Half an hour later, Wang Hu returned and landed outside Lesser Peak once again. This time, his attitude had done a complete 180-degree turn. With a smile on his face that was uglier than crying, he respectfully presented a bulging storage bag with both hands, not even daring to step into the courtyard.
After Lin Fan confirmed that the allowance was correct, the other man apologized profusely before escaping as if he had been granted amnesty.
After this incident, Yue Qingqian's admiration for Lin Fan had completely transformed from a blind fantasy of a "peerless master" to a sincere reverence for a "supremely wise living sage." She felt that her senior brother's every action was filled with a philosophy that she would need a lifetime to learn.
She treasured her first batch of cultivation resources like a precious jewel, and her desire to cultivate grew even stronger.
After persevering and digging her twenty-seventh complex escape tunnel with misleading exits, Yue Qingqian finally couldn't hold back any longer. She ran to Lin Fan, who was basking in the sun in front of his cottage, and asked with a face full of anticipation, "Senior Brother, I feel that my foundation at the first level of Qi Refining is incredibly solid now. When... when will you teach me some real... techniques?"
Lin Fan lazily opened one eye, glanced at her, and asked in return, "Oh? What kind of techniques do you want? The kind with impressive-sounding names, like the 'Supreme Emotionless Sword Art'? Or the kind of divine ability that can shatter heaven and earth with a single move, like the 'Great Desolate Heaven-Imprisoning Finger'?"
"Yes, yes, yes!" Yue Qingqian nodded vigorously like a chick pecking at rice, her eyes sparkling with countless little stars. Just hearing the names of these techniques made her blood boil with excitement.
"Don't even think about it." Lin Fan ruthlessly extended two fingers and popped all her fantasy bubbles.
"Huh?" Yue Qingqian's expression instantly fell.
Lin Fan sat up, shedding his lazy demeanor, his expression becoming incredibly serious and solemn. He said earnestly, "Junior Sister, your thinking is very dangerous! Let me ask you, why do you cultivate?"
"To... become stronger, to protect the people I want to protect, to..."
"Wrong!" Lin Fan cut her off directly. "You must remember, the sole purpose of our cultivation is to achieve longevity, to survive! And what are those techniques with troublesome-sounding names for? They are specifically for fighting! And what does fighting lead to? It leads to karma, injuries, and death! This completely violates the original intention of our cultivation!"
He stood up, paced a few steps with his hands behind his back, like a grandmaster imparting wisdom.
"The legacy of our Lesser Peak, refined through the wisdom of countless generations, has been summarized into one core principle, a single word—'Hide'!"
"Hide?" Yue Qingqian repeated, half-understanding.
"That's right!" Lin Fan snapped his fingers, his gaze profound. "Hide your aura, so your enemies can't find you; hide your form, so your enemies can't see you; hide your wealth, so your enemies won't covet you. In short, you must achieve 'great concealment within the sect, and small concealment within the peak,' making everyone completely ignore your existence. When you can't feel any danger, danger won't come looking for you. This is the supreme Dao of longevity!"
This string of crooked reasoning was delivered with such righteousness and philosophical depth that Yue Qingqian was left stunned and unable to refute it.
Lin Fan was very satisfied with her reaction. He cleared his throat and said, "Seeing as your foundation is solid and your desire for the Dao is sincere, today, I will make an exception and pass on to you two supreme secret arts that have been handed down through our lineage for generations."
Yue Qingqian's spirits immediately lifted, and she assumed a posture of attentive listening.
"The first is called the 'Turtle Breath Art'!" Lin Fan said in a deep, almost sacred tone. "The turtle symbolizes longevity. This art has no offensive power. Its only use is to imitate a divine turtle, retracting all your essence, qi, and spirit to feign death. When you master it, even a Nascent Soul stage old monster scanning you with their spiritual sense will only think you are a lifeless rock. This is the first principle of hiding and self-preservation, the foundation of our 'Hide' principle!"
"The second is called the 'Willow Catkin Movement Technique'!" Lin Fan continued, his gaze becoming more distant. "Willow catkins are rootless, they travel with the wind, leaving no trace. This movement technique also has no offensive power. It doesn't pursue extreme speed, only unpredictability and silence. When you master it, you move like a willow catkin in the wind, erratic and elusive. Your enemy will be unable to lock onto you with their qi. It is the best auxiliary method for escaping when being pursued!"
With that, Lin Fan imparted the detailed incantations and circulation methods of the two arts to Yue Qingqian, word by word.
Yue Qingqian committed every word to memory. Although the names of these two techniques sounded very... plain, and not even like proper immortal cultivation arts, after several "ideological baptisms," she had learned not to judge things by their appearance. She firmly believed that anything her senior brother gave her must be good!
She immediately began to practice in the courtyard, full of anticipation.
It had to be said, a heaven-defying talent like the "Innate Sword Heart" was simply made for cultivation. The "Turtle Breath Art," which would take an ordinary disciple months or even years to grasp, Yue Qingqian managed to master its knack in just half an hour. With a thought, all the pores on her body seemed to close, her heartbeat and breathing slowed to an almost imperceptible frequency, and the life aura she emitted quickly weakened, becoming faint and ethereal, as if she had truly merged with the surrounding air.
And when she executed the "Willow Catkin Movement Technique," it underwent a surprising transformation that even Lin Fan hadn't anticipated.
Her Sword Heart circulated on its own, infusing the gentle movement technique with a sharp sword intent. Her figure no longer simply drifted with the wind but moved like countless sharp leaf blades dancing in a gale. It looked soft and erratic, yet every turn concealed a deadly cutting intent. Her trajectory became dazzling and bizarrely unpredictable. Not only was she difficult to lock onto, but she also carried a chilling killing aura.
Lin Fan watched from the side, his eyelids twitching wildly, his heart skipping a beat.
"Heavens! What... what is happening?" he roared inwardly. "I taught you a movement technique for escaping, what do you mean by turning it into an assassin's advance and kill technique? This talent, it's really impossible to hide! This is killing me! Did I take in a junior sister or an ancestor!"
Alarm bells rang in his mind. He felt that the educational burden on his shoulders was heavier than the entire Sky Profound Sect combined.
"It seems just teaching her techniques is far from enough. That only treats the symptoms, not the root cause! I must conduct a thorough, in-depth, and comprehensive transformation of her worldview, outlook on life, and values, to completely reform that valiant, combative heart of hers, which is filled with protagonist fantasies!"