Chapter 22: Advantage

Chapter 22: Advantage

When it came to obsession with cultivation, Shang Yunduo wasn't obsessed at all.

He had never thought about Ascension, never thought about Nascent Soul, never thought about Core Formation.

But suddenly being told he could no longer cultivate—he was equally lost and confused, unwilling to accept it.

Having already cultivated for half a year, having learned to wave his hand and cast spells, to fly on a sword—asking him to pretend it never happened and return to an ordinary life was a hard pill to swallow.

After asking, Shang Yunduo's mind went blank, like a terminally ill patient waiting for a diagnosis, with most of his thinking ability gone.

What little remained even started thinking about whether he would starve to death in this world without spells or cultivation.

The spirit stones he had could be exchanged for enough silver, but being alone, without friends or support, carrying a large sum of money—he might get robbed the moment he stepped out the door, then beaten to death, or end up penniless, reduced to begging on the streets.

No, at least he could perform as a street performer. He could write songs, play instruments, and he wasn't bad-looking. He could go to teahouses and inns to put on shows.

Pei Jie had no idea that in just a few sentences, Shang Yunduo's mind had wandered so far. After thinking about the extent of his injuries, he nodded. "It's doable."

As long as Shang Yunduo didn't recklessly use spiritual power to worsen his injuries, with his constitution, a few years of rest would allow him to recover. If he wanted to be healed immediately, it would require special medicinal pills.

He mentally listed the herbs needed for the pills. "The Ancient Plains Secret Realm has all the spiritual herbs you need."

On hearing this, Shang Yunduo's face crumpled like a bitter melon. Even now, Pei Jie was still fixated on the secret realm?

Shang Yunduo reasoned with him earnestly, "Senior, you're at Qi Refining Third Layer, and I can't use spiritual power. The two of us going into the secret realm would be like offering free meals to the demon beasts and giving experience points to other cultivators."

Pei Jie: "It's just a secret realm that only Qi Refining stage cultivators can enter. If I want you to go in, I can naturally bring you out safely."

Shang Yunduo asked skeptically, "Can I do it without using spiritual power?"

Pei Jie: "Compared to other cultivators at the same cultivation stage, what's your greatest advantage?"

Shang Yunduo thought for a moment. "Being pragmatic."

Pei Jie: "..."

He became even more baffled as to why so many people liked taking on disciples or forming Dao companions.

It was more troublesome than raising a spirit pet.

Pei Jie took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to kick him out of the carriage, and said with strained patience, "Your body."

"Huh?" Shang Yunduo's mind nearly went to a dirty place. His body? Broad shoulders, narrow waist, long legs?

Forget about humans, did demon beasts also care about looks and physique?

As his thoughts wandered, a book came flying toward him. Shang Yunduo caught it and looked at the cover—*Body Tempering*.

Pei Jie's voice was already brimming with impatience. "Before entering the secret realm, practice this. Start now."

Shang Yunduo opened the book and didn't recognize the text. He flipped to another page—still nothing. He went through the entire book from cover to cover; excluding the cover, there were nine pages. Besides the three characters for "Body Tempering" on the cover, he couldn't recognize a single character inside.

Shouldn't a body tempering manual at least have some illustrations?

The one from Taiyuan Sect had pictures.

Shang Yunduo scratched his head and fidgeted for a good while over this indecipherable book whose inner pages were even finer than its cover, before deciding to be honest and speak up.

Although he was illiterate, he had at least diligently studied literacy for half a year and spent spirit stones to enter the library of the Taiyuan Sect, which was only accessible to inner disciples. There was no way he could fail to recognize even a single character across nine whole pages, unless these weren't characters commonly used by local cultivators, or even by human cultivators at all.

Thinking back to Xiao Chi's experiences in the novel, Shang Yunduo tentatively asked, "Senior, this is a demon beast technique, right?"

Pei Jie didn't deny it. "Techniques have no racial boundaries, only suitability."

Shang Yunduo was stunned for a moment, then nodded.

He hadn't expected Pei Jie to say that.

In the novel, human cultivators and demon cultivators were irreconcilably hostile, with deep-seated grudges. They treated each other as resources for advancement, and regarding techniques, they held each other's in contempt.

The reason wasn't entirely that "those not of my kind are of a different heart," but mainly because their races differed, and their cultivation methods weren't compatible.

The few cultivators who dabbled in both were even labeled demonic cultivators. Human cultivators were despised by their peers and treated as thieves by the demon race, while demon cultivators were mocked by their own kind and regarded as thieves by humans. No matter which side they belonged to, they were ostracized, suppressed, or even hunted. Those who wanted to learn had to do so in secret.

