PS: There was a problem with the upload of Chapter Ten, and it has already been corrected. It should be viewable after a delay. Sorry, sorry. My fault!!
According to the notes Xu Yu had recorded earlier, the Void Return Pill and Life Transformation Pill were extremely high-grade medicinal pills. Even experts at the level of the heads of the Four Halls had no use for such pills; they were meant for those at the Immortal Infant Dao Fruit Realm. In the entire Taichu Sect, aside from the sect leader, True Lord Huang Long, only four ancestor-level powerhouses were at the Immortal Infant Dao Fruit Realm. One had exhausted his lifespan and died of old age decades ago, two remained in seclusion year-round and ignored worldly affairs, while the last was nearing the end of his life and had gone everywhere in search of heavenly treasures and earthly materials to refine pills that would extend his lifespan.
A One-Leaf Golden Lotus—it was actually a One-Leaf Golden Lotus! A supreme spiritual herb that even the ancestors of immortal sects searched for bitterly!
Qin Haoxuan was instantly exhilarated. His blood boiled, and the last trace of drowsiness vanished without a trace. It seemed he would have to sleep through another day of class tomorrow, because he had decided to head to Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley tonight and pick that treasure. With something as precious as a One-Leaf Golden Lotus, even being looked down upon was worth it.
He endured until nightfall with great difficulty. After dinner, everyone sat cross-legged and cultivated on their own. Spiritual energy churned around those Purple Seed disciples, their bodies like vast oceans swallowing immense quantities of spiritual energy like whales. Even Elder Chu marveled at such speed. Was this the aptitude of Purple Seed disciples?
Spiritual energy was also dense around the two Gray Seed disciples, but their absorption speed was clearly nowhere near that of the Purple Seed disciples. Still, they were far stronger than those Weak Seed disciples.
Spirit Field Valley was one of the places on Dayu Mountain with more abundant spiritual energy, and the speed of absorbing spiritual energy was far faster than elsewhere. Yet Qin Haoxuan could absorb only a tiny amount. Forget comparing himself to the Purple Seed disciples—even compared to Gray Seed disciples like Zhang Yang and Murong Chao, the difference was as great as heaven and earth.
If Zhang Kuang and the other Purple Seed disciples were as fast as rabbits, then Weak Seed disciples like Qin Haoxuan were as slow as snails.
No, if this continued, the gap would be pulled open in less than three months. By then, neither Zhang Kuang nor Li Jing would let him off easily.
Gritting his teeth, Qin Haoxuan decided to cultivate the Undying Witch Demon's Great Dao Heart Seed Demon Technique.
This was a demonic path cultivation method. Would cultivating it be especially dangerous? Qin Haoxuan could not be sure, but in order not to be left behind by Zhang Kuang and the others, and not to be casually kneaded and crushed by others in the future, he decided to gamble on it!
The profound and unfathomable words of the Great Dao Heart Seed Demon Technique appeared in his mind. He read its brief introduction: the Great Dao Heart Seed Demon Technique was a supreme technique, passed down from a supreme Demon God.
The first section of the Great Dao Heart Seed Demon Technique was an advanced formula entirely unlike a low-level cultivation method such as the Qi Guiding Technique, and its explanation was extremely clear. Though the Great Dao Heart Seed Demon Technique was a demonic path cultivation method, it required an immortal path technique as support. Without cultivating an immortal sect's Daoist arts, one could not succeed by cultivating only the Great Dao Heart Seed Demon Technique.
After trying several times, Qin Haoxuan successfully guided in qi. He immediately felt the spiritual energy of heaven and earth surge into his dantian like an endless river and sea, watering his immortal seed.
A strand of gray-black true qi that had always clung to Qin Haoxuan's dantian also quietly entered his immortal seed along with that vast amount of heaven and earth spiritual energy.
Qin Haoxuan was overjoyed when his spiritual energy absorption speed increased countless times, but he immediately stopped. After all, he was a Weak Seed disciple. If he absorbed spiritual energy too quickly, people would grow suspicious. Yet when he looked around himself, everything was calm and peaceful. Forget boiling spiritual energy—there was not even a hint of dense spiritual energy around him.
Qin Haoxuan secretly rejoiced. So the Great Dao Heart Seed Demon Technique absorbed spiritual energy so discreetly that no one could notice it. In truth, this was a common trait of all high-level cultivation methods. If they were all like the low-level Qi Guiding Technique, then when the sect's ancestors absorbed spiritual energy, would heaven and earth not change color, with wind and clouds surging like the end of the world?
