Chapter 56: The Allure of a Supreme Technique

Scripture Hall. Ye Bufan sat in the lecturer’s seat, giving a lesson to the newly admitted disciples. Now at Qi Refining stage eight and reaching the peak of Qi Refining, he was an outstanding inner disciple with the qualification to come to Immortal Seed Valley and teach. He had heard that Su Yuan had become the valley master of Immortal Seed Valley, which surprised him greatly. So he came to see for himself what kind of person Su Yuan really was. But after arriving at Immortal Seed Valley, aside from seeing Su Yuan’s ostentatious entrance on the first day, he had not seen him again. “That’s all for today’s lesson. If you have any questions, feel free to ask!” Ye Bufan said according to custom, addressing those below. Immediately, many disciples raised their hands to ask questions, even some sitting in the front rows. Ye Bufan noticed Gu You, who possessed a Heavenly Spirit Root, raising his hand to ask a question and curiously gestured for him to speak. “Disciple, what is your question?” “Greetings, Master Ye. My name is Gu You,” Gu You said. “I have recently been studying the book ‘Essential Teachings on Instant-Cast Spells Without Delay.’ It says that low-level spells must reach the level of instant casting, where the spell is cast immediately upon thought, to be barely usable. But Master Ye, you just said that as long as hand seals or magical talismans are used, the spell can be cast within a few breaths and be practical in battle. Isn’t that too hasty?” Ye Bufan was puzzled by the question. “Who wrote that? Instant casting is something only achieved after great comprehension of the spell. Without three to five or even eight years of study, how can ordinary spells be instant cast? By the time you enter battle, the cultivation would have advanced, and the spell would be outdated!” “That book was written by Valley Master Su Yuan. He summarized the commonalities among the three thousand commonly known spells into one hundred and eighteen shared traits. If you can master these shared traits and reach the ‘rough understanding’ stage of spell comprehension, you can achieve instant casting. I personally think what Master Su says is not empty talk. I heard you are a disciple of Technique Extremes Peak and should know about this, right?” Gu You said. Ye Bufan was silent for a moment, lost in thought. He recalled the lessons the Golden Core elder had given him and finally found similar content. Then he answered, “This belongs to the realm of the ultimate principles of heaven and earth. In the cultivation world, these ultimate principles are currently divided into the realms of Technique, Momentum, Intent, and Spirit. The realm of Technique requires cultivators to understand the essence and core of spells to reach the ‘Technique’ realm. Reaching this level means one can enter Foundation Establishment, condensing at least a mid-grade or even high-grade Dao foundation.” He paused and continued, “The spell commonalities you mentioned should be the one hundred and eighteen types of the Technique realm? For ordinary people, comprehending even one could take decades... So talking about instant casting low-level spells at that point is putting the cart before the horse, isn’t it?” Gu You suddenly understood. “So this is what the sect leader meant by the Technique realm? I didn’t expect Master Su to have summarized 118 types. No wonder I feel the learning difficulty is so great and it takes several days just to get started.” Ye Bufan nodded. “You understand then... What did you say? You’ve gotten started?” He showed obvious surprise. “Yes, I’ve comprehended one and barely entered the realm. I happen to have some questions about this Technique realm and would like Master Ye to explain.” Just as Gu You was about to ask, Ye Bufan suddenly stood up straight and flew off on his sword from the Scripture Hall. “Sorry, I have something to attend to. Your questions will be answered in the next class!” Gu You looked at Ye Bufan’s disappearing figure with a slight smile. Xie Yingying pouted. “You did that on purpose, didn’t you? Teasing the previous senior brothers is fun, huh?” Gu You’s expression turned serious. “What did you say? I don’t understand. I just barely got started as a disciple, so isn’t it reasonable not to understand?” Xie Yingying pouted and ignored him. She turned to Nangong Xianweng and curiously asked, “Nangong Shanyu, I