Although Pei Jie was the antagonist in the novel, he appeared, at least on the surface, very much like someone from the orthodox sects. His demeanor and bearing were even more transcendent than the elders of the Taiyuan Sect. He didn't seem like a demonic or rogue cultivator; rather, he seemed like the model disciple produced by a large orthodox sect.

The novel never explicitly stated what grudge he held against the Taiyuan Sect, but since he was going to destroy it, it could well be a vendetta for the annihilation of his clan.

The Taiyuan Sect first destroyed his sect, killed his clan, and knocked down his cultivation realm. Pei Jie endured humiliation and bore the heavy burden of his hatred, starting over from the Qi Refining stage.

Judging by the casual tone he used when talking about Core Formation, he must have been at least at the Golden Core stage previously, perhaps even Nascent Soul.

Could it be that he turned to demonic cultivation, transforming hatred into motivation for revenge?

The more Shang Yunduo imagined it, the more plausible it seemed, and he even felt a bit of sympathy for Pei Jie.

Sigh...

If that were really the case, it would be too tragic.

Pei Jie didn't know what he was thinking. To keep him from overthinking, misunderstanding, and refusing to cultivate properly, he patiently explained, "The claws of demon beasts are natural weapons. Although they are accustomed to relying on their strong physiques, their Body Techniques form a school of their own and are no worse than those of human cultivators. Once you've healed your meridians, find one or two fire-attribute techniques you can use, channel fire to your fists and feet, and you can replace claws and fangs with fire."

Shang Yunduo nodded. As someone who had read the novel and transmigrated into it, he didn't hate demonic cultivators who secretly studied demon beast techniques. After all, it was just stealing techniques—no murder, arson, or ripping out hearts and drinking blood. Su Ziyuan's family secretly kept demon beast techniques, and she relied on them to escape and save her life when trapped. Xiao Chi also borrowed from demon beast secret arts in the later stages.

In the current situation, it wasn't that he looked down on the demon beast technique; rather, the technique looked down on him.

He closed the book and said, "Senior, based on my experience, learning a new language takes me more than ten years."

Pei Jie looked at him in shock.

Shang Yunduo thought to himself that he had even lowballed it when he said ten years.

Take English for example—he had studied it from third grade through university, which was more than ten years if counted carefully. As for his proficiency... when watching a movie without subtitles, he was hopeless. This demon beast technique looked far more complicated than English.

He threw caution to the wind and said, "I don't recognize a single character on here. By the time I learn it... we'd have to wait for the next opening of the Ancient Wild Secret Realm."

Pei Jie closed his eyes in disbelief, involuntarily recalling how he himself had known to read the demon beast technique in his own past.

He couldn't remember.

It seemed he had just naturally understood it, not worth a separate page in his memory.

Another thought occurred to him: would a Dao companion's aptitude affect the speed of Dual Cultivation?

After a moment of silence, Pei Jie said, "You don't need to recognize the characters. The demon beasts don't have writing either. You just need to comprehend the spiritual energy circulation inside and their recording habits... Don't you understand?"

Shang Yunduo nodded with clear eyes, feeling that Pei Jie's gaze at him had grown deeper, almost as if it were losing its light. Pei Jie paused again, then changed his question. "Can you read the stars?"

Shang Yunduo shook his head.

"Can you find the Big Dipper and Venus?"

Shang Yunduo nodded.

Pei Jie finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Do the stars have words? How do you pick out the Big Dipper and Venus from all those stars in the sky?"

Shang Yunduo's eyes widened slightly. Aren't those just patterns? Besides, the Big Dipper and Venus are bright enough to stand out from the stars. He let out a thoughtful "Ah," picked up the book again, and flipped through it.

Pei Jie said, "Don't just look with your eyes, and don't treat it like text. Use your spiritual sense."

Shang Yunduo nodded, sat down, and calmed his mind.

A Qi Refining cultivator couldn't freely use their spiritual sense yet. He just focused as best he could, trying to perceive with his mind. But after staring for a long while, almost memorizing the first few lines as images, he still couldn't figure it out.

After most of the day, Shang Yunduo was getting hungry, his legs were numb, and he still couldn't see the trick.

He stole a glance at Pei Jie, who was meditating with his eyes closed. He thought, since Pei Jie wanted him to practice this, he must intend for him to learn it. So maybe he'd be willing to guide him?

