Chapter 87: Heartfire Art
Yuan Niya's cultivation technique came from her master, the Elder of the Law Enforcement Hall. It was one of only two techniques in the Qinglu Sect capable of reaching the Nascent Soul stage.
This technique was called the Heartfire Art, a fire-based cultivation method with exceptionally powerful offensive capabilities. This was a key reason why the Elder of the Law Enforcement Hall was so formidable in battle—her strength stemmed largely from practicing this technique.
However, despite its strength, the Heartfire Art had a major drawback: cultivating it would generate Heartfire, which was both the core of the technique and its greatest risk. When ignited, the Heartfire could push a cultivator into a berserk-like state, drastically amplifying their combat power.
Given that the technique was already highly offensive, the addition of Heartfire allowed its practitioners to fight opponents of higher cultivation realms.
But such immense power naturally came at a cost. Each time a cultivator practiced the technique, the Heartfire they condensed would erode their consciousness, making them increasingly irritable and aggressive.
Fortunately, there was a simple way to counteract this: stopping cultivation. As long as one refrained from practicing, no new Heartfire would form, and without it, there would be no erosion of the mind. Once a cultivator's mental resilience was strong enough to withstand further Heartfire corruption, they could continue their cultivation.
Due to Yuan Niya's childhood experiences, her mental fortitude was stronger than most, allowing her to resist the effects of Heartfire more easily. However, this did not mean she was completely unaffected—only that she could suppress it for now. As her cultivation advanced, there would inevitably come a time when she, too, would have to pause her training to deal with the Heartfire's erosion.
Yet at this moment, Yuan Niya discovered something astonishing—Chu Feifei's unique fragrance actually suppressed the corrupting effects of Heartfire. Did this mean that as long as she stayed near Chu Feifei, she could cultivate freely without restraint?
The Heartfire Art only corroded a cultivator's mind at the moment of condensation. Once fully formed, Heartfire no longer affected the practitioner—only when it was ignited would it exert its influence again.
"Senior Sister Yuan, how is it?"
Seeing Yuan Niya's stunned expression, Gu Mo knew that their plan had essentially succeeded.
"Junior Sister Chu, from now on, I'll take care of you."
Yuan Niya grabbed Chu Feifei's hand, suppressing the urge to laugh out loud.
With Gu Mo's perfected Cleansing Technique assisting her in body refinement, and Chu Feifei's fragrance supporting her cultivation, how could she not rise to prominence? Becoming one of the sect's true disciples was now inevitable.
To make full use of the effects of the Cleansing Technique, Yuan Niya, Gu Mo, and Chu Feifei squeezed into a small hut and began their respective cultivation sessions.
For the foreseeable future, this would likely be their standard cultivation setup.
After all, Chu Feifei's special constitution required Gu Mo's perfected Cleansing Technique to activate. Likewise, if Yuan Niya wanted to leverage Chu Feifei's scent, she would have to bring her along whenever she sought Gu Mo's help.
However, once Chu Feifei's special constitution was fully awakened, Gu Mo's Cleansing Technique would no longer be necessary.
"Junior Brother Gu Mo, I'm taking her with me."
Under the cover of night, Yuan Niya took Chu Feifei and swiftly flew back to her cave abode on her sword. In truth, she had wanted Gu Mo to come along as well, since the spiritual energy in this area was too thin compared to her abode.
But Gu Mo refused. He had too many secrets, and staying in Yuan Niya's cave meant placing himself under the scrutiny of a Golden Core elder. The risk of exposure was simply too great.
A Sudden Shift on Formation Peak
In the following days, a major event shook Formation Peak: Deacon Lan Shuying was abruptly dismissed from her position and reassigned outside the sect. Given her age, this exile meant she would likely live out the rest of her days in obscurity.
Naturally, this was Yuan Niya's doing. After learning the full details of how Chu Feifei had been framed, she mobilized the Law Enforcement Hall to investigate. Though the evidence they uncovered wasn't conclusive enough to have Lan Shuying executed, it was sufficient to remove her from power. If they had managed to prove she had tampered with the sect's protective formation, she would have been sentenced to death outright.
As a Formation Peak deacon, sabotaging the sect's protective formation was an unforgivable crime.
Following this, Yuan Niya officially announced that she had taken Chu Feifei as her attendant. However, there was no contractual agreement between them—Yuan Niya provided Chu Feifei with protection and cultivation resources, while Chu Feifei assisted Yuan Niya in training and managing her cave abode.
This decision effectively placed Yuan Niya in direct opposition to Ye Yuqi. But she didn't care in the slightest.
With Gu Mo and Chu Feifei as her ultimate cultivation buffs, she was destined to surpass Ye Yuqi in time. Why should she fear him?
Tool Peak
Meanwhile, Wu Jinfeng was in shock after learning that Chu Feifei had become an inner disciple's attendant.
Among their original group of five, Yao Shifeng and Chu Feifei had both been taken in by inner disciples, while Gu Mo had advanced to an outer disciple. Even Hu Hai, now at the third level of Qi Refining, had been assigned to guard an outpost outside the sect.
And yet, Wu Jinfeng remained a mere servant disciple, with no prospects of advancement in sight.
At that moment, he seriously considered leaving the sect to return to the mortal world, marry, and start a cultivation family. Perhaps one of his descendants might be born with mid-to-low spiritual roots and have a better chance at success than he did.
This was, in fact, a viable path. The sect even encouraged servant disciples to leave and establish cultivation families. Such families remained under the sect's influence, serving as reliable sources of new disciples with a stronger sense of loyalty.
Spiritual Farmland Hut
Gu Mo let out a long breath, feeling the surging spiritual power within him. He nodded in satisfaction.
With the help of a Tier-2 Solar Essence, he had broken through from the fifth level of Qi Refining to the sixth with virtually no resistance.
Only when he reached the peak of the sixth level and attempted to break into the seventh—marking the transition from the mid-stage to the late-stage of Qi Refining—would he encounter any real difficulty.
But even that wouldn't hold him back for long. His foundation was simply too deep.
With a physique and spiritual power nine times stronger than others of the same level, mist-like spiritual energy that only those at the peak of Qi Refining could possess, and a powerful soul forged by the Wine God's Soul Refining Method—these combined advantages made it impossible for Gu Mo's progress to be hindered, even if his spiritual root talent was inferior.
Right now, what Gu Mo needed to consider was how to acquire a second-rank spiritual field. This was crucial for his smooth transition into the Foundation Establishment stage, as there were two major hurdles when advancing from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment.
The first was the condensation of divine sense. With the aid of the unique fragrance emanating from Chu Feifei, Gu Mo had made remarkable progress in cultivating the Wine God's Soul Refining Method. He was now very close to condensing his divine sense, meaning that his soul strength had already reached at least the ninth level of Qi Refining.
If he had relied solely on the few bottles of spirit wine that Gou Youyu provided him each year, reaching this stage in the Wine God's Soul Refining Method would have been nothing more than a pipe dream.
Condensing divine sense was no longer an obstacle; what Gu Mo lacked now was spiritual power. The next step was to liquefy the spiritual energy within his body—this was the second major hurdle in stepping into Foundation Establishment.
For someone like Gu Mo, who had inferior spiritual roots, this should have been his greatest challenge. However, with a second-rank Sunflower in his possession, what should have been the most difficult hurdle was now no longer a concern.
That being said, if he wanted to use the second-rank Sunflower to aid his breakthrough, he first needed to secure a second-rank spiritual field. Only then could the Sunflower fully condense a complete second-rank Sun Essence, which was essential for his advancement.
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