Cultivation Starting from Full Talent

Chapter 45: Chapter 44 Evergreen Technique, Part One! (Thanks to Xiaonuanyang_Baron of Silver!)

Time slipped away, and in the blink of an eye, three years had passed.

This year, Ning Daoran was 38 years old.

…

Early in the morning, the mist enveloped Qiongbi Peak.

At this moment, having accumulated more than 70,000 years of Refining Time, Ning Daoran decided to resolve an issue that had weighed on his mind for many years.

To break through to the eleventh layer of the Evergreen Technique, to completely shatter the bottleneck and deduce the complete Evergreen Technique!

In a secret chamber twenty zhang deep.

He took a deep breath, sat cross-legged, and poured Refining Time into the cultivation of the Evergreen Technique.

[In the 13,400th year, you sat withered in the mountains for tens of thousands of years, isolated from the world, blending almost one with the mountains. Only a breath in and out revealed the vigorous vitality within you.]

[In the year 23,400, perennial vines had covered your form, birds nested atop your head, and even a giant python once coiled around you, eventually mistaking you for a dead log, sparing you this calamity.]

[In the 31,500th year, the power of the Evergreen Technique’s tenth layer had circulated within you countless times. You tried to touch that bottleneck over and over again, and finally, it seemed to loosen.]

[In the 40,600th year, as spring returned to the earth, you sat like an ancient stone statue amidst countless withering vines. But in the moment the vines in front of you sprouted the first tender shoots, your heart suddenly opened, and all the doubts that had been pent up inside you were resolved.]

[Deduction Acquired: Evergreen Technique Upper Volume. Earth Rank top-grade]

[Evergreen Technique Upper Volume. Earth Rank top-grade (Eleventh Layer)]

[Qi Refinement Realm (Ninth Layer)]

[Refining Time Remaining: 34,422 years]

…

“Huh…”

Ning Daoran slowly opened his eyes; around him, the visible green Evergreen Technique Spiritual Power constantly emerged and circulated. At that moment, he looked like a tree brimming with life, a scene of flourishing growth!

“Holy shit…”

He frowned; things were a bit unexpected. The Evergreen Technique he had deduced using 40,000 years of Refining Time was incomplete, just the upper volume, and this volume alone had already reached Earth Rank top-grade!

If the complete Evergreen Technique were obtained, it would undoubtedly be a Heaven Rank Absolute Skill!

Impressive indeed!

He had once speculated that the Evergreen Technique of the Chaotic Sect was incomplete, perhaps only half of it.

But he had not expected it to be incomplete to such an extent that its contents could hardly fill the pages of the complete Evergreen Technique!

With this breakthrough of the Evergreen Technique, his stagnant realm for seven or eight years finally began to stir. Qi Refining Ninth Layer, he had finally reached this step!

Continuing to amass the foundation for cultivation, reaching the late stage of the Qi Refining Ninth Layer is achieving Qi Refining Perfection.

Once perfected, it would mean he could consider Foundation Establishment, a significant milestone.

Without Foundation Establishment, one could never truly be considered to have entered the Immortal Sect.

He felt a bit exhilarated; choosing to first cultivate the Evergreen Technique was incredibly wise and decisive.

With the Evergreen Technique reaching the eleventh layer, his life span in the Qi Refinement Realm had now reached 220 years, more than double the lifespan of an average Qi Refining Stage Practitioner!

He could slowly work towards Foundation Establishment, there was no need to rush.

With this lifespan, he could easily outlast those in Foundation Establishment.

Glancing at the remaining Refining Time, there was still plenty left to practice the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique, a vital technique for fleeing that must be mastered!

He sat down cross-legged again, slowly closed his eyes, and channeled Refining Time into the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique.

[In the 2,762nd year, you dashed through the world like a shooting star, using the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique to travel; you swept past cities like the wind, causing the staff propping open a window on the second floor to be blown down, striking a graceful young man.]

[When you traversed the wilderness, a monkey trapped under a mountain bit at a falling peach only to have your passing breeze blow it away, enraging the monkey.]

