Li Yan's days of cultivation began. He made a training plan for himself. He was no longer like before in the Strategist's Manor, cultivating in secret. That time felt like being sometimes starved and sometimes full; now, he could fully immerse himself.
In the practice room, Li Yan's eyes were tightly closed, his face devoid of joy or sorrow. He sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion, a faint black qi lingering around his body. With each breath, the black qi outside his body rhythmically expanded and contracted, over and over.
At this moment, Li Yan was immersed in selfless cultivation. The faint black qi in his body slowly circulated along his meridians. It took about half an hour to return to the Dantian's Purple Mansion, where it was then injected into the water spiritual power vat. With each circulation, the color of the black qi would deepen slightly, and the mist in the spiritual power vat would slowly rise.
Several hours later, he opened his eyes. Li Yan felt a sense of power swelling throughout his body. He now felt that if he encountered a Qi Condensation stage master like his Seventh Senior Brother, he would have the strength to fight. But of course, he knew that this was a false sense of inflation brought about by the vigorous spirit and slight increase in strength after cultivation. If they really fought, the other party could probably kill him with a single finger.
The True Scripture of the Nether Water was truly worthy of being the oldest and most powerful inheritance of the Spirit Immortal Realm. For a person chosen by it, the cultivation of the technique was mutually beneficial. Every time he cultivated, he would feel his strength increase. Although this process was very slow, he could still feel the spiritual power vats in his body slowly filling up.
Li Yan stretched out his hand, and his spiritual power circulated. The next moment, his palm began to be covered with wisps of black qi. He clenched his five fingers, then threw a punch. The black qi instantly condensed into a ball and shot outwards, emitting a deep, muffled "hum" in the air. The next moment, with a loud "thwack," a burst of pale green-white light lit up the entire practice room, which then returned to silence.
Seeing this, Li Yan nodded with some satisfaction. This punch of his was not any kind of immortal art; it was purely the firing of spiritual power from his body. The target of the attack was the bamboo wall of the practice room.
Speaking of this bamboo wall, it was also very strange. Li Yan had only discovered its difference by chance a few days ago. After cultivating that day, his body was full of spiritual power, and he had the desire to let it burst out. Li Yan then thought of trying to pour spiritual power into his hand. After a few attempts, his palm was indeed covered with a thick black spiritual power. Then he threw a punch, trying to drive the spiritual power with his will. However, the next moment he regretted it. Under his control, the spiritual power had actually left his body in an instant, and its momentum was not weak. In the blink of an eye, it had hit the pale green-white bamboo wall two zhang away with a heavy, muffled thud.
Li Yan was terrified, thinking that he was in trouble. He thought that although the bamboo house might not collapse, it would surely be badly damaged. But then he saw a few pale green-white light spots flash on the wall with the heavy thud, and then there was no movement. The wall was completely undamaged.
Li Yan quickly stood up and walked to the spot that had just been hit by the spiritual power. He observed it carefully and saw that the spot was the same as the rest of the wall, still a pale green-white and shiny, with nothing wrong. He touched it with his hand, and a coolness entered his skin from his fingertips. He once again poured spiritual power into his hand and pressed down. Immediately, a faint pale green-white light lit up at his fingertips. His fingers felt as if they were pressing on an extremely resilient bow. This made Li Yan feel the extraordinariness of this bamboo house.
Next, he went to several other rooms to try, and the result was the same. After thinking for a while, Li Yan opened the courtyard gate and went into the bamboo forest outside. He stood in front of a dark bamboo stalk as thick as an adult's arm, once again poured spiritual power into his fist, and threw a punch. But the next moment, after the green crystal light on the dark bamboo stalk flashed a few times, it broke in half at the waist. This stunned Li Yan.
The reason he had just tested the walls of all the rooms in the courtyard was that he had guessed that the bamboo house of the practice room might also be laid with a small-scale formation, for fear of accidentally damaging the practice room during practice. After all, the magical power of a cultivator was no small matter. But when he had tested all the rooms, this idea was rejected, because he found that the walls of all the rooms were so sturdy. In this case, it couldn't be because the rooms were protected by a formation. Otherwise, with so many courtyards containing a large number of rooms, if every room was laid with a formation, according to what his Seventh Senior Brother had said and some of the ancient books he had read recently, no sect could have such a grand scale, including the four great sects.
