Chapter 50 – Corrosion

In the Cultivation Method Pavilion, there were only a few people who occasionally passed by. They came to select cultivation methods, but they were very efficient about it, leaving immediately after they finished picking. They were clearly already very familiar with the Cultivation Method Pavilion.

Xu Disheng continued looking as he went along and somehow ended up wandering into the “Control” category area.

The cultivation jade slips were roughly divided into 4 areas according to the categories of Attack, Defense, Deception, and Control. Xu Disheng wasn’t really short of slaughtering methods, so he randomly picked up a jade slip and sunk his consciousness into it.

“Bramblethorn Incantation, 5 ranks total. Summon forth numerous thorny vines that can whip, wrap, twist, crush, and kill.”

Xu Disheng shook his head. This was a cultivation method that was only valued at a little over 10 spirit stones, and it wasn’t even better than the incantation spell included in the Sacred Sect’s Shangqing Profound Laws. He put it down and looked at another jade slip.

“Earth Bindings, 4 ranks total. Control the surrounding earth, allowing you to shape the terrain and transform it into a river swamp.”

“Binding Ocean, a method that uses the Spiritual Power of the sea of consciousness to trap and kill. Note: Only Rank 6 Spiritual Root and above can cultivate this method.”

Xu Disheng gradually wandered deeper into the pavilion, where each cultivation method was easily priced at several hundred spirit stones. These prices were all internal pricings. If they were to be sold externally, these extremely precious cultivation methods would likely be more than a thousand spirit stones, if not more.

“God Binding Rope, 9 ranks total. Conjure twisting chains from the void, which can block spiritual energy or profound qi. Note: Only Rank 4 Spiritual Root and above can cultivate this method.”

“Amassing Spirit Incantation, 3 ranks total. Can gather the world’s spiritual energy and form an Amassing Spirit Array within one’s body using profound qi, which can also speed up one’s cultivation speed by 100x. Note: Only Rank 3 Spiritual Root and above can cultivate this method.”

“Sanctioned Decree (badly damaged), 3 ranks total. Upon uttering Holy Words, golden lotuses will blossom and the darkness will stir, forcing the words into existence. Note: Only Rank 2 Spiritual Root and above can cultivate this method.”

Xu Disheng gave a bitter laugh as he finally realized why there were so many precious cultivation methods placed here. Originally, he thought that it was a bit too extravagant for the sect to be providing 3 of these extremely precious cultivation methods to disciples for free. But now, he understood that the requirements for these cultivation methods were just far too demanding for ordinary disciples.

The Shangqing Sacred Sect had existed for countless generations, and there many Rank 3 Spiritual Roots had appeared throughout the ages. That Amassing Spirit Incantation, which could be cultivated by Rank 3 Spiritual Roots, could allow them to form an Amassing Spirit Array and experience a 100-fold growth on top of their original cultivation speed. What kind of ridiculous idea was that? If they could get their hands on this cultivation method, even the worst Rank 3 Spiritual Root would probably be a Holy Lord by now, ruling over one of the Eight Mountain Ranges.

A Rank 3 Spiritual Root was a proud son of heaven. The world was never fair.

Xu Disheng walked out of the “Control” category area. He wasn’t interested in the ordinary jade slips here. He wasn’t willing to cultivate them since it would be more worthwhile for him to just focus on cultivating the incantation Shangqing Profound Laws. Those precious cultivation methods in those jade slips couldn’t be cultivated without the proper aptitude, so he had no choice but to drop them for now.

He entered the “Deception” area. There were less jade slips here in comparison, only numbering several hundred in total.

“Thick Fog, 5 ranks total. Can control the surrounding 100-200 meters of water vapor to condense into a thick, hazy fog. Can somewhat block the effectiveness of spiritual sense.”

“Puppet Technique (Low), 3 ranks total. Allows one to wipe the consciousness within living beings and brand them with one’s spiritual sense, turning them into a puppet which can be controlled at one’s will. Note: The success rate of Puppet Technique (Low) is extremely low, and the puppet will lack intelligence and can only be used to observe.”

“Transformation Incantation (badly damaged), 3 ranks total. Can somewhat change facial structure and outer appearance. At the most profound level, one can alter and transform one’s body in myriad ways.”

“Corrosion Incantation (badly damaged), 3 ranks total. Adds a corrosive element to one’s profound qi, which can corrode profound qi, flesh, and Spirit Tools. At the most profound level, one can corrode everything.”

Xu Disheng didn’t look at the cultivation method jade slips that were deeper within, since he knew that even if he looked at them, he didn’t have any way of cultivating them for now. But when he saw the Corrosion Incantation, he became interested in it. He wasn’t short of attack methods, and his defense aspect was so-so. However, the incantation in the Shangqing Profound Laws and the Amassing Water form of Azure Ocean were capable of both attack and defense.

