Put away your magical powers now!.

Chapter 157 [Sharpening the Knife] (6200)

Chapter 152 [Sharpening the Knife] (6200)

Seeing Chu Keqing's solemn expression, Chen Yan also put away his contempt and nodded, saying, "We have a good relationship, so please speak freely."

“A few days ago, my senior asked me to inquire about purchasing a batch of weapons from overseas…” Chu Keqing said, seemingly hesitant, and whispered, “I know I am inexperienced and have received great kindness from my senior many times, so I shouldn’t criticize his actions… However…”

Chen Yan's heart skipped a beat, and he let out a soft breath, saying, "You're worried about me, afraid I'll cause trouble?"

Chu Keqing blushed and said softly, "Senior is so powerful that you shouldn't need any weapons to do what you want to do. But the fact that you want to buy a batch of weapons makes me worry that you've encountered some trouble."

Or perhaps, they've fallen into some kind of predicament...

"Weapons are strictly prohibited in China. I'm even more worried that if you buy them, you might use them in China, which could cause you trouble..."

At this point, Chu Keqing quickly added, "In the first place, I have absolutely no right to comment on what you've done, but, but..."

"but what?"

Chu Keqing looked worried and said in a low voice, "But when I saw you today, senior, I noticed that your complexion seemed a bit off."

Chen Yan then realized that, after all, Chu Keqing was a cultivator. Although the Yun Sect's techniques were not good at offensive combat and she did not know magic, she still knew the art of observing qi!

Chu Keqing's voice trembled slightly as she whispered, "Judging from your current fortune, senior, it seems to have been quite turbulent recently, and it's also associated with grudges. Compared to your previous fortune, it carries more killing intent and malevolent energy..."

Chen Yan finally sighed.

How can one not have the karma of killing and malevolent energy?
He had broken his vow of non-violence these past few days, killing several people in this world and many ferocious beasts in the realm.

Well, when they attacked the village of the Beastmen, they set fires and caused explosions, which probably also killed or injured some human slaves.

Aren't these all acts of killing?

After a moment's hesitation, Chen Yan finally smiled and looked at Chu Keqing with a calm gaze:
"Alright, don't be nervous. I know you mean well... Well, I appreciate your kind intentions."

Chu Keqing spoke these words with trepidation, worried that she might be reprimanded by this senior for inquiring about Chen Yan's private affairs.

Chen Yan's calm attitude stirred some emotions within Chu Keqing.

She took a deep breath, her gaze becoming increasingly concerned, and whispered, "Senior Chen Yan... although my cultivation is limited, and I have always been disliked and avoided by you, but... but if you encounter any trouble, you might as well tell me."

Although my magical powers are weak, I have cultivated connections and resources in the mortal world over many years, which may be of some help to you, senior.

"Thank you for your kindness!" Chen Yan waved his hand and said, "My troubles have been resolved. Let's just forget about asking you to buy weapons before. Just pretend I never mentioned it to you."

After a pause, Chen Yan realized that he knew what was good for him. He couldn't very well let someone down because they cared about him out of kindness. Although Chen Yan was well aware that Chu Keqing's concern for him was genuine, her worry was also real.

But this woman really did want to seduce him.

"I am deeply grateful for your kind words." Chen Yan then comforted Chu Keqing, saying, "Our friendship is evident, and we've been through some things together. I can tell that your words today are well-intentioned. If I need your help in the future, I won't hesitate to ask."

Hearing this, Chu Keqing finally breathed a sigh of relief—in fact, when Chu Keqing saw Chen Yan today, she felt that Chen Yan's aura was off!

In the past, when she was with Chen Yan, she only felt that this senior was mysterious and unpredictable, and even more powerful. But today, when she saw Chen Yan, she felt that this senior was surrounded by a murderous aura. Ordinary people might not be able to detect it very clearly, but a cultivator like Chu Keqing had a keen sense of perception. When she got close to him, she felt that the murderous aura made her very uncomfortable.

