Withered Wood Longevity Art: Beginner

Three streams flowed into the Qingshui River at Three-River Junction, and the largest of them was called the Black Sand River.

It had earned this name because black river sand had settled in its waters.

This black river sand was no ordinary sand or gravel, but fragments of Dark Iron Mine ore.

Several small and medium-sized Dark Iron Mines lay within the Black Sand River basin.

The Chen Household, the Liu Family's greatest rival, had its Ancestral Grounds at Black Sand Lake, in the middle reaches of the Black Sand River.

Naturally, the Dark Iron Mines in the Black Sand River basin all belonged to the Chen Household.

Liu Yuanchen had no intention of seeking enlightenment in the Three-River Estuary Swamp. Instead, he traveled upstream along the Black Sand River.

The Black Sand River carried less water than the Qingshui River, and after being diverted by the Chen Household, its flow was even lower.

Moreover, barely any spiritual energy remained in its waters.

There should have been more deciduous trees along the Black Sand River's banks in autumn and winter, making it ideal for comprehending the Withered Wood Longevity Art.

Ever since he had nearly been schemed to death by the Chen Household last time, Liu Yuanchen had wanted revenge.

However, when the Chen Household had previously set Liu Yuansi up, the methods they displayed had been quite remarkable.

It was certain that the Chen Household had an expert skilled in tactics, while the enemy lurked in the shadows and he stood in the open.

Trying to outmaneuver a tactical expert with tactics was simply asking for a beating.

The simplest and most effective method was to use an intelligence advantage to defeat him beyond the limits of his understanding.

Given the Chen Household's background, their information channels extended only within Azure Elixir Sect territory.

To win, he needed to bring in forces from beyond the Azure Elixir Sect's sphere of influence.

An outside force like the Blood Bat Sect, which had recently taken the initiative to emerge again, was the best choice.

The Chen Household could be said to know absolutely nothing about the Blood Bat Sect.

He knew a little about the Blood Bat Sect. Though it was not much, it was enough to give him an intelligence advantage over the Chen Household.

As long as he could draw the Blood Bat Sect's hatred toward them without the Chen Household knowing, his goal would be achieved.

Before absolute strength, any tactic was meaningless.

And when facing the Chen Household, the Blood Bat Sect happened to possess absolute strength.

The flying boat had not traveled far before a small black mountain appeared before Liu Yuanchen.

The mountain was called Blackrock Mountain. It was only a little over forty zhang tall, and a mining site lay at its foot.

Large stretches of forest surrounded the small mountain.

As soon as Liu Yuanchen's flying boat approached, a cultivator at the Ninth Qi-Nourishing Layer emerged.

The man looked to be in his fifties, with graying hair at his temples.

He cupped his hands toward Liu Yuanchen. "May I ask which fellow Daoist you are, and what important business brings you to our Chen Household?"

Liu Yuanchen guided the flying boat down slowly. After landing, the middle-aged cultivator cupped his hands again. "So you are a disciple of the Azure Elixir Sect.

I am Chen Changlin of the Chen Household. Greetings, fellow Daoist."

Liu Yuanchen returned the gesture. "Liu Yuanchen, disciple of the Azure Elixir Sect's Elixir Hall. Greetings, Fellow Daoist Chen."

The moment Chen Changlin heard this, his face turned green.

A vicious glint appeared in his eyes, and spiritual power surged through his body as though he might strike at any moment.

"Liu Yuanchen, you caused my fourth brother's death, and you still dare come here to seek death?"

His fourth brother was Chen Changning, the Chen Household disciple who had guarded the Azure Spirit Bees at the Azure Elixir Sect.

After failing to assassinate Liu Yuanchen, he had taken the blame and committed suicide.

The Chen Household had always been unreasonable. They could kill others, but no one else was allowed to kill them.

Seeing that Chen Changlin looked ready to attack, Liu Yuanchen smiled broadly.

As long as he dared make a move, the Azure Elixir Sect's rules could take his life.

For a cultivator from an affiliated force to attack an Azure Elixir Sect disciple carrying out official duties was naked rebellion, a crime worthy of exterminating the entire clan.

Liu Yuanchen added fuel to the fire. "Chen Changning deserved to die. What? Do you want to die too?"

At those words, Chen Changlin's fury shot straight to his head.

But then he recalled Zhao Hong's declaration: anyone who dared touch his disciple would have their entire clan exterminated.

Evidence or no evidence, he would act.

Ever since then, the Chen Household had lived in constant fear.

They feared that if anything happened to Liu Yuanchen, Zhao Hong would come directly to massacre the Chen Household.

The Chen Household's upper ranks had also issued a strict order to their clansmen: they were never to have any further conflict with Liu Yuanchen, nor were they to touch any of his close relatives.

If he encountered danger, Chen Household members were to do everything they could to help him.

Even if they could not save him, they had to let Zhao Hong see the Chen Household's sincerity.

With that in mind, Chen Changlin suppressed the fury filling his chest.

