How to Use the White Tag

He slept more comfortably than ever before.

When he woke up, the room was tidy, and Liu Xiange had already left. The leftover Clear Wine and food scraps from the previous night's binge had been cleaned away, and a bowl of warm vegetable porridge sat on the table. "I can't remember, I really can't remember—the alcohol was too strong!"

Fang Huai changed into clean clothes, got up, and headed for Miasma Valley, while the three—Liu, Shen, and Zhang—were already waiting at the entrance. Zhang Zhu greeted him warmly, Liu Xiange sorted through her Storage Bag with a faint smile, and Shen Yuan's expression was calm, as if she had never spoken of serving him for life. Their normalcy made him feel that last night's events were truly like flowers in a mirror or the moon's reflection on water—a great dream.

In the following days, the four of them focused entirely on gathering Sha, while keeping an eye on the Pei family. What surprised him was that Pei Long never showed up. If not for the fact that the Pei family still stuck together, he might have suspected Pei Long had died in some accident.

One day, before Fang Huai could leave, the three knocked urgently on his door and told him of a calamity: Feng Wuwang had come to Servant Valley the day before and taken Pei Long away, saying he intended to train him. A sense of crisis surged within Fang Huai. He had originally planned to lie low in Servant Valley and save up some Contribution Points, but now he had to speed up his cultivation.

When he first met Feng Wuwang, the man was already at the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining. After collecting nine hundred souls from Sishui Town, who knew how far he had advanced? Pei Long might be busy cultivating now and have no time to trouble Fang Huai, but once he achieved some level of skill, he would surely return for revenge.

After pointing out a few Sha Sources to the three, Fang Huai exchanged all the Sha Qi he had gathered for Contribution Points, then went to the Cultivation Room, found a secluded chamber, and slipped inside. According to the Hundred Sha Technique, reaching the First Layer of Qi Refining required first gaining a sense of Qi, then condensing the Qi Sea.

Anyone capable of cultivation had a Spirit Root within them. The Spirit Root naturally attracted the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi—this was the origin of the sense of Qi. Then, one would draw Spiritual Qi into the body, circulate it through the meridians for a full cycle, and gather it in the Dantian. Over time, when the Dantian was filled with Spiritual Qi like a sea, one could truly be said to have entered the First Layer of Qi Refining.

It sounded simple, but in reality, the proportion of servants who actually reached the First Layer of Qi Refining was pitifully low. He sat cross-legged, calmed his mind, breathed, and tried to draw Qi into his body.

A quarter of an hour passed, and his meridians were completely empty. Half an hour passed, and his fingertips tingled slightly. He thought the sense of Qi was coming, only to realize it was just stiffness from sitting too long. An hour passed, and fine sweat beaded on his forehead. Just then, an itchy sensation came from his abdomen. "Got it! I have the sense of Qi!"

Damn mosquito! Fang Huai slapped a Flower-Winged Mosquito dead, inwardly furious. Was his talent really this terrible? Or was the Spiritual Qi concentration in this Cultivation Room too low? According to the technique, as long as the method was correct, one would definitely gain a sense of Qi—condensing the Qi Sea was the real challenge. Why was it that for him, after an hour, he still felt nothing at all?

Fang Huai refused to give up. He figured that this room must be of poor quality, which was why so few people used it. After bribing the attendant servant with a few Miasma-Clearing Pills, he successfully switched to a high-quality Cultivation Room. Another hour passed, and Fang Huai walked out with a dark face.

Still no sense of Qi! He couldn't figure out the problem, and his heart churned with irritation. He glared hatefully at the many disciples coming and going. Among them were servants and Qi Refining disciples who couldn't afford the Outer Sect's Cultivation Rooms. The most eye-catching was a disciple at the Second Layer of Qi Refining.

[Spirit Absorption (White)]? [Spirit Absorption: Attracted by the Spirit Root, absorb Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi into the body.] Fang Huai was drawn to his tag.

Even if he had no sense of Qi and couldn't draw Spiritual Qi into his body on his own, why not just use someone else's [Spirit Absorption] tag? But this white tag—he had never successfully exchanged for one before. His mind stirred, and the light screen blurred. The tag actually exchanged, and the points he had saved up for so long were consumed in an instant—10 points. No wonder he had never succeeded before; he simply hadn't had enough points.

