Ma Tusheng told them everything he knew about yin cultivation. After a brief silence settled over the room, Chen Miao spoke.
"So that was it. The lineage had already died out..."
"Very well. In that case, there was no need to meet them."
With that, Chen Miao looked at Ma Tusheng.
"Our meeting was a stroke of fate. Is there anything else you wish to ask?"
After composing himself, Ma Tusheng asked, "Senior, is there another path beyond aperture cultivation?"
"Of course."
"After aperture cultivation come underworld communion, gate knocking, and the Heaven-Ascending Steps."
Hearing that three more stages lay beyond aperture cultivation, Ma Tusheng froze.
"So... so aperture opening is only the beginning?"
"We yin cultivators spend our entire lives merely hovering at the threshold?"
Ma Tusheng was visibly shaken.
Soon, however, he looked at Chen Miao again, hope filling his eyes.
"Senior, might I... might I..."
No matter how he tried, Ma Tusheng could not get the rest of the words out.
Secret teachings were not meant for outsiders. How could he bring himself to make such a request?
Yet if he said nothing, he might spend the rest of his life regretting it.
Gritting his teeth, Ma Tusheng dropped to his knees and bowed deeply before Chen Miao.
"Senior, would you teach me the path beyond my current yin cultivation?"
Chen Miao watched Ma Tusheng tremble with his forehead pressed to the floor and felt satisfied.
Even if Ma Tusheng had not asked, he would have found a way to leave him the method for underworld communion.
But as the saying went, the easier something came, the less it was valued.
Besides, if Chen Miao offered it unprompted, Ma Tusheng might well suspect him of ulterior motives.
If that made Ma Tusheng unwilling to accept the method