Eight-Nine Mystical Art

Li Yuanchu led several people out to search for suitable materials.

The chief's younger brother came along as well, curious about what Li Yuanchu intended to do.

Li Yuanchu wove three baskets from vines, one for each of them, to carry silt.

The first basket earned five thousand Merit Points; each additional vine basket earned one more point of Merit.

Then they went to a nearby riverbank to dig up silt.

Great Wilderness Mountain was lush with vegetation, its spring water so clear one could see to the bottom.

Many unknown giant fish swam through the water. This place truly was an angler's paradise.

When the three returned to the tribe carrying vine baskets, quite a few people found them novel.

They spread the silt over stone slabs to dry. To speed things up, they built fires around it to bake it dry.

They chose an open patch of ground and dug a pit, dividing it into a fire chamber and a pottery-firing chamber, with ventilation channels left between them.

They crushed the baked-dry earth, removed impurities, then added water and repeatedly pounded and kneaded it before shaping it into long, thin clay strips.

They coiled the clay strips into jars and pottery bowls, repeatedly smoothing them until their forms gradually became more regular.

The chief's younger brother copied him and made several as well.

The two placed the clay blanks in a cool, ventilated part of the cave to dry in the shade.

"Leave these for a few days, then fire them. They'll harden and can be used to hold things."

After hearing Li Yuanchu's words, the chief's younger brother circled the clay blanks once, then forbade anyone else from approaching and damaging them.

"How do you know these things? Why didn't you tell us before?"

The chief's mother asked.

That was not an easy question to answer. Primitive people might lack knowledge, but they were not stupid. He needed a plausible explanation.

"I went into the forest yesterday and saw the Holy Mother. She taught me these things."

"You actually received the Holy Mother's blessing. You're truly lucky."

Li Yuanchu had thought she would keep questioning him, but unexpectedly, she believed him right away.

On second thought, it was understandable.

When a boy in the tribe suddenly became enlightened, would you think he was a transmigrator, or that he had received a Sage's blessing?

Night fell, and everyone gathered around the fire in the cave to keep warm.

Li Yuanchu looked through the Merit Mall and found something he wanted, though it was rather expensive.

[Eight-Nine Mystical Art, 160,000 Merit Points]

Dharma Treasures and spiritual roots belonged to the strong. In the Primordial World, increasing one's strength was the only hard truth.

He worked during the day and taught literacy at night.

Based on the inherent characteristics of things and the features of writing from his past life, Li Yuanchu created a script.

It was less pictorial, its forms more orderly, and overall resembled Oracle Bone Script.

He wrote characters on the cave wall, taught them their pronunciations, and had the others use branches to write on the ground.

Five characters a day. Every new character he created earned ten Merit Points.

Li Yuanchu began frantically creating characters on the cave wall, then used the new characters to give everyone a name.

Making and using fire was now this tribe's greatest trait, so the chief was named Sui. Wind fed the fire, and fire could also create wind, so the entire tribe took Feng as its surname.

The chief's full name was Feng Sui, his younger brother was named Feng Xi, and the chief's mother was called Feng Ling.

Everyone who received a name was inexplicably excited. At this time, it was the only thing that belonged solely to them.

It seemed that bestowing names upon people was also a good way to spread writing.

"What is your name?"

The chief gestured as he babbled.

"My name is Li Yuanchu."

"What?"

Li Yuanchu sighed. After pondering for a moment, he wrote two characters on the cave wall.

Feng Xu.

"This character is Xu. From now on, I'll be called Feng Xu."

The name Li Yuanchu did not fit with the tribe as a whole. Besides, his past life had already become the past. From then on, he was Feng Xu.

Everyone had their own name now. From time to time, they called out their own names or those of others, then chuckled foolishly.

At noon on the fifth day, the clay blanks had dried in the shade. Feng Xu moved more than twenty pieces into two separate earthen kilns to fire them.

One kiln was for slightly larger pottery jars, while the other was for smaller pieces, all pottery bowls.

Feng Xu added firewood and had others take turns fanning the flames with leaves. At dusk, they extinguished the fire.

All that remained was to wait for them to cool naturally.

"Tomorrow at this time, we can take out what's inside and use it."

Feng Xu spoke while gesturing.

He now communicated with the others through a combination of speech and gestures.

The benefit was that, as they interacted with others more often, they would naturally learn to express certain things through language.

The following evening, Feng Xu opened the earthen kilns and took out the finished products.

The success rate for their first pottery firing was very low. Out of more than twenty pieces, only eight could be used, and only one of the larger pottery jars had survived.

Feng Xu opened the Merit Mall and found that he had gained thirty thousand more points, bringing his total to over one hundred eighty thousand Merit Points.

He exited the Merit Mall and inspected the failed pieces, searching for the reasons behind their failure.

After summarizing the lessons learned, he enlarged and improved the earthen kilns. Then he added another batch of clay blanks and began firing them.

