Night of Despair

Inside the loft.

Yu Hong looked at the Qingyuan Heavenly River Miao Technique he had brought back. The booklet hadn't changed at all and was still in the eerie state he saw at first glance.

He pinched the booklet and gently opened the first page.

'The universe and everything within it have life and death, beginnings and ends. If the source represents the absolute end, then we, as beings, represent the crystal of life.'

'If Star Disaster is infinite, is life also infinite?'

This passage was written prominently at the beginning, and Yu Hong immediately understood the core of this cultivation technique.

"If Source Disaster is infinite, is this method trying to expand vitality to infinity as well?"

He continued to turn the pages.

'If vitality can also become infinite, flowing into a river, it forms a Heavenly River, pure and untainted, gathering myriad spirits.'

Below was a general outline for basic entry-level practice.

'This technique is the way to ascend into an immortal realm, from Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Divinity Transformation, Returning to Void, Mahayana, Ascension, to the Immortal Realm. From a mortal to the Immortal Realm, one needs to go through nine major stages, with a total of thirty-one minor stages. It is as difficult as climbing to the heavens, as the saying goes. Cultivators require immense resources, time, and effort. They must endure twenty-two Heavenly Tribulations, transforming from the mundane.'

'Here is recorded the Qi Cultivation Ninth Layer Cultivation Technique, the Nine-layered Inner Viewing Map, and the various required resources and elixirs. For leaving the booklet...'

The next part was about the essentials of the first layer of Qi Cultivation.

'Everything in the world, all living things contain vitality. Vitality means growth, resilience, and readiness to act, turning nothing into something. In the initial stage of the first layer, one must gather life into oneself...'

Following that was a discussion about daily life, on what things possess vitality and can be used as resources for Qi Cultivation, and which cannot.

'Vitality is divided into three categories: Heavenly, Earthly, and Human. Heavenly Vitality is the moment of vitality that arises when chaos intersects and everything is infused with spirit, making it the hardest to gather.

Earthly Vitality is the instant vitality that springs forth on earth, mostly found in natural plants and microorganisms, making it moderately difficult to gather.

Human Vitality is the easiest to gather. Anything living and active, with flesh and spirit, humans and animals alike, fall into this category. But this vitality is of the lowest quality, filled with impurities.'

'One chooses which type of vitality to gather based on perception, aptitude, and accordingly follows one of three routes: gathering the essence of the heavens, gathering the essence of the earth, or gathering the essence of humans.'

Turning to the back, there were methods of cultivating insight for each of the three routes. After gathering external essence, one must form an external Heavenly River around the body, channeling the gathered essence into it. Then, refining and purifying it day and night with concentrated spirit before absorbing it into oneself to cultivate one's vitality.

As Yu Hong read along, he felt a sense of familiarity, especially with the essence of humans at the end...

"Wait!" Suddenly, Yu Hong froze. "Isn't this the secret technique Wuji Heavenly River Technique of the Wuji Palace?!"

Wuji Palace, also known as the Infinite Demon Palace, had disciples skilled in a special secret technique called Wuji Heavenly River Technique. It could gather into an invisible spiritual energy Heavenly River around oneself, absorbing the opponents one defeated, nurturing and restoring them to summon for personal combat when needed.

This was an extremely formidable secret technique.

Theoretically, one could sustain battle with battle, continuously strengthening themselves as long as their Inner Strength kept up with the nurturing.

Yu Hong carefully retrieved the method of Wuji Heavenly River Technique from his memory for comparison.

He found them quite similar.

'I wonder who copied whom. But the Wuji Heavenly River Technique is only for combat with no self-enhancement effect, while this Qingyuan Heavenly River Miao Technique seems to be the fundamental method, able to absorb external vitality to enhance oneself. From the effect, it's far superior.'

He quickly flipped through the whole booklet and found that all nine layers of the Qi Cultivation technique were there, though enveloped in rotting flesh and blood molds, looking quite horrifying.

But the techniques were proper righteous techniques.

Rip.

He tore away the flesh and bone envelope from the cultivation booklet, extracting the clean booklet inside.

He then conjured a stream of clear water, rinsing the whole booklet multiple times before washing his hands, only then tucked it relievedly into his coat pocket.

Looking around, Yu Hong unwittingly recalled the strange scenes he had previously seen here, along with the mysterious disappearance of five Speed Men.

They were not the lowest level Black Disaster, yet they completely vanished without a trace.

It made him realize that this place was far from harmless as it appeared on the surface.

After a moment's thought, Yu Hong got up, opened the window, and leaped directly from the second floor.

He circled half the loft and returned to the hiding place in the Black Black Spirit behind the open ground.

Bam.

The moment the heavy safety door was closed, Yu Hong suddenly felt a lightness as if something was severed at the instant the door shut.

He stood at the door, gazing back at the loft through the observation window, lost in thought.

'Forget it, don't overthink it; the truth will reveal itself over time. The urgent task is to begin cultivating the technique immediately. However, before cultivation....'

Yu Hong stretched out his hand, took out the Qingyuan Heavenly River Miao Technique, placed it on the table, and laid it flat.

Then he pointed his finger at its surface.

'Enhance the Qingyuan Heavenly River Miao Technique, direction: eliminate hidden dangers.'

