Spring Growth Technique Cultivation

The Hidden Spirit Art stated that it could suppress spiritual qi pressure by up to three levels. Perhaps because Xu Chunniang's cultivation was only at the second level, it could currently only suppress two.

If she were to remove the suppression of her spiritual qi, her true cultivation would immediately be revealed.

"Maintaining the suppression of spiritual qi isn't easy. The Merit Pavilion supervisor mentioned that once the suppression is lost during a fight, one's true cultivation is exposed...

Unless I can maintain the suppression of my spiritual qi while attacking!"

Xu Chunniang frowned deeply. Cultivating the Hidden Spirit Art itself wasn't difficult; the challenge lay in maintaining the suppression of spiritual qi while attacking.

Currently, Xu Chunniang's cultivation was still shallow, and she wouldn't have many opportunities to attack for now. However, as her cultivation improved, combat would be unavoidable.

In the Cultivation World, even someone at the early Qi Condensation stage had to be proficient in combat and master fighting techniques.

It seemed the cultivation of the Hidden Spirit Art was a long and arduous journey!

Xu Chunniang sighed softly. As her mind relaxed, the spiritual qi pressure around her increased, returning to the early, middle, and late stages of the first level of Qi Condensation...

Finally, it stabilized at the peak of the first level of Qi Condensation, ceasing to grow.

"If I only suppress my spiritual qi to this level, the energy consumed isn't much. I can even allocate most of my attention to cultivation. I just don't know how long I can maintain it."

Xu Chunniang decided to try it out, to see how long she could last under these conditions.

With a flip of her finger, she put away the jade slip containing the Hidden Spirit Art and took out another one. She intended to practice the Spring Growth Technique in this state.

Although she had only practiced the Spring Growth Technique for a week, Xu Chunniang could already cast it at will.

While simultaneously controlling the spiritual qi around her, although it wasn't as effortless as usual, she still cast it with ease.

"The Spring Growth Technique converts internal spiritual power into gentle and pure wood spiritual qi. I can try splitting this wood spiritual qi into two and simultaneously controlling it to be used on two Spiritual Plants."

Xu Chunniang closed her eyes, focusing on controlling the wood spiritual qi.

As she moved, the wood spiritual qi, which was usually obedient in her hands, became unruly. The previously calm wood spiritual power turned wild and difficult to control. Often, before she could finish casting, it would dissipate on its own.

"No, let's try again!"

Xu Chunniang tried again, but the result was the same as before. Once she split the pure wood spiritual qi, the previously calm spiritual qi instantly became restless and quickly dissipated.

"Again!"

The wood spiritual qi dissipated.

"Again!"

The wood spiritual qi dissipated.

Xu Chunniang didn't know how many times she had tried, but every single one had ended in failure.

Her face gradually turned pale, and sweat beaded on her forehead.

She had adapted well to this level of training; normally, she wouldn't be this tired.

Ultimately, it was because she had to constantly dedicate her attention to circulating the Hidden Spirit Art.

"So tiring, and I've only been practicing for an hour... No, I'm feeling a bit dizzy. I'll rest for a bit. But I still have spiritual qi left. Before I rest, I'll convert the spiritual qi into Spiritual Dew to store it!"

After all, during meditation, spiritual power would slowly recover. And the Spiritual Rain Technique didn't consume much energy for her.

After using up her spiritual power with two instances of spiritual qi transformation into rain, Xu Chunniang closed her eyes and began to focus on recovery.

Two hours later, Xu Chunniang opened her eyes. Her energy had mostly recovered, and she resumed her previous practice.

Time flies when cultivating. This practice continued for another month.

Xu Chunniang continuously maintained the circulation of the Hidden Spirit Art while practicing the Spring Growth Technique.

However, after a month of practice, the Spring Growth Technique still showed no significant progress.

Aside from being able to control the agitated spiritual qi for longer periods, she had gained almost no other benefits.

According to the records of the Spring Growth Technique, the condensed spiritual qi must be gentle to be used on Spiritual Plants.

This agitated spiritual qi was definitely not up to standard and would be harmful rather than beneficial to Spiritual Plants.

Xu Chunniang dispersed the wood spiritual qi that was still agitated under her control. She lowered her head in dejection. The practice of the Spring Growth Technique had hit a bottleneck, the biggest challenge she had encountered since joining the Carefree Sect.

The only comfort she could find was that through the continuous use of the Hidden Spirit Art for this month, her proficiency in it had reached an extremely high level.

When not engaged in combat, Xu Chunniang could conceal her cultivation to the minimum extent.

And when attacking and using sorcery, she could successfully hide one level of her cultivation.

"I can't keep practicing the Spring Growth Technique like this!"

Xu Chunniang realized that her approach might be wrong. Continuing to practice like this would yield no benefit other than becoming more proficient in controlling that agitated spiritual qi.

Xu Chunniang suppressed the anxiety in her heart and calmed herself, recalling her previous attempts. Each time she tried to split the wood spiritual qi, it would become restless.

No matter how fast her movements were or how gentle her actions, the spiritual qi would become agitated.

"It seems I can't split the wood spiritual qi into two. I'll try to condense two streams of wood spiritual qi."

Xu Chunniang took a deep breath and began to condense two portions of wood spiritual qi directly within her body.

Unexpectedly, she succeeded on her first attempt this time!

Two streams of pure wood Spiritual Qi were successfully condensed, though they were only half as potent as usual.

Xu Chunniang suppressed her excitement and channeled them into two bushes respectively.

Upon absorbing the wood Spiritual Qi, the leaves of the two bushes grew a full size larger.

"It really works!"

Xu Chunniang exhaled, her face pale, and wiped the sweat from her brow. The mental strain of controlling two streams of wood Spiritual Qi simultaneously wasn't small, especially while continuously circulating the Hidden Spirit Art.

While observing the two bushes, Xu Chunniang summarized her experience, "Condensing one more stream of wood Spiritual Qi more than doubled the mental exertion. With my current stamina, I can only condense three streams of wood Spiritual Qi at most simultaneously."

She shook her head, a flicker of regret in her eyes. It seemed her previous idea of casting the Spring Growth Technique over a wide area at once couldn't be accomplished in the short term. She could try again once her cultivation improved.

Having found the correct path, Xu Chunniang was quite pleased and began to focus on condensing wood Spiritual Qi.

It took a full twenty days for Xu Chunniang to master the one-to-many application of the Spring Growth Technique, allowing her to effortlessly condense three streams of wood Spiritual Qi simultaneously and apply them to three Spiritual Plants.

Seeing her success, Xu Chunniang let out a long sigh of relief. It hadn't been easy! It had taken her nearly two months in total.

Xu Chunniang felt a pang of regret thinking about the month she had wasted earlier.

"I wonder what effect the wood Spiritual Qi would have on the Spiritual Plants if it became violent instead of gentle."

A thought stirred within Xu Chunniang, and she recalled her previous practice. After forcibly splitting the condensed wood Spiritual Qi, it would become violent and difficult to control.

She directly cast the Spring Growth Technique, condensing a stream of wood Spiritual Qi, splitting it into two, and then pushing the two violent streams towards the two short bushes before her.

Under the onslaught of the violent wood Spiritual Qi, the branches and leaves of the two bushes seemed unable to withstand it, shattering and falling to the ground with a "crack"!

Thanks to the rewards from fellow Daoists Orange Peel and Maomao, and thanks to the recommendations and collections from fellow Daoists!