"Senior..." Shang Yunduo spoke softly, slowly raising the book, not yet having come up with a plea for help. But as the book lifted with his arm and tilted, those seemingly random, gibberish-like marks suddenly became three-dimensional.

"Eh?!"

Shang Yunduo blinked and looked again. Some parts of the "characters" seemed to tremble.

"??!"

Shang Yunduo sat up straight and pulled the book closer. Those "characters" indeed changed—some parts became clearer, others blurred. He moved the book away, and the "characters"—or rather, symbols—began to flicker, rearrange, reassemble, transform, gathering and dispersing like they were dancing. Then...

They started moving.

Like an animated oracle bone script, but even more abstract, with faster and more chaotic transformations.

Shang Yunduo blinked in astonishment. First he pinched his leg, then wondered if he was hallucinating from eating some bad mushrooms.

He closed his eyes for a moment, reopened them, and the book looked normal again.

He stared at those "characters" a bit longer, and they started moving again.

Running, colliding, pouncing, biting, fighting—getting more and more realistic. Shang Yunduo gradually seemed to grasp the expression of these "characters."

The demon race had no written language. He only needed to intuit the flow of spiritual energy within and their recording habits.

He thought he understood!

"Senior, senior," Shang Yunduo tried hard to remember the first line, put the book down, stood up, and showed Pei Jie the movement he had interpreted. "Does this first line mean this?"

He swung his fists and feet, using all four limbs, nearly tripping over himself in the process.

Pei Jie was surprised. He figured it out in less than a day?

Not as stupid as he thought. Not beyond saving.

Pei Jie's mood improved. He stopped meditating and started supervising Shang Yunduo's practice of body techniques. "Don't just mimic the moves. Think about where to gather strength, where to release it, how to subdue the enemy. Tempering the body isn't just about strengthening the physique and bones. A skilled body cultivator can also reach the Nascent Soul stage."

"Oh!" Shang Yunduo continued practicing.

He had been active and lively since childhood. When he was young, his health wasn't great, so his family enrolled him in all kinds of sports-oriented extracurricular classes. He had learned some martial arts too, so he knew how to train.

First, build the foundation, then learn the moves, then integrate them and apply them flexibly.

The Taiyuan Sect's teachings were more or less the same.

He had a sports background, and when studying spells at Taiyuan Sect, he had also trained in body techniques for a few months. Coupled with "Shang Yunduo's" original physical quality, his good motor skills and dynamic vision, once he understood, learning this body tempering method went fairly smoothly.

Stomping, springing, sweeping, kicking, jumping—fist techniques, palm techniques, leg techniques, footwork were a given. He could even barely imitate some rather abstract movements.

This technique was very different from what he had learned before. Its style was grand and expansive. At first, he lacked confidence, but seeing Pei Jie didn't correct him, he gradually let loose, becoming more and more unrestrained, jumping and bouncing around inside the not-so-small carriage.

But some movements were too abstract; he simply couldn't handle them.

Stuck again, Shang Yunduo stopped and asked, "Senior, is this a multi-limb technique?"

"What?"

Shang Yunduo said, "Look, like this, like this... you'd need at least ten hands and eight feet to practice it. Which demon beast's secret manual is this?"

"..."

"This one is even more exaggerated." Shang Yunduo showed him the page. "This must be for a centipede spirit that can detach its arms and legs, right?"

He could still imitate four-limbed stuff, but this was beyond him.

Pei Jie: "..."

He took the book and examined it closely for a while, then stood up and demonstrated the so-called "centipede spirit" body movement for Shang Yunduo.

Palm strike, palm strike, leg technique, palm strike, spin and change... Starting from ordinary, the connections got faster and faster, until a wind stirred inside the carriage.

Shang Yunduo finally understood those baffling extra hands and feet—when speed increased enough to produce afterimages, it became a barrage of limbs, overwhelming and relentless, pushing him back step by step until he had no room to retreat. When he came to his senses, Pei Jie's fist was already an inch from his chest. "Get it?"

The fist wind stopped as the move ended. His robes and hair, tousled by the wind, slowly settled.

Shang Yunduo nodded blankly.

Pei Jie turned his fist into a palm and pushed lightly. Shang Yunduo stumbled backward and sat down exactly where Pei Jie had earlier told him to sit. The window behind him burst open as if struck with force—bang! Both panes flew wide, and wind rushed in.

It blew Shang Yunduo's hair everywhere, and his eyes sparkled.

Author's note:

Yunduo: Senior, I want to learn this!