Cultivation Starting from Full Talent

Chapter 34: Chapter 33 Snow Clearing Grass

Climbing the red stairs step by step, Old Demon Ye slowly untied his cloak clasp, enduring days of painful silence; he could finally relax a bit now.

Old Demon Ye suddenly looked up towards the direction of a beam, though nothing was there, he still felt that something was amiss.

This keen intuition was one of the main reasons he had survived through bloodshed till today.

“Not right!”

Suddenly, Old Demon Ye felt as if his scalp was about to explode!

Amidst a sharp sound of cutting wind, a section of the Azure Dragon Spear, carrying an indescribable heavy force, aimed directly at his face!

No matter how good Old Demon Ye’s movement technique was, he couldn’t dodge this premeditated strike.

“Bang!”

Amidst a spray of blood, Old Demon Ye was struck in the head by the spear, blood splattering everywhere.

“You son of a…”

Just as he was about to retaliate, the figure from the air landed, ruthlessly spearing through his chest and pinning him onto the floor tiles.

Then, fist after fist landed on his head, and before long, Old Demon Ye’s skull slowly cracked open, blood and brain matter splashing everywhere, causing the newly arrived brothel girls to scream in terror.

After Ning Daoran had hit enough, he slowly stood up, dressed in a dark robe and a hat, holding a section of the Azure Dragon Spear in his right hand and lifting Old Demon Ye with his left.

He glanced at the brothel girls, eventually deciding against further killing; there was no benefit in more deaths.

Using the Perfect Level Breath Concealing Technique, Invisibility Technique, and Sound Absorption Technique, he leaped out of the back window and vanished into the night sky with Old Demon Ye in tow.

…

Several dozen li away.

After scanning the nearby area with his Divine Sense to make sure he wasn’t being watched, Ning Daoran finally put down the body of Old Demon Ye.

“Ugh…”

Old Demon Ye was surprisingly not dead yet; truly worthy of a cultivator close to the peak of Early-stage Foundation Establishment, both body and spirit incredibly strong.

But with another punch from Ning Daoran, Old Demon Ye’s head completely split open, and he was truly dead.

Soul Search!

Old Demon Ye’s vast store of knowledge was terrifying; he had scrambled through the Cultivation World since childhood, amassing an astonishing history.

From a young boy subjected to hard labor, discovered later to have a Spirit Root, nearly had his body snatched away by a treacherous master, to being treated as disposable by his sect.

Surviving that, he concluded that the Cultivation World was thus cruel—harm others before they harm you, and thus Old Demon Ye was born.

But regrettably, he ultimately fell because of a woman.

During the Soul Search regarding the early chapters of the Shape-shifting Technique, Old Demon Ye’s memories became chaotic, containing only fragmented memories of sneaking into the Main Altar of the Five Saints Mountain, then erased by a pair of terrifying eyes.

Those eyes belonged to a sheep.

The White Sheep Demon King of Feng Valley, the leading figure among the Five Saints Mountain, reputed to have the strength of the Gold Core Late Stage, coupled with the natural power of the demon clan. Even old monsters in the early stage of Nascent Soul would fear it!

The gaze from the White Sheep Demon King sent a chill through Ning Daoran’s heart.

After exiting the Soul Searching Technique, his clothes were drenched in sweat.

Ning Daoran’s Divine Sense felt electrified by that immense fear… Forget it, with his current strength, he definitely should not touch anything related to the Gold Core stage; it would be certain death.

He quickly searched through all of Old Demon Ye’s Storage Bags, and then with a Fireball Technique, turned him into a puff of ash.

He headed back to the Chaotic Sect overnight.

…

Qiongbi Peak, Spiritual Field Courtyard No. 77.

In the underground chamber, twenty zhang deep.

“Phew…”

Ning Daoran lay down on the bed, sighing deeply, ah, the feeling of not being watched was just too great.

The results from the Soul Searches of Li Jue and Old Demon Ye satisfied him greatly; the early chapters of the Shape-shifting Technique were indeed critical. Both had been investigating separately, not even sharing their findings in time with a third person.

That is to say, with the deaths of these two men, the suspicions regarding Ning Daoran’s contact with the Shape-shifting Technique would sink to the bottom of the sea, no longer pursued by anyone.

