Immortal cultivation is extremely broad. It is a discipline that spreads out to dozens, if not hundreds of sub-divided fields. It is not just fighting and immortality.

  These fields are known as the “side arts”.

  Alchemy, talisman-making, astrology, dragon vein reading, artifact forging, and formation masters are one of the few examples. Each one of them has their job specialty that grants them a “unique” attribute reted to the job.

  The same goes to the hearts belonging to Sword, Spear, Fist, Palm, Knife, Whip, and so on.

  In most cases, a cultivator can only choose one such uniqueness. It is a transformation on the level of the soul. A bnk one is needed. Once it is imposed with a uniqueness, there can no longer be any other uniqueness.

  At best, there is an auxiliary technique that allows the existence of one Heart and one other uniqueness.

  This restriction doesn’t apply to me.

  My cultivation speed is already fast due to the honkai energy tempering. If pills and these uniquenesses are added, it would become even more exaggerated.

  My chaotic thoughts calmed down.

  I returned back to reality. Kiana and I returned to the orphanage after that depressing session. Kiana was mentally exhausted and slept inside the imaginary space. I followed her.

  The pn to introduce the two to immortal cultivation is halted.

  “Hm…”

  I looked over the bed. Kiana is sleeping. The te third grade bed never stops being addictive. Since I want to focus on comprehending the dao rhymes, I did not sit on it.

  Tap-!

  My body moved a hundred meters away from the rock. I am floating midair. The spiritual qi consumed by my brief movement is five times more than the outside world.

  I discovered this early on. This is the imaginary space where physical ws collide. It is more hectic and chaotic compared to the real world.

  Then again, even with my current spiritual qi reserves, I can only do it less than thirty times.

  A golden light fshed within my sight. The spiritual fmes y frozen by the thin golden film.

  The moment my fingertips touched it, the golden film dissipated.

  Hum-!

  Crackle-!

  The spiritual fme’s aura is unleashed. It threatened to burn and freeze everything. The surrounding spiritual qi became chaotic. They are attracted to the pale blue spiritual fmes.

  Shockingly, its aura grew. Its te stage aura began to grow rapidly, reaching the threshold of peak stage after an entire minute. Only then did it slow down.

  I did not hesitate further. My spiritual consciousness enveloped the spiritual fmes thoroughly.

  Its instinctive struggle began.

  Flicker-!

  Crackle-!

  The pale blue fmes rushed to my side, only to fall short. The Herrscher Core froze the tips of these fmes. No matter how hard it struggled, it could not reach my side.

  Once the spiritual imprint is drawn, the spiritual fmes calmed down. In a sense, it is successfully ‘contracted’ as a lifelong partner.

  It is now my Innate Spiritual Fme.

  The spiritual fmes shot towards me. This time, I did not resist.

  Click-!

  It swiftly seeped inside me—my soul, to be exact. A unique imprint belonging to it resonated with my soul, causing huge changes.

  Fwoosh-!

  My qi cultivation began rising rapidly. It shared its years of accumution in one go.

  Under my surprised eyes, my middle stage cultivation grew.

  Swathes of spiritual qi began to gather around me. They entered my soul before heading towards my crystal dantian.

  Two hours ter, I opened my eyes. When I thought of it, pale blue fmes emerged from my palm. Controlling it felt like a part of my body. I don’t have to think of anything complicated. It will follow all of my commands.

  My [Encompassing Eyes] became active.

  [Innate Spiritual Fme - Unnamed]

  Grade: Peak Third Grade

  Traits: Possesses the Dao of Yin-Yang, Dao of Fmes, Dao of Ice; capable of reaching high temperatures; capable of reaching near absolute zero; capable of burning souls; capable of imbuing mental attacks; compatible with the Herrscher Core Authority…

  “Hiss…”

  What the fuck is this fme?

