Chapter 108 – Departure
“Martial Uncle Ruan, even if you want to undergo secluded cultivation to break through your bottleneck, you do not need to give such things to me.” After hearing what he had said, Liu Ming was very surprised and could not help but speak with suspicion.
“The secluded cultivation this time is different from times before. When I was young, my meridians were once injured by a great opponent, so originally, my level of cultivation would have been stuck at the level of a Beginning Spirit Master. However, I discovered a method that allowed me to break through the bottleneck of the beginning level when I started to understand the Dark Bone Method. This method is very dangerous and if I forcefully attempt to break through, perhaps there is only a one in three chance that I can come back alive. As for the remaining two-thirds, I will be like the other Spirit Apostles practicing the Dark Bone Method that tried to break through the Spirit Master bottleneck, exploding and then dying. The Dark Bone Method and the Green Death language is the product of several tens of years worth of hard work on my part, I don’t want it to be lost without a sound. After all, I never accepted any personal disciples. Originally, Jue Er was not a bad candidate but it was a pity that his mental power was only average and he will be unable to break through from a Spirit Apostle to a Spirit Master. Therefore, only you are left as the best candidate to inherit this. If I can break through to Middle Spirit Master, then everything will be fine. If I do not survive, all you need to do is to make sure these things are not lost and left without an inheritor.” The fat elder explained matters as such and revealed a sincere feeling to his words for the first time.
“Martial Uncle, worry not. I will definitely use all my power to achieve this.” Liu Ming quickly thought a few times, and after determining that there were no other problems, he easily agreed.
“Very well, this jade chit is handmade by me. All the information is recorded in it. You can first place it on your forehead and scan through it with your consciousness to check if there are still any problems.”
After saying this, the fat elder produced a milky white jade chit from his sleeve. He rubbed it with his fingers a few times as if he was unwilling to part with it, before handing it over.
Liu Ming bent over and accepted the jade chit, before placing it on his forehead.
A wave of consciousness swept through the chit and suddenly, Liu Ming’s head felt heavy. Immediately, a purple ball and a white ball appeared in his mind.
As soon as Liu Ming’s consciousness touched the purple ball, a countless number of green ancient words came flying out and lined up together to form quite a few pages of text.
This was the Dark Bone Method in its original ancient Green Death Language form. However, when Liu Ming glanced over it, he suddenly paused.
Then, when his consciousness touched the white ball, the text that consisted of only the Green Death Language became mixed with ordinary words.
This was Martial Uncle Ruan’s interpretation that was obtained after many years of research.
Liu Ming only skimmed through both versions before removing his consciousness from the jade slit.
“Martial Uncle Yuan, why does this Dark Bone Method only have five pieces? If I remember correctly, shouldn’t the entire method contain nine levels?” Liu Ming asked in a surprised manner.
“Our sect founder only found the first five layers of the cultivation method. The remaining four levels are located in an unknown location. However, the first four levels are actually enough. It took me ten years of hard work to interpret the fourth level. If Martial Nephew Bai is able to interpret the fifth layer’s meaning then you can be considered a genius in understanding the Green Death Language. When you actually become a Spirit Master and have no need to continue cultivating the Dark Bone Method, then you can exchange it for another high-ranking suitable method. The first four levels of the Dark Bone Method will have provided you a fairly sturdy foundation. If you do feel like going down this path then the Refining Corpse and Baleful Yin faction’s respective high level method will not be bad choices.” The fat old man calmly replied.
“I see now. Back then, when Martial Uncle told me I had no need to change to another method, it seems that you were trying to deceive me.” After Liu Ming heard the fat old man’s words, he couldn’t help but grin.
“Haha, this… at the time, if I had not said that, then I’m afraid that I would have had to waste a lot more words convincing you to choose this Cultivate Method.” The old man let out a laugh but the expression on his face didn’t change in the slightest.
Liu Ming listened but could only remain silent.
“That’s right, if I don’t succeed in becoming a Middle Spirit Master and you manage to become a Spirit Master, then if you have the ability to, help me take care of Gu Jue. He can be considered one of my few relatives in this world.” The fat old man’s face became solemn.
“If I truly possesses the ability, then it is only natural.” Liu Ming was slightly startled as he replied.
“Very good, you still have some time now, so if you had any complications when you were cultivating the Dark Bone Method, then you can ask me right now. I will do my best to answer your questions.” A trace of a smile appeared on the old man’s face after he heard Liu Ming’s reply.
“Thank you very much master. I actually have a few places in the Dark Bone Method where I have yet to comprehend. One of them is…” Liu Ming was overjoyed and immediately started asking away.
An hour later, Liu Ming finally departed the forest on his cloud with a satisfied expression. He flew toward the Nine Infants Mountain.
The fat old man remained in the forest and he slightly squinted his eyes as he stared at the gray cloud slowly flying away.
After an unknown length of time passed, he insipidly said, “Sect Leader, since you have been here for such a long time, why are you still hiding?”
After his voice faded, his gaze shifted and turned towards a large neighboring tree.
“Junior Ruan is worthy of being Master Yan’s personal disciple. As I expected, this sort of a concealment method cannot escape your attention.” An indifferent voice came from the large tree. A figure flashed and from the tree, a yellow-robed old man walked out. A trace of a smile hung on his face; it actually was the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader.
