Chapter 9: The Nine Needles and Nine Demons Secret Art

  After drinking in the Idle Chat Pavilion, Yan Zhen returned to his own dwelling, a humble cottage near the cliff. It was actually two wooden huts, one for living and one for cooking. This cottage was far from the others, nestled among the mountains and forests, with an air of seclusion about it.

  Yan Zhen sat on a chair in the middle of the Qing She, lost in thought. The joy of killing Qin An in Shuang Yue Valley and obtaining the Delicious Food Scroll could be set aside for now. There were only seven days left before the final showdown with his arch-nemesis, Ouyang Song.

  Arch-nemesis Ouyang Song, his current martial arts power is at the 7th level of Qi Refining stage. While Yan Zhen's internal strength was only at the 5th level of Qi Refining stage.

  Yan Zhen secretly assessed the strength of his enemy, judging that he was not yet a match for Ouyang Song. To defeat Ouyang Song, it would be best to raise his own magical powers to the sixth level of the Qi Refining stage. However, increasing one's magical powers is extremely difficult, and it's normal for even a small breakthrough to take a year or two. The previous increase was thanks to the heavenly treasure, the Delicious Food Scroll, but the scroll couldn't be used in a short period of time.

  How can I improve my magical powers in just six days?

  Difficult! Difficult! Difficult!

  Yan Zhen fell into deep thought, pondering for a long time before recalling some things. Yan Zhen had unintentionally obtained a secret technique in his past life called the Nine Needles and Nine Demons Secret Art. This Nine Needles and Nine Demons Secret Art was extremely sinister and perilous, inviting heavenly demons to invade one's body, using one's own Dao heart to resist the heavenly demons, thereby stimulating the potential within one's body.

  This technique has a success rate of only about 30%, while the failure rate is as high as 70%. If successful, it can stimulate the deep potential of the human body and allow Yan Zhen to advance to the sixth level of Qi training. However, if failed, it will cause severe damage to the vital energy, resulting in significant loss of vitality and blood essence. Within two years, it is impossible to improve one's magical powers, and only after waiting for two years for the vital energy to recover can one continue to enhance their magical powers.

  So, this Nine Needles and Nine Demons Secret Technique is actually a gamble. This technique is feared even by those in the demonic path, and they don't dare to try it lightly. In his past life, Yan Zhen had obtained the Nine Needles and Nine Demons Secret Technique, but after studying it out of curiosity for a while, he ultimately didn't have the courage to try it, and put it aside. Now that he has been reborn and returned, originally, there would be no need to use this technique according to normal logic, however, with the final battle against Ouyang Song approaching in just six days, following the normal path wouldn't allow him to increase his magical powers in time.

  Now, there were two roads in front of Yan Zhen.

  The first path, to cultivate the Nine Needles and Nine Demons Secret Technique. If successful, it would be a great joy for all, and Yan Zhen's own magical powers could advance to the sixth level of Qi Refining. However, if failed, his vital energy would suffer greatly, and he would be unable to increase his magical powers for two years. This path is extremely risky, with risk and opportunity coexisting.

  The second road, without practicing the Nine Needles and Nine Magic Arts, it would naturally not fail. However, seven days later, in a battle with Ouyang Song, it became difficult, and no matter what, he couldn't defeat Ouyang Song.

  Practice the Nine Needles and Nine Demons Secret Art, or not practice at all?

  Yan Zhen fell into deep thought.

  Rebirth is not omnipotent. Rebirth does not mean that one knows all the information, and can easily get through any problem. Sometimes, when faced with extremely difficult situations, it forces Yan Zhen to make a difficult decision.

  Yan Zhen finally made a decision. He was going all in! He would cultivate the Nine Needles and Nine Demons Secret Technique. Only by betting everything could he possibly defeat Ouyang Song.

  As for winning or losing at gambling, let's leave it up to heaven to decide.

  ……

  Yan Zhen was also extremely resolute in his decision, and once he decided to gamble, he immediately began preparing. The Nine Needles Nine Demons Secret Technique had three steps. The first step was to get drunk for three days. No mistake, this step sounded ridiculous, but it was actually true. To explain, the demon head liked to invade the elderly, children, and those with weak bodies. Cultivators had vigorous blood and energy, so demon heads generally wouldn't choose them for invasion, unless they were breaking through a higher realm, in which case countless demon heads would come rolling in, and both heart demons and heavenly demons would descend at the same time. Under normal circumstances, demon heads didn't bother with cultivators.

  The Nine Needles and Nine Devils Secret Technique is indeed a demonic path technique, while others avoid devils, this technique requires the induction of devils into one's body. To induce devils into one's body, one must attain a state of weakness, thus, getting drunk for three consecutive days is undoubtedly a rather weak state.

  So there is this requirement.

  For the next three days, Yan Zhen went to the Idle Chatter Wine House to get drunk. On the first day, he ordered two good dishes to go with his wine and drank a lot of "burning knife" liquor, which was extremely potent. Yan Zhen kept drinking, clearly intent on getting drunk. The problem was that Yan Zhen's capacity for alcohol was actually quite good. As a result, he continued drinking like this for a long time, and it wasn't until after he had drunk twenty jars of wine that Yan Zhen finally fell into a deep drunken sleep.

  The next day, Yan Zhen continued as on the first day, continuing to drink wine and ordering four or five small dishes to go with it, such as stir-fried pig's tongue and cold mixed pig's ears. Today was a special occasion, so they had some top-grade Niang Hong, which was fragrant when drunk but also had a strong aftertaste. Yan Zhen's capacity for wine seemed to have increased again today; he didn't pass out until he had drunk twenty-three jars of wine.

  On the third day, Yan Zhen continued to drink and also ordered a few small dishes. Today's wine was not ordinary, it was called "Three Bowls Not Enough", which is the most famous wine in Idle Talk Wine House. People who are not good at drinking usually don't dare to drink it, but Yan Zhen drank it with extreme pleasure. In the end, Yan Zhen drank 21 bowls of "Three Bowls Not Enough" and got deeply drunk, this truly lived up to its name.

  And Yan's behavior was naturally seen by others in the Idle Chatter Wine House.

  "Haha, Yan Zhen is really getting more and more decadent. Originally, he just came to eat and drink a little, but now he's drunk every day, not practicing any skills at all." said an outer sect disciple.

  "He must have known that he's finished, and that he'll definitely die at the hands of Ouyang Song in their duel a few days later. So now he's just venting before his death." Another outer sect disciple sighed and said.

  "Hey, a useless drunkard, no wonder Yan Xiaozhi left him. If it were me, I'd leave him too." A somewhat attractive female disciple with a ponytail sneered coldly.

  "He's done for, the life-or-death duel in a few days will be his death sentence."

  "He himself has given up, drinking like this every day, how can he not die."

  Of course, there were also people who secretly informed Ouyang Song. Ouyang Song still had some status among the outer door disciples. The weakest of the outer door disciples of Qingfeng Xianmen was at the third level of Qi Refining, while the strongest was at the ninth level. And Ouyang Song was at the seventh level of Qi Refining, so he naturally had a certain status among the outer door disciples. When Ouyang Song heard these people's reports, he snorted in disdain, apparently also thinking that he would definitely win, and now his confidence was even greater. A waste like Yan Zhen could just go die.

  And amidst all the rumors, Yan Zhen also completed the first step of the Nine Needles and Nine Demons Secret Technique. From now on, he has advanced one-third of the way from the current Qi Refining Stage Five to the Qi Refining Stage Six, leaving only the second and third steps remaining.