Continuing to cultivate the Great Dao Heart Seed Demon Technique, Qin Haoxuan absorbed spiritual energy many times faster than when using the Qi Guiding Technique. He even faintly matched Gray Seed disciples Zhang Yang and Murong Chao, though compared with Zhang Kuang and Li Jing, the gap remained as great as heaven and earth. No wonder every Purple Seed disciple was a heaven-favored darling of the cultivation world. This only strengthened Qin Haoxuan's determination to go to Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley, pluck the One-Leaf Golden Lotus, and swallow it.
After cultivating for several hours, it was already deep into the night. The disciples who had been cultivating diligently had gradually gone to sleep. Hard cultivation was important, but they were still mortal flesh and blood. Cultivating while neglecting sleep and food would instead be counterproductive. Moreover, cultivation was arduous work, so whether Strong Seed or Weak Seed disciples, they fell into deep sleep the moment their heads touched their pillows.
Though Qin Haoxuan was tired, in order to raise his strength as quickly as possible, he possessed Little Snake after everyone had fallen asleep and darted toward Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley in a flash.
Although the moon was bright and the stars sparse tonight, with clear and pleasant weather, the skies near Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley were covered in thick dark clouds, and twilight lay heavy. Even outside the valley, he could hear the shrill howl of wind coming from within.
With last night's experience, Qin Haoxuan plunged in without hesitation.
"You came again!" As soon as Qin Haoxuan stepped into Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley, the Undying Witch Demon, not far from the entrance, greeted him. Qin Haoxuan ignored him and ran straight toward the One-Leaf Golden Lotus.
As he approached the One-Leaf Golden Lotus, Qin Haoxuan's heart pounded wildly. This was a spiritual herb used by figures at the Taichu Sect ancestor level. If it were used to refine pills, its medicinal potency could be preserved to the greatest extent. But if swallowed raw, more than half its potency would be lost.
After picking the One-Leaf Golden Lotus, Qin Haoxuan decided to swallow it raw tonight. Though it was extravagantly wasteful, he did not even know the basics of pill refinement, much less how to use a treasure like the One-Leaf Golden Lotus to refine pills.
The thought of asking someone else to refine it, then splitting the resulting pills fifty-fifty, flashed through Qin Haoxuan's mind, but he quickly rejected it. If outsiders learned his secret of possessing Little Snake to enter and leave Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley, even the sect's ancestors would become greedy. They would capture him and force him to enter Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley time and again to search for treasures, without giving him any share of the benefits.
To avoid future trouble, waste was waste. Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley was so vast that it surely contained treasures beyond counting. As long as his secret remained hidden, Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley would be his private treasure vault. Even if he ate with such extravagant waste, he would never finish it all.
Just as Qin Haoxuan was about to leave Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley, the Undying Witch Demon, who had been left out in the cold, grew anxious.
"Hey, hey, I say, Little Snake, are you planning to swallow it just like that? Though this Nine-Leaf Golden Lotus has grown only one leaf, it is still a rare treasure! If used for pill refinement, it will bring you endless benefits!"
Qin Haoxuan rolled his eyes at him. While possessing Little Snake, he could not speak, but the meaning of that eye roll was obvious—easy for you to say. Can you refine it for me?
"True enough. Though you can enter and leave Immortal-Slaying Poison Valley, you are only a snake after all." The Undying Witch Demon muttered to himself after receiving that eye roll, then sighed again.
He had watched this One-Leaf Golden Lotus grow several hundred years ago. It was a rare heavenly treasure and earthly material. Anyone who obtained it would cherish it like a jewel. With several other spiritual herbs as supplements, it could refine a furnace of excellent pills. Yet he had never expected this damned little snake to swallow it raw.
If he could stand, the Undying Witch Demon would certainly stomp wasteful Qin Haoxuan flat, then spit out fiercely: "Spendthrift!"
Qin Haoxuan could not be bothered with the Undying Witch Demon, who had not seen another living creature for thousands of years and had become somewhat crazed and muttering. Carrying the One-Leaf Golden Lotus, he quickly departed.
Watching Qin Haoxuan leave with the One-Leaf Golden Lotus, the Undying Witch Demon's withered face bloomed with a trace of sinister laughter. He muttered to himself, "Mm! Just endure a little longer!"
