Chen Shuangbai was not particularly surprised by Instructor Yi's manner, amiable at first and stern afterward.
In this world, ordinary Qi Refining cultivators lived for about 120 years, Foundation Establishment cultivators for 250 years, Golden Core cultivators for about 500 years, and Nascent Soul cultivators enjoyed a lifespan of 1,000 years.
Yi Chongyue was an inner disciple and an elder of Heavenly Spring Peak. His cultivation had reached the sixth level of Foundation Establishment, and he had devoted many years to pill refining. Though he looked young, he was actually sixty years old.
He was also skilled in refining pills and preserving his health, with ways to maintain his youthful looks, so it was only natural that he appeared to be around thirty.
The lesson lasted from morning until evening and was packed with knowledge.
Yi Chongyue began with the medicinal properties of ordinary spirit medicines, occasionally weaving in amusing stories from his early encounters with pill refining to keep the lesson from becoming too dull.
During the lesson, Chen Shuangbai also took a Grain Avoidance Pill to stave off hunger.
When the lesson was nearly over,
Yi Chongyue invited the disciples to ask whatever questions they wished.
A disciple sitting not far from Chen Shuangbai called out,
"Instructor Yi, I've heard that whether it's the other four great sects, small lineages, or independent cultivation traditions, they all regard every cultivation craft as a treasure and only impart everything they know to core disciples or inheritors of their traditions."
"If someone wants to learn, they must at least go into a great deal of debt to their sect or lineage in Spirit Stones. But our sect doesn't seem to have these rules?"
The question startled everyone present.
"Even if you hadn't asked, I was planning to talk to you about this."
Yi Chongyue's warm smile remained unchanged. His gaze swept over the disciples below, and he said in a clear voice, "As this disciple said, many sects and lineages outside regard cultivation crafts as private property, passing them down only to core blood relatives and personal disciples. This is perfectly normal."
"But our Jade Spring Sect is different."
"Our Jade Spring Sect was founded nearly three thousand years ago. It has weathered wind and rain and remained standing throughout, thanks to the very foundations on which it was built."
"As for pill refining techniques below first tier, the sect requires you to pay only a small number of Merit Points to learn them in full. But there are prerequisites if you want to learn first-tier or higher pill refining techniques and even Pill Formulas."
"For example, your talent in pill refining, whether you are an inner disciple, or whether you have rendered a great service to the sect."
The disciples nodded slightly in agreement.
But someone else asked,
"Instructor Yi, even pill refining techniques and Pill Formulas below first tier are peerless treasures to those small lineages, Rogue Cultivators, and minor sects outside!"
"Is the sect really not worried about them spreading beyond its walls?"
"Of course, measures were put in place long ago to address that concern."
Yi Chongyue changed tack. "First, the pill refining technique. To learn our sect's Jade Spring Alchemy Technique, you must make a binding contract. You can be sure you won't be able to reveal the slightest thing about it to anyone else."
"As for Pill Formulas... heh, apart from some formulas unique to our Jade Spring Sect, the rest are already widely available. Even if they spread outside, it wouldn't be much of a problem."
"I know what you're going to ask next. If someone still manages to find a way around these measures and does spread them outside, how would the sect deal with it?"
"Right?"
The twelve disciples nodded as one.
"The solution is simple. One word-kill!"
The temperature in the cave suddenly dropped. A cold, murderous presence came from Yi Chongyue on his high seat, startling the disciples and making their hair stand on end.
"I trust you've all heard of the Evil Hunting Hall, one of the three palaces and nine halls."
"Then let me tell you about the Han Household, the last cultivation lineage that dared leak one of the sect's unique secret techniques... Their fate was simple. Everyone in the entire lineage who was involved, everyone with Han blood, cultivator or ordinary person, was silenced."
Better to kill the innocent by mistake than let the guilty escape.
That was how the Jade Spring Sect dealt with those who leaked its secrets.
The cave was so quiet a needle could be heard falling, and even the sound of breathing was barely audible.
A few disciples' faces had even turned slightly pale, and cold sweat poured down their foreheads. They had clearly been frightened.
Early the next morning,
Chen Shuangbai finished cultivating early and used the Wind Control Technique to return to Cultivated Water Peak. This time, however, he headed for the Clear Rhyme Pavilion halfway up the mountain rather than the True Water Cave.
That was the classroom where talisman crafting was taught.
This time, the instructor was a woman named Jiang Tinglan, a fifth-level Foundation Establishment cultivator and a disciple of Jade-Rinsing Peak, one of the inner sect's six peaks.
It was common knowledge throughout the sect that Jade-Rinsing Peak produced many talisman masters.
Unlike Yi Chongyue's lively and engaging teaching style, Instructor Jiang was clearly much stricter. Her eyes shone, and she taught with swift, decisive force. The lesson demanded complete concentration, or one careless moment would lead to-
"Wait? All I did was pick up my brush!!!"
Quite a few disciples struggled to keep up, but they could only grit their teeth and digest it all to avoid angering the instructor.
Chen Shuangbai, however, seemed quite at ease.
This was probably because his [Dao Fruit] shone upon him, giving him far greater comprehension than ordinary disciples. Maintaining such intense concentration was not much of a strain for him, either.
Jiang Tinglan was very pleased and nodded repeatedly at Chen Shuangbai.
Having understood the Jade Spring Sect's basic style, Chen Shuangbai had no intention of playing the quail completely.
He needed to display some talent where appropriate, so the sect would invest resources in him and help him cultivate.
That was just like his aptitude: mid-grade second tier.
Generally speaking, a talisman was divided into three parts: the head, the body, and the foot.
These represented, respectively, initiating the movement, drawing in spirit, and securing the source.
Jiang Tinglan's voice was clear and crisp, and she spoke extremely quickly. Her talisman brush moved like lightning, tracing talismans in the air one after another, all of them widely available basic talismans.
But just as pill refining had the Jade Spring Water Method Pill Refining Technique, talisman crafting had the Jade Spring Twelve Spirit Talisman Method.
After charging a small, even negligible, number of Merit Points, the sect would teach basic talismans below first tier to any disciple who wished to learn.
The Jade Spring Twelve Spirit Talisman Method, however, was a talisman-crafting method unique to the Jade Spring Sect, and learning it also required signing a binding contract.
Naturally, the first lesson could not go straight to the main subject.
But cultivators were inherently better learners than mortals, so there was still a great deal of knowledge to absorb. They would need to ponder and recall it carefully and review it repeatedly after returning.
That was also why lessons were held once a month.
This lesson, too, took an entire day.
That night,
the moon shone bright, and stars were sparse.
Inside the cave abode, moonlight streamed silently through the opening overhead, draping the stone chamber in a layer of silver gauze.
After swallowing a Grain Avoidance Pill with water, Chen Shuangbai began recalling the talisman crafting and pill refining he had encountered for the first time over the past two days.
The hundred arts of cultivation are all vast and profound. Any one of them could occupy a great deal of time and study.
Bite off more than you can chew, and you won't be able to digest it. I must choose one and tend it with care before I can hope to enter its hall and inner chamber.
Chen Shuangbai repeated the words silently, slowly letting his tangled thoughts settle.