After dealing with Fang Jing, Zhou Wuji was so exhausted that his whole body felt weak. Repeated bursts of True Qi had placed an enormous burden on him as well.
He cast the Rejuvenation Technique on himself. As azure light flashed, he felt refreshed, his True Qi fully restored and all his fatigue swept away.
He glanced at the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment. His lifespan had decreased by five days.
As expected, using the Rejuvenation Technique at his limit mostly consumed his own vital essence. Fortunately, the cost was not great, making it well worth it.
Zhou Wuji looked at the long banner, severed in two, with considerable regret.
Although the Yin-Yang Hundred Spirits Banner was a Law Artifact of the Yin Yang Dao, it had its own unique merits.
There were many exacting requirements for the materials used to refine the banner, too. His sword strike had all but ruined it.
Zhou Wuji removed the black ring. This thing could unleash arrows like rain. Good stuff!
He tried channeling True Qi into it. Mm, just as he had expected, there was no response.
There was no related information in the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment either.
Zhou Wuji put the ring away before going over to examine Fang Jing's corpse carefully.
This seventh-rank Devil Cultivator had only a few small gold ingots and some copper coins on him. There were also some bottles and jars, all containing various medicines.
One yellow powder had a peculiar fragrance. Zhou Wuji had seen it before: it was the Yin Yang Dao's notorious Yellow Flower Powder.
Yellow Flower Powder stimulated the mind to produce intense pleasure, caused hallucinations, and was highly addictive. It was an important means by which they recruited followers.
Yellow Flower Powder was also rather troublesome to extract, so it was only used on people of value. Ordinary followers never even caught a whiff.
The truly valuable items were the Yin-Yang Dharma Robe and the Black and White Lotus Mask.
The Yin-Yang Dharma Robe's main merit was its special material. It could also amplify the power of True Qi and conceal one's presence, without imposing any requirements on its wearer.
It was only because the fellow had been presiding over the ritual altar that his presence had been too strong to conceal. Afterward, Zhou Wuji's sword Qi had locked onto him.
The Black and White Lotus Mask protected the mind. In addition, it slightly enhanced the five senses, and its hard material offered a measure of protection.
Unfortunately, both Law Artifacts had designs unique to the Yin Yang Dao. He could not use them openly.
Then Zhou Wuji reconsidered. The two Law Artifacts would be just right for doing bad things...
Zhou Wuji also examined Jiang Sangu. The woman's sword was decent, and she had two small Law Artifacts, but nothing else of note.
Looking at the followers, he found that all their Essence Blood had been drained dry. Even in death, they had been turned into nourishment for a Sha Ghost by the Yin Yang Dao. They truly had been exploited to the utmost.
He could not exactly call these people stupid. They barely recognized a handful of characters and might never have left their villages in their entire lives. All their wisdom and experience came from the oral teachings of their elders.
When their survival was threatened, their choices were extremely limited.
Zhou Wuji could only sigh over these followers.
There were too many corpses, all the result of the Yin Yang Dao's sins. Seeing hoes, iron shovels, and other tools nearby, Zhou Wuji found a spot with loose soil and dug a large pit.
Despite his strong body, he was sweating all over after digging for a while.
At this point, Zhou Wuji felt there was little point in digging a pit. They were already dead. What difference did burying them make?
If it had been just the three Devil Cultivators, he could have left them here. But he could not quite bear to abandon a crowd of ignorant followers like this.
He jumped out of the pit and checked the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment. The ghost soldier temporarily formed from the hundred ghosts had not been recognized; only the seventh-rank Sha Ghost and the many Fierce Ghosts and Vengeful Ghosts were recorded.
He could keep yao creatures to convert into origin mystic essence when needed, but there was no point in keeping ghosts.
Zhou Wuji was truly tired. After working for so long, he found that his surroundings were reasonably safe. At least there were no yao creatures or lurking ghosts.
He immediately chose a concealed spot behind a tree and activated the Golden Light Incantation to drive away any snakes and insects that might be nearby. Only then did he open the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment and convert all the ghosts into origin profound Qi.
Wisps of golden light descended, and the origin True Qi within Zhou Wuji steadily increased.
In this state, he naturally sensed the Northern Dipper's seven stars in the night sky.
It was mainly the stable connection between his brow aperture and the Heavenly Pivot Star that produced this Qi perception. Deep within his sea of consciousness, Kaiyang, the Northern Dipper's sixth star, shone brightly, followed by the seventh star, Yaoguang.
The Divine Aperture at his brow and the seven apertures of his five sense organs breathed True Qi in and out simultaneously. Acting as the central hub, the brow Divine Aperture governed the True Qi of all eight apertures, circulating it throughout his body according to the Northern Dipper Tianshu Scripture.
Only after circulating his True Qi through one hundred and eight full cycles did Zhou Wuji open his eyes.
Even without the Six Yang Dharma Eye, Zhou Wuji felt that his eyesight had improved considerably.
With only the dim starlight filtering through gaps in the leaves, he could make out the shapes of individual leaves overhead.
His other senses, such as hearing and smell, had also become noticeably sharper.
Daoist methods that cultivated from the upper Dantian primarily strengthened the soul. Inwardly, this manifested as stronger Divine Sense; outwardly, as sharper six senses.
That was why Daoists could always detect ghosts and the presence of yao and demons with ease, while martial artists fell far short in this regard.
The fundamental reason was the vast difference between their paths of cultivation.
Converting the hundred ghosts into origin profound spirit had allowed Zhou Wuji to open two apertures in succession. All seven apertures were now open.
