Chapter 16

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Chapter 16: The Black Book

Behind the hill, in a field full of blooming flowers, Wang Yu stood quietly in front of an unremarkable freshly turned mound, holding the black book in one hand.

"Master, you said you wished to be buried in a place with flowers and grass after death. I have done as you asked. But Master, did you foresee this day? How else would you have left a message in your notes, asking your successor to go to the Li family? But I fear I cannot do this," Wang Yu spoke to the mound, shaking his head repeatedly.

He realized he would return to Blue Star in a few days, so how could he go to that place hundreds of thousands of miles away? Yet, this note did record a way to leave the Yellow Stone City area.

"Treasure Pavilion, Red Water River"

Wang Yu murmured the two names.

Just then, a clear chirp echoed from the sky, and a green little bird swooped down, landing on a small tree near the mound. After chirping and flapping its wings for a moment, it flew away.

"This bird looks somewhat familiar."

Seeing this, a hint of confusion crossed Wang Yu’s face, but in the end, he took the black book and left.

Speaking of it, although Taoist Chongyun had only taken him as a disciple for a short time of a little over ten days, he had treated him quite well. However, due to the brief time they spent together, it is hard to say how sad he really felt; it was more like losing a good elder suddenly, and he felt a bit of sadness in his heart.

Wang Yu found a small stream outside and drank some water. After returning to the cave and eating some dry food, he sat cross-legged on the ground and began to look through the black book in his hands again.

This book was just as Taoist Chongyun had said; the first half was filled with notes made by the Taoist. It included some insights on the Yin Water Skill, as well as travel experiences, recording many things related to cultivators and common knowledge.

This finally gave him a basic understanding of the world of cultivation.

Take cultivation, for example. According to the notes, the speed at which a cultivator cultivates depends not only on their Spiritual Root and the quality of the cultivation method, but also on the Spirit Qi of the place where they are practicing.

For low-level cultivators, there is little choice in the first area, because the quality of the Spiritual Root formed from the Spirit Seed is entirely determined by fate, and external forces cannot really interfere. The cultivation methods are not easily passed down, so finding a method that allows one to reach the completion of Qi Refining Stage is already a great blessing.

So the only thing a person can choose is the place where they practice.

According to the notes, the first three layers of the Qi Refining Stage are known as the "fake cultivator" phase at the early stage of Qi Refining. As long as one has Spiritual Sensing and has had their Spirit Seed planted, they can successfully cultivate anywhere. However, after reaching the third layer of Qi Refining, one must find a spiritual area with ‘spiritual veins’ to continue cultivating; otherwise, the concentration of Spirit Qi will be insufficient, making it impossible to meet the needs of the subsequent Breathing Exercises, causing their progress to come to a standstill.

The fourth to sixth layers of Qi Refining are the mid-stage of Qi Refining, while the seventh to tenth layers are the late stage of Qi Refining. After reaching the tenth layer of Qi Refining Stage, one enters the completion stage of Qi Refining, where they can break through the bottleneck to the Foundation Establishment Stage, but they will also need more Spirit Qi to assist, or there is a high chance of failure in the breakthrough.

But spiritual veins are very rare; they often arise in famous mountains and rivers. Sometimes they also change locations based on the Spiritual Tide of the world. Areas where no spiritual veins have formed are called ‘Land of Absolute Spirits’, while areas where spiritual veins appear and disappear are known as the ‘Land of Residual Spirits’.

Taoist Chongyun specifically mentioned in his notes that the Yellow Stone City area is a somewhat famous ‘Land of Residual Spirits’. Every ten years, a Spiritual Tide occurs, temporarily creating a first-level spiritual vein in this area. At that time, the Huang family, a cultivation family, would seize it for their training. They also ask the nearby townspeople to help grow ‘spirit rice’, which requires a lot of Spirit Qi, to assist the Huang family members in their cultivation. This is the true nature of the ‘Spiritual Servant’ that happens every ten years in Yellow Stone City.

However, the entire Yellow Stone City area is located in a huge basin, surrounded on all sides by steep mountains and dense wild forests. Inside, there are many fierce demon beasts, and there are no roads for ordinary people to travel. Even low-level cultivators entering would face great danger.

The only safe way for ordinary people and low-level cultivators to leave this area is by a river called the Red Water River, which runs through the entire Yellow Stone City. This river connects with Wu Kingdom’s Tong Prefecture, but it is turbulent, with some parts being unfathomably deep and full of fish beasts. Ordinary boats cannot navigate this river; only a cultivation force in Yellow Stone City called ‘Treasure Pavilion’ uses a specially designed giant building ship every year to transport people in and out. Of course, these people must pay a huge fee. Taoist Chongyun also arrived in Yellow Stone City this way.

The book also mentioned that what he had seen earlier, the ‘Cloud Pattern’ in the ‘White Cloud Sutra’, was actually a kind of Spirit Pattern. Each Spirit Pattern possesses certain mysterious powers. When they are arranged into special patterns and engraved onto objects, they become "inscriptions" or "runes", granting objects incredible abilities and turning them into magical tools.