think I saw you studying that book before. Have you comprehended any spell commonalities?” Nangong Xianweng glanced at Gu You, whose tail feathers were slightly raised, and said calmly, “I’ve comprehended some, about five.” Gu You looked over in surprise. “You must be bluffing.” Nangong Xianweng calmly raised his palm, spiritual energy flickering on his fingers. It condensed into the shape of mountains, then transformed into flying birds, and then into the shape of falling leaves. The spiritual flair matched perfectly with the book’s description of entry-level manifestations! “You...” Gu You’s faint smile stiffened. He stared at Nangong Shanyu in disbelief, his expression turning serious for the first time. “I didn’t expect there to be such a master!” Gu You said, staring at Nangong Shanyu. Nangong Xianweng said calmly, “Don’t look at me. Yingying has already comprehended three kinds.” “What?” Gu You looked at Xie Yingying, who had wide innocent eyes. In Xie Yingying’s eyes, flames flickered occasionally, making her look extremely mysterious. She was startled and said, “I’ve comprehended three what? I haven’t read that book!” “Try simply condensing your spiritual energy into the forms of a firebird, a volcano, and flames,” Nangong Xianweng said. “Oh...” Xie Yingying raised her palm with some spiritual energy appearing on her fingers. She then transformed it according to Nangong Xianweng’s instructions, succeeding one by one. The spiritual flair was even more vivid than what Gu You and Nangong Xianweng had displayed! Clearly, Xie Yingying had already made significant progress in these three Technique realms. Gu You stood up and hurriedly left. “Doesn’t that silhouette look like Master Ye?” Xie Yingying said with a smile. Several top-tier spirit root disciples nearby silently watched the scene, lowered their heads, pretended to be bystanders, and quietly left as if there was a monstrous beast behind them. Nangong Xianweng smiled and also left. “Hey, Shanyu, wait for me!” Xie Yingying chased after Nangong Xianweng curiously. “How did you know I had these three Technique realms? I didn’t even realize it myself.” “You didn’t realize...” Nangong Xianweng twitched the corner of his mouth. “Aren’t you always showing off in front of me, playing with spiritual energy to mess with the little beasts?” “Ah? I was just playing!” “I always thought you were practicing seriously.” “Really? Oh, that’s right, I was practicing seriously!” Nangong Xianweng shook his head and continued walking toward the Scripture Pavilion, with Xie Yingying following behind. “Don’t follow me!” “Hehe, I’m just going the same way!” At the Scripture Pavilion, the top-tier spirit root disciples gathered again. They no longer cared about others’ gazes and each seriously read the scriptures in front of them, as if holding back a surge of energy. Among them was Ye Bufan, frowning as he studied a copy of ‘Essential Teachings on Instant-Cast Spells Without Delay.’ The fine lines on his forehead were twisted like braided ropes, sweat covering his forehead. “This is a scripture written by Su Yuan? Impossible. Although he surpassed me before, the gap can’t be this huge, right? Who exactly has the top-tier spirit root? I can’t even understand one of his scriptures! And he has hundreds more like this...” Ye Bufan fell into a state of terrified doubt. Nangong Xianweng was about to enter the Scripture Pavilion when his steps paused. At the entrance, a figure suddenly appeared out of thin air—it was Su Yuan. Su Yuan was both amused and speechless. He had been observing the disciples’ situations over the past few days in the secret realm since he had taken over as valley master of Immortal Seed Valley. Using Mind Echo, he occasionally observed each disciple’s learning progress, cultivation preferences, personality traits, comprehension, perseverance, and so on, recording everything carefully in his notebook. But soon, when observing Nangong Shanyu, he found something unusual. Through simple deduction based on appearance and name abbreviation, he easily confirmed Nangong Shanyu was actually Nangong Xianweng, whom he had briefly met before. After recognizing him, Su Yuan naturally wanted to meet in person. This old guy liked to play around. If he wanted to read books, he could just do it directly without all this fuss. Su Yuan looked at Nangong Xianweng helplessly and saluted. “Disciple, would you like to come to my residence