Old acquaintances met, yet did not recognize each other

As dusk closed in, Mo Chen packed the Flame-Drinking Art and the two Spirit Artifacts into his Storage Bag, then returned unhurriedly to the Outer Sect Scripture Pavilion.

Flowing Cloud Immortal City remained noisy, but the Twin Crane Sect within the city was much quieter.

Mo Chen took out the items he had purchased that day. The Red-Tailed Sword was about two feet long, with a dark red blade that felt faintly warm in his hand. When he infused it with a thread of Spiritual Power, an inch of red light flashed at its tip, appearing and vanishing in an instant.

The Azure Mystic Protective Talisman was only palm-sized. Its jade was smooth and lustrous, and he could feel a faint chill emanating from it as he held it.

After toying with them a while longer, Mo Chen put the two Spirit Artifacts away and turned his attention to the cultivation art.

The incomplete Flame-Drinking Art consisted of thirteen sections, corresponding to the first layer of Qi Refinement through the Foundation Establishment Early Stage. The first three contained basic Incantations; only from the fourth onward did it involve swallowing fire to temper the body.

Mo Chen looked at the ever-burning lamp inside the Scripture Pavilion and infused its flame with Spiritual Power from a distance. The wick flared with a soft pop, though he kept the flame no longer than a finger.

Take fire and drink it; transform breath into primal qi.

Mo Chen silently recited the Incantation, stirring the Spiritual Power settled in his dantian. It flowed slowly through his meridians as he gently crooked a finger toward the lamp flame.

The flame swayed, then stretched into an exceedingly fine thread of fire, as though drawn by an invisible hand, and drifted toward Mo Chen.

Carry it into the belly; transform fire into primal qi, and from primal qi, generate power.

Mo Chen wrapped the flame in his own Spiritual Power and fed it into his mouth little by little.

Pain!

It fucking hurt.

It felt as though he had taken a mouthful of molten iron, burning him all the way from the tip of his tongue to his throat.

No wonder the shop assistant had told him to prepare a few bottles of Iceheart Pills before swallowing fire. He had not been joking.

But Mo Chen did not stop.

According to the jade slip, cultivation at the Qi Refinement Fifth Layer required him to wrap the flame in spiritual energy and swallow it into his dantian, then circulate it through the meridians of his entire body. Only after completing five times nine—forty-five—greater Heavenly Cycles could he fully transform the flame into his own primal qi.

The searing pain eased a little, and the flame in his dantian grew a little more docile.

By the time he completed the forty-five greater Heavenly Cycles required by the art, cold sweat had soaked Mo Chen's back. His drab servant's uniform was wet enough to wring water from.

But Mo Chen was delighted. The Spiritual Power in his dantian had become much denser, and his previously somewhat unstable Qi Refinement Fifth Layer cultivation was now thoroughly consolidated.

What surprised Mo Chen even more was that after he cultivated according to the Flame-Drinking Art, two additional incantations had appeared out of nowhere in the blank spaces of the Shu of the manual.

The Fire-Sitting Technique allowed his body to touch ordinary flames barehanded without suffering any harm. Even his clothing could resist fire without burning.

The Firebird Technique could transform his Dharma Power into firebirds for combat according to his cultivation realm. With his Qi Refinement Fifth Layer foundation, he could manifest exactly five.

Could it be that they only became visible after cultivating the art?

Suspicion stirred in Mo Chen's heart. After ending his practice, he cultivated according to the Black Turtle Breathing Method instead. Sure enough, he could no longer see the hidden Incantations in the Flame-Drinking Art.

This deepened Mo Chen's understanding of how, in the cultivation world, teachings were never passed to a third pair of ears.

First, the fortune-teller had told him that cultivators deceived the masses with talk of Spiritual Roots, when in truth anyone could cultivate. Then there was the white-robed female cultivator at Wenyuan Pavilion, who had deliberately given him a water-and-wood cultivation method...

And now he had personally verified that only by cultivating a specific art could he see the hidden incantations in its Shu.

Looks like I need to stay even more vigilant, or some other cultivator might swindle me again before I know it!

After briefly reading the two hidden Incantations, Mo Chen discovered that these techniques were effectively learned automatically upon cultivating the fifth section of the Flame-Drinking Art. He could already use them without any additional practice.

