Chapter 75 - 47: Ancient Skill - Dragon and Tiger Swallowing Technique

Chapter 75: Chapter 47: Ancient Skill - Dragon and Tiger Swallowing Technique

Standing before the Ancient Peach Sacrificial Spirit, Li Yinsheng looked at the carved stone altar, stroking his chin.

According to the records in the Xuanzhen Temple’s scriptures, even if the correct sacrifice was offered to the Sacrificial Spirit, the Ancient Methods and Ancient Skills obtained would very likely be useless.

But since they were already here, there was no harm in trying.

However, sacrifices were related to the Karma Technique and followed no predictable pattern. What should they offer?

"Junior Sister," he said after a moment of thought, "why don’t you try placing that stone up there?"

Mu Xiaoyu nodded. She placed the strange Black Stone she had been holding onto the altar.

The peach tree swayed slightly, and the faint, lingering glow around it dimmed a fraction. Other than that, nothing else happened.

"Hmm?" Li Yinsheng was somewhat surprised. "Could it be that this stone isn’t the correct sacrifice?"

He had his junior sister take the Black Stone back. After pondering for a moment, he retrieved a Daoist Scripture from his Qiankun Bag and placed it on the altar.

The Spiritual Light on the Ancient Peach Sacrificial Spirit dimmed a bit more. Li Yinsheng took back the Daoist Scripture.

The temple’s scriptures recorded that Ancient Cultivators valued the Karma Technique. If multiple attempts failed to present the correct sacrifice, it proved the visitor lacked the Karma Technique, and the inheritance would disappear on its own.

"Looking at the changes in this Sacrificial Spirit, it seems that every time a wrong sacrifice is offered, the Spiritual Light on its body dims a bit. I imagine that once the Spiritual Light completely dissipates, the inheritance inside will vanish with it.

"The predecessors weren’t kidding. I’m afraid we really can’t test this Sacrificial Spirit many times."

He shook his head, though his tone held little disappointment. After all, most inheritances left by Ancient Cultivators couldn’t be considered great treasures and weren’t necessarily practical. When it came to Cultivation Techniques or Magic inheritances, the Xuanzhen Temple’s Scripture Pavilion could be considered all-encompassing. They had only stumbled upon this Ancient Peach Sacrificial Spirit by chance. Gaining its Ancient Cultivator inheritance wouldn’t be cause for wild joy, and losing it wouldn’t be cause for deep sorrow.

Without any psychological burden, Li Yinsheng couldn’t be bothered to overthink it. Seeing that neither the Black Stone nor the Daoist Scripture was correct, he took a few more everyday items from his Qiankun Bag and placed them on the altar.

First was a Yellow Talisman he had acquired from someone’s Qiankun Bag at the Yellow Crane Temple. Then, a bottle of Nourishing Essence Pills. Next was the chessboard and pieces he had used to play against the Vice Temple Master of the Yellow Crane Temple. He even tried placing a few talismanic coins. Finally, after a brief hesitation, he simply grabbed a handful of dirt from the ground and sprinkled it over the altar.

Every time he added a new offering, the Ancient Peach Sacrificial Spirit’s Spiritual Light dimmed a bit more. By the time he scattered the dirt, the Spiritual Light was as faint as a candle flickering in the wind.

Li Yinsheng estimated they could try one or two more times at most. If it still didn’t work, the inheritance would likely vanish. He had considered trying treasures like the Cold Bright Sword or the Silver Threaded Magical Robe, but on second thought, he didn’t know if the sacrifice itself would disappear if it were correct. If the sacrifice was consumed, he would suffer a massive loss.

As the Spiritual Light grew fainter, the disappointment on Mu Xiaoyu’s face deepened. Unlike Li Yinsheng, she had been quite excited upon realizing this was a fortuitous encounter. When she read storybooks at home, they were full of plots where some great hero would stumble upon a fortuitous encounter and skyrocket to success. Today, she had finally run into one herself, but it seemed she was going to walk away empty-handed.

