Cultivating Ice Profound Force

Cultivating Ice Profound Force

Without much hope, Ye Yun looked at the next martial art.

"Exploding Body Method: rapidly reverse the true qi within the body, ignite one's qi and blood, and deal heavy damage to the enemy before death. There is a certain chance of perishing together with the enemy. Compatibility: three points."

"Blood Escape Art. Compatibility: two points."

He went through ten martial arts in one breath. They either killed the user the moment they were used, or had compatibility scores of one or two points. Some seemed even more treacherous than the Sunflower Formula, as though the sect elders would not rest until they had tricked their disciples to death. Ye Yun was speechless.

Only three martial arts remained. Ye Yun casually glanced at the next one. He would never have known if he had not looked, but the moment he did, he was so startled that his mouth fell open wide enough to fit a fist.

"Void Meditation Formula: after cultivation, it allows one to enter a state utterly free of stray thoughts, with a clear mind and spirit. Lasts for five minutes. After five minutes, the mind will be weakened for two hours. Compatibility: fifteen points."

It took Ye Yun a full two minutes to recover. He felt as though the whole world was playing a joke on him today, showering him with surprises and frights one after another. If a martial artist's heart had not been stronger than ordinary, his heart might have stopped from the shock.

Looking at the martial art called the Void Meditation Formula, Ye Yun truly could not understand why its compatibility was so high. Compared to the previous martial arts, the Void Meditation Formula's side effects were indeed much milder, but its effect seemed rather useless.

After pondering for a long while without figuring it out, Ye Yun simply stopped thinking about it. Since his special ability had given it such a high compatibility score, he followed the principle that meeting was fate. Using his identity token to unlock the mechanism, he took the copy of the martial art and headed down to the first floor of the Cultivation Manual Pavilion.

Holding the three martial arts he had chosen, Ye Yun came before the elder and handed them over. "Elder, these are the martial arts this disciple has selected. Please register them for me."

The elder accepted the martial arts Ye Yun handed over, looked them over, then turned and sized Ye Yun up from head to toe.

"Tut, tut. Boy, what am I supposed to say about you? Never mind the Nine Yin Cold Claw, but what do you mean by choosing Ice Profound Force and the Void Meditation Formula? One is difficult to cultivate to the point of death, while the other is completely useless. I only saw that there were too few martial arts in the secret arts section, so I grabbed it from who knows where to make up the numbers. You really know how to pick." The elder spoke to Ye Yun in a teasing tone.

The elder's words left Ye Yun extremely embarrassed. After holding it in for a long while, he finally squeezed out a few words. "This disciple chose them entirely by instinct."

Seeing Ye Yun's embarrassed expression, the elder burst into laughter. "Then it seems your luck is bad today. Your instincts have failed you. How about this? I'll make the decision. You cannot exchange the Nine Yin Cold Claw or the Void Meditation Formula, but you can take Ice Profound Force back upstairs and exchange it for another one."

Hearing this, Ye Yun did not know what to say. Should I tell the elder that I can see the compatibility of cultivation methods, that Ice Profound Force is highly compatible with me, and that I'm confident I can cultivate it successfully? He thought it over and over, then finally braced himself and said, "This disciple still won't exchange it. I want to give it a try."

"You'd better think it through. Once you pass this village, there will be no such inn ahead," the elder reminded him.

"I've thought it through." After saying that, Ye Yun recalled the Sunflower Formula. He felt stifled if he did not ask about it, so he cautiously asked, "Elder, this disciple previously saw a martial art upstairs called the Sunflower Formula..."

Before Ye Yun could finish, the elder interrupted him. "I know what you want to ask. Basically every inner sect disciple who comes here for the first time asks about it. Very well, I'll tell you."

