Volume 1 Chapter 18

Our Discord Server: https://discord.gg/PazjBDkTmW

Recruitment of Editors: https://gravitytales.com/recruitment-of-editors/

Volume 1 Chapter 18: Touching Flowers

In the fragment of "The Formula of Wither and Flourish," although the cultivation method is seriously incomplete, there is still a relatively complete Taoist spell called "Finger of Wither and Flourish," which is a type of binding attack magic.

According to "The Formula of Wither and Flourish," this Taoist spell is very powerful. Opponents hit by it not only suffer some damage but also find it hard to control their Spirit Qi within a short time. Most importantly, once struck by this spell, healing becomes very difficult.

However, this spell is still incomplete, and many parts need to be understood alongside the earlier text of "The Formula of Wither and Flourish." Because the previous content is missing so much, Lu Huayan did not pay much attention to this spell. He focused more on the cultivation method in "The Formula of Wither and Flourish" that could help him increase his power, rather than a spell to enhance his abilities.

Earlier, Xu Qingfan, influenced by Lu Huayan, also did not focus on "Finger of Wither and Flourish," but now, feeling helpless without an offensive ability, he could only hope for this incomplete spell that he wasn’t sure he could even learn.

But one day, Xu Qingfan took out the fragment of "The Formula of Wither and Flourish," turned to the end, and found the specific training method for "Finger of Wither and Flourish." After carefully reading it twice, he could not help but frown. It turned out that the method required him to intertwine the Spirit Qi within him. But the Spirit Qi is already one, how could it be mixed together?

"Do I have to intertwine the gray, lifeless Spirit Qi with the Wood-type Spirit Qi?" Xu Qingfan suddenly thought of a possibility and spoke to himself.

But that doesn’t make sense either. To intertwine the Spirit Qi, one needs to have strong control over it, which is far beyond what an Inedia Stage cultivator could achieve. Yet, according to "The Formula of Wither and Flourish," this "Finger of Wither and Flourish" is definitely a spell that can be learned at the Inedia Stage.

After hesitating for a long time, Xu Qingfan decided that even though it was a bit risky, he would try to intertwine the two Spirit Qis within him as the method described.

Xu Qingfan sat cross-legged on his bed, took a deep breath, and slowly closed his eyes. His expression became serious as he focused on circulating the two Spirit Qis inside him. As time passed, the flow of Spirit Qi became smoother, and Xu Qingfan began to slowly attempt to intertwine the two Spirit Qis together.

Unfortunately, the usually gentle Spirit Qi seemed very rebellious at this moment. Xu Qingfan tried very hard but couldn’t bring the two Spirit Qis together, let alone make them intertwine.

The two Spirit Qis were like the two poles of a magnet; they came from the same origin but could not come together. Instead, they moved separately along their own paths inside Xu Qingfan’s body, never interacting.

After many attempts, Xu Qingfan not only failed to entangle the two Spirit Qis, but he also became somewhat anxious. The Spirit Qi became chaotic, and he nearly fell into a Qi deviation crisis.

Knowing that becoming anxious wouldn’t help, Xu Qingfan calmed the Spirit Qi inside him and decided to stop trying to entangle the two Spirit Qis. It was a pity not to use attack techniques, but it was not worth risking his life over it.

Stepping out of his meditation, Xu Qingfan glanced at the fragment of "The Formula of Wither and Flourish" with a complex expression. He sighed, regretting that this cultivation method was still a mystery to him.

After giving up on practicing "The Formula of Wither and Flourish," Xu Qingfan casually left the room, planning to go for a walk and relax his mind, which had grown tired from intensive training.

Unlike Jin Qinghan, who was always practicing, Xu Qingfan understood the importance of balance between work and rest. Since his master Lu Huayan passed away, he felt less pressure. Whenever he became tired from training, he would find ways to relax, either by going for a walk or borrowing some books from his senior brother Yue Qingru. Xu Qingfan knew that the Blue-eyed Cloud-foot Beast, which had destroyed his home, could live for at least two thousand years, so there was no need to rush.

Now, Xu Qingfan had two main goals for his training. One was to personally kill the Blue-eyed Cloud-foot Beast that destroyed his home to avenge his parents and his people. However, as time went on, Xu Qingfan also wanted to explore the mysteries of cultivation and see how far he could go.

According to Lu Huayan, Xu Qingfan could only reach the late stage of the Lingji Stage in this life. Although he believed Lu Huayan’s judgment, Xu Qingfan still wanted to try to break through. Achieving this would be wonderful, and even if he didn’t succeed, he would be at peace. If he reached the late stage of the Lingji Stage, he could live three hundred years longer than ordinary people. Given Xu Qingfan’s talent, that would already be an unexpected gift. What more could he ask for?

Sometimes Xu Qingfan wondered what he would do if he could never become stronger. What would he do with all his extra years? After thinking for a long time, he finally decided that if that happened, he would travel the world and see all the beautiful places and meet different people.

No desires, no worries, living freely. This was Xu Qingfan’s impression of cultivators when he was young. He did not know if there were still such cultivators in the Immortal Realm today. But he felt that at the very least, he should strive to reach this state of mind, because only by achieving such thoughts could he feel that his journey of cultivation was worthwhile.