Chu Keqing was an extremely intelligent woman who knew her limits, so she stopped talking after saying this much. The reason why Chen Yan's luck had increased so much in such a short time was obviously because this senior had recently gone on a killing spree and had a lot of blood on his hands!

But Chu Keqing didn't bother to investigate or ask any further questions.

Afterwards, Chu Keqing simply accompanied Chen Yan to dinner, serving him food and tea with great care.

He casually mentioned some interesting things that had happened at the academy these past few days, hoping to make Chen Yan smile, even if it was just for a moment and make him feel a little more relaxed.

This gentleness and meticulousness is quite different from Lu Sisi's gentleness.

Lu Sisi's gentleness and meticulousness are the gentleness of a young girl who has just come of age. She loves Chen Yan very much, so she is gentle and obedient, taking the word "gentle" to the extreme.

However, it must be said that eighteen-year-old Lu Sisi is simple-minded and not very good at guessing other people's thoughts or reading other people's expressions. She is actually not good at deliberately flattering or pleasing others.

Chu Keqing, on the other hand, possessed the mindset of a more mature and intelligent woman. Her attempts to please others were deliberate, and her emotions were delivered with clever intentions.

Everything he said and said was carefully considered, and he aimed to address the most subtle aspects of Chen Yan's emotions.

It's true that this woman is infatuated with me, and it's also true that she deliberately tries to please me.

have to say……

Chu Keqing, a beautiful woman who loves him and holds a high social status, is willing to stay by his side like a little maid, deliberately trying to please him. The feeling... well...

Very cool!
·
Chen Yan ate lunch under Chu Keqing's service. Chu Keqing then personally brewed a cup of fragrant tea. The aroma of the tea was so pleasant that it was obviously expensive. Since Chu Keqing was of low status, the tea she used to please Chen Yan was naturally of high quality.

Chen Yan drank his tea and read his book, with Chu Keqing not watching him. Then he took his leave.

Chen Yan spent the afternoon reading and drinking tea—Chu Keqing only came twice to brew him fresh tea, but didn't stay long.

In the evening, after reading all day, Chen Yan finally breathed a sigh of relief. He had finished reading several chapters of the Zhuangzi and felt that he had gained some insights.

Some of the Taoist theories were quite in line with Chen Yan's current shattered understanding, and they gave him a vague sense of relief. Although it wouldn't take a day for him to rebuild his self-awareness, his originally restless mind did become a bit more peaceful.

As Chen Yan left, he was unaware that after he drove away from the academy, Chu Keqing stood by the gate and gazed into the distance for a long time, a hint of disappointment on her face.

·
Chen Yan drove to the vicinity of the university town, met Lu Sisi for dinner, strolled around the campus with her for a while, and then sat by the school playground for a private chat.

Just like many young men and women in love at this age.

After a day of studying Taoist scriptures, coupled with the gentle warmth of his girlfriend, Chen Yan wore a gentle smile on his face on his way home.

After driving back to his neighborhood and parking his car at home, Chen Yan jumped into the Mirror World again. In the deserted Mirror World neighborhood, he walked to the front of the little girl, the Great Demon Yun Que's, house.

"Very good. Now that you've come to my place, it's good that you know how to knock on the door." The little girl opened the door, glanced at Chen Yan, and smiled slightly.

As Chen Yan entered the living room, he saw that the plants in the dozen or so flowerpots on the balcony were withered and dying.

"Is something wrong?"

"Yes, the deal I made with you last time. You taught me three spells, and I'll help you find a way to shield yourself from the Heavenly Dao."

Chen Yan took out the "Red Center" mahjong tile and placed it on the table.

The little girl's eyes narrowed, and she took it and examined it closely. A look of surprise appeared on her face: "This thing..."

Chen Yan then briefly explained the role of the red mahjong tile in the old village chief's hands, and the little girl's eyes lit up as she listened!
Then she held the mahjong tile, rubbing it between her fingers, but shook her head and said, "I don't even recognize the material of this thing, but..."

