Chapter 414: Guiding the Spirit

It turned out that what was recorded within this jade slip was actually a method for tempering divine sense—the “Guiding the Spirit”!

Divine sense is a unique ability possessed by those at the intermediate stage of Qi Refining, and is basically something every Qi Refiner can use. But as one of the most fundamental skills, it is much like acupoint manipulation in martial arts, with each practitioner having their own techniques. As the saying goes, “The cat has its path, the mouse has its tunnel.” Zhang Xiaohua’s little sword technique was derived from this very place, which shows that the unknown cultivator from ten thousand years ago had extremely high requirements for manipulating objects with divine sense, and their cultivation of divine sense must also have had unique aspects.

When Zhang Xiaohua obtained the jade slip from the Fire Dragon Immortal on the deserted island, the “Jade Blood Refines the Pill Heart” technique recorded within was a path of extremes, a method that takes an unorthodox route. While it could fundamentally enhance and strengthen divine sense, in terms of cultivation essence, it was still inferior to the systematic and comprehensive tempering of this “Guiding the Spirit”. At present, Zhang Xiaohua’s manipulation of divine sense was still quite primitive. As his cultivation deepened and his control over divine sense became more refined, he would discover that many issues, such as stiffness and sluggishness, would arise.

Fortunately, “When Heaven entrusts a great task to Xiaohua, he must first encounter extraordinary opportunities.” He had obtained this “Guiding the Spirit”, which would systematically temper and strengthen his divine sense, and also allow him to fill in the gaps and shortcomings of the previous “Jade Blood Refines the Pill Heart” method.

After finishing his laughter, Zhang Xiaohua deeply immersed his divine sense and began to examine it carefully.

This “Guiding the Spirit” was divided into nine levels, each with specific cultivation formulas. Zhang Xiaohua attentively memorized the first level.

Before long, he had memorized the formulas for all nine levels, but Zhang Xiaohua’s brows furrowed. The formulas for the nine levels were quite numerous and somewhat taxing to memorize, but for Zhang Xiaohua, this was nothing. The Fire Dragon True Person’s formations and restrictions, as well as the talisman in his Niwan Palace, were all far more complex than this. What made Zhang Xiaohua frown was that among the nine levels of this technique, only the first three had some annotations, seemingly recording cultivation insights, while the latter six had not a single word!

Could it be that the owner of this jade slip was not the creator of this technique? Or had he only cultivated up to the third level? Did he not continue, or did he simply fail to master the rest?

Also, how did this Qi Refiner leave written words inside the jade slip?

Previously, all the jade slips Zhang Xiaohua had seen contained only complete cultivation methods, with no annotations whatsoever. This was the first time he had seen annotations written on a cultivation technique. Of course, he completely overlooked the matter of the Fire Dragon True Person writing in a jade slip—after all, that person was a master at the Foundation Establishment stage.

With these doubts in mind, Zhang Xiaohua continued reading further.

This time, the more he read, the more his brows relaxed. In the end, his face broke into a wide smile, as delighted as if he had obtained a precious treasure. Could it be that there was an even more profound technique beyond the “Guiding the Spirit” at the back of this jade slip?

“Hahaha!” Zhang Xiaohua withdrew his divine sense from the jade slip, feeling so ecstatic that he could hardly contain himself. He quickly formed a hand seal and, in an instant, darted out of the room, heading straight for the main street outside the inn. Looking around, he leapt gracefully onto the nearby three-story tavern. By now, it was already late, and the tavern had closed for the night. Zhang Xiaohua stood on the rooftop, tears streaming down his face, threw his head back, and let out a long, resounding howl: “I, Zhang… someone, finally won’t get lost anymore… anymore… anymore…”

That drawn-out “anymore” was incredibly long, like a dragon’s roar echoing through the nine heavens, its sound shaking the four seas—extremely imposing.

Just as Zhang Xiaohua was caught up in his excitement, he suddenly heard a sharp crack from a window below, followed by someone shouting loudly: “Who is it? Who’s howling like a wolf so late at night? How’s anyone supposed to sleep?”

“Yeah! Who’s so lacking in public decency, making trouble on purpose?”

“Huh? Is it that madman Zhang from West Town going crazy again?”

“Oh dear, husband…”

“Oh dear, the child’s mother…”

A burst of commotion erupted, with all sorts of strange voices.

In an instant, the entire town, which was about to be swallowed by darkness, lit up one lamp after another. Men and women, young and old, who had already gone to bed, all supported each other as they walked into their courtyards, pointing and gesturing in Zhang Xiaohua’s direction.

The whole town was brightly illuminated.

Zhang Xiaohua was greatly startled. He didn’t even bother to wipe away the tears of emotion streaming down his face, and hurriedly jumped down from the tavern. With an earth escape technique, he fled back toward his room. Just as he poked his head out from inside, he heard someone say: “Miss, what kind of town is this? It’s the middle of the night, and there’s still someone shouting so loudly.”

Another voice responded: “Go to sleep, Little Orange. We still have to hurry on our way tomorrow. Judging by how loud that voice was, it might be some martial arts expert. Hm, maybe he’s gone mad from a cultivation mishap.”

“Sleep? How can I sleep? We don’t even know if Young Master Ren has returned. I finally just closed my eyes, only to be woken up by a madman. Forget it, Miss, talk to me a bit more about Young Master Ren.”

“Ah?” Zhang Xiaohua was shocked. “Oh no, I escaped into the wrong room.”

Zhang Xiaohua quickly covered his eyes and ears and slipped away to the side.

When he poked his head out again—oh, thank goodness, wasn’t this his own little room, with no one else in it!

