Hooked

It was deep into the night, and all was quiet.

After finishing the last stroke, Qin Yi lifted his writing brush. The talisman paper glowed and the cinnabar twinkled like stardust. The light was gradually absorbed.

After 16 failed attempts, he finally made his first light foot talisman.

With this talisman, one could move as fast as if they were riding wind or lightning. No mountain or river would be able to stop them, and they could walk thousands of miles a day without feeling tired. It contained so much profound knowledge that by Minghe's standards, it was already a Grade 8 talisman.

It wasn't as unique as Minghe had thought, though, and Liusu didn't put much thought into it. But that only showed how thoroughly it understood cultivation. This random piece of work was able to amaze Minghe.

However, Liusu remained silent, despite Qin Yi's success.

Qin Yi was rejoicing when he realized how quiet Liusu was, so he asked, "What's wrong? Is my talisman not good?"

"No, you've done a great job, and this is already a minor Grade 8 talisman," Liusu said sulkily. "But I think Minghe made a good point, and I'm wondering if you should continue learning from me."

"You haven't seen any modern talismans yet, so how do you know if she's right?"

"I don't need to see one. It's the ultimate truth." Liusu sighed. "All techniques or even core manuals are improvements and generalizations on existing ones. Even I have made changes to things that my predecessors used to look up to as the standard. Geniuses also interconnect theories and bring forth new from the old, creating unprecedented new systems… You're underestimating the outstanding cultivators of today if you think they haven't improved since ancient times."

"Well…" Qin Yi tried to comfort Liusu. "What if some profound knowledge got lost in the process? Wouldn't that break up the heritage and weaken future cultivators?"

Liusu cheered up a little. "Such things must've happened. According to Minghe, demons used to infest this continent, and such a catastrophe would have broken the heritage of a lot of important knowledge. The younger generations had to start from nothing based on the bits and pieces they could find, and sometimes there was very little to follow. They can't beat me in all areas."

Qin Yi chuckled. "You and they each have your own merits. Since you're a much more advanced cultivator, you can absorb new knowledge a lot faster, too. There's really no need for you to feel threatened."

"I'm not," Liusu said slowly, "I just… hate it when others are better than me."

Qin Yi was a little surprised. Is that why Liusu is so easily provoked? But would someone at its level still care about winning so much?

Liusu seemed to have read his mind. "No matter how advanced one is, each cultivator is still a unique soul with unique traits. Some may find caring about winning ridiculous and consider it my weakness, but that's the way I am, and I want to stay that way. Do you think that all advanced cultivators eventually stop caring about everything? That's not achieving the Great Tao. Only walking corpses are like that."

Qin Yi thought for a while and seemed touched. Liusu had always had unorthodox but interesting opinions. More importantly, it was inspiring and was able to persuade him every single time. "I like it that way" could even be considered a willful statement in the world where he came from, but it didn't seem so odd here in the cultivation world. After all, the search for the Great Tao was also the search for one's true self.

However, compared to Minghe, Liusu was still considered the heretical type, and its theories didn't sound all that "proper"…

"Don't put too much thought into what I said. It's still too early for you to worry about what your true self is," Liusu said in the end. "It's late, so let's start our inner elixir practice… No matter how many sects have come and gone, the foundation-building stage has stayed pretty much the same—the same way a martial arts practitioner has to start with a perfect squat."

It almost sounded as though Liusu was worried its teachings were outdated and had to cheer itself up first. Qin Yi didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. After sitting down cross-legged, he was struck by an idea and chuckled. "I've gone back on my word."

Liusu chuckled. Those words would've confused anyone else, and only Liusu and Qin Yi knew what they meant.

Somehow, Liusu liked this feeling, even more so than the fact that Qin Yi had started cultivating like it wanted to.

Qin Yi asked as he adjusted his posture, "You all say that I'm perfect for cultivating, but none of you have checked my natural endowments. What if I don't have it in me? What if I can't cultivate?"