Although he was not yet an old hand at cultivation, he was no longer the ignorant rookie he had been a few days ago. Besides, his Seventh Senior Brother had also said that day that there were more than just these few dozen courtyards here before, and the number of rooms was several times greater. This made him even more certain to reject the possibility that every room would be laid with a small-scale magical formation.
His Seventh Senior Brother had said that his little chubby master had destroyed seventy to eighty percent of the courtyards in this area with a wave of his hand. Thinking again of how he had just used almost all his strength to make the bamboo wall's light flash a few times, the earth-shattering power of a Golden Core stage great cultivator was not something he could imagine.
Since it wasn't a small-scale magical formation, then there was only one result: the bamboo itself was a low-grade spirit tool, which was why it could resist the attack of a cultivator's spiritual power. But now, looking at the broken dark bamboo stalk, he felt that it wasn't the case. After thinking for a moment, he went to another dark bamboo stalk, and then threw another punch. After a crisp sound, this time the bamboo stalk only had a few cracks. Next, he tried twice more. One turned into bamboo strips, and the other bamboo stalk was unharmed.
Li Yan finally confirmed that although the bamboo used to build the houses in the courtyard and the dark bamboo in the courtyard outside looked similar, there should still be some differences, either in age, or in quality, or perhaps they just looked the same. Because in his several experiments just now, he had continuously adjusted the strength of his spiritual power, and several results had appeared after the strikes. This showed that these dark bamboos outside were at least a low-grade spiritual object, which an ordinary mortal should not be able to harm in the slightest, but they were different from the ones used to build the houses.
Figuring these things out wasn't because Li Yan had nothing better to do. It was a habit he had now developed: to always understand the things around him, to put himself in a familiar environment. Any of these things that were usually unremarkable might save his life at a critical moment.
Li Yan watched the pale green-white light of the practice room's bamboo wall flash for a moment, much stronger than the few light spots of the previous few days. This showed that his spiritual power had grown quite fast in these few days.
He stood up, pushed open the door, and came to the courtyard. After standing still and concentrating for a moment, he raised his hands and, in front of his chest, awkwardly began to form a hand seal, muttering incantations. After a dozen or so breaths, a small patch of dark clouds slowly gathered into a ball a few feet above his head. But that patch of dark clouds was only the size of two adult palms, which was quite comical.
The two small, pathetic patches of dark clouds slowly began to darken in color and churn continuously, looking more and more violent. But the next moment, with a "poof," as if someone had suddenly felt refreshed and let out a light fart, the sky in front of Li Yan's head was a puff of smoke that dissipated.
But there was no expression on Li Yan's face. He just stood there and thought. After a while, he raised his hands again, and the sound of the incantation rang out in a low voice again.
This was the "Cloud and Rain Art" that Li Yan had been practicing recently. He hadn't started practicing the other few attack-type arts first. The reason was very simple: it was out of his own needs. Although the place he lived was not far from a nearby water source, it was always inconvenient to use it, whether for washing or daily use. That day, he heard his Seventh Senior Brother say that when a cultivator's body was dirty, they only needed to cast the "Dust-Cleansing Art," or a "Cloud and Rain Art," and then use their spiritual power to steam their body and clothes dry.
In the treasured collection, he had wanted to get this kind of immortal art. After all, cultivators were still human and needed to live their daily lives. It was just that the progress of his practice these past few days was not to his satisfaction. This morning, he had even gone to find his Eldest Senior Brother, wanting to get guidance from him. But his Eldest Senior Brother, after they had parted at the courtyard gate that day, had apparently drunk too much. After the woman in red, Li Changting, had left, drunk and full of charm, this excessively handsome Eldest Senior Brother had even squatted on the ground and dry-heaved for a long time. But cultivators were tough, and their digestive systems were also excellent. He hadn't thrown up a single bit. In the end, he had no choice but to announce with a green face that he would be in seclusion for a period of time. Now, the affairs of the sect were being handled by his Fourth Senior Sister, Miao Wangqing.
