Chapter 229: Modifying Technique (I)

Inside Wuling City, within a teahouse, a storyteller spoke passionately. His voice was deep and steady, drawing listeners effortlessly into his tale.

At a table by the window, a cold-faced young woman sat quietly with a lovely girl beside her, though neither seemed to be listening.

"Mother, Father isn't in trouble, is he?" Liang Yunhui finally asked.

They had been in Wuling City for some days. A few days earlier, they had gone to the Inkfeather Sword Sect to have someone inform her father, only to be told that no such person existed.

"Perhaps he's dead..." Liang Yuhan replied calmly, her tone revealing neither sorrow nor joy. Her expression was unreadable as she stared blankly out the window.

𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

After months of arduous travel, the result she received was that the man no longer existed. More than ten years ago, she had been deeply captivated by a brilliant man and, under his persistent pursuit, they slept together. Not long after, he said he had urgent matters and needed to leave. Before departing, however, he told her that his name was Su Xinlin of the Inkfeather Sword Sect and asked if she would go with him. Unfortunately, Liang Yuhan's family had been strict, and she could not leave home then.

A little more than a month later, Liang Yuhan discovered she was pregnant. Over ten years passed. Once she had advanced to the third transformation of blood qi and gained the strength to protect herself, she secretly left the Liang Family, bringing her daughter to travel a thousand miles in search of her husband. Yet what she found was only disappointment.

"How could that be? Father... Father is a powerful martial artist, so how could he...?" Liang Yunhui's eyes reddened, tears welling up. Since childhood, she had dreamed of the father she had never met, holding onto fantasies and admiration. But now...

"Finish crying, then continue eating. In a few days, we'll go to Pingyang City to take the Water Cloud Palace entry exam," Liang Yuhan said evenly.

She was a woman of firm resolve; otherwise, she would never have brought her daughter all the way to the Central Plains in search of her husband. But finding Su Xinlin was only one of her goals. Before setting out, Liang Yuhan had already foreseen that she might never find him. Yet she still came, just to give her decade-long perseverance an ending, whether good or bad.

"Mother... please... Maybe we can ask around again. Perhaps father changed his name," Liang Yunhui said between sobs, her heart unwilling to accept it.

"No more searching. In this vast sea of people, he's lost." Liang Yuhan shook her head softly. She offered no comfort, allowing her daughter to weep alone by her side.

"

Wuu... wuu...

" Liang Yunhui sobbed quietly.

She dared not cry too loudly, afraid of disturbing other patrons listening to the storyteller. Looking out the window through blurred tears, a familiar figure suddenly caught her eye.

"Zhao... Uncle Zhao! Mother, look. Isn't that Uncle Zhao?" Liang Yunhui quickly wiped her tears away and pointed toward a distant figure of Lin Zheyu.

She saw an ordinary-looking middle-aged man who resembled Zhao Hao, carrying two bundles of medicinal herbs as he turned into a distant alley. Lin Zheyu's casually altered appearance did share some similarity with Zhao Hao's, yet upon closer inspection, there were clear differences. Still, a person's posture and gait were things one could recognize after spending long enough together.

Lin Zheyu had not made any effort to disguise such small details. From afar, though she could not make out his face, Liang Yunhui could not mistake that familiar feeling. Liang Yuhan, hearing this, froze briefly. When she had last parted with Lin Zheyu, he had mentioned he did not plan to go to Wuling City. She had assumed Zhao Hao went straight to Wu'an City instead, since he had once said he wished to see if he could join the Bull Demon Sect there.

"Where?" Liang Yuhan looked out, but the figure was already gone.

"He turned into that alley. I didn't see Little Black by his side, so could something have happened to it?" Liang Yunhui burst into tears again. Compared to the father she had never met, her bond with Uncle Zhao and Little Black, whom she had lived with for so long, ran even deeper.

"Don't think too much. Wuling City forbids ferocious beasts from entering. Anyone wanting to bring one inside must register it with the authorities, and ordinary people don't have that privilege. Though Senior Zhao is strong, he has only just arrived in the city, and he likely couldn't do that. Little Black was probably left to roam in the forests outside," Liang Yuhan said softly.

"Mother, let's go find Uncle Zhao..." Liang Yunhui whispered.

"He's already gone. Where would we find him?" Liang Yuhan shook her head and stared blankly at the flow of pedestrians along the street.

***

In the courtyard.

Lin Zheyu's eyebrows twitched as he opened his eyes. Letting out a long breath, he steadied himself for a while before recovering from the pain of cultivation. Without the aid of a mental method or secret medicine, cultivating the Primordial Origin Technique was truly agonizing. As his blood qi circulated, it inflicted tremendous strain upon his acupoints. The pain was nearly unbearable.

