Chapter 24 Diligent Cultivation of Good Disciples

  Her slender fingers moved swiftly and nimbly, changing like a butterfly dancing among flowers.

  A series of finger gestures were made, and various hand seals appeared in the void, connecting together to form a long river-like fire cloud. With both hands pulling and leading, it spun and danced, drawing out line after line of red marks. This was indeed the Qi Yun Sect's alchemy technique, the Fire Cloud Seal.

  Sweat dripped down from his forehead, but Ling Xiao didn't even bother to wipe it away, continuing to practice diligently.

  Alchemical refinement is a profound and intricate art. The techniques involved are complex and multifaceted, making it an extremely challenging aspect of the alchemical process.

  Actually, Ling Xiao didn't have to be so anxious, after all, the practice of this technique is also about gradual progress; Ling Xiao's bitter practice may not necessarily bring much benefit.

  Just yesterday, at the Sect's Grand Lecture, Fowling challenged Ling Xiao and refined a pellet of top-grade Cultivation Pill with 85% purity. He was quite impressed by Ling Xiao's talent for alchemy, but regretted that his temperament was too impulsive. With good intentions, he decided to personally guide him, so he offered to teach him alchemy.

  This is certainly a great joy for others.

  Even if he hadn't been formally accepted as a disciple, with Fuling's identity and alchemy skills, casually pointing out a few sentences to Ling Xiao was enough for him to benefit greatly.

  Only Ling Xiao knew in his heart that his so-called "alchemical talent" actually relied on the strange flame in his body. Being personally guided by Fowling, although it had a thousand benefits, once he was found out to have mediocre talent, wouldn't he have to reveal the strange flame in his body? So although he agreed happily on the surface, privately he couldn't help but diligently practice.

  He is now in the cave of Fuling.

  Feng Ling instructed him to come to her cave every 3rd, 6th and 9th day of the month, where she would personally teach Lin Xiao how to refine elixirs. Yesterday was the sect's grand lecture in the middle of the month, today is the sixteenth, so he had been waiting early at Feng Ling's cave.

  He has made further progress in his skills recently, and with repeated refinement of the elixir, he has also used the Huo Yun Jue very frequently. Usually, he doesn't have time to delve deeper into it, and hasn't discovered that now, when he calms down and studies it carefully, he suddenly has a new understanding.

  The key to alchemy lies in the mutual evolution and variation of various basic techniques, with the aim of precise control over flames and elixirs.

  Although it is only a method, the requirements for divine thoughts and cultivation are extremely high. After his skills have made some progress, he naturally has a deeper understanding. However, he doesn't have an outstanding talent for alchemy, and his cultivation is only at the second layer of Qi training, so he isn't very clear about the subtleties either.

  Lost in thought for a while, unknowingly an hour has passed.

  He looked up and saw that the sky outside had already brightened, but Fuling Elder still hadn't appeared. He then calmed down and practiced the finger techniques of the incomplete manual he bought from the market for a while.

  It's only after reaching the entry level that it becomes extremely difficult to make progress. Although he has never relaxed his practice of this set of techniques, so far, in one breath, he can only cast eleven or twelve moves, and is still far from mastering them.

  Ling Xiao practiced with such concentration that he was completely unaware of the passage of time.

  After a long time, he suddenly felt a movement in his heart, opened his eyes, and saw a figure standing before him. The person was dressed in white clothes with a red belt, had a faint expression, and it was impossible to discern any joy or anger on their face. It was precisely Fú Líng.

  He hastily got up and respectfully addressed him as "Feng Changlao".

  "No need for excessive courtesy!" Fú Líng sat down on a rush cushion in front of him, "You can sit too, from now on we'll just address each other as master and uncle."

  Ling Xiao responded with a respectful tone, then carefully sat down.

  Fu Ling gazed at him, nodding slightly, and slowly spoke, "I was originally worried that you would rely on your natural talent and not be willing to work hard. Now it seems that I was overthinking. This is good. You should know that alchemy is the most profound and difficult path. If one doesn't put in effort, they will only waste their talent! That you can be so diligent now makes me feel very relieved!"

  She is quite cold in temperament and rarely praises people. Being able to say such words already shows that she is very satisfied with Ling Xiao.

  Ling Xiao was drenched in sweat, but only he himself knew that he actually didn't have any talent for alchemy, so he had to work this hard... On the surface, of course, he didn't dare say that, and instead carefully said: "It's all thanks to Master's teachings."

  Feng Ling said, "However, you have a diligent mind to practice, but it's also a bit hasty. Alchemy is not just about mastering the formula; materials, flames, and furnaces all require careful consideration. Moreover, even when practicing the formula, one should proceed gradually, in order to achieve twice the result with half the effort."

  Ling Xiao nodded silently in response.

  The words of Fuling have been said, and there is no need to mention them again. Instead, he opened his mouth and asked: "When I came, I saw that you were practicing a kind of mantra later on, which seemed to be a unique system, vastly different from the ones recorded in our Qi Yun Sect's scriptures. I wonder where you learned it?"

  "This is nothing that can't be said, Ling Xiao hastily said: "This is a disciple who happened to see it in the market, because it happens to match the flying claw symbol device used by the disciple, so I bought it down with joy at first sight, and usually practice from time to time."

  Feng Ling nodded slightly and let him re-enact the entire set of techniques.

  Ling Xiao understood that this was also Fuling's intention to point him in the right direction, and he hastily calmed his mind and focused his spirit, practicing each of the nine basic claw techniques one by one.

