Extreme Yin Sect Basic Knowledge

Basic Knowledge of the Extreme Yin Sect. Zhao Hao followed behind Jia Ren, each step falling extremely lightly.

The greed seeping from that figure's back chilled his heart.

After they walked out of the square, the gloomy-wind path twisted into dark, deep seclusion.

Jia Ren seemed to find their pace too slow. His steps paused, and he glanced back at Zhao Hao.

The forced smile on his face had already vanished, replaced by his original stiffness and coldness.

"Stand steady."

Before the words had even fallen, a pitch-black bone longsword appeared out of thin air beneath Jia Ren's feet.

He grabbed Zhao Hao by the back of his collar, lifted him up with ease, and leaped onto the sword.

Whoosh—!

The bone sword beneath their feet instantly left the ground and flew toward the depths of the sect with an ear-piercing sound of tearing through the air.

The wild wind struck his face, blowing so hard that Zhao Hao could barely open his eyes.

Zhao Hao forced down the urge to look below and swiftly swept his peripheral vision over the scenery along the way.

Some peaks had corpse qi soaring into the sky, and vague, stiff human figures could be seen hopping about.

Some valleys were filled with blood qi; below, there seemed to be a massive blood pool, bubbling with glugging sounds.

Other peaks were shrouded in dense black fog, with the wails of ghosts and howls of wolves ringing endlessly in his ears.

This was the Extreme Yin Sect.

A demonic domain on earth, true to its name.

Zhao Hao's heart went ice-cold.

Before long, the bone sword slowed and descended slowly before a platform where several black halls had been built.

Jia Ren carried Zhao Hao by the collar, casually set him down, then strode into one of the great halls in large, swift steps.

"Lu Gui!"

Inside the hall, a disciple in blue robes who had been nodding off was startled into a shiver and instantly stood ramrod straight.

"Deacon Jia... Jia!"

Jia Ren did not even look at him. He took a blank jade slip from his robes, swept his fingertips across it a few times, then tossed it over.

"This boy. Handle his inner disciple formalities properly, and explain the general situation of the sect to him while you're at it. No mistakes."

After saying this, Jia Ren turned and left, his steps hurried, as if he had some heaven-shaking urgent matter.

That impatient look made Zhao Hao even more certain that this old thing absolutely had no good intentions.

Once Jia Ren left, the atmosphere inside the hall instantly relaxed.

The disciple called Lu Gui picked up the jade slip and sent his divine sense into it.

The next second, his expression changed.

From astonishment, to disbelief, and finally into an almost fawning look.

He rounded the counter in three steps as if taking two, and directly bowed ninety degrees to Zhao Hao, who was still standing where he was.

"I am Lu Gui. Greetings, Senior... Brother Zhao!"

This sudden grand bow left Zhao Hao at a loss.

"Senior Brother, there is no need to panic."

Lu Gui raised his head, his face piled full of smiles. "You possess the aptitude of a Heavenly Spiritual Root. Your future is without limit, and your cultivation surpassing mine in the future is inevitable! For this junior brother to pay respects in advance is my honor!"

This shift in attitude was faster than flipping a book.

As respectful as he had been to Jia Ren just now, he was now equally fawning toward Zhao Hao.

Was this the treatment of a Heavenly Spiritual Root?

Zhao Hao sighed inwardly, but his face still maintained the somewhat blank and timid look of a ten-year-old boy.

"I... I just arrived. I don't understand anything."

"Senior Brother, rest assured! In the future, if there is anything in the sect you don't understand, just come ask me!"

Lu Gui patted his chest in guarantee while deftly returning behind the counter and beginning to handle Zhao Hao's formalities. His mouth did not stay idle either.

"Senior Brother Zhao, you may not know this, but the realms on the path of cultivation are divided into Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, and Spirit Transformation."

"Our Extreme Yin Sect has three lineages: Corpse Refining, Soul Refining, and Blood Refining. The lineage master of each lineage is a mighty figure of the Golden Core Realm! Our sect master, Old Ancestor Extreme Yin, is even an existence at Golden Core perfection!"

Hearing this, Zhao Hao's expression shifted slightly, and he probed, "Then... that Deacon Jia Ren just now, which lineage is he from? What is his cultivation?"

Lu Gui chuckled and lowered his voice. "Deacon Jia? He's a Foundation Establishment Early Stage elder of the Corpse Refining Lineage, famous for being vicious and ruthless."

"But Senior Brother, don't worry. You are a Heavenly Spiritual Root, so even Deacon Jia cannot attack you for no reason."

"And once you break through to the Foundation Establishment Realm, even he will have to be polite when he sees you!"

The Corpse Refining Lineage!

Foundation Establishment Early Stage!

A chill shot up Zhao Hao's spine.

A Foundation Establishment elder who specialized in Corpse Refining had taken away his lifeblood essence...

A sense of crisis, like a surging tide, drowned him once again.

"Senior Brother, this is your identity token, the sect's cultivation art, and this month's stipend."

"Considering you haven't started cultivating yet, I've packed some things in this cloth bag. Once you succeed in Qi Refining, you'll be able to use a storage pouch. Please keep them safe."

Lu Gui's voice interrupted Zhao Hao's thoughts.

He handed over a cloth bag.

Zhao Hao took it and found that there were quite a few things inside.

