Guiding and Drawing, Ingestion

Jiang Yan naturally had no idea that the clerk felt sorry for him. He made his way along the familiar route to the Dao Academy's cultivation stone chambers.

Compared with the bustle around the Immortal Stele, this place was much quieter.

After all, the annual examination was over and the Prefecture Examination was imminent. Few could set their minds at ease enough to cultivate.

Even fewer had brought their physical bodies to perfection. Among the disciples applying for this Prefecture Examination, probably not many had achieved it.

Without a perfected physical body, there was no use for a cultivation stone chamber at all. Practicing in one's own room would do. Why waste Talisman Money on this?

When he reached the stone chambers, the clerk in charge was indeed idle, leafing through a book with a garishly colored cover.

Seeing Jiang Yan approach, he set down the book without the slightest embarrassment, though his attitude was quite pleasant.

"Young fellow, would you like to rent a stone chamber for cultivation?"

"Yes. How much Talisman Money does a superior chamber cost?"

After some thought, Jiang Yan decided not to mention the clerk at the Immortal Stele.

Mainly, he wanted a superior chamber, and not for just a day or two. Even at the fastest, he estimated it would take over half a month. Calling in a favor would be rather costly.

"For a superior chamber, you currently have to supply your own Spirit Stones. Twenty Talisman Money a day. If you don't have Spirit Stones, the official exchange rate is a hundred Talisman Money apiece."

According to the exchange rate issued by the Immortal Dynasty, a hundred Talisman Money could be exchanged for one Spirit Stone.

Thanks to the constant plundering of the Other Realms, this exchange rate remained quite stable for the time being.

As for Spirit Stones, there were no superior or inferior grades. He had only heard of another substance called Spirit Crystal, which contained considerably more Spiritual Qi than ordinary Spirit Stones.

The Jiang household probably had some, but there was no use for it in everyday life, so he had naturally never seen any.

"One superior chamber, with my own Spirit Stones. Twenty days to start."

There was naturally no bargaining over the Dao Academy's property. Jiang Yan took the Talisman Money he had prepared from inside his robe and handed over four strings.

The clerk accepted the Talisman Money. Perhaps he received a cut, for he grew considerably more enthusiastic and carefully helped Jiang Yan pick out a good chamber.

"Take a look, young fellow. How about this one? The Dao Academy built it the year before last. Its formation runs exceptionally smoothly."

"It's only because there are so few people at the academy right now, and the lecturers are all away. Otherwise, you wouldn't get to use this one even if you wanted to."

Jiang Yan looked around and nodded in satisfaction. The clerk had not lied. The layout was much like the chamber at the Jiang household, but it looked considerably newer.

Nodding in satisfaction, Jiang Yan gave the clerk an additional tip of ten Talisman Money and instructed him not to let anyone disturb him.

Having received a tip, the clerk naturally thumped his chest and gave his assurance.

He also asked whether Jiang Yan wanted meals delivered. Only after Jiang Yan declined did he leave the Command Tally and head off happily.

Rumble~

The heavy stone door closed. Jinbao was set down in a corner, and Jiang Yan spent a short while feeling his way around the chamber.

This chamber's Spirit Gathering Formation was also in a corner. He used the Command Tally to activate it.

The intricately traced Spirit Gathering Formation hummed and lit up faintly. Jiang Yan took out a Spirit Stone and placed it at the center of the formation.

As the Spiritual Qi was drawn out of the Spirit Stone, Jiang Yan immediately felt as though even his breathing had become considerably easier.

Though Jiang Yan had never used a Spirit Gathering Formation, he had heard a fair amount about them. Using one should not require supplying his own Spirit Stones.

Otherwise, why call it a Spirit Gathering Formation? It might as well be called a Spirit Extraction Formation.

After thinking it over, Jiang Yan roughly guessed where the Spiritual Qi had gone. Wasn't Immortal Stele Square precisely the sort of place that consumed Spiritual Qi? The academy's Spiritual Qi was probably all being supplied to the Immortal Stele.

Having reached that conclusion, Jiang Yan thought no more about it. He sat cross-legged on the cushion with his hands resting on his knees, closed his eyes, focused his mind, and began studying the information in his head.

-Guiding and Drawing.

-Ingestion.

These were the Cultivation Methods he had obtained from the Immortal Stele. The first information he received was a detailed introduction to the two methods.

Jiang Yan immersed himself in the information. Only after a long while did he open his eyes. Despite his efforts to restrain himself, a little excitement still shone through them.

