Chapter 469 - 443: Secret Realm Entrance, Winter Snow Begins to Melt

Two days after leaving Yanzhe County, Song Ciwan crossed the Luoshui and arrived on the outskirts of Thunder Strike Ridge.

During this time, she maintained her usual routine: traveling by day and bringing out the Han Guang Glaze Residence and the Big White Goose at night. While teaching the Big White Goose its Cultivation, she would also take out her Pill Furnace to cook demons.

She would cook a cauldron of Demon Beast Flesh, trade for more cultivation time, and immerse herself in practicing various Techniques.

The Thunder Prison-Suppression Skill was something Song Ciwan had recently acquired. Last time, at the Seven Treasures Tower, she had obtained three clumps of human desires in succession: one from Steward Luo, one from Steward Liu, and one from some unknown, high-ranking, green-robed steward of the Seven Treasures Tower.

Steward Luo’s contribution was significant. Lately, whenever Song Ciwan traded for cultivation time, she used his human desires.

One jin could be traded for ten years, making it perfect for daily Cultivation.

Steward Liu had only provided a single clump of human desires. If she sold it directly, she would have received a random Cultivation Technique. Since Song Ciwan didn’t particularly want any new Cultivation Techniques, she chose to make a specific trade for a Martial Arts Technique with an evil-suppressing effect.

[You have consumed 10,000 Primordial Pearls and sold the human desires—the surprise, rapture, and restraint of an Innate Third Transformation Martial Artist, weighing one jin and five taels. You have obtained the complete Earth Level Top Grade Martial Arts Technique: Thunder Prison-Suppression Skill.]

And just like that, the complete Thunder Prison-Suppression Skill was hers!

Although it was only an Earth Level Top Grade technique, not a Celestial Level one, its value was not to be underestimated.

First, in an era where techniques were not taught lightly, a great many Martial Artists practiced only Mortal Level Martial Arts Techniques, some of which weren’t even ranked at all!

Possessing a Yellow Level technique was enough for a talented Martial Artist to reach the Innate realm. If a Profound Level technique appeared in the martial arts world, it would even attract Innate Second Transformation experts to fight over it.

An Earth Level technique could be the cornerstone of a respectable Sect, restricted to only its most trusted disciples!

This was to say nothing of an Earth Level Top Grade technique, especially since the Thunder Prison-Suppression Skill also possessed evil-suppressing properties, making its quality all the more extraordinary.

If the technique hadn’t been so immensely valuable, Peng Guanglin wouldn’t have been so moved and filled with trust after receiving it from her remotely.

The grace of being taught such a profound path was enough to make Peng Guanglin weep with gratitude and pledge his life to follow her.

There was another major difference between the Thunder Prison-Suppression Skill and the various Celestial Level Martial Techniques Song Ciwan had previously obtained. Primarily, the Thunder Prison-Suppression Skill was a complete Cultivation Technique, while all the other Martial Techniques she possessed were merely applications of skills!

To put it bluntly, one was a fundamental method, and the others were just applications of skill.

Of course, since Song Ciwan had the Sutra of Sitting and Forgetting, which could simulate and integrate anything, she didn’t need other fundamental methods. Even if she cultivated other Cultivation Techniques, they would automatically merge into the Sutra of Sitting and Forgetting, ready to be called upon whenever needed.

But for an ordinary Martial Artist, the significance of a fundamental method was undeniable. It was the path to the Great Dao, something absolutely indispensable!

The Thunder Prison-Suppression Skill had another benefit. Due to its fierce and unyielding nature that repelled all evil, those with malicious thoughts could never cultivate it to a high level.

If one tried to cultivate it with evil intent, depending on the magnitude of those thoughts, they would at best find their progress difficult or suffer a backlash from their own malevolence. At worst, their meridians would reverse, and they would die!

This couldn’t guarantee that everyone who cultivated the Thunder Prison-Suppression Skill would be a flawless, perfect, and upright person—after all, even Saints aren’t perfect. Demanding perfection would be too much.

But at the very least, this skill could automatically root out great treachery and evil, making it a wondrous and abnormal technique well-suited for dissemination throughout the world.

Given its evil-suppressing properties, it might even be particularly effective against the Ancient Divine Insect Race.

Later, Song Ciwan also sold the human desires from that unknown Green-robed Steward. Since it was too light, she didn’t make a specific trade this time. Mainly, she wanted to try her luck opening a "blind box."

