The next morning, Xiao Wuji and Bibi Dong set out from Spirit City.
At first, they traveled by carriage. Not long after leaving the city limits, they switched to horseback. Once they reached a dense forest, they continued on foot, as though on a leisurely journey.
Along the way, Bibi Dong taught Xiao Wuji a great deal about Martial Souls, Soul Beasts, and Soul Master cultivation.
Aside from the meditation method commonly used by Soul Masters, Spirit Hall had another, superior method of cultivation. Its approach was quite similar to cultivating internal energy.
However, this rudimentary method was leagues apart from the Nine Yin Manual. Not only was it slower, it also offered none of the additional effects.
Although Xiao Wuji had obtained a divine technique, his cultivation experience was still woefully lacking. What he lacked was precisely the basic internal-energy cultivation experience that Bibi Dong possessed.
He learned as he went, gaining insight along the way. By reasoning downward from the advanced principles and combining them with meditation, he pieced together a basic internal-energy cultivation method and gave it to Bibi Dong.
Though Bibi Dong spent the journey teaching him, she was often deeply shaken by a few words from her disciple. In the end, when she received the new, superior method of cultivation, she stared at it in a daze.
The guidance manual that had reappeared in her hands had long stated that Xiao Wuji had extraordinary comprehension and would improve the method of cultivating Soul Power. It seemed that was indeed true.
After night fell, light shone from a tent in the middle of the forest.
Without the Great Priestess's guidance, Bibi Dong could only rely on herself to become a god. Now that she had received a cultivation method, she eagerly began practicing it, hoping to speed through her divine trials and ascend to godhood.
Since leaving Spirit City, she had received no further guidance. Her initial anxiety gradually gave way to calm. She could spend more time with her disciple, which was also a way to make up for how coldly she had treated him in his previous life.
Except for the very beginning, master and disciple had shared a tent for quite some time.
Xiao Wuji pressed one palm against Bibi Dong's lower back and the other against her lower abdomen, below her navel. He circulated his Nine Suns True Qi to help her cultivate.
The book he had given Bibi Dong hadn't explicitly described this, but it was a novel, and even its author couldn't account for every possibility.
Besides, this would let Bibi Dong experience firsthand the benefits of the improved Soul Power cultivation method. He believed it would make her feel even more immersed in the story.
As Xiao Wuji began channeling his power, Bibi Dong's delicate body shuddered. She felt a wave of searing heat rush into her and spread through her limbs and bones. It was as though a snow-capped mountain, buried beneath snow for years, had suddenly been bathed in bright sunlight.
Under the surge of heat, the ice and snow atop the mountain melted. Clear streams trickled down, nourishing her whole body like sweet dew. The sensation was indescribably comfortable.
The Nine Yang Manual Xiao Wuji had obtained was the revised edition, the final version of the technique. It combined yin and yang in harmony and blended strength with gentleness, embodying a balanced way of cultivation. It could also be called the Yin-Yang Harmony Manual.
Bibi Dong had inherited the Rakshasa God's legacy and should have been blessed with great fortune. But without the Great Priestess to guide her, her cultivation had gradually gone astray. If she ultimately became a god that way, her nature would change drastically, turning her into a true demon. She would be a far cry from what the word "god" implied—nothing more than a being with a certain level of power.
It was like Mei Chaofeng, who had obtained half of the Nine Yin Manual. The text described orthodox martial arts, but she had ended up mastering the unorthodox Nine Yin Bone Claw.
In the eyes of the gods in the Douluo God Realm, such as the God of Evil, the names of the gods differed, but they were not purely evil.
As Xiao Wuji circulated his Nine Suns True Qi to help Bibi Dong cultivate the basic internal-energy method, its nature of harmonizing yin and yang naturally helped her return to her origins and set her on the right path.
But one of them had only just begun cultivating, while the other was a Titled Douluo with immense Soul Power. Even if some of it could be transformed, it was still a drop in the bucket.
After a while, Bibi Dong, having gained some grasp of the new method, began to tremble violently. She shivered as if struck by a chill and let out a soft cry.
A burst of icy power erupted from her body, knocking Xiao Wuji's hands away.
Bibi Dong panted without pause, drenched in sweat. Only after quite some time did she come to her senses. This cultivation method was indeed extraordinary.
The icy force pierced into him. Xiao Wuji was startled, but not alarmed.
As he cultivated for longer, he had long since grasped the meaning of the Nine Suns Manual's words: "Let him be strong, like a breeze brushing the mountain ridge. Let him be fierce, like the bright moon shining over the great river."
No matter how powerful or vicious an enemy was, he could treat it as a breeze against a mountain or moonlight reflected on a river. It could reach him, but it could not harm him in the slightest.
The manual also said, "Let him be ruthless and cruel; I need only a single breath of true energy."
That was how to keep oneself unharmed.
Xiao Wuji circulated his true energy even faster, spreading it through his entire body. When the icy force entered him, it merely followed the flow of his energy to his dantian, where it transformed anew.
According to the manual's principles, Xiao Wuji's true energy revolved like a wheel, like a stone mill. The foreign icy force entered his dantian, where it was crushed and dissolved, becoming pure energy that was assimilated into his own. It was truly like drinking sweet dew, an indescribably pleasant sensation.
That icy force was the Soul Power Bibi Dong had refined through her repeated divine trials as she moved ever closer to inheriting the godhood. Even the tiniest fraction was a considerable boon to Xiao Wuji as he was now.
Bibi Dong glanced back at Xiao Wuji, who had fallen into a cultivation state and wouldn't wake for a while. She quickly pulled a piece of black fabric from her clothes. Seeing the damp purple pattern on it, she felt her cheeks flush and burn.
Why hadn't this detail been written in the book?
She sat in a daze for a moment before putting it away in her Soul Tool.
It was another bright, sunny morning. Xiao Wuji clenched and unclenched his hand. The sensation of his true energy surging like water left him feeling refreshed as he woke to the familiar sight of Bibi Dong's phoenix eyes.
"Good morning, Teacher," Xiao Wuji said with a smile.
Bibi Dong removed the hand that had given her such a sense of security and slowly sat up. Her long, smooth hair fell to her waist and hips as she said softly, "We're almost at that small valley. From here on, you'll have to do your best on your own. Just do as I told you."
Xiao Wuji rubbed his face, his deep eyes brightening. A Hundred Thousand Year Soul Bone and an eighty-five-thousand-year Soul Ring—I'm coming!
After breakfast, Xiao Wuji said goodbye to Bibi Dong and ran toward the valley where a rumbling sound came from.
He absorbed and refined the energy Bibi Dong had passed into his body. His internal energy grew stronger, and he was beginning to experience the effects of the Nine Yang Manual. The faster he ran, the faster he became, without feeling the slightest fatigue.
When he entered the valley, he saw a waterfall cascading down. Xiao Wuji leaped, stuck to the cliff with his true energy, and used the Gecko Wall-Climbing Skill to shoot upward, keeping his eyes fixed on the space behind the waterfall.
A cave came into view. Xiao Wuji turned sideways and slipped inside.
The cave was very dark. Xiao Wuji fiddled with the ring Soul Tool Bibi Dong had given him and took out a glowing crystal to light his way.
When he reached the inner chamber, everything around him brightened. A hole opened in the ceiling, and the chamber itself was only about ten square meters.
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