"Profound Communion and Life Seizure"

Sunlight flooded the clear sky, white clouds drifting leisurely.

In a private courtyard residence in the Seventh Outer Prefecture.

With his sleeves rolled up, Qi Yun held a long, pitch-black feather up to the light while writing swiftly, transcribing passage after passage of profound teachings.

This continued for several hours.

Only when the sky began to darken did he set down the black-feather ink brush and let out a small breath.

"Capturing a Foundation Establishment greater demon and keeping him as a servant..." Qi Yun rubbed his aching wrist, his gaze falling once more on the black feather, his eyes deep.

"This Black Mountain True Person's power and influence within the inner prefecture are probably even more terrifying than I imagined."

Half a month had passed since the examination ended.

Because this Foundation Establishment True Person had deliberately targeted him, Qi Yun had found himself in the sights of a great many Outer Mansion disciples, gaining several hundred enemies out of thin air.

In the future, he might face exclusion and suppression in many things.

"Black Mountain True Person..." Silently noting the name in the little ledger in his heart, Qi Yun picked up the profound teachings he had transcribed onto the papers on his desk.

"Profound Communion and Life Seizure."

Qi Yun's eyes flickered as he studied the words on the paper.

These profound teachings on the Law Technique had come from the records within the black feather True Person Ling had secretly slipped him.

"Black Mountain True Person cultivates the 'Mystic Firmament Return to Origin Demon-Refining True Talisman Register,' which is divided into two parts.

"The first part is 'Mystic Firmament Return to Origin,' and the second is the 'Demon-Refining True Talisman Register.'

"'Profound Communion and Life Seizure' is an unorthodox Law Technique recorded in the 'Demon-Refining True Talisman Register.'" Recalling the contents of the black feather, Qi Yun narrowed his eyes.

True Person Ling was a Foundation Establishment greater demon whom Black Mountain True Person had captured and enslaved as a servant attending at his side.

He helped me because Black Mountain True Person targeted me too.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Following that line of reasoning, it certainly makes sense for him to help me.

But this is the Holy Sect.

Qi Yun did not relax in the slightest. Instead, he grew even more tense.

Everything required weighing, every step required caution.

One careless mistake, and a bottomless abyss lay beneath his feet, leaving not even his bones behind.

He pondered in silence for a long time, repeatedly working through the causes and consequences, the benefits and dangers.

In the end, he had to admit that, given True Person Ling's status and strength in the Foundation Establishment Realm, if he truly wished to harm a minor Qi Refining Stage cultivator like him, there were far too many simpler, more direct methods against which he could offer no resistance.

There was no need at all to go to such lengths, using something that was almost a "gift."

Just as a giant wishing to crush an ant would not first painstakingly weave a trap.

"I'll try it. Even if there really is a problem, at worst I'll kill myself and revive with [Skull Incantation]. I refuse to believe there's any method that can keep working after a person dies."

After checking again and again and preparing a fallback, Qi Yun immediately began studying the scroll of "Profound Communion and Life Seizure" before him in detail.

That study lasted ten full days.

While turning a page, he accidentally knocked the teapot off the table. Only its sharp crack finally roused Qi Yun from his absorption in studying the Law Technique.

Rolling his sore, swollen neck, his mouth and throat parched, Qi Yun picked up the copper kettle beside him, long since cold, and gulped down its contents before finally feeling much better.

Letting out a long, stale breath, he rubbed between his brows and sat down on the stone stool. Looking at the papers covering the table, Qi Yun wearily closed his eyes.

Although this scroll of "Profound Communion and Life Seizure" was merely an unorthodox Law Technique from the "Mystic Firmament Return to Origin Demon-Refining True Talisman Register,"

its difficulty far surpassed that of any Law Technique he currently practiced.

"All things are seeds, passing through different forms.

"The myriad spirits of heaven and earth are not trees without roots. All are born of the Qi of the Dao; dispersed, they become Qi, and gathered, they take form.

