No matter what, Xu Yuan had to stay here.
He chose a stone room on the right and walked in.
The conditions here were even worse than he had imagined. The entire room was bare, with nothing but a rotten plank bed. For a moment, he thought he had returned to his days in the Immortal Slave Mining District.
"Damn bitch."
After cursing Rong Ling in his heart countless times, Xu Yuan sat cross-legged on the bed. Just then, his mind suddenly trembled, as though it had sensed some great terror.
"Kid, don't blame me for not warning you. For the next three days, guard your mind and keep your blood, qi, and spiritual energy locked inside. If you've got any miraculous pills, swallow them. Don't go and die, then make me collect your corpse."
The half-dead voice of the man from the neighboring room drifted over. Xu Yuan's heart tightened. Knowing that the true danger of Lost Soul Cave had arrived, he immediately followed the man's instructions and completely sealed himself off.
A quarter of an hour later, the wind outside began to grow louder. At first, it had only wailed and sobbed, but in the blink of an eye, it became a deafening roar.
Like a tiger's howl, like a dragon's chant; like the Yellow River bursting its banks, like Mount Tai collapsing, like the pillar of heaven snapping. In that instant, Xu Yuan seemed to feel something black and oppressive brutally crushing down upon the stone room where he sheltered.
The entire stone room creaked and groaned without end, like a young wife struggling beneath an unbearable burden.
However, the stone room seemed to have formations within it. Lines of array patterns lit up across the surrounding stone walls, preventing it from collapsing too easily.
Still, while the stone room could block most of it, it could not completely shut out the gale. As layer after layer of black tornadoes swept past, black wind continuously poured through the cracks in the walls and gaps beneath the door, raging through the room.
His entire body tensed. Xu Yuan faintly heard miserable screams from next door, likely from that man just now. He dared not relax in the slightest, using the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo to lock down every inch of his body. The only place left to breathe was his nose.
The next moment, the black wind struck him too.
With a clang, like steel colliding with steel, the black wind did not seem to blow against his body—it slammed into it. Xu Yuan swayed slightly, and then an inexplicable thought rose in his heart.
That's it?
Just as his mind drifted, another blast of icy wind rushed into the room and swept over him. Other than tossing up his robes, it seemed... unable to hurt him at all.
Other than making me feel cool all over, what can this even do?
Listening to the pitifully miserable cries of the fellow next door, Xu Yuan almost wondered whether the man was putting on an act. This Life-Claiming Wind was not claiming anyone's life.
After sitting dumbly on the bed for a moment, he finally smacked his forehead.
"Tch. With the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo and the boost from the third level of body tempering, if someone with a physique like mine were still subjected to a thousand cuts and ten thousand slashes here, then an ordinary mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator who entered would be splattered into bloody fragments in an instant unless they kept spiritual force protecting their body at all times."
Cursing himself for making such a fuss, Xu Yuan felt the power of the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo and could not help looking forward even more to his next trait.
From Innate Martial Bones to the Martial Dao Sacred Embryo, this trait had supported him through his weakest days. The road ahead might have to be entrusted to Five Elements Spirit Nurturing.
Still sitting cross-legged and feeling the black wind ravage the room, Xu Yuan even relaxed his body slightly, allowing traces of the black wind to enter him.
He discovered that this black wind was not entirely harmful to the body. What it swept away from within him were unstable, impetuous blood, qi, and spiritual energy. What remained behind was a deeper foundation. In other words, this black wind could even assist his cultivation.
"Rong Ling, you really did well, Rong Ling."
Xu Yuan sneered inwardly. Though his words sounded grateful, he still held plenty of resentment toward that woman for deceiving him. But she was a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, perhaps even a powerhouse among them. Other than enduring it for now, he had no other choice.
Cultivating seriously, entering the inner mountain as soon as possible, and freeing himself from her control—that was what mattered most.
After sensing the intensity of the black wind again and confirming that it truly posed little threat to him, Xu Yuan was just about to close his eyes and cultivate.
At that moment, he suddenly felt a faint strangeness rising within his heart. An unaccountable urge for death surfaced in his mind.
His intention to cultivate was forcibly interrupted. Xu Yuan even wanted to smash the walls and let more black wind into the room. Fortunately, he hurriedly closed his eyes and guarded his mind, stopping the thought in time.
"No wonder that man reminded me not only to lock down my blood, qi, and spiritual energy, but also to guard my mind. This black wind does not merely harm the body—it harms the spirit too."
The Martial Dao Sacred Embryo merely strengthened the flesh. Though a strong body naturally nourished a strong spirit, an immature yin soul at the initial stage of Qi Refining truly could not withstand such repeated disturbances.
As he felt the urge for death spreading through the sea of his heart, Xu Yuan recalled that when they had been in Biyou Market, Rong Ling had given him a cultivation manual.
He rummaged through his storage pouch and pulled out the Moonlit River Hermitage Heart Sutra. Just as Xu Yuan was about to open it, a sheet of yellow paper fell out.
It briefly described the essentials of cultivating this heart sutra. It also told Xu Yuan that Rong Ling had already made arrangements with the steward of the Merit Hall. Since he had come here voluntarily, the merit he earned would depend on how long he could endure. If he truly could not hold on, he could leave.
However, Rong Ling's closed-door cultivation would still require at least another month. If he left, he was to stay obediently in his room and forget about earning merit.
Xu Yuan put away the note and muttered to himself. All he could say was that she was honestly wicked.
He sat cross-legged and began carefully reading through the entire heart sutra.
A heart sutra did not involve cultivating the physique, qi, or spiritual energy. Rather, it tempered one's mental state and soul. Generally speaking, cultivators only began practicing heart sutras after reaching the middle stage of Qi Refining, or even the sixth level of Qi Refining.
This was because, beyond the formation of the great cyclical circulation within the body, late-stage Qi Refining also involved allowing one's yin soul to leave the body on its own. Strengthening the soul during the middle stage of Qi Refining brought many benefits when advancing into the late stage.
As for someone like Xu Yuan, beginning to cultivate a heart sutra at the initial stage of Qi Refining was exceedingly rare. Only this ghostly environment had forced him to practice it.
It took him roughly three hours to finish reading the entire heart sutra. Strangely enough, while he read, the restless feeling in his heart gradually subsided. Although he still inexplicably wanted to die, at least he was no longer mad enough to want to destroy the stone walls.
"Looks like that thieving woman didn't take so many benefits from me for nothing. The Hidden Moon Sect hasn't devoured all her conscience yet."
Xu Yuan said it in a tone that made it impossible to tell whether he was praising or cursing her, then closed his eyes again and tried to comprehend the heart sutra.
A heart sutra cultivated the inner soul, so there was naturally no need to circulate blood and qi or activate spiritual meridians. It relied mainly on visualization.
The Moonlit River Hermitage Heart Sutra in Xu Yuan's hands required him to visualize himself living in a hermitage beside a tranquil river. When the water was still, the heart was still; when the heart was still, all evils could not invade.
He immersed himself completely in the cultivation method. The wind outside grew ever fiercer, yet when it reached Xu Yuan again, it was no more than a gentle breeze brushing his face.
Before you continue