Don't farm, cultivate immortality!

"We met on an unnamed mountain." Zhuang Xing recounted how he met Xiao An and how he found the Yin-Yang Stone.

He kept it brief, only wanting to make things clear and explain what they wanted to ask for.

"That's how it is," Zhuang Xing said. "I hope you can lend a hand, senior."

“Separating you from this Yin-Yang Stone is not difficult. However, Yin ghosts are not tolerated in this world. Once separated from the stone, their spiritual energy will soon dissipate and their souls will be scattered,” Yinglong said. “Then I will give you a method to raise ghosts using locust wood.”

"Thank you, senior." Zhuang Xing cupped his hands in thanks.

"No need to thank me," Yinglong said. "Consider it as something you exchanged for this stone. Xiaoqing, go and fetch the things."

"Yes," the girl replied, walked out of the main hall, and returned carrying a small piece of locust wood and an old book.

"This is the heartwood of a century-old locust tree."

"This is the method of raising ghosts."

"Please keep this safe."

The young girl handed over the locust wood and the old book one after the other.

Zhuang Xing took the book with both hands. The locust wood was cool to the touch. The characters on the book were not the mysterious script he had seen on the way up the mountain. Although they were slightly different from the characters Zhuang Xing had learned, he could read them without any difficulty.

He flipped through a few pages and discovered that it was actually an evil book. The first part described a sinister method, which explained how to kill a person, take their heart, liver, four fingers, and hair, trap their soul, and refine it into a ghost slave to be driven by others.

He frowned as soon as he started reading; the method was truly cruel, and he wondered where this evil magic came from.

Seemingly noticing his strange expression, the girl spoke up, "Little Taoist, don't misunderstand. This method of raising ghosts wasn't invented by us. My ancestors liked to collect rare and precious things. In the past, people would try to exchange this book for things with my ancestors. This is just my ancestors' collection. We don't practice raising ghosts."

“I’ve read this book before. Although it’s some unorthodox methods, it does have its merits,” the maiden said. “If you don’t like the first part, just read the second half. The methods for raising ghosts are all in the second half.”

"I see, thank you for your guidance." Zhuang Xing felt somewhat relieved after hearing this.

This method doesn't seem like some kind of evil or heretical practice. Upon further reflection, this method of raising ghosts isn't really a great skill. Even if you raise ghost slaves, at most they can only be used for theft or to pretend to be a ghost in front of people to swindle money.

Anyone with even a little skill wouldn't be afraid of ghosts, much less bother learning such ghost magic; it seems more like a method devised by some shady charlatans.

For the people in this Taoist temple, it might just be kept as a rare book in their collection.

“Alright, come forward now. My ancestors will help you separate from this stone,” said the boy behind the painting.

Zhuang Xing glanced at Yan Huai'an, who nodded. Trusting the female knight, Zhuang Xing led Xiao An to stand in front of Yinglong in the painting.

"Little Taoist, drip a drop of your essence blood onto the locust tree," the girl said. "Once this little sister leaves the stone, she must immediately be nurtured in the locust tree. You must nurture her for at least two or three days according to the method of raising ghosts before you can release her. Remember, she can no longer see the sun. She can only come out after sunset, or go into her own bones, but she must also see the sun less often."

"I've learned a lot," Zhuang Xing replied.

Without drawing his sword, he gathered a wisp of sword energy at his fingertips, cut his thumb, and a drop of blood fell onto the locust wood, seeping into it.

The young girl peered inside to examine the locust tree before turning back to bow to the painting.

"Ancestor, please cast your spell."

"it is good."

The dragon's body coiled up once more in the painting.

Zhuang Xing felt something invisible break off, and his left arm stung, as if a knife had cut a wound there.

A moment later, the girl said, "Alright, little sister, hurry up and go into the locust tree."

Upon hearing this, Xiao An reached out and touched the locust tree.

"Xiao An, how are you feeling?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"I'm a little sleepy..." Xiao An said.

