Chapter 465 - 152: [Sharpening the Blade]
The little girl looked at Chen Yan’s expression and guessed his thoughts, shaking her head, "You don’t understand. Your Spirit Gathering Array, you only use it to increase the concentration of Primordial Qi to speed up your cultivation—this method itself is quite wasteful."
"Wasteful?"
"Increasing the concentration of Primordial Qi is not just for cultivation," the little girl sighed, "Nurturing magical artifacts, or planting spiritual plants and herbs, all require a high concentration of surrounding Primordial Qi!
Even in the future, if you learn Alchemy, refining pills also needs to be in a place with high Primordial Qi concentration to improve the Pill Grade!"
As she spoke, she pointed at the piece of wood, "The material of this thing has great affinity with Primordial Qi, only slightly inferior to upper-grade spiritual jade, but I guess its value is definitely cheaper than upper-grade spiritual jade!"
Chen Yan felt a strange sensation arise within him.
That bizarre tree grows next to the village of the Fierce Beast Race—yet there’s not a trace of Primordial Qi there!
How could a tree growing in such an environment have such high affinity with Primordial Qi?
Truly, the world is vast and full of wonders.
"However, this thing has a Yin Sha attribute. If you use it as the main material for a Spirit Gathering Array, the gathered Primordial Qi will gradually accumulate Yin Sha Qi under its influence. Cultivators practicing in this environment may not be affected in the short term, but over time, it’s bound to harm you with Yin Sha. You’ll need other methods to reconcile and resolve the Yin Sha.
Hmm... but if used to craft Yin Sha-type magical artifacts, it would be an excellent choice."
Chen Yan nodded; he already had a sense of this—after taking out this branch, the entire room seemed to gain a touch of coolness.
Although it’s only a subtle change, Chen Yan’s keen sensory abilities allowed him to detect it.
This thing indeed carries a hint of Yin Sha aura.
"In summer, without air conditioning, tossing a few pieces of this wood into the room can also cool down the temperature," the little girl laughed, "But for ordinary people, staying in such an environment for a long time will cause health issues."
Saying this, the little girl nonchalantly tossed the branch back to Chen Yan, "This thing is interesting, but not too valuable... Besides, you need a large quantity for it to be useful; having just one branch in your hands is not of much use."
Chen Yan smiled, not mentioning he had a doorway leading to the forest of strange trees.
But then the little girl stared at Chen Yan for a moment and lightly sighed, "Your biggest issue now is that you’re having trouble with your mental realm, right?"
Chen Yan nodded, "Yes, recently I’ve been killing."
The little girl seemed indifferent to the notion of "killing," casually saying, "When you kill too much, you inevitably get affected by Evil Qi. If the Evil Qi affects your mental realm for long, it will seep into your Primordial Spirit. But if you’re a Body Cultivator, using this Evil Qi to refine your body isn’t a bad idea, but you refuse to refine your body.
Evil Qi in your Primordial Spirit, suppressing it is useless; over time, it will merge with your Primordial Spirit. As you dive deeper into cultivation, it will become a deeply rooted trouble.
That’s how Heart Demons come to be."
Saying so, the little girl tilted her head, looking at Chen Yan, "You have both the Primordial Spirit Technique and the Body Refining Technique—either path could solve your problem with the Evil Qi.
Yet you seem unwilling to cultivate either?"
Chen Yan wouldn’t easily reveal that the old lady instructed Lin Qingquan to tell him not to cultivate the Primordial Spirit and Body Techniques. He simply replied calmly, "I think both paths have their drawbacks, and once chosen, there’s no turning back, so I’m contemplating further."
The little girl laughed, "It’s good that you realize this, but dragging it on won’t help."
After finishing, she thought for a moment, "If you don’t want to cultivate the Primordial Spirit, or practice Primordial Spirit Techniques, that works too.
However, you can first attempt to temper your Primordial Spirit, strengthening its resilience—not exactly choosing a path, but laying a foundation."
Chen Yan felt a spark in his mind, suddenly recalling what Gu Qingyi had said to him before: the concept of the "whetstone."
Back then, Gu Qingyi didn’t cultivate the Primordial Spirit Technique and couldn’t help him, but she also told him to first hone the Primordial Spirit to build a foundation, explaining the "whetstone" theory.
It was precisely in line with what the little girl was saying.
"I will seriously consider it,"
Chen Yan nodded earnestly.
The little girl then smiled and waved the Mahjong tile in her hand, "I’ll keep this with me and study it seriously. In a few days, come find me. If I discover anything, I’ll tell you.
Let’s agree, if I figure out this thing, you’ll lend it to me later—not as a gift, it’s still yours. I won’t take it from you. But if I want to leave here to see the outside world, you’ll lend it to me."
"Deal!" Chen Yan readily agreed.
·
Sharpen!
Treat your Primordial Spirit as a blade, and use Evil Qi as a whetstone to hone the Primordial Spirit, enhancing its strength and resilience.
This approach is foundational; it won’t increase the power of the Primordial Spirit, but it can improve its quality.
Chen Yan carefully recalled what Gu Qingyi had told him back then—when she took him to kill the Mountain Demon and collected its Evil Qi, telling him to use this Qi to temper his Primordial Spirit in the future.