[When you crossed a large river and witnessed two powerful armies in battle, the easterly wind you raised started a fire, leading to the northern army’s successive defeats. Someone in the fire lamented in anguish: if only Feng Xiao were here…]

[In the 5,400th year, you had been running for far too long, like an exhausted bird. Just when you decided to stop to rest, a miraculous strength surged into your legs, and the bottleneck of the technique broke open.]

[Wind Riding Leisurely Technique. Dark Rank Lower (Transformation Realm)]

[In the 7,644th year, you had been running for far too long, your legs bulging and nearly unable to keep going.]

[A fisherman by the river laughed and asked, Fellow Daoist, why the incessant haste? Why not stop and enjoy the world’s spring blossoms and autumn fruits, smell the wildflowers in the mountains?]

[In the 9,940th year, the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique had become your curse; you could no longer see any hope of breaking through.]

[You sat on the stone bridge, deciding to endure the wind and rain for five hundred years.]

[In the year 10,440, you sat enduring the wind and rain on the stone bridge for five hundred years. Looking back suddenly, you saw a familiar figure holding a green oil-paper umbrella at the end of the bridge. Just as you tried to see more clearly, the woman disappeared into the five hundred years of wind and rain, leaving you in tears.]

[Knowing today would bring heartbreak, why didn’t you cherish the moment back then?]

[Wind Riding Leisurely Technique. Dark Rank Lower (Return to Nature)]

[Refining Time Remaining: 23,982 years]

…

Done, the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique had reached the Return to Nature level!

In an instant, Ning Daoran felt as light as a swallow.

He floated to the outside of the small courtyard, looking at the fertile fields to the east, and decided to test the speed of the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique.

With the Perfect Level Breath Concealing Technique fully activated, he did his utmost to suppress his aura to avoid attracting attention.

Wind Riding Leisurely Technique, go!

“Bang—”

In a sound-breaking swoosh, his body transformed into a blur that nearly eluded the naked eye and shot down the mountain!

“Fuck, wrong!”

Ning Daoran’s scalp tingled in an instant; he saw someone passing through his body, rushing down the mountain!

Like a wild donkey freed from its pen, unstoppable!

But… something was wrong, that appeared to be himself!

“Ah!?”

Ning Daoran felt like his scalp was about to explode as a colossal force pushed him madly toward that figure.

The person sprinting ahead was himself, but what did that make his current self?

He looked down at himself.

Holy shit, transparent!

At this moment, what he sensed was actually his own soul.

And what darted out was his own body!

What the hell was this speed!

Could this be the legendary…

Body flying ahead with the soul trailing behind?@@novelbin@@

“Boom!”

A massive force propelled the soul to catch up with the body and at the moment of their integration, Ning Daoran took a long breath of relief.

That was comfortable; he’d almost thought he had prematurely entered the Nascent Soul Stage, able to perform soul separation.

“The speed was too fast, exceeding the Divine Soul’s capacity, causing an overload…”

He sat down on the small path at the foothill, silently reflecting on the ordeal.

Then, guarding his mind, he used the “Returning to Nature” Wind Riding Leisurely Technique for short bursts of rushing back and forth several times; this time there were no problems, and although his Divine Soul swayed, it didn’t leave the body.

Success, the Wind Riding Leisurely Technique was usable!

With this speed, he had far surpassed the Royal Artifact flight speed of a Qi Refining Stage Practitioner, even exit a full effort tunneling light of a Foundation Establishment Expert!

From now on, his survival ability in front of those at the Foundation Establishment stage had greatly increased!

As for the Golden Core Stage…

That could wait; he had not yet seen a Golden Core Expert’s full-speed tunneling light, so it was hard to say.

Besides, the terrifying presence of a Golden Core Expert meant it was best to avoid provoking them if possible.

He took a deep breath.

Activating the Concealing Breath Technique, he continued to keep his cultivation at the Qi Refining Seventh Layer.

