Jade Profound Scripture

With Daoist Pinglu providing him with a stable supply of raw materials, Song Qingming's path of talisman making became much steadier. No longer short on materials, he gradually settled down as well. Time seemed to return to normal. After returning to Lingyuan Mountain, aside from the fixed time needed for talisman making, he set aside more time for cultivation.

Before long, Song Qingming had been back at Lingyuan Mountain for nearly three months. Over these months, not only had his cultivation steadily increased, but with no shortage of materials, his talisman-making skills had also advanced by leaps and bounds.

He could now easily draw five or six kinds of mid-grade Spirit Talismans. The success rate of the Golden Light Talisman, which he was best at, had risen to nearly forty percent. At last, he had made up for the Spirit Stones lost in his early attempts and become a qualified Mid-grade Talisman Master.

During these months at Caolu Mountain, aside from Daoist Pinglu, who supplied talisman-making materials on schedule, Qin Zhen also came frequently and took considerable care of Song Qingming. Not only did he purchase quite a few of Song Qingming's Spirit Talismans, he also introduced him to many Rogue Cultivator customers. The Spirit Talismans Song Qingming had made over the past few months suddenly became sought-after goods on Caolu Mountain, and his business only grew better.

This truly made Song Qingming bloom with joy. Unfortunately, his mid-grade talisman-making materials were used up early every month, and for the time being, he had no plans to produce Spirit Talismans in large quantities. He understood that he could not rush this source of wealth. In a place like Caolu Mountain, carrying too many spiritual items would inevitably invite the greed of Late Qi Refining Stage Cultivators.

Now that he had run out of talisman-making materials, Song Qingming finally had some rare leisure time. He decided to take this opportunity to spend a few days refining the High-grade Flying Sword he had obtained in Guiyun Marketplace.

The reason he had not refined this sword sooner was that refining a High-grade Magic Tool was no easy task. The time required to refine a Magic Tool of this level was far longer than for a mid-grade Magic Tool.

Last time on Funiu Mountain, Song Qingming had spent only a little over a day refining the Blazing Sun Sword. This time, the Void Sword he was refining was a High-grade Magic Tool. The higher the grade of the Magic Tool, the more complicated the refining process and the longer it took.

Song Qingming estimated that this refinement would take at least three days. Before beginning, he had already asked Song Changxin for several days of leave, saying that he would be entering seclusion.

After leaving Guiyun Marketplace, he had hurried back to Qinghe County and spent the whole journey rushing along, leaving him no time to refine this item. After returning to Lingyuan Mountain, he had been busy making talismans every day. Only now had he finally found the time.

Taking out the Void Sword from his Storage Bag, Song Qingming once again examined the flying sword from beginning to end with the utmost care.

The silver blade was about three feet long, with a crimson stripe running down its center. A long white tassel hung from its green Sword Hilt. As a High-grade Flying Sword, the Void Sword did not appear particularly remarkable on the surface. Placed in that ordinary little sundries shop back then, it had been no more than an exceedingly ordinary Magic Tool.

Even now, Song Qingming did not know what it was about this rather ordinary High-grade Flying Sword that had drawn him in. It was only a faint yet intense awareness from deep within his heart that had guided him to find it.

He had thought it over for months, yet he still could not understand the matter.

Since we are fated, then let fate take its course. After adjusting his condition, Song Qingming released a thread of spiritual power from within his body. It swiftly wound around the Void Sword in his hand. As Song Qingming slowly drew out more spiritual power, the crimson blade was soon completely covered in white Spiritual Energy.

Song Qingming held his breath and focused his mind. He drew out a drop of essence blood and placed it upon the blade. Soon, the body of the Void Sword, wrapped in white light, trembled and emitted a humming sound.

The time spent refining the Void Sword somewhat exceeded Song Qingming's expectations. It was not until five days later, when a streak of white light scattered apart, that the spiritual power from within Song Qingming's body, wrapped around the essence blood he had released earlier, finally entered the Void Sword's blade.

Seeing that his essence blood had entered the blade, Song Qingming hurriedly increased the flow of spiritual power, intending to fuse the essence blood into the Magic Tool in one breath and complete its refinement.

Just then, the Void Sword suddenly transformed into a dazzling mass of white light. After the white light faded, a crisp crack rang out. With a bang, the body of the Void Sword suddenly snapped into two pieces and fell to the ground, startling Song Qingming into a cold sweat.

