A prodigy of Daoist arts

Opening the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, Zhou Wuji made a point of checking his Spirit stat. It had increased by four points.

Sure enough, using Origin Profound Spirit could strengthen his mind.

The increase was probably so small because his mental strength was already very high, while the fate used to convert the Origin Profound Spirit was too low, resulting in very little improvement.

Six rebel soldiers' fates remained in the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, all below one tael and six mace.

Every last one was a worthless life!

Zhou Wuji looked over the techniques on the page, considering which one he should improve.

Fates that were too low meant complex, high-level techniques could not be improved.

The Northern Dipper Tianshu Scripture and Five Yin Pouch, for instance.

The Six Yang Dharma Eye, Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation, and Fire Bell Incantation were all somewhat useful, yet none was particularly useful.

Of these, the Six Yang Dharma Eye could detect traces of invisible ghosts and demons, while the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation could calm the mind and steady the spirit, aiding cultivation.

The Fire Bell Incantation was actually the least useful.

After some consideration, Zhou Wuji put one strand of Origin Profound Spirit into the Six Yang Dharma Eye first.

The page unfolded into a world once more, and Zhou Wuji immersed himself in it, diligently cultivating the Six Yang Dharma Eye day and night.

When he came to, the Six Yang Dharma Eye had already reached the proficient stage.

Zhou Wuji tested it. The Six Yang Dharma Eye significantly enhanced his vision, making the dim side room as bright as day.

Naturally, there could be no demons in Flying Profound Hall. After walking around for a while, Zhou Wuji discovered that the Six Yang Dharma Eye could last a hundred breaths and consumed roughly twenty points of True Qi.

This, too, relied on the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment discerning everything, allowing it to quantify his condition in exceptionally clear numbers.

The Six Yang Dharma Eye might not be very useful for exorcising demons, but it could not have been better suited to fighting at night.

At this point, the Six Yang Dharma Eye clearly could not be upgraded any further.

Zhou Wuji then invested Origin Profound Spirit in the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation. Through that special state of cultivation, it too advanced to the proficient stage.

Through cultivating them, Zhou Wuji learned that the Six Yang Dharma Eye and Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation were incantations of the same rank, relatively complex and difficult techniques for someone of the eighth rank.

His ability to reach proficiency so easily was entirely thanks to the wonders of the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment.

A fate worth one tael and six mace seemed worthless, but converted this way, it amounted to twenty years of single-minded, diligent cultivation of one technique.

For an ordinary cultivator, that was effectively a lifetime's achievement.

In a single night, he had cultivated both the Six Yang Dharma Eye and the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation to proficiency.

If word got out, it would be enough to shock the entire Northern Pole Sect, even all seven Daoist sects. Even the head of Daoism would hail him as a celestial marvel!

Of course, Zhou Wuji only entertained the thought. He would never go out and show off, nor could he tell even his martial uncle Yiping anything about it.

He could not waste the remaining four strands of Origin Profound Spirit either, so he invested another two in the Five Yin Pouch.

The result only barely brought the Five Yin Pouch to the beginner stage...

Without question, the Five Yin Pouch was an exceptionally intricate and profound technique. No wonder his martial uncle had not wanted him to study it.

The last two strands of Origin Profound Spirit had the lowest fates, nowhere near enough to improve the Five Yin Pouch, so Zhou Wuji put them straight into the Fire Bell Incantation.

Worthless lives were worth nothing anyway. Keeping them served no purpose.

The page transformed into a small world again. Zhou Wuji immersed his mind in it, forming seals, chanting incantations, and casting the technique, repeating the cycle day and night without rest.

When Zhou Wuji came to, he saw that the Fire Bell Incantation had reached perfection.

After decades of arduous cultivation in the illusory realm, this low-level technique had broken through six stages—beginner, practiced, proficient, minor accomplishment, major accomplishment, and Transformation Realm—to reach perfection.

At this point, he had cultivated the low-level Fire Bell Incantation to its ultimate limit.

Zhou Wuji was pleasantly surprised, but on second thought, he felt it was only natural.