When he reached the Perfection of the Qi Refinement, he would directly apply for a Cave Mansion and attempt Foundation Establishment, catching the Sect by surprise for the highest safety factor.

Once successful in Foundation Establishment, those in the Sect would likely find it difficult to touch him.

His heart clear as a mirror, he reflected that in the Cultivation World, those deemed useless often lived the longest.

Although Ning Daoran had a slight reputation in the Outer Sect, he was not looked upon favorably by the Inner Sect.

Almost all Inner Sect Disciples passing by Qiongbi Peak had attitudes that were not too positive.

“That Second Tier Spirit Farmer has been Qi Refining Seventh Layer for how long now, and he’s still stuck there without any change; they say he’s nearly forty, and soon past the golden period for Foundation Establishment, most of his life is probably without hope of Foundation Establishment.”

“This man may have some achievement in the way of Spirit Plants, but if we talk about cultivation, my Senior Brother Long reached Foundation Establishment at the age of twenty-five; what can he compare with?”

“A nearly forty-year-old at Qi Refining Seventh Layer, it’s hopeless, we in the Inner Sect have no use for such waste.”

Every time Ning Daoran heard these words, he did not get angry at all; the more such talk, the safer he could live.

…

Several days later.

Ning Daoran decided to prepare for the refining of a First-tier High-quality Five Elements Wander Array.

Over the years, while specializing in Array research, he had separately refined several sets of Small Cloud Mist Arrays, Green Bamboo Arrays, and had achieved mastery over First-tier Mid-grade Arrays.

It was now time to tackle the First-tier High-quality Array.

Moreover, this Five Elements Wander Array was the pinnacle creation from Granny Yun Cui’s legacy that gathered the power of the Five Elements and could strangle an opponent within the Array, capable of killing even those at the Foundation Establishment Stage!

However, the Five Elements Wander Array required the refining of five Array Flags and five Array Plates, and each needed materials corresponding to specific attributes.

For a powerful Array with such lethality, naturally, the required materials were also stringent.

The Five Elements Wander Array needed five kinds of Second-rank materials belonging to the Five Elements: Thousand-year-old Xuanling Wood, Golden Essence, Earth Melting Soil, Gui Water Stone, and a Second-stage Fire Attribute Demon Core.

The first few materials were manageable, but a Second-stage Fire Attribute Demon Core would require killing a Foundation Establishment Stage Fire Attribute Demon Beast and even then, it might not be obtained.

Some Foundation Establishment Stage Demon Beasts might not yet have formed a Demon Core due to insufficient cultivation.

Thinking of all these materials, Ning Daoran couldn’t help but feel a headache.

No choice but to gather them slowly.

In the afternoon, at Yellow Dragon Square.

Inside Qingfu Square, there was a bustling of people coming and going.

Chen Ping’er, in her palace dress, appeared even more graceful and elegant, already bearing the air of a fairy.

But Ning Daoran saw it clearly, Chen Ping’er was just a Late-stage Qi Refining female cultivator, having nothing to do with real fairies.

Don’t be fooled by her breathtaking beauty and the seemingly untouchable demeanor.

She would flirt with the crude Wild Cultivators to sell an item, pout her lips and play the victim to bald muscular male cultivators; she was no different from ordinary women.

“Fellow Daoist Ning, long time no see!”

The moment she saw Ning Daoran, Chen Ping’er’s mouth curved into a light smile, and she unexpectedly jogged over, her ample figure causing quite a stir among the onlookers.

‘God damn it…’

Ning Daoran’s scalp tingled, slightly overwhelmed; why was there a sense of looking through a millennium in an instant?

Just at that moment, he suddenly felt that Chen Ping’er acted differently towards him than she did to others.

Such an illusion was dangerous; he activated the Evergreen Technique to forcefully suppress it.

“Fellow Daoist Chen, long time no see.”

He pulled out a list and smiled, “I would like to try and refine an Array, and these are the materials I need. Master Chen, could you please check to see how many Qingfu Square can gather?”

“Absolutely!”

Chen Ping’er smiled with dimples, her attractive eyes captivating.