The Confucian and Taoist Sages of Mortal Cultivation

On the mountainside cliff edge, the fierce battle between the Gale Wolf and the Ice Silkworm is reaching its climax.

The Gale Wolf was enveloped in a pale blue aura, its sharp claws tearing through the air with a piercing whistle, each pounce aimed directly at the Ice Silkworm's vitals.

The ice silkworm was pure white, with a layer of frosty aura covering its body. It nimbly twisted its body to dodge, and from time to time, it would spray out strands of ice crystal silk from its tail, trying to trap the swift wolf.

Just then, the black dragon flew above the two demons, radiating the pressure emanating from its dragon bloodline.

The Gale Wolf and the Ice Silkworm froze instantly, quickly stopping their attack and trembling as they stared intently at the dark figure that had suddenly appeared in mid-air.

The black dragon stared with its golden dragon eyes, scanning the two demonic beasts below. Its gaze first locked onto the slightly larger Gale Wolf, and then it swooped down like a white lightning bolt, carrying a chilling demonic aura, and instantly shot to the top of the Gale Wolf's head.

The swift wolf was so frightened that it dared not resist. It pushed off the ground with its limbs and used the wind to turn and flee.

But the Ink Dragon was faster. It opened its huge mouth, its sharp fangs gleaming with a cold light, and accurately bit the vital spot above the Gale Wolf's neck.

With a crisp "crack," the clear sound of bones shattering echoed through the empty cliff. The Gale Wolf's spine was instantly snapped, its body limp and slumped to the ground, where the Ink Dragon slammed it to the ground. Its limbs twitched uncontrollably, emitting a mournful howl.

The ice silkworm, not far away, was already trembling with fear. It quickly curled up its body, exerted its strength, and flew more than 100 feet away like a blue meteor, heading straight for a narrow crevice in the cliff.

But just as it approached the crevice, a flying sword flashing with dazzling silver lightning suddenly descended from the sky, piercing the ice silkworm's body with perfect accuracy and pinning it firmly to the cliff face.

Yang Qingyuan descended from the sky on his Crimson Fire Wheels, patted his storage bag with his right hand, took out a black bowl, and aimed it at the two demonic beasts.

Countless black threads gushed out from the black bowl, entering the heads of the Gale Wolf and the Ice Silkworm, before pulling out two orbs of spiritual light.

Within the spiritual light were a miniature cyan wolf and a blue ice silkworm, the essences of two demonic beasts.

The essence of a level-two demon beast is already considered an extremely rare treasure in the Yue Kingdom.

Immediately afterwards, Yang Qingyuan manipulated the Thunder Sword to dissect the monster's corpse and put valuable materials such as ice silkworm silk and wolf skin into his storage bag.

As for the remaining scraps, they were all fed to the Ink Dragon.

"Young Master!"

"Son-in-law!"

Just then, the array barrier outside the blue stone hall not far away suddenly opened, and a two-headed duck flew out from it.

Xin Ruyin and Xiao Mei stood atop the two-headed duck and called out to Yang Qingyuan from afar.

Clearly, both women had noticed the battle between the Gale Wolf and the Ice Silkworm, but due to their low cultivation levels, they dared not show themselves.

"Did those two monsters scare you?" Yang Qingyuan put away his Thunderclap Sword and asked the two women about their condition.

Xin Ruyin, however, remained calm and explained, "No, that's not the case."

"These two demonic beasts appeared a month ago, but for some reason, neither of them dared to approach the blue palace."

"Neither I nor Xiaomei would provoke these two demonic beasts."

"However, your skills are truly remarkable. You were able to easily kill two demonic beasts of the same level, which has broadened my horizons."

Xiao Mei, standing nearby, looked worried and asked, "Young Master, how long will you be staying this time?"

"If another demon beast advances in level while you're away, my lady and I will have no choice but to hide in the main hall."

Yang Qingyuan smiled nonchalantly and reassured him, "Don't worry, I'll be staying in the secret realm for a while from now on."

"Let's go to the Azure Hall and talk about it there."

After saying this, he led the two women straight to the blue palace.

Meanwhile, the main hall had been completely renovated by the two women. They not only added tables and chairs, but also built several new walls, dividing it into seven or eight independent stone chambers.

After spending two days and two nights in their boudoir, Yang Qingyuan and Xin Ruyin reluctantly entered the underground passage and headed towards the underground swamp.

