Li Qingyun sighed to himself. "What a pity. You, He Xiao, can still draw on your household's support and obtain resources to aid your cultivation, but I'm nothing more than a discarded cripple!"
"As for spiritual creatures like Qingyang Fish, I've only ever gotten two from Yuanbao. Even when the Marquis's Estate occasionally made a catch, or some lucky fisherman caught a spirit fish and sold it to the estate, most of them still ended up in Cui and her son's hands..."
Though he was filled with emotion, his face remained calm and indifferent. Out of habit, he maintained the bearing of the Marquis's third young master and showed no weakness.
But when he thought of Big Black Cat Yuanbao, whose whereabouts were unknown and whose fate hung in the balance, he could not help missing her and worrying for her.
His spirit cat could bring in wealth. What a terrible waste!
After the two chatted for a while, He Xiao's drunkenness surged up. He apologized, then lay straight down on the bed without even taking off his shoes and fell into a deep sleep.
Before long, snores echoed through the room.
Listening to the snores and smelling the stench of alcohol, Li Qingyun felt rather helpless.
This was hardly a pure place for cultivation!
I'll adapt for a few days first. Later, I'll see whether I can get an independent residence. Lingbao Temple puts wealth above all else, and the word "wealth" is hinted at everywhere. If I'm willing to spend money, it shouldn't be difficult!
His entire body was aching unbearably, so he simply climbed onto the bed as well. His legs naturally folded into a cross-legged posture as he opened the pamphlet, intending to thoroughly comprehend its essential principles.
If aptitude was lacking, wisdom would make up for it!
He wanted to rely on the wisdom and insight of his previous life, using a thorough understanding of the cultivation method to make up, however slightly, for his innate barrenness.
Huh!
Yet just as he settled into a standard meditation posture, his expression abruptly changed. A faint flush even rose on his handsome, bloodless face.
Shock, doubt, delight—his expression became extraordinarily varied for a moment.
What was going on!
At that moment, a mysterious Daoist effigy suddenly emerged from the depths of his mind!
It looked somewhat like a sculpture, yet also like the projected phantom of a True Person. Dim profound light shimmered over its body. It wore a jade crown and Daoist robes, its brows and eyes lowered as it meditated within a void. Its garments appeared exceedingly ancient.
A strange feeling stirred in Li Qingyun's heart. For some reason, he felt that this phantom of a Daoist effigy had been forgotten for far too long, like the idols in abandoned temples that no one worshipped anymore.
He tried to inspect the phantom's face more closely, but his "vision" suddenly blurred, disturbed by some strange force.
Yet he vaguely felt that the contours of the phantom's face seemed somewhat familiar—the sort of familiarity that came from looking very much like himself...
Behind the phantom of the Daoist effigy lay a deep darkness, so black it made his scalp prickle.
Li Qingyun felt that unknown shadows seemed to lurk within that dark chaos. Driven by curiosity, he tried to send his thoughts past the Daoist effigy to get a clear look, but his "field of vision" was abruptly blocked again.
No matter how he tried, he could not cross the invisible line where the phantom of the Daoist effigy stood.
At the same time, a sudden sense of dread welled up in his heart.
It seemed to warn him that he must not look, must not think, or else an unfathomable terror would descend!
Li Qingyun could only suppress the confusion and curiosity in his heart, withdraw his "gaze," and focus once more on the phantom of the Daoist effigy.
Then, with a flicker of light and shadow before the phantom, a small pamphlet gently floated into the air.
He immediately sensed it. "This is my Precious Furnace Qi Absorption Art. It was actually projected in here?"
Next, a wisp of clear qi suddenly drifted from above the phantom's head.
At the same time, Li Qingyun felt a slight numbness in his chest.
The numbness was minute, yet distinct.
Though it was only a tiny amount, it immediately made threads of obvious warmth arise throughout his body.
