Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 164 The Aura of Yin Spirits (4.6 thousand words)

After leaving Erjia, Fang Shu did not linger and immediately returned to his cave.

The reason for his haste was that he needed to properly organize his gains from this trip.

As soon as he entered the cave, he climbed onto the high platform and sat cross-legged in meditation.

A gray aura immediately surged around him, flowing like water, swirling around him and rubbing against the surface of the altar, producing a hissing sound like scales grinding together.

After practicing his exercises for a while, Fang Shu opened his eyes, his eyes revealing a sense of joy.

His attention fell on the Taoist talisman, and a line of text immediately unfolded:

[Magic Power: Ten Toads]

Compared to yesterday, his true qi and magical power increased by a full one and a half times in just one day.

The reason for this was brought about by Nardaiyuan.

After spending a night of pleasure with her, Fang Shu not only enjoyed himself and relaxed his mind, but also extracted a pure Yin energy from her.

Because of the cultivation method he practiced, this Yin energy did not flow into his body on its own and could not interact with his essence. Instead, it was absorbed by his true energy, just like medicine.

He was just taking advantage of the time to digest this evil energy.

As it turned out, this energy was truly remarkable, surpassing all the medicines and spiritual energy he had ever consumed. In particular, its purity greatly replenished his Yin and Yang True Qi, which is why his total True Qi increased by more than 10% overnight!
Fang Shu pondered intently, his eyes gleaming: "Is this yin energy the legendary primordial yin? No wonder many cultivation techniques value this substance so much, and some techniques and spells even require primordial yin and primordial yang as medicinal ingredients."

A thought stirred within him: he really wanted to find fellow Daoist Nardaiyuan again and cultivate properly.

However, as soon as the thought arose, he banished it from his mind.

It wasn't that he was being coy or shy; it was because last night was their first time making love, and he was the guest. Since Erdaiyuan didn't know his true background, she naturally tried to please and tolerate him.

However, after one night, Erdaiyuan lost her primordial yin, yet she was unable to harvest Fangshu's primordial yang.

More importantly, it wasn't that this woman didn't want to pick them; rather, she had tried repeatedly but always failed, and could only watch helplessly as Fang Shu took advantage of her.

In this way, Er Daiyuan knew that Fang Shu had practiced some kind of battle technique that could protect her vital energy from being lost, extracting without leaking, and only gaining advantages without suffering losses.

If she continues to have sex with Fang Shu, the yin energy in her body will be harvested, but she will not be able to obtain the yang energy in Fang Shu's body to replenish it. Since the yin and yang cannot be combined, it will become her unilateral loss of yin energy. Although she is not a furnace, she is no different from a furnace.

In such a situation, no deity would be willing to come a second time.

Unless Fang Shu can find a way to replenish the Yin energy he extracted from Er Daiyuan's body with medicine, she might reluctantly agree.

Recalling everything that happened last night, Fang Shu couldn't help but sigh softly, "What a pity."

As he reflected on it now, he realized that even without the practice of sexual intercourse, the interaction between men and women was quite beneficial to cultivation, at least in terms of refining one's true energy.

But there's nothing he can do. Now that he has mastered the "Minor Joy of Life, Death, Yin and Yang," he's an unyielding, indestructible, and indestructible person. He either eats without spitting it out or neither eats nor spits it out, and no one can get the slightest advantage from him.

Er Daiyuan either chose him as her lover, or she chose the wrong person.

Fortunately, Fang Shu had been extremely restrained last night. He did not use his skills to bully the other party. All the Yin energy he absorbed was actively released from the other party's body.

Otherwise, if Fang Shu had taken advantage of the fact that the other party was a novice and had no protective techniques, he could have easily absorbed more than half of the other party's cultivation in one go.

Amidst a surging stream of thoughts, Fang Shu looked at the [Ten Toads Power] on the Dao talisman, his heart filled with joy.

But he didn't linger in it for long. He quickly cleared his mind of distractions and resumed his cultivation.

Now that he has obtained such a precious amount of primordial yin, he should cherish it and not waste a single bit.

Several more days passed.

Fang Shu refrained from eating or drinking as he honed his true energy. Once he had completely dissolved all the Yin spiritual energy he had gathered, his true energy and magical power had surprisingly returned to the [Twelve Toads].

In just six months, his magical power was more than twice that of a newly promoted immortal. His progress was not only remarkable, but even those with medium spiritual roots probably couldn't compare to him!

However, it is worth mentioning that after measuring his true qi and magical power in the Gu Hall, Fang Shu later tested it again in the Duobao Hall and found that his magical power had reached the level of the Eight Toads.

He initially suspected that the toads in Duobaotang were inaccurate, but after testing in other places, he found that they were all eight toads, and even slightly more than eight toads, but not quite nine toads.

Fang Shu then realized that the problem wasn't with the toads from other branches, but with the ones in the Gu Hall.

As for why his test results were low, there's no need to overthink it. It was probably because Senior Brother Hao did it on purpose. He was probably worried that his true energy was only barely in line with the Five Toads, but he was determined to cultivate Yin-Yang True Energy, so he deliberately tampered with it.

