Chương 229: Story 11 - How to Save a Sect in Six Simple Steps (Part 8)

I couldn't give up just yet. Little Teasing Mouse was too dangerous to be left alone!

"Sure, but what if this rat girl kept her demonic dancing a secret and used it to put half the sect under her control? Shouldn't that raise a red flag?"

"A what?" Goddamn it.

"A warning signal." He sighed.

"If that was the case, she'd be praised for bringing back our sect's lost discipline... Master, I really don't understand what the issue is here." Fucking strength-loving idiots of the unorthodox sect. The more I learned about this place, the more impressed I was that it had survived this long.

"The issue is that her control over half the sect will end up costing you. Just imagine if she's put in the center of the war. All her fans won't think clearly and will throw themselves in front of her."

"You're overthinking things. I doubt it will be that bad."

"I at least want you to make sure this girl goes nowhere near the front lines when the time comes."

"Is that all?" I nodded.

"For now. If you could banish her to that demonic dancer sect, that would be better." He stroked his chin in thought.

"Actually, I can't help you with either of those."

"What? Why not?"

"This is the alchemy department. She's with the beast tamers. Even if we worked to cure them, I don't have the best relationship with their leader at the moment." Right, because that Resentful Shadow Snake guy returned. He would be considered the head of that department because of how this sect treated the strong.

"If you want to ban her from participating in the war, you'll have to take it up with them yourself. Unfortunately, I'll be a bit busy, you know, with this." He gestured to the bath, and me, who was about to give him a lecture. Damn it!

"But, master, is right before the war really the best time to deal with this insignificant brat?"

"Absolutely. But if you can't do anything about it, then I'll have to take care of her another way." Frankly, I was tempted to just kill her if it wouldn't enrage half the sect. Also, she was only a fifteen-year-old girl, and she actually hadn't tried to kill me herself. While dangerous and annoying, she didn't deserve death just yet. But that could easily change. I threw the orb and manual back into the space and faced Noxious.

"Alright, let's go through your new cultivation manual in a way even idiots can understand."

"I'm not stupid, master."

"I would never have accepted you as an in-name disciple if you were. Now!" I raised my finger and used spiritual energy to create an illusory image of a body.

"The biggest difference between an alchemist and a poison master's cultivation technique lies in the inner Qi.

"While you both take in medicinal Qi, purify it, and store it in your dantian, you poisoners also take in garbage poison Qi."

"It's not that bad." [Image Link] I ignored him and began animating my illusion. White light entered through the translucent body's hands and changed into blue Qi strands when it hit the dantian. Next, I showed a dark purple energy entering and turning into a dark blue inner Qi. I had them cycle through the illusory body following the new cultivation pathways Noxious would use when he reached Immortal Bone Creation.

This animation served several purposes, but the most important one was to give him a visual representation he could easily memorize. It would help shave off ten years of meditation and contemplation. Unfortunately, creating it caused my head to ache, and merely looking at it made my eyes hurt. My nose started to bleed. Fuck. This was just the start, and I hadn't even reached the truly dangerous knowledge yet. Noxious's hands tightened on the rim of his cauldron.

Then he passed me a handkerchief, which I used to clean up the blood before throwing it into my ring. I'd use my cleaning technique on it once I had the energy and brain power to spare.

"Anyway, while this dual energy method is powerful and essentially doubles the amount and speed of internal Qi you can accumulate, it's also very harmful to your body. It's why it's so difficult for poison cultivators to advance to the next stage." He looked like he regretted offering me that handkerchief. What? Did I offend him with the truth? I grinned.

"Trust me, you're lucky that I'm here." For this next part, I split my mind into two parts. I left the first illusion to constantly cultivate the new technique. With my other hand, I showed an illusionary version of Noxious's body that included his energy core, nascent soul locations, and meridians. I marked every place that was injured or had issues in orange. As he stared at his illusion, his face turned red. Did I accidentally set my nascent soul soup to boil instead of simmer? Nope.

"Why do you know my body better than I do?"

"Because I'm also a master physician. I know almost everybody's body better than they do. How else could I help you come up with a treatment method for your sect's messed-up bath?" He tilted his head in thought, then nodded.

"Now, focus!" I moved my illusion of his body closer to him.

