Longevity: Comprehending the Heart Method

Song Changsheng was like a child with a new toy, working nonstop for three days and three nights with Little Ninth’s help to improve the Qi Refining Introduction.

This so-called improvement was a matter of extracting its essence and discarding the dross.

The problem with this Heart Method was its numerous flaws. The absorption and conversion efficiency of Spiritual Qi was poor, and it lacked explosive power. Only Loose Cultivators would practice it; any Cultivator with a bit of savings would choose a better one.

One would think that with so many flaws, improving it would be easy. But imagination is a beautiful thing, and reality is harsh. Even improving the most basic Dao-Entering Heart Method was an incredibly difficult task.

Often, fixing one problem would create three new ones.

In the process, Song Changsheng also discovered a problem: although Little Ninth’s core contained a massive collection of scriptures, it couldn’t provide much help when it came to improving the Heart Method.

The era Song Changsheng lived in was far too removed from the age of the Heaven-Supporting Sword Immortal. The long river of time had changed too much.

The few Heart Methods it selected for Song Changsheng’s reference matched the Qi Refining Introduction in type and tier, but they were even cruder in comparison. It made Song Changsheng find it hard to believe these were Heart Methods recorded in the Creation Wondrous Scripture.

In short, the times were always progressing, and Little Ninth had fallen a bit behind.

"When I absorb Spiritual Qi, there’s a stinging sensation in my Du Meridian. The Spiritual Power conversion efficiency is a bit higher, but the explosive power is worse than before."

After practicing one Grand Circulation with the modified Qi Refining Introduction, Song Changsheng resignedly reached this conclusion. This was already version three, and it still hadn’t achieved the effect he was hoping for.

"My apologies, Master." The situation left Little Ninth feeling a bit awkward. It had been asleep for a very long time and had never imagined the current era would have progressed so far.

"You don’t need to apologize. I should have realized this sooner." Song Changsheng had already come to terms with it. The Cultivation Realm had been developing for so many years; any Heart Method Divine Technique that survived to this day had been sifted and refined time and time again.

The fact that the Qi Refining Introduction hadn’t been eliminated by now naturally meant it had its merits.

This incident made Song Changsheng understand one thing: the saying that "the past is better than the present" was pure bullshit.

After so many years of development, everything from the Hundred Skills of Cultivation to Heart Method Divine Techniques had been slowly but continuously improving. If they still couldn’t surpass the antiques from countless eons ago, then everyone might as well just go hang themselves from the nearest crooked tree.

"Say, Little Ninth, the sophistication of this Yin Yang Profound Flower Scripture far surpasses the Tier Three Heart Method my family has collected. Who wrote it?"

Most of the techniques Song Changsheng currently practiced were from the Creation Wondrous Scripture. He didn’t know if they were considered the best in the world, but they were definitely exceptionally high-level techniques. Their origins were likely anything but simple.

Sure enough, Little Ninth’s next words confirmed his suspicions.

"The Water and Fire Manipulation Technique and the Yin Yang Profound Flower Scripture were both created by the Black and White Venerable. He was one of the greatest Great Powers of that era.

"The Five Beasts Body Forging Technique was created by the Venerable Beast Tamer, an existence of equal renown to the Black and White Venerable."

A realization dawned on Song Changsheng. ’It’s just as I thought. I’m practicing the absolute best of the best. Little Ninth probably doesn’t have many techniques of this caliber in its collection.’

"By the way, can you find some teachings for me on the Array Dao?" He suddenly wanted to know the difference between the ancient and modern Array Dao.

"Would Tier Three be acceptable?"

"Yes."

Soon, an Array Dao teaching called the Array Record flooded into Song Changsheng’s mind.

He had barely read the introduction when he almost jumped to his feet, exclaiming in shock, "This is how Array Masters set up Array Formations in your era?"

Little Ninth: "..."

If Little Ninth hadn’t been the one to pick it out, he would have suspected it was a prank. The Array Formation methods inside were incredibly crude—no Array Banners, no Array Foundation, and a failure rate as high as seventy percent!

Song Changsheng couldn’t even fathom such a failure rate. Even the most ordinary Array Master nowadays wouldn’t have a failure rate higher than thirty percent.

But as crude as it was, it wasn’t without its merits. For example, it recorded that using refined Demon Beast Essence Blood to draw Array Patterns could double the effect with half the effort.

Song Changsheng tried the method as described and found it to be true. The Array’s strength increased significantly, but the Array Patterns drawn with Essence Blood floated on the surface and gave off a strong, bloody scent. This drastically reduced the Array’s stealth. He would have to rethink it before it could be used in actual combat.

There were also some other records about Array Patterns that gave Song Changsheng a fresh perspective.

’Although most of it is outdated, it’s not entirely without merit.’ Song Changsheng nodded to himself. Even if there was a lot of dross, he could still squeeze out some essence to deepen his own foundation.

So, the ancient wasn’t necessarily worse than the modern, and the modern wasn’t necessarily better than the ancient.

As long as something had its strengths, Song Changsheng didn’t mind putting it to use...

Song Changsheng wrestled with the Qi Refining Introduction for another seven days. He finally took the first successful step, increasing its speed of Spiritual Qi absorption and conversion. While its explosive power hadn’t improved, the result met his initial expectations.

"Master, the modified Heart Method needs to undergo extensive testing to uncover any other hidden problems," Little Ninth reminded him at the opportune moment.

"Are you suggesting I find a few guinea pigs?" Song Changsheng asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The Demon Race is not suited to practicing the techniques of Human Race Cultivators, Master."

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