Chapter 33: Switching the Cultivation Technique

Chapter 33: Chapter 33: Switching the Cultivation Technique

The small courtyard was fully equipped, with a kitchen on one side.

Li Changsheng walked in, carrying a large armful of stinky ferns.

The kitchen was fully stocked with all kinds of cookware, bowls, and utensils.

Li Changsheng added dry firewood to the stove. A flame ignited, and wisps of smoke began to slowly rise from the roof.

THWACK...

The sound of chopping came from within the kitchen. A moment later, the foul stench of rotting salted fish wafted out.

Fortunately, no one lived near the courtyard. Otherwise, who knows what the neighbors would think of him.

「Two hours later.」

He lifted the pot lid, and the room filled with steam.

Li Changsheng ladled the pig feed from the pot into two wooden buckets at his feet.

After he was done, he scrubbed the pot and refilled it with water. He then added the prepared stinky ferns, Blood Bamboo Vine, and Blood Essence Grass in the proper proportions and put the lid back on.

After adding a few more pieces of firewood to the stove, Li Changsheng carried the buckets, now full of pig feed, out of the kitchen.

Back in the courtyard.

SPLASH...

With a great splash, a large wooden basin in the courtyard was filled with dark, mushy pig feed.

Li Changsheng took out the Spirit Beast Bag. With a mere thought, Xiaohua’s massive, dark body appeared in the courtyard.

OINK OINK...

The moment it appeared, Xiaohua looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings, then trotted up to Li Changsheng and grunted a few times.

Li Changsheng stroked its coarse bristles, pointed at the large basin, and said with a smile, "Go on, eat up."

OINK OINK...

With a couple more grunts, Xiaohua began to noisily dig into its meal.

Li Changsheng squatted nearby, watching with a fond smile. When he figured the next batch of feed was about ready, he turned and went back into the kitchen.

A moment later, he came out carrying a full bucket of pig feed.

He poured it into another wooden basin and called out Big Flower and the only remaining piglet.

OINK OINK...

Compared to Xiaohua, Big Flower was clearly more wary. It circled on the spot anxiously a few times before finally starting to dig in.

Li Changsheng found a stool and sat down. With a mere thought, a palm-sized White Jade Fox with cream-white fur appeared in his hand.

The moment the little creature appeared, it glanced around with its gleaming black eyes, kicked with all four paws, and leaped away.

But it was snatched out of mid-air by a large hand.

YIP YIP...

The little creature looked small, but it was surprisingly strong. It struggled and yipped, trying to escape the Five Finger Mountain of his hand.

Li Changsheng commanded, "Quiet."

YIP YIP... GRRR...

At his word, the little creature seemed to get even more worked up, alternating between sharp yips and threatening growls.

Li Changsheng lifted it by the scruff of its neck, bringing it close to his face.

Its eyes were squeezed shut, its paws flailed, and it yipped relentlessly, showing no sign of stopping.

"Haha..."

Seeing its adorable antics, Li Changsheng couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

He took a stalk of Jade Grass from his storage bag and held it to the fox’s mouth.

YIP YIP... Yip?

The little creature sniffed the air. Its yips abruptly ceased, and it cautiously cracked open its eyes.

Upon seeing the Jade Grass, its little eyes flew wide open. It immediately wrapped its paws around the stalk and took a big bite.

Seeing how cute it was, Li Changsheng couldn’t resist giving it a good, firm stroke.

’Fluffy things really are the cutest.’

With something to eat, the little creature quieted down.

It nibbled away like a hamster, CRUNCH CRUNCH CRUNCH, its cheeks puffing out.

It must have been starving, as it made little whimpering sounds as it ate.

Li Changsheng placed it back in his palm. As he watched the beasts devour their meals, his thoughts turned to the Wanzhong Mountains Range.

According to the *Records of the Cyan Yang Sect*, the Wanzhong Mountains Range was a land of countless ravines and gullies, hiding endless dangers but also holding infinite opportunities.

Although the Cyan Yang Sect occupied three peaks, they were only on the very outskirts. Even then, they were periodically struck by beast tides, suffering considerable casualties each time.

Yet, the Cyan Yang Sect was unwilling to abandon this precious territory, so they had no choice but to continuously dispatch disciples.

The three peaks were each named after one of the three main branches of the sect.

Each peak operated a Marketplace. When Li Changsheng arrived, he would most likely be assigned to work in one of the halls within the Marketplace.