"Warmth rises like a hot spring—this is the initial birth of mana from the Qi Absorption Art... Isn't this exactly what the Qi Absorption Art describes as cultivating mana?"
He instantly grew excited.
The Precious Furnace Qi Absorption Art drew in spiritual qi of the heaven-and-earth fire-yang aspect. Once the guidance and absorption of qi succeeded, one would feel as though bubbling hot springs were welling up within the body.
"I'm clearly a crippled body unfit for cultivation. Could this Daoist effigy be cultivating in my place?"
Just now, he had seriously guided and absorbed qi for so long according to the cultivation method, yet gained nothing.
But now, after merely sitting cross-legged in meditation, a mysterious phantom of a Daoist effigy had suddenly appeared in his mind and directly cultivated a trace of mana for him!
And this state was continuing!
Each time a wisp of clear qi emerged from above the Daoist effigy's head, another trace of mana appeared within Li Qingyun's body.
"It can actually ignore one's comprehension of the cultivation method, and ignore the limitations of my body that lacks a Dao Bone Spiritual Root..."
"After three years, has my cheat finally awakened?"
Joy welled up in Li Qingyun's heart, and he was overcome with emotion.
After his soul had crossed over and replaced the Marquis Estate's third young master who had drowned, he had become wildly fervent upon learning that this world possessed a cultivation civilization.
To cultivate his household's Yang Sha Refining, he had kept himself pure, turned down the tender affections of quite a few young ladies in Qinghe County, never visited brothels or similar places of entertainment, and bitterly guarded his pure yang.
He had even begun to reveal his brilliance and, as he wished, earned the attention of his cheap father, Marquis Qinghe. Naturally, that had also alerted Cui and her son, bringing down their overbearing blows and suppression upon him!
Yet who could have expected that he had been blindly busy all this time, never finding the correct way to activate his cheat...
"Strange. It wasn't as if I'd never meditated and practiced breathing techniques before, yet there had been no unusual signs. Could it be that meditation had to be paired with an authentic Daoist cultivation method, and only the two together could summon this substitute phantom in my mind?"
"Or perhaps the time simply hadn't come before?"
Li Qingyun "gazed" at the cross-legged phantom in his mind, as well as the Qi Absorption Art Pamphlet before it, and made wild guesses.
In the past, he had lacked both the ability and the opportunity to come into contact with authentic cultivation methods. He did know a little about crooked-path methods that came at great costs to cultivate.
But within Marquis Qinghe's Estate, the only complete transcendent cultivation method that could truly be practiced was the crooked-path Yang Sha Refining.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!
As he rejoiced and reflected, Mana Glimmers continued to emerge one after another throughout the meridians in his body.
His entire body felt pleasantly numb and relaxed, as comfortable and clear as if he were soaking in a hot spring.
The mana seemed to arise from thin air rather than being drawn from the Sun Blaze Spiritual Qi outside the Bamboo Lodge.
Not the slightest fluctuation of gathered spiritual qi appeared anywhere near the Bamboo Lodge.
In some manner Li Qingyun could not understand, the mysterious phantom of the Daoist effigy in his mind was cultivating an endless stream of mana for him!
This was truly heaven-defying!
"It seems this Daoist master is about to strike it rich!"
Li Qingyun dearly wanted to throw back his head and laugh aloud.
For a time, heroic ambitions surged within his chest. He felt the Great Dao lay ahead, and he would no longer be lost or hesitant.
Even the thunderous snores of that fellow He Xiao sounded far more pleasant now.
So long as he sat cross-legged in meditation, the phantom of the Daoist effigy would automatically appear in the depths of his mind and cultivate for him!
He did not even need to calm his mind or enter meditation; no disturbance from the outside world could hinder it!
Bit by bit, mana arose throughout his meridians, like countless tiny starlights lighting up one after another within an endless, dark void of night.
Brilliant and mysterious, it intoxicated and captivated him.
"This is this humble Daoist's bitter cultivation..."
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