"Heyuan Spirit Swallowing, ranked Second-Tier top-grade."
"An explosive cultivation secret technique."
"Once used, it can actively expand the meridians throughout the body, forcibly absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
"The speed of spiritual energy absorption skyrockets in a short time, making it suitable for secluded cultivation to break through bottlenecks."
"Even Foundation Establishment cultivators can make use of it."
"The drawback is also obvious: after the secret technique ends, the meridians will be sore and swollen, rendering one unable to continue cultivating."
"Frequent use will damage the meridians, making it extremely easy to suffer qi deviation when attempting a breakthrough."
At this point, Ye Hao could not help but look at Jiang Ci. "Senior Sister Jiang, your secret technique is very powerful, but the difficulty of cultivating it is also high. Do you really need it?"
"With your talent, even breaking through to Foundation Establishment on your own strength should be very simple."
If Ye Hao's perception was not mistaken, Jiang Ci before him was at most a year or two older than him, looking only seventeen or eighteen.
At such an age, she was already a Seventh-Layer Qi Refinement cultivator.
Becoming a Foundation Establishment cultivator should be quite simple for her.
Why spend more time learning this secret technique?
"I have my own secrets and can't tell you," Jiang Ci replied in a low, hushed voice.
"Alright, once I learn it, I'll teach you."
Seeing that she was still unwilling to say more, Ye Hao did not press any further.
Ye Hao himself possessed a low-grade spirit root, so even in the Qi Refinement realm, he frequently encountered bottlenecks.
Now, he only needed to learn this Heyuan Spirit Swallowing.
When the time came, he could forcibly break through bottlenecks with it.
It might even boost his chances of a successful Foundation Establishment.
"Then thank you very much, Junior Brother Ye. You can learn this secret technique as well—it can serve as your reward."
"I still have things to do, so I'll take my leave first."
Seeing Ye Hao nod in agreement, Jiang Ci gave an excited nod and bounded away happily.
She came quickly and left just as fast.
"Let me see."
Ye Yu did not act like an outsider at all, directly taking the secret technique book from Ye Hao's hands.
Yet after looking at it for a long while, he still did not have the slightest clue.
"As expected, I really don't have this kind of talent."
Ye Yu felt a bit troubled and handed the secret technique back to Ye Hao.
The Lesser Spirit Rain Technique Ye Hao had taught him earlier had taken him several months just to get the hang of, barely reaching the first layer.
While the secret technique in Ye Hao's hand was dozens of times more difficult than the Lesser Spirit Rain Technique.
"By the way, I'm going demon hunting with Siyu in a couple of days."
"Ye Hao, do you want to come along?"
Suddenly, as if remembering something, Ye Yu looked at Ye Hao beside him.
Ye Hao merely shook his head gently. "You guys go. Stay safe."
Ye Yu and Liu Siyu had both reached Third-Layer Qi Refinement by now.
As long as they did not venture too deep into the mountain range or provoke powerful demon beasts, they could ensure their own safety.
Hunting low-tier demon beasts on the outer edges earned them no less than what they made in the spirit fields.
However, Ye Hao did not care for such small earnings.
So he was too lazy to go with them.
"Liu Siyu insisted that I remind you, but I already said you wouldn't go."
"Looking at it now, it turned out exactly as I expected."
Ye Yu shrugged helplessly.
Ye Hao patted his shoulder. "Still, be careful—especially around humans."
Many disciples who went demon hunting died at the hands of their own kind before they even saw a demon beast.
This was also something Ye Hao did not want to see, which was why he repeatedly reminded him.
"I understand."
Ye Yu nodded.
He was not stupid either; he naturally understood that the minds of many humans were a hundred times more venomous than demon beasts.
...
Early the next morning, Ye Yu and Liu Siyu left the Baiyun Sect.
They headed to the nearby mountain range to hunt demon beasts.
"I don't need to tend to the spirit field for now, so I can make a trip to Baiyun City."
Ye Hao stood at the door of his wooden cabin, lost in thought.
The person from Duobao Pavilion had mentioned that auctions were occasionally held in Baiyun City.
Those auctions featured many good things.
Last time, he had bought a flying sword in the market.
If he flew directly to Baiyun City like this, it would not take very long either.
However, there was an even faster way.
Within the Baiyun Sect, there was a Third-Tier teleportation array.
Although it was a bit expensive, it could reach Baiyun City in just a dozen breaths' time.
