Chapter 36: 36. Terror Rises, Outshining the Master [You devoted six years to cultivating the complete version of "Profound Qi Guiding Technique", you applied Skin-Stripping Ointment all over your body, your skin felt an opening sensation, becoming capable of absorbing Profound Qi. You consumed the antidote from the Black Bottle, in the fifth year, when you should have died, nothing occurred. At the end of six years, you accumulated a harvest of 106 strands of Profound Qi. You have broken through the constraints of Refining Profound Second Layer, you believe with enough accumulation you can reach the Third Layer] Song Yan let out a long breath, skin feeling as though it was completely renewed, Profound Qi flowing over it like an invisible armor, subtly connecting with the ten meridians of Profound Qi within, poised to form a whole. Meanwhile, in front of him, the two pieces of Great Profound Jade, the bottle of Great Profound Spirit Pill, the antidote in the Black Bottle, and the Skin-Stripping Ointment in the white bottle had all vanished without a trace. ’Continue.’ Song Yan glanced at his still abundant remaining life, and continued using it without pause. Here, outside the sect, the future was unpredictable. The further he traveled, the less Profound Qi there was. Naturally, he had to convert "potential" into "power" while still in this Qi-rich environment. After losing the "Great Profound Jade" and "Great Profound Spirit Pill", his cultivation speed severely slowed. On average, he could only harvest 3 strands of Profound Qi per year. Having spent 298 years, he successfully broke through to "Refining Profound Third Layer", a thousand strands of Profound Qi circulating on his skin. Then after consuming the "Flame Marrow Pill" and spending 334 years, he successfully broke through to "Refining Profound Fourth Layer", a thousand strands of Profound Qi entered the marrow. He continued calculating and pushing forward. Another 334 years, he broke through to "Refining Profound Fifth Layer", a thousand strands of Profound Qi exchanged for new blood. Yet another 334 years, he broke through to "Refining Profound Sixth Layer", a thousand strands of Profound Qi performed a second exchange of blood. No matter how thin the Profound Qi became, as long as there was still some Profound Qi, he could pile it with life force, relentlessly piling. Others could only live for a hundred years, while he, with a grand gesture, could spend hundreds of years. However, it seemed Refining Profound Sixth Layer had reached a new bottleneck. Song Yan spent 30 years attempting, but had no progress. During this period, he faintly understood the situation. Refining Profound Sixth Layer, Profound Qi already circulated throughout his body, connecting the ten meridians, bones, skin, blood; the next step was likely to touch the "internal organs". He intentionally suggested himself to guide Profound Qi into the "internal organs" during cultivation. Yet compared to Profound Qi, "internal organs" were too fragile, resulting in "body explosion" with each attempt, as the internal organs burst, directly spitting blood. Clearly, some kind of secret medicine was needed to protect the "internal organs", creating a buffer, similar to the function of "Skin-Stripping Ointment" and "Flame Marrow Pill". Song Yan halted realm cultivation and began cultivating magic, calculating magic, and mutating magic... Using vast amounts of life force. One after another, profound insights into magic rapidly formed in his mind, the mysterious feeling exploding uncontrollably, filled with an indescribable and intense sense of rewarding satisfaction. "Soul-Searching Skill", Threshold: Refining Profound Third Layer; 5 years to perfect; 25 years to derive single mutation magic "Soul-Devouring Technique"; 525 years to derive secondary perfect mutation magic "Ghost Slayer Soul Revival Technique". Soul-Searching Skill could only search others’ memories, and through scrambling everything in those memories renders them foolish, while "Ghost Slayer Soul Revival Technique" can directly swallow others’ souls, then mix with Evil Qi and expel, returning to the original body, transforming into a mindless, anger-filled, and frenetic killing machine. "Qi Burst Technique", Threshold: Refining Profound Third Layer; 5 years to perfect; 24 years to derive single mutation magic "Evil Burst Technique"; 527 years to derive secondary perfect mutation magic "Evil Tide Skill". Qi Burst Technique compared to Qi Arrow Technique has notable increases in power, differing just like the difference between "cannon" and "bow arrow", while "Evil Tide Skill" is a technique that can transform into something akin to a "River God" within an Evil Land. Evil Qi like a sea, you push Evil into a tide, its power is exceedingly terrifying, not to mention being undefeated at the same level, even surpassing levels is quite normal. "Skin Control Technique", Threshold: Refining Profound Fourth Layer; 6 years to perfect; 33 years to derive single mutation magic "Five-Finger Control Technique", 687 years to derive secondary mutation magic "Ten-Finger Illusion Skin Technique". Normally, disciples practicing Skin Control Technique can only manipulate two shadow puppets, while "Ten-Finger Illusion Skin Technique" not only allows manipulation of ten shadow puppets but can also have the summoned ghosts within them dispersed outward, creating illusions. "Skin Painting Soul Summoning Technique", Threshold: Refining Profound Fourth Layer; 50 years to perfect; 150 years to derive single mutation magic "Skin Painting Slave Soul Technique"; 3020 years to derive secondary perfect mutation magic "Skin Painting Strange Soul Technique". If Skin Painting Soul Summoning Technique still focused on "skin creation, then carefully summoning souls, to prevent backlash from summoned souls", then... "Skin Painting Strange Soul Technique" had reached the level where all summoned souls are directly enslaved, and multiple souls stuffed within