This deep sense of security made him extremely happy.

What he needed most right now was time. As long as he had enough time, even facing that terrifying demon king in the future wouldn’t matter.

By then, Ning Daoran would also have succeeded in his Core Formation; being at the same Golden Core Stage, he could completely crush the White Sheep Demon King!

“Old Lu.”

He spoke earnestly, “We should still focus on cultivating Spirit Rice diligently in the future. Growing Spirit Rice is our foundation; we mustn’t bring unnecessary trouble upon ourselves.”

“Ah~~~”

Big Stupid Deer called out softly, agreeing with his older brother. Today’s fight with Old Demon Ye had nearly scared it to death.

Although it seemed Ning Daoran succeeded with a sneak attack and killed Old Demon Ye with a few punches, Big Stupid Deer felt it was a narrow victory, and Old Demon Ye almost had a chance to fight back.

It began checking Old Demon Ye’s possessions.

Truly worthy of the Thief King, he had more than eight thousand Low Grade Spirit Stones, surpassing most cultivators in the Early-stage Foundation Establishment.

Besides, there were three Spiritual Artifacts, over ten Magic Artifacts; this Thief King was truly dripping with wealth!

Unfortunately, there were no Magic Artifacts that caught Ning Daoran’s eye; he would probably face some trouble later converting them into Spirit Stones, then purchasing suitable Magic Artifacts for himself.

Apart from Spirit Stones, Magic Artifacts, and Elixir Pills, there were two Cultivation Techniques.

He uploaded both directly into the Grass and Wood Holy Spirit System.

[Wind Riding Leisurely Technique: Dark Rank Lower (Uninitialized)]

[Blood Drinking Demon Technique: Dark Rank Lower (Uninitialized)]

…

“Good stuff!”

The moment his gaze landed on the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique, Ning Daoran’s heart lit up; wasn’t this exactly what he lacked?

With the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique, combined with his talent for speed, wouldn’t he be able to outrun anyone if he couldn’t outfight them?

Even if, after sufficient Refining Time, he directly cultivated the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique to Return to Nature, he feared that not even a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Great Cultivator could catch up to him.

With this, he had a means of protecting his life and the credentials to be somewhat reckless!

He took a deep breath and directly spent over five thousand years of Refining Time to cultivate the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique to perfection.

As for the Blood Drinking Demon Technique…

He didn’t waste it and also cultivated it to perfection, since it was held in such high regard by Old Demon Ye, he decided to learn it.

However, the perfect level Blood Drinking Demon Technique consumed four thousand eight hundred years of Refining Time, but the results weren’t as expected.

It was a demon technique similar to the Absorption Star Technique, capable of drawing the opponent’s mana and temporarily using it as his own foundation, but excessive absorption made his own mana incredibly mixed, which was a great taboo!

Take Ning Daoran, for instance, his original magic power mainly stemmed from the wood attribute magic power derived from the Evergreen Technique; using the Blood Drinking Demon Technique would inevitably contaminate his cultivation.

Might as well keep it, and use the Blood Drinking Demon Technique on corpses after killing someone in the future to pin the blame on Old Demon Ye!

Everything remained unchanged.

Days later, news of Li Jue’s assassination arrived.

Although many rumors circulated within Shanyang County, in the end, the court and the Chaotic Sect ruled that Li Jue was killed by Old Demon Ye.

This blame was thus fully shifted onto Old Demon Ye!

…

“Junior Brother Ning!”

Lin Sheng’s voice came from outside the Small Cloud Mist Array.@@novelbin@@

Ning Daoran immediately deactivated the array and saw Lin Sheng and Liu Ruyan arriving together.

At this moment, Liu Ruyan and Lin Sheng were as close as glue and recognized by the Inner Sect as a Daoist couple, but… since Lin Sheng was cultivating the True Yang Furnace Technique to maintain a Pure Yang Body, the two had not truly come together for the sake of his cultivation.

However, Ning Daoran was naturally pleased that Liu Ruyan could visit.

Since this nearly Second-order Talisman Master Sister had come, there was hope for his Second-order Talisman.

“Junior Brother, are you alright?”

As soon as Lin Sheng entered the courtyard, he checked Ning Daoran to see if he was missing any parts.