"I don't know how to use it." Chen Yan shook his head and said frankly, "To be honest, if I knew how to use it, I probably would have used it myself long ago, and I wouldn't be offering it to you in a deal."

The little girl glanced at Chen Yan and smiled, "That's right, it suits your personality."

She stared at the mahjong tiles for a while, pondered for a moment, and then said, "I don't quite understand this either. I can't identify the material. But... I can give it a try."

She paused, then smiled and said, "Don't worry, I won't dismantle it by force. This thing is my only hope of regaining my freedom, so I will be extremely careful."

Chen Yan nodded, then suddenly had an idea and took out another item and placed it on the table: "And this thing, do you recognize it?"

What he took out was not something else, but a piece of wood.

To be precise, it was a branch as thick as a child's arm—a branch from that strange tree near the village of the Beast Clan in the realm!
He recalled seeing caravans of merchants coming to the village of ferocious beasts to purchase this kind of timber, exchanging it for food and tools. The monster village also regarded logging and selling this kind of timber as its biggest source of income.

That strange wood must have some value.

The little girl looked at the branch and suddenly exclaimed "Huh?" She stared at the branch for a while, her eyes filled with doubt and confusion, as if she had thought of something but was not quite sure.

After a moment of careful thought, she slowly said, "I should recognize this thing—but I can't quite remember its name."

As she spoke, she picked up the branch and flicked it lightly with her other hand.

Chen Yan felt a burst of energy emanating from the little girl's fingertips, causing the bark on the tree branches to peel off and fall onto the table, turning into dust.

The wood, with its bark removed, has a grayish hue, appearing darker than the brownish-white of ordinary firewood, and it also carries a faint air of decay.

“This thing has a very good affinity with vital energy, making it an excellent material for crafting artifacts.” The little girl thought for a moment and glanced at Chen Yan. “For example, the spirit-gathering array made of bluestone slabs in your house. If you replaced the material with this kind of wood as the main material, the effectiveness of gathering vital energy would increase more than tenfold.”

ten times?
Chen Yan's eyes lit up. Wouldn't that increase his cultivation speed by ten...?

However, Chen Yan immediately realized that he had misunderstood.

The gathering of vital energy increases tenfold, but one's cultivation speed does not increase tenfold.

Because a practitioner's body has a limit to the amount of vital energy it can hold.

The body can only hold so much vital energy. No matter how high the concentration of vital energy in the outside world is, once it exceeds a certain level, it seems to offer little help in improving the speed of cultivation.

The little girl could guess what Chen Yan was thinking just by looking at his expression. She shook her head and said, "You don't understand. You only use your family's spirit-gathering array to increase the concentration of vital energy. Using this method to speed up your cultivation is a waste."

"waste?"

"Increasing the concentration of vital energy isn't just for cultivation," the little girl sighed. "Nurturing magical artifacts or cultivating spiritual plants and herbs both require a high concentration of vital energy in the surrounding area! Even in the future, if you learn alchemy, you'll need a place with a high concentration of vital energy to improve the quality of your pills!"

As she spoke, she pointed to the piece of wood: "The material of this thing has a very good affinity with spiritual energy, and it is only slightly inferior to top-grade spiritual jade. But I guess its value is definitely much cheaper than top-grade spiritual jade!"

Chen Yan's heart stirred, and he became even more puzzled.

That strange tree grows next to the village of the ferocious beast tribe—a place devoid of any vitality!

The strange tree that grows in this environment actually has a high affinity for vital energy.
The world is truly vast and full of wonders.

"However, this thing has a yin-evil attribute. If it is used as the main material of the spirit-gathering array, the gathered vital energy will gradually gather yin-evil energy under its effect. Cultivators can cultivate in this environment in the short term without any problems, but in the long run, they will inevitably be harmed by the yin-evil energy and will need to use other methods to harmonize and resolve it."

