Gu Jinlai was keenly aware there was a problem.
The Heaven and Earth Qiankun Map was in the hands of the Demon Refining Hall, which was the foundation of their ability to attract extraordinary talents from around the world.
Such incidents where a rewards description caused the wrong treasure to be bestowed were not unheard of, but they were rare.
Even rarer was a mistake where someone sought a Refining God Technique, only to be given a Heavenly Master Refining God Skill instead.
But what could he do, knowing there was a problem?
Zhang Xiu was at the Refining God Realm, and there were three Hugging Pill disciples even harder to deal with than Zhou Yunyi.
Besides, he was one of the three Hall Masters of the Demon Refining Hall, in charge of resource channels; there were plenty of Hugging Pill cultivators eager to curry favor with him.
A tiger that falls flat on the plains is bullied by dogs.
Yet, Zhang Xiu was no dog.
"I can't stay in Changjun City any longer."
Gu Jinlai quickly went to the small courtyard and began to pack, planning to leave as soon as possible.
He observed his own Karma.
The unfortunate events that had been occurring recently were most likely connected to his Karma.
Different realms could suppress different amounts of Karma.
If he had been in the Refining God Realm given the troubles he faced, almost none of these issues would have arisen.
It was precisely because he had fallen to the Hugging Pill stage, and the Hugging Pill level couldn't suppress Karma beyond ten layers, that he felt every step was arduous.
"Among Qi Refinement, Gang Condensation, and Hugging Pill level, few have Karma as thick as blood. Such people usually turn to ash in the face of calamity. Whereas in Refining God and Divinity Transformation, even Primordial Spirit stages, probably most have bright red or dark red Karma. They are powerful, and even when faced with peril, can easily shatter it. Only when Karma becomes blackish-red do they face the danger of calamity."
Gu Jinlai speculated in his heart.
Refining God!
Refining God!
I must acquire a true Refining God Technique as soon as possible and return to the Refining God Realm!
Gu Jinlai froze for a moment while packing.
"The Heavenly Master Lineage's technique of Qi Refining and Divinity Transformation, let me see how much Essence I need to consume to recover my Refining God Cultivation. If it leads to a deficiency of qi and blood, then forget it, but if only a small price is needed to achieve Refining God... then it may not be unacceptable."
He sat down at the desk and opened the Grand Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method.
"All things have spirits, yet humans are the leaders of all those spirits."
That was the first sentence of the Grand Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method.
Mountains have their spirits; waters, woods, and fires have theirs.
Even the white clouds, thunder, wind, snow, rain, and frost above the Sky Dome possess spirituality.
It's just a matter of more or less spirit.
The outside world gossip that the Heavenly Master Path specializes in cultivating the Primordial Spirit is not quite accurate.
The Heavenly Masters cultivate the soul.
The soul, an intangible substance, is profound and ineffable, beyond the reach of ordinary people; thus, the manifested aspects of the soul, such as the Primordial Spirit and Divine Thought, are known to the world.
The techniques of the Heavenly Master Lineage aim to annihilate Demon Spirits by striking directly at the soul.
However, when a Demon Spirit becomes a Devil, its soul merges with flesh, matter, and energy. The soul secret techniques of the Heavenly Master Path retain only one-tenth of their power and can no longer pose a fatal threat to Devils.
In just a short hundred years, the Heavenly Master Lineage was eliminated by history.
Gu Jinlai flipped through the Grand Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method.
This Visualization Method consists of nine layers, one refinement per layer.
By the seventh Great Sun refinement, one's soul would materialize, transforming into the Primordial Spirit, and after nine refinements, the Primordial Spirit would be perfected, touching the path of the Devas.
However, the refining method of this Cultivation Technique...
"Indeed, it uses Essence as fuel and Qi as kindling to ignite the fire of spirit, then uses the Spiritual Fire to transform into a splendid Great Sun, tempering the spirit, like fine iron forged a hundred times, purifying mental consciousness into Divine Thought."
Gu Jinlai sighed.
If he truly followed the Heavenly Master Path, he could only make a living by Artifact Refining and Beast Taming.
