Starting My Cultivation With Time Management

“As the name implies, it means to make others unable to see through your strength, only to feel that you are as unreachable as towering mountains and unfathomably deep,” the Kunlun Mirror explained.

“Isn’t that just an invincible character setting…” Qiu Changtian started to say, then caught on.

Invincibility and mystery are actually quite different.

An invincible character setting displays one’s formidable strength, eliciting amazement, admiration, and envy from the surrounding audience.

A mysterious character setting, as Ah Jing had mentioned, is about hiding one’s formidable strength, inciting suspicion, wariness, and fear among the audience.

The former is about actively showcasing, while the latter is about concealing and then inadvertently revealing just enough to scare the opponent, letting them imagine the extent of your power, thus demanding stricter requirements in terms of acting skill.

“Sigh, I’ll try my best,” Qiu Changtian said as he closely inspected the character’s appearance.

The facial features were still his own, but the expression was serious, showing a commanding presence without anger.

For comparison, he looked like Yue Buqun from either the 1996 Hong Kong or the 2001 Mainland version of “The Swordsman”…

Qiu Changtian admired the Mirror Flower Water Moon Illusion Technique of Ah Jing so much that he was completely in awe.

It was the same face, but just changes in hairstyle and demeanor could make him look like a totally different person. Even Teacher Tony couldn’t achieve such a miracle, right?

“You’re not meeting me for the first time,” the Kunlun Mirror said with a mixture of embarrassment and pride, “Mirror Flower Water Moon, reality blended with illusion, changing in the blink of an eye. No one else in this world can do it but me.”

“Oh my, you truly live up to being my Ah Jing,” Qiu Changtian said with a beaming smile.

“Stop with the sweet talk,” the Kunlun Mirror changed the subject, “Mount Wutai has been located, shall we teleport now?”

“Let’s not rush.” Perhaps due to Junior Sister Xu’s reminder, Qiu Changtian realized he couldn’t just barge in directly.

The destination was Mount Wutai, the stronghold of the Demon Cult, and all three of his identities had lived among the Orthodox Sect for a long time, subtly adopting the manners and habits of an Orthodox Cultivator.

If he revealed the slightest hint of his true identity within the Demon Cult, it might lead to a fatal disaster!

The Demon Cult, unlike the face-conscious Orthodox Sect, often didn’t require evidence; mere suspicion could result in a soul-searching and spirit-seizing fate.

He must prepare his intelligence work in advance!

So Qiu Changtian set out for the Scriptural Repository to look up information about the Six Paths of the Demon Cult.

………..

Meanwhile, over the past few days, Xu Yinglian had been sitting in her cave dwelling, ingesting a Pure Yuan Qi Pill and began guiding the True Qi to cleanse her marrow and forge her meridians.

At Qi Refining Rank, one circulates the Qi Sea, engaging in Grand Circulation, while filling the Qi Sea, it is also necessary to cleanse all the turbid qi from the twelve meridians.

The twelve meridians are the main channels for the flow of qi, akin to expressways with a high volume of traffic, hence they can be cleansed of turbid qi more easily.

Beyond the twelve meridians, the human body also has the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, as well as various nooks and crannies within the marrow, resembling the provincial highways, secondary roads, and rural dirt paths.

Since the rate of qi cleansing here is slower, one can only use brute force to grind away the turbid qi bit by bit.

Of course, if one wants to quickly get through the Marrow Cleansing Rank, there are some cleverer methods.

For example, the Pure Yuan Qi Pill can activate the blocked turbid qi, making it easier to be flushed out by the True Qi; another example is the Blood Pond Qi from the Demon Locking Tower, its level of refinement is countless times stronger than True Qi, making marrow cleansing extremely efficient.

The most astonishing is Ling Yunpo’s unparalleled innate talent “Innate Sword Bone,” ensuring unimpeded and robust channels throughout the body, devoid of dead corners in the meridians, making cleansing of turbid qi instant when combined with the previous two methods.

