"Such a terrifying existence, why would he build a disgusting thing like the Black Shark Guild? He has the backing of an elder, and he's an unmatched prodigy—he doesn't lack Spirit Stones or resources at all!"
"Perhaps... he just finds it amusing. Don't forget, Senior Brother Ren has always been an eccentric person with a bizarre personality. Among the five great prodigies, which one has an ordinary personality?"
"I never imagined that a mistake by a low-level lackey of the Black Shark Guild would actually draw out Senior Brother Ren. It doesn't make sense—the Black Shark Guild has so many inner sect members!"
"Are you brainless? He clearly came for Yelin. Have you ever seen him say so many words to a newly entered Qi Condensation 1st Layer cultivator? It's obvious he appreciates Yelin greatly and wants to recruit him into the Black Shark Guild to cultivate him. And yet, Yelin actually refused..."
"Yelin is a weirdo too. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! How rare is it to be appreciated by one of the five great prodigies? Many people dream of such a chance."
"Junior Brother Yelin is being foolish."
"Yelin actually dared to speak to Senior Brother Ren in that tone—it was so awesome! At the time, I was terrified Senior Brother Ren would split Yelin in half with a single slash."
Chapter 27: Scripture Pavilion
After confirming that Rentianya had left, Yelin let out a slight sigh of relief.
Facing such a powerful existence who could kill him with a mere flick of his wrist, he was deeply afraid that by angering a big figure like that, his immortal cultivation path would end just as it was beginning.
Yet, he was even more unwilling to be someone else's dog or servant again; that would make his life worse than death!
He was like a bird that had flown out of a cage, enjoying the free, vast, and unfettered sky. No matter how perilous the outside world might be, he never wanted to return.
Moreover, Yelin firmly believed that with the Emperor Insect Physique, the Ancient Ring, and the inheritance of the ancient Ye family, his achievements one day would certainly be no less than Rentianya's.
His gaze shifted back to the two errand disciples who had just quit the Black Shark Guild, and a harmless, amiable smile appeared on his face once more.
"Two senior brothers, I wonder how you've considered it? Although you've quit the Black Shark Guild, our grudge hasn't been settled yet!"
No matter when it was, making money must never be forgotten.
No matter when it was, he had to remind himself that he was flat broke!
Yelin had never possessed any money growing up, and now that he finally had the qualification to possess money, he was quite obsessed and fascinated by it.
The two errand disciples exchanged a glance and forced wry smiles.
One of the errand disciples said, "Junior Brother Yelin is joking. With your formidable strength, you are truly the senior brother here. This junior brother has twenty Spirit Stones here, and is willing to let bygones be bygones with Senior Brother Yelin to settle our grudge."
The other errand cultivator quickly followed up, saying, "This junior brother also has twenty Spirit Stones."
As they spoke, the two handed over a small pouch.
Yelin took the pouch and hurriedly opened it. Upon seeing the glowing Spirit Stones, his eyes lit up as well.
Confirming that not a single one of the forty Spirit Stones was missing, Yelin broke into an even brighter and more amiable smile.
"Easy to talk to, easy to talk to! I, Yelin, have never been one to hold a grudge. In the future, you can come and challenge me often. If you win against me, the Spirit Stones are all yours..."
"Senior Brother Yelin is joking. Who would dare challenge you..."
The two errand disciples felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted. Scrambling and rolling, they ran at top speed and soon vanished without a trace.
Yelin was in a pretty good mood. He hadn't expected that coming to the Scripture Pavilion today would actually net him a Blue Rainbow Sword and a full sixty Spirit Stones—several times his entire net worth.
Experiencing the feeling of making money for the first time was truly intoxicating!
"Those members of the Black Shark Guild robbing people for money isn't without reason, because it's the fastest way to make money." Yelin thought to himself.
However, he still found it somewhat difficult to accept such behavior of bullying the weak.
After all, he used to be that "weak one." Even though he now possessed a little strength, he didn't want to become the kind of person he once detested so quickly.
