By the way, this is my Patreon! Please support it! With enough support, I'll upload more chapters each week (I plan to upload seven a day).
There are ten chapters available in advance!
https://patreon.com/Raven_Feather?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
--------------------------------------
Qing Xuanling's squad quickly caught up with the rest of the platoon without any major issues. They encountered no more demonic beasts or human enemies along the way.
They rejoined the platoon in the afternoon of the fourth day, as they set up a very basic camp in the forest. They didn't even bother pitching tents—instead, they rested directly on the open ground.
Instructor Huan smiled when he saw them return and approached quickly. "Good that you made it back. We've already located the Ink Sword Sect's spiritual mine. We'll launch the attack tomorrow at first light."
"What's the enemy situation?" Qing Ziyi brought a hand to her chin. "It'd be troublesome if we couldn't defeat them with our current numbers."
"Don't worry—it's exactly as we suspected. There are just over a hundred cultivators guarding the mine. Less than a third are at the intermediate stage, and only seven are at the advanced stage. Compared to us—all at the advanced stage, except for a few members of your squad… Well, there's no need to say much. They stand no chance against us."
Instructor Huan shrugged. This ambush came from the Young Master's plans—a man of great intelligence. It was natural the enemy hadn't anticipated the attack and had weak defenses.
In fact, many platoon members wanted to strike immediately, but Instructor Huan refused. The Ink Sword Sect and the demonic force behind them still had a chance to send reinforcements today.
It was best to follow the young master's instructions and hope that the main clan army would distract the Ink Sword sect's attention away from this place.
"Let's set that aside for now. Tell me what you found. It doesn't seem too serious from what I can see." Instructor Huan looked at the unharmed state of the Crimson Sword Squad.
Qing Ziyi gave a bitter smile and pulled Instructor Huan aside to report what had happened. The Qing clan absolutely could not afford any leaks about the Sacred Flame. She only told Instructor Huan because he was one of the most trusted members of the entire clan.
If it had been anyone else, she would have kept the secret until they returned to the clan.
Qing Xuanling watched the two walk away from the "camp"—which consisted of nothing more than a few cooking tables and mats laid out on the ground.
She sat cross-legged in a quiet corner apart from everyone else and meditated with her eyes closed.
Every minute of her day was precious. She simply had too much to do to waste even a second: filling out the Star Map, training her various techniques, cultivating, reviewing alchemical and refinement knowledge, and researching how to improve the Devouring White Dragon Cauldron.
The last task was especially challenging.
Although she was using the Jing family's body cultivation techniques as inspiration to create Blood Techniques for the Devouring White Dragon Cauldron, she hadn't figured out how to do it.
The Jing family's body cultivation technique featured three Blood Techniques: Obsidian Scales, Devouring Serpent, and Mortal Hiss.
These three techniques were profoundly complex, but after reading them repeatedly, she grasped their core concept: a pseudo-core of blood formed within the body's major meridians.
A cultivator practicing this technique had to split a portion of their essential blood to create a pseudo-core within their major meridians. When activated, these pseudo-core temporarily enhanced the Devouring Boa lineage and enabled the use of the three techniques.
Qing Xuanling wanted to mimic the concept of creating pseudo-cores in the major meridians—but she couldn't find a reason to do it, and more importantly, no matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn't figure out how.
So she was essentially stuck in improving the Devouring White Dragon Cauldron.
She tugged at her hair in frustration, trying to think of how to proceed—but nothing came to mind. She had some ideas, but none fully convinced her.
Someone approached her at that difficult moment.
"What's got you thinking so hard you're pulling your hair out? Though it's quite an interesting sight. It's rare to see Sister Xuanling struggling so much with something. I thought someone as brilliant as you always wore a calm, smug expression~"
Qing Linxi approached with a smile, chewing on a piece of dried meat. She sat down naturally opposite Qing Xuanling.
"Sigh, it would really be great to be a person like that—but chances to show a calm, smug face are few and far between," Qing Xuanling smiled, accepting a piece of dried meat from Qing Linxi. "I was researching the foundations to create Blood Techniques for the Devouring White Dragon Cauldron, but nothing convincing comes to mind."
