Taking a Disciple

"Master!" Little Dugu Yan dropped to her knees without hesitation and kowtowed to Qingxi.

"Have you thought it through?" A faint smile appeared on Qingxi's face.

"Mhm! From now on, you're my master! Master, please accept this disciple's bow." Dugu Yan said, then tried to kowtow to Qingxi again.

"Don't rush into it. Cultivation of immortality depends on talent and spiritual roots. I'll test your spiritual roots first. If you have them, you can become my disciple afterward. If not, I'll erase your memories of today." Qingxi lifted a hand slightly. A formation appeared beneath Dugu Yan's feet, and multicolored lights emerged around her. Strange characters shimmered within them.

Dugu Yan found everything before her utterly novel. She had never seen anything like it, and this existence beyond the bounds of common sense fascinated her.

After a while, the lights around her gradually disappeared, leaving only two: one white and one green.

Qingxi waved her hand, and the formation beneath Dugu Yan's feet went dark. The two lights drifted toward her of their own accord.

"Master, how did it go?"

"You have dual wood and wind spiritual roots. Very good. Your aptitude is excellent." Qingxi was a little surprised.

She had assumed that, since this was a different world, spiritual roots probably wouldn't exist here.

She hadn't expected Dugu Yan to have dual wood and wind spiritual roots, with such good aptitude, too.

"I'll teach you these two cultivation methods: Wind Control Technique and Azure Wood Heart Method. Oh, right. Since you practice poison arts, here's the Shennong Herb Classic. You should study that, too."

"And here's a Body Tempering Pill Formula. Find the ingredients yourself. Remember, you must temper your body before practicing the cultivation methods."

Qingxi touched a finger to Dugu Yan's forehead. Whether the girl understood or not, she simply poured everything into her mind all at once.

"Qi Refining... Golden Core..." Dugu Yan felt dizzy. Her mind had suddenly filled with so many words that she couldn't even read them all.

"All right. Go digest it all on your own. First, eat this." A drop of translucent green liquid gathered at Qingxi's fingertip. She then sent it floating in front of Dugu Yan.

"Oh." Dugu Yan stared blankly for a moment, then opened her mouth and swallowed the liquid in front of her.

"Master, what is this?"

She felt warm all over, as if steam were rising from her body. It was very comfortable.

"Origin Spirit Liquid. It can cure the poison in your body and even make you immune to all poisons." Qingxi gathered another drop, put it in a porcelain bottle, and tossed it to Dugu Yan. "This one's for your grandfather. Tell him to stop plotting against me, or I'll beat him senseless!"

Dugu Yan hurriedly caught it, looking confused. "What poison? You mean I've been poisoned, Master? How could that be? Everyone in the Dugu Family has been a master of poison for generations. How could we possibly..."

She looked at her master's expression, and her voice gradually faded.

Judging from her master's face, it didn't look like she was lying.

"Ask your grandfather. First, absorb the spirit liquid. I'll protect you while you do."

"Oh." Dugu Yan sat cross-legged and slowly closed her eyes. Two yellow Soul Rings appeared around her.

Qingxi's gaze fell upon the Immortal Herbs filling the garden, as though she were searching for something. After a while, she raised her hand, and a vivid, blood-red Immortal Herb floated toward her. It was the Blood Swan Kiss.

It increased vitality, but was extremely poisonous. It could even amplify the toxins in the body by hundreds or thousands of times.

Though it was deadly poisonous, for the young girl who had taken the Strange Flower spirit liquid, it was the finest Immortal Herb.

Seeing that Dugu Yan had absorbed nearly all the spirit liquid, Qingxi tossed the Blood Swan Kiss in front of her. "Here, absorb this, too."

A long while passed, and the sun slanted westward. Dugu Bo even came by with a meal during that time. Seeing that Dugu Yan had nearly finished absorbing everything, Qingxi had long since retreated into the Strange Flower.

That was because she had noticed a crack in her Golden Core.

"Master! Master!"

"What?" Qingxi opened her eyes amid a bout of shaking and saw the girl staring at her, wide awake.

"What is it? Finished absorbing everything?"

"Look at me. What's changed?" Dugu Yan twirled around, looking as if she were waiting to be praised.

