Obtaining a Cultivation Method

"Why weren't you properly sensing spiritual energy? What are you doing here again?"

Seeing Zhou Qing approach, Chen Qingxuan asked with a smile.

Zhou Qing said, "I came to thank you, Martial Uncle."

Chen Qingxuan asked, "What are you thanking me for?"

Zhou Qing said, "By sect rules, Immortal Seedlings with a single spiritual root are not ordinarily accepted into the sect."

"Yet Martial Uncle made an exception and took me in. Today, you even praised me before all my fellow disciples. How could I not sincerely thank you for such kindness?"

Chen Qingxuan nodded. "It is good that you have such intentions, but this is also what you deserve. In all these years, this is the first time I have seen someone like you, born with a Dao Heart. If I were to let you go unaccepted, it would be like allowing a bright pearl to gather dust. Would that not be my sin?"

At this point, he suddenly sighed and said, "For all these years, Azure Cloud Sect has valued refining qi while neglecting the refinement of the heart, and this has led to many tragedies."

"Sixty years ago, the sect recruited disciples. Among them was an astonishingly gifted woman. With twenty-seven spiritual roots, she received the unanimous attention of the entire sect and was cultivated with all its strength."

"That woman indeed did not disappoint the sect's efforts. In merely ten years, while everyone else was still worrying over the Inner Disciple assessment, she had already broken through to Foundation Establishment and officially become a core disciple of the sect."

"At the time, her glory was boundless, like the sun hanging high in the sky. Every younger disciple of Azure Cloud Sect looked up to her radiance, while the elders hoped she would lead Azure Cloud Sect to greater heights."

"That year, she went out on sect business as the sect's representative. By chance, the senior apprentice sister of Spirit Lake Dao Palace's younger generation had left seclusion to sharpen herself, setting up a forum for discussing the Dao atop Heavenly Candle Peak to exchange pointers with Foundation Establishment cultivators from Qionghua Continent."

"She also participated in that grand gathering. Yet within ten days, she fought ten battles and lost all ten. From then on, her Dao Heart shattered. Her spirit could no longer govern her qi, and was instead crushed beneath it. She became muddle-headed all day long, remaining so until now."

Until now?

That meant this senior was still alive.

Zhou Qing carefully studied Chen Qingxuan's expression, thinking, This friend you're talking about... couldn't it be yourself?

But remembering that their genders did not match, Zhou Qing quickly dismissed the thought.

Seeing regret mixed with sorrow on Chen Qingxuan's face, he guessed that Chen Qingxuan had been one of the Azure Cloud Sect disciples who had once looked up to that woman.

According to Azure Cloud Sect's rules, that woman must have been the senior apprentice sister of her generation, admired and adored by all her peers and juniors, only to end up like this.

No wonder Chen Qingxuan still sighed over it even now.

Chen Qingxuan said, "The reason I brought you to Azure Cloud Sect and praised you before everyone was to make my stance clear."

"For cultivators like us, refining qi is naturally important. Longevity, divine abilities, and spells all rely upon the support of qi. But cultivating the heart is just as important. If your Dao Heart is not steadfast and cannot govern your qi, the qi you cultivate may even become your enemy."

Zhou Qing said, "With Martial Uncle's painstaking intentions, my fellow disciples will surely understand."

Seeing that Zhou Qing had no intention of leaving, Chen Qingxuan guessed that he had not merely come to offer thanks. Smiling, he said, "You probably did not come just to thank me, did you?"

Zhou Qing piled a smile across his face and said, "This disciple feels that his sensing of spiritual energy has become proficient, and wishes to ask Martial Uncle for guidance on methods of gathering and circulating qi."

Chen Qingxuan's face sank as he frowned and scrutinized Zhou Qing.

Zhou Qing could not help feeling nervous. Had I acted too impatiently and angered Martial Uncle?

But he had no choice.

He was different from the other disciples. They had ready-made cultivation methods and only needed to proceed step by step.

He, however, had to create his own cultivation method. Not a single moment could be wasted.

