aside. "There's even one for concealing Spiritual Qi..."

"Ah, wait!"

Xu Chunniang hurriedly picked up the sorcery she had just discarded and examined it carefully again.

"Hidden Spirit Art. After cultivation, one can control the Spiritual Qi around their body to achieve the effect of concealing their cultivation. It can hide up to three levels of cultivation, but it can only be used among cultivators of the same rank. It is ineffective against cultivators of higher ranks."

Upon reading this, Xu Chunniang's face showed a look of relief.

She had been searching for books so intently that she was going numb. Concealing Spiritual Qi was essentially concealing cultivation! She had almost thrown this book away.

"Finally found it!"

After picking up the "Hidden Spirit Art," Xu Chunniang walked towards the earth-element sorcery section. Since she had come all the way to the Scripture Depository, she might as well pick out some earth-element sorceries as well.

Earth-element auxiliary sorceries were not difficult to find. The challenge was choosing the right one from the multitude of techniques.

She picked and chose, comparing many sorceries, and finally found a book called "Earth Moistening Technique."

"Earth Moistening Technique. After casting, it can convert one's own spiritual power into earth Spiritual Qi, thereby improving the soil and making the Spiritual Qi in the soil more abundant."

Alright, this one it is.

Holding the two sorceries, Xu Chunniang walked to the Merit Pavilion's management office to get them copied.

The female cultivator in charge glanced at the two sorceries on the table. Upon seeing the red "Hidden Spirit Art," a flicker of surprise appeared in her usually placid eyes.

The disciple before her was only at the second level of Qi Condensation, clearly a newly admitted disciple.

She rarely offered advice, but said, "Although the 'Hidden Spirit Art' can conceal cultivation, it only takes effect when you are not using Spiritual Qi. Once you engage in combat and lose control of your Spiritual Qi, it becomes very difficult to maintain the concealment."

The female manager paused here.

Naturally, some people could conceal their cultivation while using the Hidden Spirit Art and still fight without revealing any flaws. However, achieving this was very difficult, and she didn't believe a mere Qi Condensation cultivator could do it.

"Your cultivation is low right now, and you don't need to conceal it at all. It would be more practical to choose other sorceries."

Xu Chunniang was slightly taken aback. She hadn't known that the "Hidden Spirit Art" had such a limitation.

However, after searching through all the concealment-type sorceries, she was quite certain that only this technique could achieve the effect of hiding cultivation.

Therefore, after only a moment's hesitation, Xu Chunniang quickly nodded again.

"This disciple confirms. I will take these two."

Seeing this, the female manager said no more, merely raising her eyelids. "Ten Spirit Stones."

She had only spoken up to offer a reminder because she saw that this disciple, having been admitted for only half a year, had managed to reach the second level of Qi Condensation, which was quite rare among outer disciples. Since the disciple was determined to choose the Hidden Spirit Art, she wouldn't stop her.

Xu Chunniang pulled out all the Spirit Stones from her storage bag. Ten stones, no more, no less.

The female manager lightly swept her hand across the table, and the Spirit Stones vanished. Immediately, two brand-new jade slips appeared in her hand.

A short while later, she placed the copied jade slips on the table and said indifferently, "As usual, the sorceries are strictly prohibited from being passed on. Those who violate this rule will bear the consequences."

Xu Chunniang took the jade slips and nodded solemnly.

After returning to her residence, Xu Chunniang decided to set aside the Spring Growth Technique and cultivate the "Hidden Spirit Art" first.

She could only collect a maximum of two months' worth of Grain Abstinence Pills at a time, and she had to go to the Dining Hall every two months.

Learning the Hidden Spirit Art as soon as possible and concealing her cultivation would prevent her from attracting unwanted attention.

The Hidden Spirit Art had three levels. For each level mastered, one could conceal one layer of cultivation. The key was the word "conceal."

Putting down the jade slip, a thoughtful expression flashed in Xu Chunniang's eyes.

"By suppressing and hiding the Spiritual Qi within the body, reducing the fluctuations of Spiritual Qi, thereby creating a false impression of lower cultivation. If it's just about suppressing Spiritual Qi, although it's a bit difficult, I'm confident I can do it."

With that, Xu Chunniang focused her energy in her dantian and began to suppress the Spiritual Qi within her body.

After thousands of repetitions of practicing the Spiritual Rain Technique, Xu Chunniang's control over Spiritual Qi had become extremely proficient and precise. Without much effort, she managed to compress the Spiritual Qi within her body by double.