Seeing that the matter was settled, the cultivators who had gathered to watch the commotion dispersed one by one, and Yelin joined the long queue to enter the Scripture Pavilion of the Taixuan Sect.
The Scripture Pavilion of the Taixuan Sect was divided into five floors in total.
They respectively catered to errand disciples, outer sect disciples, inner sect disciples, Foundation Establishment cultivators, and Core Formation cultivators. The mental cultivation methods and spells that cultivators of each different tier could exchange for or receive were all different.
After walking into the Scripture Pavilion, Yelin handed over his identity jade token. A kind-looking, white-haired elderly man who worked in the Scripture Pavilion said, "Since you've just become an errand disciple, you may choose a basic mental cultivation method, spell, or sword technique on the first floor and bring it to me to copy."
Yelin bowed respectfully.
Yelin could not sense any fluctuation of magical power from this old man. Precisely because of that, it felt terrifying; he feared the man was at least an expert above the Foundation Establishment stage.
No matter the sect, the Scripture Pavilion was a vital place, and it was not surprising that many powerful figures guarded it.
Yelin stepped into the first floor of the Taixuan Sect's Scripture Pavilion and saw rows upon rows of bookshelves laden with a dazzling variety of jade slips.
In addition, the bookshelves were divided into four major sections: the mental cultivation method section, the spell section, the sword technique section, and the miscellaneous section.
Among them, the miscellaneous section contained categories such as fist techniques, palm techniques, leg techniques, movement techniques, hidden weapons, body-refining arts, and so on.
Each category was further divided into two sub-categories: lower Yellow-tier and middle Yellow-tier, which denoted the grades of the mental cultivation methods or spells.
Yelin already understood that in the immortal cultivation world, all cultivation techniques were divided into grades, from top to bottom: Heaven, Earth, Mystic, and Yellow. Each major grade was further divided into four minor grades: lower, middle, upper, and peak.
With the permissions of an errand disciple, he could only access lower Yellow-tier and middle Yellow-tier techniques. The difference in utility or power between lower and middle Yellow-tier techniques was not vastly huge, but between lower and upper Yellow-tier techniques, the difference was as vast as heaven and earth.
The prerequisite for practicing many high-grade techniques was to first master the related low-grade techniques; otherwise, one could not comprehend or practice them.
Therefore, practicing techniques was also a process of accumulating strength. There was no possibility of reaching the heavens in a single step and immediately practicing a Heaven-tier technique just because one obtained it.
Take Song Lingtian, for example. He had successfully advanced to an inner sect disciple and could at highest access peak Yellow-tier techniques, yet he still started his cultivation from lower or middle Yellow-tier techniques.
As for Yelin, he could only choose two items from among tens of thousands of technique jade slips, and one of them had to be a mental cultivation method.
Thus, Yelin went straight to the mental cultivation method section first.
Mental cultivation methods were divided into five categories: Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth.
Generally speaking, the function of a mental cultivation method was to increase the strength of one's magical power. Taking the opponent Yelin had just defeated, Li Lei, as an example, his practice of his mental cultivation method was clearly lacking, and the magical power strength it added to him was extremely limited. Under the enhancement of his mental cultivation method, he was still crushed by Yelin's magical power, which was equivalent to 2.4 fierce horses.
Apart from increasing magical power strength, mental cultivation methods of various types had different foundational characteristics.
Metal-attribute mental cultivation methods could enhance the burst force of magical power, allowing spells or moves to be unleashed faster and more fiercely.
Wood-attribute mental cultivation methods possessed endless vitality, which could accelerate the recovery rate of magical power, making one more enduring in prolonged battles without running out of magical power.
Water-attribute mental cultivation methods flowed unceasingly, which could accelerate cultivation progress and make it easier to break through bottlenecks.
Fire-attribute mental cultivation methods could enhance the power of attack-type spells.
Earth-attribute mental cultivation methods could greatly enhance the power of defensive spells.
Yelin possessed Five-Element Spiritual Roots, which also meant that he could practice all mental cultivation methods.