So Mo Chen tentatively extended a finger toward the flame of the fire-copper lamp. His fingertip sank into the flame, yet he felt only a slight warmth.

Never mind burns—not even a single fine hair curled.

Ha! That saves me the money for Iceheart Pills, Mo Chen thought.

Next, Mo Chen activated the Firebird Technique's Incantation. The fire-aspected Spiritual Power he had just refined in his dantian immediately stirred to life. Five fist-sized flames flew from his palm, flapping their wings in midair as they coalesced into five crimson Firebirds.

The Firebirds kept growing in midair, stopping only when they were a size larger than an adult's head.

The five Firebirds circled and wheeled through the Scripture Pavilion's hall, casting flickering red light across the Shu shelves.

Mo Chen had never imagined that he would one day be able to cast spells, and for a moment he was lost in a daze.

To avoid setting the Scripture Pavilion's Shu alight, Mo Chen only released the Firebirds for a brief test before dispersing them and heading to the hill behind the pavilion to practice.

Few people visited the hill behind the Scripture Pavilion, and it also lay in the opposite direction from Deacon Zhou's cave abode.

Mo Chen summoned the Red-Tailed Sword, infused its blade with Spiritual Power, and made two slashes through the air. Two faint red traces lingered where the sword light passed, then dissipated.

Afterward, Mo Chen touched the Azure Mystic Protective Talisman at his chest. Besides protecting its owner automatically, this jade talisman could also be activated at will. Once infused with Dharma Power, it formed a murky yellow spiritual barrier around him.

Having finished testing the Spirit Artifacts, Mo Chen was just about to get up and pack everything away when he felt another faint stirring in the fire-aspected Spiritual Power he had just refined in his dantian. He sat down again and repeated the entire fire-swallowing and refining process from the beginning.

Forty-five circuits, not one fewer. By the time he finished, the sky had begun to turn fish-belly white.

The morning wind carried the thin spiritual energy unique to the outer sect grounds into the hall, dispersing the stifling heat inside.

Mo Chen returned to the Scripture Pavilion, drew a basin of well water, and washed his face before opening the pavilion's restrictions and doors.

This was how he lived his days: work when it was time to work, cultivate when it was time to cultivate. There was no hurry.

As long as I live long enough, I can leave everything behind me!

After the doors opened, people gradually came into the Scripture Pavilion to find cultivation methods and register their loans. For now, though, they arrived only in scattered handfuls, nothing like the crowds at noon and in the afternoon.

Mo Chen sat behind the counter, registering loans in an orderly fashion. Every so often, he got up to make a round of the shelves and return carelessly discarded Jade Slips to their places.

Just then, an elderly voice called from outside the pavilion. "Fellow Daoist, I've come to look for some miscellaneous records. Please point me in the right direction."

Mo Chen put away the Jade Slip in his hand and looked past two rows of Shu shelves toward the counter by the entrance.

An elderly woman stood there, her silver hair meticulously combed, dressed in a plain pale blue robe.

Mo Chen's Divine Sense swept quickly over her, and the cultivation level he sensed made him pause.

This elderly woman was actually at the Qi Refinement Eighth Layer, a full three layers above him. What stirred Mo Chen even more was the vague sense that she looked familiar.

But he had seen far too many people over these hundred and seventy-odd years, and could not place her immediately.

Mo Chen suppressed that strange feeling and put on a professional smile. "Which Jade Slips would you like help finding, Fellow Daoist?"

"I'd like to find records of spiritual herbs that can extend one's lifespan. Normally, with my Qi Refinement cultivation, I would live only a hundred to a hundred and twenty years. My allotted time is nearly up... I wanted to look through miscellaneous records and anecdotes to see if there's any way to hold on for a few more years."

She spoke calmly, but Mo Chen could hear the despair beneath her words.

A hundred years. A hundred and twenty years.

For mortals, that was already a ripe old age. For cultivators, it was merely the flick of a finger.

Such was the sorrow of Qi Refinement cultivators: they were closest to immortality, yet also farthest from it.

"Certainly. Please wait a moment, Fellow Daoist. I'll fetch the Record of Rare Treasures and Notes on Longevity Methods for you. Have a seat."

