Among Shi Xuan's Innate Minor Divine Abilities, the Golden Dragon Armor Charm was an exquisite protective art. When used, faint golden dragon scales appeared all over the body. Upon reaching the ninth tier, genuine adult golden dragon scales would even emerge. Whether facing attacks upon the flesh or the soul, it possessed a powerful defensive effect. Compared with the Earth Absorption Armor Technique, it was superior by heaven knows how much.
Thinking of this, Shi Xuan was somewhat puzzled. Why was it that, though both were first-tier techniques, the Golden Dragon Armor Charm was so much stronger than the Earth Absorption Armor Technique? Could techniques themselves also be divided into superior and inferior grades? For instance, the Invisibility and Qi Concealment Technique was more profound than ordinary invisibility arts. It was simply that neither the Treasure Record nor the other two secret manuals had mentioned this; perhaps it was not important.
All at once, Shi Xuan understood why Old Daoist Xu had left him only four talismans, and why those four talismans were several times stronger than the ones he drew himself. They must have been Old Daoist Xu's four Innate Minor Divine Abilities, and they appeared to have all been cultivated above the third tier. As for other talismans, although Old Daoist Xu's cultivation realm surpassed his, the talismans he drew were at most fifty or sixty percent stronger than Shi Xuan's. There was no need to leave them behind as relics.
After understanding this, Shi Xuan realized that cultivation affected a technique's power, but far less than the technique's grade did. Therefore, he still had to focus on cultivating Minor Divine Abilities. Other techniques could not be neglected either. Though their power might not be great, all sorts of wondrous techniques could prove far more effective than his Minor Divine Abilities in particular situations—for example, the Wall-Piercing Technique, the Water Avoidance Technique, the Fire Avoidance Technique, and various Illusion Techniques.
Of Shi Xuan's other three Minor Divine Abilities, there was no need to say much about the Invisibility and Qi Concealment Technique. The Golden Blade Divine Wind Slash was the pale white Wind Slash used by the Two-Headed Tiger. But why had that pale white Wind Slash already been above the third tier when the Two-Headed Tiger had only just broken through its realm and had not had time to cultivate divine abilities?
What Shi Xuan did not know was that clouds followed dragons, and wind followed tigers. The Two-Headed Tiger had been born with this aptitude in its soul. When it first connected with the laws of heaven and earth, the divine ability inscription pattern it formed was already at the third tier, and its subsequent cultivation would be several times faster than that of ordinary people.
Since he could not figure it out, he stopped thinking about it. Shi Xuan carefully studied the final Minor Divine Ability, the Shangqing Hand Pivot Thunder. It was a thunder art that could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Great Unity Sky Thunder, merely not yet so high-tiered. It used the essence of the soul to stir the power of the five viscera, then secretly accorded with the Five Elements Qi. With a tremor of the palm, metal clashed against iron, and nothing was left unbroken. It also possessed the innate miraculous effect of thunder arts in destroying ghosts and evil things.
As he studied the Shangqing Hand Pivot Thunder, Shi Xuan discovered with great delight that this Minor Divine Ability was naturally a second-tier technique. What an unexpected delight. Shi Xuan somewhat understood why the Two-Headed Tiger's Golden Blade Divine Wind Slash had been above the third tier.
After examining the Minor Divine Abilities, Shi Xuan eagerly prepared to walk outside the window and see what the world beyond looked like through the soul's perspective. Yet the instant he left the range of the sandalwood incense, he felt a faint yin wind sweeping toward him, carrying the effect of scattering his soul. Shi Xuan could only immediately visualize the bright moon to nourish his soul before stabilizing his form.
The greatest difference in seeing the world through the soul was that he could keenly sense all kinds of spiritual qi in the air. Even the power cast upon the earth by the moon and stars in the heavens could be reflected within Shi Xuan's soul as a sensation that was half perception, half direct intuition.
Thus, one of this realm's main functions was to lay the foundation for the next step: breaking through the body's barriers and directly sensing the spiritual qi of heaven and earth. As for the idea of directly absorbing some kind of spiritual qi from heaven and earth to strengthen the soul, that absolutely could not be entertained. Heavenly and earthly spiritual qi looked gentle, but that was only relative to heaven and earth. To the soul, it was violent and dangerous. Even absorbing the tiniest thread of it would directly destroy the soul.
After trying several times, Shi Xuan found that he still could not leave his body by more than half a zhang. His soul was likely not strong enough yet. Old Daoist Xu, after all, had been able to roam several li away with his soul.
Because it was his first Soul Departure, Shi Xuan was filled with novelty. Yet when his soul began to feel somewhat weary, he still decisively returned to his body through the Baihui acupoint.
Shi Xuan opened his eyes, shook his hands, then stamped his feet. The sensations of the flesh were indeed vastly different from those of the soul. Afterward, Shi Xuan did not cultivate any further, instead restoring both body and soul through deep sleep.
When he rose early in the morning, everything outside the window was a hazy white. Snowflakes had actually begun drifting about on this deep mountain's hillside. The dancing white blossoms lightly fell upon Shi Xuan's hand, slowly melting into tiny traces of water. Standing behind the window, Shi Xuan was filled with joy—both because of his breakthrough and because of this rare snowfall. In ordinary years, Tongxuan Mountain saw snow only at its summit. Moreover, as someone from the south in his previous life, Shi Xuan had practically never seen a snowfall.
Free from worries over money, free from the bustle of making a living, Shi Xuan gazed at the white snow beyond the window and felt only peace and joy, faintly sensing the meaning of carefree freedom.
Over the following days, Shi Xuan consolidated his Soul Departure realm. His initial range of half a zhang expanded to nearly three zhang, fully displaying the headlong advance of cultivation immediately after a breakthrough. Yet once he reached three zhang, the speed of his soul cultivation's growth slowed.