Liusu sounded amazed. "Your natural endowments? One's natural endowment reveals if one is fit to be a cultivator and decides which direction they should take in their cultivation. I may need to examine a candidate if I don't know them, but we've been living together for so long that there's no need. What do you think natural endowments are? A stick growing on you?"

Qin Yi said, "If that's the case, I'm pretty sure I have one."

Liusu replied with a "Bah".

Qin Yi closed his eyes and slowly cleared his mind.

Liusu was surprised. After studying him carefully for a while, it chuckled and murmured, "And you worry about not having natural endowments… Of all the people I've met throughout the ages, I can count those who are more suitable to cultivate than you on one hand."

All it did was recite a manual without providing any explanation because Qin Yi had started practicing before it could say anything else. The most amazing thing was that not only hadn't he made any mistakes, but spiritual essence was starting to gather around him.

Maybe it was because of all the time he had spent studying external elixirs, formations, Taoist theories, and newly added talismans, as well as all the time he had spent with Liusu, that he had access to too much cultivation knowledge and had built a suitable foundation. He had no problem understanding the manual or the method of activation.

But that couldn't explain why his spiritual essence had started gathering so soon, as though it had been summoned.

The path to the Great Tao was a difficult one. More than enough people couldn't achieve anything after 30 years of practice, let alone three months. Some even ended up killing themselves in the process. Just look at the king… He had almost certainly built his foundation properly, but look what he had achieved after years of practice?

In layman's terms, Qin Yi was a natural.

And martial arts practitioners would call him gifted.

And in cultivation jargon, he could probably be considered to have heavenly natural endowments.

…

Qin Yi felt incredible at the moment.

From what he knew so far, the so-called Qi-refining stage in cultivation wasn't much different from the internal energy of martial arts. They originated from the same concept. Yin and Yang were supposed to be in harmony and all energy channels would be open to nourish the energy in one's dantian and create a small universe in one's own body.

Through that, both types of practitioners would be able to temper their bodies, enhance their internal channels, and prolong their lives.

After that, the vessels known as Conception and Governor would be opened to connect heaven and earth, so that the Yin and Yang energy of the Nature could be introduced into the body to achieve a great cycle with the outside world. In martial arts, that was known as the Innate Stage, which Li Qinglin had reached, but neither Qin Yi nor Li Qingjun had.

However, with both spiritual essence and internal energy in him, Qin Yi could tell the difference.

For instance, internal energy could enhance his strength and it could be exerted as well, causing direct destruction. Spiritual essence, on the other hand, didn't seem to have that effect yet. Maybe he would be able to do it after he became stronger. For now, he felt amazing.

Yes, amazing. He had only produced a tiniest whiff of spiritual essence, but he already felt indescribably comfortable. Cool spring water seemed to run through him from head to toe. The sensation was so incredible that he didn't want to stop.

No wonder some cultivators lost all interest in women… He suspected that the feeling would be even more incredible when he started working on his mind and soul.

Until he reached a higher cultivation stage and could make more comparisons, Qin Yi felt that the internal energy was Yang and could charge out like fire, whereas the spiritual essence was Yin, which could wash through him like water.

As a matter of fact, the internal energy and spiritual essence he cultivated with were both neutral, and both were the result of harmonized Yin and Yang. This distinction shouldn't have existed.

Had he acquired the Yin and Yang qualities after those two sides had been harmonized?

Qin Yi could almost see his lower dantian, where the existing internal energy had started rotating with the newly added spiritual essence, which gradually took the shape of a Yin-Yang fish; however the spiritual essence was still quite tiny while the internal energy had been forming for years. From above, they looked like two fish with great differences in their body sizes playing sixty-nine. It looked quite out of place.

Qin Yi wondered what would happen if he continued cultivating. Technically speaking, spiritual essence should be superior to internal energy, and a balance shouldn't have been achieved, let alone formed a Yin-Yang fish. This shouldn't have happened…

An idea suddenly struck Qin Yi.

That blue book without a name might actually be special. Was that why his internal energy was so unique?