Chapter 140 - 96: Cultivating Spirit Fire

Chapter 140: Chapter 96: Cultivating Spirit Fire

In Mu Xiaoyu’s guest courtyard.

The female steward who had been teaching her earlier had already retreated to a corner. Mu Xiaoyu sat cross-legged on a futon, surrounded by Li Yinsheng, Shangguan Ling’Er, and Daoist Yanyu. Three shadows fell upon her, covering her completely.

She looked up at Li Yinsheng and shrank her neck back. "Senior Brother, do you and the two seniors need something?"

Standing directly in front of her, Li Yinsheng bent down to pat her head. "Junior Sister, do you find Artifact Refining hard and tiring to learn?" he asked amiably.

Mu Xiaoyu froze for a moment before nodding vigorously. "Yes! Very hard! Very tiring! Senior Brother, I think I might not be suited to learn Artifact Refining!"

She was filled with joy as she said this, thinking her senior brother was finally going to let her off the hook.

However, Li Yinsheng merely smiled faintly. "There is no need to belittle yourself, Junior Sister. Your talent for Artifact Refining isn’t bad. It’s just that your cultivation is still shallow, and the Fire Technique you practice lacks power.

"That is why you find it difficult and draining when melting and refining materials.

"Grand Daoist Yanyu here wishes to pass down the technique for the Three Yang Spirit Fire to you. It will help you refine materials much more easily. In the future, Artifact Refining will be a lot more effortless."

Daoist Yanyu lowered her head, beaming at Mu Xiaoyu.

Mu Xiaoyu looked up at Daoist Yanyu, her small face filled with gratitude. Although she didn’t quite understand what kind of Magic the Three Yang Spirit Fire was, she had heard loud and clear that Artifact Refining would be easier in the future.

She thought it was a pity she couldn’t give up on Artifact Refining altogether, but being able to do it with greater ease was quite nice, too. Moreover, if it became easier, she didn’t necessarily have to quit. She had heard that successful Artifact Refiners could make a lot of money. If she could master it with less effort, it seemed worth persisting.

Although her senior brother was a bit strict, he had always been very good to her. Once she became an Artifact Refining Master, she would be able to repay him. She had also heard that Artifact Refiners and Alchemy Masters held very similar status. If she could become an Artifact Refining Master one day, she could forge a very powerful Magical Artifact to exchange for the Life Breathing Creation Pill, which could help her Martial Uncle restore his cultivation.

Even though this goal seemed very difficult, with the help of this impressive-sounding Three Yang Spirit Fire, perhaps she could actually achieve it.

"Thank you, Senior Yanyu!" Mu Xiaoyu hurriedly bowed to Daoist Yanyu, her fondness for the senior soaring. She mused that Grand Daoist Yanyu was truly a wonderful senior. She had given her something so precious upon their first meeting. It was a good thing she had been fine during her breakthrough earlier. If such a good person had failed her breakthrough, the heavens would have been truly blind!

"There’s no need for such formalities, Mu," Daoist Yanyu said with a smile. "However, if you solely practice the technique for the Three Yang Spirit Fire, the progress will be extremely slow. You might not master it even in decades.

"If you want to achieve success quickly, you will need to refine a Fire Seed. With it, you can instantly reach the beginner stage.

"I can gift you a Fire Seed, but during the refinement process, there will be a slight burning pain."

Mu Xiaoyu paused, seriously pondering for a few breaths as she recalled the sensation of cultivating with the Blood Refining Core over the past three months. If the senior had mentioned any other type of pain, she might have hesitated. But if it was only a burning pain, there was nothing to fear—she was already used to it.

"Don’t worry, Senior," Mu Xiaoyu said, puffing out her chest. "I’m not afraid of burning pain."

"What great spirit!" Daoist Yanyu praised.

A moment later, however, Mu Xiaoyu grew a bit worried. "Will it be very dangerous to refine this Three Yang Spirit Fire?"

"It won’t. The three of us will stand guard for you, so there won’t be even a trace of danger," Li Yinsheng said, rubbing her head.

Feeling the warm, large hand on her head, a sense of security welled up in Mu Xiaoyu’s heart, and she nodded emphatically. She firmly believed that with her senior brother around, there would be no danger.