When he saw that Fang Shu was still able to catch five copper coin toads even after being tricked, Senior Brother Hao realized that his true energy was strong and stopped stopping him.

On the altar.

Fang Shu emerged from his ascetic practice, looking refreshed, and pondered:

"My magical power is still 18 toads away from the 30-toad mark. If I cultivate two toads a year, I can accumulate 30 toads within nine years, meeting the minimum requirement to pass the fifth tribulation!"

He paced back and forth on the altar, looking quite pleased with himself.

After the initial joy, Fang Shu had an idea. He flipped his hand, and a wooden token appeared in his palm. The front of the token was engraved with the two characters "Er Gu" in relief, and the back was engraved with the two characters "Shu Ge" in intaglio.

This item is the proof that he first entered the Er family territory, namely the Er family library.

Now that he has completed his arduous training and is feeling restless, he thinks it is time to make a trip to Er Valley and visit the Er family's library.

Since the month is not yet over, he has the opportunity to go inside for a day to observe or borrow a Qi Refining manual, which he cannot afford to waste.

Fang Shu thought to himself, "I should also go and see Fellow Daoist Na'er, and see if she's still willing to play with me."

Do it when you think of it.

He washed and tidied his hair, and before leaving, he picked out a sleepy bug from his cave and hid it in his hair. Then, carrying the bug, he excitedly headed straight for the Er family's library.

………………

Not long after.

Fang Shu appeared in Ergu without encountering any obstacles.

To his dismay, when he sent someone to inquire about Erdaiyuan, the servants of the Er family reported that she was in seclusion and could not go out.

This made Fang Shu sigh inwardly. He didn't know whether the other party was truly in seclusion or just pretending to be, and simply didn't want to see him.

However, he still took out the Sleepy Bug and gave the servant a True Qi talisman: "Please give this to Fellow Daoist Dai Yuan."

The servant clutched the talisman tightly and nodded hurriedly.

To Fang Shu's surprise, he actually did send the insect out, and the servant hurriedly ran back to report.

The other party lowered his voice: "Reporting to Immortal Master Fang."

Miss Dai Yuan said that although she was in seclusion, she was actually confined to her quarters, and thanked fellow Daoist for his concern. She assured him that the Immortal Master need not worry, and that they would likely meet again at the next lecture in the scripture hall. Fang Shu narrowed his eyes, pondering for a moment, and surveyed the vast Er family estate. He vaguely sensed that this aristocratic immortal clan might not be as bad as they, these common folk, had imagined.

However, he didn't think too much about it. Although he was a member of the Er family's immortal family, he was still an outsider. Why should he care so much?

Since he couldn't see anyone, he decided to focus on reading.

Fang Shu cupped his hands in greeting: "Please lead the way to the library."

Soon, an ancient pavilion came into view. This pavilion stood alone, with almost no servants around, but it was heavily guarded and made entirely of stone, unlike the other wooden pavilions with brackets.

As Fang Shu entered, he immediately sensed three protective formations. As for whether there were any other formations hidden in the shadows, he had no idea.

Upon entering the library, Fang Shu was even more surprised to find that the actual library was not upstairs, but downstairs.

He walked through a long passageway and was scrutinized by a frail old man with a chilling aura before being allowed in.

The old man behind him, expressionless, instructed: "A third-class immortal material token allows you to go down to the third level, and you can only read books for one day, totaling twelve hours. If you want to borrow a book, you must decide within half an hour, otherwise you can come back next month to borrow it."

"I understand," Fang Shu said, bowing.

Although getting in was quite troublesome, once he stood in front of the bookshelves and glanced at them a few times, Fang Shu's eyes lit up, and he no longer found the Er family's rules cumbersome.

The sheer volume and variety of books in this place overwhelmed him, leaving him unable to take it all in at once.

Moreover, the books on the shelves rarely have duplicates; each book contains at most three copies. The catalogue alone, which lists all the books on the shelf, is a thick stack, weighing several dozen kilograms.

However, Fang Shu calmed down. He had only reached the first basement level, and the books here were all books for ordinary people.

These may be classics, histories, philosophical works, poems, songs, or even romantic tales and folk stories. They are likely collected from the mortal world by your family for your amusement or to teach your children.

On this floor, there were still quite a few young men lingering, each dressed in magnificent robes.

They all looked up and sized up Fang Shu, their eyes revealing curiosity or scrutiny, as if they were trying to guess the origin of this unfamiliar face.

Fang Shu had no intention of dealing with them. After a quick glance around, he headed towards the second basement level with anticipation.

Soon, stacks of essence refining techniques, essence refining prescriptions, and the travel and cultivation notes of essence refining immortals appeared in his eyes again.

Among them, he also found the Lead Kung Fu and Insect Kung Fu he had practiced, which were casually placed among a pile of martial arts manuals, the pages of which looked as if they were about to gather dust.

However, this place is the library of the immortals, and it is clearly a place that your family has carefully built. Even the Foundation Establishment Ancestor may have visited it a few times, so there is no dust really accumulating on it.

Fang Shu picked up the two volumes of immortal cultivation manuals, glanced at them for a few moments, and then looked at the several cultivation notebooks beside them, opening them one by one.

