Chapter 132: You Want To Do Dual Cultivation?

"Boss, do you have new teas?"

When Chu Liang appeared in the Red Cotton Market again, he was immediately greeted by familiar faces. He had become a little famous there even though he hadn't been to the market that often.

Chu Liang responded with a smile, "I'm not selling that anymore. I'm selling something else now."

Upon hearing that, the person who received the disappointing answer let out a deep sigh of regret. He seemed to be a faithful fan of the first batch of fruit tea that Chu Liang had sold during spring.

Chu Liang felt quite regretful about it too. After all, it wasn't exactly easy to build up a brand name. Nevertheless, there had been no other choice. Fortunately, he'd managed to use the fruit teas to promote the berries a bit before ending the fruit tea business. The berries had gotten a pretty good response from the customers in the market.

Chu Liang walked over to the usual spot for his stall. He spread open a small blanket on the ground and put up his little sign—Dragon Breath Golden Vein Berries: nourish women's skin and boost men's sex drive.

The sign immediately attracted a lot of attention.

Some people recalled the promotional event from before and said, "Aren't these the berries you gave as bonus gifts previously? They're delicious! Are you still giving them out as gifts this time?"

"No, I'm selling them now," Chu Liang answered with a smile.

Then he placed three boxes on the ground, arranged in order of size.

Some familiar faces approached him and asked, "How are you selling them?"

Chu Liang took out a sign with prices written on it and pointed at the three boxes.

He said, "One sword coin for three berries, three sword coins for five berries, and five sword coins for ten berries."

Upon hearing that, all of the people queueing up in front of Chu Liang's stall looked confused.

"Did you say something wrong, or did we hear that wrong?" someone asked puzzledly. "Why does it get more expensive as the quantity increases?"

"Neither," Chu Liang replied with a smile. "The Dragon Breath Golden Vein Berries are very valuable and taste amazing. You can't buy them at this price anywhere else. I'm not trying to profit from this; I'm selling them out of care for my fellow disciples of the Mount Shu Sect. I want to try and let as many disciples as possible enjoy the benefits of these berries. Unfortunately, this was the only method I could think of that could let me do that. Each person is limited to one box per day, and you are only allowed to purchase one of the three boxes."

"Out of care...?" everyone uttered, looking at him suspiciously.

𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

"Similarly, I limited the purchases of the fruit tea because my stock was limited, and I wanted to let as many disciples as possible enjoy the tea. I've sold off all of my stock, so there won't be any more of it in the future," Chu Liang explained earnestly, letting out a deep, heartfelt sigh. "It's the same with these berries. If I didn't consider all of you, my fellow disciples of the Mount Shu Sect, as family, I wouldn't even be selling them."

"Hang on..." a clever disciple standing to the side suddenly spoke out. "If I want to buy more but don't want to pay a higher price, can't I just ask another disciple to buy it for me? You said you're limiting the purchase to one box per person, but you can't restrict him from buying it and giving it to me, right?"

"This... " Chu Liang looked startled as if he realized he'd made a huge mistake. "Aren't you just trying to exploit a loophole?"

"Haha," the clever little rascal laughed, feeling like he had won. He said triumphantly, "I'll go ask the disciples from my peak to come and buy the berries! Don't you dare run away!"

The commotion drew another crowd over to Chu Liang's stall. Even those who hadn't seen Chu Liang before went over to see what the fuss was about.

The people who had tried the berries during the fruit tea promotion had already started queuing up in front of Chu Liang's stall earlier. Most of them bought a small box of three berries. After eating the berries, they felt that the berries did have the effects that Chu Liang claimed.

During this time, some people went to gather their friends to buy the small boxes of berries. They successfully bypassed the purchase limit of one per person and achieved the goal of exploiting the loophole.

The medium and large boxes of berries had some buyers too. Those disciples were big spenders; they couldn't be bothered finding people to buy extra berries for them, so they just bought the larger boxes. The medium and large boxes of berries only cost three and five sword coins respectively, which were actually prices that everyone could still afford. Nevertheless, the bigger spenders enjoyed the gazes of admiration from the other customers.

After just a morning at the market, pretty much all of the disciples of the Mount Shu Sect who frequented the Red Cotton Market got wind of a piece of news. That fruit tea seller had returned to take care of his family!