"As for the Sunflower Formula, it was created by a palace eunuch in the imperial palace of Great Chu. For some reason, a hundred years ago, someone stole it from the palace. Later, that man encountered an enemy who slaughtered his entire family, while he himself escaped with severe injuries. To take revenge, he hardened his heart, castrated himself, and cultivated the Sunflower Formula. Laughably, even after castrating himself, he still failed to master it. In the end, his fury caused his blood to rush to his heart, and he died. Before dying, he wrote the words you saw in the original martial art manual: 'To practice this art, one must first castrate oneself. Yet even castration may not bring success.'" The elder finished the story with a sigh.

After hearing the story, Ye Yun became even more confused. He hurriedly tried to question the elder, but before he could speak, the elder said, "You want to ask why it was placed in the Cultivation Manual Pavilion if it cannot be cultivated, right?"

Ye Yun nodded.

"That was because not long afterward, five True Essence Realm martial artists infiltrated the imperial palace, intending to assassinate the Emperor of Chu. In the end, a eunuch who had cultivated the Sunflower Formula fought one against five and killed all five of them. After that battle, the Sunflower Formula, which was merely a mid-grade martial art, shook the martial world, and countless people went mad for it. Later, a disciple of our Purple Extreme Sect obtained this stolen copy of the Sunflower Formula, along with records of that man's life. He turned them over to the sect. After the sect elders studied it, they felt it was tasteless to eat yet a pity to discard, so they placed it on the second floor of the Cultivation Manual Pavilion. That is the whole story from beginning to end. I've said all there is to say. You may leave now." After finishing the story, the elder issued Ye Yun an order to leave.

Ye Yun retrieved his three martial arts, bowed to the elder, then quickly left the Cultivation Manual Pavilion and headed back to his residence.

At night, the stars glittered brightly across the sky. Ye Yun sat cross-legged in the cultivation room, holding Ice Profound Force and carefully reading it, committing every method of cultivation within to memory.

A moment later, Ye Yun had made all his preparations. He began his first cultivation of Ice Profound Force, closing his eyes and circulating his true qi according to its method.

Slowly, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth gathered toward Ye Yun. It poured into his body through the acupoints atop his head. Under the circulation of Ice Profound Force, the spiritual qi that entered his body gradually transformed into a strand of Ice Profound Force true qi. The moment that strand appeared, Ye Yun felt a chill run through his entire body, nearly interrupting his cultivation. As more and more Ice Profound Force true qi accumulated, his body grew colder and colder. Ye Yun endured the cold and continued cultivating. In the end, he forcibly controlled the true qi, forming a vortex within his dantian where the true qi gathered. As the vortex gradually stabilized, the coldness in Ye Yun's body slowly receded as well.

After a long while, Ye Yun's first cultivation of Ice Profound Force came to an end. He opened his eyes and slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, but a trace of lingering fear flashed through his gaze.

That cultivation process had been perilous in the extreme. Had Ye Yun not successfully condensed the vortex at the final moment, he would have become a block of ice by now. Ye Yun finally understood why Ice Profound Force was so difficult to cultivate. Its true qi was simply too extreme. As more Ice Profound Force true qi accumulated, the body would grow colder and colder. If one could not cultivate Ice Profound Force to the beginner stage in time and form a vortex in the dantian, one would gradually turn into a human-shaped block of ice. That was why the sect had marked it with the warning: extremely difficult to cultivate, choose with caution.

It was only because Ye Yun's compatibility with Ice Profound Force was so high that he had managed to cultivate it to the beginner stage on his first attempt. For anyone else, if they failed to succeed within three days, they would generally disperse their Ice Profound Force true qi and cultivate another method instead.

At that moment, an idea suddenly surfaced in Ye Yun's mind. If he cultivated beside the cold spring and absorbed its chill, would his cultivation improve rapidly? Now that he possessed Ice Profound Force true qi, he no longer feared cold qi as much as before.

However, he would have to verify that idea tomorrow. Today, his meridians had already reached their limit and needed to be nourished with true qi for an entire night.

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