After a long while, Chen Qingxuan nodded. "If anyone else had come asking, they would not have escaped a scolding. You have always been steady in temperament. Since you have made this request, you must know what you are doing. I will give you the cultivation method now."

"You may study it yourself, but you must never cultivate it on your own. Every step on the path of immortality is perilous beyond measure. Cultivating in secret without a teacher's supervision is gambling with your own life."

Zhou Qing said joyfully, "This disciple will heed Martial Uncle's instruction."

Chen Qingxuan then imparted to him the Qi Refinement chapter of Azure Cloud Sect's cultivation method.

Azure Cloud Sect's foundational cultivation method was called "Floating Clouds Obscure the Sun," and it could be cultivated all the way to the peak of Golden Core.

On the path of immortality, there was the Dao and there were methods.

The Dao was the foundational cultivation method of each sect. Regardless of one's attribute, everyone cultivated the same method. How to gather qi and how to circulate qi all followed the same path.

The differences lay only in the application of spells and divine abilities.

After Chen Qingxuan imparted the Qi Refinement chapter to Zhou Qing and explained several difficult points to him, it was already nearing evening.

The other disciples below were all gazing at them eagerly.

Cultivators who had only just begun sensing spiritual energy could usually maintain it for only a short time—perhaps a quarter of an hour, or at most half an hour—before fluctuations in their state of mind caused them to leave the state of communion with qi.

Only through constant practice could they reach a state of being in communion with qi at every moment. Only then could a cultivator attempt to draw qi into the body.

The disciples on the Instruction Platform had long since left that state. Seeing Zhou Qing already asking Martial Uncle about methods of gathering and refining qi, they all looked at him with envy.

However, they knew they would never receive treatment like Zhou Qing's, so no one followed his example and went to ask Chen Qingxuan for guidance.

Only after Chen Qingxuan had finished answering Zhou Qing's questions did he dismiss the disciples.

Thus ended the first day of lectures.

Chen Qingxuan headed straight back to Azure Cloud Mountain.

One could not fly through the air on Azure Cloud Mountain without reaching Golden Core. Chen Qingxuan brought his flying sword down and landed at the foot of Azure Cloud Mountain, then climbed the stone steps back to the Hall of Skill Transmission.

Before the screen wall within the Hall of Skill Transmission, an elderly man in Daoist robes, with crane-white hair and the face of a child, was walking slowly with his hands behind his back.

Chen Qingxuan hurried forward two steps and saluted him. "Elder Jin Mang."

The old man was Jin Mang, one of the Hall of Skill Transmission's four Elders.

Below the Sect Master, Azure Cloud Sect's two most important institutions were the Discipline Hall and the Hall of Skill Transmission.

The Hall of Skill Transmission oversaw the sect's inheritance and was one of its most prestigious institutions. Accordingly, its ranks were also the most lavishly staffed.

The Hall of Skill Transmission Leader was one of Azure Cloud Sect's only two Golden Core cultivators. The four Elders under him were all peak Foundation Establishment powerhouses as well.

Elder Jin Mang asked with a smile, "Qingxuan, are there any good seedlings among this batch of newly accepted Outer Disciples?"

Chen Qingxuan nodded. "The quality of this batch is quite good. There are several whom I believe should be cultivated with special attention."

He introduced Zhou Qing, Wei Xu, Nie Yunxi, Gao Xiaoting, Yue Xinghe, and Xu Huiniang—several newcomers whom he had secretly observed and considered highly promising—to Elder Jin Mang.

Elder Jin Mang was naturally already familiar with Azure Cloud Sect descendants such as Wei Kuang, so Chen Qingxuan did not mention them.

Elder Jin Mang nodded as he listened to Chen Qingxuan introduce the circumstances of several disciples, but gradually began to feel that something was not quite right.

Chen Qingxuan's introduction of Zhou Qing was especially detailed. When he heard that Chen Qingxuan had publicly praised Zhou Qing and told the other disciples to seek Zhou Qing's advice, Elder Jin Mang said:

"Qingxuan, do you intend to recommend Zhou Qing as the senior apprentice of this generation?"