Divine Ability Inspiration

"Cough, cough." Old Daoist Li dry-coughed, finally turning serious. He said sternly, "To make a long story short, an ancient tomb has surfaced nearby. Its scale is astonishing, and many Rogue Cultivators have already gone there."

"This ancient tomb is said to be extraordinarily perilous, and major clans are involved. More often than not, the danger posed by people exceeds the dangers within the tomb itself."

"This old man is alone and weak, so I came today to invite you to form a team with me. That way, we can look out for each other."

Hearing this, Long Xuan frowned for a moment and pondered it carefully.

He felt that his current strength was still far too weak. His mid Spirit Gathering cultivation was completely unimpressive, and he did not even have a single external Gu for protection. His combat methods were very limited.

He felt that he should continue developing for a while longer and should not leave his comfort zone too early. With his current strength, he was simply unable to protect himself and could only rely on protagonist halo.

Treasures were all well and good, but he had to be alive to spend them. Better to lie low for a while longer.

Long Xuan did not follow the usual novel trope of rushing off the moment he heard of a fortuitous opportunity. No matter how precious the treasures in that ancient tomb might be, they could not make him risk his life.

Having made up his mind, Long Xuan said, "No. Since major clans are involved, why should we little Rogue Cultivators join the excitement? I still want to live a little longer. You can go by yourself."

Seeing that Long Xuan remained unmoved, Old Daoist Li said again, "I know what you're worried about—nothing more than personal safety."

"Rest assured. I guarantee this trip will be one hundred percent safe. We won't compete with the major clans for treasures. We only need to follow behind them and pick up whatever they pass over."

"There will always be times when they overlook something or let their guard down. Then will be our chance to pick up the leftovers. Besides, all the dangers in the ancient tomb will be borne by the major clans in front. Those of us following behind definitely won't encounter any danger."

"The only danger will be the other Rogue Cultivators. But as long as we invite a few close friends to form a team, we'll basically have nothing to worry about."

Long Xuan sneered inwardly. Nice plan. Everyone thought like that before an adventure, harboring a lucky mentality, but when had there ever not been a massive death toll?

"You don't need to persuade me. I've always been a man of my word. If I say I'm not going, then I'm not going," Long Xuan said firmly.

Seeing that Long Xuan had set his heart on refusing, Old Daoist Li did not force the issue. He had sought Long Xuan out only because he believed the more people there were, the safer it would be. Since Long Xuan was not going, one less person made no difference. He had plenty of close friends.

"Fine, then. You're so cautious despite being young. If young people don't boldly take risks, can they still be called young people?"

Old Daoist Li shook his head and finally turned to leave.

Long Xuan did not see him out. He remained seated, continuing to think about how to design a divine ability for the "Ten Absolutes Scripture."

Another month flashed by. A light rain fell outside. Just as Long Xuan was about to close the window, Old Daoist Li suddenly jumped in through it, startling him badly.

"Cough, cough..." Old Daoist Li coughed up a pool of blood. His clothes were tattered, his entire body was drenched in blood, and his hair was a complete mess. He looked half-dead, clearly having suffered severe injuries.

"Cough, cough... Damn it. One wrong move in the game, and everything was lost. We never intended to compete with the major clans for treasures. We only wanted to follow behind them and pick up what they had passed over."

"Who would have thought those dog bastards, rich yet cruel, would fear the unknown dangers in the tomb and force us Rogue Cultivators to scout the way for them? Man proposes, Heaven disposes!"

"And that ancient tomb was exceptionally dangerous. A huge number of the Rogue Cultivators who went in died, and every Rogue Cultivator who had teamed up with me was wiped out..."

Old Daoist Li complained with towering resentment, so furious he was nearly mad. Only after coughing up another pool of blood did he stop his endless cursing.

Long Xuan showed no surprise whatsoever. It was exactly as expected. Nothing in the world was one hundred percent safe. Even if the major clans had not forced them to scout the way, internal strife might have erupted over unevenly divided treasures. It was absolutely impossible for everyone to survive.

"What was the outcome? Did anyone take the tomb's treasure of suppression? And what was the most valuable treasure inside?" Long Xuan asked curiously.

