Cultivating the Longevity Art

?Cultivating the Longevity Art

Boom! A thunderous crash rang out.

The two men in the forest clashed head-on and were both sent flying, blood trickling from the corners of their mouths.

As soon as they regained their footing, they charged at each other again, launching into a fight to the death.

They fought relentlessly. Both were badly wounded, their steps growing unsteady and their breathing ragged.

At last, their weapons struck each other at the same time. Blood flowed freely, and they collapsed to the ground.

The swordsman's chest had been pierced through. He opened his mouth wide, as if he wanted to say something, but no words came. In the end, his head lolled to one side, and he died.

The other man had been struck on the shoulder by the broad blade. It had nearly severed his entire arm, and seemed to have cut through a blood vessel; blood sprayed everywhere.

The two men lay on the ground, their eyes wide open, dying with grievances unavenged.

Bi Fan had no idea who they were. Afraid of being discovered, he had stayed far away and couldn't hear their conversation.

But that didn't matter. The two men were dead, and their belongings were ownerless now. Bi Fan naturally had no intention of letting them go to waste.

In the Myriad Snake Den, Bi Fan had obtained three treasures. For now, the Eight Treasures Gourd could only hold liquids, and the Heavenly Origin Ring could only store things. As for the Blood Blade, Bi Fan couldn't use it at all. Even if he could, he couldn't just take it out to fight with—it was, after all, a demonic weapon.

The weapons those two men carried were no ordinary items. They were just the kind of treasures Bi Fan desperately needed.

Traveling the martial world without a weapon for protection felt unsafe—and was extremely dangerous.

Resolutely, Bi Fan walked over, muttering, "Don't blame me. I'll lay you to rest properly."

He first went to the swordsman and put the broad blade into the Heavenly Origin Ring, planning to study it later.

Bi Fan crouched down and began searching the man. He had almost nothing on him, except for a golden-threaded cloth pouch.

"A Cosmic Bag!" Bi Fan exclaimed in surprise.

A Cosmic Bag wasn't considered a particularly valuable treasure, but it was very important to cultivators.

It was only the most basic kind of storage artifact, yet even so, ordinary cultivators couldn't get their hands on one.

At Qingyang Mountain, only Core Disciples might be issued a treasure like a Cosmic Bag.

Overjoyed, Bi Fan didn't even check what was inside. He put it straight into the Heavenly Origin Ring.

The other man had been about as strong as the swordsman, so he should have had plenty of good things on him. Bi Fan hurried over, unable to wait.

The long sword was a fine treasure. I'll take it! Bi Fan crouched down again and began searching the man.

Suddenly, the man sat up, his expression ferocious. In a hoarse voice, he rasped, "Die!"

He suddenly struck Bi Fan with a palm. Then he spat out a mouthful of blood, fell to the ground, and truly died.

Boom! Bi Fan felt as though a gigantic iron hammer had slammed into him. He went flying, landing a long way off.

If the man hadn't been weakened by his imminent death, with less than one percent of his former fighting strength, that palm would likely have cost Bi Fan his life.

Bi Fan was in terrible shape. It felt as if his internal organs had shifted, and he nearly spat out a mouthful of blood.

He lay on the ground, unable to move, his whole body aching unbearably.

I can't be so careless again. Carelessness gets you killed. Bi Fan swore silently to himself.

Bi Fan hadn't cultivated inner breath yet, so healing his injuries was difficult. They would take time to heal on their own.

I'll risk it. I'll try cultivating the Qingyang Longevity Art.

He made up his mind.

This was the wilderness, and danger could appear at any moment. He had to get away as soon as possible.

Bi Fan had long since memorized the Qingyang Longevity Art by heart. He acted as soon as the thought came to him and began cultivating it.

Normally, a cultivator had to reach the peak of the Martial Force Realm before cultivating an inner-breath art—that was, they needed a strength of nearly two thousand pounds. Bi Fan was still far from that.

To recover from his injuries as quickly as possible, he had no choice but to cultivate the Qingyang Longevity Art ahead of time.

When cultivating an inner-breath art for the first time, the hardest step was drawing qi into the body.

Cultivating inner breath required absorbing spiritual energy from the outside world and transforming it into inner breath. Drawing spiritual energy into the body for the first time was extremely difficult, and failure was common.

Even experts at the peak of the Martial Force Realm struggled to absorb spiritual energy successfully on their first try.

Bi Fan had no other choice. With no better option, he could only give it a try.

As the Qingyang Longevity Art circulated, Bi Fan began sensing spiritual energy.

Only cultivators at the peak of the Martial Force Realm, whose bodies had reached a certain level of strength, could sense spiritual energy easily.

Bi Fan had only meant to try, but to his surprise, he clearly sensed spiritual energy drifting and swirling through the air.

Could I really have gone from a good-for-nothing to a genius? Bi Fan could hardly believe it.

He had taken the Ten-Thousand-Year Earth Vein Spirit Milk, which had changed his constitution and greatly increased his strength. But it couldn't change a person's talent.

Bi Fan steadied his mind and began drawing spiritual energy into his body according to the method in the Qingyang Longevity Art.

When absorbing spiritual energy for the first time, one's affinity for it was very low, so succeeding was difficult.

Yet Bi Fan felt that the spiritual energy was exceptionally close to him, like family. Before he had even done much, the energy around him had already gathered toward him.

Spiritual energy, enter my body and become one with me! Without hesitation, Bi Fan began absorbing it.

Wisps of spiritual energy entered Bi Fan's body in an orderly stream.

Once the spiritual energy was inside him, the rest was easy. He only had to circulate it through his body for a few cycles along the route laid out in the Qingyang Longevity Art, then store it in his dantian.

To be safe, Bi Fan circulated the spiritual energy through his body thirty-six times before storing it in his dantian.

Bi Fan completed his first cultivation session with astonishing ease, leaving him both startled and delighted.

He was startled because he couldn't believe it was real, and delighted because he had successfully cultivated the Qingyang Longevity Art.

From then on, all Bi Fan needed to do was keep cultivating. Once he had stored enough spiritual energy, he could use it to heal his injuries.

Bi Fan didn't dare waste a moment. He continued cultivating the Qingyang Longevity Art, absorbing as much spiritual energy from the outside world as he could.

As the spiritual energy entered his body and circulated through it, Bi Fan felt warmth spread all over him. It was so comfortable that he nearly groaned aloud.

Anyone who saw Bi Fan cultivating would surely cry out that he was a monster.

Bi Fan's cultivation level was too low, so cultivating the Qingyang Longevity Art was dangerous, and his chances of success were slim.

Yet not only did Bi Fan cultivate it—he succeeded, and the entire process went smoothly.

Even the geniuses of Qingyang Mountain usually needed around ten days to draw qi into their bodies for the first time. Bi Fan had succeeded on his very first attempt. If word got out, no one would believe it.

Several hours later, Bi Fan had stored enough spiritual energy and began using it to heal his injuries.

The palm strike he had taken had mainly injured his internal organs.

Bi Fan mobilized all the spiritual energy in his dantian to nourish them.

With the help of spiritual energy, his injuries healed much faster. Bi Fan could clearly feel his pain gradually easing.

After cultivating for a full hour, Bi Fan's injuries had completely healed.

Bi Fan got to his feet and cursed, "You were practically dead already, and you still made me suffer like this. You deserved to be eaten by wild beasts and left without a whole corpse."

This time, he first made sure the man was dead before walking over. He searched him and found a golden-threaded cloth pouch.

Bi Fan put the Cosmic Bag into the Heavenly Origin Ring, then dug a shallow hole and buried the swordsman before quickly leaving the forest.