Cultivating the Spring Growth Technique

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

If she removed the suppression on her spiritual qi, its pressure would immediately reveal Xu Chunniang's true cultivation.

"Maintaining the suppression of spiritual qi at all times is no easy matter. The Merit Pavilion steward mentioned that if one loses control of the suppression while fighting someone, one's true cultivation will be exposed... Unless I can maintain the suppression even while attacking!"

Xu Chunniang frowned deeply. Cultivating the Hidden Spirit Art itself was not difficult; the difficult part was maintaining the suppression of spiritual qi while attacking.

Xu Chunniang's cultivation was still shallow, so she would not have any opportunities to fight for the time being. But once her cultivation rose in the future, magical combat would be unavoidable.

In the Cultivation World, even an early-stage Qi Refinement cultivator had to be proficient in battle and master the techniques of magical combat.

It seemed that cultivating the Hidden Spirit Art would be a long and arduous road!

Xu Chunniang sighed softly. As her mind relaxed, the spiritual pressure around her body gradually rose again, returning to the early, middle, and late stages of the first level of Qi Refinement...

At last, it settled at the peak of the first level of Qi Refinement and stopped rising.

"If I only suppress my spiritual qi to this extent, it does not consume much mental energy. I can even devote most of my focus to cultivation. I just do not know how long I can keep it up."

Xu Chunniang decided to give it a try and see how long she could persist under such circumstances.

With a flick of her fingers, she put away the Jade Slip recording the Hidden Spirit Art and took out another Jade Slip. She intended to practice the Spring Growth Technique in this state.

Though she had practiced the Spring Growth Technique for only a short week, Xu Chunniang could already cast it as easily as she pleased.

While simultaneously controlling the spiritual qi around her body, it was not quite as effortless as moving an arm or finger, but she could still cast it with ease.

"The Spring Growth Technique transforms spiritual power within the body into gentle, pure Wood Spiritual Qi. I can try splitting this Wood Spiritual Qi into two streams and controlling them to nourish two spirit plants at once."

Xu Chunniang closed her eyes and focused on controlling the Wood Spiritual Qi.

Yet as she moved, the Wood Spiritual Qi that had always been exceedingly obedient in her hands became unruly. The originally tranquil Wood Spirit Power turned violent and difficult to control. Often, before she could finish casting the spell, it would disperse on its own.

"No. Again!"

Xu Chunniang tried again, but the result was exactly the same as before. Once she split that pure Wood Spiritual Qi apart, the originally gentle spiritual qi instantly became restless and violent, quickly dissipating.

"Again!"

The Wood Spiritual Qi dissipated.

"Again!"

The Wood Spiritual Qi dissipated.

Xu Chunniang did not know how many times she tried. Without exception, every attempt failed.

Her face gradually turned pale, and more and more beads of sweat gathered on her forehead.

She had already adapted well to this level of training. Normally, it would not leave her this exhausted.

In the end, it was because she had to constantly devote part of her focus to circulating the Hidden Spirit Art.

"I am so tired. I have only practiced for an hour... No, I am getting dizzy. I should rest first. But I have not used up all my spiritual qi yet. Before resting, I should turn it into spiritual dew and store it!"

In any case, spiritual power would slowly recover while she meditated. And the Spiritual Rain Technique barely consumed any of her mental energy.

After using Spiritual Qi Manifests as Rain twice and exhausting her spiritual power, Xu Chunniang closed her eyes and began recovering in earnest.

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

There was no sense of time in cultivation. With this practice, another month passed.

Xu Chunniang maintained the circulation of the Hidden Spirit Art at all times while practicing the Spring Growth Technique.

Yet after a month of practice, the Spring Growth Technique still showed little progress.

Other than being able to control the violent spiritual qi for longer, she had gained almost nothing else.

According to the records of the Spring Growth Technique, the condensed spiritual qi had to be gentle before it could be used on spirit plants.

This violent spiritual qi absolutely did not meet the standard. It would harm spirit plants rather than benefit them.

Xu Chunniang dispersed the Wood Spiritual Qi, which remained violent even under her control, and lowered her head in dejection. Her practice of the Spring Growth Technique had reached a bottleneck. This was the greatest difficulty she had encountered since entering the Carefree Sect.

The only consolation was that, through a month of continuously using the Hidden Spirit Art, her proficiency with it had reached a very high level.

When she was not fighting anyone, Xu Chunniang could conceal her cultivation to the lowest possible extent.

And when she cast spells in battle, she could also successfully conceal one level of cultivation.

"I cannot keep practicing the Spring Growth Technique like this!"

Xu Chunniang realized that she might have chosen the wrong direction. If she continued practicing this way, she would gain no benefit beyond becoming more skilled at controlling that violent spiritual qi.

Xu Chunniang suppressed the anxiety in her heart and calmly recalled her previous attempts. Every time, as soon as she split the Wood Spiritual Qi apart, the spiritual qi would become agitated.

No matter how fast she moved or how gentle her actions were, the spiritual qi would turn violent.

"It seems I cannot split one stream of Wood Spiritual Qi into two. Let me see whether I can condense two streams of Wood Spiritual Qi instead."

Xu Chunniang drew a deep breath and began directly condensing two portions of Wood Spiritual Qi within her body.

Unexpectedly, she succeeded on the first try!

Two streams of pure Wood Spiritual Qi condensed smoothly, though each was half as weak as usual.

Xu Chunniang restrained the excitement in her heart and sent them separately toward two shrubs.

After the two shrubs absorbed the Wood Spiritual Qi, their leaves immediately grew a full size larger.

"It really works!"

Xu Chunniang let out a pale breath and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Simultaneously controlling two streams of Wood Spiritual Qi consumed no small amount of mental energy, especially while she was also constantly circulating the Hidden Spirit Art.

As Xu Chunniang examined the two shrubs, she summed up her experience. "Condensing one extra stream of Wood Spiritual Qi consumes more than twice as much mental energy. With my current reserves, I can at most condense three streams of Wood Spiritual Qi at the same time."

She shook her head, a trace of regret flashing through her eyes. It seemed that her earlier idea of casting the Spring Growth Technique over a large area in one go could not be achieved in the short term. Once her cultivation improved in the future, she could try again.

Having found the right direction, Xu Chunniang was greatly delighted and began focusing on condensing Wood Spiritual Qi.

After spending a full twenty days, Xu Chunniang finally mastered the one-to-many practice of the Spring Growth Technique. She could effortlessly condense three streams of Wood Spiritual Qi at once and use them on three spirit plants.

Seeing that she had finally succeeded, Xu Chunniang let out a long breath. It had truly not been easy! Altogether, it had taken nearly two months.

Thinking of the month she had wasted before, Xu Chunniang felt somewhat pained.

"I wonder what effect gentle Wood Spiritual Qi would have on spirit plants after turning violent."

Xu Chunniang's heart stirred, and she recalled her earlier practice. After forcibly splitting apart condensed Wood Spiritual Qi, the spiritual qi would become violent and unruly, difficult to control.

She directly cast the Spring Growth Technique, condensed a stream of Wood Spirit Power, split it into two, then pushed the two streams of violent spiritual qi toward the two low shrubs before her.

Under the assault of that violent Wood Spiritual Qi, the branches and leaves of the two shrubs seemed unable to withstand it. With a crack, they shattered all over the ground!

Thanks to Fellow Daoists Dried Orange and Wei Ling for their rewards, and thanks to all Fellow Daoists for your recommendations and favorites!