Chapter 1838: New Gains
When he arrived in front of the stairway, Zu An clearly sensed a layer of separation above him, as if there was a world membrane separating each floor. It was far stronger than before. Such seals had most likely become stronger and sturdier after the great demon-suppressing formation recovered.
At first, he was a bit worried that he had been sealed up inside. Fortunately, even though it was a bit difficult to enter, he still managed to break through with a bit more force. It was most likely because he had already become one with Jing Teng and had the talisman’s attribute and energy attuned to him. As such, the seal treated him as one of its own and didn’t trouble him too much.
He quickly ascended the flight of stairs and arrived at the floor where that unspeakable being was. He stopped for a bit there. Earlier, he had fought against that very creature. Even though there was a world membrane separating them, he could still sense the being’s terrifying power. It was on a level that was difficult to comprehend. Jing Teng had been wounded by the creature, leaving behind injuries Zu An couldn't cure right now. Even the Primordial Origin Sutra was only able to prevent those wounds from getting worse. It wasn’t able to completely eliminate that destructive power.
At first, he thought that when it sensed his aura, that being would get really agitated and try to attack the prison door, so he had remained vigilant the entire time, prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. However, everything remained calm, and even the terrifying aura he had experienced on the way down was much weaker.
He looked up and saw that there were illuminated runes on the prison door and walls around them. The demon-suppressing formation was at its strongest right now, so even that powerful being could only calm down for the time being. He gave the prison door a deep look and wondered whether he could see what it looked like one day.
…
Then, he continued onto the next flight of stairs up. The first time he passed by, he had heard countless roars, as if there were a huge party happening in this great tomb. Now, though, it was completely quiet. All of the monsters were so obedient that they didn’t even dare to breathe too heavily.
He couldn't help but sigh once again. That Demon-Suppressing Divine Talisman was just too powerful. And then when he thought about how the spirits that came from it had been pounded beneath him…
He couldn't help but enter a brief daze. This world really was fickle! There was a popular saying that shut-in otakus wasted paper, but the world still used paper nonetheless.
However, this paper was far, far more wonderful than those other papers.
He suddenly thought of something and took out the Keyboard System. He saw that the F6 key was flashing continuously; from the first time it detected the Baopu Sutra, it had been reminding him to integrate the skill.
“Integrate!”
Ding!
Soon after, that trace of light merged into the F6 key. A furnace with immortal energy lingering around it appeared above it, as if it were concocting pills of immortality. Immediately after, a sea of knowledge flooded into Zu An’s mind.
Cultivators have six main skills: Music, divination, rituals, talismans, formations, pill-making, and weapon refinement. Every single aspect is wide-ranging and profound, mysterious and limitless. Even the most stunning individual might not necessarily be able to claim proficiency in a single domain even if they spend their whole lives on just one domain.
And yet, Immortal Ruler Baopu surpassed all before him, becoming skilled in every single field. Among them, the one he earned the greatest achievements in was none other than pill-making. It was precisely that pill-making skill that granted him immortal ascension.
Zu An suddenly felt a flash in his mind. Countless pill recipes and refining methods entered his head. At the same time, music, divination diagrams, rituals, talismans, formations, and weapon refinement theories rushed in.
Rites and music seemed to be the way to join heaven and earth. The ‘Dance Offering to the Universe’ Immortal Ruler Baopu had previously passed onto Qiu Honglei was one such thing. However, Zu An just felt that dancing as a grown man was a bit embarrassing.
Fortunately, apart from dance, there were many musical scores. They weren’t the decadent or obscene music of the secular world, but rather the sounds of the great dao. Every song was extremely simple and often just a few notes long, and yet they could draw forth the power of heaven and earth. They could assist in clearing the mind for meditation cultivation, increase cultivation speed, discard distracting thoughts when one attempted a breakthrough, and other things.
Yeah, this suits me more.
Who didn’t secretly want to appear cultured and artistic in front of others who were talented in these fields, after all?
Once he learned these things, he could pass them onto Shang Liuyu. She loved music and, uh… blowing the xiao. There was a song for the Chinese bamboo flute that was perfect as a gift for her.
Divination was more about mysterious forces. It was able to foresee luck or disasters and allow one to prepare for them. That way, one could be able to seize a chance at life in a situation of inevitable death.
Zu An’s ‘The Book’ had a similar ability, but it could only provide him with scenes a few seconds beforehand at most. Things that happened later could only be seen through divination. Of course, ‘The Book’ had its pros too, which was that it was rather detailed in its description of danger. Divination was more ambiguous, and what one saw could be explained in all sorts of ways.
Zu An didn’t like such abilities that much. Knowing your fate ahead of time wasn’t necessarily a good thing. After all, there was a saying that understanding heaven’s will is easy, but defying the heavens is difficult.
Sometimes, finding out one’s fate could just create a feeling of helplessness, as if one’s hands were tied; in that case, one could end up focusing too much on personal gains and losses.