for a cup of tea?” Nangong Xianweng’s expression did not change and he immediately replied, “How could I refuse when the valley master invites?” The two stepped away together toward another location. Xie Yingying’s eyes widened as she watched this scene and immediately followed. Neither Nangong Xianweng nor Su Yuan paid attention to Xie Yingying following them. After a while, the three arrived at the valley master’s temporary residence. This was Su Yuan’s temporary cave dwelling, already cleaned by Song Cai’s men and ready for occupancy. In the courtyard, Su Yuan poured a cup of tea for Nangong Xianweng and one for the lively Xie Yingying. Then Su Yuan asked, “What do you think of my ultimate teachings?” “Extremely exquisite!” Nangong Xianweng took a sip of tea and praised. Su Yuan said, “Personally, I think my ultimate teachings can only be used as a reference for disciples.” “Oh? So you hope ‘they’ don’t get too absorbed in it,” Su Yuan said. “Oh? Why is that?” Nangong Xianweng asked in surprise. “Well, how to put it... Those who learn from me live;those who try to imitate me die! The first volume is just the foundation. Later volumes become increasingly difficult. It’s good for those who can comprehend the essence and become invincible at their level. But those who can’t reach the essence and try to find their own path will have a hard time. They’ll be constrained by my Dao.” Su Yuan sighed, “Seeing the questions between Ye Bufan and Gu You today only confirmed this further!” “Wait!” Nangong Xianweng interrupted Su Yuan directly. “You were spying on the Scripture Hall earlier?” Nangong Xianweng frowned. “I wasn’t spying. I was just curious and took a look! I’m just normally checking on the students’ learning progress!” Su Yuan defended. “But I never sensed your spying,” Nangong Xianweng said, a hint of shock in his tone. “Uh, that... belongs to a more profound part of the ultimate teachings,” Su Yuan coughed. He had accidentally revealed a secret. The effects of some entries sometimes seemed ordinary, but their subtle details were extremely strange. Su Yuan hadn’t really noticed before. Nangong Xianweng grew even more curious about the follow-up content of this ultimate teaching. He was a Nascent Soul cultivator, barely a Golden Core cultivator, yet Su Yuan could avoid his perception. That was not just a bit absurd, it was extremely absurd. “Back to the topic just now,” Su Yuan said, “I think my ultimate teachings are most suitable for disciples with mid-grade spirit roots. They can learn a lot from it, but since they can’t delve deeply, they’ll eventually stop studying further and not get trapped. This will lay a solid foundation for them.” “But top-tier spirit root disciples are troublesome. They can comprehend a lot from the first volume and get more and more excited. When they reach the second volume, they get trapped deeper and deeper, harder to break free. I hope you can advise them. I’ve tried before, but they didn’t listen!” Nangong Xianweng said, “Your ultimate teachings are excellent. How can the world resist learning them? Everything depends on their fate.” Su Yuan bluntly said, “Actually, I want to remind you, Nangong, it’s best you don’t get trapped either. I don’t want the sect to suffer too much loss.” Only then did Nangong Xianweng snap back to reality. “So you were hinting at me all along? I, a grand...” He glanced at the wide-eyed Xie Yingying, paused, then continued, “Just wait and see! I’m going back to read. Farewell, valley master!” He stood and walked toward the Scripture Pavilion. After walking for a while, he sensed something was off, frowned, and suddenly turned back. He saw that Xie Yingying was not following but was holding her chin with both hands, curiously asking Su Yuan question after question. Su Yuan wore a helpless expression. Nangong Xianweng’s frown relaxed. “That little girl finally stopped following me!” He shook his head and left. After several dozen steps, he turned back to look at the courtyard. Xie Yingying seemed to sense something and turned to Nangong Xianweng. She lifted her skirt and hurried to catch up. “Shanyu, wait for me!” Nangong Xianweng’s expression remained unchanged. “I have no interest in waiting for you!” He walked steadily toward the Scripture Pavilion. Xie Yingying quickly caught up and chirped around him. Nangong Xianweng occasionally responded with a few words, his expression showing little patience.