Although Xu Yinglian didn’t have the latter two means, thankfully she had the Pure Yuan Qi Pill, which made her marrow cleansing efficiency much faster than her peers at the same Cultivation Realm.

But as she continued to progress with the marrow cleansing, she gradually noticed something was amiss.

This Pure Yuan Qi Pill, although it can help with Marrow Cleansing, its benefits are not exaggerated enough to “complete Marrow Cleansing in two months” — it could at most reduce the time by forty to fifty percent.

How could Senior Brother Qiu have completed Marrow Cleansing in two months? Could it be the additive effect of Daoist Heart Clarity?

Attributing the gap in cultivation realms to a difference in innate talent for cultivation is naturally a time-and-effort-saving approach.

But Junior Sister Xu, how proud she was, would never deceive herself in that regard. She knew that Daoist Heart Clarity referred to a clear and untroubled Daoist Heart, which enhances enlightenment, mental focus, and immunity to Heart Demons… all of which are related to one’s mentality.

But what does Marrow Cleansing, which is about improving the Root Bone, have to do with mentality?

It’s like saying a star student scored perfect in physical education because his IQ is over 200, which is simply nonsense.

Senior Brother must have some special techniques for Marrow Cleansing!

If it were the early days when she had just started, Xu Yinglian would definitely have been stubborn. Knowing full well that Senior Brother had secret techniques, she would have refrained from asking, insisting on figuring them out herself.

However, after a series of events such as becoming Daoist Companions, repairing her Daoist Heart, and braving secret realms together, Xu Yinglian still sought to surpass Senior Brother, but no longer regarded him as an adversary to be vigilantly guarded against.

For any questions, I can just go and ask him!

If Senior Brother can’t answer, it just means he is scared!

With that thought, Xu Yinglian got up, planning to find Senior Brother Qiu.

Having just reached the entrance of her cave, her thoughts suddenly shifted and she went back into the stone chamber to look in the bronze mirror.

In the mirror was the reflection of a celestial maiden with delicate features and an ethereal temperament, looking somewhat haggard around the eyes and eyebrows due to recent stress, which inadvertently added a certain frail beauty.

Xu Yinglian stared into the mirror and slowly rubbed her forehead with her slender jade fingers, smoothing away all traces of knitted worry.

Even though I am going to ask for advice, I cannot let Senior Brother realize that this is troubling me.

Otherwise, he would think I am asking a favor of him, and his arrogance would only increase!

Having adjusted her expression, Xu Yinglian then took a Youth Preserving Pill to ensure a radiant appearance before slowly stepping out.

“Senior Brother, are you there?” she called out at the entrance of Qiu Changtian’s cave.

A moment passed, but there was no response from inside.

Xu Yinglian was frowning when she saw Fourth Junior Brother Yan Zhitui passing by, who casually reminded her:

“Are you looking for Eldest Senior Brother? He’s been buried in studying at the Scriptural Repository these past few days.”

“The Scriptural Repository?” Xu Yinglian asked puzzledly. “What is he doing there?”

“It seems he is looking up information from the Intercepting Cult,” Yan Zhitui said with a smile.

Information from the Intercepting Cult… With a little thought, Xu Yinglian understood what was going on.

Presumably, Senior Brother was also worried about being hunted by the Demon Cult and had to research countermeasures in advance.

In that case, Senior Brother actually has his weaknesses, such as an ordinary background, a shallow foundation of knowledge, and little understanding of the Immortal Cultivation World.

Faced with such sudden events, he can only cram last minute and urgently make up for the relevant knowledge…

Realizing this, Xu Yinglian had another bright idea:

I can answer any knowledge about the outside world Senior Brother wishes to understand; as repayment, he must also answer my questions about Marrow Cleansing.

This way, it wouldn’t be just me asking him for a favor!

Thinking this, she let go of all reservations and couldn’t help but smile brightly.