Dao Souls and Imprint Techniques. After the master and disciple had hurt each other who knew how many times, Bai Qiuran finally changed the subject. Another few months slipped by in a flash. At last, six months later, on the mountain path of Seven Star Peak, Tang Ruowei was blocked for the 138th time by the female spirit monkey that lived on the mountain. After spending several years together, Tang Ruowei had naturally teased the truth out of Bai Qiuran's words. The young woman's fair, tender hand reached over the female monkey's shoulder and pressed against the rock wall behind its head, leaving a huge web of cracks in the stone. "Squeak, squeak-squeak!" "The next thing I'm going to teach you is how to cultivate a Dao Soul and a Sword Imprint." As he said this, Bai Qiuran lifted his head with great pride. "Ruowei, you have to understand your master's painstaking efforts. Although you're flat-chested and sharp-tongued, and often refuse to listen to me, you're still my most precious disciple. Would your master ever harm you?" The female monkey still knew exactly how to provoke Tang Ruowei's anger. From who knew where, it had found two tough shells from some kind of spirit fruit. It pointed at Tang Ruowei's chest, placed the shells against its own, and let out a brazen cry. In the instant before the female monkey could react, a black Sword Light flashed past, skimming the fur on its body and striking a small tree beside the mountain path. As for its power, when Bai Qiuran wielded it with the strength of the Foundation Establishment Stage, it could probably smash a slab of hard black rock from the Western Lands, taller than a man, into powder. The young woman calmly set down the medicinal herbs she had been holding, then smiled faintly at the monkey and opened her mouth. "When I first cultivated a Sword Imprint, I risked my life entering a Savage Lands ruin and cut a wisp of Sword Light from the corpse of a Sword Immortal from the previous era. But I've already made that power my own. The seed I'm giving you today is my own, Ruowei." Tang Ruowei blinked and asked curiously, "Why is that?" He smiled slightly. "A Dao Soul is what allows Cultivators to choose the Great Dao they wish to cultivate. There are three thousand Great Daos in the world, and every cultivator has to choose one or several to study. When they have studied a Dao to a certain degree, a Dao Soul will appear within their spiritual platform, representing their standing and attainment in that Dao. For example, most of the people in our Azure Nether Sword Sect have condensed the Dao Soul of the sword cultivator. Once a Dao Soul forms, a figure resembling the cultivator, holding a long sword, will appear within their spiritual platform. At that point, the cultivator will also receive inspiration from the unseen world: perhaps an exquisite sword technique, or a method for forging a superior Flying Sword. Of course, Dao Souls of other Great Daos may yield different things, but the general idea is much the same." Tang Ruowei glared at him, utterly unafraid. The small tree split in two with a crack, and the spirit fruit shells the female monkey had pressed against its chest were sliced apart and slid to the ground. Bai Qiuran explained, "That's another reason people think Imprint Techniques are difficult to cultivate. Without strength, it's generally impossible to find high-grade energy to use as a seed for cultivating an Imprint Technique. But once you have strength, cultivating an Imprint Technique is slower than cultivating a spell of the same level. So to most people, Imprint Techniques seem useless. But we don't have that problem. Your cultivation is low, and I happen to have high-grade energy." Smack! "To cultivate an imprint of a certain attribute, you need energy of that attribute as its seed. The grade of the energy you use determines how high your completed seal can rise." The female monkey's wild instincts warned it that the person before it was no longer what she used to be. It shrieked and fled into the woods on all fours. And for some reason, Tang Ruowei was highly accomplished in the Fortune Body Forging Technique. With its help, the power behind her palm strike was even greater than that of the sword. But to its surprise, this time Tang Ruowei didn't curse it out and draw her sword to chase after it as she usually did. "This is the Sword Light that Bai Qiuran, the second-generation direct disciple of the Azure Nether Sword Sect, spent three thousand years condensing after the sect was founded." Bai Qiuran wagged a finger as he explained, "A Sword Imprint is a kind of Imprint Technique. To be precise, this is the skill I'm proudest of. I can say with complete confidence that throughout the Ten Lands of Jiuzhou, no one can surpass me in Imprint Techniques." "Then I'll teach you how to condense a Dao Soul first, and afterward, I'll give you a seed for cultivating an Imprint Technique." Whether it was the rocks and sand in the earth, metal ores, or even the magma in the ley lines, Tang Ruowei could pass through it all—so long as she didn't do anything foolish like walk into a sea of fire. Bai Qiuran patted his thighs. "Watch your mouth!" After that, Bai Qiuran taught Tang Ruowei an escape technique and a palm technique. The young woman smiled and approached the female monkey, her breath as sweet as orchids. Bai Qiuran placed two fingers in Tang Ruowei's palm. Sword Light flickered at his fingertips, then remained in her palm. "In any case, although Imprint Techniques are difficult to master, I still hope you'll keep at it. If they're difficult, it's because they have something special about them." Bai Qiuran flew into a rage. Tang Ruowei had now entered the Foundation Establishment Stage. Not only did she have True Essence, but her Spiritual Sense had also grown stronger, allowing Bai Qiuran to enter it and directly imprint knowledge that didn't take up much space. That made things far more convenient for him. After demonstrating the two techniques once and directly transmitting their methods and key points into Tang Ruowei's Spiritual Sense, Bai Qiuran began explaining the next step. "Dead monkey." "What goes around comes around. I've finally got you today!" But it was no use. Tang Ruowei slipped into the mountain and chased after it through the rock, driving it into a cave near the foot of the peak. "Aah, yes." Hearing him, Tang Ruowei understood and held out her palm... "Put simply, these things are difficult to cultivate, but they aren't restricted by cultivation level, and their power is comparable to spells. Everyone else went off to cultivate spells, while only you, Master, cultivated Imprint Techniques—so you became the greatest in the Ten Lands of Jiuzhou, right?" "What are this Dao Soul and Sword Imprint?" Tang Ruowei asked. He extended a finger, and a few inches of Sword Light burst from its tip. "Oh." Tang Ruowei sneered without answering. Just like that, Tang Ruowei, who had only recently succeeded in Foundation Establishment and emerged from seclusion, began another arduous training regimen under Bai Qiuran's arrangements. "Shut, shut up! You ungrateful, flat-chested disciple!" "If you don't say anything, I'll take it as agreement." "The grade is definitely high enough." Bai Qiuran said with heartfelt sorrow, "Little do they know that Imprint Techniques are the thing our ancestors pioneered from primordial chaos, the thing most in harmony with the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth. Ah, what a tragedy." She could practically swim freely within the body of Mother Earth.
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