"No." Old Daoist Li shook his head. "That ancient tomb was wicked. Not only did more than half of us Rogue Cultivators die, those Gu Cultivators from the major clans also suffered devastating casualties. Only a very few escaped the tomb. No one managed to take away its most valuable treasure."

"Still, quite a few burial items were brought out, and many of them were astonishingly valuable. Unfortunately, those major-clan Gu Cultivators were stingier the richer they were. They plucked every feather from a passing goose, not leaving us even a few decorative objects."

"I didn't get any treasures. I only happened to find this incomplete cultivation method."

Old Daoist Li took out a battered cultivation manual stained with blood and waved it about smugly before Long Xuan.

"'Sun Moon Heart Scripture'?"

After seeing the four words on the cover, Long Xuan guessed that this cultivation method was anything but ordinary and hurriedly snatched it over to read.

Old Daoist Li froze. Did this young man not understand that cultivation methods were not passed on lightly? How could he be so lacking in manners?

Though this cultivation method was so badly damaged that it could not be cultivated, it still had tremendous value as a reference. It was not something an outsider could read just because he wanted to.

Under normal circumstances, Old Daoist Li would definitely have snatched it back and reprimanded him. But his injuries were severe now, and he did not have the energy for that.

"My cultivation method isn't free to read. Shouldn't you compensate me with a Detoxification Pill? Your Cockroach Gu can only immunize you against ordinary poisons. It can't ward off the strange poisons in an ancient tomb," Old Daoist Li said again.

Hearing that, Long Xuan did not even look up before tossing a bottle of Detoxification Pills over.

Under normal circumstances, he would definitely have noticed something was wrong. Old Daoist Li actually knew that he had Detoxification Pills, which meant he likely knew Long Xuan was an alchemist. That also explained why, despite being gravely injured, he had gone nowhere else and come to find Long Xuan first.

But Long Xuan was currently absorbed in reading the cultivation method and did not spare the slightest attention elsewhere, so he overlooked that detail.

Old Daoist Li hurriedly caught the flying pill bottle, impatiently opened it, took out a pill, and tossed it into his mouth. Then, shamelessly, he stuffed the entire bottle of Detoxification Pills into his robes before sitting on the floor to refine the medicinal power.

After some time, the Detoxification Pills and Cockroach Gu worked together at last to withstand the strange poison from the ancient tomb.

Meanwhile, Long Xuan had entered a state of complete absorption.

This cultivation method called the "Sun Moon Heart Scripture" truly was extraordinary, worthy indeed of having come from an ancient tomb.

The "Sun Moon Heart Scripture" drew upon the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth, absorbed the essence of the sun and moon, and forged a supreme spirit body.

Those who cultivated it to great mastery could develop unique sun spiritual power, moon spiritual power, and star spiritual power.

The strength of these mutated spiritual powers ranked among the very best of all mutated spiritual powers.

Its divine ability was an external incarnation.

Those who cultivated this method could create three external incarnations: a sun incarnation, a moon incarnation, and a star incarnation.

The sun incarnation's combat power doubled during the day, while the star incarnation and moon incarnation's combat power doubled at night.

Not only were the three incarnations' combat abilities hardly weaker than the main body's, but most astonishingly, they could cultivate on their own and return the fruits of that cultivation to the main body.

That included achievements in knowledge, as well as gains in body refinement and soul refinement.

Adding in the main body's cultivation speed, anyone cultivating this method would cultivate four times faster than an ordinary person.

This cultivation method was ridiculously powerful, practically cheating. Even Long Xuan was shocked upon reading it. The divine ability section in particular made his breathing quicken, and he was completely moved.

This was precisely the divine ability he had been looking for. The Ten Absolutes Body's vast spirit sea resulted in slow cultivation speed, a fatal flaw that had to be resolved.

Without question, designing a divine ability that could accelerate cultivation speed was absolutely the best match for the "Ten Absolutes Scripture." The problem of the Ten Absolutes Body's slow cultivation speed was finally solved.

He was truly far too satisfied with this divine ability.