By the time he returned to the dormitory, it was the second watch of the night. After his soul returned to his body, Qin Haoxuan placed the One-Leaf Golden Lotus into a jade box he carried with him. He had bought it when gathering herbs in the past. Many spiritual herbs would rapidly lose their medicinal potency and spiritual energy if not properly stored. Given enough time, even the finest spiritual herb would be no different from thatch. Though Qin Haoxuan's jade box was not made from high-grade jade, it could still slow the loss of medicinal potency.
Leaving the dormitory area, Qin Haoxuan chose a remote wilderness spot. He removed the One-Leaf Golden Lotus from the jade box and held it in his hands, examining it carefully. This One-Leaf Golden Lotus was about four inches long and entirely golden. Its single leaf, barely larger than a thumbnail, gleamed with golden light and reflected the cold moonlight.
"Extravagant, far too extravagant!" Qin Haoxuan held the One-Leaf Golden Lotus as though it were a priceless treasure. This tiny golden plant was like an enormous treasury of spiritual power. Pills refined from it might perhaps help an ancestor who had stagnated at the Immortal Infant Dao Fruit Realm for many years advance into the Dharma Manifestation Realm. At the very least, they could extend one's lifespan.
Compared to it, some of the spiritual herbs he had dug up before did not even count as thatch roots. He had wanted to admire it a while longer, but the One-Leaf Golden Lotus's color had already faded considerably from before, likely because its medicinal potency was leaking away. Besides, it was unsafe to hold such a heavenly treasure and earthly material in his hands. He had better swallow it quickly to be safe.
To avoid unforeseen complications, Qin Haoxuan steeled his heart. He no longer cared about wastefulness and brought the One-Leaf Golden Lotus to his mouth. He had intended to take a small bite and swallow it over several doses, but the instant the One-Leaf Golden Lotus entered his mouth, it transformed into a stream of scorching liquid and automatically flowed down Qin Haoxuan's throat.
Once the One-Leaf Golden Lotus entered Qin Haoxuan's stomach, he immediately felt as though a ball of fire were blazing fiercely within his abdomen, and his entire body became unbearably hot.
Qin Haoxuan immediately sat cross-legged in meditation, circulating the only cultivation method he had practiced, the Qi Guiding Technique, and guiding the spiritual power transformed from the One-Leaf Golden Lotus through his limbs and bones.
As he circulated the Qi Guiding Technique, the fire in his abdomen went out, and his body was no longer scorching hot. The abundant spiritual power within him allowed Qin Haoxuan to guide it as he pleased. The Qi Guiding Technique, which had always been only half-baked, gradually became more proficient. On one hand, he absorbed heaven and earth spiritual energy and fused it with the spiritual power in his body; on the other, he watered his immortal seed, which had cracked open with a tiny fissure. That small crack was lush with green, madly absorbing the spiritual energy Qin Haoxuan sent toward it.
Cultivation knew not the passage of time. Qin Haoxuan had fetched the golden lotus and meditated in cultivation, and the night passed in a flash. Morning light shone upon his face, startling Qin Haoxuan awake from the beauty of his cultivation.
The moment he stopped circulating qi, the fire in his abdomen rose from dead ashes once more, and his body became scorching hot again. It was as though he had not swallowed a leaf of spiritual grass, but a whole pot of chili soup, a massive fireball. The heat was so intense that his body seemed about to burst apart. He had no choice but to loosen his clothes, bare his upper body, and let the cool morning mountain wind blow over him, hoping to feel better. Yet it was not particularly effective, making him only slightly more comfortable than before.
At that moment, the aftereffects of possessing Little Snake also struck right on cue. Waves of sleepiness assailed Qin Haoxuan.
And so this scene appeared: a weary-faced youth, bare-chested and yawning, dragged his heavy steps into the classroom. His dispirited appearance left everyone else dumbfounded. This Qin Haoxuan really knew how to make trouble, and every day he came up with some new trick to draw attention. Elder Chu shook his head repeatedly, sighing that the boy was beyond teaching, rotten wood that could not be carved.
"Dressed like that, how does he look even a little like a cultivator?" Zhang Kuang's jab earned Elder Chu's approving nod. How could an immortal dress himself up like a farmhand?
Qin Haoxuan was hot and sleepy. He also knew that Zhang Kuang, as a Purple Seed disciple, held such great authority now that even elders gave him face. He simply could not be bothered to retort and invite trouble. Sleeping was more important.
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