Chapter 1783 — Beginning Cultivation

"Second stage of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art—White Crane..." In truth, Wei Zhao had already recited the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art's mental method to himself a thousand times over; it was long since etched into his heart. He had taken it out this time only for fear that something might go wrong.

But inner-energy methods were not like texts to be memorized word by word. Once one had fully grasped the meaning within, there was basically no need to consult the oral formulas every single time.

This time Wei Zhao had grown wiser. He did not foolishly train on his own as he had when he first obtained the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art; instead, in an instant he entered the space of the jade pendant. It was here that progress came fastest.

"Brat Lin, it seems you have finished the body tempering?" Although Jiao Yazi ordinarily could not see what Wei Zhao did outside, at this moment he could discern a thing or two from the changes in Wei Zhao's body.

Only when Wei Zhao took the initiative to establish contact with the jade pendant space could Jiao Yazi perceive matters outside. Otherwise, when Wei Zhao was whispering sweet nothings with Tang Yun, having a soul watching from the side would have been far too awkward.

"Finished!" Wei Zhao nodded solemnly. "I am ready to begin the oral formulas of the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art!"

"Not going to rest a few days first?" Seeing Wei Zhao's extreme impatience, Jiao Yazi could not help shaking his head. "It seems these ten years still have not smoothed the edges of your temperament!"

"Smoothed my temperament?" Hearing Jiao Yazi's words, Wei Zhao could only smile bitterly. "Before, I knew nothing of the jade pendant space, and to reach the great accomplishment of the first level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art and smoothly enter the second—that only happened this year, did it not? It has been ten years, and only now have I succeeded. How could I not be anxious? And something that could originally have been completed in five years took me ten years of effort. Now it is as if I entered the mountain cave five years late. My mental method and my strength have already fallen out of step. Instead of obtaining a martial skill in the cave, I obtained what seems to be an auxiliary mental method for laying the foundation of martial skills. Can you blame me for being anxious?"

Hearing this explanation from Wei Zhao, Jiao Yazi could not help but start slightly, then shook his head with some helplessness and said, "That is true enough. But then again, diligence is also a good thing, so long as you proceed step by step. Hastening brings no success—more haste, less speed!"

"I understand!" Wei Zhao said. "Elder Jiao, rest assured. Here in the jade pendant space, with you watching and guiding me from the side, there will certainly be no problem!"

Only after hearing Wei Zhao's words did Elder Jiao nod. Wei Zhao was right: the cultivation of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art and the cultivation of strength were two different matters. The Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art did not require frequent breakthroughs of barriers—each level had only one barrier—unlike strength in the outside world, where a single stage held multiple barriers. Therefore, when cultivating the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, one naturally could not recklessly compress true qi to force a breakthrough as Wei Zhao had done before. One could only accumulate slowly, yet even so, no great problem would arise.

Seeing that Elder Jiao said no more, Wei Zhao likewise spoke no further. Following the mental method of the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, he began circulating it within his body. All at once, the energy in the jade pendant space seemed to be gathered together by an invisible great net, then swiftly rushed toward Wei Zhao's side. The speed of that gathering surpassed even that of his breakthrough. At this sight, a trace of alarm flashed through Wei Zhao's eyes—he had not expected that his first cultivation of the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art would produce such a tremendous effect!

Of course, Wei Zhao did not stop cultivating because of these strange phenomena, for Jiao Yazi sat far off to one side with no particular expression at all. That meant the phenomena before him should be normal; otherwise, Jiao Yazi would long since have spoken.

The next moment, Wei Zhao felt as though the acupoints all over his body had suddenly thrown wide open, and the energy gathered in the jade pendant space swiftly poured into his body through those acupoints! But what astonished Wei Zhao was that after this energy entered his acupoints, it seemed not to be absorbed by his meridians, but to enter his body directly!

The sensation was like that of ten years ago, when he had just cultivated the foundation-building stage of the first level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art. At that time, during the initial cultivation, the meridians could not store energy and true qi either; once the true qi entered the body, it instead forged and tempered his physical form.

Still, this was a process every inner-school cultivator experienced at the very beginning. Wei Zhao had later consulted some records and learned that this phenomenon was called foundation building—only with a solid foundation could the meridians store energy!

But a second foundation building such as this was something Wei Zhao had never heard of! For Wei Zhao had long since completed the foundation-building stage, yet this Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art was going to build his foundation once again!

That the foundation building was faster, Wei Zhao could understand. After all, cultivating here was different from cultivating in the outside world; the spiritual qi of heaven and earth outside was sparse, so it could not produce such a sudden gathering of energy, whereas the energy within the jade pendant space was inexhaustible. Naturally, the foundation building was also much faster than in the outside world!

"Before cultivating the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art, you underwent body tempering, so you must undergo a second foundation building. This is a normal phenomenon—there is no need to worry, and no need to resist it deliberately!" Jiao Yazi's voice rang out slowly, and the knot in Wei Zhao's heart abruptly loosened!

Once Wei Zhao's heart relaxed, the speed of his cultivation suddenly increased! What Wei Zhao did not know was that cultivation was in fact closely tied to one's state of mind—this was the very nature of the inner demons on the path of cultivation. But in Wei Zhao's heart there were no obsessions and no burdens, so the influence of inner demons upon him could be disregarded entirely.

Of course, within the jade pendant space, a single instant of relaxation that altered the speed of cultivation was in truth also the loosening of a knot in the heart.

Wei Zhao's body trembled slightly. He felt the inexhaustible energy and true qi of the jade pendant space pouring into his body like a tide, while his own body was like a bottomless abyss!

Since there was no problem, Wei Zhao set his mind at ease and continued striving to circulate the mental method of the second level of the Xuanyuan Dragon-Taming Art. The speed at which he absorbed energy and true qi was already very fast, and with Wei Zhao's cooperation it was like a tiger gaining wings—energy and true qi surged even more fiercely into his body...

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