Chapter 14: Heaven's Beginning Cultivation Technique
News of Yaan's breakthrough quickly spread by word of mouth, becoming big news in the core sect. He was just a seven year old child and had been cultivating for less than two months, yet he had actually succeeded in breaking through to the Qi Gathering Realm already!
This was unprecedented. It should be known that using the sect's standard cultivation technique, 'Heaven's Beginning', the technique which most disciples cultivated, it would require someone with moderate talent at least ten years to breakthrough into the first stage.
Even a high talent like Elia would need to spend a minimum of one year, and that was only applicable for the upper end high talents. Those with low talent made up the majority of the outer sect and could spend fifty years cultivating, yet there would still only be a 50% chance of them ever reaching the first stage of cultivation in their lifetimes.
Those who previously doubted Yaan's qualifications to enter the core sect were now forced to swallow their words. It was normal that some people had doubted him, since the only mortals permitted to enter the core sect directly were usually those with extreme talent, of which there were currently none.
When Yaan first entered the core sect, Great Elder Wan made a public announcement, explaining that his disciple possessed a special constitution. Some people speculated that this mysterious constitution must be responsible for his rapid success. Others suggested that he might have discovered a heavenly technique, but this rumour was quickly dispelled. If a mortal child found such a technique, would they really be allowed to keep it for themselves? The answer was a very certain 'no'.
Another two months flew by.
It stood to reason that the upper mountain should become quite chilly during the winter months, yet for some reason, this place stayed more temperate than the villages below. The mortals living below the mountain would be struggling to make it through these cold months, but the core sect remained the same as ever.
"Ah, little Yaan! Are you here to collect your month's resources?" A man smiled gently when he saw the young child enter the hall. This man was the elder in charge of the core disciples' resources quota. He was old and had withered white hair. He was a man with a mild temperament who enjoyed watching talented disciples flourish.
Whenever he saw Yaan, the youngest disciple of the core sect, he always smiled amicably. Yaan was just a child, yet he acted so politely and always cultivated diligently. Compared to most of the young sect members, his demeanour was far superior, something that didn't go unnoticed by the core sect elders and great elders.
Yaan had slowly developed this habit of politeness over the past months. His attitude allowed him to create a good reputation for himself, without actually growing overly close to anyone.
Yaan wasn't yet aware that he was doing this subconsciously as a form of self-preservation.
"Yes, I'll have to trouble you, Elder Ton Lu." Yaan smiled politely.
"No trouble at all, it's this old mans job after all. Let's see, at the Qi Gathering Realm you are to receive ten Rank 1 Gathering Acceleration Pills. Here you go."
"Many thanks, elder." Yaan received the bag, then bowed before leaving.
"What a good child!" Elder Ton Lu stroked his grey beard and nodded appreciatively as Yaan disappeared from view.
Yaan returned to his home outside of the main sect area after walking for a mile and a half. It was common for the core disciples to live some distance away from the central bustling zone, as most cultivators preferred to train in a peaceful environment without any external disturbances. The closest building to Yaan's small home was his teacher's abode, who lived a quarter mile away in a small temple.
This peaceful atmosphere usually filled one with a feeling of joy and serenity, but for Yaan, the knowledge that people were suffering in the outer sect further down this mountain always lingered on his mind.
He could only try to ignore this fact and concentrate on himself.
He hadn't been sitting by idly in the past two months; Yaan cultivated diligently everyday. He finally learned the Heaven's Beginning Cultivation Technique, which was something that he could actually use now, after finally ascending to the Qi Gathering Realm.
When he was just a mortal, the Fiend Foundation prevented him from utilising traditional techniques, but this limitation disappeared after he broke through and became a complete fiend.
Right, he could no longer be considered human…he was a true fiend, a member of the demonic races. However, on the outside, the only discernible difference in terms of his appearance was the change in the colour of his eyes, from hazel brown to a faint crimson red. His hair had also become an even darker shade of black than before, making his hair look like darkness itself.
His body gained some healthy weight, now that he was able to eat properly everyday. His muscles were toned and firm, whilst his body fat recovered to a level that no longer endangered his health.
These fast changes weren't considered strange by anybody aside from Yaan and Great Elder Wan. Children naturally changed as they grew older, so people wouldn't feel suspicious, but this still wasn't enough for Great Elder Wan. For this reason, he cast a concealment spell on Yaan's body, hiding the colour of his eyes, and also disguising the remnant of Slaughter Aura which continued to linger around his body.
As a demonic race being, Yaan's aura possessed subtle differences compared to humans. Great Elder Wan was worried that the sect lord might notice this difference. Luckily, his aura wouldn't become too noticeable until much later on, but he couldn't be too careful with this 'beloved disciple' of his. Until Yaan learned to properly hide away his own aura, this concealment method was necessary.
