Yellow Sprout Ninth Stage

"Greetings, Master..."

"All right! All right!" The Daoist was still as slovenly as ever. Grinning, he leaped into the tree and shouted down at the beasts below, "Disperse! All of you, disperse! Go find your own places to cultivate! Stop mooching off my disciple's fortune!"

Liu Yunshen could neither laugh nor cry. "Master is as witty as ever."

Whether the beasts understood human speech or the black-robed Daoist could speak the language of beasts, all manner of Demons beneath the tree truly scattered in every direction.

"My disciple is simply a heaven-sent genius. When did you learn the art of drawing away the essence of sun and moon?"

The Daoist blinked at him. Liu Yunshen was greatly startled. "This disciple does not know it. I have not yet fully mastered the sword techniques and footwork Master taught me. I also have many doubts about the sleeping art."

"Oh! So that's it!" The Daoist pried open his disciple's eyes and examined his nose, then patted the dust from his backside and rose with a grin. "If there's nothing else, your master is off!"

"Master! Master! The footwork for that sword technique..." Liu Yunshen hurriedly asked. The Daoist snapped, "You watched it once and still haven't learned it? You're stupid beyond belief!"

Liu Yunshen respectfully said, "This disciple is slow-witted. Could Master demonstrate it once more?"

"Practice it once first. Let me see!"

"Yes!"

With a flip of his hand, Liu Yunshen drew out that black iron staff. His feet stepped through the stellar paces as he chopped, thrust, lifted, swept, burst, hooked, pointed, and intercepted. Every move was upright and forceful, as though he possessed twenty years of profound sword-force cultivation!

The black-robed Daoist stared intently at his feet and secretly nodded. This boy is a monster. After merely an hour of deduction, what he comprehended on his own is already nearly eighty percent of what I taught him!

A moment later, Liu Yunshen withdrew his stance. "Master!"

"I'll perform it once more. If you still can't learn it, I won't teach you anymore! There has never been such a stupid disciple under heaven!" The Daoist angrily found a long wooden stick. At once, his feet danced and flew like colorful butterflies in flight!

"Why is it so fast?" Even after opening his double pupils, Liu Yunshen could see only seventy percent clearly. Once the Daoist finished, what he had comprehended was still merely equal to the eighty percent he had gained himself, leaving him groaning bitterly.

The Daoist burst into laughter. "Figure it out yourself!"

"Master, did you see the meteor in Yucheng County today?"

"What, did a rock smash your ass? Let your master take a look?" The Daoist moved to inspect his "injury" again. Smiling, Liu Yunshen waved his hands. "No! No! This disciple was not injured. I wanted to ask Master—was it you who saved the townspeople from that meteor...?"

The Daoist stared blankly for several breaths, then immediately puffed out his chest and began spraying spittle. "That's right! That's right! That's right! It was your master who saved them! Let me tell you, you have no idea what I'm capable of. Your master punches the fierce tiger spirits of the southern mountains and kicks the flood-dragon monsters of the northern sea..."

Liu Yunshen stood respectfully at his side, not daring to interrupt. The Daoist finally reined himself in, then suddenly stretched out a hand to feel his pulse. Nodding, he asked, "My disciple was attacked?"

"Yes. That man's cultivation was too profound. This disciple was no match for him."

"If you can't beat him, run. Still, that devil's cultivation truly was not bad. Your master will teach you the second realm of the sleeping art—no, it should be the initial realm of Earth Immortal..."

The Daoist babbled nonsense, chattering away without caring whether Liu Yunshen understood.

Liu Yunshen smiled bitterly. "Master, this disciple has not even completed the first realm of our sect's art. How can we speak of the Earth Immortal realm?"

"That's true!" The Daoist let out a loud belch, and a wave of wine stench nearly made one vomit. "Our sect's art is much the same as those of Great Zhou's other sects. Before Earth Immortal, it is also divided into four realms, but each stage in every realm can increase one's cultivation by fifty percent—far beyond those crooked side paths! And the first realm is called the 'Yellow Sprout Realm'!"

"Yellow Sprout!" Liu Yunshen recalled the handsome little figure he had encountered in the sleeping art the previous night, as well as the grain shoot breaking through the earth. He silently nodded.

"When your master taught you the night before last, that was the first stage of the first realm, 'Spirit Seed Arrival'! The spirit of heaven and earth pours into the upper dantian, and with your master's assistance, this stage is not particularly difficult!"