A black token, icy cold to the touch, with the two characters "Zhao Hao" carved on it.

A thread-bound booklet, its cover bearing the words Mysterious Yin Qi Absorption Art.

Two exquisite little porcelain bottles, and a small, heavy pouch.

A gray pouch. Deacon Jia Ren had used a similar pouch not long ago, so it seemed this was a storage pouch.

Seeing his bewildered expression, Lu Gui considerately began to explain:

"Senior Brother, this black token is proof of your identity, and also the key to your cave abode. Within a hundred li of the sect, it can also be used for messaging. You must keep it safe."

"This Mysterious Yin Qi Absorption Art is our sect's basic cultivation art. All disciples begin with this, and it's also the foundational volume for the sect's higher-level arts."

"Inside this porcelain bottle are five Qi Gathering Pills. They can speed up cultivation, and each one is worth one low-grade spirit stone!"

"The other bottle contains Inedia Pills. Eating one can let a person go seven days without food or water. There's a month's supply for you in the pill bottle."

"And this," Lu Gui said, pointing at the small, heavy pouch, his tone filled with envy, "is twenty low-grade spirit stones—your monthly stipend as an inner sect disciple!"

He continued, "Our sect's disciple ranks are strictly divided. Those with four or five spiritual roots can only be menial disciples. Every month, they work themselves half to death before they can receive two low-grade spirit stones."

"Those a little better, with three spiritual roots, or those whose cultivation breaks through to the fourth level of Qi Refining, are outer sect disciples. They get five a month."

"Only Heavenly Spiritual Roots like you, Senior Brother, or those senior brothers with profound cultivation, can enter the inner sect directly. The monthly stipend is twenty spirit stones, and pills are issued as well!"

"If I didn't have an elder of my clan within the sect looking after me, I would never have gotten this job!"

Zhao Hao listened and silently poured the contents of the cloth bag into his hand.

When his fingertips touched those spirit stones—icy, hard, and containing a wondrous energy—a strong sense of reality struck his mind and spirit.

He really had transmigrated.

He had survived, and had even joined a demonic sect.

"Oh, right. That little gray cloth pouch is a storage pouch. Although it only has a space of one zhang square, it still counts as a magic tool."

"You don't have any cultivation yet, so you can't use spiritual sense. Once you draw qi into your body, it'll be much more convenient to put things inside," Lu Gui added enthusiastically.

After all the procedures were finished, Lu Gui insisted on personally escorting Zhao Hao to his cave abode.

"Senior Brother, this way."

Lu Gui led Zhao Hao along, deliberately detouring around a magnificent black great hall.

"Senior Brother Zhao, look. That's the Lecture Hall."

"For the first three months after new disciples enter the sect, they can go listen to lectures for free every day from the chen hour to the wu hour."

"The elders in the hall won't just explain cultivation arts. They'll also teach us literacy and some common knowledge about the immortal cultivation world."

"You've only just arrived. Going to listen will definitely be beneficial."

Zhao Hao silently committed it to memory.

He had just transmigrated here, and the original owner also had no memories related to the immortal cultivation world. The Lecture Hall was definitely an excellent way for him to understand the world of immortal cultivation!

Soon, the two of them arrived halfway up the mountain.

An independent courtyard carved into the mountain appeared before his eyes, with faint spiritual light flickering at its entrance.

"Senior Brother, this is your cave abode."

Lu Gui stopped and pointed at the cave abode's gate, teaching Zhao Hao in detail how to use the identity token to open and close the defensive restriction at the entrance.

After seeing off the overly enthusiastic Lu Gui, Zhao Hao held the token and copied his manner, swiping the token forward.

The spiritual light at the entrance of the cave abode flickered, and the stone door opened in response.

He quickly walked inside, then used the token to close the stone door behind him.

Rumble!

The heavy stone door cut off everything outside.

Zhao Hao leaned his back against the cold stone door, and his taut nerves finally loosened by a hair.

But he did not dare grow careless. He immediately borrowed the light from the glowing stones embedded inside the cave abode and carefully inspected the entire place from top to bottom.

A stone chamber, a stone bed, a set of stone table and stools—aside from these, it was utterly empty.

Only after confirming there was nothing obviously abnormal did he finally go completely limp.

The immense lingering fear and sense of crisis only truly surged into his heart at that moment.

Jia Ren's greedy gaze, that drop of life-bound essence blood that had been taken, and the terrifying "Corpse Refining Lineage" Lu Gui had spoken of—each one was like a great mountain, crushing him until he could hardly breathe.

The identity of a Heavenly Spiritual Root was an umbrella of protection, but even more, it was a death-summoning talisman!

He had to become stronger as quickly as possible!

Driven by that intense urgency, Zhao Hao immediately sat cross-legged on the stone bed and took out the Mysterious Yin Qi Absorption Art.

Fortunately, the original owner had attended a private school for a year and recognized some characters.

Half guessing and half figuring it out, he spent two hours and finally managed to read through the entire cultivation method.

Just as he had read it back and forth three times and more or less understood the meaning of this cultivation method, that familiar pale-golden screen automatically appeared before his eyes.

[Detected cultivation method: Mysterious Yin Qi Absorption Art (Beginner 0/100)]

Zhao Hao's heart stirred.

A mad thought once again popped into his mind.

Since spiritual roots could be strengthened...

What about cultivation methods?