However, the compressed Spiritual Qi did not reduce its fluctuations as Xu Chunniang had imagined. Instead, due to the compression, the fluctuations became even more intense.

Her true cultivation was at the second level of Qi Condensation, having just broken through.

The pressure emanating from the current Spiritual Qi fluctuations was actually slightly stronger than before, giving the impression of a cultivation level that had not just broken through.

"Something's not right... the Spiritual Qi fluctuations are stronger."

Xu Chunniang frowned as she sensed it and immediately gave up controlling the Spiritual Qi. Instantly, the suppressed Spiritual Qi slowly dispersed, returning to its original state.

She picked up the jade slip again and began to study it.

"This clearly states that suppressing Spiritual Qi can reduce its fluctuations, but why do the fluctuations become more intense after I compress the Spiritual Qi?"

A hint of confusion flashed in Xu Chunniang's eyes, and she tried again. But the result was the same as before.

"Let's try compressing it further! If I compress the Spiritual Qi to its limit, perhaps new changes will occur!"

Xu Chunniang felt the fluctuations of Spiritual Qi while increasing the intensity of the compression. Soon, the Spiritual Qi was compressed by two times, three times...

Correspondingly, the pressure from the Spiritual Qi fluctuations became increasingly intense!

"Haven't we reached the turning point yet?" Beads of sweat formed on Xu Chunniang's forehead. Her internal Spiritual Qi had been compressed to an astonishing five times its normal density!

The once light and airy Spiritual Qi, under the strain of five-fold compression, visibly thickened.

The Spiritual Qi pressure emanating from her body reached the peak of the second layer of Qi Condensation, just a hair's breadth away from the third layer.

Xu Chunniang vaguely sensed something was amiss, but as long as her Spiritual Qi hadn't been fully compressed, she wouldn't stop.

Compress, continue compressing… Under her control, the Spiritual Qi, existing within the five-fold compressed environment, began to change again!

Suddenly, the Spiritual Qi pressure, which had been at the peak of the second layer of Qi Condensation, underwent a dramatic shift. It was as if it had broken through some barrier, its pressure more than doubling, impressively reaching the third layer of Qi Condensation!

Xu Chunniang was exhausted. For this final one-fold compression, she had mobilized all her focus, expending far more time and energy than for the previous five-fold compression. She had only just managed to succeed and hadn't had the capacity to pay attention to her own Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

When she finally recovered and carefully sensed her condition, Xu Chunniang's eyes widened in surprise.

"What's going on? Why is the Spiritual Qi pressure on my body so strong? It's almost triple what it should be! Only cultivators at the third layer of Qi Condensation can emit this kind of pressure, right?"

Realizing this, Xu Chunniang felt a wave of dizziness.

She had been cultivating the Hidden Spirit Art specifically to conceal her Spiritual Qi pressure and thus hide her true cultivation. How could it be that after cultivating it, the Spiritual Qi pressure had not only failed to decrease but had actually increased?

"Something must have gone wrong."

Xu Chunniang released her suppression of the Spiritual Qi, and instantly, the maximally compressed Spiritual Qi scattered outwards.

As the Spiritual Qi dispersed, the Spiritual Qi pressure on her body gradually decreased, dropping from the third layer of Qi Condensation to the peak of the second layer, then to the late stage of the second layer…

Finally, it settled down to the early stage of the second layer of Qi Condensation, matching her actual cultivation.

Sensing the change in the Spiritual Qi pressure around her, a hint of understanding dawned in Xu Chunniang's eyes. "So that's how it is, I understand now!"

She closed her eyes and gently pushed her Spiritual Qi outwards!

Her aura immediately changed, appearing as if she were precariously balanced at the second layer of Qi Condensation, about to fall to the first layer.

Xu Chunniang pushed down hard again, and following that, her cultivation instantly "dropped" to the peak of the first layer of Qi Condensation, then to the late stage, middle stage, early stage of the first layer, and finally, to the point where Spiritual Qi had just entered the body.

Xu Chunniang still felt unsatisfied. Compared to compressing Spiritual Qi inwards, suppressing Spiritual Qi outwards was incomparably easier.

It was just that her cultivation had already been suppressed to the lowest possible level and could no longer be suppressed further.

Sensing the Spiritual Qi around her, she murmured to herself, "It seems that for now, the lowest I can suppress it to is the stage where Spiritual Qi has just entered the body."

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