Am I the old man who's always by my apprentices' side?

Chapter 107 Jade Slips?

Zhang Chengdao decided to save up 30 member red envelopes before drawing them because the red envelopes he drew every day before were all junk.

Aside from "Ge Gen Tang" (葛根汤) and "Di Da San" (跌打散), maybe a few sets of "Rou Bao Zi" (肉包子) at most, it's so toxic it's heartbreaking to hear and see.

So, after much painful reflection, he decided to save up more red envelopes and then rely on metaphysics to defy fate.

After washing his face and hands with the spiritual spring water from the pond, Zhang Chengdao took a deep breath and began drawing member red envelopes.

"Received 10 [Heavenly Silkworm Brocade]".

"Obtained the [Zouwu Bell]".

"what?"

Zhang Chengdao was a little stunned.

Is metaphysics really that reliable?!
Although both items are of blue quality, they are both very useful, especially the [Zouwu Bell], which is a magical artifact!
Feeling confident in his successful efforts to save others from wrongdoing, Zhang Chengdao eagerly continued to offer membership bonuses, however...

"Received 30 portions of [Beast Meat]".

"Received 10 [meat buns]".

"Received 10 servings of [Kudzu Root Soup]".

……

Soon, Zhang Chengdao's smile vanished.

He almost cried when he saw the more than two hundred servings of Kudzu Root Soup in his backpack!
After drawing for a long time, Zhang Chengdao had only a few member red envelopes left. He decided to go all out and drew them all. Unexpectedly, he was quite lucky with the last few red envelopes. In addition to some useful crop seeds, he also got two secret manuals!
Unfortunately, one book is of purple quality, while the other is only of blue quality; they are "The Great Void Scripture" and "The Five Elements Escape Technique" respectively.

The purple-quality manual, "Tai Xu Jing," is a cultivation technique. Zhang Chengdao glanced through it and found that it was a cultivation technique manual of the "undifferentiated type"—meaning that it was a cultivation manual of immortal internal energy that could be practiced regardless of spiritual roots or the five elements.

There aren't many cultivation techniques or secret manuals of the Wuxiang type. At least Zhang Chengdao had seen them before in a Foundation Establishment book. When the book talked about them, it used the word "rare," so they must have been quite precious.

After all, cultivation techniques and manuals related to the five elements, such as metal and wood, are very demanding on the cultivator's spiritual root. Without the corresponding spiritual root, cultivation will be much less effective, or even impossible.

No wonder this seemingly ordinary martial arts manual is of purple quality; it is probably because it belongs to the category of formless that it can be classified as purple.

In addition, the Taixu Scripture also records a complete set of matching moves and corresponding body tempering secrets.

For example, Taixu Fist, Taixu Sword Intent, Taixu Health Preservation Formula, etc.

Among them, the Tai Xu Fist is relatively easy to understand; it consists of fist and foot techniques, each infused with spiritual energy. Don't be fooled by its name, Tai Xu Fist is anything but "empty." Once you've mastered the third level of Tai Xu Fist, a single punch can shatter mountains and split rocks!
Of course, the entire Taixu Fist is only divided into five levels, and each level has a cultivation threshold—the first level can be learned at the Qi Refining stage, the second level requires the Foundation Establishment stage, the third level requires the Core Formation stage, the fourth level requires the Nascent Soul stage, and the fifth level requires the Out-of-Body stage.

In other words, this Taixu Fist can actually be used all the way up to the Nascent Soul stage!

It’s indeed a good thing!

However, the "Tai Xu Sword Intent," which is also classified as a move in the manual, is quite abstract. Since it's called "Sword Intent" rather than a sword technique, it's because it doesn't actually require a sword to use!

"Sword Intent" is the use of spiritual energy to condense a sword and unleash attacks; the resulting moves are also known as the Five Elements Sword Intent.

Of course, although it's called the Five Elements, it doesn't only have five moves. According to the manual, there are seven types of Five Elements Sword Intent: Golden Light Sword Intent, Wind Riding Sword Intent, Profound Thunder Sword Intent, Long Flame Sword Intent, Water-like Sword Intent, Frosty Sword Intent, and Quicksand Sword Intent. The sword intent can be learned depending on the spiritual root of the cultivator.

Furthermore, the Five Elements Sword Intent is divided into ten levels, but there is no learning threshold; as long as one has established a foundation, one can learn it.

Strictly speaking, Zhang Chengdao felt that the Taixu Sword Intent was more like a spell than a sword technique, and felt it was more suitable for magic practitioners.

As for the Taixu Nourishing Body Formula, it is a bath recipe. The manual mentions that this formula can continuously temper the body and help assist in cultivation by breathing in spiritual energy. It is best for cultivators below the Core Formation stage to take a bath once a month, while those above the Core Formation stage do not need to—the effect is not obvious.

In comparison, the Five Elements Escape Techniques is indeed much simpler. It simply records five escape techniques, and their corresponding names are also very simple: Metal Escape Technique, Wood Escape Technique, Water Escape Technique, Fire Escape Technique, and Earth Escape Technique.

After flipping through the two manuals, Zhang Chengdao suddenly felt that these manuals were far too "miscellaneous".

Or rather, it's too chaotic.

Although texts like the Taixu Jing are paired together, they can also be studied separately.

After all, some of these things are suitable for cultivators at lower levels, such as the "Tai Xu Nourishing Body Formula." The lower the level of the cultivator, the more they need it, while cultivators at higher levels cannot use it. Therefore, putting them in the same book is not conducive to cultivation.

Or rather, this kind of complete set of cultivation manuals is more suitable for the traditional master-disciple transmission model, where practitioners cultivate step by step according to the manual, rather than for the model he is currently using, which is written as a cultivation sect but read as a cultivation academy.

It would be best to separate them. If they could be engraved in some kind of "jade slip" like in many of the novels by the author, it would be much more convenient for disciples to "see" the "jade slip" with their divine sense when they study.

At least some copies can be made and stored in the sect's "library." They won't take up much space, and there won't be a situation where several people have to take turns reading one "Elementary Foundation Building Book." The copy that Xu Ying made himself has been passed around so much that it's almost worn out!

Even the "Three Sword Techniques" from the "Elementary Qi Refining Book" should be separated and taught to ordinary outer disciples who haven't yet been able to draw Qi into their bodies. At least a group of disciples with relatively poor aptitude should have some ability to protect themselves, right?
Thinking of this, Zhang Chengdao racked his brains even more to recall the many records he had read in various secret manuals.

Theoretically speaking, "jade slips" are indeed feasible, and the production process does not seem difficult—it only requires carving the content recorded in the text as a whole into an array, so that cultivators can "read" the text content while exploring the array with their divine sense.

Of course, since we must consider whether the jade slip can withstand divine sense, the raw material for the jade slip cannot be jade.
After numerous attempts, Zhang Chengdao discovered that both lapis lazuli ore and black ore, the two gold finger-shaped finished products mined from the [Iron Mine Cave], could be used to make "Jade Slips," though they didn't look very aesthetically pleasing...

If these two things are really used, it can't be called a "jade slip" anymore, it has to be called an "iron slip", which sounds too awful!

In order to prevent the "jade slip" from becoming an "iron slip", Zhang Chengdao carefully searched through the contents of his backpack and finally found something that was suitable: [Spirit Jade].

A type of by-product ore found in various mines, similar to crystal, requires Zhang Chengdao to put the stones and iron ore mined by his disciples into his backpack before it can be separated.

and……

This thing, it really is jade! And it's jade with a spirit!

(End of this chapter)