What does my ancestor's pregnancy have to do with me, a mere servant?

Lin Yuan's legs trembled slightly, but he forced himself to steady himself and stepped onto the plain white flying sword that Lin Feilu had summoned. The flying sword soared into the air.

He subtly channeled a wisp of magic to protect his lumbar spine, his gaze fixed on the aloof figure standing in front of him.

An incense stick later, the flying sword landed on the main peak of the Xuan Yin Sect.

A nine-story, octagonal black stone building stands in the center of the square. Ancient bronze wind chimes hang from the four corners, but no sound comes out. This is the Xuan Yin Sect's Scripture Repository, which contains the entire sect's profound heritage.

The two stepped into the hall. The hall was dimly lit, and a gaunt old man sat cross-legged behind the counter, resting with his eyes closed.

Lin Feilu stepped forward and slammed his jade token, identifying him as a direct disciple, onto the table.

"Disciple Lin Feilu, enter the inner layer of the Scripture Pavilion to select a cultivation technique." Her tone was cold and crisp.

The gaunt old man opened one eye and glanced at Lin Feilu and Lin Yuan without any extra expression.

The old man's voice was hoarse: "You mustn't take the original out. Whichever copy you like, bring it here and I'll make a copy for you. Go now."

The two of them went up the winding blue stone staircase to the second floor.

The second floor is very spacious. A dozen rows of rosewood bookshelves are neatly arranged, each covered with a protective array to prevent dust and damage. Above the bookshelves hang labels, categorized by the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

Lin Yuan ignored the spell areas and went straight to the outermost "body cultivation area".

Body cultivation is not the mainstream practice in the Xuan Yin Sect; the sect places more emphasis on the cultivation of the soul and magical techniques. The bookshelf here only has half a row, with a dozen or so jade slips sparsely placed on it.

Lin Yuan stretched out his right hand, passed through the faint array light barrier, picked up the first grayish-white jade slip, and placed it between his eyebrows.

The description of "The Rock-Solid Technique" is extremely simple: It draws earth-elemental spiritual energy to condense on the surface of the skin, and through years of tempering, makes the physical body indestructible.

Lin Yuan continued to scan backward with his divine sense. This method could only strengthen the physical body to the level of the late Foundation Establishment stage at its highest. Moreover, after mastering it, the cultivator's skin would turn grayish-white and their joints would become stiff.

The upper limit is too low, and the drawbacks are too great. Lin Yuan took the jade slip and casually put it back in its original place.

He picked up the second jade slip that was glowing with lightning.

"Heavenly Thunder Body Forging Technique". It draws in the thunder from the heavens, using the power of the lightning to destroy the old flesh and blood and stimulate the regeneration of new bones.

The technique is extremely powerful, but the conditions for cultivation are extremely demanding. The cultivator must possess a lightning spirit body. If one does not possess a lightning spirit body, one must go to the summit during a thunderstorm and forcibly draw in heavenly lightning to strike oneself.

Lin Yuan's eye twitched. For someone who believed in the ways of the world to be sent to the mountaintop in the pouring rain to be struck by lightning was tantamount to having a death wish. He promptly discarded the idea.

After flipping through the remaining dozen or so cultivation manuals, Lin Yuan's expression remained unchanged, but the hope in his heart continued to sink.

Either you need to soak your entire body in the blood essence of an extremely rare demon beast, which can take three to five years to see any effect, or you need to devour various highly poisonous spiritual plants to attack your body with poison, using the repeated erosion and repair of your flesh by the toxins to forge your physical body—the cultivation cycle can easily start at several decades, with an absurdly high failure rate.

There's an even more outrageous one that requires cultivators to bury themselves alive in the deepest part of a ten-thousand-year-old black iron ore vein, using the metallic spiritual power seeping from the vein to soak their bones day and night until their bone hardness surpasses that of a magic weapon of the same level.

Cultivation time: at least fifty years.

Lin Yuan mentally calculated his physical condition.

His current physical body wouldn't even last ten days.

It's not an exaggeration.

With four arduous cultivation production lines operating simultaneously, relentlessly squeezing him day and night, his mortal body, already at the late Foundation Establishment stage, had been thoroughly drained.

If he undergoes a few more intense face-to-face grueling sessions, he might die from overwork on the stone bed.