Measuring three zhang in diameter, the array platform used heavy profound spirit stones as its base, engraved with intricate dark-gold spatial spirit runes, and a high-grade spatial spirit crystal was embedded in the array eye to maintain the spatial passage.
When activated, golden light flowed across the entire array pattern, and a translucent spatial light membrane emerged in the center; stepping inside wrapped one in spatial power, teleporting them to the other end.
"There are quite a few people."
When Ye Hao arrived, he found many people waiting by the teleportation array.
"Heading to Baiyun City?"
The steward in charge of the teleportation array wore a dark brownish-green uniform.
He glanced casually at the attire on Ye Hao's body, but did not say much, merely asking indifferently.
In the Baiyun Sect, anything could happen.
Currently, among the higher-ups of the Baiyun Sect, several Foundation Establishment cultivators had risen from handyman disciples, so he did not dare look down on anyone.
After all, his predecessor had offended a handyman disciple during his tenure, and that handyman disciple later cultivated painstakingly for many years to finally become a Foundation Establishment cultivator.
Afterward, the predecessor inexplicably vanished, allowing him to take over the position.
"Yes, I need to go to Baiyun City."
Ye Hao hastily nodded in response.
"Thirty low-grade spirit stones per trip."
The steward held up three fingers and looked at Ye Hao.
A Third-Tier teleportation array consumed three hundred low-grade spirit stones for every activation.
Charging thirty low-grade spirit stones per person meant that at least ten people had to be transported each trip just to break even.
However, to maximize profit, the sect crammed in as many as possible each time.
The more people per trip, the better.
"Steward, here are my spirit stones."
Ye Hao pulled out thirty low-grade spirit stones and placed them in the steward's hand.
"Get on."
With a wave of his hand, the steward swept the spirit stones into his storage bag, nodded slightly, and signaled for Ye Hao to step up.
Once Ye Hao stepped onto the teleportation array,
he realized that the surrounding crowd consisted entirely of either outer disciples or inner disciples.
The outer disciples were fine; the looks they gave him were relatively friendly.
As for the inner disciples, Ye Hao could not catch their expressions clearly, since they had only glanced at him when he walked over before averting their gaze.
In the next second, they raised their gazes to the sky.
With their eyes in the sky, they did not care for him in the slightest.
Naturally, Ye Hao could not see their eyes.
"Brother, I thought I was the only handyman disciple on this trip! I didn't expect you to come up too!"
An excited voice sounded near Ye Hao's ear.
Ye Hao hastily followed the sound and saw a disciple wearing the same handyman robes walking slowly over.
Seeing this, the outer and inner disciples scattered out of the way as if avoiding the plague.
Afraid of catching something.
Only when the person drew near did Ye Hao realize why they were reacting with such aversion.
A faint foul odor emanated from him.
"Brother, what's with the smell on you?"
Unable to bear it any longer, Ye Hao could not help but ask.
"I'm at Spirit Beast Peak, responsible for cleaning up the spirit beast dung."
"Actually, I love being clean and wash every day, but this smell just won't dissipate."
"If you really mind it, Brother, I'll step a bit farther away."
Lu Jie scratched his head awkwardly. Earlier, he had only thought about how they were both handyman disciples and wanted to chat, completely forgetting about the smell on himself.
He hastily apologized as well.
His words drew snickers from some of the nearby disciples.
"It's fine, just stay a distance away."
Ye Hao nodded helplessly.
Lu Jie stopped after creating some distance, then looked at Ye Hao and said, "Brother, let me introduce myself properly. I'm Lu Jie, a handyman disciple from Spirit Beast Peak."
"Ye Hao, a handyman disciple from Spirit Farmer Peak."
Ye Hao replied in kind.
The Spirit Farmer Peak he was on was a branch peak, relying under the main Spirit Plant Peak.
"By the way, how do you usually dispose of all that spirit beast dung you clean up?"
Ye Hao suddenly thought of the composting methods back on Earth.
If it worked on Earth, it should work in this world too, right?
Besides, he wanted to see whether composting with spirit beast dung would produce even better results.
"Mostly just buried. Why do you ask?"
Lu Jie looked at Ye Hao with a furrowed brow.
For a moment, he could not fathom why this person was asking about it.
"Cough, cough. After we get back this time, bring a cartload of dung over to my place."
"When the time comes, I'll pay you one low-grade spirit stone per cartload."
Ye Hao lowered his posture and spoke softly.
"Uh, alright."
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