Seeing that he did not attack, Liu Yuanchen felt somewhat disappointed. "I serve under Deputy Hall Master Hu in Qinghe Town. I was ordered to patrol the Qingshui River basin and prevent evil cultivators from launching surprise attacks.

The Black Sand River is also a tributary of the Qingshui River and falls within my patrol area. I came today to inspect the place."

Chen Changlin cursed inwardly upon hearing this. Inspect my ass. When evil cultivators were launching widespread attacks and the Chen Household suffered devastating losses, why didn't I see you come inspect anything?

The evil cultivators haven't come for months, and now you show up to inspect the place.

Still, he forced a smile. "Then I must trouble you, fellow Daoist."

Liu Yuanchen waved his hand. "It is my duty. This place is not far from the Qingshui River's main channel and can easily suffer harassment from evil cultivators.

I will station myself here for a while. What do you think, fellow Daoist?"

Chen Changlin was so angry that his face turned livid, yet he could only smile obligingly. "Just as you say, fellow Daoist. Evil cultivators often harass this place, and I have been troubled beyond endurance.

With you stationed here, I will no longer need to worry day and night.

My mining site is somewhat crude. I hope you will not take offense."

Liu Yuanchen waved him off. "No need for such trouble. I can meditate and cultivate in the forest near the mining site. There is no need to arrange a cave abode for me."

At those words, Chen Changlin's face went from livid to utterly black.

The mining site was protected by an array. If Liu Yuanchen stayed inside, there would be no danger, and Chen Changlin would not need to worry.

But if he remained outside and was ambushed by evil cultivators, any mishap would bring consequences too terrible to contemplate.

He wanted to persuade him further, but Liu Yuanchen walked directly away from the mining site toward a forest east of it.

There were many Azure Poplars in the forest, and they were also a type of Charcoalwood.

Even when nourished by spiritual energy, these trees shed their leaves easily in autumn and winter.

At this time, their branches were already full of yellow leaves.

As soon as a cold wind blew, the leaves would fall in an extremely short time.

This forest was only a little over twenty li from the Qingshui River's main channel, a distance that could not stop evil cultivators.

By staying alone in the forest, he made himself the perfect target.

Liu Yuanchen found a relatively clean stone in the forest and sat cross-legged upon it.

He released his Divine Sense and sensed the changes in the life force of the surrounding Azure Poplars.

Within the perception of his Divine Sense, vast swathes of emerald-green light appeared around him.

This emerald-green light outlined the shapes of tree after tree.

Moreover, the light upon these trees was unevenly distributed.

The trunks and roots contained abundant life force, and the emerald-green light they gave off was exceptionally bright.

The branches contained far less life force.

As for the leaves, their life force was already extremely faint.

Within a palm-sized leaf, there were only a dozen or so emerald-green specks representing life force.

Once the life force within a leaf vanished, it would naturally wither.

Over the next several days, Liu Yuanchen continuously observed the trees with his Divine Sense.

The north wind kept blowing, and the weather grew colder by the day.

As a cultivator, Liu Yuanchen naturally did not care about such a slight chill.

The Essence Refinement Realm before the Qi-Nourishing Realm was all about continuously tempering the body.

Once one cultivated the Essence Refinement Realm to completion, one could already ignore heat and cold.

Thus, the changing seasons had little effect on cultivators.

Even many spirit plants continued growing as usual through winter.

However, the Azure Poplars' leaves had already yellowed and withered, with little life force remaining.

Now that the cold wind blew, matters only worsened.

Under Liu Yuanchen's Divine Sense, the scant life force remaining in those leaves slowly shifted into the branches.

In the end, the leaves that had lost all life force detached from the branches and drifted slowly to the ground.

At this point, the trees further withdrew their life force into their roots and trunks.

Even the branches held noticeably less life force, and their emerald-green glow became extremely dim.

Some relatively tender new branches even lost all their life force and became dead branches outright.

Several days later, realization dawned upon Liu Yuanchen.

Combining it with his own insights, he began circulating the Withered Wood Longevity Art.

The essence of this technique lay in abandoning the branches and leaves while preserving the foundation.

As the Withered Wood Longevity Art circulated, the qi and blood within Liu Yuanchen's body began gathering toward its depths.

There was less and less qi and blood at the surface of his body, and the qi and blood fluctuations radiating outward naturally weakened as well.

His formerly rosy complexion became somewhat pale.

Afterward, the fluctuations of spiritual power throughout his body also gradually weakened.

The circulation of his spiritual power changed noticeably. Deep within his body, it circulated much faster, while in the meridians close to the surface, it circulated much more slowly.

If someone probed him with Divine Sense at this moment, they would likely think he had only just broken through to the Seventh Qi-Nourishing Layer.

As the Withered Wood Longevity Art circulated for longer, his qi and blood fluctuations and spiritual power fluctuations continued weakening.

Chen Changlin, hiding in the mining site, saw that Liu Yuanchen was cultivating and naturally did not dare spy on him with Divine Sense.