"With all these injuries, issues, and blockages, you'd think that it would be impossible to get to Immortal Bone Creation, but lucky for you, this treatment will clear some of that up. And all you have to do is survive your tribulation and form your first Immortal Bone." I cleared away the orange marks on his diagram and had it do a little dance, then wave pleasantly, in a way the real person never would. He scowled.

"Now, while most cultivators make either a finger bone or one of the L5 vertebrae, their first immortal bone. I don't recommend doing that. And actually, your fingers are stupid to use first since hands can easily get cut off. In fact, it's best to save your energy up in your dantian and condense your hands and feet in one shot."

"Then what do you suggest?" Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. I grinned and had the illusion zoom in on the ear, then go further until it highlighted a microscopic bone inside. [Image Link]"Because there are three tiny bones in each ear. The smallest is the stapes. If you miss these six bones at the beginning, you'll never get to use them since every additional immortal bone takes around 1. 25 times the energy of the last bone you used."

To put it in simpler terms, the second bone took around 1. 25 times a Peak Nascent Soul's energy to create. Imagine doing that increase 206 times. Frankly, the energy cost increases were worse than the predatory student loans from my past-past life. That said, it was easy to see why punching up from Nascent Soul was nearly impossible. Hell, even punching up between the barriers for early, mid, and late stage Immortal Bone Creation were intense, though it could happen with the right earthly laws.

"Anyway, if you start with a larger bone like one of the phalanges, you'll either have to forfeit changing some of these tiny bones until you ascend — or you'll have to find a way to stuff all that extra hot energy into this miniscule point right next to your soft brain." [Image Link] I zoomed out on the illusion and animated his distal phalanx, glowing as if becoming immortal, then his two stapes, followed by both incus.

When my animation reached the first malleus, his gray matter melted from the energy passing through his head. He winced.

"Hold on, but what about turning the skull and jawbone into immortal bones? Wouldn't the same thing happen then?"

"That's different. While it's always dangerous to have that much energy near your brain, the surface area is large enough that the heat from changing it into an immortal bone will be able to dissipate… Though, if you want an extra chance at survival, you could become a body cultivator as well." He shook his head.

"I don't have the aptitude for that." Not everyone had a special constitution that allowed them to practice whatever they wanted.

"In the end, it's your choice. But to improve your shot at reaching Immortal Ascension, you have to do two things." I checked to make sure he was listening. When I saw him stare at me intently, I continued.

"The first is to stop harming yourself by taking in poison Qi. While you can take pills to clear the new blockages, those will only help you for so long." The illusion I'd kept going, which showed the path of the new cultivation method, had developed signs of blockages and injuries due to the poison Qi, highlighting the dangers of it.

"The second is to start with your smallest bones and work your way up to your largest until you have around 206 of them." Since some bones fused as people aged, that number was just an estimate.

"It's initially risky but better for you in the long run than taking in poison Qi." He stared at each of the animated diagrams I kept running.

"I'm not a coward who would back away from a risk like that."

"Good!" I pulled the energy back into my body, dissipating the two illusions. My head immediately felt clearer, especially after I ended my split mind technique. Noxious rubbed his arm as if he was trying not to scratch an itch.

"If this works, I'll owe you more than I can ever repay." I removed the needles from his body.

"Of course. That's why I had you accept me as your master. What I'm giving you can lead to you becoming the most powerful person on this continent. It would be irresponsible of me to just hand over this information without accepting anything in return. And what I take is your loyalty as my in-name disciple. And one more thing." I crossed my arms and glared down at him.

"I don't require that you be a good person or an orthodox cultivator. I won't even ask you to not be an asshole, since that's impossible." He scowled.

"Since life is too unpredictable, I also can't order you to become the greatest poison master in the world."

"Why do I feel like your expectations of me are insulting?"

"I merely need you to swear to me that you will not go down the demonic path, no matter how tempted you may be. And that you'll help fight off the threat of the demonic sect."

"Hah. That's it? That's something I should just do. That evil sect is everyone's enemy. But if it makes my master happy..." He closed his eyes and cycled his cultivation. The sheer force of it caused me to take a step back. He wasn't even trying to pressure me, either.