Generally speaking, every cultivator would choose one mental cultivation method as their main focus. If their cultivation progress was very ideal, they would choose a secondary mental cultivation method to assist, and the attributes of these two mental cultivation methods were best mutually reinforcing. If they were mutually restraining, the best-case scenario would be chaotic magical power unable to coalesce, while the worst-case scenario would be exploding and dying without an intact corpse.
Yelin wandered among the bookshelves housing the five categories of mental cultivation methods for a long time, a deeply conflicted expression on his face.
He wanted the characteristics of all five categories of mental cultivation methods, and he was unwilling to give up any of them.
If other cultivators knew of Yelin's naive notion, they would undoubtedly mock him mercilessly for being too greedy, like a snake trying to swallow an elephant. The more mental cultivation methods one practiced, the slower the cultivation progress of those methods would be. With his middle-grade spiritual root aptitude, mastering one mental cultivation method would already be a stroke of immense luck, yet he actually wanted to practice five—truly, the ignorant are fearless!
Chapter 28: Five Elements Primordial Art
Once a person chose a mental cultivation method to begin practicing, it meant they had to give up at least two others, because at least two types of mental cultivation methods would be in a restraining relationship with it.
For instance, if one chose the fire attribute, water restrains fire, and fire restrains metal; from then on, water-attribute and metal-attribute mental cultivation methods would have nothing to do with him, unless he crippled his own cultivation and stopped running the fire-attribute mental cultivation method.
As for the other two, wood and earth, they were both ones he could practice.
After wrestling with the decision for a long time, Yelin suddenly spotted a dust-covered jade slip on an inconspicuous bookshelf. This bookshelf didn't even specify a category; it only bore a drawing of the mutual generation and restriction of the Five Elements.
Yelin's eyes lit up. He wiped the dust off the jade slip with his hand, revealing vigorous, forceful small characters: "Five Elements Primordial Art"!
Beneath the jade slip, he spotted an old-looking book covered in dust. This was an introduction concerning the "Five Elements Primordial Art."
After all, until the cultivation method inside a jade slip was copied, his spiritual sense could not probe into the jade slip to view its contents.
Yelin picked up the book, blew away the thick layer of dust on it, and opened it to read carefully. The more he read, the brighter his eyes became.
It turned out that this Five Elements Primordial Art was a special, incomplete mental cultivation method that the founder of the Taixuan Sect, the Taixuan Ancestor, had obtained from an ancient cultivator's grotto-heaven several thousand years ago.
The Five Elements Primordial Art was a mental cultivation method specifically designed for cultivators with Five-Element Spiritual Roots to practice. Currently, within the Taixuan Sect, only the first three tiers of this mental cultivation method existed.
Cultivating the Five Elements Primordial Art to the first tier could increase magical power strength by fifty percent. That was to say, assuming Yelin possessed the magical power of two fierce horses, under the enhancement of the first-tier mental cultivation method, he could unleash the magical power of three fierce horses in actual combat!
Cultivating it to the second tier would double his magical power strength.
And cultivating it to the third tier would triple his magical power strength!
This made Yelin's mouth go dry and his heart pound fiercely. If his foundational magical power strength was three fierce horses of force, cultivating it to the third tier would mean nine fierce horses of force, which would be enough to easily and effortlessly thrash many cultivators of the 4th and 5th Qi Condensation Layers—truly terrifying to the extreme.
"This is definitely not some lower Yellow-tier mental cultivation method; its grade isn't marked at all!"
However, this cultivation method had many flaws. The fact that the manual was incomplete was not even the most fatal issue; the deadliest part was that it was difficult to practice, and the cultivation process was extremely dangerous.
Wanting to advance the progress of the mental cultivation method required continuously devouring the Qi of the Five Elements, and moreover, devouring equal amounts simultaneously. Otherwise, once the Qi of the Five Elements lost its balance, the physical body would be unable to withstand the chaotic magical power. The outcome, in the best case, would be all previous efforts wasted, and in the worst case, exploding and dying.
The book also recorded five cultivators in the Taixuan Sect who had practiced the Five Elements Primordial Art. Most of them had practiced for several years or even over a decade without managing to step into the first tier. Every single one of those cultivators had experienced the despair of having their efforts wasted multiple times, though exploding and dying hadn't actually happened.