"The technique for the Three Yang Spirit Fire is not difficult. You should learn it first, Mu. Once I hand the Fire Seed over to you, you simply need to refine it according to this technique." Daoist Yanyu handed a booklet with red characters on a black background and an overall metallic luster to Mu Xiaoyu.

Li Yinsheng looked at the booklet with curiosity, finding its material quite interesting. He wondered if it was a special material uniquely forged by the Zulu Temple.

Daoist Yanyu misunderstood Li Yinsheng’s gaze, thinking he was also interested in the Three Yang Spirit Fire. She subsequently retrieved an identical booklet from her Qiankun Bag and offered it to him.

"If you are also interested in the Three Yang Spirit Fire, Li, there is no harm in taking a look. However, this Spirit Fire is difficult to cultivate, and I do not have a second Fire Seed. I’m afraid you will have to cultivate it on your own.

"Of course, this item is one of the lineages of my Zulu Temple. Given your kindness to our temple, there is absolutely no problem with you practicing this technique.

"It is just that you and Mu must not pass it on to anyone else in the future."

With that, she cast a glance at Shangguan Ling’Er, her meaning clear: if Shangguan Ling’Er was also curious, she wouldn’t be stingy. However, Shangguan Ling’Er merely waved her hand, indicating that she didn’t need it.

Li Yinsheng hesitated briefly before accepting the booklet. "Thank you, Yanyu. Lineage techniques are precious; my junior sister and I will naturally keep it a secret.

"It’s just that my major cultivation is in Wood Element Techniques and Sword Techniques, with some Refining Body as a minor cultivation. I doubt I’ll have much time to practice a Fire Technique.

"Please do not blame or mock me, Yanyu, for letting the pearl of your lineage technique gather dust," Li Yinsheng joked.

Daoist Yanyu replied with a smile, "That’s a good thing, isn’t it? Seeing a twenty-something Sword Cultivator Grand Daoist like you, Li, already makes a Lower Foolish Cultivator like me, who barely managed a breakthrough, feel ashamed to show my face.

"If you also have shortcomings, it actually brings me a bit of comfort. It lets me know that I am not entirely worthless, so how could I possibly dare to mock you?"

Li Yinsheng smiled along and flipped open the booklet. Though he was joking just now, he was telling the truth. He didn’t intend to invest any energy into this Three Yang Spirit Fire. After all, he inherently didn’t have much time to cultivate Magic, and he had no idea when the next Cultivation Tribulation that rewarded Magic cultivation time would arrive. Even if there was another Cultivation Tribulation, he would either save the time in the Magic Grotto Heaven for stronger Magic or cultivate Escape Skills or other functional Magic to make up for his shortcomings.

The Three Yang Spirit Fire certainly wasn’t weak. Daoist Yanyu had briefly demonstrated it earlier, but in terms of pure lethality, it couldn’t compare to the Profound Evil Sword. He currently lacked no killing methods. Even if he learned the Three Yang Spirit Fire, he wouldn’t allocate precious time in the Magic Grotto Heaven to it. Even if he really needed to enhance his lethality, he would look for ways along the paths of a Sword Cultivator or a Body Cultivator.

For example, regarding Body Cultivation, he knew that Body Cultivators could also use Qi Blood to cast Magic specifically designated for Magical Combat and killing, known as "Combat Skills." There were several manuals for Combat Skills in the Third Layer of the Xuanzhen Temple’s Scripture Pavilion that he hadn’t yet had time to cultivate. No matter what, he simply wouldn’t have the energy to specifically cultivate the Three Yang Spirit Fire.

At least, that was what he initially thought.

However, after flipping through the pages for a moment, he completely overturned his previous mindset.

This Three Yang Spirit Fire was excellent; he definitely had to practice it.

Surprisingly, this Magic could be practiced concurrently while cultivating. Or rather, the Three Yang Spirit Fire was different from other types of Magic. It didn’t just require practice; it also demanded "cultivation." Once Cultivators refined a Fire Seed in their bodies or nurtured a Spirit Fire themselves, they needed to frequently use their own Magical Power to cultivate and strengthen it.

This process was somewhat akin to refining a Magical Treasure, though not entirely the same.

