Chapter 19: The Return to the Primordial Soul Technique

Chapter 19: The Soul-Returning Art

[Beep. Congratulations, host, you have obtained the secret soul cultivation technique “Soul-Returning Art” from an ancient relic in the Vast World.]

“Hiss,” upon hearing the words “soul cultivation secret technique,” Xiao Se involuntarily gasped, inhaling sharply. “It’s actually a method to train the soul and enhance soul power, and it originates from the Vast World. If a Dou Saint-level expert were to learn of this, they would surely resort to killing and pillaging for it. Not to mention those alchemists.”

Exhaling deeply, Xiao Se calmed his excitement and anticipation. A golden light flickered in his hand, and a jade bamboo slip materialized out of thin air. He touched the special runes engraved on its surface, then smiled gently. With a pinch of his thumb and forefinger, he crushed the jade slip into fragments.

A milky white glow silently emerged from the shattered pieces, transforming into a stream of informational energy that flowed into Xiao Se’s mind: [Soul-Returning Art, through communicating with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, refines the strength of the soul.]

Feeling the newfound knowledge within his mind, Xiao Se revealed a satisfied smile. Sitting cross-legged, he formed the cultivation hand seals of the Soul-Returning Art, tempering his soul power, which was not yet very strong.

Two hours later, Xiao Se slowly opened his eyes and stretched comfortably. Although his soul power had not noticeably increased, his spirit was better than ever, as if boundless energy surged through his body.

“Long Kui, come here,” Xiao Se called to Long Kui, who was embroidering nearby.

“Brother, do you need me for something?” Long Kui looked up and noticed Xiao Se had exited cultivation. She carefully put away her embroidery tools into her storage ring, then gracefully approached, linking her arm with his affectionately and smiling.

Xiao Se fondly pinched Long Kui’s fair cheek and smiled. “Brother has a soul cultivation method for you. Try to see if you can practice it.”

As he spoke, Xiao Se extended his index finger, lightly tapping her forehead. Soul power quietly surged forth, transmitting the Soul-Returning Art into her mind.

Feeling the sudden influx of strange information, Long Kui was momentarily stunned. After a brief daze, she regained composure, sat cross-legged, closed her eyes, and formed the same cultivation hand seals as Xiao Se had.

An extraordinary scene unfolded: blue rays of light suddenly appeared all around Long Kui, swirling rapidly. In moments, they formed a small blue whirlwind encircling her.

Witnessing this spectacle, Xiao Se smiled wryly. “It seems this Soul-Returning Art is more suited to Long Kui than to me. It’s extremely fitting for someone in a soul state to cultivate.”

Shaking his head in amazement, Xiao Se decided not to disturb her further. He moved to another corner of the stone chamber, took out his alchemy cauldron, and began refining the Essence-Nourishing Spirit Liquid.

Time passed slowly. Before long, it was the next morning.

Xiao Se opened his eyes and looked at the ten bottles of Essence-Nourishing Spirit Liquid neatly arranged before him. He nodded in satisfaction and murmured, “I suppose I could barely be considered a second-grade alchemist now.”

Yesterday afternoon, Long Kui had entered a state of ethereal meditation. Naturally, Xiao Se had no desire to leave the chamber to practice his Dou techniques; he protected Long Kui while refining pills.

When his Dou Qi was depleted and his body fatigued, he would sit cross-legged on the stone slab, circulating the “Incineration Art” and “Soul-Returning Art” to restore his Dou Qi and soul power.

To his amazement, Xiao Se discovered he could operate both the Incineration Art and the Soul-Returning Art simultaneously. Moreover, after communicating with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth through the Soul-Returning Art, his absorption of Dou Qi sped up significantly compared to before. This thrilled him—it was like obtaining another cultivation cheat code.

“Brother, the Soul-Returning Art you gave me is incredible. The soul power I spent capturing the Beast Flame yesterday has recovered overnight,” Long Kui suddenly opened her beautiful eyes, exited cultivation, and leapt into Xiao Se’s arms, her exquisite face glowing with excitement.

Xiao Se gently nodded and tenderly stroked Long Kui’s head, smiling, “That’s good. Let’s go out.”

“Mm,” Long Kui smiled and nodded.

After leaving the stone chamber’s cave, Xiao Se caught a fat fish in the river beneath the waterfall, solving their breakfast problem. He then practiced body movement and Dou techniques for two more hours, bathed in the river, changed clothes, and headed toward the Mittel Auction House.

Mittel Auction House, Appraisal Room.

Guni, a second-grade alchemist at the Mittel Auction House, stood there with his mouth agape, eyes blank as he stared at the ten jade bottles on the table and the hundreds of jade bottles on the floor.

“The ten bottles on the table are Essence-Nourishing Spirit Liquid; I won’t elaborate on their effects. On the floor to the left are 180 bottles of first-grade pill, Stop Bleeding Powder; to the right, 130 bottles of first-grade pill, Wound Recovery Pill. We will handle their sale for you. All have certain healing properties. The Wound Recovery Pill is somewhat special: it can be crushed into powder and applied externally to wounds, or taken internally to accelerate internal injury recovery,” a hoarse voice explained, snapping Guni out of his trance.

The veteran carefully picked up a jade bottle from the table, sniffed it, then inspected it meticulously with a silver needle. The results shocked him deeply. Each of the ten bottles of Essence-Nourishing Spirit Liquid was of extremely high quality, far surpassing the bottle previously auctioned at an astronomical price by the Garrick family. Several even reached flawless grade.

Flawless meant without the slightest impurity—perfect and complete.

To refine a second-grade pill to flawless quality was something even third- or fourth-grade alchemists found difficult.

Therefore, this person before him was very likely a third-grade alchemist or higher.

Exhaling deeply, Guni turned his head to look at Xiao Se with reverence. “Sir, the quality of these ten bottles of Essence-Nourishing Spirit Liquid far exceeds the previous one. I suggest we promote them for three days before sale; that way, your returns will be maximized. As for the healing pills on the floor, our auction house is willing to purchase the Stop Bleeding Powder at 150 gold coins per bottle and the Wound Recovery Pill at 200 gold coins each. What do you think?”

Hearing this, Xiao Se was slightly surprised. The hoarse voice spoke again, “Aren’t you going to inspect them?”

Xiao Se had no objection to the prices. He vaguely recalled that in the original story, Elder Yao’s Coagulation Powder sold for just over a hundred gold coins per bottle. One hundred fifty for Stop Bleeding Powder and two hundred for Wound Recovery Pill was already a high offer.

“Heh… of course we trust you,” Guni chuckled.

“I wonder how the Dou techniques I entrusted the auction house to collect are progressing,” Xiao Se nodded slightly, steering the conversation.

“As soon as you left last time, I arranged for personnel to rush to the Mittel Auction House headquarters overnight, and the items just arrived this morning. I was worried I couldn’t reach you,” Guni said, clapping his hands.

As soon as the applause faded, the door creaked open. A woman dressed in a red cheongsam, graceful and alluring in figure, entered slowly carrying a silver tray.

(End of chapter)