Chương 22: Extraordinary

Lin Yi walked towards the stairway leading to higher floors. Normally, the entry was hidden by the grand formation spanning the entire main Scripture Pavilion, but because he had already been there more than once on the higher floors, he knew where it was on the first floor. Outside his work duty in the Scripture Pavilion, he wouldn't be able to see it either way. The only reason he did so at the moment was that Senior Sister Zhang checked him in the formation.

He walked up to the second floor and stopped for a moment. It was smaller than the first floor, but nevertheless more important. Lin Yi himself also had one or two immortal arts here in his mind for future purchase. He still possessed 1. 000 Sect Points, and he already had some plans for how to spend them. He required a spirit bee queen, tea plants, and beast- or insect-taming immortal arts. The latter was found here. These three things were the next projects he had in mind.

The taming art was naturally to control the bee queen and her future swarm, the bees for honey, and the tea plants were, of course, for tea leaves. These were not mortal objects, but spiritual insects and plants. Their cost was not comparable to their mortal, common counterparts. Lin Yi didn't know how much they would cost, but they wouldn't come cheap. Spirit honey, as already mentioned, could be ingested raw to support cultivation or used in alchemy or other arts. Spiritual tea was also a cultivation resource.

If correctly brewed, it can help calm the mind and enhance comprehension. Naturally, there were countless variations of spiritual tea with different effects. To brew and drink the tea, he would also need a tea set made of spiritual materials, which would further deplete his 'savings'. He also had other plans for raising silkworms, cows, and other animals and plants. But these would come later. Lin Yi wanted to become as autarchical as possible. Never mind that now.

First, I need to choose a suitable immortal art for me. With his mind set, he walked up the stairs towards the third floor. This level was even smaller than the second one, but still, dozens upon dozens of shelves could be seen lined up. Qi Condensation Realm chapters of all kinds, individually of their higher-grade immortal arts, were found here.

Cut-off Foundation Establishment or Golden Core Realm orthodox cultivation methods, first-tier body cultivation methods, refinement, or tempering arts, and minor derived spells or even divine abilities. But Lin Yi was not here for them. He intended to cultivate the Classic of Qi Refinement through the entirety of the Qi Condensation Realm. Cultivating body refinement methods currently was also not the focus, and his cultivation level was not yet high enough to practice spells, let alone divine abilities.

No, he was here for the extraordinary immortal arts, also known as secret arts. They were not cultivation methods that increased one's realm but similar to spells in that they have special properties. However, in contrast to spells and divine abilities, extraordinary arts focused on the cultivator themself, temporary or permanent. Temporary extraordinary arts were, for example, the burning and circulation of blood essence, Qi, or other fundamental energies to increase one's attributes.

Permanent arts, as the name suggested, had a long-lasting change on the cultivator. Among them were extraordinary arts for changing one's talents, for gaining greater longevity, and more. The later longevity arts were the reason Lin Yi was here. He knew that as long as he cultivated properly and underwent no misfortune, reaching the peak of the ninth level of the Qi Condensation Realm was nearly guaranteed. He even had no small chance of breaking through to the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. But Lin Yi never wanted a bare-minimum foundation to reach the next realm. He wanted to lay a foundation that would lead him to the highest point of the immortal dao. That meant reaching the peak of Qi Condensation, the profound tenth level. But it was not as easy as just cultivating for a few more years to reach that stage.

The peak stage of the first cultivation realm was mysterious upon mysterious; it was the unity of a whole. Lin Yi was not arrogant or talented enough to believe that he could reach that stage till his sixtieth birthday. After a Qi Condensation cultivator's sixtieth year of living, their Essence started to decline. Their Innate Qi would slowly disperse, and the Spirit would diminish.

Every other second, minute, hour, day, week, month, and year would drastically reduce their chance of ever entering the next realm of cultivation. Of course, the decline wouldn't begin at the exact sixtieth birthday. Depending on any hidden injuries and general health, it would be around that year, or even earlier. For Lin Yi, there were several possibilities to increase his chance of reaching the peak stage.