Sigh, being directionally challenged really is no good. I’d better hurry up and comprehend the divine abilities in the jade slip and get rid of this reputation.

Now, you may ask, why was Zhang Xiaohua so happy?

It turned out that what was recorded after the “Guiding the Spirit” in the jade slip was just some commonly used techniques for divine sense. Compared to “Guiding the Spirit”, they were merely minor skills, but in Zhang Xiaohua’s eyes at this moment, they were a hundred times more important than “Guiding the Spirit” itself.

That’s right—what you need is what’s most important. It’s the details of daily life that are truly essential.

The next day, Nie Qianyu and Little Orange both had dark circles under their eyes, while only Zhang Xiaohua was full of energy.

Sitting in the carriage, Nie Qianyu and Little Orange yawned repeatedly. Seeing Zhang Xiaohua’s spirited appearance, they both felt very strange and asked: “Brother Ren, you seemed a bit absent-minded yesterday. How come after just one night, you’re like a completely different person?”

Zhang Xiaohua smiled and said: “That’s right, I really am a different person. Haven’t you heard the saying, ‘When a scholar has not been seen for three days, he must be looked at with new eyes’? I made a little progress, and after just one night, you need to look at me differently, hahaha!”

“Aiyo!” Nie Qianyu and Little Orange both covered their mouths, looking a bit surprised as they said: “Brother Ren, your laughter sounds so familiar. Last night, there was a madman surnamed Zhang laughing outside, and it seemed to be exactly the same kind of laughter!”

“Ah?” Zhang Xiaohua almost wanted to cover his own mouth. He opened his mouth awkwardly and said: “No way, how come I didn’t hear it? Maybe you two are so used to hearing my cheerful laughter every day that you’ve been influenced—now it feels like all the wonderful things in this world are related to my laughter.”

“Bah!” The two both spat lightly and laughed: “Good thing Brother Ren’s surname isn’t Zhang, or we’d really think you were the one that laughed last night. Sigh, last night was already long and sleepless for us. We finally managed to doze off, only to be woken by that guy, and in the end, we couldn’t sleep at all. What a pity, what a pity.”

“Hehe, Brother Ren, didn’t you notice anything when you got up this morning?”

“Notice what?”

“That everyone in town looks sickly and has dark circles under their eyes?”

“Oh, I saw that. But what does that have to do with me? Should I be concerned?”

“Sigh, Brother Ren, you’re a young hero of our generation. Last night, that Zhang fellow disturbed the peace and kept the whole town awake. You should uphold justice for the heavens, drag him out, and parade him through the streets as an example!”

“Ah!?” Zhang Xiaohua was dumbfounded. “Is it really that serious? I slept just fine!”

“Lack of sleep is the greatest enemy of a girl’s beauty. That Zhang fellow, not letting us sleep, is our biggest enemy. Brother Ren, you must stand up for us!”

“Well…” Zhang Xiaohua was speechless, then his eyes spun as he smiled and said: “Then why don’t we turn back now? I’ll personally help you catch that guy?”

Seeing that Zhang Xiaohua was actually taking it seriously, Little Orange quickly said: “Forget it, Brother Ren. A good woman doesn’t fight with men. Aiyo, Brother Ren, I didn’t mean you—you’re not included.”

Nie Qianyu also covered her mouth and laughed; “You’re our great hero. We could never win against you.”

“That’s right, we need to hurry on our journey. Let’s not bother with that Zhang fellow. If we ever have spare time, we’ll definitely teach him a lesson. Don’t you agree, Brother Ren?”

Zhang Xiaohua’s face was covered in black lines, and he could only nod helplessly.

Sigh, he was almost moved to tears again. “Wasn’t I just a little too happy last night and got carried away, shouting a bit more than usual? Do they really have to criticize me so openly for it?”

After venting their dissatisfaction, Nie Qianyu and Little Orange both yawned and went to the back of the carriage to catch up on their sleep.

Only Zhang Xiaohua was left. He gave the black horse a kick on the rump. The black horse was startled, thinking, “What’s wrong with the driver today? He seems to be holding a grudge.”

Not daring to slack off, the black horse didn’t wait for the Sibu Xiang to urge it on. Its four hooves flew as it sped down the official road.

Once Zhang Xiaohua calmed down, he sat cross-legged at the front of the carriage, carefully practicing the divine sense techniques he had just learned the day before.

Aside from “Guiding the Spirit”, the jade slip also recorded some commonly used divine sense techniques, such as how to use divine sense to search, how to mark a person or object with divine sense, and how to use divine sense in the Five Elements Escape Technique, among others.

The reason Zhang Xiaohua was so happy was that, when using earth escape, he could first use divine sense to mark a place within his range, and then, as he tunneled, he could sense the mark and head straight for it. This way, he wouldn’t accidentally end up in Nie Qianyu’s room again like the night before.

Moreover, now that he could use divine sense to mark, he could place marks on Little Orange and Nie Qianyu. As long as they were within the range of his divine sense, no matter where they went, as soon as his divine sense swept over, he could instantly know where they were and what they were doing. Wasn’t this exactly what he had always needed?

If he’d had this technique before, would he have needed to wait around like a sitting duck in Pingyang City?

It had to be said, being self-taught was truly difficult!

Within his divine sense, Nie Qianyu and Little Orange were both sound asleep. Zhang Xiaohua sent over a hand seal, placing a divine sense mark on each of them. Now, he’d never have to worry about losing track of them again!

Now, as Zhang Xiaohua drove the carriage, struggling to follow the route in his memory, he came to a fork in the road that wasn’t actually a fork. The official road continued east, while a straight path to the south was a small road—the very path that Ou Yan and the others had taken back then.

Zhang Xiaohua stopped the carriage and stood up on top of it.