However, not all halls were the same. Generally, the more dangerous halls offered more Spirit Stones, while the safer ones offered less.

’No matter what,’ Li Changsheng thought, ’I have to find a way into a safe hall.’

’As for Spirit Stones, I can just earn them by raising pigs. There’s no need to risk my life.’

Time passed quickly.

After the beasts finished eating, Li Changsheng also fed the two Red Foxes he had gotten from Ma Wu.

After a quick clean-up, he went into his room to carefully study the Golden Turtle Spirit Technique, hoping to complete the transition before leaving for the Wanzhong Mountains Range.

Days passed.

「On the third day.」

After feeding Big Flower, Xiaohua, the White Jade Fox, and his other beasts,

Li Changsheng returned to his room. After carefully studying the jade slip one more time, he sat down cross-legged, calmed his mind, and focused his spirit to attempt the change in his Cultivation Technique.

The circulation pathway of the Spirit Guiding Technique was extremely simple. It merely guided Spiritual Qi into the body, opening a single main Spirit Vein to form a basic loop. The Spiritual Power cultivated this way was not only diffuse, but also very weak.

The Golden Turtle Spirit Technique, however, was different. Not only did it channel Spiritual Power much faster than the Spirit Guiding Technique, but in addition to opening a main Spirit Vein, it also opened dozens of smaller, branching veins around it, forming a complex circulation pathway.

When that happened, the resulting Spiritual Power would be incredibly dense, and his cultivation speed would increase dramatically.

After what seemed like a long time,

Li Changsheng’s vision suddenly brightened, revealing a dense and chaotic web of intricate lines.

Among them were nine faint golden lines as thick as water vats. The other lines varied in thickness, some like an arm, some like a thumb, and others as thin as hemp rope.

Li Changsheng knew he had entered a state of internal inspection, his mind perfectly calm.

The nine faint golden lines were his main Spirit Veins, and the other intricate lines were the branch veins.

Li Changsheng focused on a main Spirit Vein. With a mere thought, he directed the faint golden Spiritual Power to follow the circulation path of the Golden Turtle Spirit Technique and begin expanding the branch veins.

As the faint golden Spiritual Power surged into the branch veins, a sharp, stabbing pain shot through his mind.

’This is because the branch veins haven’t been nourished by Spiritual Power yet,’ Li Changsheng knew. ’They’re still fragile, so it hurts when the power flows through.’

Not daring to be careless, Li Changsheng suppressed the pain and continued to carefully expand the branch veins.

As the Spiritual Power permeated the branch veins one by one, its faint golden color deepened by several shades, but its total volume also decreased by twenty percent.

By the time he had opened all the branch veins around the first main vein, the faint golden Spiritual Power had turned a solid golden yellow, and its volume had been reduced by more than half.

The Spiritual Power flowed like a babbling brook, forming a grand cycle between the main and branch veins.

"Phew..."

Li Changsheng opened his eyes, exhaled a long, turbid breath, and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

He closed his eyes to sense the changes. Now that the branch veins around the first main Spirit Vein were open and formed a cycle, the speed at which he could draw in and absorb Spiritual Qi had doubled.

Li Changsheng opened his eyes and sighed in admiration. "A graded Cultivation Technique truly is on another level."

After resting for a moment, he closed his eyes once more, focused his mind, and began to convert the second main Spirit Vein.

Time trickled by.

Drawing on his experience from the first conversion, he quickly opened the branch veins around the second main Spirit Vein and linked them to the first.

The instant the two main veins were linked, the circulation speed of the Spiritual Power within his Spirit Veins instantly doubled.

Li Changsheng closed his eyes to assess the change.

Compared to the cycle with a single main Spirit Vein, having two main Spirit Veins linked together had quadrupled his speed of drawing in and absorbing Spiritual Qi.

’In other words, after switching to the Golden Turtle Spirit Technique, my cultivation speed has more than quadrupled. And as I continue to open more main and branch veins to create an even larger Spiritual Power cycle, my cultivation speed will only get faster and faster.’

But at this moment, Li Changsheng also discovered a drawback of the Cultivation Technique.

Although the small branch veins were connected to form a large cycle, branch veins were ultimately not main veins.

’When the Spiritual Power circulates, I can feel the branch veins trembling slightly. With my current level of Spiritual Power, they can handle it. But as my Spiritual Power grows stronger, the branch veins will inevitably be unable to bear the strain.’

’The Metal Qi contained in ores...’