However, Shi Xuan understood that this was normal, so he was not impatient. He also understood that reaching the Soul Departure realm in just over two years was abnormal. First, he had benefited from the training of his original body; second, he possessed a supreme method; third, that method came with medicinal formulas. Now that his realm had surpassed his original body and he had no medicinal formulas suited to his current realm, even with the supreme method in hand, his cultivation speed would certainly be much slower than before. He had to prepare himself for the possibility that breaking through again might take more than ten years, or even several decades.
Since his realm had already been consolidated, Shi Xuan began once more to explain the difficult problems Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde had encountered. Just after he finished, Shi Xuan was preparing to return to his room, intending to begin cultivating Minor Divine Abilities that night, when he saw Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde exchange glances. They then took several steps back, abruptly dropped to their knees, and kowtowed to Shi Xuan.
Shi Xuan understood their intentions, but he still followed convention and asked, "Why are you two kneeling and kowtowing?"
The two spoke in unison. "We beg Master to accept us as disciples and admit us through the gate." Having spoken, they kowtowed together again.
Shi Xuan had long intended to pass the Returning to Truth Scripture on to several more people, lest Old Daoist Xu's Daoist lineage be lost. Over this period, he had seen that the two possessed decent aptitude. Having shared hardship with them before and secretly observed them afterward, he also knew they were not lowly people who repaid kindness with enmity. He had long been prepared to take them in and teach them the Returning to Truth Scripture. Yet Shi Xuan could not be the one to raise the matter first. They had to ask for it themselves and show their sincerity; only then would Daoist magic seem precious and an immortal opportunity hard to come by.
Shi Xuan arranged his words and slowly spoke. "From what happened before and from our time together, this humble taoist can see that your character is fairly good. If you wish to enter my Returning to Truth Sect, you must sincerely uphold our sect's precepts. Should you violate them in the future, do not blame this humble taoist for being ruthless. Have you thought it through?"
"Once we enter the sect, the sect's precepts shall come first." They answered in unison again. It seemed they had discussed this privately more than once.
"Then listen as this humble taoist speaks. The sect has only five precepts. First, you must not privately pass on cultivation methods. Second, you must not deceive your master or betray your ancestors. Third, you must not slaughter fellow disciples. Fourth, you must not kill innocents indiscriminately. Fifth, you must not use strength to commit evil. Can you uphold them?" Recalling the novels he had read in the past, Shi Xuan had barely managed to scrape together five sect rules.
Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde had not expected the sect's precepts to consist of only these five, and they could not help but stare blankly for a moment. In their minds, an immortal sect should have had at least a whole book of rules, such as forbidding marriage or forbidding the enjoyment of worldly wealth. Yet they quickly recovered and immediately kowtowed. "If we violate any of these five precepts, may heaven strike us with thunder and may our souls scatter and perish!"
Shi Xuan nodded in satisfaction. "However, Daoist magic is precious, and the Daoist Sect is hard to enter. Today, I shall accept only you two as probationary disciples and teach you only the first half of the Daoist scripture. On another day, if you achieve some breakthrough and strictly uphold the sect rules, I shall formally accept you as disciples. Are you willing?"
Shi Xuan still chose caution above all else. He would first teach them the beginning of the Returning to Truth Scripture: the content concerning the first three realms, Body Tempering, Qi Nourishment, and Soul Departure. Once he found the Daoist Sect and returned, it would not be too late to observe their conduct over the coming years before teaching them the later content.
Seeing that they could receive immortal techniques, how could the two care about anything else? They hurriedly knocked their heads three times. "This disciple thanks Master!"
"I have received much kindness from my senior brother. Today, thinking of how my senior brother's Daoist lineage has no one to inherit it, I feel sorrowful. Why not let me accept disciples on my senior brother's behalf? In the future, you two may also inherit my senior brother's Daoist lineage. Are you willing?" Shi Xuan did not wish to accept them directly under his own name. He still had to seek out the Daoist Sect, and after finding it, he would have to cultivate for many years. It was enough to guide them as their martial uncle; being their master would be too troublesome. Besides, he had taken this body, so helping Du Bai find people to inherit his Daoist lineage was only proper.
Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde had not expected this turn. Yan Jujian was still the more experienced one. Seeing Shi Xuan's half-smile, he hurriedly kowtowed. "Thank you, Martial Uncle. We are willing to inherit Martial Uncle's Daoist lineage!" Only then did Ding Mingde follow suit, kowtowing and answering.
Only then did Shi Xuan satisfiedly have them rise. He then found an incense burner and made a spirit tablet for Du Bai, having the two perform three kneelings and nine kowtows before it and offer three sticks of incense. This counted as completing the initiation ceremony.
Though the two found such a simple initiation ceremony strange, when Shi Xuan took out the Returning to Truth Scripture daoist texts afterward, both became somewhat excited.
Shi Xuan used the Transcription Technique to copy the beginning of the Returning to Truth Scripture onto the blank paper the two had brought. At the same time, he let them see that more than half its contents had not been transcribed. This was to let them know that Martial Uncle was not deceiving them. Though Martial Uncle's cultivation was not high at present, the Returning to Truth Scripture truly contained material on higher realms.
That night, after instructing the two to return to their rooms and diligently study the daoist texts, Shi Xuan began the task he had planned for himself. He smoothly entered a visualization state. After visualizing the clear wind, bright moon, and Five Directional Thunder Gods, Shi Xuan began visualizing the talismanic script of the Minor Clear Wind Escape's second tier. This was information obtained directly from the inscription patterns, so Innate Minor Divine Abilities were the only techniques that could be cultivated independently without searching for daoist texts.
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