Crow Immortal
Chapter 24: Spirit Refining Technique

No matter how much one hears, it never compares to seeing it with one’s own eyes. 

A single trip to Green Sprout Market instantly broadened Han Yu’s horizons. 

Witnessing the scale and situation of the entire market firsthand also made him realize that, as a menial disciple like himself, even if he went to the market, he would only intersect with the bamboo shed area and reed mat area, rarely interacting with outer sect disciples or cultivators of higher cultivation. 

Green Sprout Market wasn’t without danger, but the risk wasn’t nearly as great as he had imagined. 

If needed in the future, being more cautious and prepared, it wouldn’t be impossible to visit again. 

Thinking this through, Han Yu recalled his interaction today with that junk vendor Zhu Lao San—he really didn’t have a single reliable item, which was quite rare. 

The talisman Sister Wei bought earlier that only provided two protections—could it have come from Zhu Lao San? 

With that in mind, Han Yu took out the plain jade slip from his pocket. 

Zhu Lao San’s gimmick of “destined person” had given Han Yu the chance to copy this “bottom-secret” jade slip containing a secret technique. 

Now he could take a look and see what this secret technique was all about and how it might accelerate cultivation. 

Pressing the jade slip against his forehead, after a moment, Han Yu removed it with a subtle expression. 

That Zhu Lao San really was something else—selling useless junk that no one expected, and the things he sold truly had no use at all. 

Inside the jade slip was indeed a secret technique left by a Golden Core realm cultivator. 

The secret technique was called Spirit Refining Technique, meaning refining spiritual roots, turning multiple spiritual roots into fewer, or even a single spiritual root, thereby accelerating cultivation progress and making the cultivator a prodigy. At first glance, it seemed very good, but there was a huge pitfall! 

This Spirit Refining Technique, devised by that Golden Core cultivator himself, was to refine away extra spiritual roots one by one until only one spiritual root remained in the body, thus becoming a cultivation prodigy. 

But the problem was that spiritual roots were determined by birth. Some had none, some had one, some had five, and some had a single spiritual root. This cultivation aptitude was integrated with one’s flesh and blood and basically unchangeable. 

The process of refining away spiritual roots consumed a massive amount of spiritual herbs and materials, which meant constantly damaging one’s own foundation and flesh, ultimately delaying cultivation, weakening the body, making it prone to illness, and shortening lifespan. 

For example, a Qi Refining realm cultivator who refines one spiritual root, reducing from four to three, would likely spend cultivation resources enough to break through to the Foundation Establishment realm; after successfully refining, having lost flesh and lifespan, his cultivation level would fall far behind peers. How meaningful would such an aptitude increase be? 

Weak, sickly, and with a shorter lifespan—could it even cause earlier death than before? Spending an enormous amount of cultivation resources just for such a result? 

If cultivators at Foundation Establishment or Golden Core realms practiced Spirit Refining Technique, they could use the same resources to refine one spiritual root and increase aptitude. Wouldn’t that be better? 

But it didn’t work that way. 

As cultivation advanced, spiritual roots naturally became more tightly integrated with their owner, just like how bones grow naturally as a person grows. 

At Foundation Establishment or Golden Core realms, higher cultivation meant the cost of refining a spiritual root was even greater. 

In short, practicing Spirit Refining Technique from the Qi Refining realm already resulted in heavy losses, and at Foundation Establishment or Golden Core realms, it only worsened, leading to total loss of resources and damage to body and lifespan. 

Moreover, each major realm could only refine one type of spiritual root at most, and the later the refinement, the more resources it consumed. 

Therefore, this secret technique was truly impossible to practice! 

After putting down the plain jade slip, Han Yu felt quite regretful: “Finally found a way to increase cultivation faster, but it can’t be practiced. What a pity.” 

Still somewhat reluctant to give up, he carefully studied the jade slip again and gradually became thoughtful. 

The Golden Core cultivator added a supplement at the end of the Spirit Refining Technique. 

If one could also advance body refining cultivation accordingly, then the flaws of Spirit Refining Technique might be mostly compensated for—the weak body would disappear, and lifespan loss would be completely within tolerable limits. 

Perhaps… this hadn’t been verified yet. 

However, the idea seemed reasonable—since Spirit Refining Technique caused serious body damage, and body refining was meant to strengthen the physique, it could indeed compensate. 

But doing so would require even crazier resources for Spirit Refining cultivation. 

If a Qi Refining realm cultivator wanted to refine one spiritual root at minimal cost, they would need resources enough to cultivate to Foundation Establishment, plus another set of resources to cultivate body refining to Foundation Establishment, plus their own daily cultivation resources. 

In other words, nearly three sets of Foundation Establishment cultivation resources might be needed to try this privately invented secret technique that hadn’t even been verified. 

This resource consumption was truly enormous, and there was the risk of becoming weak and ill, shortening lifespan without the ability to restore the root source. 

Under normal circumstances, no menial disciple would attempt this; even those with wealthy backgrounds would never recklessly try such an unverified and extremely dangerous secret method. 

Han Yu clarified his thoughts and also didn’t attempt it. 

His foundation was too thin, his experience too limited, and he lacked methods for body refining cultivation. Even with a relatively clear idea, he could only wait until conditions were met before trying. 

In the days that followed, Han Yu no longer went to Green Sprout Market with Old Taoist Li. 

He patrolled the spirit fields daily and followed the routine of consuming Mystic Heart Fruit to steadily refine medicinal power and increase spiritual energy, though limited by his four spiritual root aptitude, he reached the absorption limit daily. 

Even so, his cultivation improved every day, the spiritual seed in his dantian increased, becoming rounder and glowing more brightly, signaling he was getting closer to Qi Refining Second Layer. 

During this time, Old Taoist Li no longer invited Han Yu to the market; instead, he got involved with Zhang Shan and a few other menial disciples. Occasionally, Han Yu saw him following Zhang Shan or other menial disciples, nodding and kowtowing as if trying to please them. 

Han Yu was quite familiar with Old Taoist Li and knew he wasn’t kind-hearted or meek—when Steward Wang injured him with Wind Riding Technique, he still harbored resentment. How could he be so friendly with Zhang Shan and the others? 

Recalling that Old Taoist Li had once used living chicken blood nourishment, refined fine horse essence blood, and the essence blood of spirit-stealing mice, Han Yu vaguely guessed something. 

Could it be that the Taoist had already been using people for… 

Thinking of this possibility made Han Yu’s feelings complicated. 

If it was senior disciple Sun Kang, Han Yu would certainly try his best to protect him; as for others, like Zhang Shan who seemed to raise spirit-stealing mice, Han Yu naturally wouldn’t interfere. 

Unconsciously, some time passed again. One night, after consuming Mystic Heart Fruit, Han Yu was cultivating, refining medicinal power, when his entire cycle suddenly accelerated and crossed an invisible threshold. 

Immediately, the spiritual seed in his dantian sprouted a tender bud, and his whole body’s spiritual energy surged by several tens of percent, making him feel comfortable and relaxed. 

Finally, Qi Refining Second Layer!