The maiden said, "It's normal. She used to be able to move freely because of this Yin-Yang Stone. Go and rest under the locust tree. Breaking off with that stone is like a serious illness for her. She needs to recuperate for a while."

"Go inside, Xiao An, everything will be alright," Zhuang Xing said.

"Hmm." Xiao An looked really tired. She was listless and suddenly turned into a wisp of breeze, disappearing into the locust tree.

"Come with me outside," the girl said. "Sister Yan has other matters to attend to, so I'll take you inside to rest first. Little Taoist, you can also find a quiet place to learn about the methods of raising ghosts."

Zhuang Xing turned to look at Yan Huai'an, who nodded and said, "Go."

He had many questions in his mind, but this was not the time to ask, so he could only follow the maiden outside the palace.

Once outside, Zhuang Xing couldn't help but ask, "Senior, has Sister Yan Huai'an lived for four hundred years?"

"Yes, it's been over four hundred years." The girl said as she walked. "Our ancestors picked her up. They just liked strange and unusual things. They met Sister Yan somewhere and thought she was unusual, so they picked her up."

"Is Sister Yan so rare?" Zhuang Xing didn't quite understand the girl's choice of words. What did "rare" mean? Could one use "rare" to describe someone?

“Of course it’s amazing, she’s a natural-born extraordinary person,” the girl said. “When I first saw her, I was quite surprised. I never thought there would be someone in the world born with a body as cold as ice. I thought my ancestors had found a stillborn child somewhere, but I never expected her to be a living person.”

“I watched her grow up. It took her ten years to learn to walk, and then another twenty years to learn to talk. It was really not easy.”

Chapter 234 Four Hundred Years

"Sister Yan took twenty years to learn to speak?" Zhuang Xing was taken aback.

“It’s quite rare, isn’t it?” the girl said. “She was born with a cold constitution. When she was young, her limbs were stiff and she couldn’t move. She couldn’t even open her mouth to eat. I could only put her under the belly of a ewe and force her to drink some milk to survive. But even the ewe was frozen by her. I had to hold the ewe down first before I could let her drink milk.”

"You've worked so hard."

"It was a bit of a hassle. Our ancestors didn't originally intend to raise her; they just wanted to see her for fun and to make do with her casually. But she was very resilient and grew up slowly. Unfortunately, even though she grew up and could eat by herself, she still couldn't speak. I originally thought she was mute, but she actually learned some words and phrases. It's just that she's very slow; it takes her a long time to recognize even a single word."

"Speaking of which, how did you meet Sister Yan? It's been four hundred years, and this is the first time I've ever seen her bring someone here."

“Sister Yan is my savior,” Zhuang Xing said. “She saved my mother and my life from a man-eating tiger demon.”

"A tiger demon? She's killed a tiger demon before?"

"She not only killed tiger demons, but also eliminated many harmful demons when she was out there."

“I don’t know anything about these things,” the girl said.

"Senior, could you tell me more about Sister Yan Huai'an? What has she been searching for all these years?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"You want to know?"

"I wanted to help her."

“Fine, I might as well tell you,” the girl said. “That coldness has been with her since birth. Although it has extended her lifespan, it is also gradually eroding her body. The older she gets, the stronger the coldness becomes. When the coldness has eroded her entire body, she will freeze to death.”

"Since she survived, her ancestors also taught her the secrets of cultivation, letting her practice swordsmanship to warm her body and resist the accompanying cold."

"After staying in this place for a hundred years, when she was old enough to move around freely, her ancestors sent her out to find a few things. They said that once she found them all, they could remove the cold from her body, and then she would no longer be harmed by the cold."

"She searched for three hundred years, returning once she found something."

“In the past three hundred years, she would sometimes come back every twenty or thirty years, and sometimes every fifty or sixty years. In the last two years, she has come back three times. Today, she has finally found the last item. Right now, the ancestor is probably casting a spell to purify the cold energy in her body. In the future, she will not have to be troubled by this.”