In terms of his Qi-refining realm, he had already advanced to the seventh rank.
To truly advance to the seventh rank, however, he still needed approval from the upper monastery and an ordination certificate bestowed by the Heavenly Master's Manor.
Only after an altar ceremony to receive the Heavenly Pivot and Heavenly Canopy divine registers would he count as a true Northern Pole Sect Daoist who had undergone seventh-rank register reception.
The ordination certificate represented recognition of his status by the imperial court, while the altar ceremony and register reception represented recognition by his sect.
Only after receiving the Heavenly Pivot and Heavenly Canopy divine registers could he cultivate the Northern Pole Sect's higher-level Secret Methods.
For example, at the seventh rank, he could study the Northern Dipper Heavenly Pivot Yin Thunder, part of the sect's most powerful Yin Thunder Method.
As long as the lower monastery submitted his application normally, there would be no problem with the ordination certificate.
With Martial Uncle Yiping there, the altar ceremony and register reception would not pose much of a problem either.
Yet Zhou Wuji was somewhat troubled. It had only been a few days since his initiation ceremony, and he had already advanced from the eighth rank to the seventh.
Even though he had put on a show of being a genius during the initiation rite, opening three more apertures so quickly was still a little too heaven-defying.
For now, he could only wait patiently. At the very least, he would have to wait until the new year before raising the matter of advancing to the seventh rank with the lower monastery.
Opening three apertures in three to five months should not be too outrageous.
Zhou Wuji's time in Flying Profound Hall had not been wasted. He had read plenty of classics and records.
Among the geniuses in the Northern Pole Sect's history alone, several had advanced to the third rank at twenty.
A twenty-one-year-old seventh-ranker like him was truly nothing beside them, not even qualified to be recorded.
His swordsmanship was sufficient for the time being, so he had no particular need to learn the Yin Thunder Method.
Zhou Wuji opened the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment and saw that his total True Qi was seven hundred and twenty-three, an increase of over two hundred.
The key was that all seven apertures were connected, each corresponding to one of the Northern Dipper's seven stars. He could now begin to employ the True Qi transformations corresponding to those stars.
For instance, with the reinforcement of the corresponding True Qi of the seven stars, the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword's power would multiply.
The Seven Star Sword in his hand likewise needed to be activated with seven-star True Qi to trigger the seven-star Law Power transformations in its hilt and unleash the sword's full power.
Judging by instinct, Zhou Wuji felt that he was still quite far behind Zhang Xinhu.
When killing that seventh-rank Devil Cultivator earlier, he had nearly used the Northern Dipper Heavenly Gang Divine Talisman.
That was admittedly because the Devil Cultivator had formidable Law Artifacts and had set up a ritual altar in advance, but it still showed the depth of a seventh-rank expert's reserves.
Who knew how many years Zhang Xinhu had been at the seventh rank? He was also wealthy, certainly beyond comparison with that seventh-rank rebel soldier.
Zhou Wuji suppressed these stray thoughts and decided to test the strength of his seventh-rank True Qi first.
He picked up the iron shovel and resumed digging. Circulating True Qi could greatly increase his muscular strength and rapidly relieve fatigue.
Whenever he grew tired of digging, he circulated Qi and regulated his breathing. Once he had recovered, he continued.
The mountain soil was shallow, and the deeper he dug, the more rocks he encountered. Zhou Wuji swung his hoe hard enough to strike sparks, yet his progress grew slower and slower.
After digging for half the night, even his abundant True Qi could no longer sustain him.
Zhou Wuji considered for a moment, then took out the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment again. Looking at the three yao creatures recorded there, he decided that keeping one for emergencies would be enough.
Digging the pit had made him realize that his body was still too weak. True Qi was wondrous, but it still required a body to carry it. The stronger his body, the better the effects when his True Qi was converted into physical strength.
He converted both the eighth-rank giant python and the seventh-rank golden toad into origin mystic essence, which became pure azure light and flowed into him.
The eighth-rank giant python increased his body stat by fifteen points.
The seventh-rank golden toad delivered considerably more, increasing it by sixty points outright and bringing his total body stat to two hundred and fifty.
The number did not sound very flattering, but his body had improved by forty percent across the board.
This was not simply an increase in strength, stamina, or such attributes, but a comprehensive index.
It was like someone four feet tall suddenly growing to five feet six. It was not merely an increase in height; their bones, muscles, and organs all improved in every respect.
The difference between the two was forty percent across the board.
Zhou Wuji could clearly feel his body's increased strength. He already far surpassed the muscular Zhang Wuding. Even compared with that seventh-rank rebel soldier, he was not much weaker in terms of physical toughness alone.
But he did not follow the martial path. His skin, flesh, sinews, bones, and internal organs had not been tempered through Secret Methods, so he could not unleash brute force like a martial artist.
This enhancement subtly altered his build, making his muscles denser and more smoothly contoured, and his bones tougher. Fortunately, no one but him would notice.
The most direct effect of this physical improvement was a five-year increase in his lifespan, bringing it to ninety-five years.
With his body strengthened, Zhou Wuji brimmed with vigor and kept digging until dawn.
The pit he dug was fifteen feet deep and roughly eighteen feet across each way. Since he had dug it by hand, its dimensions were hardly exact.
By his mathematical reckoning, the pit was large enough.
After burying the bodies, Zhou Wuji did not erect a grave mound. He silently recited the Supreme Rebirth Incantation twice for them.
Letting them return quietly beneath the earth was the greatest respect he could offer them.
They should have agreed with this arrangement, too, since no one objected from beginning to end...