  Although he didn't bring out the flying claw, this nine-style technique was extremely exquisite. In the empty space, the dragon's shadow coiled and changed, wandering around, with a dragon's roar echoing through the air. Ling Xiao wasn't yet proficient, but the power of the technique had already appeared.

  Feng Ling furrowed his brow, waiting for Ling Xiao to finish before slowly speaking: "I observe that your technique places great emphasis on strange and mysterious changes, with many twists and turns that are overly ruthless, deviating from the proper path. I fear it's not a genuine technique, but rather a demonic art."

  Ling Xiao's heart tightened involuntarily.

  The distinction between Tao and Devil is actually unrelated to right or wrong, but rather lies in the differences of cultivation paths. Relatively speaking, the Taoist school places more emphasis on practicing Qi, which involves refining a mouthful of true Qi through repeated tempering, following a step-by-step approach from shallow to deep, gradually achieving success through cultivation.

  But the Demon Gate is different from the Taoist Gate. They often think that cultivating immortality is too difficult and life is short; therefore, in their cultivation, they will always take many shortcuts to avoid bottlenecks and seek quick success.

  The fundamental difference in cultivation methods also makes the Tao and Demon gates look at each other with disdain. The Taoist school thinks that although the Demon gate can take shortcuts for a while, it will ultimately pay more attention and blood in other places; it's better to take solid steps like the Taoist school. On the other hand, the Demon gate thinks that the Taoist school is too pedantic, and the mediocre disciples of the Taoist school can only be trapped at a certain bottleneck, unable to make progress for life...

  Qiyun Zong is also an orthodox Qigong sect and naturally belongs to Daoism.

  Although Ling Xiao grew up in the Qi Yun Sect since childhood, he didn't have any bad feelings towards the Demon Gate. On the contrary, being stuck at the first level of cultivation for many years made him secretly admire and identify with the cunning methods of the Demon Gate.

  But Qiyun Zong after all belongs to the Taoist school, Fowling is also the daughter of the former sect's Fow Huang, Ling Xiao may not reject the demonic gate, but Fowling may not be so, hence her heart is uneasy.

  He was always cautious and careful, his face didn't show any expression, he secretly observed Fowling's complexion, and carefully probed: "Disciple is ashamed, that is a defective secret book, disciple unexpectedly did not discover it was a demonic door trick. Otherwise, disciple would never dare to buy and practice it."

  Feng Ling naturally didn't know the changes in his heart, and instead shook his head: "This is not necessary. The magical techniques of the Demon Gate are quite superior to the orthodox techniques of my own Daoist school in terms of their strange and wondrous transformations. Borrowing from them can be beneficial, so there's no need to rigidly adhere to the distinction between Daoism and demonism. Even if it involves fundamental great dao cultivation methods, studying them a bit won't do any harm."

  Ling Xiao put down his guard and thought that Fu Ling didn't have any prejudice against the sect. However, he also didn't say much, only nodding in agreement.

  Fu Lingbian then shifted the topic and pointed out his Huo Yun Jue. "Your Huo Yun Jue is barely proficient, but you have not yet grasped the many subtle aspects of it. These subtleties are not only beneficial for alchemy, but can also be used in battle to subdue enemies."

  "Please instruct me, Master." Ling Xiao respectfully asked.

  "Huo Yun, taking the fierce fire and the infinite changes of the clouds. Huo Yun Jue, also known as Yun Zhao, is said that when cultivated to the Great Completion realm, with one swipe of its claw, clouds are born and destroyed, and all phenomena follow, possessing unfathomable power."

  These rumors had been heard before, it is said that the third master of the Qi Yun Sect, also the master who truly made the Qi Yun Sect flourish, Yun Feng, in the far west at Wan Yao Ridge, observed and studied the scene where all beasts ran and jumped in the clouds and mist, sometimes hidden and sometimes revealed. At that time, he suddenly had an epiphany and created a set of alchemy techniques called Huo Yun Jue, which evolved into Yun Zhao, a supreme technique that combined attack and alchemy.

  As a result, Ling Xiao was formally taught Yunzhuao, and he was still extremely delighted in his heart, listening even more intently.

  Feng Ling didn't hide anything, and explained the subtleties of Yun Zhao's techniques one by one to Ling Xiao, even personally demonstrating them to help him gradually understand. Moreover, Yun Zhao was closely related to alchemy, so Feng Ling also specifically explained the details of alchemy to Ling Xiao.

  As he gained a deeper understanding, Ling Xiao's admiration and reverence for Yun Tian, the third generation leader of the Qi Yun Sect, grew stronger.

  What a rare talent!

  No wonder he was called the master of Qiyun Sect for over a thousand years, with his stunning talent and charm. He single-handedly laid the foundation for Qiyun Sect's prosperity for over a thousand years. And yet, he managed to derive such a versatile and mystical Xianjia technique from the alchemy manual.

  Moreover, the Cloud Claw and that incomplete manual, one orthodox and one unorthodox, one straightforward and one cunningly varied, complement each other perfectly, and when combined, their power increases.

  Ling Xiao listened to Fu Ling's lecture on Yunzhua, studying the incomplete manual, and felt a great deal of enlightenment.

  At the same time, he gradually understood that Fuling taught him Yunzhua, not only to improve Ling Xiao's understanding of alchemy, but also because he saw that Yunzhua and the incomplete method complemented each other perfectly, so he carefully guided him.

  Ling Xiao's heart was even more grateful, and he became more diligent in his cultivation.