NOVEL NEXT Chapter 150: Black Heart Ancestor?
"That's the master of Black Dragon Mountain, the so-called 'Black Heart Ancestor'? Truly, seeing is believing!" one disciple murmured as Chu Xuan approached the scripture pavilion.
"I heard the cultivators at Black Dragon Mountain train fanatically every day, and those who don't meet the requirements get turned into corpse puppets!" another whispered, a mix of fear and fascination in their voice.
"That's brutal! Isn't that a method of the demonic path?" questioned a third, their face creased in disapproval.
"If you ask me, other sub-sects also use demonic methods; they just hide them better. The Black Heart Ancestor just puts it all out in the open," a fourth disciple chimed in, trying to sound pragmatic.
"Because of the Black Dragon Mountain affair... our Mystic Wind Cave's Golden Core ancestor has also issued an order—those who don't meet the standards will be expelled from the sect," a fifth shared, his tone a mix of resignation and anxiety.
"The same goes for my Flying Dragon Mansion!" another agreed, nodding vigorously.
The disciples' voices, though subdued, carried to Chu Xuan. His soul, strengthened by the Soul Core, was far more potent than that of most Golden Core cultivators, allowing him to overhear their quiet complaints.
"Black Heart Ancestor? That title actually suits my persona quite well," Chu Xuan mused a hint of amusement in his tone. "Unknowingly, has Black Dragon Mountain stirred up the entire Hundred Refinements Sect?"
He chuckled lightly, finding the situation both ironic and slightly flattering.
As Chu Xuan strode into the scripture pavilion, the elderly cultivator guarding the entrance noticed the waves of invisible energy emanating from the Golden Core elder token at Chu Xuan's waist. The old man jumped up from his seat, startled awake from his dozing.
"Greetings, Elder!" the old cultivator said with deep respect.
Chu Xuan nodded slightly, "I wish to exchange for Golden Core stage techniques."
"The Golden Core techniques are on the seventh floor," the elder quickly informed.
With a nod, Chu Xuan flashed to the seventh floor of the pavilion. This level was meticulously organized, filled with a vast array of scriptures—techniques for Qi cultivation, spiritual sense secrets, and even body refining methods were all available.
Chu Xuan passed by the sections containing lower and mid-grade Golden Core techniques, heading straight for the areas dedicated to superior and top-grade techniques. His gaze swept over the titles:
Heavenly River Heavy Water Scroll
Blood Refinement True Art
Three Thousand Mysterious Threads Chapter
Raising an eyebrow, Chu Xuan noted to himself, 'The Hundred Refinement Sect's scripture pavilion certainly has an abundance of demonic arts.'
Yet, he did not see any overtly sinister or nefarious techniques, nor any methods explicitly for corpse refining—only puppet crafting was mentioned.
But in truth, what difference was there between crafting puppets from wood and stone versus from corpses? The terminology might vary, but the essence was the same.
From this, it was evident that the Hundred Refinements Sect did not particularly concern itself with the distinctions between the righteous and demonic paths.
"The pinnacle technique for the Golden Core stage, the 'Yin Thunder Evil Technique,' requires three thousand sect contributions. It's you!"
Chu Xuan flipped through the tome, nodding in satisfaction.
This 'Yin Thunder Evil Technique' pursued a path of bold strikes and grand gestures. Once mastered, it rendered one fearless against the heavenly thunder, a favorite among many demonic cultivators.
Yet, if one were to cultivate this technique by absorbing ordinary thunder Spiritual Qi, progress would be excruciatingly slow. It demanded the absorption of yin thunder to hasten cultivation.
Additionally, this technique necessitated the prior mastery of a Foundation Establishment stage technique, the 'Five Thunder Technique' or the 'Mysterious Demise Technique.'
Naturally, this posed no issue for Chu Xuan. With his prior experience cultivating the 'Blood Evil Demon Refining Scripture,' mastering another Foundation Establishment stage technique was trivial.
As for the yin thunder, it could only be formed through the combination of Yin Evil Qi and thunder Spiritual Qi, a process fraught with difficulties.