Just as Li Yinsheng was hesitating over whether to snap a branch off the peach tree to try as a sacrifice, Mu Xiaoyu tugged at his sleeve.

"Senior Brother... can I give it a try?"

Li Yinsheng looked down at her and smiled. "You want to offer a sacrifice too, Junior Sister? Alright, you take this turn. What do you want to place?"

He hadn’t held out any hope for this Sacrificial Spirit to begin with, and his junior sister was the one who had found this place. There was no harm in letting her try.

Mu Xiaoyu took two steps forward, brushed the dirt off the altar, and took out a small plate. She placed a stick of candied haws on the plate and set it on the altar.

Li Yinsheng shook his head and chuckled. What an utterly unsurprising choice.

But in the next instant, something completely surprising happened.

The Ancient Peach Sacrificial Spirit suddenly burst with brilliant radiance. A streak of flowing light drifted down from the canopy and shot into the center of Mu Xiaoyu’s brow in the blink of an eye.

Li Yinsheng was dumbfounded. He couldn’t believe that had actually worked!

After releasing the streak of light, the Spiritual Light on the Ancient Peach Sacrificial Spirit completely vanished, as if it had transformed into an ordinary peach tree. Meanwhile, Mu Xiaoyu stood frozen before the altar. Her large eyes were completely blank. She looked quite similar to how she did every day after receiving a Spiritual Sense Jade Scroll; she seemed to be digesting the inheritance flooding into her mind. However, her daze lasted much longer this time than it did after using a Spiritual Sense Jade Scroll.

Li Yinsheng stayed by her side, not disturbing her, merely waiting in silence.

About the time it takes for three incense sticks to burn down, Mu Xiaoyu finally snapped back to her senses.

"Senior Brother!" she cried, her face brimming with excitement as she pointed at the peach tree now devoid of Spiritual Light. "The sacrifice! The sacrifice was correct! It gave me a Magic spell from an Ancient Cultivator!

"Mhm... and I feel like it’s actually pretty powerful!"

She casually picked up the candied haws, which hadn’t vanished after being used as a sacrifice, and munched on them as she spoke.

"Oh?" Li Yinsheng was skeptical. His junior sister had only learned a few Magic spells so far, including the Light-Splitting Sword, Ferocious Sword, Artifact Manipulation Skill, and Armor-Horse Skill. Her horizons were limited, making it hard for him to trust her evaluation of a spell.

"It’s true! If you don’t believe me, Senior Brother, I’ll explain it to you!"

Holding the candied haws in one hand and pulling Li Yinsheng with the other, Mu Xiaoyu found a relatively flat boulder for them to sit on. Only after taking another stick of candied haws from her Qiankun Bag and handing it to Li Yinsheng did she begin to explain the Ancient Skill inheritance she had received.

"According to the inheritance the Sacrificial Spirit gave me, this Ancient Skill is called the ’Kan and Li Swallowing Technique.’ Although I feel like I’ve learned it, I don’t fully understand it. I’ll just recite it for you first, Senior Brother..."

A long while later, over a dozen bamboo sticks were scattered across the ground. Mu Xiaoyu finally finished explaining the Ancient Skill and used a bamboo stick to pick her teeth.

Li Yinsheng glanced at the peach tree with an odd expression. He had to admit that the inheritance left by this Ancient Cultivator actually had some real substance to it.

Strictly speaking, the Ancient Skill his junior sister had acquired wasn’t a standard Magic spell used by Ancient Cultivators, but rather an Ancient Cultivator’s "Secret Skill."

One of the methods Ancient Cultivators used in their cultivation was to "Harmonize Dragon and Tiger, Capture Kan and Fill Li" in order to achieve Refining Qi and Cultivating Spirit, thereby prolonging their lives. The ultimate goal of this method was to attain the results of "Dragon and Tiger Harmony, Kan and Li Complete."

