"Mm, I still shouldn't talk him out of it. With Junior Brother Qingyun's face, if he went to work at the Hall of Seeking Offspring in the front compound too, wouldn't he steal all my glory?"
He Xiao thought this, but when he saw Li Qingyun absorbed in reading scriptures while he himself had spent another day carousing without doing any cultivation homework, he suddenly felt a thread of pressure.
He forced himself to perk up, walked to his desk, and looked at the two talisman papers that had been left idle for days. After hesitating for a while, he finally rolled up his sleeves, picked up his brush, dipped it in gold powder and Dan Sha, and began drawing.
Before he had written more than a couple of strokes, the fatigue that followed his excitement came rushing in. He tossed the brush aside, climbed into bed fully clothed, and soon let out contented snores.
The snores drifted through the room, long and melodious, yet they were ultimately an unbearable disturbance.
After his concentration was broken for the third time, Li Qingyun finally could not sit still any longer. He gave two helpless bitter laughs, then rose and left the room.
There was no moon tonight, nor were there any twinkling stars. Maple Mountain's sky was pitch-black, with only the scattered lights of the back mountain casting vague shadows over the hills, grass, and trees, dark red and eerie.
The mountain wind was clear and cold. With his hands tucked into his sleeves, Li Qingyun walked swiftly through the darkness. Dark-red maple trees swept past on either side, and before long, he arrived at the pool where he had bathed during the day.
This was one of the few places on the back mountain he could count as having explored.
Mist filled the air, drowning the flowers and trees around the pool in haziness.
Mystic light gleamed in his eyes, piercing through the veil of mist. He found a relatively smooth, beeswax-yellow mountain rock beside the pool, swept his wide sleeve, clearing away the dirt and dust, then calmly sat down.
"It's quiet here at night. No one will disturb me."
He opened his copied notes, and his heart immediately settled as he began focusing on comprehending the Qi Concealment Art.
Gradually, the aura of mana around his body slowly drew in and became restrained.
"This spell really is simple. Of course, the scripture manuals and Daoist books in the Scripture Repository gave me a foundation, which made comprehending it fairly easy. Still, this effect of concealing one's aura somehow doesn't quite live up to expectations..."
With a thought, he changed his posture and assumed the standard meditative position.
Now that he had a foundation of mana, he had just tried cultivating on his own and seen results, so he had confidence in his heart. He decided to try the phantom of that mysterious Daoist effigy in his mind again.
"This effigy can help me cultivate mana. Can it also help me comprehend spells?"
Buzz!
Before he could think further, that mysterious Daoist effigy with lowered brows and downcast eyes flashed into view once more within the dark void of his mind.
However, Li Qingyun discovered that no booklet of the Qi Concealment Art appeared before the effigy seated cross-legged in the darkness, nor did clear qi rise from above its head.
"Qi Concealment Art! Qi Concealment Art!"
"How strange... Could it only help cultivate mana?"
Li Qingyun visualized the Qi Concealment Art, wanting to project it before the Daoist effigy, but there was not the slightest response.
Instead, he vaguely felt that the mysterious Daoist effigy with lowered brows and downcast eyes seemed to reveal a faint trace of disdain—not disdain toward him, but toward the Qi Concealment Art.
Still, his thoughts received something of a response.
Driven by his intense will, changes finally appeared in the dark wall behind the mysterious Daoist effigy. A faint ripple condensed there, like light glinting off water.
When Li Qingyun saw that watery ripple in the darkness, he instinctively understood. "This is the trace left behind by the Qi Concealment Art!"
"It seems that both spells and mystic arts can leave traces within the space of the mysterious Daoist effigy, only in completely different forms. The Precious Furnace Qi Absorption Art manifests as a booklet floating before it, while the Qi Concealment Art merely leaves a faint shimmer on the dark wall..."
He focused all his attention on that faint ripple behind the Daoist effigy, and then something miraculous happened again!
He felt his degree of comprehension of the Qi Concealment Art begin to rise at a dizzying pace!
His earlier careful reading and circulation of mana had counted as an initial entry, but now, as he gazed at that shimmering ripple, his understanding of the Qi Concealment Art advanced once more. Many parts that had been unclear or vaguely understood began to grow distinct.