After all, he had practiced diligently for two lifetimes. Even an ordinary person could bring a low-level skill to its pinnacle through such arduous practice.

Zhou Wuji flicked a finger, and a bean-sized spark shot from his fingertip, silently bursting into a blaze in midair and illuminating the dim bedroom.

The blaze vanished an instant later without causing any damage, merely leaving a little more scorching heat in the room.

Zhou Wuji checked the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment. It had consumed about five points of True Qi. If he wished, he could cast nine Fire Bell Incantations in succession.

The instantly bursting blaze could hardly cause much damage. Even thrown into someone's face, it would only singe their beard and eyebrows, making it difficult to inflict any substantial injury.

It was a low-level technique, after all. No matter how masterfully he practiced it, its power was ultimately limited.

Still, casually firing one off in battle to disrupt an enemy's sight and hearing would be very useful.

The key was being able to cast it instantly.

The reason Daoists could not beat martial artists of the same rank was that techniques required lengthy preparation. In a rapidly shifting head-on battle, there was simply no time to activate a technique.

The same principle applied to talismans and law artifacts.

Zhou Wuji was very satisfied with the perfected Fire Bell Incantation. At least it had practical combat value.

Moreover, the perfected Fire Bell Incantation could reach beyond ten zhang.

The Fire Bell Incantation was among the lowest-level incantations to begin with, generally used to burn talismans or disperse Yin Qi, while also serving to light fires.

A cast Fire Bell Incantation could normally only be thrown a few feet, yet it could now reach ten zhang away. Clearly, reaching perfection had brought about a qualitative change in this technique as well!

It had considerable utility in actual combat.

Aside from the Fire Bell Incantation, the Six Yang Dharma Eye also had decent utility.

The other techniques really could only be used to exorcise demons and slay ghosts.

Checking his Spirit again, he found that investing six strands of Origin Profound Spirit had not raised it by even a single point. Clearly, low fates no longer provided any benefit.

Zhou Wuji was already very satisfied with this.

If nothing else, he was now at least three or four times stronger than he had been during the battle at White Stone Ferry.

His progress had been tremendous!

Unfortunately, there was no seventh-rank martial artist around to serve as a comparison, so he had no idea how large a gap still lay between him and one...

The next day, Daoist Yiping guided Zhou Wuji in practicing the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword in a side hall.

"Cycle your Qi through the seven apertures and visualize the seven star gods. Although you have only opened four apertures, you cannot skip this process..."

As Daoist Yiping spoke, he saw Zhou Wuji continuously changing the Seven Stars Law Seals in his hands. From Tianshu to Yaoguang, all seven star hand seals were correct, and he formed them very smoothly.

Compared with yesterday, the difference was practically that between heaven and earth.

Daoist Yiping was somewhat surprised. "Your hand seals are good. There aren't any mistakes or omissions."

Zhou Wuji did not dare reveal too much at once either. Mastering the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword overnight would have been a little too monstrous.

Over the following days, Daoist Yiping watched Zhou Wuji improve faster and faster. In less than seven days, his Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword was already taking proper shape.

Aside from the insufficient level of his True Qi, he was hardly inferior to Yiping in any other respect.

Daoist Yiping was greatly shocked. Zhou Wuji offered the excuse that opening his divine aperture had also opened his mind, making these techniques feel easy to cultivate.

Daoist Yiping found this explanation quite convincing.

Throughout history, many people had become extraordinarily intelligent after opening their divine aperture, their cultivation advancing a thousand miles a day from then on.

After much deliberation, Daoist Yiping decided to keep Zhou Wuji's talent for techniques secret for the time being.

The lower monastery was too small a place. If Wuji stood out so prominently, he would inevitably attract a great deal of jealousy, which would in turn cause all sorts of trouble.

Once Zhou Wuji advanced to the seventh rank, few people in the lower monastery would be able to keep him down. It would not be too late to reveal his genius then.

Zhou Wuji also felt that the waters of the lower monastery ran deep. With his meager strength, he had better not rush to stand out.

He did not know when he could return to Hidden Dragon Temple either. Remembering his promise to Li Ruyi, he begged Martial Uncle Yiping to take her as a disciple.