[You have sold the human desires—the surprise, shock, and restraint of a Divine Refining Stage Cultivator, weighing three taels and six mace. You have obtained the first three layers of the Celestial Level Top Grade Martial Skill Step Method: Inch Heart, End of the World.]

Inch Heart, End of the World: In the space of an inch, a footstep spans the horizon.

It was another movement technique. But compared to the long-distance sprinting of Cloud Sea Stepping Waves, Inch Heart, End of the World was undoubtedly a more agile and elusive combat footwork! It was clearly more suited for blinking and shifting around in battle.

This blind box opening was a great success. Although she hadn’t obtained the complete Inch Heart, End of the World, that wasn’t important. Song Ciwan could always get the full version later through a specific trade.

At this point, besides the large amount of human desires harvested in Luying City, the most valuable items for trade in Song Ciwan’s Heaven and Earth Scale were, first, the Death Qi Demon Hearts of the Twelve Great Demons, and second, the heart of the Willow Demon from before, as well as the Spiritual Artifact Willow Branch Fragment she had stripped off with the Pseudo-Gold Divine Light.

Third, there was the single strand of human desires from the Beichen Sword Immortal.

The Beichen Sword Immortal’s human desires were likely the most valuable of all. Song Ciwan didn’t dare attempt to trade them until she had processed her other items and raised her Cultivation to a certain level.

However, Song Ciwan had a plan. The Beichen Sword Immortal’s human desires would have to be sold eventually, and before she did, her Cultivation could not be higher than the Divinity Transformation Stage!

If she insisted on waiting until after she broke through Divinity Transformation and entered the Divine Refining Stage to sell it, there would be no point. It would be a complete waste of such high-level human desires.

Recently, the Demon Corpses Song Ciwan had been cooking in her Pill Furnace all came from the Mid-Stage Demon King, the Flower Leopard Demon.

Unlike the Pangolin, which could be stewed in a single pot, the Flower Leopard Demon’s original form was enormous. It was over seventeen feet long and as tall as a giant bull. Even after two nights of cooking it in various ways, Song Ciwan had only gotten through half of the Flower Leopard Great Demon.

The first night, she made red-braised leopard meat and sold it to the Heaven and Earth Scale. One bowl fetched five Five-star Elixirs: Spiritual Essence Pills.

The main effect of the Spiritual Essence Pill was quite standard. It was used to assist in Cultivation, providing a large amount of pure Vitality, and could also be used to replenish consumed True Qi.

Song Ciwan sold seventy bowls of red-braised leopard meat at once, receiving a total of three hundred and fifty Spiritual Essence Pills.

She left the remaining twenty or so bowls of leopard meat for the Big White Goose as cultivation resources for it to eat later.

The second night, she made stewed bone-in cuts and sold them to the Heaven and Earth Scale. One bowl fetched five Five-star Spiritual Pills: Blood God Pills.

The Blood God Pill’s function was to fortify qi and nourish the blood, making it more suitable for Martial Artists. It also had some Body Refining and Bone Strengthening effects. It, too, was a conventional pill. If used for Body Refining, it would even be beneficial to Song Ciwan, despite her current Flesh and Blood Slaughter realm.

Song Ciwan sold eighty bowls, broth and bones included, in one go, receiving a total of four hundred Blood God Pills.

She again left about twenty bowls’ worth, sealed them in special Jade Boxes, and placed them in the Storage Pouch designated for the Big White Goose’s food.

Cooking demons was addictive. You could eat them and sell them, and demons cooked with Samadhi True Fire were especially fragrant.

If not for the Han Guang Glaze Residence’s built-in Mysterious Array, which could isolate it from the outside world, Song Ciwan would likely attract a horde of uninvited guests every time she cooked a demon.

But she had always been cautious, so something like that was unlikely to happen.

Even the Big White Goose was kept hidden. Since she was currently traveling under the identity of Lu Bell, she would never have let the goose out if she weren’t inside the Han Guang Glaze Residence, with the Treasure Residence to conceal it.

「The fifteenth day of the second month. The winter snows had begun to melt.」

At the entrance to the Spirit Realm in eastern Yu State, group after group of people arrived, intending to explore the Spirit Realm Secret Realm.

On this day, a young man in black also appeared at the entrance to the Secret Realm.