Yet when Mo Chen handed the two Jade Slips to the elderly woman, she suddenly froze.

Her cloudy old eyes widened sharply, her face filled with a tangled mixture of shock and disbelief.

After a full three breaths of silence, the elderly woman spoke. "The Black Turtle Breathing Method... have you found it comfortable to practice?"

At those words, Mo Chen's outstretched hand also stopped in midair, and alarm surged through him.

The Black Turtle Breathing Method!

He knew that name all too well!

Ninety years ago, at Wenyuan Pavilion in the Great Qian Dynasty, a female cultivator had arrived riding a sword and casually tossed him a cultivation manual.

That had been the starting point of Mo Chen's journey into cultivation. He had spent a full fifty years doggedly forcing his way to the third layer of Qi Refinement...

By rights, only one person knew about that...

The immortal who had given him the Shu back then!

Mo Chen's thoughts raced. Feigning bewilderment, as though he had not understood her, he placed the two Jade Slips on the counter before her and chuckled. "What breathing method are you talking about, Fellow Daoist? I primarily practice a fire-based cultivation art. I've never practiced the breathing method you mentioned."

The elderly woman paid no attention to the Jade Slips on the counter.

"Ninety years apart..." The elderly woman spoke each word distinctly. "I trust you've been well!"

Well, damn. She had even dispensed with the pleasantries this time.

Straight down the middle!

Mo Chen still pretended not to understand, making the bewilderment on his face look even more genuine as he scratched his head. "Ninety years? You must have mistaken me for someone else, Fellow Daoist. A ninety-year-old would be a venerable elder nearing a hundred. That has nothing to do with me."

The corners of the elderly woman's mouth shifted slightly. It was impossible to tell whether she was smiling.

Then she stepped forward and braced both hands on the counter. "There is one fact everyone in the cultivation world knows. Only after successfully achieving foundation establishment can a cultivator seal their vital essence within, return to the innate state, and thus fix their appearance in place. Yet when I met you at Wenyuan Pavilion in the mortal world back then, you were clearly a mortal. You couldn't even achieve Qi Drawing into the Body."

Mo Chen's smile did not budge, but inside, his thoughts churned like overturned rivers and seas.

Fuck, she even remembered that!

"After ninety years, a mortal could not possibly still be alive."

The elderly woman spoke more and more slowly, unhurriedly, yet every word left Mo Chen increasingly alarmed.

"And not only are you alive, you're standing before me with cultivation at merely the Qi Refinement Fifth Layer."

"This... is simply impossible."

"An ancestor of mine did indeed work as a copyist at Wenyuan Pavilion in the Great Qian Kingdom, which is under the Twin Crane Sect's administration. Perhaps the person you met back then was my great-grandfather, Fellow Daoist."

Having said that, Mo Chen began helping other cultivators find Shu.

But a thread of his Divine Sense had already slipped into his Storage Bag, locking onto the protective jade talisman and Flying Sword in readiness for a sudden attack from her.

By now, Mo Chen was certain that this elderly woman had recognized him. She had most likely genuinely come to the Scripture Pavilion today to seek a method of extending her life, only to happen upon his face.

Mo Chen had already begun cursing inwardly. Fucking hell, what rotten luck. I only just traded my old face for a young one, and I ran into her.

Before long, another cultivator took his Shu and left, leaving only the elderly woman and Mo Chen facing off at the Scripture Pavilion's counter once more.

"Fellow Daoist, do you still intend to pretend? You know little about the cultivation world. You don't yet know that cultivators can sense the aura of Spiritual Power, do you? Back then, I sent a thread of Dharma Power through your meridians, so naturally I sensed your aura. And now... your aura hasn't changed in the slightest from ninety years ago!"

But Mo Chen knew that this elderly woman had no proof. He only needed to play deaf and dumb.

"I truly don't understand what you're saying, Fellow Daoist!" Mo Chen spread his hands and continued, "What Wenyuan Pavilion? What mortal? What aura? Haven't you mistaken me for someone else?"

At that, the elderly woman merely smiled.

"Very well, very well. My name is Jiang Jiuyao. Another day, I will certainly... pay you a visit!"