"Last night, with external aid and the help of that Six Desires Demon Poison, together with your will tempered like steel forged a hundred times over, you stumbled through the gates of hell and broke through the second stage, 'Spring Sprout Pierces the Abyss,' in one stroke! But if you wish to continue breaking through to the third stage, 'Earth Vein Rooting,' you will need at least ten days or more. Absorbing too much deathly earth-vein qi in too short a time risks cultivation deviation! You must be doubly cautious."

"Yes! This disciple will remember!"

The black-robed Daoist took a thin booklet from his robes. "This contains a detailed explanation of every mnemonic for the Yellow Sprout Realm's first stage, Spirit Seed Arrival, through the ninth stage and highest attainment, 'Yellow Sprout Sees the Sun.' Read it here. If there is anything you do not understand, ask."

"Yes!" Liu Yunshen accepted the booklet and rapidly flipped through it. He then closed his eyes and read it a second time even faster. In only ten breaths, he shut the booklet and handed it back to the Daoist.

"You memorized it so quickly?" The Daoist was immensely shocked. Liu Yunshen respectfully kowtowed. "This level is not complicated. This disciple has memorized all of it."

"Good! Let your master test you. In the fourth stage, Rain-Nourished Branching, why must one beware the Tribulation of False Rain?" The black-robed Daoist's eyes shone brightly. He was utterly unlike his usual smiling, joking, fooling-around self!

"In the fourth stage, one must raise a magpie bridge upon the tongue, guide jade fluid—saliva—down into the dantian, and water the Yellow Sprout. Yet if one is careless with food and drink, or if one's eyes are habitually filled with lewdness, the jade fluid will be tainted by the foul qi of meat and lust. The rain and dew will then turn into rank, sour, rotten rain. At best, it will damage the meridians and scorch the vessels; at worst, it will shave away bone and draw out marrow!"

Liu Yunshen explained with ease. The black-robed Daoist secretly nodded. "Let your master ask again. Why must one always watch for Three Lights Devour the Soul at the sixth stage, Three Lights Nourish the Leaves?"

"When the moon is full, it wanes; when the soul is strong, the corporeal spirit is weak. If one draws in the power of the sun, moon, and stars at an improper time, soul and spirit will fall out of balance. At best, it will harm the body; at worst, one will become a living corpse with an incomplete soul!"

The strange Daoist clicked his tongue in amazement.

Liu Yunshen himself was also astonished. "Master, the nine stages of our sect's first realm alone are already so broad and profound! This disciple has read two treasured manuals from other sects before. Compared to what Master teaches, they truly are mediocre beyond measure."

The Daoist nodded with a smile, yet rarely wore a serious expression. "Disciple, you are still at the second stage of the first realm. Your strength remains weak. Fullness invites loss, while humility receives gain. Do not show off before others! Unless life and death are at stake, you must never reveal your strength!"

"Yes! This disciple will remember!"

"Your master will also teach you a method of guiding demonic qi. The next time you encounter that sort of devil, even if you are injured, you will not be in such a sorry state. You may even draw away and transform the demonic qi he forcibly planted in your body!"

Following his master's instructions, Liu Yunshen used the second stage, Spring Sprout Pierces the Abyss. The flow of his inner breath was far swifter than before, and primordial light surfaced through his meridians and organs. His true essence was protected by that primordial light, and in a single night, his strength rapidly advanced.

Early the next morning, the black-robed Daoist had vanished again.

"Master truly is a divine dragon whose head may be seen but whose tail never appears."

Liu Yunshen bowed northward, then set out once more.

"According to the map Senior Tan An gave me, the Myriad Swords Sect has branches throughout all four great nations, and most cultivators in its main sect are upright people. Since I cannot find Big Dog Brother and Hu Two for now, why not first go to the Heavenly Sword Sect's branch in Shangdu Commandery, the nearest one to here? I can take on some missions, and if I can join the sect, I may use its power to find the two of them!"

"Help! Help..."

"Little lady, get over here!"

Liu Yunshen's pleasant hopes were once again shattered by a shrill scream. The bit of cheer in his heart was replaced by storm clouds filling the sky. "There are always so many wicked people in this world! Disturbing others' peace!"

"Help!"

"Hahahaha! Scream all you want! Scream until your throat breaks, and no one will care!"

A young girl was pinned beneath a burly, tiger-backed man eight feet tall, struggling desperately. In the distance, a saber and a sword had been thrust into the ground! Just as the man was about to commit his outrage, a flash of cold light streaked past!