Chapter 574 - 570: Entry Level in One Day
Chapter 574: Chapter 570: Entry Level in One Day
’Time for lunch.’
Fang Han stood up and stretched his slightly stiff neck before pushing the door open and stepping out.
The sunlight in the courtyard was pleasant, not scorching. Qiu Lan and two maids were waiting under the covered walkway. Seeing Fang Han emerge, she hurried over.
"Senior Brother, lunch has been ready for some time."
Fang Han gave a slight nod and followed her into the side hall.
On the table, several dishes were kept warm under overturned porcelain bowls. When they were uncovered, steam billowed out, carrying a fragrant aroma.
He picked up his chopsticks and began to eat slowly.
Qiu Lan stood by with her hands folded. When she saw he was nearly finished, she asked softly,
"Senior Brother, will you be needing the Quiet Chamber this afternoon?"
"Yes. I need to comprehend a new Secret Technique. Unless it’s an emergency, don’t let anyone disturb me."
Fang Han replied as he ate.
"Yes."
Qiu Lan bowed in acknowledgement.
Fang Han said no more. After finishing lunch, he rose and returned to the Quiet Chamber.
The door latched shut. He once again sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion, the manual for the *Netherworld Guide* already spread open on his lap.
He didn’t look at the text in the manual. He had already committed its contents to memory, where they were branded as clearly as a searing iron.
’Time to begin cultivating!’
Fang Han began his first attempt at Cultivation.
His Inner Qi began to circulate slowly, following the method prescribed by the *Netherworld Guide*. His mind sank into an unprecedented state of focus.
His perception extended outwards like invisible tentacles.
A moment later.
He opened his eyes, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.
He had failed.
The Perception Ability of the *Netherworld Guide* had not been successfully activated.
’Just as I thought. It’s not that easy.’
Fang Han muttered to himself.
The difficulty of cultivating this top-level Tracking Secret Technique was no less than the difficulty of understanding it.
However, the corresponding improvement to one’s tracking ability was also immense.
The tracking ability of *Thousand Mile Soul Lock* only reached a level comparable to the *Spirit Nose Technique* at Perfection after one reached the Minor Achievement realm.
But for the *Netherworld Guide*, its tracking ability at just the Entry Level was comparable to *Thousand Mile Soul Lock* at Perfection.
With such powerful effects, it was only natural that the difficulty of comprehension and cultivation would be proportionally higher.
After adjusting his breathing, Fang Han activated the technique once more.
A second time.
A third.
A fourth.
And then, on the fifth attempt...
HUMMM...
A strange, soft hum resonated from deep within his body.
The sound wasn’t loud, but it felt as though something had been quietly awakened.
Immediately after, a perception entirely different from before spread out silently from him, like an invisible spiderweb.
This was a "perceptual vision" completely different from that of *Thousand Mile Soul Lock*.
Gone was the heavy scent of soil, the coldness of stone slabs, the smell of burnt incense ash...
There was only the aura of "living things."
The aura of Qiu Lan under the walkway outside the door was calm and rhythmic.
The auras of the two maids outside the side hall pulsed with the unique vitality of young women.
Outside the residence, the auras of a few passing servants and disciples were young and vibrant.
In a corner of the courtyard, the aura of a tabby cat curled up sunbathing on the roof tiles was faint and warm.
Everything "alive" manifested within his perception.
As for the tables, chairs, incense burner, door panels, window frames, and even the Quiet Chamber itself—their scents remained, but they could no longer interfere with him.
This was the greatest difference between the *Netherworld Guide* and *Thousand Mile Soul Lock*.
*Thousand Mile Soul Lock* captured all scents and then filtered through them to find a target.
The *Netherworld Guide*, on the other hand, directly filtered out the interference from inanimate objects. It captured only the auras of living beings, minimizing distractions from the very start.
Fang Han carefully savored this new Perception Ability. Although he had just successfully activated it and it still felt raw, its range could not yet compare to the vastness of *Thousand Mile Soul Lock* at Perfection.
But with this completely different method of perception, the interference was significantly reduced, making it incredibly easy to find a desired aura for tracking.
’Truly worthy of a top-level Tracking Secret Technique.’
Fang Han muttered to himself and once again immersed himself in the cultivation of the *Netherworld Guide*.
Over the next few days, he temporarily set aside his cultivation of the *Sky-Splitting Sword Technique*, *Wind God Step*, and *Xuanwu True Skill*, only continuing his morning *Cyan Profound Technique* Inner Qi Cultivation.
He activated the Technique again and again, comprehending the *Netherworld Guide* over and over.
With each activation, he gained new insights.
He could clearly feel his perception range expanding, bit by bit, its precision improving with each passing moment.
When he first successfully activated it, his perception range barely covered a radius of a few dozen yards around the Quiet Chamber.
By the next morning, this range had expanded to nearly half a li.
By the afternoon, his perception had reached a range of several li.
That evening, Fang Han finished dinner and returned to the Quiet Chamber.
He pushed open the window, and the evening breeze rushed in, carrying the chill of the autumn night and the scent of plants. It ruffled the hair on his forehead.
He sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion by the window. Instead of rushing to begin his cultivation, he first closed his eyes and focused for a moment, reviewing the *Netherworld Guide’s* Heart Method Mantra in his mind.
The mantras, the key points of meridian circulation, and the unique method of capturing "auras" instead of "scents"—all of it seemed exceptionally clear under the blessing of his two-hundred-fifty-six-fold Secret Technique Talent Amplification.
HUMMM—
He regulated his breathing and activated the *Netherworld Guide* once more.
The moment he did, a strange sensation surfaced in his mind.