Hmm... but if used to refine Yin-type magical artifacts, it would be a good choice.

Chen Yan nodded; he already had a feeling about it—after taking out the branch, the temperature in the entire room seemed to have increased slightly.

Although it was only a very slight change, Chen Yan was still able to detect it with his keen senses.

This thing does indeed carry a trace of malevolent energy.

"In the summer, if we don't turn on the air conditioner at home, we can throw a few of these pieces of wood into the room to cool it down," the little girl said with a smile. "However, ordinary people will have health problems if they stay in this kind of environment for a long time."

As she spoke, the little girl casually tossed the branch back to Chen Yan: "This thing is interesting, but it's not very valuable... and it's only useful in large quantities, so it's a consumable. You only have one branch, so it's not very useful."

Chen Yan smiled but didn't mention that he had a portal that could lead to the Strange Tree Forest.

However, after staring at Chen Yan for a couple of seconds, the little girl sighed softly: "Your biggest problem right now is that you're having some kind of mental trouble."

Chen Yan nodded: "Yes, I've been killing animals lately."

The little girl didn't seem to care about "killing" at all, and casually said, "If you kill too much, you'll inevitably get tainted with evil energy. If this evil energy affects your state of mind for too long, it will seep into your primordial spirit. However, if you're a body cultivator, using this evil energy to refine your body wouldn't be bad, but you're unwilling to refine your body."

Suppressing the malevolent energy of your primordial spirit is useless. Over time, it will merge with your primordial spirit, and as your cultivation deepens, it will become a deep-rooted problem for you.

That's how inner demons come about.

As she spoke, the little girl tilted her head and looked at Chen Yan: "You have both the cultivation method for the primordial spirit and the body refining technique—you can choose either of these two paths to solve the problem of being tainted by evil energy."

But it seems you don't want to cultivate either of them?

Chen Yan naturally wouldn't easily reveal that the old lady had asked Lin Qingquan to tell him not to cultivate the primordial spirit and physical techniques. He simply said, "After thinking it over, I feel that both paths are crippled, and there are drawbacks to both. Moreover, once you start, there's no turning back. So, I'll think about it some more."

The little girl smiled and said, "You're quite perceptive to have thought of that, but you can't keep putting it off."

After saying that, she thought for a moment and said, "You don't want to cultivate your primordial spirit or practice primordial spirit techniques? That's fine too."

However, you can first try to hone your primordial spirit and strengthen its power. This isn't about choosing a path, but rather laying a foundation.

Chen Yan's heart stirred. He suddenly remembered the "whetstone" that Gu Qingyi had mentioned to him when she was around.

Gu Qingyi didn't know how to cultivate the primordial spirit at the time, so she couldn't help me. However, she told me that I could first hone my primordial spirit to lay a foundation, and she even mentioned the theory of a "whetstone".

That's exactly what the little girl said.

"I will seriously consider it."

Chen Yan nodded solemnly.

The little girl then smiled and waved the mahjong tile in her hand: "Keep this for me. I'll study it carefully. Come find me in a few days, and I'll tell you if I find anything."

"Let's make this clear first. If I figure this out, you'll have to lend it to me later—well, consider it a loan, but the thing itself is still yours; I won't take it from you. But if I want to leave here and see the outside world, you'll have to lend it to me."

"Okay!" Chen Yan nodded readily in agreement.

·
Sharpen the knife!

Imagine your primordial spirit as a blade, and use the malevolent energy as a whetstone to sharpen it, thereby enhancing its strength and resilience.

This approach lays the foundation and will not increase the power of the primordial spirit, but it can improve its quality.

Chen Yan carefully recalled what Gu Qingyi had told him back then—Gu Qingyi had taken him to kill the Mountain Demon, taken away the Mountain Demon's evil energy and kept it, telling him to use this evil energy to temper his primordial spirit in the future.

Later, Gu Qingyi also kept that malevolent energy for herself.

