Why is My System Glitching
Chapter 152: Spirit Swallowing Technique

Chapter 152: Spirit Swallowing Technique

Ruru blinked, her face twisting in disbelief. "...What?" The request was bizarre—unthinkable, even, a breach of sect decorum—cultivators guarded their techniques like lifeblood. Yet the gravity in his eyes left no room for doubt, silenced her protest. After a heartbeat, she exhaled, her voice shaky but yielding. "... Fine. Alright. I’ll tell you."

Ruru’s voice, weak but precise, cut through the tension. "My core technique is the same as yours—the Outer Sect’s standard Bone Tempering Art." She listed her skills with the efficiency of a seasoned cultivator, her blood-streaked face taut with focus. "For combat, I’ve mastered the Blood Burning Technique for desperate fights—it’s a martial spell I’d risk my life on, boosting my strength at critical moments. My Footwork Art is the Cloud Walking Rain Step, paired with my Spooky Serpent Seven Whips just perfect. And I’ve cultivated the Spirit Swallowing Technique..."

Lordi’s mind sifted her words like a blade through silk. The Bone Tempering Art was too basic, useless against the array’s grip. The Blood Burning Technique gave him pause—he recalled its entry in the Pavilion of Myriad Arts. It demanded Blood Qi Pills, common among Abyss Pit disciples but beyond his reach now. Getting them meant either attacking Ruru or returning to the Hanz Estate to rob their sect comrades—a death sentence either way, especially with the AwfulOS system’s retard influence lurking in his mind.

"Forget that," he muttered under his breath, dismissing both options.

His focus sharpened when Ruru mentioned the Cloud Walking Rain Step. "Senior Sister," he said, his voice urgent, eyes locking onto hers, "what exactly does this footwork art require when cultivate? Elixir pills, cultivation materials, special environments—be thorough."

Ruru’s brow creased at his intensity, but she answered without hesitation, her voice steady despite her wounds. "The Cloud Walking Rain Step is an elusive Outer Sect footwork art, mimicking the fleeting grace of clouds and the unpredictable patter of rain. It lets you move with ethereal lightness, weaving through attacks with near-intangible precision. Each step flows like water, evading strikes and repositioning effortlessly, confounding enemies with mirage-like agility. Mastery requires acute spatial awareness and a calm mind—one misstep breaks the rhythm, leaving you vulnerable. Legends say adepts can cross battlefields untouched, dancing between raindrops."

She paused, then added, "It demands a high-grade movement technique foundation and daily meditation to attune your spirit energy to the flow of wind and water. The key cultivation material is the Hydro Vibe Pill. Water-attributed treasures—like Aqua Element artifacts, one of the five cosmic elements in the universe—can accelerate mastery, but those are rare. The Hydro Vibe Pill is essential, though."

Lordi’s frown deepened. "Hydro Vibe Pill..." The name was unfamiliar, a blank from his past life. Was it tied to the Aqua Element, a water-attributed treasure? "Are these pills rare?" he pressed, his voice tight.

Ruru shook her head, wincing as she shifted in his grip. "Not rare, but expensive. You can buy them at the Tower of Hundred Treasures, but they cost a fortune in spirit $tones." Her voice dropped, a meaningful edge creeping in. "Shirley Quinn practices the same footwork art. She’d have Hydro Vibe Pills on her."

Lordi’s stomach lurched at Shirley’s name. The image of her half-skeletal form, wreathed in blood mist and malice, flashed in his mind—her warped face sneering with Cade’s stolen features. Stealing from her was suicide, a one-way ticket to a gruesome end. He shoved the thought aside, his jaw clenching. "No way in hell," he growled under his breath, crossing that option off his mental list.

"What about the Spooky Serpent Seven Whips?" Lordi pressed, his voice sharp, eyes locked on Ruru’s face. "What does it need to cultivate?"

Ruru’s gaze flickered, her voice steady despite her wounds. "The soul of a snake demon beast is a must," she said, her tone clipped, as if reciting from memory. "It’s the core of the technique—binding the whip’s strikes to the beast’s ferocity."

