Li Ling put all that nonsense aside and focused his attention on the blank jade slip that Shen Ziyan had given him. Like most cultivation methods engraved in such a material, it radiated some aura representative of its conceptual affixation, which was a black miasma full of a strange intensity.

When he had previously scanned it with his refined spirit sense, he had been slightly rebuffed due to the intensity of the technique. If he had tried to send his loose spirit sense within, he would have definitely been injured for the attempt.

Now, with more time and attention devoted to it, Li Ling was able to break through its barriers and fully engrave the technique in his Sea of Consciousness, closing his eyes to fully digest it. It took over half a day to do so, showing how high level and complicated this cultivation technique was.

When he dug out the true content of this technique, Li Ling almost gasped due to shock at what he was comprehending.

This cultivation technique was called the Dark Star Immortal Art. It was a darkness element yang technique that required one to transform their cultivation towards the power of a star that roiled with black flames that devoured anything they touched, be they opposing elements, matter or energy.

It was exactly the kind of overpowered technique Li Ling would assume a protagonist would possess to rise through their cultivation story, especially since, like most demonic techniques, this one came with the 'devouring' feature that had the 'self-empowerment' sub-ability, meaning you could drain someone else to permanently enhance yourself.

The benefit here was that drained cultivation would be purified by the Dark Star, causing it to hold no impurities and not lose much of its quality and quantity in the conversion, as well as lead to little to no lingering resentment or backlash on the mind.

Its conversion speed was also much faster than typical devouring demonic techniques, allowing you to even have around 0.1% of the Infinite Slaughter System's attrition capabilities if you continuously slaughtered to enhance yourself in an endless fight.

There were too many pros and so few cons to this technique that it was almost unbelievable. Even the best Unique Immortal Arts crafted by the Infinite Slaughter System still had glaring cons that affected Li Ling's ability to use them, like his usage costs, limited effectiveness in certain scenarios, and a chance of backlash if used wrong.

So Li Ling found it a bit hard to believe until he delved a bit deeper, and then understood.

Hah, so that was why that woman gave him this technique so easily, Li Ling thought with a sneer.

Like the Tai Xu Mysterious Method, the Dark Star Immortal Art had a steep requirement in talent, requiring one to possess a mutated darkness element spirit root, a powerful spirit sense, and strong yang elemental power.

Using her higher realm, she likely sensed his use of his refined spirit sense from the Nine Heights Pagoda and his yang elemental power from the Solaris Azure Meditation Mantra, which was Fire Element Yang.

What left Li Ling puzzled was the issue of the darkness spirit root. The darkness element was a mutated element of the five basic elements that formed the basis of the world, being a combination of the Earth Element and the Water Element.

Li Ling had poor earth element talent and his water spirit root was shriveled, not enough to merge and form a darkness spirit root. Then again, if he had a sure chance to cultivate it, Shen Ziyan would not have been so casual and lazy about it, probably seeing him as a possible option.

Li Ling was not stupid enough to believe that he was the only one in the world other than Shen Ziyan who knew about this technique. Even with its stringent requirements, there were more than a few fellows who could meet the basic requirements, so it depended on how far each one got.

As it was, this technique could go up to the Dao Integration level, where the user would have to combine their essence with a female practitioner who cultivates the Bright Moon Immortal Art, a Light Element Yin technique which was the diametric opposite of what this technique was about.

Looking at it like this, the objective of Shen Ziyan was so obvious it was laughable, and interestingly, she seemed to make no move to hide it because all these details were in the technique's overview. Anyone with a brain would be able to make the necessary inferences and conclusions, which Li Ling felt was smart on her behalf.

No one overthought or suspected more than demonic sect disciples, and this obviously demonic technique would need someone with more than room-temperature IQ to practice to reach the necessary level. Such a person would not be easily lured by the seemingly perfect technique and be led by the nose without conflict or consequences later.