Longevity, longevity. Everyone is searching for a long life, but they do not realize that without a goal in life, what does living a long time mean?

Longevity is the obsession of all cultivators, but not for Xu Qingfan. Living long for the sake of living long felt tiring to him.

When he stepped out of the door, Xu Qingfan found that Yue Qingru was not reading in the room as usual, but instead dressed like a gardener, playing with the soil in front of their door.

"Brother, what are you doing?" Xu Qingfan looked at Yue Qingru covered in dirt and found it funny, so he curiously asked.

"Junior brother, have you finished your cultivation for today?" After Xu Qingfan answered yes, Yue Qingru smiled and explained, "I’ve gotten used to living in Changchun Residence, and I felt a bit strange seeing the front clean. So, I borrowed some seeds from the Hundred Herbs Store to plant in front."

As he spoke, Yue Qingru pointed to the seeds piled in the basket next to him.

"Oh, I see. Brother, you have such good taste." Xu Qingfan smiled. He suddenly noticed some special seeds in the basket; compared to ordinary seeds, these were much larger and shone beautifully in the sunlight. So, Xu Qingfan took one seed from the basket and asked, "Brother, is this a seed too?"

"Yes, this is the seed of the Ring Flower. Don’t be fooled by its beautiful seeds; when it blooms, it looks very elegant. It’s one of my favorite flowers, so I borrowed some seeds from the Herb Garden and decided to plant them in front of my house," Yue Qingru explained with a smile.

After Yue Qingru refused Xu Qingfan’s help, Xu Qingfan played with the Ring Flower seeds in his hands and slowly walked toward the forest on the back mountain.

Under the sunlight, the green trees formed a dense area. The shadows of the trees swayed gently in the wind, and sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting spots of light on Xu Qingfan’s face, making it appear bright and dim.

As Xu Qingfan thought about the contradictions in practicing the Finger of Wither and Flourish, he unconsciously toyed with the flower seeds in his hand. With his thoughts, the two Spirit Qi in his body also began to circulate continually following the cultivation method of The Formula of Wither and Flourish.

Suddenly, Xu Qingfan felt a gentle wave of Wood-type Spirit Qi coming from the seeds in his hand.

"Huh? What’s happening?" Xu Qingfan looked at the seeds in surprise. But when he tried to sense the Wood-type Spirit Qi again, he couldn’t feel it no matter what.

Was it a hallucination? But immediately Xu Qingfan shook his head in denial. Since he began his cultivation journey, he hadn’t experienced any hallucinations for a long time.

"Could it be like this?"

Thinking about how he had unconsciously circulated his Spirit Qi while pondering the secrets of the Finger of Wither and Flourish, Xu Qingfan tried to circulate the two Spirit Qi in his body once more. At that moment, a faint wave of Wood-type Spirit Qi came from the flower seeds again.

"What is happening?" Xu Qingfan was a bit surprised. Although all plants in the world have Wood-type Qi, he had never heard of a cultivator being able to sense the Spirit Qi fluctuations of plant seeds. Maybe a great master at the Condensed Core Stage could, but this was definitely not something an Inedia Stage cultivator should be able to do.

Xu Qingfan unintentionally began to carefully feel the Wood-type Spirit Qi fluctuations that the Ring Flower seed was giving off. At that moment, something even more astonishing happened.

As Xu Qingfan slowly memorized its Spirit Qi fluctuations in his heart, he saw that the Ring Flower seed began to become more and more ethereal. A faint green mist started to rise around him, and as the green mist grew thicker, the seed shrank in size. Finally, the green mist rushed into Xu Qingfan’s body, and the seed had vanished.

Xu Qingfan stared in amazement at everything before him, unable to accept the sudden change. He carefully checked the Spirit Qi within him but found nothing unusual, only feeling that there seemed to be something extra between the two lines of Spirit Qi, though he couldn’t quite pinpoint it.

"What on earth is happening?" Xu Qingfan calmed himself down and began to carefully reflect on the events from start to finish. In the end, he felt that the key was in the Spirit Qi fluctuations of the seed and the operation of the Spirit Qi within himself.

So, Xu Qingfan began to think again about the Spirit Qi fluctuations of the seed while circulating the two lines of Spirit Qi within him. At that moment, the most bizarre thing that had happened today finally took place.

He saw a bit of Spirit Qi slowly starting to flow out from between Xu Qingfan’s fingers, resembling the appearance of the seed from before. Then, this bit of Spirit Qi began to slowly transform into the shape of a small flower bud. As time passed, the bud became fuller and more real, and then, it bloomed.

A delicate flower with snow-white petals mingled with pink blossomed at the fingertip of Xu Qingfan, radiating beauty.

Seeing the sudden change, even Xu Qingfan, who was usually calm, couldn’t help but tremble for a moment. As his hand shook, the flower danced away with the wind, leaving a faint fragrance swirling in front of his nose.

Xu Qingfan was not sure if what he saw was an illusion, even though illusions hadn’t appeared in over ten years.

As if to prove something, Xu Qingfan recalled the faint wave of Spirit Qi from the Ring Flower while moving the Spirit Qi within him. Then, the simple-looking flower appeared again at the tip of his finger.