Daoist Yiping felt that taking a disciple was no great matter, but taking a female disciple would be far too inconvenient.

He was easygoing by nature and had no inclination to guide a female disciple's cultivation every day.

Besides, it would not sound good if word got out.

Zhou Wuji understood this and could hardly force his martial uncle. He merely thought of giving Li Ruyi some compensation when he had a chance to return to Hidden Dragon Temple.

Life in Flying Profound Hall was actually quite good, peaceful and uneventful. It was simply too peaceful; even if he wanted to find demons and ghosts, there were none to be found.

The Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment was the foremost divine artifact of slaughter. Staying in Flying Profound Hall gave it no chance to display its might.

He had been at the lower monastery for over ten days now, and he had no idea how things stood at Hidden Dragon Temple, or how the Zhang Household and Fang Household had reacted.

Martial Uncle Yiping's place was isolated, too, and there had still been no word from the Li Household.

Though Zhou Wuji had concerns on his mind, he remained patient on the surface, cultivating with Martial Uncle Yiping every day as usual.

While he had the time, he took his master's Tianshu Demon-Warding Token to the Hall of Ten Thousand Spirits.

After their deaths, the sect's seventh-rank ordained Daoists could have their personal ordination certificates placed here to receive incense offerings and enjoy the Celestial Emperor's protection.

For this, Zhou Wuji also spent five taels of gold to commission a fine red sandalwood spirit tablet for his master.

The enormous incense altar was densely packed with the spirit tablets of the sect's predecessors. Zhou Wuji kowtowed below it, silently praying that his master would enjoy the incense offerings here...

Zhou Wuji cultivated techniques in Flying Profound Hall every day, his days full and peaceful.

One day, a Daoist acolyte suddenly came to Flying Profound Hall with a summons, saying that the abbot wished to see him.

Not daring to delay, Zhou Wuji changed into clean Daoist robes, tidied his topknot, and made himself presentable before heading to Heart-Questioning Hall.

Upon entering Heart-Questioning Hall, Zhou Wuji saw Abbot Zhiyuan seated cross-legged before the bronze mirror.

Beside the old Daoist stood a tall Daoist with thick brows, large eyes, and a dense beard, dressed in dark blue Daoist robes.

Standing there, he had a rather imposing, stalwart presence, looking more like a powerful martial artist than a Daoist.

Abbot Zhiyuan beckoned Zhou Wuji closer.

"This is your senior brother Wuzheng. He is already an ordained Daoist of the seventh rank, with profound attainments in both Daoist arts and martial arts."

Zhiyuan first introduced the tall, thick-bearded Daoist. Zhou Wuji sensibly cupped his hands in greeting. "Wuji greets Senior Brother."

They belonged to the same generation, so a cupped-hand salute was enough.

Wuzheng sized Zhou Wuji up, noting his handsome features, tall, straight figure, and a bearing as warm and gentle as jade.

He could not help nodding slightly. This junior brother was much more pleasing to the eye than those slick, mercenary fellows in the lower monastery.

Following etiquette, Wuzheng returned the cupped-hand salute.

Zhiyuan said, "Wuji comes from Hidden Dragon Temple and knows the place well. His swordsmanship is also refined. He will be a great help to you."

"Rebel soldiers are now roaming everywhere, leaving rivers of blood wherever they pass, and the blood's baleful Qi breeds all manner of demons. On this journey to Hidden Dragon Temple, you must protect the surrounding lands and not allow demons to run rampant..."

Wuzheng bowed deeply. "Thank you, Abbot. This disciple will certainly not fail the weighty trust you have placed in me."

Standing beside them, Zhou Wuji's expression remained unchanged, but inwardly he grumbled, These two didn't even ask my opinion before deciding everything. They really do look down on me a little!

Still, being able to return to Hidden Dragon Temple was a good thing. After all, he had lived there for ten years and was familiar with everything.

Although Zhang Xinhu was a seventh-rank martial artist, he would never dare come to kill him openly... Given a little time, wouldn't a mere Zhang Xinhu be his to squeeze and shape as he pleased!