"What?" Qingxi frowned slightly and examined the girl's eight extraordinary meridians. They were sturdier and more open than before. The poison in her body had been completely cured, and with the Blood Swan Kiss's effects on top of that, her mastery of poisons would improve by leaps and bounds.

"I'm a Level 35 Soul Grandmaster now. I advanced fourteen levels in one night! I've never seen anything like this before!"

"Of course. With the spirit liquid and a ten-thousand-year-old Blood Swan Kiss, it would be strange if you hadn't changed at all. Keep working hard. Your master needs to continue cultivating and strive to take human form as soon as possible. Oh, next time, have your grandfather bring over a few history books about Douluo Continent. I want to study them."

"Okay, Master. But haven't you already taken human form?"

"This is only a spirit state. I'm still a long way from taking human form." Qingxi yawned. "I'm going to sleep for a while now. Just leave the books beside me."

"Mhm! I'm going to find my grandfather, too. Hopefully, I'll have found my third Soul Ring by the time I come back." Dugu Yan was thrilled. She couldn't wait to share the news with her grandfather.

"Remember, keep what happened between us a secret." Qingxi watched the girl run off, then shook her head slightly. "She's always in such a rush..."

Yet there was something strangely familiar about the scene before her.

To be honest, Qingxi liked the girl quite a bit. Looking at her was like seeing her younger self.

Youth was wild and fearless, a young man blazing with spirit.

For a while afterward, Qingxi drifted between wakefulness and sleep. She felt weak, and the Golden Core within her had stopped changing. Several more cracks had appeared.

Sometimes, when she woke, the girl was no longer there. She had left behind only a letter, saying that the academy term had begun and that she had tempered her body not long ago. Afraid Qingxi would be lonely, she had left Xiao Jiu there to keep her company, and said she would come back to see her during the holidays.

Beside her lay a thick stack of books, long since covered in dust.

Qingxi spent nearly a day learning about this world. It was an age in which Soul Masters flourished.

First, people awakened their Martial Souls. Next came Innate Soul Power. Then they climbed higher through cultivation, progressing through a stage every ten levels: Soul Scholar, Soul Master, Soul Grandmaster, Soul Elder, Soul Ancestor, Soul King, Soul Emperor, Soul Saint, Soul Douluo, and Titled Douluo.

Titled Douluo above Level 90 could choose a title for themselves.

Those at Levels 91 through 95 were ordinary Titled Douluo.

Those at Levels 96 through 98 were Peak Douluo.

At Level 99, one became a Limit Douluo. Such people were practically legendary across the entire Douluo Continent.

As for Soul Rings, they were obtained by hunting Soul Beasts.

What Qingxi found even stranger was that, despite the people of this world having cultivated for so long, the longest lifespan on record was only a little over two hundred years—the lifespan of a Level 99 Limit Douluo.

There were no records of what came after Level 100.

She couldn't understand it. How could mortals have such short lifespans?

In her world, cultivation was for longevity and freedom, not necessarily for breaking through some divine throne.

Through endless years of survival of the fittest, humanity had never been wiped out. Since ancient times, people had always striven to better themselves...

Qi Refining: Gather the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. As it enters the body, it transforms into spiritual power. The dantian holds it in gaseous form. One gains an initial grasp of spells and divine sense.

Foundation Establishment: The dantian holds liquid. Divine sense multiplies, one can abstain from food and fly on a sword, and one's lifespan exceeds three hundred years.

Core Formation: The core liquid transforms into core essence. Lifespan: five hundred years.

The Golden Core stage can break through the thousand-year limit.

Nascent Soul cultivators live for two thousand years.

Spirit Severing cultivators live for five thousand years.

The Integration stage lasts over ten thousand years, the Great Ascension stage for fifty thousand, and the Tribulation Crossing stage grants a lifespan equal to heaven's.

Beyond that, there was the realm of immortals, Daluo Golden Immortals... At that point, one could roam beyond the Three Realms, unbound by the laws of the world.

She had seen the possibility of cultivation on this continent through Dugu Yan, yet over ten thousand years, no one had created such a cultivation system.

As for the Ten Core Competitiveness Theories...

Qingxi lowered her eyes to the book she had been using as a footrest, then kicked it into the Fire Attribute Spirit Pool.

"What a load of nonsense. And they have the nerve to poison my eyes with it."