Alchemy products to advance faster, reforge his talent for cultivation, and increase his longevity were among them. Ultimately, he decided to increase his longevity through an extraordinary immortal art. The other possibilities would include having enough money and/or resources, or even risking his life undergoing major alterations. Lin Yi's dao was that of steady cultivation. Longevity arts were naturally the most suitable.

The reason cultivators didn't cultivate multiple permanent extraordinary arts was that they often clashed with one another, and cultivating even just two of them would most often end in stagnation or crippling of one's foundation. In the end, most cultivators would choose arts that increase their talent, combat potential, or even appearance and beauty. He arrived at the isle for the extraordinary immortal arts of longevity and looked over them.

Lin Yi had already informed himself beforehand about some possible arts that were stored here by the sect, but many of them were unknown to him. Hmm, let's take a look. He took his time to inspect them, as his gaze wandered through the shelves. Yi Wood-Self Nourishing Art. A wood attributed immortal art? He shook his head. He wanted more balance, and not focus on one of the five elements. Jianmu Incarnation Method. Jianmu, the world tree? Lin Yi read over the introduction and could only smile wryly.

He doubted he would be able to cultivate this one. Great Essence Seizing Art. That sounds more like a demonic art. He looked at it in surprise, but soon realized that while it originated from demonic dao, it could also be used in an unorthodox but non-demonic way. Canopus Star Art. Derived from the Star of Longevity, huh? That looked interesting. Using the starlight from the Canopus Star to increase one's longevity. He kept it in mind. Extreme Heart Flame Body. A little extreme, isn't it? He smirked.

The method was used to form a special heart flame that refined greater, stronger, and more vigorous Essence, and thus essence blood. It was half a longevity art and half a passive body tempering art. He looked at the next art. Flowing Yang-Water Spring. Forming a spring of gentle yang-water to nourish and increase one's longevity. Interesting, but it was another attribute of the five elements. Nine Corpse Incarnations. Sigh, that sound like another demonic art.

But, as with the previous one, the introduction to the art dissolved his worries. Instead of using other people's corpses, one grows corpse clones under the earth using one's own blood essence. Once the corpses reached completion, one can harvest them and use them as medicine to increase longevity. Spirit Root Seeding Art. That... is also quite unorthodox. The art described how a cultivator can implant a spirit seed of a spiritual plant in their body and cultivate it in a symbiotic relationship.

Once grown enough, it will increase the user's longevity. Locking Yin Nourishing Art. That is a really interesting art, sadly only for women. Lin Yi looked on with disappointment. This art, so far, was one of his favorites. Fortunately, his disappointment turned for the better as he saw the next extraordinary immortal art. Yes! Locking Yang Nourishing Art. He looked at it with excitement.

Locking Yang means anchoring a cultivator's primordial yang, and nourishing means using the primordial yang to nourish one's own body and essence. Primordial yang, or primordial yin in the case of women, was a different kind of innate Qi. It was derived from one's Innate Qi during the being's conception, and turned into yin or yang depending on whether one was female or male. The primordial yang, in Lin Yi's situation as a male, had different abilities and functions.

In simple terms, it was a special kind of spiritual organ that possessed a great amount of very pure innate yang Qi. For women, it was yin Qi. Primordial yang or primordial yin was important for one's cultivation. If a cultivator's primordial yang or yin were tainted, through intercourse or other ways, reaching higher realms would become more difficult. It was also important for the production of future offspring.

Breaking through Foundation Establishment would be several times more difficult, and breaking through the Golden Core Realm even more so. Of course, if one lost their primordial yang or primordial yin in the Foundation Establishment Realm, it would have less effect on cultivation. Dao Masters could protect theirs at a greater capacity than Qi Condensation cultivators, and Perfect Ones had perfect control over their primordial yang or primordial yin. They had no fear of losing it.

It can be said that only Qi Condensation and, to a somewhat lesser degree, Foundation Establishment cultivators had to protect theirs properly. And this special Qi was used in the Locking Yin/Yang Nourishing Art.