If he disturbed his cultivation and caused him to suffer qi deviation, the Chen Household would be finished.

Not only did he not dare disturb him, he even patrolled several li around the area to prevent anyone from interrupting Liu Yuanchen.

This state continued for two days, and Liu Yuanchen discovered in surprise that he had gone two days without eating, yet did not feel hungry at all.

Though Qi-Nourishing Realm cultivators did not require much food, they still needed to consume at least one Grain-Banishing Pill every two days.

After two days without eating, he should normally have felt obvious hunger, yet he did not feel hungry in the slightest.

It seemed that cultivating the Withered Wood Longevity Art could also reduce the energy consumption of the entire body.

Just then, the spiritual power and qi and blood that had been moved into the depths of his body, along with a small amount of Divine Sense power, all gathered within his Lower Dantian.

These energies fused together, and at first they displayed various colors.

The power of qi and blood was blood-red, astral force was blue-black, spiritual power was emerald-green, and Divine Sense power was colorless.

As time passed, these colors gradually diminished, replaced by a gray color.

In the end, every color other than gray vanished, forming a droplet the size of a longan.

It was Liu Yuanchen's first successful circulation of the Withered Wood Longevity Art, and he had no idea what was happening.

However, he felt no discomfort whatsoever, so there presumably would not be any problem.

As the technique continued circulating, other energies within his body constantly merged into this gray mass of energy and were assimilated.

A day later, the gray mass of energy finally changed.

Two kinds of energy continuously separated from it. One was a blue-black liquid, while the other was a pale-red mist.

The blue-black liquid seemed to contain a chill, bringing a cool sensation wherever it went.

The pale-red mist carried warmth, bringing a warm sensation wherever it went.

Guided by the technique, the blue-black liquid gradually flowed into his kidneys and continuously circulated through the kidney meridians.

The pale-red mist also gradually gathered within his heart and continuously circulated through the heart meridians.

As the two energies circulated, Liu Yuanchen felt a subtle increase in his physical strength.

Moreover, his entire body felt fulfilled.

Gurgle~

Several more Shi Chen passed, and Liu Yuanchen's stomach suddenly growled.

He awoke from that wonderful sensation and slowly stopped circulating the technique.

Only then did he remember that he had gone three and a half days without food.

He took three Grain-Banishing Pills from his storage pouch and swallowed them. The hunger instantly vanished.

After all, he was not Meng Tieshan. Even when extremely hungry, two or three Grain-Banishing Pills were enough for him.

At this moment, he discovered that although he was no longer actively circulating the Withered Wood Longevity Art, the various energies throughout his body were still circulating according to the method of the Withered Wood Longevity Art.

It was simply far less efficient than before.

Most of the qi and blood and spiritual power that had originally been drawn into the depths of his body returned to the surface.

His previously pale complexion also became rosy again.

However, a small portion of his qi and blood, spiritual power, and other energies remained deep within his body.

Within his Lower Dantian, they continued gathering and eventually condensed into gray energy.

That gray energy also slowly produced blue-black liquid and pale-red gas.

Only, the rate of conversion was less than one percent of what it had been before.

He thought to himself, The Withered Wood Longevity Art is fundamentally a slow and painstaking practice. It requires gradually adjusting the body's operating state.

It seems my previous cultivation has already had some effect.

Even without actively circulating the Withered Wood Longevity Art, the circulation of the various energies in my body has still changed somewhat.

According to the technique's records, each circulation deepens the degree of change.

To truly reduce the loss of Innate Qi by thirty percent, I need to cultivate the Leaf-Falling Stage of the Withered Wood Longevity Art to completion.

At that point, whether or not I circulate the Leaf-Falling Stage technique, my body's operating state will remain the same.

Only upon reaching that level can I cultivate the Withered Wood Stage technique.

"Now that I could produce blue-black liquid,

and pale red gas, I had officially entered the path.

Next came the slow grind.

I was not yet twenty-one, with plenty of lifespan ahead of me. There was no need to hurry."

Liu Yuanchen was curious about the blue-black liquid and pale red gas. He probed the two energies with his Divine Sense, but could not discern anything unusual.

None of the cultivation techniques he possessed mentioned these two kinds of energy.

Still, as the two energies circulated, his body felt extremely comfortable.

Only after Liu Yuanchen finished cultivating did Chen Changlin dare approach him.

He walked up to Liu Yuanchen and cupped his hands. "You look radiant, Fellow Daoist. Your cultivation must have improved again. Congratulations."

Liu Yuanchen examined him carefully. The man's hair was disheveled, his face somewhat pale, and his gaze dull. Bloodshot veins covered his eyes, and he had two huge dark circles beneath them.

Although Chen Changlin had seemed somewhat old before, he had still been quite spirited.

It had only been ten days since I comprehended the changes in vitality when trees shed their leaves, and started cultivating the Withered Wood Longevity Art.

Chen Changlin had not fought anyone during that time, so how had he ended up like this?

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