Feng Xu showed everyone how to use pottery. Jars were for storing things, while bowls were for holding food.

Feng Sui asked whether they could make a larger pottery vessel for cooking.

Feng Xu nodded to indicate that they could, but their current craftsmanship was still immature. It would be best to wait until the success rate improved before making large pieces.

Pottery was lighter and more practical than stone containers. It would also make fetching and storing water much more convenient for the tribe in the future.

The fire in the earthen kilns burned fiercely as Feng Sui announced to everyone that Feng Xu would henceforth be the tribe's wise man.

Everyone had to obey Feng Xu's arrangements.

No one objected. Everyone had seen Feng Xu's abilities for themselves.

Feng Xu stood up without hesitation. With status, it would be easier to arrange work for others and earn Merit.

"What should the tribe do next?"

Feng Xu thought briefly, speaking and gesturing at the same time.

"We have too few people, and food will spoil if we can't finish it. We should trade with other tribes and exchange food for their people. We can't trade for strong men, but we can trade for women and children."

"There are several tribes nearby. We can set out in a couple of days."

"We need to fire more pottery. Those can also be traded as goods."

"The tribe doesn't have enough pottery right now. That will have to wait until next year. What else?"

Feng Xu's little face reddened as he looked at the tribe's three remaining able-bodied men and spoke softly.

"You need to work harder and have more children."

Feng Sui and the others looked at one another, then nodded.

They did not have Feng Xu's sense of embarrassment. Besides, they quite enjoyed the process of having children.

All the women in the tribe now belonged to the three of them. At the very least, there would be no disputes over women this winter.

Late at night, most people had already fallen asleep.

Feng Xu extinguished the kiln fire and returned to the cave.

He opened the Merit Mall and exchanged for the Eight-Nine Mystical Art. In an instant, an enormous amount of information flooded into his mind.

The cultivation method of the Eight-Nine Mystical Art, the effects and precautions for every stage, all became deeply familiar to him.

This was a cultivation art created by Yuanshi Tianzun.

At this time, the Primordial World had no writing and no books. Teaching the Dao, imparting knowledge, and resolving doubts were all done through sermons and discussions of the Dao.

Yuanshi Tianzun had already mastered the Eight-Nine Mystical Art, but had not passed it on.

This cultivation art was divided into Nine Turns of the Physical Body and Eight Turns of the Primordial Spirit.

The first turn of the physical body tempered the meridians, the second tempered the organs, the third tempered qi and blood, the fourth tempered sinews and bones, the fifth tempered flesh and skin, the sixth tempered the immortal body, the seventh tempered the Dharma Form, the eighth tempered adaptability, and the ninth tempered the indestructible body.

The first turn of the Primordial Spirit was Spirit Sense, the second was the Second-Turn Primordial Spirit, the third was the Yin Spirit, the fourth was the Yang Spirit, the fifth was the Immortal Spirit, the sixth was the Spirit Form, the seventh was the Great Void, and the eighth was the Divine Dao.

The sixth turn of the physical body corresponded to the fifth turn of the Primordial Spirit, both being the True Immortal realm. The seventh turn of the physical body corresponded to the sixth turn of the Primordial Spirit, which was the Taiyi Golden Immortal realm, and so on.

Perfecting either one alone would place one at the Quasi-Sage Peak. If both could be perfected and one successfully merged with the Dao, one could attain the Hunyuan Daluo Golden Immortal realm.

Though it was the same realm as a Sage, it was still far inferior to one.

Between True Immortal and Taiyi Golden Immortal lay the two major realms of Mysterious Immortal and Golden Immortal. It was clear just how difficult cultivation became beyond the sixth turn of the physical body and the fifth turn of the Primordial Spirit.

Upon reaching the seventh turn of the physical body and the sixth turn of the Primordial Spirit, one could initially grasp the divine ability of the Seventy-Two Transformations.

The Seventy-Two Transformations did not mean transforming into seventy-two things. Rather, the nine turns of the physical body and eight turns of the Primordial Spirit combined to produce seventy-two transformations.

Once cultivated to completion, even a Sage would be unable to distinguish truth from falsehood without deducing the heavenly secrets.

He had originally thought cultivating it to completion would merely reach Yang Jian's level, yet this cultivation art actually pointed directly to the Great Dao. If it were spread directly among the Human Race, it would most likely incur karma.

This cultivation art was not difficult to begin practicing, but the higher one went, the greater the demands on aptitude and comprehension became.

Overall, it was more suited to a Primordial Dao Embryo, and one had to be outstanding even among Primordial Dao Embryos. Even the batch personally molded by Nüwa probably would not qualify.

No wonder Yuanshi Tianzun had taken so many disciples, yet only Yang Jian had achieved success in cultivating this art.

After exchanging for the cultivation art, Feng Xu closed the Merit Mall without noticing its changes at all.

The Eight-Nine Mystical Art had gone from one hundred sixty thousand Merit Points to one million Merit Points.