However, this result was exceedingly difficult to accomplish; the vast majority of Ancient Cultivators never reached this step. As a result, some began to wonder: Even if they couldn’t reach the Realm of "Kan and Li Complete," could they somehow simulate it in advance? Surely that would still bring some benefits, right?

The result of this line of thinking was the "Dragon and Tiger Swallowing Technique" his junior sister had obtained, which could also be called the "Kan and Li Swallowing Technique."

A proper Dragon and Tiger Harmony, Kan and Li Complete, required Kan and Li, as well as the Dragon and the Tiger, to naturally and actively converge and fuse together. But the creator of this Secret Skill felt that since water and fire were fundamentally incompatible, and the Dragon and Tiger inherently clashed, achieving true compatibility and harmony between them was simply too difficult. It was better to do the exact opposite.

Instead of pursuing compatibility and harmony, they allowed the Dragon and Tiger to devour each other, naturally merging into one through the process. After all, wasn’t this also a form of fusion? Thus, this Secret Skill was named the "Dragon and Tiger Swallowing Technique." By substituting fusion with devouring, it forged a new path—a shortcut to the Great Dao!

And then, the first generation creator ended up killing themselves with it. They died a gruesome death.

Yet their unorthodox, rebellious concept was passed down. Over the years, there had always been people interested in it, with an endless stream of skeptics stubbornly attempting to practice it. It wasn’t until a genius encountered the prototype of this Magic Technique and spent many years perfecting it that it finally became practical.

Through a limited degree of "Dragon and Tiger Swallowing," this Secret Skill could temporarily simulate a fraction of the effects of "Dragon and Tiger Harmony," granting a massive surge in Magical Power for a short time. Moreover, because the devouring between the Dragon and Tiger was restricted, the consequences of using this skill weren’t severe. It merely left the user drained of vitality and with sluggish Magical Power, forcing them into a state of weakness for a period of time. Unless used frequently or for too long at one time, it would neither destabilize their foundation nor hinder their future cultivation.

It wasn’t as if Li Yinsheng had never seen Secret Skills that could temporarily boost one’s Cultivation; the Xuanzhen Temple’s Scripture Pavilion held several of them. But this Dragon and Tiger Swallowing Technique was undoubtedly the best Cultivation-boosting Secret Skill he had ever encountered. Those with better effects had horrifyingly severe side effects. Those with similar side effects yielded results far inferior to this one.

If he had to name a flaw, it was that as one’s Cultivation Realm improved and they naturally drew closer to the true state of "Dragon and Tiger Harmony," the skill’s effectiveness would inevitably decrease.

Most importantly, although the path of "Harmonize Dragon and Tiger, Capture Kan and Fill Li" was the mainstream of Ancient Cultivation Techniques, current Cultivation Techniques hadn’t abandoned it either; its status simply wasn’t as prominent as it was among Ancient Cultivators. Therefore, this Ancient Cultivation Secret Skill—the Dragon and Tiger Swallowing Technique—could be used by modern Cultivators just as effectively!

"Mhm..." Li Yinsheng couldn’t help but nod. "Although the path of Ancient Cultivators has grown obsolete and declined, it still has many merits."

With this Secret Skill, his junior sister would have significantly better odds of winning, whether at the Shifeng Conference next spring and summer, or the Lesser Yang Dao Examination at the end of next year.

As for the side effects of drained vitality and sluggish Magical Power...

The technique stated that if conditions allowed, a Cultivator with a profound Cultivation base could assist in the recovery process, drastically reducing the duration of the side effects. Furthermore, his junior sister cultivated the Qingxuan Scripture. The first, second, and Third Layers focused on tempering Primordial Energy, giving her a solid foundation. This would likely shorten the duration of the side effects even further.

"Not bad, Junior Sister," Li Yinsheng chuckled, tapping the tip of Mu Xiaoyu’s nose. "You really do have the Karma Technique. This Ancient Skill might be of great use to you."

Mu Xiaoyu rubbed her nose. For some reason, looking at her senior brother’s smile gave her the creeps.