CHAPTER 369: CHAPTER 338: MASTERING THE TECHNIQUE!

Flipping and playing with the Dragon Scale in his hand, Qi Xiu’s eyes flashed with a hint of purple as he attempted to uncover its secrets using the Observing Qi Skill.

But the throb he felt seemed like an illusion.

Even under the special vision afforded by the Observing Qi Skill, aside from its extraordinary texture, there was no other sign of anything mystical about the Dragon Scale.

Perhaps the time just wasn’t right...

Unable to find the source of the throbbing, Qi Xiu had no choice but to put the Dragon Scale away again.

The life of an Agriculture Official was dull, and due to the importance of Spirit Rice, these officials could not leave their paddy fields unless absolutely necessary.

Day after day, apart from facing the boundless expanse of the Spirit Rice Valley, there were only the Douhu in charge of taking care of the Spirit Rice.

However, for Qi Xiu, such a life was rather suitable.

With the Yellow Turban Strongmen guarding the fields and driving away Jiunie, his days consisted mainly of cultivating and watering the Spirit Fruit seedlings in the front yard vegetable garden.

Though his days were simple, they were not without their pleasures.

「And just like that, half a year passed by in the blink of an eye.」

「Before the straw-thatched cottage’s front yard.」

Qi Xiu sat cross-legged on a cushion, surrounded by a mist of colorful aura, with streaks of Spiritual Light swirling around him. As he breathed in and out, strands of pure, ever-changing fire energy slowly flowed into one of his Hunyuan Apertures, gradually forming a phantom that resembled a living Fire God.

He meditated like this for a full forty-nine days.

It was not until the dawn of the fiftieth day that Qi Xiu slowly opened his eyes, and the surrounding spectral display of light gradually retracted back into his body.

"Integrating the Dharma Gate into the aperture is much more difficult than I imagined," he mused.

"The Spirit Essence within the aperture is like a stubborn child, unwilling to accept the Dharma Gate without a long period of discipline and polishing."

It took him great effort to integrate the [Formless Fire Emperor] into his aperture, a process akin to threading a needle in a fierce wind, with the thread whipping wildly about. Without extreme patience and energy, it was impossible to get it right.

Even someone as patient as Qi Xiu felt a bit of a headache and chest tightness from the ordeal.

After a short rest to regain his composure, Qi Xiu’s gaze moved to the proficiency panel—the proficiency of [Formless Fire Emperor] was indeed slowly rising.

The speed was not much different from when he practiced on his own.

Silently feeling the insights and knowledge bubbling up in his mind, Qi Xiu smiled.

It seemed that the grueling time before was indeed worthwhile.

Having experienced the powerful autonomous cultivation of the Hunyuan Aperture, Qi Xiu felt as if he had returned to the days when he had just entered the Initiate Realm, burying himself in diligent cultivation, grinding for proficiency every day.

Though the goal was different, the obsessed demeanor was exactly the same.

During the chaos in Dianchuan, he had witnessed the actions of many Dao Body and Primordial Spirit Realm experts, which greatly broadened his horizons.

With his current Cultivation and techniques, he would not claim to be the best in the Blood-Stained Realm, but he was certainly among the top echelons.

If it really came to a fight to the death, he could even exchange a few blows with those in the Dao Body Realm.

But such a reckless character had nothing to do with him.

Ever since he began cultivating, what he sought was peace and longevity. His diligence and efforts had always been for this goal.

And to achieve this wish, the only way was to possess sufficient strength.

Because under any circumstance, no one would voluntarily provoke a Primordial Spirit Boss.

That’s the perfect sense of security that comes with strength. Thieves would neither dare steal nor covet.

Having gained experience from integrating [Formless Fire Emperor] into his Hunyuan Aperture, Qi Xiu became noticeably more proficient in integrating the following Dharma Gates.

Over the next year, he successively integrated the six major Dharma Gates—the [Observing Qi Skill], [Hidden Thunder Heavy Pupil], [Gourd Sword Skill], [White Bone Demonic Dao], [Yanluo Golden Scripture], [Universe in the Sleeve]—into his Hunyuan Aperture.

What remained were the Mysterious Abilities that could only be manually improved in proficiency.

Looking at the phantoms of the Dharma Gates condensed within his Hunyuan Aperture, as well as the slowly rising proficiency numbers on the proficiency panel, Qi Xiu felt that the hard work of the past year had not been in vain.

"It’s a pity that the Hunyuan Aperture is created by ’The Secret of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger Scripture,’ so this very foundational scripture cannot be integrated into the aperture."

Qi Xiu had tried several times to integrate "The Secret of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger Scripture" into his Hunyuan Aperture, but the Spirit Essence within the aperture would curl up immediately upon sensing the aura of the scripture.

It was like a wolf pup sensing the presence of the wolf king.

Many attempts failed to avoid this reaction, so in the end, Qi Xiu had to give up.

"If only I could integrate this foundational scripture into the aperture and let it operate on its own. With the Hunyuan Aperture plus the overarching control of ’The Secret of the Primordial Dragon-Tiger Scripture,’ the proficiency of the various Dharma Gates might well double in growth. In at most a hundred years, I could gain a series of Nine Realms Methods!"

Thinking of this, Qi Xiu’s eyes filled with regret.

The counter-heavenly effects of proficiency could allow a Dharma Gate to improve infinitely, and even after reaching a limit, there were [Integration] and [Extreme Breakthrough] to transform it anew.

In nearly forty years of possessing the Divine Marvel of proficiency, the highest-level Dharma Gate he had was at the Seventh Realm, while most other Dharma Gates were at the Fifth or Sixth Realm.

It was hard to imagine the enormous power of Dharma Gates at the Ninth Realm.