"After the chill dissipates, what will happen to Sister Yan?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"What do you think will happen?" the virgin asked.

"This...this junior is foolish, but if it is because of this cold air that Sister Yan's lifespan has been extended, then after the cold air dissipates, Sister Yan...could it be..."

"Are you worried that she might suddenly die of old age?"

"..."

"You're overthinking it. To outsiders, the cold air seems to have extended her lifespan, but in reality, she was frozen like this. However, once the cold air is gone, she'll be no different from ordinary people outside. In a few decades, Sister Yan will become an old woman, but she'll still live a little longer than she is now, so it's a kind of life extension for her."

"Will Sister Yan's cultivation disappear?"

"That's something she built herself, it won't cause any problems."

"Thank you for your explanation, senior."

"Little Taoist priest, I have answered your questions, so please answer mine as well."

"Please speak, senior. I will tell you everything I know."

"Is the world outside in chaos? Are demons running rampant, and chaos erupting everywhere?"

"It is not a chaotic era. The country and the people are at peace and should be considered a time of tranquility."

"Peace? How can it be peaceful? Little Taoist, have you gone out to see for yourself? You seem so young, have you never even been down the mountain?"

"I wouldn't dare to speak nonsense, but last year I traveled through four prefectures and counties and indeed I didn't see any chaos. However, in the past few years, there have been severe cold spells and snow disasters in various places. Fortunately, we found some winter supplies, which alleviated the disaster. Now things are thriving."

"That's strange. I was quite accurate in the previous dynasty, so how could I have gotten it wrong this time? It seems my skills are lacking, and I've miscalculated the date," the girl murmured. "I'll try to calculate it again another day."

"If it were a chaotic time, would you have come out of seclusion, senior?" Zhuang Xing asked.

"Go down the mountain? What would I do there? Whether it's chaotic or peaceful outside is their business. What does it have to do with us? I'm just doing this for fun," the girl said nonchalantly.

She led Zhuang Xing to a side room, opened the wooden door, and inside there was an eight-immortal table, a stone bed, and two stone chairs.

"You can stay here for now. Take a look at the ghost-raising technique yourself. I won't bother you anymore."

"Senior, I have another question. I wonder... how long will it take for Sister Yan to be released?"

"Two or three days, it'll only be a blink of an eye," the young girl said calmly. "Is there anything else you'd like to ask?"

"Nothing."

"I'm leaving."

"Take care, senior."

After saying this, the girl left the room.

Zhuang Xing sat down on the stool, opened the old book, skipped the methods of harming people at the beginning, and only read the second half.

As the maiden said, the method of raising ghosts described in the second half of the text is quite sophisticated.

Logically speaking, raising ghosts requires nourishment with yin energy, and they need to be kept in places with heavy yin energy, such as tombs or locust groves, in order for the ghosts to grow stronger.

However, this method can nourish the yin ghosts with human yang energy and can transform yang energy into yin energy by using the heartwood of locust wood.

The longer the wood core is aged, the better the effect. The piece in his hand is the heartwood of a hundred-year-old locust tree. He placed his hand on the locust wood and circulated his Qi according to the method, and the room became cooler again.

No wonder this method of raising ghosts was favored by the "ancestors"; it must have its unique aspects.

He nurtured the locust tree in the side room for a day, and Xiao An recovered a lot of energy by nightfall.

As night fell, there was still no sign of the boy or Yan Huai'an. It seemed that the Taoist temple did not provide meals. He went outside the side room and saw that the main hall was still closed. Not daring to disturb them, he took out the dried meat from his bag and tore it into strips to eat.

The dry rations ran out on the way, and since there were no villages or towns along the way, they could only hunt some wild game. This was all animal meat that had been dried over a fire and roughly seasoned with some salt. It wasn't exactly delicious, but it was enough to fill their stomachs.

He didn't see the boy the next day either.