...

"I heard you've started another hot new business but with berries this time. You're really amazing," Jiang Yuebai said, gazing at Chu Liang with a bright smile.

"Sigh. As a child from a poor family, I have to take charge early. That's all it is," Chu Liang replied, laughing softly. "Senior Sister Jiang, it's all thanks to you for helping me attract customers at the start. Without your help, my business definitely wouldn't have worked out so smoothly."

"Even without me, there's still Senior Sister Zhao and Senior Sister Qian. You're so clever; you would have found a way to make it work anyway," Jiang Yuebai praised him.

"In the Mount Shu Sect, you're the only one I acknowledge as my senior sister," Chu Liang stated staunchly.

Jiang Yuebai wore a white brocade dress and a short coat, with an azure jade belt at her waist. As she walked over, her slender figure swayed gently like a willow tree swaying in the breeze, and a fragrant scent wafted toward Chu Liang.

After Chu Liang returned to Mount Shu, he'd exchanged a few paper-crane letters with Jiang Yuebai and found out she had some free time today. So, Chu Liang took the chance to invite her over and ask her some questions.

Jiang Yuebai sat down and got straight to the point.

She said, "All right, enough with the corny flattery. What do you want to ask me today?"

Chu Liang answered, "I want to ask for your guidance on core formation. You're an outstanding figure at the level of the Golden Core Realm, so I'd like to ask you—"

Before Chu Liang could finish, Jiang Yuebai looked slightly startled as she asked, "Why are you asking about that this early in your cultivation? Hang on... Could it be that you've already reached the pinnacle of the Spiritual Awareness Realm?"

The last time they met, Jiang Yuebai had sensed that Chu Liang had been nearing the pinnacle of the Spiritual Awareness Realm. However, she hadn't expected him to reach the pinnacle that quickly.

Hasn't it only been a few days?

Just as she thought that, Jiang Yuebai took a deep breath and put on a calm smile.

I'm not even surprised anymore.

I'm no longer the same as before. I've been out in the world and experienced many things.

You surprised me time and again in the past. But no matter how fast you are now, I won't show you any change in emotion.

"It was a fluke, but I broke through to the pinnacle yesterday," Chu Liang replied, smiling humbly.

"It's great that you've reached the pinnacle. All right, carry on with what you were saying," Jiang Yuebai said and gestured lightly with her hand for Chu Liang to continue talking.

Chu Liang picked up from where he left off. "I just wanted to ask if there's any advice you could give me on how to form my core. It's rather complex and difficult, and I don't have many close connections in our sect..."

Jiang Yuebai blinked. She thought of something and gave a small smile.

After a moment of silence, Jiang Yuebai said, "With your great talent and comprehension ability, I think you should choose to form a high-tier Golden Core."

"Mm," Chu Liang uttered, nodding in agreement.

He had already intended to form a Golden Core of a high tier. In fact, there wasn't a single disciple in the Mount Shu Sect who didn't intend to do the same thing. Nevertheless, some disciples might settle on the next best option of forming a mid-tier Golden Core after failing too many times to form a high-tier Golden Core.

Disciples from sects ranked in the Divine Nine and Terrestrial Ten would definitely aim high. Unconventional cultivators in the lower rung of the martial world, however, would choose to form whatever tier of Golden Core they could. It didn't matter to them how low a tier their Golden Core was as long as they managed to form one.

"If you don't usually have a preference for one of the Five Elements when you cultivate, I suggest you choose a Yin-Yang Golden Core. Women are more inclined toward yin, while men are more inclined toward yang. I have no preference for one of the Five Elements, so I chose the Heavenly Golden Core of Lesser Yin. But it's not always the case that women pick yin and men pick yang. Some men like the yin attribute, and they're able to form the Heavenly Golden Core of Lesser Yin as well.

"With the Heavenly Golden Core of Lesser Yin, you wouldn't be specializing in an attribute, but you'd be able to have an average cultivation level in all attributes that's greater than that of one of the Five Elements Golden Cores.

"Each of the Five Elements Golden Cores only strengthens one attribute. A cultivator with one of those cores would be more powerful in that attribute than a cultivator with a Yin-Yang Golden Core. However, the cultivator with a Five Elements Golden Core would be weaker when using their other attributes.