a single shadow puppet, transforming the puppet into a "multi-soul skin" grotesque painted skin. "Little Five Elements Silk Binding Hand", Threshold: Refining Profound Fourth Layer; 50 years to perfect; 152 years to derive single mutation magic "Five Elements Hand". Little Five Elements Silk Binding Hand allowed hands to adapt to the Five Elements erosion from Demon Beasts, facilitating long-term skin creation and avoiding becoming crippled. Yet "Five Elements Hand" enables hands to become highly compatible with the Five Elements, disregarding erosion, even if placed over fire or sliced by Flying Sword, no harm befalls them. "Hundred Forms Divine Control", Threshold: Refining Profound Fourth Layer; 75 years to perfect; 400 years to derive single mutation secret technique "Divine Swallowing Hundred Forms"; 8211 years to derive secondary perfect mutation secret technique "Hundred Forms Demon Body". This is truly remarkable. Hundred Forms Divine Control is the Stone Seat Elder’s lifelong research essence, where the divine can merge with shadow puppets and traverse thousands of miles, centered on linking one’s divine soul with the summoned divine souls in the shadow puppets to a certain extent, which is quite dangerous, with the risk of being overwhelmed by the summoned divine souls. But "Divine Swallowing Hundred Forms" allows Song Yan to temporarily swallow all summoned divine souls, momentarily enlarging his own divine soul. "Hundred Forms Demon Body", as the secret technique he spent 8211 years deriving, not only swallows divine souls but can also temporarily swallow the shadow puppets themselves, causing his body to reach a terrifying level, becoming the "Hundred Forms Demon Body". ... ... After a set of frenzied calculations concluded. Song Yan swept away. This time, he directly consumed 15,281 years of lifespan. His lifespan changed from "[Lifespan: 22/17,956]" to "[Lifespan: 22/2,675]". To be honest, he couldn’t deduce any further, and the "Little Five Elements Silk Binding Hand" had only achieved a single mutation in deduced evolution, not yet reaching a secondary perfect mutation. But this was already the limit of Song Yan’s ability to "transform potential", and the gift from Elder Shi was almost completely digested by him. Though time spent was over ten thousand years, external conditions greatly limited the possibility of enhancement, which Song Yan understood very well. It’s similar to locking an ordinary person in a study room where they won’t starve or die of thirst but have nothing else at hand. Even after ten thousand years, they won’t become superhuman because of this. Beast evolution for millions of years still results in beasts. If humans hadn’t happened to stand upright freeing their hands, hadn’t happened to learn to use tools, they would also be beasts. The world... there’s always similarity. Time itself won’t make one stronger. Ten thousand years, a million years, ten million years, none of these will. This time, he spent almost all of his accumulated years. Glancing at the panel. The panel changed significantly: [Name: Song Yan] [Lifespan: 22/2,675] [Talent: Remaining Life Dao Fruit] [Realm: Refining Profound Sixth Layer] [Spirit Root: Inferior Ghost Profound Root (can be deduced with lifespan)] [Cultivation Technique: Profound Qi Guiding Technique (can be deduced with lifespan)] [Magic] Hundred Forms Demon Body (Perfection) (Secondary Perfect Mutation) Skin Painting Strange Soul Technique (Perfection) (Secondary Perfect Mutation) Five Elements Hand (Perfection) (Single Mutation) Ten-Finger Illusion Skin Technique (Perfection) (Secondary Perfect Mutation) Evil Tide Skill (Perfection) (Secondary Perfect Mutation) Ghost Slayer Soul Revival Technique (Perfection) (Secondary Perfect Mutation) Condensing Evil and Controlling Profound Technique (Perfection) (Secondary Perfect Mutation) Torrential Rain Evil (Perfection) (Secondary Perfect Mutation) ... ... Morning sunlight penetrated through the bare tree gaps in the jungle, falling onto the ground. After a night of enlightenment, he didn’t realize the sky had turned bright. The gift from Elder Shi only left the storage ring. But the things Song Yan comprehended himself already far surpassed the "mantle" within the storage ring, which can’t even be described as "out of blue and beyond blue", but rather feels like stepping directly from the Stone Age into an industrial revolution. The youth didn’t sleep all night, yet felt refreshed, and the previous night’s panic, as if a bug avoiding celestial thunder, was greatly diluted by the increase in strength. A look of contemplation began to appear in his eyes. Although Puppet Sect and Nanwu Sword Sect reached a "truce agreement", Song Yan deeply understood one thing: between these two sects, with so many people killed, and even that True Man Chixia was killed by Puppet Sect decades ago... such deep enmity is not something a mere "truce agreement" can influence. The "truce agreement" at most maintains peace on the surface, meaning "big figures don’t act, but if someone below acts and it gets exposed, then just shrug it off and drink three cups as self-punishment." In fact, if someone below seizes an opportunity, they’ll kill regardless because... unnoticed, unknown. And these little demon bastards among them would very likely become Nanwu Sword Sect disciples’ training objects. He was still near the Puppet Sect, in a safe zone. But if he fully enters Western Shu, perhaps... danger will come. He doesn’t fear trouble now, but doesn’t want to get caught in this needless kill. "Hidden in Jianghu, posing as a Jianghu person, peacefully crossing these five years, while figuring out a way to explore the Independent Cultivator Market outside and seeing if he can find another opportunity for further advancement" is his best choice. Song Yan turned to look at the carriage. In the carriage, Miss Qiu and the Princess Consort were still asleep, and "Fanatic Fans" hadn’t been used on them for a while...