Now, let alone the malevolent energy taken from the mountain demon, he himself has already developed malevolent energy due to his killing!

So, how do we use this malevolent energy to temper our primordial spirit?
There is an interesting relationship between a blade and a whetstone.

With prolonged use and practice, the blade will become increasingly sharp!
And the whetstone will gradually wear out.

In this way, the quality of one's primordial spirit will be enhanced, while the evil energy will be consumed!

This is a win-win solution.

As for the method of sharpening knives, Gu Qingyi had actually told Chen Yan about it.

To put it simply and bluntly:
Just hold on!

·
There is a similar martial art in traditional martial arts: Iron Palm.

It involves mixing roasted soybeans with iron filings, and martial arts practitioners repeatedly insert their palms into the mixture of iron filings and soybeans to hone the flesh and bones of their hands.

Of course, it's also necessary to use good medications to repair and nourish your hands.

After repeated practice and time, one can develop Iron Palm!
·
The so-called primordial spirit is the consciousness of a cultivator—the sea of ​​consciousness.

In those cultivation novels, the primordial spirit is materialized into something called a nascent soul.

Chen Yan's malevolent energy has now tainted his temperament and even his fortune, but it has not directly entered his primordial spirit sea of ​​consciousness. However, according to the little girl, if this continues unchecked, it will eventually merge with his spirit. Once merged, it will become a deeply rooted inner demon that will affect his future cultivation.

Sharpening a knife is the act of actively stimulating one's primordial spirit with the evil energy little by little, so that the primordial spirit can sense it, resist it, and in the process of sharpening, the primordial spirit and primordial spirit will become stronger.

Chen Yan returned home and tried it out himself that very night.

then……

·
A sharp scream rang out from Chen Yan's master bedroom. How to describe that sound...

It sounded like a man being kicked in the crotch.

Chen Yan trembled all over in pain, and his vision blurred!

He had just tried to use the sealing technique to extract a trace of his luck that was tainted with killing intent, and then deliberately released his consciousness, allowing his primordial spirit to actively make contact with it.

Then, he suddenly let out a scream!

This pain wasn't physical; it seemed to come from the depths of his soul. This agony made Chen Yan's body go limp instantly. He collapsed to the ground, curled up in a ball, and trembled uncontrollably.

He knew this was a critical moment. Although the pain made his vision blur, he dared not let his mind wander. Instead, he forcibly concentrated his mind into one point and gritted his teeth to resist desperately!
That faint aura of malevolence swirled around, rubbing back and forth on Chen Yan's primordial spirit in his sea of ​​consciousness, each time causing Chen Yan to experience an uncontrollable spasm and tremor.

However, to Chen Yan's delight, with each wave of pain, that trace of malevolent energy gradually dissipated...

This process lasted for a full half hour before Chen Yan finally managed to completely "erasure" this trace of malevolent energy.

Chen Yan didn't feel any difference in his primordial spirit, since it was only the first time he had sharpened his blade and he had extracted very little baleful energy. How could there be such a noticeable improvement so quickly?

but……

"Damn it, my pain tolerance has definitely increased!"

Chen Yan lay on the ground, his body already stiff.

In just half an hour, he was already drenched in sweat from the pain, and his clothes were completely soaked.

The pain was so intense just now, I felt like I wanted to roll on the ground!

but……

Now that the malevolent aura had completely dissipated, Chen Yan caught his breath.

Although the physical strength of the primordial spirit did not feel significantly enhanced, but...

Chen Yan was surprised to find that, despite having been in pain for so long, he should have been mentally exhausted and in a state of fatigue.

Although his body was exhausted, Chen Yan felt that his mind was surprisingly strange!
They were very energetic and showed no signs of fatigue or weakness.

Moreover, there seemed to be a subtle, pleasant sensation.
"Holy crap! Could it be... I'm a masochist?"

Chen Yan stared wide-eyed at himself in the mirror with a strange expression.

·
(End of this chapter)