"Ultimately, it comes down to your personal preference as to whether you want one of the Yin-Yang Golden Cores or the Five Elements Golden Cores," Jiang Yuebai explained.

Chu Liang listened attentively. Such detailed knowledge of the practical aspects of cultivation had not been recorded in books, and it certainly wasn't knowledge that Wen Yulong would have.

However, Chu Liang had learned from Wen Yulong the day before that the Nethersea Golden Lotus was a treasure of nature with a pure yin attribute. Moreover, it could be incorporated into a cultivator's Golden Core to form the Heavenly Golden Core of Lesser Yin!

Even so, Chu Liang thought it would be a bit of a waste to use it that way. After all, the Nethersea Golden Lotus was a treasure of nature that could help cultivators break through the later stage of the Realm of the Five Elements. It seemed like a waste to use such a great treasure on this when it could be used for a much more difficult task.

Despite that, Chu Liang also thought that it would be fine to use it anyway if he was experiencing too much pressure or he couldn't find enough treasures of nature to use in forming the Heavenly Golden Core of Lesser Yin.

Jiang Yuebai continued, "As for the ultimate-tier Golden Cores, don't even bother thinking about it. The Celestial Herb of Ascension is located in the Immortals' Marsh in the Southern Regions. Every disciple of our sect who has almost formed their core goes there to try their luck, but only a very small number of them manage to bring it back with them. It's a success rate of around once in a hundred years. When the time comes, you can go try your luck too, but don't get obsessed with it."

"I see," Chu Liang said with a nod. Then he laughed softly. "I don't have such unrealistic wishes anyway."

"That said, who knows? If you're lucky, you might actually bring back a stalk of it back." Jiang Yuebai smiled. "I'll be envious of you if that happens."

"How could I dare to do so?" Chu Liang replied hurriedly with a polite smile.

Then he pondered for a moment. If I were to have two Golden Cores, they may be able to achieve great synergy.

Continuing with this line of thought, he wondered if there were any combinations of Golden Cores that were good together.

So, Chu Liang spoke up again, "I have another question."

"If—well, hypothetically, if two Golden Cores were to be cultivated together, are there any combinations that would be good for that?" Chu Liang probed, not expecting to get a definitive answer.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Yuebai immediately asked, "Are you talking about dual cultivation?"

"Oh, yes," Chu Liang replied, nodding repeatedly.

He had forgotten that it was pretty common for couples to cultivate together in the cultivation world. It was said that there were special dual-cultivation techniques that could allow a man and a woman to achieve far greater results together than if they were to cultivate individually. Dual-cultivation techniques were not exclusive to the devil path; they were renowned even in the sect that Wenren Mo belonged to—the Sea King Sect, one of the Terrestrial Ten.

"For dual cultivation, good combinations can be found by looking at the Five Elements' creation cycle: wood generates fire, fire generates earth, and so on... However, in such combinations, one person usually supports the other, so it's difficult for both parties to benefit from the dual cultivation.

"Nevertheless, the key thing to avoid is having a combination that's part of the destruction cycle. You should go for combinations like yin and water or yang and fire. This way, both parties will benefit, but one attribute will still be considered the primary attribute, allowing one party to benefit more than the other. Ultimately, the yin and yang combination is the only one where there is no distinction in power between the two attributes. This is the best combination," Jiang Yuebai explained seriously.

She continued, "Additionally, people don't usually enter the Golden Core Realm simultaneously. One person enters the Golden Core Realm first, and they will use their attribute as the basis for choosing the attribute of their partner's Golden Core."

Then she said suddenly, "You can decide on which attribute you want to dual cultivate with, and I'll then give you detailed advice on the best attribute to pair with it."

Chu Liang thought deeply about it. He could use his Nethersea Golden Lotus to form a Golden Core with a yin attribute first and then decide on the pairing attribute accordingly.

Chu Liang responded truthfully, "The Heavenly Golden Core of Lesser Yin."

Surprisingly, a slight blush crept onto Jiang Yuebai's face.

Jiang Yuebai scolded Chu Liang softly, "What are you thinking of doing?"