His body stiffened slightly.
His perception range suddenly skyrocketed.
It wasn’t an expansion of dozens or even hundreds of yards, but a sudden leap of several li.
Five li, seven li, nine li, ten li...
Finally, his perception range stabilized at a radius of ten li.
The range and precision of his perception were now identical to that of *Thousand Mile Soul Lock* at the Perfection realm.
He could "see" a gray rabbit several li away, nestled in the grass under a dead tree by a mountain path. Its heartbeat was steady, its aura long and quiet.
He could distinguish a night bird perched on a branch in a bamboo forest, sensing the faint body heat beneath its feathers and the slow circulation of its life force.
He could even detect a True Inheritor in another residence within the True Inheritance Courtyard. The True Inheritor’s aura had entered a stable state, indicating they were likely meditating under a lamp.
Clearly, he had reached the Entry Level for the *Netherworld Guide*.
’It only took a little over a day...’
Fang Han muttered to himself, his voice tinged with an astonishment he himself hadn’t realized was there.
From the moment he began practicing the *Netherworld Guide* to reaching the Entry Level, only a little over a day had passed.
He had originally thought that even with his foundation from *Thousand Mile Soul Lock* at Perfection, it would take at least five or six days to cultivate a top-level Tracking Secret Technique to the Entry Level.
He never expected to succeed in just over a day.
The speed was truly beyond his expectations.
He had underestimated just how terrifyingly efficient his improved Secret Technique Talent was under a two-hundred-fifty-six-fold amplification, all thanks to consuming the Secret Technique Fruit.
...
The night was deep and silent.
Deep in the mountains of the commandery, the pitch-black mouth of a hidden cave was visible in the moonlight.
The entrance was concealed by dense vines and shrubs, making it extremely difficult to find without a deliberate search.
The cave wasn’t spacious, but it was arranged to look quite lived-in.
A few hollows had been chiseled into the stone walls to hold oil lamps and fire starters.
In a corner, several wooden chests were stacked. Their lids were ajar, revealing neatly folded clothes and bedding.
A small iron pot sat on a simple stove made of stacked stones, with half a bag of rice and a few jars of clean water beside it.
It was clear this was no spur-of-the-moment hideout, but a place prepared well in advance.
Yan Wuji sat cross-legged on a relatively flat slab of bluestone inside the cave. He had changed out of his original tattered robes and into a gray one.
He sat with his eyes closed, the violent, blood-red Inner Qi in his body slowly circulating.
Wisps of blood-red light seeped from his body, casting an eerie, crimson glow on the dim cave walls.
The light wasn’t bright, but it possessed a palpitation-inducing, sinister quality, as if something were squirming and breathing within his body.
His breaths were sometimes rapid, sometimes drawn-out, and each exhalation carried the faint scent of blood.
Time passed in silence.
After an unknown amount of time, Yan Wuji slowly opened his eyes, the eerie crimson in his pupils gradually receding.
’I’ve recovered about forty percent.’
He gently clenched his fist, feeling the Demon Skill’s Inner Qi within him. Though still weak, it had stabilized. A grim chill surfaced in his eyes.
’Once my injuries have healed, I will make the Seven Sects pay.’
He paused, his voice growing deeper, laced with a bone-deep hatred.
"Especially the Qingxuan Sect... and especially that Fang Han."
If Fang Han hadn’t been tracking Zhang Yuanheng’s whereabouts, discovering Qi Zhen’s cultivation of a Demon Skill and sending word back to the Qingxuan Sect, how could the Tiejiang Gang have fallen apart in a single day?
The Tiejiang Gang’s century-old foundation was destroyed by that boy’s hand. One could only imagine the depth of his hatred.
"I will make you suffer slowly."
Yan Wuji stared at the patch of moonlight fractured by the vines at the cave’s entrance, his voice unnervingly calm.
"I will make you experience the most painful death in this world, and then I will devour all of your Essence Qi, wiping you from existence, body and soul."
The corner of his mouth slowly curled into a cold arc, a hint of twisted pleasure in the gesture.
A Demon Skill that devours the Essence Qi of others to raise one’s cultivation level offers rapid progress, but it also makes one susceptible to cultivation deviation, which silently erodes the cultivator’s sanity and mental state.
The pleasure from the power surge that came with devouring life, the sense of control from casually taking a life—these things would twist one’s disposition bit by bit, making a cultivator radical, bloodthirsty, and insane.
His current mental state had clearly been affected by the Demon Skill.
"Once my injuries have recovered..."
he murmured, his voice echoing softly in the cave.
"I will make you regret being alive."
The night wind gusted through the cave entrance, making the oil lamp’s flame flicker and dance, stretching his shadow on the stone wall into a twisted, grotesque form.
...
「Qingxuan Sect, Residence No. 35.」
Inside the Quiet Chamber, Fang Han, who was seated cross-legged on a meditation cushion, slowly concluded his cultivation session.
He opened his eyes, a thoughtful expression flashing within them.
Now that the *Netherworld Guide* had reached the Entry Level, the foundation he had built from mastering *Thousand Mile Soul Lock* to Perfection was exhausted.
Even with a staggering 256-fold Secret Technique amplification, and though his cultivation speed was still extremely fast, breaking through a realm in just over a day as he had before was now impossible.
’I can’t just cultivate step-by-step right now...’
Fang Han muttered to himself, his brow slightly furrowed.
If time weren’t so pressing, he wouldn’t mind cultivating step-by-step; after all, his current cultivation speed was already incredibly fast.
But the reality was that time was now extremely tight.
If Yan Wuji was given enough time to recover, he would surely unleash a storm of blood and carnage once his injuries were healed.