“I just heard that those old fools in the Outer Sect actually named you to go after Old Demon Ye. That was close. Luckily, you returned safely. Let your Senior Brother check if you are injured anywhere vital.”

With that, he reached for a certain spot.

Ning Daoran quickly blocked him, stating righteously, “Senior Brother Lin, Senior Sister Liu is right here!”

“Ha ha ha ha~~~”

Lin Sheng laughed, “It’s good that you’re alright. This trip was just to see you and opportunistically snag a good meal.”

“Sure.”

Ning Daoran immediately called Big Stupid Deer to prepare the meal.

“Junior Brother Ning.”

After sitting down, Lin Sheng pulled a jade bottle from his robe and pushed it forward, declaring solemnly, “This is a Xuanyuan Pill that your Senior Brother asked a Junior Brother at Danxia Peak to specially refine for you. Keep it safe; I believe you’ll need it in a few years.”

The Xuanyuan Pill, an elixir pill for breaking through Late-stage Qi Refinement.

It was said that it could only be successfully refined using Spirit Stream Grass aged five hundred years as the main medicinal ingredient, making it incredibly rare. Even within the Chaotic Sect, such a spiritual medicine was hard to come by.

Ning Daoran felt somewhat helpless; Senior Brother was really worried about his cultivation.

But he couldn’t tell his Senior Brother that he had already reached Late-stage Qi Refinement…

There was no choice but to accept the elixir pill and think of a way to repay his Senior Brother in the future.

“Senior Sister Liu.”

He turned to the beauty in front of him and asked, “Have you made any breakthroughs with the Second-order Talisman recently?”

“I knew that’s what Junior Brother is most concerned with.”

Liu Ruyan’s lips curled up with a smile, “Indeed, these days I’ve continuously touched the edge of the Second-order Talisman and even managed to successfully refine one with a success rate nearing twenty percent.”

“Oh?”

Ning Daoran’s eyes brightened, “Senior Sister has refined a new Second-order Talisman?”

“Exactly!”

Liu Ruyan slapped her Storage Bag, “A Second-order Middle-grade Frost Freeze Talisman, a Second-order Lower-grade Earth Spike Talisman – both talismans were refined using top-quality talisman paper; their might is surely not a problem.”

“Senior Sister is truly incredible to be able to refine a Second-order Middle-grade Talisman…”

Ning Daoran admired sincerely.

“Ruyan.”

Lin Sheng was somewhat helpless, “Although a Second-order Middle-grade Talisman can threaten those in Mid-stage Foundation Establishment, let’s not say that Junior Brother does not have enough powerful mana to activate these talismans, even if he did… the price of these talismans is definitely beyond what Senior Brother can afford…”

“That may not be entirely true.”

Ning Daoran also slapped his Storage Bag and said, “During the pursuit of Old Demon Ye in the Yellow Dragon Mountain Range, although it was dangerous, fortune came from misfortune. Old Lu and I hid in a cave deep in the mountains, where I happened to find three strains of spirit grass.”

He waved his hand, and three strains of herb over five hundred years old, covered with what seemed like silver frost and exuding a strong medicinal aura, lay there.

“Snow Clearing Grass… at least five hundred years old?”

Liu Ruyan immediately became unsettled.

Although Snow Clearing Grass was a common First-tier Spirit Medicine, as long as it reached six hundred years, it could be used as the main material for a Second-order Snow Clearing Pill.

These over five hundred-year-old Snow Clearing Grasses could actually be refined, albeit with a somewhat lower success rate.

But if one of the three strains of Snow Clearing Grass could be successfully refined into a pill…

The Snow Clearing Pill was a Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Breakthrough Pill, giving the Liu Family Ancestor a chance to enter Mid-stage Foundation Establishment.

Even if she only took these three strains of Snow Clearing Grass back to her family, the Ancestor would see her in a new light, and her father’s lineage would gain more favor from the Ancestor!

Understanding the pros and cons of this situation, her mind was clear as a mirror.

“Junior Brother, are you really willing to trade these three strains of Snow Clearing Grass?”

Her beautiful eyes, watery, fixedly looked at Ning Daoran; after all, such precious spirit grasses might not be something he would part with easily.