The Secret Technique Sealed in the Bead: A Priceless Treasure

After absorbing all the information from the bead, Prince Chang slowly opened his eyes. As soon as he did, he heard Madam Chi's voice, laced with concern, asking, "How do you feel now? Did you find anything useful sealed in that bead?"

Prince Chang's expression remained unchanged, hiding the inner excitement he felt. "Aunt, I am fine. You don't have to worry," he said. "There was indeed a cultivation technique stored inside the bead, but unfortunately, it is not a powerful one. It can be considered a low-level cultivation technique, so I won't be cultivating it."

Madam Chi's face fell as she said, "Ah, I'm sorry, Chang. I thought there was a powerful technique inside, so I gave it to you, hoping it might help you. But who knew it might turn out to be a useless technique."

Prince Chang tried to reassure her, "It's alright, Aunt. Thank you very much for your kindness. The technique may not be very useful, but it's the thought that counts."

He then continued, "Aunt, my head feels a little dizzy after taking in all this information. I think I should return to my room and rest. Can I go if you have nothing else, Aunt?"

Madam Chi nodded understandingly, "Of course, you go and rest. We can talk later."

After that, Prince Chang got up from his chair and turned to leave. Meanwhile, the maid had already gone up to the door and opened it after hearing that he was about to leave. When Prince Chang came near the door, the maid gave a slight bow to show her respect, and when he left the room, she closed the door and returned to Madam Chi's side. Madam Chi then took the book she was reading before Prince Chang came in and continued reading from where she left off.

Prince Chang, after leaving Madam Chi's room, started walking quickly towards his own room. When he arrived, he saw his personal servant waiting for him there. He told the servant that he wanted to be alone for a while and asked him to leave. Once the servant had left the room, he went to the door and locked it tightly from the inside with a "thud" sound. He then went to his bed, sat down cross-legged, and closed his eyes to recall the information he had received from the bead again to confirm his thoughts.

After some time, he opened his eyes, and for a brief moment, a sharp glint was visible. He then burst out laughing loudly, "Ha ha ha..." If others were present in the room, they might have thought he had gone crazy.

After laughing for some time, he stopped and talked to himself, almost as if he was speaking to his aunt, "Aunt, I'm sorry I had to lie to you. But the technique I got from the bead is incredibly precious. It's my ticket to win the battle against my brother, but it's an evil technique, and I cannot let anyone know about it."

He paused for a moment before continuing, "Don't worry, Aunt. After I win the fight against my brother, I will definitely return your kindness."

After taking a deep breath, Prince Chang calmed himself down and began to contemplate his situation carefully. As a direct descendant of the royal family, he was privy to knowledge about the immortal world that few mortals possessed. He knew that in the immortal world, there were three main types of cultivation techniques: Body cultivation, Qi cultivation, and soul cultivation. In the immortal world, people who cultivate any one of qi and body are the most numerous, but people who cultivate the soul are pitifully few. There is a reason for this. If one has little talent, they can cultivate qi. If one has many resources but no talent, they can cultivate the body. But only those who have peerless talent and vast resources can cultivate the soul. Another reason soul cultivators are few because cultivating soul is very difficult and very few techniques can cultivate the soul.

In the immortal world, according to cultivation techniques' strength, it can be classified into different grades. They are mortal rank, yellow rank, red rank, black rank, earth rank, and heaven rank. Mortal-ranked cultivation techniques are the weakest and most inefficient cultivation techniques, and only the lowest casual cultivator without any potential or resources will use them. Yellow rank, red rank, and black rank can be collectively said to be immortal grade, with yellow rank being low grade and black rank being high grade. Most loose cultivators cultivate these types of techniques, and in the immortal world, there are also some places that do business by selling these types of techniques. Even though some places sell immortal-grade techniques, only a small amount are black rank among these techniques.

Earth rank techniques can be said to be the treasures of powerful immortal sects or clans and are not circulated in the market, so money cannot buy them. As for heaven rank, one can say that they are priceless treasures, and most clans or sects do not have a single technique of this rank. Only some incomparably powerful clans like the Azura Clan or powerful holy lands have such techniques. Azura Clan is a big and influential force in the immortal world, but even so, they only have one such technique that barely reached heaven rank, and it is a low-grade heaven rank technique kept in the ancestral shrine and highly guarded. This gives one an idea of just how valuable such a technique is.

There is also a technique above heaven rank called a divine technique, but such techniques are so rare and priceless that if news of someone possessing such a technique is released, even if the news is false, all the holy lands will not hesitate to make a move to get this technique in their hands. As far as he knows, there was once a very powerful family who said to have obtained a broken divine technique, but when the news of it was leaked, the family was massacred overnight by some unknown forces.

Prince Chang was thinking all this because the technique he received from the bead is a soul cultivation technique, and its grade is not low. One must know that soul cultivation techniques are so valuable and rare that a yellow rank soul technique's value is the same as a mid-earth rank qi cultivation technique. He laughed loudly before because he was able to confirm something. In the information about the technique he received from the bead, it is said that it is comparable to a divine technique. He is not sure if the statement is true or false, but when he recalled the technique again, he was able to judge that even if it is not a divine grade technique, it is at least a high-grade earth rank technique infinitely close to a heavenly rank technique.

What excited him the most, however, was the technique's special nature. One could cultivate it naturally like a normal technique, but the technique was far superior to normal techniques, allowing one to make rapid progress by devouring other people's souls. It was a mixture of good and evil, and its use purely depended on the user. According to the information he had received with the technique, the creator of the technique had only used it on his enemies, and by doing so, he became an incredibly powerful soul cultivator.

Prince Chang had decided that this technique would be his trump card against his brother, and he had a plan to maximize its potential. He was excited about the possibilities but also aware of the potential negative side effects of using the technique indiscriminately. With his plan fixed, he got up from bed and left the room to meet someone very important for the next step of his plan.

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To all my readers, I apologize for the delay in releasing a new chapter. I have been very busy lately, but rest assured that I am working on the next installment and will have it ready for you soon. Thank you for your patience and understanding.