"This 'Profound Communion and Life Seizure' is not a Technique for commanding flesh and blood, but a means of penetrating the wondrous principles of 'all things sharing one Qi' and 'form and spirit coupling.'

"Use the spirit as the hook and Qi as the bait.

"Fish for the 'ancestral Qi' of myriad spirits scattered throughout the great void.

"Cast its form, bestow its nature, awaken its sentience, and cause it to be born from nothingness to obey my commands.

"This is: Profound Communion and Life Seizure."

Difficult, difficult, difficult!

After ten days of contemplation, Qi Yun felt he had only glimpsed the tip of this Law Technique's iceberg.

Practicing this Law Technique alone, without its corresponding inner cultivation method and true art,

many of its crucial subtleties and profound concepts were like flowers seen through mist, impossible to grasp clearly.

His aptitude was only average to begin with, making comprehension all the more arduous.

Yet judging by the information True Person Ling had left in the black feather,

mastering this Law Technique would help him gain an enormous head start in an upcoming major operation within the Holy Sect.

If he could secure his footing during that operation, the benefits would surely flood the heavens.

True Person Ling had written those words with utmost earnestness and gravity.

And for Qi Yun, already marked by Black Mountain True Person and resented by most Outer Mansion disciples, carrying out his original plan of claiming the [Triple First-Place Champion] title, entering the inner prefecture, and becoming a Foundation Establishment True Person's disciple

had undoubtedly become much harder.

But if he could not successfully enter the inner prefecture and become a Foundation Establishment True Person's disciple,

a great calamity still awaited him sixty years later.

"I have to learn it. Opportunities vanish in a blink. Fall one step behind, and you'll fall behind at every step. Only by seizing everything will I have a chance to overturn those bastards'... chessboard!"

After suffering repeated suppression and schemes, Qi Yun had long since bottled up a ball of angry fire.

Even if I don't fight for the steamed bun, I'll fight for my pride.

With a golden finger in hand, I refuse to believe I can't beat you!

Slapping his thigh, Qi Yun strode to the spirit screen wall, opened the [Wuji Treasure Market], and began searching for magical items that could aid his comprehension of Law Techniques.

He still had plenty of Sacred Yuan left.

He could afford another splurge!

Another month passed in the blink of an eye.

Qi Yun sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion in his quiet chamber. Before him, an oil lamp's bean-sized flame shed fine strands of platinum-like radiance.

This lamp was called the [Great Wisdom Dharma Lamp], and he had paid a steep price to rent it.

After sitting like this for over a month, Qi Yun looked somewhat haggard, yet an ever-brighter focus gathered between his brows.

The pages of "Profound Communion and Life Seizure" lay spread across his knees. He already knew every phrase in their ancient seal script by heart.

Yet that final layer of window paper remained incomparably tough.

Tonight, as the Qi Refining Fourth Layer True Qi deep within his Qi sea circulated along his Cultivation Method's route to its utmost limit, the trace of impatience in his heart suddenly settled.

It worked.

It was like pushing hard against a door all along, only to relax completely at a certain moment and have the door slide open silently on its own.

It was an exceedingly subtle feeling.

He sensed countless indescribable pieces of "information" and "qualities" suffusing the world outside.

They were not tangible things, but more like... imprints.

Violence, cunning, cruelty, kindness, loyalty... these were the lingering traces left between heaven and earth by myriad spirits.

Keeping the Method Formula firmly in mind and his mind focused as one, not daring to reach for too much, Qi Yun swept through these lingering traces. After a brief pause, he cautiously reached toward the wisp that carried "loyalty."

The process consumed an immense amount of mental effort. Fine beads of sweat seeped from his temples, his body trembled slightly, and his True Qi drained rapidly.

After an unknown length of time, that lingering trace nestled against his palm.

Done...

Qi Yun slowly opened his eyes. Exhaustion surged over him like a tide, yet his eyes were astonishingly bright.

He raised his hand, his intent stirring slightly.

The empty space before him suddenly seemed to boil.

"Profound Communion and Life Seizure."

He had taken his first step across the threshold.