Despite the Five Elements Primordial Art having so many fatal flaws, Yelin was as if enchanted; holding the jade slip, he simply couldn't let go.
Because in his heart, he was very clear that this was the mental cultivation method most suitable for him, and the one that best matched his desires!
Difficult though it might be, there was always a way to solve it.
Besides, this was a mysterious cultivation method found by the Taixuan Ancestor in an ancient cultivator's grotto-heaven; who knew what great background it might have.
Just at that moment, Yelin heard an old man's cough.
Yelin shifted his gaze away from the book and only then noticed that the white-haired old man had appeared beside him at some unknown time.
The old man said, "Young lad, you'd better think it through. To my knowledge, at least ten cultivators have chosen to practice the Five Elements Primordial Art. They spent a massive amount of Spirit Stones to buy Five-Element materials in order to devour the Qi of the Five Elements from them, but in the end, all their efforts were still wasted, and they failed to step into the first tier. Greed comes with a price to pay."
Yelin was slightly silent for a moment before asking, "I wonder if the old gentleman knows whether they exploded and died?"
The old man added, "It's not that there wasn't one. Over a hundred years ago, someone ran into trouble practicing this Five Elements Primordial Art and died a miserable death. But back then, I wasn't the one in charge of the first floor of the Scripture Pavilion."
Yelin nodded.
"That's not too bad then. It seems it's not extremely dangerous. I choose this one!"
Yelin's reasoning was very simple: the space within his Emperor Insect Ring should be able to cultivate a large number of spiritual plants and herbs, and these spiritual plants and herbs possessed different attributes. He wouldn't even need to spend Spirit Stones purchasing Five-Element materials to absorb the Qi of the Five Elements.
Since this technique wasn't as terrifying as imagined, he could give it a try. Even if nothing came of cultivating it, Yelin could simply give it up and exchange it for another mental cultivation method once he had sect contributions.
The price would merely be wasting some time.
The old man did not try to persuade him further, but instead slowly said to Yelin, "If you are determined to do so, I suggest you choose a body-refining art to enhance your physical strength and meridian toughness. The probability of exploding and dying will be greatly reduced. However, if you do that, you won't have any means of attack. Since you've provoked those brats from the Black Shark Guild, you must be careful."
Yelin nodded.
"To not keep it from you, senior, this junior's ambition is to go to the Spirit Beast Peak and become an insect cultivator, raising spirit insects to use as means of attack and defense. Spells or sword techniques are not essential for an insect cultivator."
Hearing this, the old man stroked his beard.
"Your train of thought is quite clear. Not bad."
With that, he turned and left.
Yelin bowed respectfully and saluted: "Thank you for your guidance, senior."
If not for the old man's suggestion, he probably wouldn't have chosen to practice body-refining arts, which were universally acknowledged as the most useless.
But now, for the sake of safety, a body-refining art was definitely the top priority.
Holding the jade slip of the Five Elements Primordial Art, Yelin came to the miscellaneous section, heading straight for the body-refining arts. Without overthinking, his primary consideration was middle Yellow-tier body-refining arts.
The so-called body-refining art involved tempering the physical body through certain methods to make the flesh stronger, the vitality more abundant, and the ability to take a beating exceptionally outstanding.
In the immortal cultivation world, eccentric cultivators who specialized in body-refining arts were also known as "Iron Turtles"—their ability to take a beating was extremely strong, and while they possessed brute strength, it was very difficult for them to get close to cultivators who excelled at spells or sword control, and their ability to hit others was practically nonexistent.
Therefore, body-refining arts were the cultivation methods most disliked by cultivators. Yelin saw that the bookshelf for body-refining arts was also stained with a layer of dust, though it was much thinner than the dust on the Five Elements Primordial Art.
Yelin muttered to himself, "How come it feels like as soon as I stepped into the cultivation world, I entered the ranks of eccentric cultivators? The mental cultivation method is one nobody practices, and the body-refining art is also one nobody practices—I've managed to collect both."