Dreaming of the day when he would wield Dharma Gates of the Ninth Realm with an elegant demeanor, Qi Xiu had just chuckled twice when he suddenly received a message from the Yellow Turban Strongmen.

"Something is attacking the Yellow Turban Strongmen?"

The smile on his face vanished in an instant, and in the next moment, Qi Xiu transformed into a bolt of lightning, and in the blink of an eye, he arrived at the scene of the incident following the connection in his mind.

In the disordered Spirit Rice paddy fields, several terrified Douhu widened their eyes and shivered, hiding behind the Spirit Rice. Floating on the sparkling and translucent Tianyi Pure Water were more than a dozen cracked soybeans and the corpse of a Douhu.

"What happened?"

With a slight frown, Qi Xiu’s gaze shifted to the remaining Douhu hiding nearby as he observed the floating corpse of the Douhu in the water.

Jiunie had low combat abilities, known only for stealing Spirit Rice, and even if discovered, they would only flee. But to have killed more than a dozen Yellow Turban Strongmen and two Douhu... Has something else broken into the valley?

"Reporting to the Agriculture Official, sir, we didn’t see clearly what it was... We only came over when we heard a fellow clansman shouting. As soon as we got here, we saw a black light fleeing abruptly..."

Trembling with fear, a Douhu cautiously stepped forward and recounted what he had witnessed.

"A black light?"

His eyes moved slightly, and Qi Xiu unleashed the Observing Qi Skill, carefully searching for any residual traces of Qi in his unique black and white vision.

However, after several inspections, he found nothing.

After a moment of silence, Qi Xiu swept up the Douhu corpse with his sleeve. With no traces left around, he could only examine the corpse for any abnormalities.

"Tell everyone to be careful during this time. If anything happens, prioritize your lives and call loudly for the help of nearby Yellow Turban Strongmen."

"Yes, Agriculture Official, sir."

With eyes full of fear, the Douhu nodded repeatedly. Such a major incident had not occurred in the Spirit Rice Valley for many years; even when Jiunie came to steal Spirit Rice, they rarely harmed anyone.

But this time, it was clearly different.

After instructing the Douhu, Qi Xiu turned and returned to the thatched house. Huge handfuls of soybeans scattered across the sky as Hunyuan Power surged out, and in an instant, yellow light flooded the sky. Within moments, three thousand Yellow Turban Strongmen stood towering above the firmaments.

"Qi has barely enjoyed a few days of peace, and someone dares to smash up my grounds again. Do they really think I’m a pushover?"

Standing emotionlessly in the courtyard, Qi Xiu waved his sleeve, and countless Cloud Seal Talismans whistled out.

The Suppression Talisman, Thunder Talisman, and Fire Talisman—the three major offensive talismans—were imprinted on the Yellow Turban Strongmen, endowing these Dao-Entering Realm warriors with the terrifying capabilities of the Blood-Stained Realm.

"Effective immediately, any intruder of the Spirit Rice Valley will be executed!"

Without a hint of mercy, Qi Xiu issued the killing order. Before his words even finished, three thousand Yellow Turban Strongmen shouted in affirmation, their roaring echoes vibrating across the land, causing ripples on the surface of the water in the paddy fields.

BOOM—

The three thousand Yellow Turban Strongmen dispersed abruptly, and at that moment, the Spirit Rice Valley truly became a heavily fortified forbidden ground.

Any who dared to trespass would face relentless pursuit and death at the hands of the Yellow Turban Strongmen!

Having arranged the defensive forces, Qi Xiu turned and went back into the thatched hut, summoning the corpse of the Douhu.

His gaze swept slowly over the entire corpse as a strand of black and golden light gathered in Qi Xiu’s hand.

"The soul has been extracted as well?"

He originally planned to use the Yama’s Dharma Gate to gather the Douhu’s soul and inquire who had killed it, but the soul had already been extracted from the flesh.

The body before him was nothing more than a lifeless shell.

"If just for stealing Spirit Rice, there’s no need for a mortal blow; this is like declaring a feud to the death. And to extract the soul too—meticulous in thought, vicious in method—this couldn’t possibly be the work of Jiunie."

His expression contemplative, Qi Xiu reached up to touch his eyebrows.

Should I report this to the Sect?

After some hesitation, Qi Xiu decided to observe the situation a while longer before acting. His role as an Agriculture Official was, after all, to oversee the Spirit Rice Valley.

To report to the Sect over a slight mishap would seem somewhat like shirking his responsibilities.

"Perhaps the Observing Qi Skill at the Sixth Realm might provide some clue."

After a brief contemplation, Qi Xiu looked toward the Observing Qi Skill on the proficiency panel.

The proficiency of this Dharma Gate had reached 97%, and within a month or two, he could break through to the Sixth Realm.

Considering the many Dharma Gates and skills he currently possessed, most would undergo a qualitative change at the Sixth Realm. The Observing Qi Skill at the Fifth Realm provided no clues. The Observing Qi Skill at the Sixth Realm might reveal something different.

With his decision made, Qi Xiu temporarily froze the Douhu’s corpse. He planned to wait until he broke through to the Sixth Realm with the Observing Qi Skill to see if any clues would emerge.

「In the meantime,」

To ensure that such an incident wouldn’t occur again, Qi Xiu resolutely increased the number of Yellow Turban Strongmen to ten thousand!

This was the maximum number he could control; any more would be beyond his mental capacity to maintain control over each Strongman.

Suddenly, the entire sky above the Spirit Valley Paddy Field became densely packed, with Yellow Turban Strongmen armed with blades patrolling every corner, their cold, indifferent gazes sweeping constantly.

Not to mention any dark shadow, even if a mosquito were to sneak in, it would be chopped into one hundred and eight pieces!