When Cultivators nurtured a Magical Treasure, it barely consumed any Heart and Spirit. Yet, nurturing and strengthening the Three Yang Spirit Fire required an additional toll on one’s Heart and Spirit. Therefore, over-nurturing it would drag down their own cultivation progress.

That being said, when the Three Yang Spirit Fire was initially formed, its power far exceeded ordinary Fire Techniques. With a little cultivation, its power would increase tremendously, providing a great advantage in Magical Combat. Once the Three Yang Spirit Fire was strengthened to a certain extent, it could even melt an opponent’s Magical Artifact during Magical Combat, making it incredibly domineering.

For this reason, once Cultivators successfully mastered the Three Yang Spirit Fire, it would be a waste not to invest any energy into it. How to balance the investment between cultivation and nurturing the Spirit Fire—ensuring the Spirit Fire’s impressive power without slowing down their overall progress too much—was a dilemma every Cultivator had to face.

Everyone except Li Yinsheng.

Wasn’t it just consuming Heart and Spirit during nurturing? He could just nurture it in the Grotto Heaven. Anyway, he already had the Vein Casting Rope and the Chess Soul demanding extra Heart and Spirit during his cultivation, so one more Three Yang Spirit Fire wouldn’t make a difference.

Most importantly, although the Three Yang Spirit Fire nurtured and strengthened independently by a Cultivator couldn’t be transferred to others practicing the same technique, the newly birthed Fire Seed could help other Cultivators strengthen their own Spirit Fire.

The Fire Seed that Daoist Yanyu had mentioned earlier was exactly this—a wisp of essence born naturally once the Three Yang Spirit Fire was cultivated and strengthened to a certain degree. Because this essence was exceedingly pure and clean, it could be refined by other Cultivators.

Of course, if the Cultivator who produced the Fire Seed refined it themselves, they could further strengthen their own Three Yang Spirit Fire, though very few ever did so. Although the Three Yang Spirit Fire wasn’t limited to producing a Fire Seed only once, each birth required a very long period of nurturing.

Cultivators below the Daoist realm were unlikely to ever produce a single Fire Seed in their entire lifetime. Even a Daoist would need about fifty years of nurturing to birth one Fire Seed, since the majority of their Heart and Spirit still had to be dedicated to major cultivation.

Any Three Yang Spirit Fire capable of birthing a Fire Seed would already be incredibly strong. Refining its own newly birthed Fire Seed would yield a moderate improvement at best. The most cost-effective approach was naturally like what Daoist Yanyu did—using the Fire Seed to help outstanding juniors begin their journey with the Three Yang Spirit Fire.

However, Li Yinsheng had thought of a third approach.

If he allowed his junior sister to refine all the Fire Seeds he nurtured, wouldn’t her Three Yang Spirit Fire level up rapidly? Furthermore, it took other True Cultivators fifty years to nurture a Fire Seed because their Heart and Spirit were tied up in regular cultivation. Nurturing the Spirit Fire within the Grotto Heaven imposed no such restrictions on him.

Moreover, the Cultivation Technique he practiced belonged to the Wood Element. When it came to nurturing the Three Yang Spirit Fire, the advantages of a major in the Fire Element and the Wood Element were essentially the same.

The Fire Element shared the same origin as the Three Yang Spirit Fire, whereas the Wood Element fed the fire; both possessed tremendous advantages. But since his major cultivation was an Immortal Dao Lineage like the Six Interpretations of Life and Death, he would naturally be far more efficient than Daoist Yanyu.

With these two factors combined, he estimated that he could birth a Fire Seed roughly every time he increased his cultivation by ten years. This way, if he cultivated a few more times, his junior sister’s Three Yang Spirit Fire would rapidly grow stronger.

It was just that every time she refined a Fire Seed, she might have to endure a bit of hardship.

Having made up his mind, Li Yinsheng continued to flip through the subsequent techniques of the Three Yang Spirit Fire with even greater focus.

Mu Xiaoyu, who was also studying the technique, felt another faint chill creep into her heart. She subconsciously looked up at her senior brother, who was still leafing through the booklet. She had no evidence, but she just had a sinking feeling that he was going to set her up.

"Oh no!" Mu Xiaoyu’s heart skipped a beat. "Could refining the Fire Seed later... be incredibly, incredibly, incredibly painful?"