Qing Linxi's eyes widened slightly, incredulous.
'Sister, who do you think you are? Even elders don't dare start researching Dharma Techniques—and here you are, a little brat with no hair down there, really trying?!'
Qing Xuanling blushed slightly at the comment, but didn't refute it. Not because Qing Linxi was right, obviously! It was just that she understood how difficult what she was doing was.
Dharma Techniques was the current name for Blood Techniques, highly revered among cultivators. Unlike spiritual cultivation techniques, Dharma Techniques involved altering the physical body.
After all, it wasn't a simple matter to get body cultivators, who had only possessed a strong body since ancient times, to use mysterious and unique techniques like spirit cultivators. That's why they called the techniques of body cultivators Dharma techniques, as it was the process by which physical cultivators used mystical abilities or applied mysteries to their skills.
Researching such skills naturally demanded great sacrifice.
For a girl to attempt something like this was utterly ridiculous.
But Qing Linxi showed no disdain in her expression and simply smiled. "Have you started classifying the advantages of the Devouring White Dragon Cauldron?"
"Of course—that was the first thing I did. I even ranked them by importance." Qing Xuanling's tone was methodical as she pulled out a notebook. "First is the enhancement in pill absorption—and possibly celestial treasures. Second is the improvement in blood and bone marrow. And lastly, the slight enhancement to the rest of the organs, including the brain."
Qing Xuanling had always been a person who saw things through to the end, so naturally, she had taken the trouble to keep a research diary.
"You've got things clear, as always." Qing Linxi laughed at the sight of the notebook and pointed to what she considered most important. "I think you should focus on the enhancement to blood and bone marrow. I've studied many body cultivation techniques, but I've never seen one with such remarkable effects on blood."
Qing Xuanling's eyes lit up. Although she'd also noticed how incredible her blood quality had become, she hadn't been sure how it compared to other techniques. But now that she knew, she had a clear direction for improving the Devouring White Dragon Cauldron.
She and Qing Linxi continued debating possible technique enhancements for several more hours until their throats went dry.
Qing Xuanling noticed night was falling and smiled consciously. "Thank you for discussing this with me. Though I can't promise anything, I think I'll have results soon."
"No need for thanks between us—I enjoyed the talk too. I didn't know you had so many ideas." Qing Linxi laughed openly as she stood up. "Besides, I'll personally depend on you improving this technique when I reach the peak-stage of my body cultivation~"
Qing Xuanling's eyes sparkled. It was the first time she had heard that Qing Linxi had made progress in her cultivation. "Congratulations to Sister Linxi on advancing your cultivation!"
Qing Linxi laughed cheerfully as she walked away. Qing Xuanling watched her back with envy, wondering when she herself would reach the ninth layer of body cultivation.
The others approached once Qing Linxi left. Qing Wentian asked curiously, "How do you know Captain Linxi? She's quite famous. She was a top candidate for that tournament, but she was in the middle of a breakthrough and couldn't attend."
Qing Xuanling nodded, finally understanding why Qing Linxi hadn't been present on that fateful day. But she didn't dwell on it—maybe it was luck. Qing Linxi could have died if she had been there that day.
"She's a friend. She's also the one who gave me the body cultivation technique I later improved." Qing Xuanling laughed. "You could also call it a business relationship—I had to give that bastard my improved cultivation technique just to get her to treat me as an equal."
Qing Muyu grinned. "That's better than nothing. Captain Linxi has a reputation for fierce loyalty to her friends." He paused and changed the subject. "By the way, I just spoke with some seniors—the Ink Sword Sect's spiritual mine is barely a kilometer from here. So we won't walk far tomorrow before the attack begins. We should discuss how we'll use the Golden Cauldron Battle Formation tomorrow…"
This clearly important topic immediately captured everyone's attention. Each offered ideas on when to activate the formation and when to use or not to use its special abilities.
After all, a battlefield was a battlefield—they were no longer in a situation where they could leave things to chance.