He immediately took out his jade identity tablet and selected the Corrosion Incantation. The jade slip floated up into the air and shot out a stream of green light, which entered Xu Disheng’s sea of consciousness. It then returned back to its original location on the shelf.

The Corrosion Incantation appeared in Xu Disheng’s mind. There were 3 ranks. The first rank was called “Rot”, and it could be cultivated at the Cleansed Meridians stage. The remaining two ranks would be revealed to him at the Sea of Qi stage and Dao Foundation stage respectively.

Xu Disheng turned and went towards the “Defense” area, thinking of selecting a defense cultivation method, when he found that his jade identity tablet was showing that he had already finished selecting his 3 cultivation methods. He stood there in shock.

Could it be that rank of the cultivation method counts for 1 entire cultivation method? The Corrosion Incantation has 3 ranks, so did it use up all 3 counts?

Xu Disheng went back out of the pavilion and greeted that affairs disciple in greeting before handing over his jade identity tablet. He said, “Senior Martial Brother, I finished picking. But just now, I only picked one cultivation method, why does it say I can’t select any more?”

The affairs disciple seemed to have experienced this before. He took his identity jade tablet and said as he made a record, “You’re only at the Cleansed Meridians stage, it would have been enough for you to just pick the first rank, but you actually went and picked the Sea of Qi stage and Dao Foundation stage cultivation methods as well? Other people would normally only pick the first rank from three different cultivation methods. Each rank counts as one cultivation method, so now you’ve already used up all of them.”

Xu Disheng was speechless, but he didn’t feel any sense of loss. After all, he was the one who picked the cultivation method, and he would have wanted to cultivate it sooner or later. At least it saved him the spirit stones for the future.

He took back his jade identity tablet and thanked the affairs disciple before turning around and leaving the Cultivation Method Pavilion. Behind him, the affairs disciple chuckled quietly and muttered, “Corrosion Incantation? Hehe…”

Xu Disheng currently had 11 and a half spirit stones. He wanted to go to the Spiritual Armament Pavilion and see whether he could buy a more convenient Spirit Tool. At the moment, he only had one low-grade Daoist robe Spirit Tool on him, which was distributed to him for being a Rank 6 Spiritual Root. The rest of the things he had were all Martial Treasures. Aside from the Muddy Heart Jade that was given to him by Daoist Lord Qingxin, which still had some use to him, the others were completely obsolete here.

He learned after arriving here that the Muddy Heart Jade was the reward that was given to outer disciples when they reached the Sea of Qi stage. Even though Daoist Lord Qingxin hadn’t passed the Mountain Entry Examination, they weren’t deprived of this breakthrough reward.

Even the Autumn Water sword, which was a top-grade Martial Treasure that was considered precious in the Chu Territory, was only seen as ordinary in the Mingxin Mountain Range. In fact, it was very similar to the Martial Treasure sword that was given to each disciple who had just entered the sect.

It was Xu Disheng’s second time coming to the Spiritual Armament Pavilion. The Dao Foundation stage Deacon wasn’t here this time, and there were only several busy-looking disciples working away.

One of the disciples saw Xu Disheng enter and casually tossed him a jade slip. “What do you want to buy? Take a look yourself.”

The Spiritual Armament Pavilion was unlike the Cultivation Method Pavilion in that entry into the treasury was forbidden. If someone wanted to buy something, they had to pick it out from the catalog in the jade slip themselves, pay the spirit stones, and then one of the disciples would go to the treasury in the rear hall to bring it out.

Xu Disheng didn’t say more. He received the jade slip and sunk his consciousness into it.

“Low-grade longsword Spirit Tool, 35 spirit stones.” At the end, there were virtual images of the sword, rotating on display while emitting a faint light.

“Low-grade longsword Spirit Tool, 40 spirit stones.” Although it was also a longsword, the shape and spiritual force that it gave off were different. Most likely, it was refined by a different refining expert.

The Refining Hall was unlike the Botany Hall. The Refining Hall was called a ‘hall’, but it was completely subordinate to the Affairs Hall’s Spirit Origin Hall, and was solely in charge of refining Spirit Tools and Magic Treasures for the sect.

“Low-grade Daoist robe Spirit Tool, 60 spirit stones.”

Xu Disheng was shocked. The virtual image of the Daoist robe showed a garment that was the exact same as the one he was currently wearing.

As it turned out, the Daoist robe that was distributed to each Rank 6 Spiritual Root was worth 60 spirit stones. Through this, it could be seen just how big of a discrepancy in the sect’s treatment there was between those with exceptional aptitudes and those with ordinary aptitudes.

In fact, embarrassing situations where Rank 6 Spiritual Roots would be forced to sell off their own Daoist robe Spirit Tool were pretty common, especially if they were short on spirit stones.