So it was best to let the person have an idea of what was going on so they could make their own decision and be more amenable to the 'fusion' that would inevitably come down the line if they wanted to pursue further cultivation.

Heh.

Li Ling grinned as he crushed the jade slip in hand, causing the black miasma to fade away into nothingness with a silent wisp of wind.

Unlike what Shen Ziyan thought, he did not need to cultivate such a technique because its benefits were overshadowed by the Infinite Slaughter System. After feeling it create physiques out of nowhere, Li Ling had come to understand that his best bet was to find an absurdly powerful cultivation technique with such impossible requirements that it would need a miracle to occur in one person.

A mere Dao Integration technique with obvious barbs was not worth his time. That was on top of the fact that this technique was not heavily combat-capable, but was more of an auxiliary method that enhanced cultivation speed and provided some covert methods for sneaking about and assassinations.

Like the Solaris Azure Meditation Mantra, his qi cultivation technique must absolutely be one that either complements his Blood Asura Descent or covers its weaknesses in combat.

For that, Li Ling had already shortlisted techniques in the Whispering Blood Wing that had caught his eyes these past few days, ranked in order of power versus the cost in terms of sect merits.

The fifth highest was the Sumeru Mountain Law, which was an earth element technique that boasted extreme defense and resilience. As long as one was standing on the ground, they could basically draw out nearly endless spiritual power to keep themselves going in a battle of attrition, something that only those at Dao Integration who had mastered the Earth Law could achieve. This technique cost 35,000 Blood Credits for the Core Formation stage of the technique, and Li Ling was considering it.

The fourth highest on his list was the Void Limitless Sutra, a space element technique that was more of an all-rounder. Naturally, those with natural void spirit roots or void physiques needed something to cultivate that could take advantage of their unique blessing, and this technique was the best among them. It even granted similar abilities to the Tai Xu Mysterious Method, but they were less fleshed out in the cultivation technique as that focused on advancement rather than expertise. It cost 78,000 Blood Credits in the store for just the Core Formation stage, truly eye-gouging.

The third highest was the Soul Splitting Divine Art, a yin element conceptual cultivation technique that required one to Voldemort themselves, splitting into a number of soul clones that cultivated different segments of the technique pertaining to various elements and then refuse to break through to the next realm. This was done for every realm starting from Qi Refinement, and the benefit was a stronger spirit sense at the second realm, strong soul at the fourth realm, and a high chance to enter the seventh realm. It cost 112,000 Blood Credits for the third realm chapter but was notoriously popular among high-level demonic cultivators.

The second highest method in terms of cost was the Pure Yang Supreme Truth, a light-and-fire mixed elemental technique of the yang concept that took to the very extremity of the concept. This was exactly as expected, a technique that was all about power, strength, dominance, and violence, pushing the peak of power without looking back and sacrificing everything for it. If you couldn't kill your foe in a few hits, you would definitely be counter-killed, but then that was very unlikely given the kind of power it granted. This one had a flat price of 150,000 Blood Credits, and even in the overall sect library, it was still one of the most redeemed techniques at each level.

The highest and number one technique Li Ling had been drooling over since he first saw it was the One Line Chaos Art. This was the fabled 'primordial' technique that led to the generation of Grandmist within a cultivator's dantian, allowing them to possess the esoteric chaos energy that existed at the founding of the world. The benefits were limitless, as was the case with most chaos techniques—there were more than a few; Li Ling just honed in on this one—like being able to generate any element, able to practice any art, increase comprehension, increased talent, progeny are born with extremely high talents, and qualification of cultivation, longer lifespan per level, etc.

Despite its whopping cost of 200,000 Blood Credits for the third realm, Li Ling still desired it most for the sole reason that its main effect was for offense and defense, a rare chaos art that wasn't auxiliary. This art focused on the ability of chaos to generate all things, in order to dissolve all things.

In other words, if your attack contained any of the elements in existence, any energy, or even any known concepts, it could be broken down by the One Line Chaos Art into its basic building blocks and absorbed by the user!

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