Chapter 2: Giving Away Cultivation Techniques

After a moment of cultivation, Qi Zuo broke through to the eighth level of Qi cultivation with the help of the power of the nine soul fragments.

Spiritual energy accumulated within his Dantian, needing just a little more to condense into spiritual fish.

However, given Qi Zuo's aptitude, it might take several months to gather this slight amount of spiritual energy through cultivation alone.

It was easier to rely on the power of the Soul Banner.

Afterwards, Qi Zuo adjusted to his newfound strength, checked the items in his storage pouch, then lit a fire to burn the surrounding grass and wood before leaving and heading towards the gathering place of practitioners in the distance.

Passing through a mountain village, Qi Zuo stopped, and his spiritual fish swam in his Dantian, emitting the aura of a practitioner, spreading out in all directions.

Before long, dozens of people hurried over from afar and knelt down in front of Qi Zuo.

An elderly man, full of reverence, said, "I wonder what requests the immortal has here?"

Qi Zuo took out a cultivation technique manual and threw it out, saying, "Your luck has come. This is a cultivation technique. With it, you can become immortals in the future."

After saying this, Qi Zuo turned and left, with the people behind him excitedly thanking him.

Listening to their gratitude, Qi Zuo's lips curved upward, feeling quite good.

Most cultivators wouldn't easily impart cultivation techniques to ordinary people, as it was related to the cultivator's own interests.

The cultivation process for practitioners involved using the three souls of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity.

Among them, the souls of Heaven and Earth absorbed spiritual energy from the outside, while the Human soul stored this spiritual energy within the body.

The role of cultivation techniques was to transfer the spiritual energy absorbed by the souls of Heaven and Earth to the Human soul, allowing it to store and enhance cultivation.

However, the quality of one's aptitude would affect the effectiveness of the cultivation technique.

For those with poor aptitude, the distance between the souls of Heaven and Earth and the Human soul could be thousands of miles apart, resulting in a significant consumption of spiritual energy during the transfer process and a slow rate of advancement.

For those with good aptitude, the souls of Heaven and Earth would be close to their bodies, resulting in minimal consumption during the transfer process and a rapid rate of advancement.

Regardless of aptitude, the consumed spiritual energy would temporarily lose its vitality.

During a short period, no one could use this depleted spiritual energy.

Furthermore, treasures that required spiritual energy nourishment to condense would also produce less due to the decrease in spiritual energy vitality.

For those with poor aptitude, the more diligent they were in cultivation, the more depleted spiritual energy they would have, making it harder for others to cultivate.

To restore the vitality of spiritual energy, the first method was to wait patiently, and the second method was to kill other cultivators!

When a cultivator died, the spiritual energy consumed by them would recover vitality more quickly.

Throughout history, whenever the number of cultivators increased, wars would break out.

During each war, countless people would die, and countless inheritances would perish.

Not imparting cultivation techniques to too many ordinary people was to avoid wars, prevent the loss of inheritances, and safeguard one's own interests.

In addition, some sects even encouraged disciples to kill each other to reduce the number of practitioners and cultivate the strongest disciples.

With various means employed, the cultivation world had not seen large-scale wars for tens of thousands of years.

Qi Zuo's Soul Banner could only absorb the souls of practitioners to enhance his own cultivation. Ordinary people were of no use.

Therefore, Qi Zuo would impart cultivation techniques to ordinary people to help them cultivate.

Now that he had given ordinary people the opportunity for longevity and could enhance his own cultivation, Qi Zuo felt like a true benevolent person.

Afterwards, whenever Qi Zuo encountered places where ordinary people gathered, he would leave behind a cultivation manual.

After passing through more than a dozen gathering places of ordinary people, Qi Zuo finally arrived at the gathering place of practitioners.

The gathering place of practitioners was built at the convergence of spiritual veins, surrounded by a ten-meter-high wall, with guards at the city gate.

Qi Zuo released his aura and easily walked into the city.

This aura served as a means of verifying identity; ordinary people without this aura were not allowed to enter.

This was to prevent ordinary people from obtaining cultivation techniques in this place.

Entering the gathering place, Qi Zuo went directly to the Celestial Gathering Tower at the center.

The central location of each gathering place was where the controllers of the gathering place issued tasks. Some independent cultivators often came here to seek employment for cultivation resources.

Entering the Celestial Gathering Tower, Qi Zuo said to an old man standing behind the counter, "Elder, are there any exploration tasks available?"

The old man flipped through the notebook in his hand and said, "There's a task tomorrow to explore the cave left by a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. The reward is relatively small, and there's not much danger."

Qi Zuo shook his head, "Are there any other tasks?"

The old man continued, "There's a task in three days to explore a new type of secret realm. All items obtained in the realm must be surrendered, and the reward will be determined based on the surrendered items. This task is life-threatening."

Qi Zuo was very familiar with secret realms like this.

A secret realm was a mysterious space born from the absorption of spiritual energy by a sufficient amount of spatial ore.

This spatial ore was the core material used to make storage rings and pet bags.

Mining spatial ore outside wasn't very dangerous, but in secret realms, the spatial ore was integrated with the realm, and mining it would cause the realm to shake, creating spatial rifts.

Spatial rifts were deadly, with fifty percent of those entering the secret realm dying from them, and twenty percent dying from disputes over spatial ore.

If the benefits weren't substantial enough, no one would enter the secret realm to die.

And what Qi Zuo valued most was the fact that many people died in secret realms!

Qi Zuo immediately said, "I'll take this task."

The old man handed Qi Zuo a jade pendant and said, "Come back to the Celestial Gathering Tower in three days, go to the thirteenth teleportation array, and use the jade pendant to teleport to the task location. After the task is completed, use the jade pendant to return."

Qi Zuo took the jade pendant, turned and left, and went to a nearby cultivation supply store to retrieve the items left by Zhang Bin and the others.

Qi Zuo said, "I want to exchange these items for Blood Mud Ore and Fragrant Grass Silk."

The shopkeeper counted these items and took out a small piece of red ore and a bundle of green silk from his storage ring.

Qi Zuo estimated the price of the two items, then casually took them and went to the nearby Refinery Hall.

Renting a refining room, Qi Zuo inputted spiritual energy into the ground fire outlet, and a cluster of ground fire instantly burst out.

Qi Zuo took out the Blood Mud Ore and let it touch the ground fire. Soon, it melted into red liquid.

Qi Zuo took out the Soul Banner and used spiritual energy to control the liquid to wrap

around the handle of the banner.

The handle of the Soul Banner was like a dry sponge, instantly absorbing the liquid.

Then, spiritual energy attached to the handle of the Soul Banner, and under Qi Zuo's control, strange symbols were outlined.

After these symbols enveloped the entire handle, a flash of light passed, and the symbols disappeared, leaving the originally rough handle somewhat refined.

Afterwards, Qi Zuo repeated the process, melting the Fragrant Grass Silk and letting the banner absorb it.

After completing all this, the Soul Banner became more beautiful than before, with a more delicate touch.

Moreover, the Soul Banner now became more sturdy, not easily shattered, and consumed less spiritual energy when manipulated.