This way, he could also make the best use of the Divine Spring's effects.
After all, both it and the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art came from the Shrouding the Heavens World and shared the same lineage.
After thinking it over again and again, however, he still dismissed the idea.
The reason was simple. He was already seriously injured, and now he was thinking of switching to another cultivation method? That was practically asking to die faster.
Besides, the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art—one could tell from the words "Heaven Swallowing" alone that cultivating it would probably cause quite a commotion. On top of that, the Shrouding the Heavens World was a higher-level world than the Douluo World, and its power levels were undoubtedly higher as well. If he switched to the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art, a drop in his power level would be inevitable!
So here was the question: if something happened to him, would his beloved disciple Bibi Dong, who "cared" about him so much, come to check on the commotion?
Obviously, there was no way she wouldn't come to investigate.
And once she arrived, she'd see that the old man's level had dropped. Well, it looked like he really had been seriously injured.
What else was there to say? She could just take advantage of the old man's weakened state and kill him.
And at that point, to keep his beloved disciple from successfully murdering her master, he would have no choice but to ask the group for help.
Of course, doing so would save his life.
But what then? As the group leader who'd been forced into a desperate, humiliating plea for help by his own disciple, what kind of authority would he have left in the group?
Therefore, to avoid falling into such an embarrassing situation, Qian Xunji decisively changed his mind.
With that thought, Qian Xunji opened the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art. His injuries had now completely healed, so it was time to cultivate the Imperial Scripture that had made the Ruthless Great Emperor famous.
The Heaven Swallowing Devil Art was an unrivaled Imperial Scripture created by the greatest ruthless figure of all time, the peerless female emperor. It refined all the Fortune and physiques in the world.
It cut down all the world's talented geniuses and devoured their flesh and blood essence, turning it into power for oneself.
It used the foundations of others to forge one's own Indestructible Chaos Body.
It nurtured Myriad Sutras in a furnace, housed the Myriad Daos within the body, and shed the Dao Fetus from the demonic body. Using the foundations of others to forge one's own Indestructible Chaos Body, it achieved the peerless, flawless Chaos Body and an unrivaled physical form.
Most importantly, the requirements for cultivating this Imperial Scripture were exceptionally low. It placed no demands on one's physique or the concentration of spiritual energy in the world. Even an ordinary mortal body could cultivate it.
The Ruthless Great Emperor, who created the technique, had been born with an ordinary mortal body, even judged to be a useless physique unsuited for cultivation.
Yet she had relied on this very technique to defy the heavens and rise. She went from an ordinary mortal body to a flawless Chaos Body, undergoing a complete transformation. She cut down all the kings, stood alone above the nine heavens, and ultimately attained enlightenment as an emperor, reaching the absolute peak!
There was no doubt that the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art was an exceptionally suitable cultivation method for Qian Xunji at this moment.
What was more, after the Chat Group's rules had converted it, cultivators of the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art in the Douluo Continent could not only devour other people's essence to grow stronger, but also devour their Martial Souls and Spirit Rings for their own use, making up for their own shortcomings and strengthening their bodies and potential.
(The former method directly devoured the essence of flesh and blood, reducing the victim to nothing. It went against the natural order and could easily invite heavenly retribution, so several ancient medicinal formulas had to be used to temper the process. The latter method merely took the victim's power without killing them, and required no medicinal tempering.)
There was no doubt that this technique suited Qian Xunji.
After all, he was the Pope of the Spirit Hall, one of the three top powers in the Douluo Continent, and had countless subordinates willing to serve him.
He could simply claim he was expanding the Spirit Hall's influence and have his subordinates capture the powerful figures across the land who refused to join the Spirit Hall. Then he could use those Soul Masters who refused to submit to the Spirit Hall to cultivate the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art.
As for those Soul Masters he used for cultivation becoming useless afterward, so what?
They were his enemies either way, people who refused to submit to him. So what if he reduced them to cripples?
Mercy to one's enemies was cruelty to oneself!
Besides, he was leaving them alive. He hadn't killed them, and he even planned to mercifully set them free and let them leave the Spirit Hall alive.
Better to live poorly than to die. Who knew, perhaps one of them would cultivate back to their former level, or happen upon some fortuitous encounter and become the protagonist of a trash-to-hero story?
Mm, then he could reap the benefits from them all over again. Recycling them a second time would be a fantastic deal.
Of course, he would still need to take the necessary precautions. For example, after reaping the benefits, he could erase the memories they'd formed during that time.
That would keep them from going out and badmouthing the Spirit Hall because of their miserable experience, making others wary and the Spirit Hall's abductions more difficult, which would in turn hinder his cultivation!
As Qian Xunji opened the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art, the next moment, the female emperor's voice appeared in his mind.
It was the female emperor's Daoic voice, reciting the Imperial Scripture to him and answering the questions in his heart.
"The Heaven Swallowing Devil Art nurtures Myriad Sutras in a furnace and refines the Myriad Daos. It uses all things under heaven as nourishment to transform into an ultimate demonic Dao Seed."
Reciting the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art's essential formula in his mind, listening to the female emperor's Daoic voice, and with the Jade Pure Bottle filled with Divine Spring dangling from his lips, Qian Xunji devoted his entire mind to cultivating the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art.
Following the Heaven Swallowing Devil Art's cultivation method, Qian Xunji began circulating the power within his body. Then, following the instructions in the technique, he guided his Soul Power through specific meridians and acupoints and slowly circulated it.
As his Soul Power circulated, a faint light began to shimmer across his body. It was a blackness as dark as ink, tranquil and profound.
At the same time, invisible streams of spiritual energy from heaven and earth began to gather wildly around him, then were absorbed into his body.
Gathering... absorbing... gathering... absorbing...
Qian Xunji's body was like a bottomless abyss that could never be filled, wildly drawing in spiritual energy from the world around him, seemingly without end.
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