He had been holding onto the Black Mark, not enhancing anything for this moment.

After all, whether it was the cheap master, the surrounding environment, or senior brothers and sisters, everything around him radiated a sense of wrongness.

If he dared to practice anything recklessly obtained, he might end up not knowing how he died in the end.

Black threads swiftly emerged from the imprint on his hand, flowing into the booklet.

But in the next second.

The feedback from the Black Mark made Yu Hong slightly startled.

'Unable to enhance, no hidden dangers detected.'

"Really?" Yu Hong retracted his hand, placed it back on, and tried again.

Yet the feedback from the Black Mark was the same as before: unable to enhance due to the absence of hidden dangers.

Thus, Yu Hong tried using other terms to broaden the scope, such as aftereffects, side effects, toxicity, pollution, etc.

But none worked. The response from the Black Mark remained consistent: none, unable to enhance.

After fussing around for more than ten minutes, Yu Hong finally accepted that there was nothing wrong with this technique.

'Interesting... The booklet looked so severely polluted, yet the technique recorded within turned out to have no issues... If the technique has no problems, what does? Could these rotting flesh and blood molds I've seen all be normal phenomena?'

Yu Hong was puzzled.

But since the Black Mark confirmed it as safe, he chose to believe it.

After all, he had relied on the Black Mark to reach this point.

Immediately, he opened the first layer of the technique and attempted to sit cross-legged and sense Heavenly Vitality.

Unfortunately, he did not sense Heavenly Vitality, only a heap of chaotic vacuum energy particles appeared instead.

But these were not what he needed now. After trying repeatedly more than ten times with no clue, Yu Hong had no choice but to opt for the Earthly Vitality route.

This was unlike the mysterious and elusive Heavenly Vitality and required searching for microorganisms or budding plants. Yu Hong opted for microorganisms, specifically bacteria, fungi, and viruses.

For an ordinary person, this path might be extremely challenging, but for him now, with his terrifying eyesight strengthened many times, he could easily see various microorganisms floating around in the air.

He watched them in the air, on the ground, on furniture, on clothes, and even on himself, aging, dying, propagating, and growing generation after generation.

At the very moment when a new bacterium shattered or was born, Yu Hong adjusted himself according to the Inner Observation Diagram with Mnemonic to capture it.

He persevered for more than ten hours.

Finally, he faintly sensed an extremely subtle special breath.

The breath had no warmth or cold, only giving him a feeling of lightness and ethereality, as if it was both present and absent.

It resembled strands of mist, drifting from the breeding microorganisms and evaporating instantly.

He didn't know where they disappeared, and this breath was extremely difficult to capture.

Yu Hong tried several times without being able to use the small methods of the Qingyuan Heavenly River Miao Technique to collect it.

Gradually, his state of mind began to grow irritable and impatient.

He didn't know how much time had passed.

Thud, thud, thud.

A sudden knocking at the door startled him from his meditation.

Yu Hong opened his eyes, seeing a blurry figure of a person in white clothes pressed against the outside glass.

The person had pressed their face tightly against the glass, squeezing hard with a weird smile, their facial features distorted out of shape.

Thud, thud, thud.

The figure reached out and tapped the glass window. It turned out that the knocking didn't come from the door but the window.

"A Black Disaster? Courting death!" Yu Hong frowned slightly, his mind stirred. A Cai Jing Taoist Fear Shadow suddenly formed in the air outside the room.

The Cai Jing Taoist flashed and pointed at the figure.

Swoosh!

Void One Finger was unleashed.

The figure instantly vanished with a hiss.

Though the figure vanished, Yu Hong's brows knitted even deeper.

'Just now, Void One Finger, missed....' He focused on the spot where the figure disappeared. There was a faint black handprint on the glass, indicating that what he saw wasn't an illusion.

"This place... is peculiar...."

With a thought, he decisively used his Inner Strength to pull up the window shutter, shielding his sight completely.

The immediate priority is to quickly cultivate a Golden Core to completely rid himself of the Ultimate Sun trouble.

The temporary seal of Yu Xuezi, the cheap master, needed refreshing every few months.

Even if there is a problem here, able to suppress the trouble of the Ultimate Sun requires Yu Xuezi, leaving Yu Hong no choice but to endure and stay.

He understood the principle of focusing on major issues while letting go of minor ones.

He closed his eyes, meditated, and continued sensing Earthly Vitality.

This time, he concentrated his attention on the table.

There was an uneaten plate of vegetable dumplings with meat filling that Yiyi had previously prepared and frozen.

As soon as he focused, he 'saw' the rapid growth of tiny microorganisms on the dumplings' white surface.

These microorganisms were vast. In Yu Hong's perception, they were like fine dust, occupying every side of the dumplings.

Feeling that his mere perception was insufficient, Yu Hong straightforwardly removed his blindfold to observe with his eyes.

His terrifying eyesight became significantly useful at this moment.

His eyes faintly shone with a white glow, and the Chaotic God Heavenly Eye's phantom outline of a ten-thousand-eyed white tiger swiftly manifested, enveloping him.

Yu Hong clearly saw.

The gray microbial colonies of varying depths on the dumpling surface in the dish slowly changing over time.