However, for Chu Xuan, it was merely a matter of exerting some effort. Once the formation was established, the yin thunder would roll forth in an instant, a mighty deluge of yin qi for his use alone, unclaimable by others.
As Chu Xuan was about to depart from the scripture pavilion, he encountered someone ascending the stairs—it was Yuan Zichu.
Upon seeing Chu Xuan, Yuan could not help but smile awkwardly. He vividly remembered how Chu Xuan had shattered his formidable defenses with a single punch.
"Fellow daoist He, what a fortunate encounter," he greeted with a forced smile. "Congratulations on Black Dragon Mountain's grand victory in the recent sect-wide disciple competition."
Yuan's Thousand Hammer Peak, recently established, had few disciples. In this competition, they had indeed ranked first—alas, from the bottom.
Chu Xuan nodded slightly, then brushed past him. Y
uan Zichu, a clever man, rarely left Thousand Hammer Peak, making it challenging for Chu Xuan to eliminate him covertly.
Over time, Chu Xuan had grown indifferent to him.
From the corner of his eye, Yuan noticed the 'Yin Thunder Evil Technique' in Chu Xuan's hand and was visibly taken aback. The technique was notoriously difficult to master, only advancing rapidly with the aid of yin thunder.
"Fellow daoist He," Yuan coughed lightly, "I know of a cavern underground that harbors yin thunder, which might aid your cultivation. However, there resides a powerful Golden Core stage demonic beast, necessitating our collaboration..."
Chu Xuan smiled, "No need. I am not fond of taking risks, nor do I relish conflict."
Confused, Yuan watched as Chu Xuan walked away without hesitation. How could a cultivator not embrace risks for the sake of fierce advancement? This He Liang was truly peculiar.
After leaving the scripture pavilion, Chu Xuan headed to the treasure pavilion. With over ten thousand sect contributions to his name, purchasing was a simple matter. After selecting some treasures, he quickly made his exit.
"Form the array!"
Chu Xuan stood firm within the array. With a sweep of his consciousness, seventy-two array flags descended one by one, ultimately interconnecting to form an intricate and arcane pattern.
This was the 'Grand Thunder Transformation Array,' a mid-grade Golden Core formation that Chu Xuan had exchanged for four hundred contribution points from the Hundred Refinement Sect's treasure pavilion. The array was designed to absorb the thunder Spiritual Qi from heaven and earth and gather it within the formation.
However, Blue Star was a planet scarce in Spiritual Qi. Even if one harnessed all their power to absorb the natural Spiritual Qi, after a decade or so, it would barely fill a small spiritual stone.
Thus, Chu Xuan decided to reverse its intended use, transforming the Grand Thunder Transformation Array into the Reverse Thunder Transformation Array. This modification allowed the array to expel the thunder Spiritual Qi accumulated inside, feeding it back into the external environment.
After setting up this Reverse Thunder Transformation Array, Chu Xuan slapped his storage bag, and three head-sized crystals were thrown into the array.
These crystals were 'Heavenly Thunder Crystals,' either formed coincidentally when natural lightning struck the earth or crafted by Nascent Soul stage cultivators who dared to harvest heavenly thunder and infuse it with Spiritual Qi.
Due to their rarity, a head-sized Heavenly Thunder Crystal could cost up to twenty thousand small spiritual stones, equivalent to two hundred contributions.
Chu Xuan, however, was not concerned about the expense given his ample contributions.
As soon as the three Heavenly Thunder Crystals entered the array, they were immediately absorbed by the Reverse Thunder Transformation Array, transforming into pure thunder Spiritual Qi that flowed into the Soul-Capturing Evil-Nurturing Array.
This thunder Spiritual Qi continuously collided and annihilated with the Yin Evil Qi, eventually merging into one.
Observing from the side, Chu Xuan quickly deduced that roughly three strands of thunder Spiritual Qi were needed to merge with ten strands of Yin Evil Qi to form a single mass of yin thunder.
"Let it take its time, no one is competing with me for this. I'll return in a month, and by then, this place will surely have accumulated a substantial amount of yin thunder."
With a satisfied smile, Chu Xuan then vanished in a flash, disappearing from sight.