"Greetings, Senior Brother Gong." Qin Sang made a Daoist bow.
"It's you!"
Senior Brother Gong clearly remembered Qin Sang. With a complicated expression, he said, "Junior Brother Qin has come to choose a cultivation method? You may browse any of the methods on the second floor as you please, and you can select one free of charge. If you wish to learn spells, however, you will need to exchange spirit stones for them, with the cost depending on the spell's might."
Entering the grand hall, Qin Sang found it vastly different from the alchemy room. Several dozen jade pillars stood throughout the hall, each bearing a floating orb of light, while the wall behind them was filled with jade slips.
He walked over to the nearest jade pillar and read the characters inscribed on it. To his surprise, it happened to be *Wu Nian Gong*.
Sweeping his spiritual sense over the orb of light, Qin Sang examined it closely. He discovered that *Wu Nian Gong* was indeed a technique leading straight to the Nascent Soul stage. Yet just as the sect master had said, it offered only a single divine ability during Foundation Establishment—and that was meant for fleeing.
If he chose this technique, he could forget about ever facing anyone head-on without powerful magic tools.
Yet acquiring top-grade magic tools required immense effort and resources. Even among Foundation Establishment cultivators, someone like Qin Sang, outfitted entirely in top-grade magic tools, was a rare sight.
Withdrawing his spiritual sense from the orb of light, Qin Sang began wandering through the hall. Each orb contained a cultivation method, though their core sections were sealed away by restrictions. Only after making a selection could one go outside and ask Senior Brother Gong to bestow the transmission.
Each of these techniques possessed its own profound mysteries, broadening Qin Sang's horizons. More than half were fragmented, but there were also complete methods pointing straight to the Grand Dao of Deity Transformation.
For reasons unknown, no Deity Transformation powerhouse had emerged in the Lesser Cold Domain for countless years. Boundless numbers of brilliant talents like Patriarch Kuiyin had spent their final days stranded at the Nascent Soul stage.
Qin Sang did not dare to dream that far ahead. Whether a method was complete or incomplete hardly mattered, so long as the Foundation Establishment portion was intact.
Qin Sang also looked over each of the techniques Sect Master Yu had recommended.
Just as the sect master had stated, given his aptitude, he could only choose between *Wu Nian Gong* and similar methods.
Even so, his hopes of Core Formation remained vanishingly slim.
Sect Master Yu had offered a veiled word of counsel.
Not even one in a hundred Foundation Establishment cultivators could achieve Core Formation. Rather than chasing that illusory hope, many preferred to choose a technique with formidable divine abilities, seeking only to settle grudges with swift vengeance, keep their minds untroubled, and ensure their two centuries of life were not lived in vain.
Yet how could Qin Sang accept such a fate?
He pulled his spiritual sense from the *Yuan Dan Jue* and cast his gaze about, walking straight toward the row of jade pillars deepest inside the hall.
*Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter*!
Sending his spiritual sense into the orb of light, Qin Sang was immediately greeted by seven large characters, which sent a violent jolt through his mind.
*Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill, kill!*
Seven blood-red characters for "kill," radiating a slaughterous intent that shook the heavens!
In that instant, Qin Sang felt as if he had been plunged onto a bloody battlefield, enveloped in an intent to slaughter thick beyond measure. Every hair on his body stood on end, and he had the illusion that he would be torn to shreds by that tempestuous killing intent in the very next breath!
Suppressing the shock in his heart, Qin Sang continued reading the method. The further he went, the more astonished and appalled his expression became. After a short while, a trace of hesitation flickered in his eyes, only to gradually harden into firm resolve. Steeling himself, he grabbed the orb of light and strode out of the hall.
"The *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter*!"
Senior Brother Gong stared at Qin Sang in astonishment, looking at him as though he were a madman. He remarked with deep feeling, "First that... and now the *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter*. You truly live by the motto: no madness, no life! You probably know of this method from the legends surrounding Senior Qingzhu, don't you? But do you know how Senior Qingzhu managed to cultivate the *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter*?"