"I swear on my cultivation base that I'll never take up the demonic path. I'll go against the demonic cults whenever I find them, as long as doing so won't endanger my niece and my sect." This fucker actually swore on his cultivation base? If he really broke this oath, his cultivation would implode. This crazy... well, I'd do the same in his shoes.

"Good." I rubbed my hands together.

"Since you fulfilled your end, it's time to continue the lecture."

"What? We're not done?"

"You think I already told you everything? Do you feel confident right now that you understand enough about this new realm that you can easily condense an immortal bone?"

"…"

"That's what I thought. But first, I'll give you a brief history lesson." He glowered.

"Is that really necessary?" I flicked his glabella out of habit. Pain shot through my finger. I brought it back, shook it out, and blew on it. Damn it. That hurt me more than it hurt him. He covered his mouth with his hand, so I couldn't tell if he was laughing at me. I clasped my hands like the master I was and cleared my throat.

"Of course it's necessary! It will give you an insight into why this method was created. Knowing the intention behind it helps you process these concepts faster."

"Oh."

"There used to be a realm above Nascent Soul called Spirit Severing, where a cultivator would indulge in one habit that they wanted to fix. This could be anything from massacres to extreme family loyalty. Then, to reach Immortal Ascension, they would cut it from themselves, severing their spirit."

"What?"

"This was obviously a horrible method of reaching Immortal Ascension, but no one in this world knew of a better way. Not only did it harm a cultivator's soul, but it also increased the difficulty of ascending to immortality, since it unnaturally made a cultivator less themselves."

"This is my first time hearing about this." Of course it would be. Most of the records from back then were purposefully lost to prevent more sick assholes from ascending using this flawed method.

"Have you heard about the Dao of Slaughter and Mayhem?"

"That crazy demonic path?" I wiggled my hand in the 'sort of' gesture.

"It originated from those Spirit Severing cultivators indulging in murder and chaos. Their goal was to eventually sever those vices from themselves."

"Are you sure they weren't demonic cultivators?" Originally, I thought they were, but apparently, in most Xianxia universes, murder and mayhem didn't necessarily mean evil. Especially if the protagonist indulged in it.

"Well, these Spirit Severing cultivators killed many innocent people just to advance their realm to the Immortal Ascension stage. During this time, some of them realized they could gain strength from their horrible indulgences. They filled their cultivation base using the life energy of their victims, becoming some of the first demonic cultivators."

"I'm surprised any records remained from such a chaotic time."

"I had to dig around a lot in the Indomitable Will sect's scripture pavilion to find out about all this, but everyone I've told has found it easier to transcend their tribulation. Frankly, I think the immortal who created it blesses those who remember her, but I could be wrong." He looked at me skeptically. In a world with a cheat like the Dao of Paperwork, a simple blessing of extra luck like this was nothing. Whatever. He'd see once he began his tribulation.

"So, eventually, Immortal Bone Creation was developed, right?" I grinned.

"A guy who had gone crazy thanks to their Spirit Severing experience killed a kind and generous immortal. She was reborn on this planet and managed to regain the memories of her past life when she reached Nascent Soul. Needless to say, she was pissed." I leaned forward.

"Want to know why?"

"I'm sure you're going to tell me whether I want to know or not." This fucker.

"It was because the immortals who had gone through spirit severing were almost all weirdos, guilt-ridden fools, or murderous assholes. The whole immortal realm was filled with these fuckers, who caused chaos and ruined lives."

"Ah." I threw a strand of my red hair over my shoulder.

"Anyway, she had studied immortal energy before she died and figured out how to convert inner Qi into the smallest and weakest form of it. Through her hard work, she developed the first method to create immortal bones, and she spread that knowledge to every Nascent Soul she could to prevent more crazy assholes from joining her in the immortal realm.

"Of course, once people realized how much more powerful Immortal Bone Creation was compared to Spirit Severing, almost everyone agreed to stop using that stage. And those who didn't eventually died out.

"Today, her name is lost to history, but her method of reaching immortality through creating immortal bones instead of severing the spirit has stuck with this world and replaced that inferior stage." I grinned.

"And her method, or something very close to it, is what I'm about to teach you." He sank deeper into the bath. This next bit of knowledge was too dangerous for someone at my realm to think about, let alone explain, but I had to.

"Pay attention. I can only show you this once." He straightened his spine.

"Yes, master!"