Li Yan, who had originally wanted to ask about cultivation matters, couldn't ask now. He didn't want to consult that Fourth Senior Sister who was now in charge about cultivation matters. It wasn't that he thought this senior sister was not good, but that he had never been alone with a young woman in his life. And he had also heard from the handyman disciples that his Fourth Senior Sister's mood was not very good these past few days; she had been pouting all day. As for asking that chubby master for guidance, Li Yan was a little timid. He always felt that this excessively young chubby master could see through any of his thoughts with a single glance. And seeing this chubby master, he always unconsciously overlapped him with Strategist Ji.
As for the other senior brothers and sisters, he was not familiar with them. In this case, he had no choice but to go to his Seventh Senior Brother again. Lin Daqiao was on the peak and was not cultivating. This was because he was now accumulating power to break through to the Foundation Establishment stage. Wei Zhongran had already given him the Foundation Establishment Pill and some other auxiliary medicinal pills. He was waiting for an opportunity. To break through a realm like this, not only did one need a deep accumulation of magical power and powerful auxiliary medicinal pills, but one's mind-nature was also very important. Now he was slowly looking for that sliver of inspiration.
Seeing Li Yan come over, he was very happy. He hadn't been cultivating recently. He would either walk around the other few peaks or wander around Little Bamboo Peak, but he had never found that sliver of opportunity. With Li Yan's arrival, he had found someone to talk to. Perhaps he could get that sliver of opportunity in this conversation.
Learning of Li Yan's intention, he was naturally overjoyed. For a common immortal art like this, which was all over the place and didn't involve the secrets of his own cultivation method, he was still very willing to clear up his confusion.
The path of immortal arts is mainly formed through the combination of incantations and hand seals, coupled with the driving of spiritual power. But this is only for novices who are just entering the gate of immortal arts. For masters, when they have practiced an immortal art to the point of proficiency, they don't need to recite the incantation at all, nor can you see them forming any hand seals. They can be released with a wave of their hand. Even more so, the immortal art can be formed with just a thought.
So he carefully explained the characteristics of the "Cloud and Rain Art" to Li Yan, as well as its commonalities with other immortal arts, told Li Yan to pay attention to some matters when cultivating, and also explained the timing of the combination of hand seals, incantations, and spiritual power, which made Li Yan have a sudden enlightenment, as if the clouds had been parted and the sun had been seen. He believed that through this lesson, not only would he be able to avoid many detours, but he might also be able to draw inferences about other things when practicing other immortal arts in the future. This made his good impression of this jumpy Seventh Senior Brother increase a lot. So after asking for guidance, he chatted with him for another half an hour, and finally left amidst Lin Daqiao's unfinished conversation.
In the following days, Li Yan would only come out once every ten days or half a month to go to the handyman department for some food. The rest of the time, he would close his doors and practice hard day and night without stopping. He was still new to the sect and couldn't practice in seclusion for a long time. Besides, the food of mortals was still more delicious and useful than the Grain Abstinence Pill.
...
Time is the hardest thing to grasp. The days flew by in fulfilling cultivation. But in Little Bamboo Peak, it was very difficult to see the changing of the seasons. Only by carefully looking at the color of the bamboo leaves changing from tender green to deep ink, or seeing the tender spring bamboo shoots sprouting from the bamboo forest, would one know the changing of the seasons and the alternation of the sun and moon here.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a year had passed. On this day, the gate of the bamboo courtyard where Li Yan lived opened. A passage appeared in the billowing white mist, and Li Yan, in a dark green robe, slowly walked out from inside.
At this time, Li Yan was much taller than half a year ago. A fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy was at the age of growth. The fuzz on his upper lip had begun to turn dark and thick, and his shoulders seemed broader. He was originally slightly taller than his peers, and now through cultivation, he looked even more mature. The childishness on his face had faded a lot, but his ordinary appearance still didn't have the slightest bit of a cultivator's spiritual agility.
At this moment, Li Yan's brows were tightly furrowed, and he looked worried. After leaving the courtyard gate, he turned and walked leisurely towards the mountain peak behind him.