Complaints aside, Yelin believed there was nothing wrong with his train of thought, so he still picked up the books beneath the jade slips on the bookshelf one by one and read them.
After a long while, he picked up one of the jade slips, upon which was written: 《Five Elements Vajra Skill》!
This body-refining technique was something only ruthless people dared to practice in the immortal cultivation world, and Yelin believed he was a ruthless person.
Chapter 29: Taixuan Sect Market
The so-called 《Five Elements Vajra Skill》 involved infusing the Qi of the Five Elements into the body. After an extremely painful and agonizing process, the Qi of the Five Elements would condense the flesh and blood of the body to make the physical form stronger.
However, unlike the Five Elements Primordial Art, this Qi of the Five Elements used for body-refining would not be drawn into the Dantian, so it did not conflict with practicing the Five Elements Primordial Art.
Aside from the fact that the cultivation process was extremely painful and consumed a vast amount of Spirit Stones, this technique had almost no other flaws. Once successfully cultivated, the physical body would become like steel, impervious to flying swords and spells.
Seeing the 《Five Elements Vajra Skill》 chosen by Yelin, the white-haired old man nodded without saying much more, and soon handed Yelin two new jade slips.
Yelin bowed respectfully to express his thanks.
The old man reminded him, "These copied jade slips will shatter two hours after spiritual sense probes into them. You must memorize all the contents within two hours. Furthermore, neither the mental cultivation method nor the technique may be passed on to outsiders."
"This junior understands."
The white-haired old man waved his hand, signaling that Yelin could leave.
Walking out of the Scripture Pavilion, night had already fallen. The firmament was studded with stars, and silver-white moonlight blanketed every corner of the Taixuan Sect.
However, for practitioners, the difference between day and night was not significant.
Yelin poured magical power into his eyes, and a flash of spiritual light flickered within them, making the entire hazy world appear exceptionally clear.
This was the Dharmic Eye!
A powerful Dharmic Eye could not only see in the dark, but could also observe demonic aura and ghostly aura from afar, and see through people's disguises.
Using the Dharmic Eye consumed a fair amount of magical power, but for Yelin, whose magical power recovered at an extremely fast rate, it was zero pressure. He felt that even if he kept the Dharmic Eye open constantly, the magical power in his body would not be depleted because of it.
Whoosh!
A cold gleam flashed past. Yelin leaped forward, his body floating like a feather as he slowly ascended into the sky and then landed on the blade of his flying sword.
Stepping on the flying sword, Yelin did not rush back to the probationary errand dormitory, but instead flew toward the Taixuan Sect market.
Although he was now a formal errand disciple, because he had not yet been assigned specific work or new quarters, he could still temporarily live in the probationary errand dormitory building.
Flying up into the sky, Yelin's field of vision broadened.
Compared to the daytime, the Taixuan Sect at night appeared empty and silent, though occasionally one could still see streaks of cold light flashing past—those were sword cultivators practicing their swordplay diligently day and night.
Flying up into the clouds, Yelin felt that the sky was boundless and the starry sky had no end. He couldn't help but recall that a little over two months ago, on a night just like this, he had been brought to the Taixuan Sect on a flying boat.
Before that, he was merely an inconspicuous, lowly servant in the Lin family, working without complaint and enduring beatings and scoldings every day.
And now, he had become an upper immortal in the true sense of the word; even Old Master Lin would have to kneel and kowtow respectfully if he met him.
"I wonder... what has actually become of Lin Xiaoyu..."
Lin Xiaoyu wasn't very familiar with him, but Yelin still worried about the fate of those abducted by the demonic sect's villains. As his understanding of the immortal cultivation world grew deeper, he increasingly understood its cruelty.
"Most likely, after experiencing torture and humiliation worse than death, she has either gone mad or died."
"The Demonic Path...!"
Yelin sighed softly, thinking no more on the matter. He guided his flying sword in a steep dive, flying toward a brightly lit, clamorous valley.
At the entrance of the valley stood a huge stone monument emanating specks of silver light, upon which five vigorous and forceful characters were written: "Taixuan Sect Market".