Overjoyed, he immediately found a Cultivation Room and began cultivating according to the Breathing Method. The moment he sank his mind down, a tingling, numbing sensation spread through his meridians, making him sigh with emotion: "This is what drawing Qi should feel like!" At first, after drawing Spiritual Qi into his body, it was hard to control, and most of it dissipated. Later, as he grew familiar, the Spiritual Qi flowed through his meridians as naturally as instinct, finally gathering in his Dantian.

He cultivated for six hours straight, until the [Spirit Absorption] tag faded away, and only then did he leave the Cultivation Room, still wanting more. But when he stepped out, he saw that the Second Layer of Qi Refining disciple was in a heated argument with the Cultivation Room's steward.

"Your cultivation rooms have issues. I trained for six hours and switched six rooms, but no spiritual energy entered my body!"

"This junior brother, don't talk nonsense. The cultivation rooms have existed for a thousand years, and nothing like this has ever happened."

"You still dare to quibble? I'm reporting this to the sect!"

"Go ahead, you pauper. Can't afford the Outer Sect cultivation rooms, so you come fight with the servants. You've disgraced the Outer Sect."

"..."

Fang Huai chuckled inwardly, though he felt a bit guilty toward the other party. To make up for it, he accidentally dropped a bottle of Sha Qi.

That disciple had sharp eyes. He bent down, picked it up, and quickly left.

[Hundred Sha Technique (Fragment) Entry: 21/100]

Fang Huai was quite satisfied.

He had previously asked about the supervising disciples and learned that an ordinary disciple would need about a hundred hours to reach the First Layer of Qi Refining.

In other words, each hour could only advance cultivation progress by one point.

But Fang Huai was different. He used the tag of a Second Layer of Qi Refining disciple, which greatly increased his spiritual energy attraction, allowing him to advance twenty-one points of cultivation progress in six hours.

The only downside was that exchanging for a White Tag required saving up points for ten days, which left him somewhat speechless.

By now it was already dark. Fang Huai simply spent Contribution Points to rent a guest room and slept soundly. After waking up, he ordered a few venomous scorpions with their tails still on to enjoy.

"Slightly toxic, slightly spicy, slightly numb on the tongue!"

Fang Huai ignored the strange looks from other disciples, patted his backside, and left.

After putting his miscellaneous belongings back in the Stone House, he headed to Miasma Valley.

To his surprise, even without using his ability to inspect tags, he could now faintly sense strands of Dead Sha Qi at varying concentrations.

So the correct method for gathering Sha was to first achieve Spirit Absorption. Once spiritual energy entered the body, one could perceive the existence of Sha Sources.

The servants of the Corpse Sha Sect were constantly worried about failing to complete their Sha-gathering tasks. Even if they managed to collect a bit extra by luck, they hoarded it, afraid they wouldn't have enough for the next month.

Those who had spare Contribution Points to exchange would prioritize buying pills or cultivating the Body Forging Technique.

In their eyes, becoming a Qi Refining Stage disciple was too distant a goal. It was better to first ensure survival or strengthen the physical body.

It was precisely this mindset that kept the secret of Spirit Absorption revealing Sha Sources hidden.

Fang Huai found Liu, Shen, and Zhang, gathered them together, and told them about this.

Liu Xiange's eyes widened in disbelief: "You mean, if we're bold enough, in the first month we exchange Sha Qi for points to cultivate, and once we have a sense of Qi, we can directly detect where Sha Sources are?"

Zhang Zhu was also shocked: "The correct method for gathering Sha is really this simple?"

Shen Yuan didn't speak, but her mouth was slightly open, her eyes full of astonishment.

Fang Huai nodded: "That's right. If you don't believe me, try it tomorrow."

"But I can't figure it out," Shen Yuan asked. "I understand the servants keeping secrets, but why doesn't the sect tell everyone this method? Wouldn't that allow them to gather more Sha Qi?"

Fang Huai sighed: "Tell everyone? If everyone could find Sha Sources, the death rate would indeed drop.

But if that continues, the Sha Qi on the outskirts of Miasma Valley would quickly dwindle. Then the servants would have no choice but to venture deeper and die in the depths of Miasma Valley.

And dying there, even if Sha Sources formed, they'd be hard to collect. In such a vicious cycle, the sect's very foundation might become unstable.

So do you think the sect would willingly reveal this secret to everyone?"