Chapter Fifteen: The Distinction of Cultivation Methods

  In the blink of an eye, half a year had passed. Relying on his extraordinary brain since childhood, Leng Yun barely managed to memorize all 3,612 books given by the strange old man. To achieve this, Leng Yun almost vomited blood several times during the past six months. Fortunately, every day the old man would give him a large dose of so-called spiritual elixirs to take. As for the purpose of these elixirs, Leng Yun found the answer in nearly 4,000 books over the past half year. However, this made Leng Yun break out in cold sweats even more, because although there were spiritual elixirs among them, many were actually highly toxic poisons. The old man often gave Leng Yun poison and antidote together to take, which wouldn't kill him but still caused immense suffering. There were several instances where the pain was so intense that he fainted directly.

  However, these 3,612 books are not all medical books or related to alchemy. Many of them are similar to geographical records and look like travel notes from some predecessors, especially for some unknown and dangerous regions. As for the authenticity of the content in these books, I do not have any doubts because one book even has a record about the tyrannical rule of the Barbarian Dragon Island, where both the location and the appearance and habits of the White Turtle are described very clearly, which is obviously not fabricated.

  "Not bad, you're only a little bit dumber than I was back then." The strange old man who had just tested Yun's ability to recite books looked exceptionally pleased. In fact, the old man didn't require Yun to recite every single word perfectly; as long as he could get eight or nine out of ten right, that was good enough.

  After the exam, the old man waved his hand and put away all the books. However, in front of Leng Yun, two piles of things suddenly appeared again. Except for one pile that was still books, the other pile consisted of dozens of jade pieces with different colors. These jade pieces were similar to the two unusual ones in Leng Yun's Qiankun bag. The other pile of books also looked extremely old and similar to the two in his bag.

  Looking at these two piles of things, Leng Yun's head was already big. After half a year of getting along, Leng Yun had finally figured out the old man's temperament and no longer felt the same reverence as before. Seeing this, Leng Yun immediately cried out in distress: "Master, didn't you say that I would be done once I finished memorizing the previous books? Could it be that I still have to memorize these?"

  As soon as Leng Yun said this, the old man raised an eyebrow and said, "You think you're so great, try carrying a book from here and see how it goes."

  Leng Yun found it somewhat strange, and involuntarily pulled out a book from the pile, "Nine Heavens Nine Earths Mysterious Yin Evil". It turned out to be a cultivation manual, and upon reading its contents, it was surprisingly similar to the Blood Prison Pagoda and the Nine Underworld Shura that he had occasionally practiced in secret over the past half year. As for this type of book, Leng Yun naturally wouldn't be unfamiliar with it, as he could still recite most of the content from memory, but the last few pages, although they looked like text, were completely unmemorable. In short, after reading them, he would forget the previous sentence by the time he read the next one, to the point where Leng Yun didn't dare to use the "crime of hiding a treasure" theory to condemn these books even until now.

  "Master, what are these?"

  "These books are the ancient cultivation methods collected by our ancestors, while these jade slips contain new cultivation methods created by later generations based on those ancient methods. According to the tradition of our Dan Du Men, you can choose to cultivate either the old or new method on your own."

  Leng Yun was stunned upon hearing this, it was the first time he had heard that there were differences between ancient and modern cultivation methods. "Master, what's the difference between the ancient method and the new method?"

  When facing the Cold Cloud issue, the strange old man generally appears to be very normal. "The ancient method is just the cultivation method of the distant ancient times. It's just that as the heavenly materials and earthly treasures on the Nine States became fewer and fewer, the spiritual energy of heaven and earth became thinner and thinner, making it more and more difficult for this ancient method to cultivate. Therefore, later generations had no choice but to modify the cultivation method to adapt to the current trend of heaven and earth, so there was a new method. As for the biggest difference between the new method and the old method, it is their cultivation steps."

  "The ancient method is divided into building the foundation, transforming qi, avoiding grains, and moving the heart; golden elixir, transforming spirit, original infant, and exiting the aperture; combining the body, returning to emptiness, crossing the calamity, and great vehicle; breaking emptiness, combining the Tao, entering subtlety, and sealing the spirit. Practicing essence transforms qi, practicing qi transforms spirit, practicing spirit returns to emptiness, practicing emptiness combines with the Tao, four major realms, from ordinary to sage, achieving the great Tao. The new method is different, the first step of the new method is refining qi, then building the foundation, followed by directly forming the elixir, and then entering the original infant stage from the golden elixir, and finally transforming spirit from the original infant."

  For the new method, Leng Yun had also seen quite a few from the nearly four thousand books before, but he was hearing about the so-called ancient method for the first time. He couldn't help but ask: "Master, is it very difficult to cultivate with the ancient method? Is this new method easier to become immortal?"

  Facing Cold Cloud's question, the strange old man revealed a hint of helplessness, "On the contrary, ancient cultivation is difficult, but becoming an immortal is easy. As long as you follow the steps and proceed smoothly, you can achieve great success in the Tao. However, new methods make cultivation easy, but becoming an immortal is like a mirage on the water, even after millions of years, it's still hard for one person to succeed."

  As soon as he heard this, Leng Yun finally understood, but at this time he couldn't help but curiously ask: "Master, what kind of cultivation are you practicing?"

  The old man suddenly let out a long sigh and said, "I cultivate the new method."

  At the sight of Lao Tou's expression, it was clear that he was not satisfied with the new method. Cold Cloud couldn't help but ask: "Master, why didn't you choose the ancient method back then?"

  But unexpectedly, the old man suddenly stretched out his hand and gave Leng Yun a heavy slap on the head. "Ancient methods, you think it's easy to practice ancient methods? If I had chosen ancient methods back then, perhaps by now your master would have turned into dust along with my bones. Nowadays, in these nine states, which cultivator of ancient methods doesn't have a large sect providing them with heavenly treasures and earthly riches? Otherwise, it's simply no different from seeking death, do you understand?"

  At this point, the old man suddenly let out a long sigh. "If those hypocrites hadn't driven us Dan Duomen out, we might still have had a chance to fight back, but now, our Dan Duomen is finished."

  "Master, are you telling me to choose a new method?" Cold Cloud seemed to have understood something.

  "Of course, the new method is better. At least there are fewer obstacles in the cultivation process. Building the foundation, forming the elixir, and creating the immortal fetus can all greatly increase one's lifespan. Unlike the old method, where even a slight delay would lead to exhaustion of one's lifespan. As for this choice, it's just a rule set by our Danxu Gate ancestors."

  After listening to the old man's words, Leng Yun was also somewhat undecided for a while. The ancient and modern methods obviously had their own advantages and disadvantages. After thinking about it, Leng Yun simply threw away his choice and began to carefully examine the exercises given by the old man.

  Leng Yun started by looking at the ancient method, and the top one was naturally the "Nine Heavens Nine Earths Xuanming Yinxiao" he had picked up before. Leng Yun couldn't tell whether it was good or bad, but just looking at the name, it was indeed domineering enough.

  "Yanggao Xuri", "Xuanwu True Body Change", "Nanhua True Scripture", "Tian Di Xing Qi Ming", "Shangqing Naqi Decision"

  For these names or the books of Hegemony or Peace, Leng Yun was more and more surprised. For the doubts in Leng Yun's mind, Gu Lao Tou seemed to be very clear, and he said with a sneer: "These ancient classics are all the town treasures of some famous schools in ancient times, otherwise how could they enter the eyes of our Dan Du Men ancestors! Just like these few books, those pseudo-gentlemen of Dan Ding School almost went crazy for them, and for them, Dan Ding School chased and killed us Dan Du Men for nearly 30,000 years."