"Let's go check the third floor," Lin Yuan said to Lin Feilu as he turned around.

His tone was calm, but his pace quickened slightly compared to when he was going upstairs.

The two climbed the winding stone staircase to the third floor.

The third floor was much smaller and darker than the second floor.

Only three bookshelves remained, arranged along the edge of the stone wall, covered with more complex protective runes.

The cultivation techniques that can be placed on the third floor must be of a much higher grade.

Lin Feilu once again took out the jade token identifying him as a direct disciple and slowly swiped it across the array core of one of the bookshelves.

A pale golden light burst forth from the center of the array, spreading along the surface of the bookshelf before receding like a tide.

The formation has been dispelled.

Lin Yuan's gaze swept over the three bookshelves. Jade slips related to body cultivation were still pitifully few.

He picked up the jade slip that emitted a faint golden light.

The Vajra Subduing Demon Body.

This is the highest-grade body cultivation technique he has seen so far.

His physical strength is approaching that of the Nascent Soul stage. Once he reaches mastery, his physical strength alone can rival that of a demon beast of the same level.

Lin Yuan's eyes lit up.

Finally, a decent one has arrived.

He continued to probe with his divine sense, reading the detailed rules of cultivation.

To cultivate this method, one must supplement it with the unique golden liquid of Buddhism. Every seven days, one must soak the whole body in the golden liquid once, and continue for three years to complete the first level of tempering.

The method for refining the elixir of gold is a closely guarded secret within Buddhism, and outsiders have no way of obtaining it.

This is one that we can barely think of a solution for.

Lin Yuan continued reading.

The second requirement for cultivation—

During cultivation, one must abstain from sexual desires, purify the mind and reduce cravings, and meditate in asceticism. Not a single trace of one's vital essence may leak out.

Lin Yuan's gaze lingered on the six words "sever all sexual desires between men and women".

Then he slowly removed the jade slip from his forehead.

He turned his head and glanced at Lin Feilu, who stood gracefully beside him. She wore a plain white dress, her expression icy, and her waist was unbelievably slender.

Sever all desires.

Not a single trace of vital energy can be leaked out.

This is going to kill him; this is taking away his livelihood.

Lin Yuan placed the jade slip back into the center of the formation without any expression.

Gentle in movement, but irritable inside.

The next two cultivation techniques are: one is the "Blood Shadow Demon Body," which carries an extremely high risk of demonic possession—it requires devouring the essence and blood of cultivators of the same level to strengthen the physical body. Each time it is devoured, there is a probability of being devoured by the residual will of the other party. In the later stages of cultivation, it is almost certain to lead to demonic possession.

The other one is the "Withering and Flourishing Technique," which requires constant self-harm and bloodletting—using "withering" to promote "flourishing," repeatedly pushing one's own flesh and blood to the brink of death to stimulate the body's ultimate regenerative ability.

Lin Yuan put the last jade slip back on the bookshelf.

He remained as steady as an old dog.

But my heart had already sunk.

All of them have fatal flaws.

Either the cultivation cycle is too long, which he can't afford to wait for; or the cultivation conditions are too demanding, which he can't meet; or it directly conflicts with his existing cultivation system, making it tantamount to crippling himself.

It's all fucking garbage.

None of them can solve his current crisis.

Time passes little by little.

The stone chamber was so quiet that only the faint hum of the spirit lamp could be heard.

Lin Feilu stood two steps behind him, without urging him on. She looked at Lin Yuan's straight back, a faint trace of worry floating in her clear, cold eyes.

She knew that Lin Yuan's physical condition was now on the verge of collapse.

Lin Yuan prepared to leave.

As he turned around, his peripheral vision inadvertently swept over the corner of the third floor.

There was a small stone platform. On the platform were some dusty debris—fragments of broken jade slips and several abandoned array plates whose original shapes were no longer recognizable.

It was left in a corner, like a garbage dump.

"What's that?" Lin Yuan stopped in his tracks.

Lin Feilu followed his gaze and explained calmly, "Those are some abandoned cultivation methods. They're either incomplete and uncultivable, or they've been proven to have fatal flaws and have been removed from the official collection. They're just placed in the corner for archiving purposes; no one will look at them."