As for rituals, they referred to the ceremonies that were performed when making offerings to all sorts of deities or mysterious beings. For example, in the secular world, if one wanted someone’s help, one would at least prepare some gifts. Asking a mysterious being for help required similar offerings to show sincerity.
Such rituals consisted of two parts. The first was purity, which referred to bathing and changing clothes a few days in advance and refraining from meat, wine, or sleeping in inner chambers, to demonstrate sincerity during the ceremony. The second was sacrifice, which referred to offering sacrifices. The blood of animals, as well as fruits and vegetables, could be used for that process. Different mysterious beings liked different kinds of offerings, so it was important not to make any mistakes in that regard.
The Baopu Sutra summarized the different classifications, while teaching how to conduct the different ceremonies.
As he watched the explanation, Zu An’s worldview completely opened up. If he had seen this in his previous world, he would have just thought of it as a superstitious belief from feudal times. However, in these worlds of cultivation, things were definitely not so simple.
Immortal Ruler Baopu had recorded all of these mysterious things seriously. Could it be that there really were some mysterious beings silently watching everything that was happening in this world and responding to the requests of those conducting sacrifices? Zu An couldn't help but shiver when he thought of that.
Talismans were easier to understand. Both Yan Xuehen and Xie Daoyun were experts in that field. He had seen Sun En demonstrate the power of divine talismans too.
Meanwhile, he himself had just… done a talisman.
The Baopu Sutra recorded all kinds of talismans’ fundamental principles, as well as the ways to make them. He was sure that big sister Yan and little sister Ling’er would definitely enjoy learning about these things.
Formations were some special diagrams that could borrow the energy from ki stones to bring about certain special effects through transferring the power of the world.
Simple formations assisted in the recovery of ki, increased speed, attack, defense, or other such things. Complicated ones could be like the Heavenly Demon-Suppressing Great Formation he had just seen.
Formidable formations could often completely change the tides of battle. In situations such as wartime in particular, the side with formations could often carry out a one-sided massacre on the side that didn’t have them.
The Baopu Sutra had accumulated many miraculous formations, but in truth, there were just too many formations in the world. Thus, many of them weren’t recorded in it either.
Zu An gave everything a rough scan. He wanted to find the Heavenly Demon-Suppressing Great Formation that was at the lowest floor of this tomb, but unsurprisingly, he didn't find it. It seemed that Immortal Ruler Baopu hadn’t been able to enter that lowest floor, and he wasn’t the one who had created the great tomb. The one who had designed the Heavenly Demon-Suppressing Great Formation was likely another, even higher-level being.
The weapon refinement portion talked about the creation of weapons, magical artifacts, and other items’ theories and techniques. Zu An was overjoyed, because the Rune Weapon Chart he obtained had activated the weapon forging system, but he hadn’t had any weapon blueprints and couldn't do much with it. The Baopu Sutra solved that problem, and it even contained all sorts of artifact blueprints. For example, the pendant that stored Jing Teng’s paradise cavern was there.
Alright, I don’t have to worry about what type of gift to give the women anymore.
Hm? Why is that what I’m thinking about right now?
He quickly focused his attention and continued to look through the contents. There were some amazing treasures that were even more useful than cultivation or skills.
Zu An thought about the terrifying encounters in ‘Investiture of the Gods’, and how one treasure would often decide victory and defeat. One was the boss when one had the treasure, but if one accidentally lost it, one could even be beaten like a dog by the very same disciple who picked it up. He searched through the treasures, but disappointingly, he didn’t find the refining methods of such legendary artifacts.
Immortal Ruler Baopu was straightforward as well. The more he studied in this field, the more he had realized that he was still ignorant and narrow-minded. He had known that there were still many formidable treasures, but he hadn’t gotten the opportunity to learn their creation methods. He had only hoped that the one who came after him would have the opportunity to gradually fill things in.
Even so, Zu An was still extremely satisfied. After all, the manual had already explained all kinds of principles and methods very clearly. With that foundation, as long as he obtained the blueprint of a special treasure, learning how to make it wouldn’t be too difficult at all.
Compared to the other six skills, the skill Immortal Ruler Baopu was proudest of was pill refinement. There was more content in that domain than the other six.
Zu An skimmed the contents. The impression he got was that the pill manual was both broad and deep. There were many extremely useful pills; it even contained all kinds of extraordinary pills that had miraculous effects even he coveted in his current condition. Furthermore, there were even several pills that seemed as if they would be able to treat Jing Teng’s current problem. He definitely had to gather the ingredients once he left the secret dungeon and make those pills to see if they’d work.
Zu An was extremely satisfied with the Baopu Sutra. What he lacked wasn’t a cultivation method. Whether it was the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra, Primordial Origin Sutra, or Heaven Devouring Sutra, they were all the very best among cultivation methods. In contrast, Baopu Sutra had skills that were more important for him at the moment.
Suddenly, there was an alert from the Keyboard System. “Five secret manuals have been detected. Condition fulfilled; activating the Gourmet System.”
“Gourmet?” Zu An exclaimed, feeling unhappy. What was gourmet food good for?
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