These two Cultivation Methods had extraordinary origins and were far from ordinary. Nor were they both Qi-feeding methods.

To be precise, one was a Qi-Consuming Cultivation Method, paired with a method for an auxiliary Dao Path.

Guiding and Drawing-one of the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Arts. Guiding directed Qi into harmony; drawing led Qi into suppleness.

Guide Qi to flow through the nine apertures; draw the body into stretching its hundred bones. When refining essence, use Guiding and Drawing to loosen the sinews; when refining Qi, use Guiding and Drawing to circulate it through the heavens.

This Cultivation Method was a Qi-feeding method of the most orthodox kind, and it also cultivated the body. No wonder he had been assigned to the Qi-Feeding and Method-Practicing Dao.

As for the other method, Ingestion, it too was one of the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Arts. It excelled at internal refinement through Qi Ingestion, as well as refining all tangible things and guarding against external demons.

In plain terms, it could refine Spiritual Qi faster and was also adept at squeezing Spiritual Qi out of spirit herbs and medicinal pills.

After cultivating this method, if a resource had ten parts of potency and others could obtain six parts of effect from consuming it, Jiang Yan could obtain eight, or even nine.

Moreover, it could directly digest and absorb mild pill toxins, medicinal toxins, and the like.

Jiang Yan could not help clapping his hands and smiling. He did not yet know whether these Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Arts could compare with those of that monkey from his previous life.

But daring to name them after the Earthly Fiends was already enough to prove how extraordinary they were.

With these two Cultivation Methods, the road ahead on his Dao Path was brighter still. Jiang Yan was naturally delighted.

Time was limited, however, and he could only cultivate one of the two methods first. He would start with the Guiding Method.

He suppressed his joy and immersed himself once more in the information in his mind.

The actual content of the Cultivation Method was nothing like the preceding introduction.

Not only was it abstruse and tongue-twisting, but every word was a pearl, with a single character often carrying multiple meanings.

Faced with this difficulty, Jiang Yan's lips curved upward. His intent became an invisible finger and lightly tapped the stone book.

The stone book stirred gently and glowed faintly. Jiang Yan wasted no time, immediately turning his attention to studying the Cultivation Method.

Guiding and Drawing was the foundation of the Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Arts. Without Guiding and Drawing, Qi was trapped within the meridians and form confined within the sack of skin; arts such as Body Division, Assumed Form, and Dismemberment could not be performed...

Hah~

In the brightly lit stone chamber, Jiang Yan let out a heavy breath of turbid Qi.

Even with the stone book's support making him seem divinely assisted, a full twenty-eight days had passed since he entered the chamber.

His original estimate of twenty days had been nowhere near enough. He had even gone out specifically to extend his time.

"These Seventy-Two Earthly Fiend Arts are definitely no simple matter. Ordinary Cultivation Methods can't compare with them at all."

Jiang Yan's physical body was already perfected and generating Spiritual Qi of its own. Essence, Qi, and spirit complemented one another, and with the first two leading the way, his spirit was naturally no weak thing either.

Even so, it had taken him twenty-eight days to finish deciphering this Cultivation Method.

Fortunately, word that the Prefecture Examination was beginning had yet to arrive. As long as he could successfully cultivate it, these days of overtaxing his mind would not have been in vain.

Rather than rushing to cultivate, he first replaced the Spirit Stone in the Spirit Gathering Formation.

After so many days, the first Spirit Stone he had used as a test had long since been drained dry and crumbled to powder. Its Spiritual Qi remained within the chamber, however, not yet absorbed.

Jiang Yan closed his eyes and focused his mind, sinking his Qi into his Dantian. Following the sequence taught in the Cultivation Method, he guided his wisp of Spiritual Qi through one acupoint after another.

Throughout this process, his body's Qi and Blood also kept surging and flowing, faintly resonating with that wisp of Spiritual Qi.

As Jiang Yan practiced the Guiding Method, the Spiritual Qi that had surrounded him within the stone chamber was immediately set in motion.

Had one switched to the perspective of Spiritual Qi, one would have seen a whirlwind-like space forming around Jiang Yan, drawing in an unending stream of Spiritual Qi.

After being spun through the whirlwind, the filthy, impure Qi within it was flung away in disdain. Only the purest Spiritual Qi was taken into his body, where the circulation of the Cultivation Method transformed it entirely into a part of Jiang Yan.

The process of feeding on Qi was so comfortable that Jiang Yan could not help losing himself in it. Without his noticing, the Cultivation Method had already completed several heavenly circuits.