“Sect Leader saw me give the item to Martial Nephew Bai but didn’t stop me. It seems that you agree with my decision.” The fat old man let out a chuckle.
“Since Martial Nephew Bai is the only disciple cultivating the Dark Bone Method who has a chance of becoming a Spirit Master, coupled with the fact that he only received a duplicate because the original text of the Dark Bone Method is still in the Scripture Pavilion, I naturally had no reason to stop this. Truthfully, when I saw that Martial Nephew Bai had become a Late Spirit Apostle in such a short amount of time with merely a Three Spiritual Pulse, I had already guessed that he was cultivating the Dark Bone Method. The fact that Martial Nephew Gu is, unexpectedly, your sister’s son and that cultivating the Dark Bone Method to the late stage gives one the ability similar to the Great Controlling Bone Technique, surprised me. I’ve never heard of these things before.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader let out a sigh as he spoke.
“You had better not use Gu Jue. Just now, you also heard that his current cultivation isn’t enough to use the controlling bone ability; using it will cause him to lose a large chunk of his lifeforce.” The fat old man immediately spoke in a vigilant manner.
“Haha, Junior doesn’t need to worry. Now that I know about Gu Jue’s actual circumstance, giving those few sect items to him to control will leave me uneasy. However, if Martial Nephew Bai is able to become a Spirit Master, letting him use those items shouldn’t be too big of an issue.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader replied in a composed manner.
“Mhm, if Martial Nephew Bai is able to become a Spirit Master, then the problem of his physical body crumbling will not happen. Giving him the items to use is rather fitting.” This time, the fat old man expressed his concurrence and nodded his head.
“Very good! Although finding a Three Spiritual Pulse disciple with a strong mental strength isn’t easy, if we actually put our hearts to it, we should be able to find a few. As long as Martial Nephew Bai is able to use the Dark Bone Method to smoothly become a Spirit Master, then I will report this to Master Yan and have him particularly look for these sorts of disciples to cultivate this method. If this is the case, Martial Brother can be considered to have done great merit for our sect.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader rubbed his hands and laughed as he proceeded to talk.
“Do you truly believe that any random Three Spiritual Pulse disciple with a slightly stronger mental strength will be able to use the Dark Bone Method to become a Spirit Master?” When the fat old man heard the Sect Leader’s words, an odd expression appeared on his face.
“What, don’t tell me that the words Junior spouted earlier were lies?” When the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader heard this, he was slightly startled.
“They can’t be considered lies. I only downplayed the danger of when one breaks into the Spirit Master Realm. With his current situation, if he fails to break into the Spirit Master Realm, then I’m afraid there is a good chance of his body exploding, causing him to ultimately perish. Moreover, the mental strength he possesses is far stronger than you actually think it is. When I initially examined him, I found that Martial Nephew Bai’s mental strength was double a normal disciple’s. Furthermore, after these recent years of cultivation, the gap has only grown wider.”
“What—? Double the strength?!” This time, the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader couldn’t help but cry out involuntarily.
“Hehe, Senior Leader should understand why I said this right? If it weren’t for this, then I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to guarantee even the slightest chance of him surviving when he breaks into the Spirit Master realm. Of course, if his mental strength were even stronger and his Fa Li was even more pure, then the probability of him becoming a Spirit Master would rise more.” The fat old man said with a laugh.
“I understand. It seems that Junior really didn’t find any random person to cultivate this Dark Bone Method. We can only temporarily quarantine this and wait until we find another suitable person before talking about it again.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader went silent for a while before nodding his head in disappointment.
“If it weren’t for this, then I would have already reported it to Teacher. I would have no need to cover it up until now.” The fat old man carried an indifferent attitude.
To the side, the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader could only bitterly smile.
“That’s right, Junior Ruan, are you really going to enter secluded cultivation to break through into the Middle Liquid Level realm?” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader was somewhat worried as he asked a question.
TL: Liquid = Spirit Master
“I have already discussed this matter with Master. Although I still have twenty to thirty years left in my lifespan, I can only maintain the peak condition of my body in these next few years. Once this period of time passes, even if I take a risk to break into the next cultivation realm, it will be useless. As long as I succeed, I will have another hundred years to live. I have a thirty-percent chance of succeeding so it should be worth it to take the risk.” The fat old man’s expression turned serious as he replied.
“Since Junior truly has a firm resolution, then I will not speak any further. I can only hope for Junior Ruan’s success during the next few years of secluded cultivation, allowing your cultivation to undergo a large improvement.” The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader seemed to see the fat old man’s determination and instantly stopped trying to dissuade him any further.
In the proceeding time, the affair between the two men ended with the Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader talking about leading the group into the secret realm before each of them hastily bid the other goodbye and left the forest.
On the morning of the second day, the black gas in the air above the main gate surged around. Inside the black gas, one could vaguely make out the body of an enormous bone boat that was about two hundred feet long.
The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader, Spirit Master Huang, Spirit Master Zhang, Liu Ming, and the other top ten Core Disciples surprisingly stood in the boat.
The Barbarian Ghost Sect Leader gave a command and the bone boat immediately shuddered. It proceeded to fly toward the distant horizon at breakneck speed while surrounded by the surging black gas.