Chapter 485: Chapter 479: A Promising Future

After receiving Du Youqian’s subtle yet brilliant warning, True Monarch Zhaoxiang Guangde no longer dared to harbor any ulterior motives, let alone test him again. He obediently played the part of a proper host.

Du Youqian didn’t say much to him, either. If True Monarch Zhaoxiang Guangde were to bring up the topic of powerful figures, Du Youqian wouldn’t even know who he was talking about. Though he could bluff his way through, the more one says, the more likely one is to make a mistake. There was no need to take on unnecessary risk.

When Deng Maoyu was brought before him, kowtowed respectfully, and called out "Master," Du Youqian took the man and gracefully departed.

After picking up Little Monkey, Du Youqian wasn’t in a hurry to leave the lake region. Instead, he took his time to appreciate the local culture and scenery.

He then began explaining to Deng Maoyu the new Cultivation Technique he would have to practice for his impending Scattering and Re-Cultivation.

That’s right. What Du Youqian had prepared for him was the Supreme Cave Truth Nine Revolutions and Nine Transformations Celestial Dance Scripture.

’You’re a Celestial Spirit Root Cultivator. If you don’t practice this, what else would you even consider?’

It wasn’t that the Supreme Cave Truth Nine Revolutions and Nine Transformations Celestial Dance Scripture was just a little stronger than other Scripture-level Cultivation Techniques.

Du Youqian wasn’t that naive.

The Supreme Cave Truth Nine Revolutions and Nine Transformations Celestial Dance Scripture was far, far stronger than other Scripture-level Cultivation Techniques!

A Cultivation Technique is evaluated along multiple dimensions.

These include the ultimate heights one can reach, the difficulty of comprehension and practice, compatibility with various Spirit Roots, the speed of Cultivation, any associated Magic, the strength of Divine Abilities one might comprehend through the technique, and its impact on the growth of one’s physical body, Divine Sense, and Magical Power.

The Supreme Cave Truth Nine Revolutions and Nine Transformations Celestial Dance Scripture was, without a doubt, the most difficult Cultivation Technique Du Youqian knew of.

Bar none.

Even the Supreme Purity Emotion Scripture was far less difficult to practice than the Supreme Cave Truth Nine Revolutions and Nine Transformations Celestial Dance Scripture.

One should not underestimate Du Youqian’s breadth of knowledge. The number of Scripture-level and Decision-level Cultivation Techniques he had encountered was likely beyond anyone’s imagination.

A Cultivation Technique so arduous that it required dissipating one’s skill nine separate times—a total of Nine Transitions—before one could break through to the Void Step Realm... very, very few people in the world could ever hope to master it.

If it weren’t exceptionally powerful, who would even bother to practice it?

Did they really think Cultivators were all masochists who enjoy playing games with the difficulty cranked to the max and a dozen self-imposed restrictions?

If a difficult Cultivation Technique and an easy one both led to the same ultimate achievements, with no difference in Magical Combat prowess, and similar growth for the physical body, Divine Sense, and Magical Power...

...then only a lunatic would choose to practice the harder one!

Even if a more difficult Cultivation Technique was stronger upon mastery, most people would still choose the easier path when considering their personal circumstances and limited lifespan.

But... what about a genius?

What about a genius blessed with both outstanding Spirit Roots and Comprehension?

For these true geniuses, a so-called "difficult" Cultivation Technique... was nothing special.

It was like a star student and an average person taking the same exam.

On an easy test, everyone can score a perfect hundred.

But if the test is a little harder... a struggling student would find it difficult just to pass, while the star student would still score a perfect hundred.

An ordinary person would never choose a Cultivation Technique that required them to repeatedly dissipate their skill nine times, only allowing them to break through to the Void Step Realm after Nine Transitions. Their lifespan simply couldn’t endure such a process!

But for a Cultivator with a Celestial Spirit Root and exceptional Comprehension, such a technique was practically tailor-made for them.

Practicing those less difficult techniques with lower potential was nothing short of a ruthless waste of their talent.

Deng Maoyu was, of course, a reasonable person who could understand this.

He was just concerned that, being nearly a hundred years old, if he underwent Scattering and Re-Cultivation—especially to practice such an incredibly difficult technique—would he have enough time? ’Would his lifespan be sufficient?’

"Of course there’s enough time," Du Youqian told him. "When you undergo Scattering and Re-Cultivation, I, your master, have a Secret Technique that can prevent your Essence, Qi, and Spirit from dissipating completely. With your aptitude, it will only take a dozen or so years after you start over to reach Core Formation. Furthermore, when you dissipate your skill again while practicing the Supreme Cave Truth Nine Revolutions and Nine Transformations Celestial Dance Scripture, the lifespan you gained from reaching the Core Formation Realm won’t be affected. For you, reaching Core Formation a few times repeatedly will be a matter of a few decades at most."

Deng Maoyu didn’t actually have that much confidence in himself, but since his master had said so, he had no choice but to believe him.