Song Qingming stared dumbfoundedly at the two broken halves on the ground, his mind utterly blank. This had cost one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones. How many Spirit Talismans would he have to draw before he could exchange them for another High-grade Magic Tool?

Could it be that I performed the refining steps incorrectly?

Or was I too young, and fell into that master and disciple pair's trap? How could the quality of this flying sword possibly count as a High-grade Magic Tool? Song Qingming carefully recalled the refinement process once more. There had indeed been no major mistake on his end. Even if refinement failed, it should not have destroyed a High-grade Flying Sword on the spot.

It seemed the problem truly lay with the quality of the Magic Tool itself. In the end, he had chosen to buy it of his own accord. Even if those two had set a trap for him, he could only accept it now. If he had the chance in the future, he would go back to Guiyun Marketplace and settle matters with them.

Song Qingming gave a bitter smile and used the Object Control Spell to draw the broken sword into his hand. Just as he was about to put it into his Storage Bag, he suddenly sensed a strange fluctuation of spiritual power coming from within it. Raising half of the broken sword for a closer look, Song Qingming unexpectedly discovered that something seemed to be hidden inside the blade.

When he took it out, it appeared to be a scroll of cultivation scripture. Song Qingming opened it and studied it carefully, only then discovering that it was a Daoist Cultivation Method called the "Jade Profound Scripture." It had no Spirit Root requirements, but contained only the Qi Refining Stage portion.

He did not know whether the cultivation method from the Foundation Establishment Realm onward had been sealed by some advanced Restriction. The pages displayed nothing but blankness. Song Qingming tried for a while, only to find that his current abilities were completely insufficient to open it, so he could only give up.

It seemed to be a rather special Qi Refining Stage cultivation method. But why had that person hidden this cultivation method inside the Void Sword? Was I drawn to this sword that day because this cultivation method and I were fated?

Song Qingming looked at the Jade Profound Scripture in his hand with mixed laughter and tears. He had spent one hundred and fifty Spirit Stones and thought his investment had gone entirely down the drain, only for the willow trees to cast dark shadows before blossoms bloomed in bright new light. He had unexpectedly obtained a Qi Refining Stage cultivation method. He did not know whether he had gained or lost in this deal.

The value of cultivation methods was difficult to assess. Ordinary Qi Refining Stage cultivation methods with Five Elements attributes were worth at most a dozen or so Spirit Stones in the Marketplace. Rare cultivation methods with special abilities might not be purchasable even for over a hundred Spirit Stones. If he handed it over to the Song Family's Treasury Pavilion, he might even receive more Spirit Stones.

Song Qingming did not yet know the effects of this cultivation method, so he did not dare offer it to the family rashly.

"Since it is fated with me, I should cultivate it myself first and see. If there is no problem with this cultivation method, I can copy out a version and hand it over to the family when I have time," Song Qingming muttered to himself.

Over the past two hundred years, the Song Family's Treasury Pavilion had collected several dozen Qi Refining Stage cultivation methods, but this one was not among them. As long as Song Qingming copied it into the Treasury Pavilion in the future, it would surely benefit the family, and he himself could exchange it for some Merit Points.

Among the Qi Refining Stage methods in the Jade Profound Scripture, there was only one mystic art that could slightly increase one's cultivation speed. It was called the Spirit Gathering Technique, a spell used to assist cultivation.

There was no lack of such spells in the Cultivation World that could accelerate cultivation, but most could only increase it by ten or twenty percent. The Song Family's Treasury Pavilion also had similar spells, but they had Spirit Root restrictions and required Water and Wood Spiritual Roots to cultivate.

Song Qingming lacked Water among the Five Elements and did not have a Water Spiritual Root, so he had not cultivated that method before. The Spirit Gathering Technique he had now obtained happened to fill this gap.

Although this mystic art could not be used against enemies, it was still somewhat useful. Combined with the Incomplete Map on his person, Song Qingming estimated that it could increase his cultivation speed by around twenty percent. Together with his long-term use of pills that improved cultivation, his cultivation speed was now close to that of a cultivator with Three Spirit Roots.

Although the Jade Profound Scripture possessed no particularly powerful mystic arts or spells, it was still fairly good as an aid to cultivation. Song Qingming had gained something from obtaining this cultivation method, and the gloom on his face from the Void Sword's breakage gradually faded away.

Song Qingming was no longer short on Spirit Stones. He had spiritual pills to take every month, his cultivation was steadily increasing, and the Magic Tools in his hand were fairly fine. What he lacked was precisely a method like this that could help raise his cultivation speed.