"Please enlighten me, Senior Brother Gong."
Qin Sang was indeed intensely curious.
This technique was an incomplete manual of unknown origin. It contained only the first five layers, allowing one to cultivate to the early Core Formation stage at most.
The name *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter* had also been bestowed by later generations, based purely on the method's unique characteristics.
As the name implied, this was no ordinary sword cultivator's art, where one merely placed a wisp of spiritual sense onto a spirit sword to nurture it inside the dantian. Instead, it was true origin soul sword-nurturing, fusing the spirit sword and the origin soul together!
Qin Sang practiced the *Finger Xuan Sword Art* and possessed some attainment on the path of sword cultivation, yet he had never heard of such a practice. If not for the sect's confirmed rumors that Senior Qingzhu had indeed cultivated this method, he would have suspected the *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter* to be a fraudulent hoax.
A spirit sword was a weapon of pure sharpness, and sword qi was sharp to the absolute extreme.
Before the Nascent Soul stage, a cultivator's origin soul was exceedingly fragile.
Following the requirements of the method, the practitioner had to thrust a spirit sword into their origin soul. They would be forced to endure the agony of sword qi gnawing at their soul at all times—an unimaginable torment welling from the deepest depths of the soul.
If that were all, it might still be bearable, but the *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter* had an even more terrifying requirement.
When cultivating this method, one had to visualize the killing talisman within the technique, drawing slaughterous intent into the origin soul, and finally condense the killing talisman onto the sword body. It was both sword-nurturing and sword-tempering!
The origin soul was perpetually subjected to the influence of that slaughterous intent. Once one's sanity was corroded by it and could no longer preserve the core self, there was only one outcome: to be dominated by slaughterous intent, lose all reason, and turn into a killing machine!
Moreover, as one's realm advanced, the slaughterous intent condensed by the killing talisman grew ever stronger. No matter how steadfast one's mind, none could resist it; the corrosion of one's sanity was inevitable.
Within the original method, there had to have been an origin soul secret art capable of resisting the slaughterous intent and steadying one's core self. Otherwise, it would have been fundamentally impossible to cultivate.
How had Senior Qingzhu managed to cultivate this incomplete technique?
"It is said that Senior Qingzhu used a secret art to slice his origin soul directly in two, using one half of the origin soul to nurture the sword. Only then did he offset part of the technique's perils, and yet the final outcome was still that he became half-mad. If you are worried about your foundation, there is no need to take such an extraordinary risk. The Taiyi Dan Sect is second to none in the Dao of alchemy; perhaps they have ways to restore your foundation. Junior Brother Qin, are you certain you wish to cultivate this *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter*?"
With that, Senior Brother Gong gave Qin Sang a searching look.
Qin Sang was struck dumb with shock. He had thought himself ruthless enough toward himself, but compared to Senior Qingzhu, he could only feel utterly humbled.
Foundation Establishment cultivators could indeed divide their focus to manipulate several magic tools at once, but that was merely splitting their spiritual sense.
To cleave one's origin soul in two—and not only survive, but reach Core Formation in just forty years, setting a sect record—what terrifying willpower must that have required?
Qin Sang took a deep breath and nodded. "Please bestow the method, Senior Brother."
Senior Brother Gong had spoken up to warn him only out of a stirring of sentiment upon seeing Qin Sang.
Seeing that Qin Sang's mind was made up, he tried to persuade him no further. Pressing his palm over the orb of light, he activated the restriction. A beam of flowing light shot from the orb and sank into the space between Qin Sang's brows.
The complete technique manifested in his mind. Qin Sang swept through it briefly; merely catching sight of the killing talisman at its core caused his spiritual sense to throb with piercing pain.
At that moment, Senior Brother Gong spoke again: "To tell you the truth, Junior Brother Qin, I once considered staking everything on cultivating this method, so I studied it for a time. By my estimation, this technique demands the absolute extremity of slaughterous intent. Visualizing the killing talisman alone is not enough; one must personally step onto the path of slaughter to gain true comprehension. I hope you will take good care of yourself."
Chapter 136