Of course, the ‘talismans’ used by these cultivators also contain Spirit Patterns called ‘spiritual inscriptions’ or ‘runes’, which help activate various magical effects.

When Wang Yu saw this, he couldn’t help but take out the three yellow talismans and the ‘Dark Wind Fan’ from his pocket. He looked at the identical patterns on the talismans and felt the uneven texture of the fan’s surface, feeling a sudden realization.

These are all the so-called ‘Spirit Patterns’.

In addition, the Taoist’s notes also recorded that besides the Qi Refining Stage and Foundation Establishment Stage, there is a higher stage called the Golden Core Stage, but he did not provide more details, as it seems Taoist Chongyun did not know much about the later stages either.

The second half of the black book, as the Taoist said, records the methods of practicing the Twelve Layers of Yin Water Skill, and finally, there are three formulas for preparing medicines, with Blood Refining Soup being one of them.

The other two formulas are called ‘Muhua Powder’ and ‘Corrupt Bone Water’. The former is an internal medicine that helps to regulate chaotic magical energy, while the latter is a deadly poison that can make flesh and even ordinary clothing rot away into water.

Wang Yu felt a chill on his back as he saw the description of the effects of Corrupt Bone Water in the notes. His ‘master’ had this kind of formula, which showed he was no ordinary cultivator.

At the end of the notes, there were clearly a few last words recently added by Taoist Chongyun.

It said that he had recently felt that the Huang family had been testing him repeatedly, and his attitude had changed. Therefore, he planned to leave Yellow Stone City within half a year. However, if an accident happened during this time, he hoped his body could be buried in a place with flowers and grass, and that everything on him would belong to the person who received the notes. If the person who received the notes was his disciple, he could use his identity token to join the Li family.

Wang Yu slowly closed the black book; there was much information recorded inside that he needed to slowly organize and digest.

The only regret was that the book did not record any magic tricks, which left him unable to understand how cultivators used and controlled spells.

He placed the black book on the ground before him and looked towards a nearby pile of other things.

Besides the jade pendant, green gourd, and empty iron box left to him by Taoist Chongyun, there was also a small iron shield with a big hole in it, a gray cloth bag, and a thin, flesh-colored leather glove.

The items behind were found on the body of the City Lord of Yellow Stone City, while the body was thrown directly into the bronze cauldron and turned to ash.

Wang Yu picked up the jade pendant and examined it closely.

The jade pendant was pure white, with a few simple leaf-shaped patterns on the surface. In the center, one side had the character ‘黎’ (Li) engraved, and the other side had the character ‘族’ (Zu).

He looked at it several times, casually waving the jade pendant above the nearby ground.

Suddenly, the two large characters on the pendant began to glow softly with white light, and the dust on the ground quickly rolled away in all directions, making the ground exceptionally clean.

This jade pendant can be used without any magical powers, and it has the wonderful effect of ‘dust avoidance’.

Wang Yu felt a surge of joy in his heart and tucked the pendant into his pocket. It seemed that with this item, he wouldn’t get too dirty even if he didn’t take a shower for a long time.

He then picked up the damaged iron shield. It was dark and small in appearance, but felt heavy in his hand. When he touched it, a chill ran through him, and when he flicked it with his fingers, it made a deep buzzing sound.

This material didn’t seem like ordinary steel; it was likely the same material as that empty iron box.

Wang Yu picked up the iron box again, compared the two, and finally came to a conclusion.

However, the small iron shield had three spirit patterns on its surface that looked like ‘Cloud Patterns’, while the iron box was smooth and had no decorations.

But since the City Lord of Yellow Stone City used the small shield as a protective tool, it must be very valuable.

Wang Yu thought this and pulled out his silver sword, striking the iron shield with loud clashing sounds for over ten times; there was not a single mark on its surface, but it did make his hands feel warm.

Wang Yu was secretly amazed; if weapons were made from this material, they would surely be of magical quality.

He couldn’t help but swing the small iron shield a few more times, but nothing unusual happened. He could only shake his head and put it down, then picked up the green gourd.

After gently shaking the gourd a couple of times, Wang Yu heard a faint sound of liquid moving inside, then placed the Foundation Establishment Spirit Object back on the ground and picked up the thin gloves.

The flesh-colored leather gloves were something he discovered after throwing the City Lord of Yellow Stone City’s body into the bronze cauldron; everything else had turned to ash, but these gloves remained unharmed in the fierce flames, looking very unusual.

Wang Yu swiped the sharp edge of his sword across the gloves, leaving only a thin white mark that quickly disappeared, and they returned to their normal appearance.

This magical display made Wang Yu very happy. He quickly put the gloves on his right hand. They were soft and stretchy, with no feeling of heat at all.

More importantly, this item was very similar to skin. Unless you looked closely at your palm, you couldn’t tell he was wearing gloves.

This treasure was made from an unknown material. It was fireproof and could not be pierced by knives or guns. It seemed he might have the chance to practice his skills in unarmed combat.

As for the plain gray bag, Wang Yu felt a bit troubled by it.