The owners of these notes include people with the surname Er as well as immortals from other surnames. They were probably collected and copied by Er family members from temples within their clan or even from immortal towns at the foot of the mountain.

It must be said that even though Fang Shu had already mastered both volumes of immortal techniques, these cultivation notes still served as a helpful tool for him to draw inferences from one another. If he had encountered these books earlier, he probably wouldn't have needed even three months to comprehend the complete works of the two immortal techniques.

Just as a sense of regret arose in his heart, Fang Shu thought to himself, "It's not too late to meet them now. If I were to compile all the experiences of my predecessors, I might be able to innovate and transform the two immortal techniques into the 'Fang Family Lead Technique' and the 'Fang Family Insect Technique,' which would allow me to establish my own lineage in the future. Moreover, it might be able to help me fill in the gaps in my physical body."

He was eager to try it, but he immediately put down the book in his hand.

Fang Shu walked around on the second basement level for a while, and then quickly headed towards the third floor.

As he stepped over the stone steps, he clearly sensed a divine sense sweeping over him, landing on the Er family token hanging at his waist. The sweep was brief, and then nothing else happened.

The third floor of the Er family's library came into Fang Shu's view.

The space here was smaller and there were fewer bookshelves, but Fang Shu was not disappointed. At a glance, he saw that the books on the shelves were of all kinds: paper books, metal and stone books, leather books, pictures, puppets, sculptures, and so on. At a rough glance, the number was still over a thousand.

What made his eyes light up even more was that these bookshelves were roughly categorized according to the nine disciplines of immortal studies.

Fang Shu stepped forward, and his eyes immediately filled with various spell notes, cultivation technique notes, original cultivation techniques, and original spells.

These cultivation manuals, which would cost a large amount of spirit stones or cultivation points in the outside world, were laid out here for free, right in front of Fang Shu, allowing him to examine them at will.

For a moment, Fang Shu's breathing became erratic. However, he calmed himself down, knowing he couldn't be too happy yet.

He immediately reached out and picked up a book titled "The Art of Shadowy Indirection" and examined it closely.

A full quarter of an hour later, he closed the book, slightly closed his eyes, and his thoughts were churning.

Fang Shu then walked around for an hour, selecting about ten books or other forms of literature from the bookshelf, examining each one carefully.

When he put down the fragment of the stone tablet in his hand, he couldn't help but let out a long breath.

His eyes held a complex expression, a mixture of surprise and joy, but also a hint of numbness and disorientation.

All the books in your family's library are complete copies!

There is no castration involved, nor is it a mixture of truth and falsehood. Whenever there is any incompleteness, the classic texts will automatically have talismans pasted on them, carefully admonishing future generations to study them with caution.

In other words, those who can enter this place can freely choose and study hundreds or thousands of Qi-refining techniques and numerous cultivation skills without any concealment.

Fang Shu pondered, and unconsciously tightened his grip on the token at his waist, thinking to himself:
"As expected of a family founded by a Foundation Establishment Immortal over two hundred years ago, their foundation is truly remarkable!"

Your family's donation was genuine and without any exaggeration.

It has to be said that the slight resentment Fang Shu initially harbored due to his first meeting with the Er family members was completely washed away by these Qi Refining manuals. The resentment, if not entirely gone, was now deemed utterly insignificant.

It should be known that with this token, the disciples in the temple can save countless spirit stones and Taoist merits.

Especially for Fang Shu, who possessed the Daoist talisman, he felt like a mouse that had fallen into a rice jar. He had to actively suppress his emotions to keep from laughing out loud.

Slowly regaining his senses, he looked around the desolate third floor and couldn't help but squint his eyes slightly.

Despite possessing such a vast collection of books, your family faces the predicament of a decline in talent and a lack of successors.

I really don't know whether to say that the scions of noble families are unaware of their good fortune and are too useless, or to say that cultivation is difficult, especially the foundation building stage, which is even more difficult than Fang Shu had expected.

However, after only a few moments of daydreaming, Fang Shu pulled himself out of his thoughts and turned his gaze to the bookshelves around him.

The books here are all physical documents, not magical artifacts like jade slips used for transmitting skills. Their advantage is that they are inexpensive, easy to preserve, and extremely suitable for family book collections.

As for the inconvenience, it is all about relying on the eyes and divine sense of the immortals to turn the pages one by one.

Even for Fang Shu, with his Dao talisman, it would take him countless hours just to make copies of all the texts on the third floor. He needs to hurry.

During this time, Fang Shu hesitated for a moment, wondering if he should disguise himself to avoid attracting the attention of Er's family by flipping through too many books in a hurry.

But after thinking it over, he immediately put that idea out of his mind.

If his family were to learn that he possessed the ability to "remember everything he saw," they might value him even more and add further benefits to his status as a celestial being.

In an instant, Fang Shu calmed down and began to devour the pages of the Er family's library like a silkworm eating mulberry leaves, without stopping for a moment.

The cultivation manuals and various secret texts in his mind are accumulating at an unprecedented speed, enriching his foundation!
(End of this chapter)