Once the technique began running, it could not be stopped at will; only when his body's essence and qi, as well as blood qi, were completely exhausted would it halt. After a few breaths to recover to his peak, he resumed the cycle again and again.

[Heaven Rewards the Diligent]

[Name: Lin Zheyu]

[Origin Force: 61]

[Skills: Primordial Origin Technique (Perfection), Boiling Blood Secret Art (Perfection), Forbidden Reversal Method (Perfection), Golden Goose Technique (Tenth Stage: 100%), Spirit-Wondrous Movement Technique (Fifth Stage: 100%)]

Lin Zheyu looked at the data within his consciousness. The Primordial Origin Technique had reached Perfection.

This Perfection had nothing to do with stage; it simply meant full mastery of the technique. With his experience in cultivating the Boiling Blood Secret Art and the Forbidden Reversal Method, practicing the Primordial Origin Technique felt much smoother. Without a mental method, however, the Primordial Origin Technique was merely a weakened version of the Boiling Blood Secret Art.

When activated, both the Boiling Blood Secret Art and the Forbidden Reversal Method burned essence, qi, and spirit to forcibly draw out potential, causing a surge of power in a short span. The energy produced by this burning not only stimulated potential and increased strength but also served as a buffer to prevent the violent blood qi from damaging the acupoints.

The Primordial Origin Technique, lacking both a mental method and the buffering energy from burning essence, qi, and spirit, was crude and forceful in its operation. Each cycle inflicted injuries upon his acupoints. Yet as the blood qi coursed through specific paths across various acupoints, it leveraged their differing properties to refine the blood qi, making it increasingly pure.

With his eyes closed, the power of immense blood qi surged through his body. Faintly, he could almost hear the muffled roar of its flow. Lin Zheyu quietly sensed the enhanced strength of his blood qi.

"In the Primordial Origin True Technique, the true core of Blood Qi Realm cultivation technique lies in the mental method and secret medicine. Without either, the effect is vastly inferior. Even if ordinary people could cultivate it, it would be worthless. Its results are even worse than the Boiling Blood Secret Art," Lin Zheyu murmured to himself as he opened his eyes.

He had just used 5 units of Origin Force for improvement, yet was only two-thirds of the way toward the fifth transformation of blood qi. Lin Zheyu estimated that continuing with the Primordial Origin Technique would require about 3 more units, totaling 8, to break through. Previously, he had also used 1 unit of Origin Force to cultivate the Boiling Blood Secret Art, which had already strengthened his blood qi once. Without that earlier enhancement, the total requirement would have been 9 units.

"For such an incomplete and nearly worthless technique, there were still people competing with me for it, bidding it up to 5,800 taels of silver. Could it have been the auction house's own shill bidders?" Lin Zheyu muttered speechlessly.

It was fortunate that he had been the one to buy it. Had any other martial artist spent over 5,000 taels of silver on it only to discover that it was both impractical to cultivate and of little reference value, they would likely have cursed the heavens in rage.

If I used the Boiling Blood Secret Art, I'd only need 6 units of Origin Force. The difference between the two methods is 50%. But the problem is that every time I use 1 unit through the Boiling Blood Secret Art, the mental exhaustion is tremendous.

It takes over ten days of rest to recover. During that time, I can neither continue training nor break limits to gain more Origin Force. Otherwise, using the Boiling Blood Secret Art or the Forbidden Reversal Method directly would yield far better results.

His gaze shifted to the Boiling Blood Secret Art and the Forbidden Reversal Method within his consciousness, and an idea slowly formed in his mind.

Is there a way to integrate the Forbidden Reversal Method into the Primordial Origin Technique to create a stronger blood qi cultivation technique that doesn't require burning essence, qi, and spirit? The reason these two secret arts are so effective is that burning essence, qi, and spirit unleashes all the body's potential. But if I don't burn them, could I still directly awaken that potential?

Lin Zheyu pondered in silence.

After all, the Primordial Origin Technique was derived from the incomplete version of the Primordial Origin True Technique. It was quite effective at strengthening one's blood qi, but because it lacked the secret art and the mental method, it fell short compared to the Boiling Blood Secret Art. The latter's unexpected efficiency in enhancing blood qi and its superiority over the Primordial Origin Technique were largely due to it being a life-risking martial technique.

The Primordial Origin Technique was meant for sustainable cultivation—it had to avoid harming the body or damaging a martial artist's foundation. The Boiling Blood Secret Art, on the other hand, had no such concern. It directly burned essence, qi, and spirit to unleash the body's full potential in an instant, allowing one to erupt with strength far beyond their limit.

The moment this potential was released, it not only amplified the power of the blood qi but also refined it further. Lin Zheyu had no way of obtaining the secret medicines or the mental method, but he might still be able to discover a method of instantly stimulating potential by studying the Forbidden Reversal Method and the Boiling Blood Secret Art.