Du Youqian truly wasn’t using Deng Maoyu as an experiment.

This boy possessed the extremely rare Wind and Thunder Double Celestial Spirit Roots and, it seemed, some sort of sacred physique. Du Youqian was very much looking forward to seeing what he would become once he matured.

Moreover, Wind and Thunder Dual Spirit Roots were widely acknowledged as one of the best for Magical Combat, only a tiny smidgen weaker than the Cosmic Spirit Root.

As long as he comprehended a few more Wind- and Thunder-attribute Divine Abilities in the future, becoming invincible among those in the same realm would not be too difficult.

Of course, he couldn’t be compared to Du Youqian. Du Youqian was a cheat.

Du Youqian was currently in the process of comprehending two Divine Abilities. One was a Cosmic-attribute Divine Ability, and the other was one of the Plague Divine Abilities. Once he mastered them, he wouldn’t fear a one-on-one confrontation even with a Divinity Transformation Cultivator.

When Du Youqian was at the Core Formation Realm, he had been fully confident in his ability to slay Nascent Soul Cultivators.

Now, at the Nascent Soul Middle Stage, he could only claim he "wouldn’t fear" a Divinity Transformation Cultivator. This wasn’t because he had grown weaker.

Instead, the further one progressed, the harder it became to bridge the gap between realms with Secret Techniques, Divine Abilities, or Sword Fighting prowess. Fighting opponents in higher realms grew progressively more difficult.

With every step up a realm, one’s understanding of the Great Dao deepened. In their hands, even the same Divine Ability could be used to turn the mundane into the miraculous.

A genius Foundation Establishment Cultivator slaying someone at Core Formation, or a genius Core Formation Cultivator slaying someone at Nascent Soul—while rare, such events still occurred from time to time.

But a Nascent Soul Cultivator slaying a Divinity Transformation Cultivator?

In all his years in the Human World, after reading countless records and hearing plenty of gossip, Du Youqian had never once heard of such a thing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Until they found a suitable location, Du Youqian had no intention of letting Deng Maoyu immediately begin Dissipating his Skill.

They lingered among the various islands of the lake region, taking in the local sights and culture.

Then they boarded a Flying Boat and journeyed eastward.

On the road, Du Youqian would sometimes continue to explain the Supreme Cave Truth Nine Revolutions and Nine Transformations Celestial Dance Scripture to Deng Maoyu, and other times he would lecture him on Arrays.

Deng Maoyu’s talent for Arrays was very likely even greater than Du Youqian’s own.

But this was nothing to be envious or jealous of. In the past, Du Youqian had met many Cultivators whose talents in Arrays, Artifact Refining, Alchemy, Puppets, or Talismans surpassed his own.

But now, they were all dead.

In their entire lifetimes, their skills in those Cultivation Techniques never managed to break through Tier Three.

Most Cultivators, in their race to break through to the next realm before their lifespan ran out, could not afford to spend too much energy on auxiliary Cultivation Techniques.

Conversely, if one became obsessed with these auxiliary skills, though their proficiency would improve rapidly, they would likely miss the optimal window for their primary Cultivation, fail to advance, and die full of regret when their time ran out.

Geniuses like True Monarch Zhaoxiang Guangde were exceedingly rare. To have mastered three Tier Six skills while at the Divinity Transformation Realm—it was no wonder the Human Alliance Beichen Pavilion had entrusted him with the Garrison of Shaoze Mansion. He was akin to a regional hegemon, truly a man of exceptional abilities.

Yet even he had no hope of mastering Tier Seven skills unless he broke through to the Void Step Realm.

And could he break through to the Void Step Realm?

The chances were high, but it was not a certainty.

’As for Du Youqian? If I can’t do it in this life, there’s always the next.’

’If not the next, then the one after that.’

’Eventually, in one of my lives, I’ll reach Tier Six Void Step, then Tier Seven Harmonization, and even higher realms beyond that.’

Therefore, Du Youqian was confident that he would one day be able to raise all of his Cultivation Techniques to Tier Seven, Tier Eight, and even Tier Nine.

The ability to reincarnate endlessly meant he could be just that willful.

Thus, in addition to teaching the Cultivation Technique and explaining Arrays, Du Youqian also spent a great deal of time getting to know Deng Maoyu. He wanted to confirm that the boy’s disposition was worth nurturing and that he had the potential to go far.

After all, aside from a "cheat" like himself, other Cultivators truly didn’t have many opportunities to make mistakes.

This was true even for someone with Double Celestial Spirit Roots like Deng Maoyu.

He could very well take a wrong turn, become fixated on an unsolvable problem, and die filled with regret.

Throughout history, not every cultivator with a Celestial Spirit Root managed to achieve Nascent Soul Formation.

Their chances were simply a little higher, that’s all.

Some provoked the wrong people and died young. Some had an unsteady Dao Heart and were led astray, their minds thrown into chaos. And others simply took a wrong turn and became fixated on a dead end.

After several months of observation, Du Youqian determined that the boy had no major character flaws. His future was promising.

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