42

Qingchen sat cross-legged on the stone bed in his cave, his fingertips forming the hand seals for the *Demon Seed Golden Lotus*, sweat beading on his forehead.

The moment he activated the seals, he felt a "buzz" in his head, as if a stone hammer had slammed into the top of his head.

With each strike, his consciousness swayed, even the futon before him blurred.

This futon, which he had picked up from Mount Beiman, now emitted a faint spiritual light.

Qingchen gritted his teeth, biting his lips until they bled.

Each time he tempered his soul, he felt as if his brain was about to be smashed open, and several times he wanted to stop:

"If you don't even fight hard in your cultivation, what the hell are you doing cultivating immortality? You might as well go home and farm, raise a few women, and have a bunch of fat sons."

He cursed himself inwardly, his hands clenched tightly, veins bulging from his wrists to his elbows.

The pain of the stone hammer striking his soul grew more and more intense, and he couldn't help but groan.

Two hours later, Qingchen collapsed onto the futon with a thud, his chest still heaving, the pain in his head still lingering.

Two hours was his limit; any longer and his soul might collapse.

In fact, those who previously practiced this secret technique would take high-quality pills beforehand to protect their souls, then proceed with the tempering method to alleviate the pain.

Moreover, the cultivation time never exceeded one hour.

Currently, Qingchen was only at the 'tempering his soul' stage, as his soul strength had not yet reached the mid-stage of Qi Refining.

Only upon reaching the mid-stage of Qi Refining could one attempt to condense a demonic seed.

Generally speaking, the initial range of a Qi Refining early-stage cultivator's spiritual sense was five or six zhang.

Perhaps due to the transmigration, Qingchen's attempt revealed that his spiritual sense range had reached ten zhang, approaching the soul strength of a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator.

It should be noted that even a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator's spiritual sense range was only twelve zhang or more.

After completing his cultivation of the *Demon Seed Golden Lotus*, Qingchen would sit on the futon he had obtained from Mount Beimang and meditate for two hours.

Strangely,

while meditating on this futon, Qingchen's soul recovered exceptionally quickly.

Without this futon, Qingchen would never have dared to continuously refine his soul for two hours.

After finishing his meditation, Qingchen picked up the jade slip containing the *Brahma Refining Demon Art*.

In the corner of his cave sat a ceramic jar filled with the blood of a demon beast, specifically a low-grade first-tier demon beast called the "Iron-Spine Wolf," which had cost fifteen spirit stones.

He made a hand seal, and the blood in the jar transformed into a red thread, entering his palm and flowing along his meridians towards his Brahma Aperture and Qi Sea.

Thanks to Qingchen's powerful soul, which was sufficient to satisfy the first level of the *Brahma Refining Demon Art*, he successfully opened his first [Brahma Aperture].

If it were an ordinary cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining, they would likely be unable to cultivate normally, inevitably suffering damage to their soul and body.

Prolonged practice would severely damage their foundation, putting their life in danger.

"Four hours at most. Any more and my foundation will be damaged," Qingchen said, ending his incantation and leaning against the stone wall, panting.

He touched the storage bag in his pocket; it didn't have many spirit stones left.

Last month, he sold the empty storage bag he had found in Beiman Mountain, getting about twenty spirit stones, which he used to buy demon beast blood and first-tier demon beast corpses.

Generally speaking, the corpse of an ordinary early-stage Qi Refining demon beast, i.e., an early-stage first-tier demon beast, is worth between ten and thirty spirit stones.

Compared to a typical mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator who earns fifty to sixty or even a hundred spirit stones a year, Qingchen receives a stipend of around forty spirit stones annually from the sect.

Therefore, the price of demonic beast corpses isn't actually that high.

He only needs the corpses of low-grade, first-tier demonic beasts with abundant blood energy for his training.

For Qingchen, who cultivates the *Brahma Refining Demon Art*, as long as he has the corpses of demonic beasts of the same realm or the corpses of enemies to refine, the speed at which he accumulates mana is no less than that of consuming elixirs.

These two fundamental techniques occupy eight hours of Qingchen's daily time,

never interrupted, regardless of wind or rain.

Besides these, Qingchen also diligently practices some basic spells.

For example, the market on the outer peak is located halfway up the mountain, where the stalls are all run by outer sect disciples; some sell spirit herbs, others sell broken magical artifacts.

Each time he goes, he wears a black cloak and a mask, barely concealing his aura using the secret technique of the *Demon Seed Golden Lotus*.

He didn't want anyone to know he was practicing the *Brahma Demon Refining Technique*, and he especially didn't want anyone to see him buying so many demon beast corpses.

Besides the two main cultivation techniques, Qingchen also bought some basic spell jade slips at the outer sect market.

These included spells like Qi Concealment, Fireball, Heavenly Eye, Wind Control, Sound Transmission, Earth Shield, Object Manipulation, Water Arrow, and so on...

He collected them all, since he could practice them with any of his five elemental roots.

Furthermore, he spent an extra three spirit stones to purchase a *Sword Control Technique* manual to study and nurture, along with a low-grade magic weapon bestowed upon him by the sect.

"Who doesn't dream of becoming a sword immortal?" Qingchen stroked the scabbard, feeling a little itchy.

Days passed by like this.

The osmanthus flowers outside the cave bloomed and faded three times; three years passed in the blink of an eye.

That morning, Qingchen changed into a faded gray robe and followed a group of disciples to the General Affairs Hall.

As soon as he reached the entrance of the hall, he saw a middle-aged cultivator in a gray robe standing on the steps, a 'General Affairs' token hanging from his waist.

"Everyone, your three-year term is over. It's time to work for the sect. Completing tasks earns contribution points, which can be exchanged for spirit stones and pills, and also hone your skills—a win-win situation. Come to the General Affairs Hall to collect tasks more often; this is the proper way."

Qing Chen glanced around. There were forty or fifty disciples who had joined the sect with him.

The Ningxuan Sect truly lived up to its reputation as a first-rate Golden Core sect.

Some wore new gray robes, and some even carried magical artifacts; it seemed many had made progress in the past three years.

As he was looking around, someone suddenly patted his shoulder: "Brother Qing! Brother Qing!"

Qing Chen turned around and saw a kind-looking young man—Yue Ting, the disciple who had come from the Seven Kingdoms with his master.

Yue Ting grinned, revealing two small tiger teeth: "Brother Qing, I'm so glad to finally see you! I've been looking for you so many times these past three years, but I couldn't find you. You're just like my master, truly a person who dedicates himself to rigorous cultivation!"

Qing Chen smiled slightly and nodded, but remained silent. He didn't have the habit of talking too much with fools.

In the past three years, apart from going to the market, he had hardly left his cave. Even when he did go out, he was disguised, so Yue Ting naturally couldn't find him.