He glanced at the Artifact Refining and Beast Taming chapters of the Grand Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method.
"There's actually Treasure Weapon and Spiritual Artifact forging methods?"
Gu Jinlai's gaze immediately shifted to the Treasure Weapon section.
If he could possess a set of Supreme Treasure Weapons, and fill them with Qingguang's Invisible Sword Qi, he might be able to compete with someone at the Refining God level.
"Treasure Sword Refining Technique… melting and forging Xuan Tie, Winter Iron, and Black Pattern Copper into a sword embryo… Visualize the structure of a Supreme Treasure Sword in the spiritual world, the clearer and more perfect the structure, the better… Once the visualization is complete, infuse the sword embryo with the spiritual essence to awaken its spirit…"
Gu Jinlai paused upon reading this, stunned: "Then the sword embryo will grow and transform on its own into the envisioned form… The more detailed the visualization, and the more spirit is infused, the faster the growth and transformation?"
After reading these sword forging descriptions, he was astounded.
Is this the Heavenly Master's method of sword forging?
I provide the materials, then give you a direction, and then the materials themselves combine and transform into the form I want?
This method of refining...
Is it really proper?
He turned to the Beast Taming section.
The Beast Taming section provided a detailed biological structure of something called a "Combat T-Rex."
A Heavenly Master captures a swift dragon or a similar fierce beast, visualizes the biological structure of a T-Rex, and then guides the swift dragon to grow and transform by infusing it with the spiritual essence of a T-Rex until it becomes one.
That's not all.
The T-Rex consumes minerals as food, turning itself metallic and eventually growing metal armor and claws as tough as Treasure Armor and Treasure Swords, evolving into a Combat T-Rex.
A Combat T-Rex, over ten meters long and weighing tons, charging into battle…
Is simply invincible.
It could break through an army of ten thousand!
Gu Jinlai took a deep breath.
"Although I didn't major in biology, a swift dragon turning into a T-Rex is one thing, they're barely the same species, but growing steel out of flesh and blood, even Darwin would be pressing down his coffin lid."
Gu Jinlai's emotions were turbulent.
Though this world has always been filled with legends of immortals flying and tunneling through the earth, the circles Gu Jinlai mixed with…
Mostly belonged to martial artists.
Yes, martial artists!
Modern body refining, organ refining, and blood exchange not to mention, Qi Refinement, Gang Condensation, Hugging Pill, weren't really considered cultivation.
Even the Divine Thoughts derived from Refining God barely touched upon the divine and mystical.
However, the emergence of the Heavenly Master and spirituality opened a door to transcendence for him.
He flipped back to the first page of the Grand Sun Nine Refinements Visualization Method.
"All things have spirits, and humans are the spiritual leaders of all things."
"With humans coexisting with spirits, creation happens."
"The stronger one's own spirit, the greater the difference between it and the spirits of other things, the more significant the impact during co-spirit."
"Turning snakes into dragons, deer into horses, grass into swords, and stones to gold…"
Gu Jinlai's emotions surged uncontrollably.
These methods were admittedly not much in a direct fight, but their mysteriousness was just like the Immortal Skills of ancient legends.
From Hugging Pill to Refining God is martial arts.
But from Hugging Pill to True Spirit is Immortal Cultivation.
Gu Jinlai's thoughts were wide open.
"Moreover, a Heavenly Master may not be incapable of breaking formations and killing enemies"
Having been in this world so long, with constant dangers under the buff of Karma, leaving no room for anything else, he had nearly forgotten he was a person from Blue Star.
What is Blue Star's slogan!?
Practice leads to true knowledge!
Knowledge…
Gu Jinlai stretched out his hand, spread his fingers, and suddenly clenched them.
"Is power!"
With humans coexisting with spirits, creation happens.
He could completely use the alchemy techniques of the Heavenly Master lineage to create gunpowder cannons and War Machines to break formations and kill enemies.
He would cultivate this Heavenly Master Technique.
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(Just a small chapter to make up the numbers.)