Immediately afterwards, he released the black dragon to block the exit, preventing Xin Ruyin and Xiao Mei from accidentally breaking in. Then he set up the Inverted Five Elements Formation on the edge of the swamp, covering an area of ​​about one acre.

This open space became his medicinal herb garden.

Yang Qingyuan took out the seeds and seedlings of many spiritual herbs and transplanted them into the herb garden. He also decorated the pavilion in the middle of the lake and used it as an alchemy room, placing the Hundred Beast Furnace and the Fire Spirit Gourd in the pavilion.

In the following time, he used his vital energy to drive the "Agriculture" mantra to accelerate the ripening of various spiritual herbs in the herb garden.

When his righteous energy was exhausted, Yang Qingyuan left the underground palace and went to the Azure Hall to cultivate with Xin Ruyin, learn the way of formations, and explore the terrain within the Crimson Forbidden Land.

Once his righteous energy had recovered, he entered the underground palace again to accelerate the ripening of the spiritual herbs.

Time flies like an arrow, and half a year is but a blink of an eye.

Yang Qingyuan successfully accelerated the growth of the first batch of spiritual herbs and began to attempt alchemy.

With the blessing of the mantra "Learning", he succeeded in refining elixirs on his first attempt.

Although it was only the Yellow Dragon Pill that cultivators in the Qi Refining stage took, it still boosted morale.

After that, Yang Qingyuan tried to refine Lesser Rejuvenation Pill, Youth Preservation Pill, Meridian Regulating Pill, Beast Nurturing Pill, Foundation Building Pill, and then the Spirit Gathering Pill and Qi Harmony Pill that he needed.

The Qi Refining stage pills were all given to Xin Ruyin and Xiao Mei to take.

The two youth-preserving pills, in particular, brought the two women great joy.

After all, no female cultivator would give up the chance to stay young forever.

Yang Qingyuan himself also took a youth-preserving pill.

Then, time flew by, and two and a half years passed in the blink of an eye.

During this period, Yang Qingyuan consumed more than fifty Spirit Gathering Pills and Qi Harmony Pills, and with the help of the rich spiritual energy of the Blood Forbidden Land, he finally refined the fifth level of the Divine Sword Thunder Control Scripture and successfully broke through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

On the fifth level of the "Divine Sword Thunder Control Scripture", there is an additional spell called "Giant Sword Technique".

This technique involves a cultivator gathering several flying swords together to condense them into a single, massive blade for attack.

The more flying swords there are, the more powerful the giant sword that is formed, giving Yang Qingyuan another means of fighting.

After consuming over a hundred Beast-Nurturing Pills, the Ink Dragon also advanced to a Level 3 Demon Beast.

However, the problem is that since Yang Qingyuan broke through to the mid-Foundation Establishment stage, he has found that the efficacy of the Spirit Gathering Pill and Qi Harmony Pill has decreased sharply, and they can hardly improve his cultivation.

He had anticipated this, since Han Li had also developed a resistance to the same kind of pills after taking them too often, and would have to take other pills instead.

Unfortunately, the last ingredient for the True Essence Pill has not yet been found.

Yang Qingyuan had no choice but to refine a single pill to take.

The formula for this Meridian-Smoothing Pill was given to me by Xin Ruyin. Its effect is to widen the cultivator's meridians, thereby increasing the upper limit of the cultivator's mana.

The magical power cultivated from the "Divine Sword Thunder Control Scripture" was already pure, and with the added effect of the Meridian Regulating Pill, Yang Qingyuan's magical power was almost on par with that of a late-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator.

After that, Yang Qingyuan simply stopped cultivating the "Divine Sword Thunder Control Scripture" and instead began cultivating the Confucian and Taoist spiritual cultivation technique "External King Inner Saint Technique".

With the blessing of the righteous energy, he easily mastered the first level of the "External King and Inner Saint Technique," and his divine sense increased by more than 50%.

Furthermore, the Confucian cultivation techniques of painting and music that come with the practice can also be explored to some extent.

However, Yang Qingyuan did not have any Confucian or Taoist magical artifacts, so he had to go out to collect materials for crafting them.

Meanwhile, Xin Ruyin and Xiao Mei had both reached the thirteenth level of Qi Refining and wanted to go out and see the world.

Yang Qingyuan then took the two women and left the Crimson Forbidden Land, heading straight for the Yuanwu Kingdom's market town once again...