When Yaan thought about his teacher, he sighed to himself. Slowly, as time passed by and their relationship developed, he came to develop a deeper trust in his new teacher. Since taking him in, Great Elder Wan had shown him only affection and care. Yaan was sure that he probably had some schemes of his own by adopting a fiend as his disciple, but he managed to convince himself that Great Elder Wan wouldn't do anything to harm him.
He didn't doubt his teacher, but Yaan still felt conflicted right now, because currently, he was going against his teacher's wishes. Great Elder Wan wanted Yaan to cultivate using the methods of the fiend, by killing and refining Slaughter Aura into Innate Qi. This was the biggest advantage of the fiend race; fiends could overcome the limitation of 'talent' by cultivating with this extremely demonic method.
To cultivate the body, they simply needed to consume resources. Qi refining cultivation could not rely too heavily on external resources, or else impurities would accumulate in the cultivator's Innate Qi. When a cultivator's Innate Qi was impure, progress would slow down, and breaking through the realms would become more difficult and dangerous.
However, Yaan refused to kill any more people needlessly when he could simply use the Heaven's Beginning Cultivation Technique like everyone else. Progress was slow this way, but Yaan was still insistent on sticking with this method. He truly didn't wish to kill when there was an alternative option.
Because of this insistence, his progress had somewhat stagnated. He sat at the Initial Qi Gathering Realm, still solidifying his foundation as he crawled his way towards the early stage.
Yaan sat on his bed and closed his eyes. He steadied his breathing and tried to sense the Spiritual Energy in the surroundings according to the method outlined in the Heaven's Beginning Cultivation Technique. His own Innate Qi resonated with the Spiritual Energy in the room, causing an image of white mist to appear in his mind's eye.
This was the energy that naturally pervaded the air. Heavenly Path Mountain was situated on an underground Spirit Vein, so the Spiritual Energy density was naturally much higher on the mountain compared to elsewhere. The core sect was positioned on the peak of the mountain, where the energy density was at its highest, providing the most optimum conditions for the talented disciples and valued elders.
Gulp.
Yaan swallowed one of the pills he picked up earlier, the Rank 1 Qi Gathering Acceleration Pill. This pill increased the rate at which he could absorb and refine Spiritual Energy by five fold for a period of six hours, making it a highly coveted medicine which could accelerate the cultivation speed of any Qi Gathering Realm cultivator substantially.
To receive ten of these pills for free every month, this was a crucial benefit that came with his status as a core disciple.
Yaan proceeded to usher his Innate Qi towards the surface of his abdomen, creating a spiralling vortex of energy. The vortex interacted with the Spiritual Energy outside of his body, slowly attracting it towards him and drawing it into his dantian. The energy was refined within his dantian and converted into his own personal Innate Qi, increasing the quantity of Innate Qi within his dantian permanently.
This was the Heaven's Beginning Cultivation Technique. It was a simple but effective technique which was sometimes called the foundation of the Heavenly Path Sect.
Yaan sat on his bed silently in the lotus position, not moving for a full five hours. This scene would stun any mortal parent, as they knew that this sort of patience would never usually be seen in a young child.
Yaan would always cultivate for the full duration of the pill's effect without taking a break. Today however, his plan's were unexpectedly interrupted.
Vrmm…
"Hmm?" Yaan opened his eyes in confusion when he felt an unexpected buzzing sensation around his hand. He glanced down casually, only to see the ever-dormant black stone ring on his finger, now glowing mystically as it vibrated gently.
"Huh?!" Yaan leapt up, completely forgetting about his cultivation and the pill's remaining effect.
This event was obviously much more important than some pill! The stone ring had remained dormant ever since the mysterious woman transferred the Fiend Transformation Technique into his mind. Now that it was once again glowing with those stunning symbols, Yaan couldn't help but feel excited!
As the intensity of light emitted from those symbols continued to rise, Yaan felt his Innate Qi being forcefully drained from his body. He didn't worry though, instead choosing to pour his Innate Qi into the ring proactively.
Whoosh!
"Ah!" Yaan let out a sharp cry, almost falling back onto his bed.
He stared forwards with wide eyes, enraptured by the grace of the being before him. Her sharp, red eyes, her long black hair, and her crimson robe…
After killing 100 people with his own two hands, Yaan now realised that her robe was the exact same shade of red as blood itself.
It was her! The transcendent beauty who provided him with the Fiend Transformation Technique back in the dark forest, she had appeared before him once again!
"So you succeeded. Not bad."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
SpicyDaoist
SpicyDaoist Starting tomorrow, I'll start uploading multiple chapters per day! It has only been kept to one chapter per day until now because I needed to let my paytreeon uploads get one week ahead of the public upload.
There won't be any real schedule to the uploads, I'll post at a bunch of different times to try to reach different readers, but I'll keep at least one chapter posted around this time in the evening (GMT) like I usually do.
Anyway, enjoy!
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