Although it was not like the Precious Furnace Qi Absorption Art, where the phantom of the Daoist effigy directly cultivated mana for him, being able to assist his comprehension of spells was just as extraordinary!
"My mysterious Daoist effigy really is incredible. It'll help this Daoist master soar with ease, rising ten thousand miles like a roc..."
Joy surged endlessly through his heart, while the aura around his body changed without cease. From the outside, there was now even less trace of mana stirring within him.
This Qi Concealment Art was considered mastered—at least, he could wield it with perfect ease!
"This will do for now! Let's try this Thunder Seal next. This is a formidable method for summoning thunder and lightning, vanquishing demons and devils. Once I master it, I'll have at least some ability to protect myself!"
Filled with anticipation, Li Qingyun took out the copied notes for the Thunder Seal.
After much consideration, he had chosen this spell, taking Lightning Method as his first art for protecting the Dao.
In the Nether Kingdom, demons and devils ran rampant, and the people could not live in peace. Even in densely populated, prosperous county towns and prefectural cities, guarded by extraordinary Aristocratic Clans and unorthodox cultivators, "strange" incidents still occurred from time to time, causing many commoners to vanish or die gruesome deaths.
Lightning Method possessed mighty power. Summon thunder and lightning—with a single thunderclap, demons and devils met their deaths, reduced to ashes. This was absolutely a superior spell for suppressing horrors, exterminating ghosts, and slaying demons.
Once Li Qingyun cultivated Lightning Method, he would surely be able to establish himself in this world. The restless sense of drifting unease in his heart could at least be eased, and some of the invisible shadow of pressure hanging over his head dispersed.
But Lightning Method was famously difficult. To command the thunder of heaven and earth—the difficulty could well be imagined.
It was powerful, but difficult and costly... Ordinary True Dao cultivators would not choose Lightning Method as their primary cultivation.
Li Qingyun was relying on the mysterious Daoist effigy in the dark space of his mind, which could help him cultivate mana in an unending stream. In the future, his mana would surely be vast and unmatched.
Choosing Lightning Method as his primary cultivation would undoubtedly magnify his own advantages severalfold!
"This Thunder Seal uses six hand seals, paired with an incantation, while simultaneously visualizing Divine Firmament Demon Subduing Dao Lord. With all three working together, one reaches a subtle point of balance, then merges one's mana with the thunderous Yang intent drawn from the unseen depths, ultimately manifesting the power of lightning!"
"It sounds clear and easy to understand, but in actual practice, it is exceedingly difficult. Not a single mistake can be made throughout the entire casting process!"
"Especially if I'm not skilled enough and need half a day just to summon lightning, then it's as useless as chicken ribs. The enemy won't stand there waiting to be struck by lightning..."
After attempting to comprehend and cultivate it himself, Li Qingyun could not help sighing. He was not, after all, a cultivation genius.
Stumbling along, his hand gestures went from unfamiliar to relatively practiced. He could initially form the six Thunder Seals and had memorized the incantation, but forming seals while chanting, with the seals and chant needing to interlock perfectly, sent the difficulty soaring in a straight line!
Not to mention that he also had to simultaneously visualize and silently invoke Divine Firmament Demon Subduing Dao Lord.
This supreme being of legend seemed to command a portion of the authority over Lightning Method.
He tried more than a dozen times. Twice, he barely managed to align the seals and incantation properly, yet at the most crucial stage of the casting, Divine Firmament Demon Subduing Dao Lord showed no response whatsoever.
That unseen being seemed completely unwilling to spare him any attention!
This was the drawback of blindly practicing on his own. Without a Daoist teacher's guidance, without going to the Scripture Hall on the back mountain to seek instruction, how could he understand the hidden principles within?
If he spent a heavy sum to hire a Daoist teacher from the temple to answer his questions, that teacher would surely tell him that before cultivating the Thunder Seal, he first needed to worship and visualize Divine Firmament Demon Subduing Dao Lord over a long period. Only after becoming familiar and building a relationship, with sincerity moving the spirits, would the Dao Lord spare him a glance!
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