Lordi’s heart sank, his frown deepening. His mind flashed to the ancestral shrine, where he and the Thorn Squad had faced a big swarm of vengeful wraiths—countless twisted forms, including the writhing souls of snake demon beasts. Cultivating the Spooky Serpent Seven Whips would mean the AllFullOS system dragging him back to that haunted nightmare, its spectral jaws waiting to snap shut. "No chance in hell," he muttered, shoving the thought aside.

"Then the Spirit Swallowing Technique," Lordi said, his voice low, urgent. "What does it take to cultivate?"

A cold wave of dread washed over Lordi. If all of Ruru Rosa’s techniques can be mastered within this damned array... The unspoken conclusion hung heavy between them - they might never escape the Gloomwater Phantom Lily Array’s grasp.

Ruru’s breath hitched as she studied Lordi’s darkening expression. The tension was contagious - her pulse quickened, a sinking feeling pulling at her chest. For a moment, the cherry blossom-scented air seemed to grow thicker, harder to breathe.

Then, with a quiet sigh that carried years of regret, she began speaking. "Hmph..." Her voice caught slightly as unpleasant memories surfaced. "This Spirit Swallowing Technique..." A bitter smile touched her lips. "I was fooled into learning this, you know."

Ruru’s voice turned sharp, laced with old resentment. "At that time, I’d just joined the Holy Sect, barely a novice, when I followed some senior brothers and sisters on an Outer Sect task. At the end, they handed me this martial spell as my ’share’ of the reward. They swore it was a wise choice, said it’d let me absorb and swallow a rival’s spirit energy for my own use. Sounded fierce, powerful. I believed them—chose it over proper compensation, gave up other rewards."

She shook her head, her eyes distant, voice growing colder. "But it’s flawed. Casting is fragile, easily disrupted. Worse, the absorbed energy isn’t yours—it muddies your own spirit energy, causing chaotic cultivation aftermath. It festers inside you, like poison in your veins, unless you purify it." Her jaw tightened. "Those ’kind’ seniors included Pure Spirit Pills with it, essential for refining the energy. But the pills ran out in months, and I was too naive to see their greed. I should’ve sold the spell at the grand market for spirit stones the moment I understood its flaws."

Her shoulders slumped, the weight of the memory raw. "Now? It’s just another chain from my stupidity."

Ruru’s techniques had been a dead end so far, but the Spirit Swallowing Technique, flawed as it was, sparked a flicker of possibility.

"Senior Sister," Lordi said, his voice low and deliberate, eyes fixed on Ruru’s pale, blood-streaked face, "can we find these Spirit Cleansing Pills within the Hanz Clan Estate?"

Ruru shook her head, confusion flickering in her eyes at his relentless questions. "Impossible," she said, her tone weary but certain. "The Spirit Swallowing Technique and its Spirit Cleansing Pills came from a senior cultivator’s seclusion grotto in the wilds. The owner was long dead, and his jade slip claimed the martial spell was his unique creation, the elixir pills his own recipe. I retrieved the jade slip and a few dozen Spirit Cleansing Pills from that cave."

She sighed, her voice tinged with regret. "I planned to have an alchemist from Alchemy Peak analyze the elixir’s ingredients once I’d used them up, but this martial spell proved useless—too flawed to bother with. I abandoned the idea. I still have a dozen or so Spirit Cleansing Pills back at my courtyard on Raven Silk Peak."

Lordi’s eyes lit up, a spark of hope cutting through the dread. The Spirit Swallowing Technique, for all its faults, was a lifeline. He didn’t care about its combat value—escape from the Gloomwater Phantom Lily Array was all that mattered. And the pills, crucially, were outside the array’s reach, safe in the sect.

Ruru let out a slow breath, her pulse quickening inexplicably as she met Lordi’s intense gaze. The words left her lips before she could question them: "Lordi-kun... if you truly want this technique..." A strange warmth crept up her neck as she continued, "All the remaining pills are yours—if we make it back to the sect alive."

"Perfect," Lordi murmured, his voice steady with newfound resolve. He met Ruru’s gaze, urgency sharpening his words. "Senior Sister, please could you kindly teach me this Spirit Swallowing Technique. Now."