  A fme that can freeze and burn…

  …

  It’s my mistake. I got too confident. I believed my Herrscher Power could suppress it thoroughly. I haven’t scouted its full details beforehand, only whether it is “weak” or “strong”.

  Anyways, it is a done deed. It pushed my qi realm higher. It is more than halfway through the middle stage. It made up several years of hard work.

  Moreover, several supernatural seeds resonated with it: Fmes, Ice, Yin-Yang, and Extremity. I felt they could unleash greater power than before. New understanding regarding these Daos also popped out of thin air.

  It is incredulous, but it is what it is.

  Resources can allow someone to cheat immortal cultivation. If they can’t cheat, that means they don’t have enough resources. That, or they have limited “talents”.

  High grade Spirit Roots can withstand consecutive consumption of resources; they can fully absorb their effects. Lower Spirit Roots cause waste and ‘congestion’ unless they have a suitable technique.

  I summoned a rge bck metallic box. Its sheer size is the size of a typical three-meter cabinet, with its width being four cabinets stacked together.

  Everyone who sees it will think of it as a sci-fi metal block. That’s where they are wrong.

  This is an alchemy cauldron.

  My spiritual consciousness drew a strange zig-zag pattern. Moments ter, pale white lines appeared on the cube’s body.

  On one side, a rge holographic interface appeared. Six different options stood out.

  [Spiritual Water Storage Compartment]

  [Spiritual Fme Chamber]

  [Essence Extraction Chamber]

  [Main Alchemic Chamber]

  [Pill Preservation Storage]

  [Spiritual Consciousness Control Zone]

  I was dumbfounded when I first saw it. I learned how to operate this “cauldron” ter on.

  Alchemy has three steps: Extraction, Combination, and Solidification. Spiritual cooking shares its first two steps, though alchemy is much more complex than cooking.

  I withheld trying out alchemy before getting the innate spiritual fme. The fmes from the [Nine Dragons Purple Q spell are harsh. It works for cooking, but not for alchemy.

  Wasting materials when I am already cking them is simply painful.

  “Fu…”

  I clicked on the [Spiritual Water Storage Compartment] first. A small chamber popped out from the bck cube. I took out an arm-sized jar from my storage ring. From there, I poured down the middle third grade spiritual water I got from the gacha. Once I was done, it went back to the metal cube.

  Then came the [Spiritual Fme Chamber]. A portion of the cube lit up in white light, which prompted me to ‘inject’ the spiritual fmes inside. Once it was full, the white light disappeared.

  A considerable part of my spiritual qi is consumed by this act. I had to recover for ten minutes before proceeding.

  I called out its huge interface and clicked on the [Main Alchemic Chamber]. The center of the cube hollowed out. I started throwing in the spiritual pnts. All of them varied within the second grade.

  Peaches, apples, acacia leaves, some herbs…

  Once I was done, the hollow part got covered up.

  I clicked the [Spiritual Consciousness Control Zone].

  Buzz-!

  Click-!

  The entire metal cube lit up. Its metallic texture disappeared as its surface turned transparent. Inside it are the spiritual pnts and the spiritual water. The pns floated above the pool of water.

  My spiritual consciousness willed them to soak into the pool one by one. A strange force emerged from the cauldron. It spread to the water pool. The spiritual pnts are swiftly turned into dots of liquid essences of red, blue, white, and green.

  This process took five minutes in total.

  Then came the combination. I prompted the cauldron once more while carefully enveloping each of the essences within my spiritual consciousness. One by one, they swirled within the water pool.

  Ten minutes ter, only a fist-sized golden liquid essence remained. I separated them into twenty smaller portions.

  The high-tech cauldron has a built-in analysis function that connects with my mind. It acts the same as my [Encompassing Eyes]; thus I did not need it.

  I made sure to check their proportions. When they seemed off from the recipe, I adjusted them. I even had to tweak some of their properties and remove a portion of them.

  Alchemy and other side arts worked differently from the techniques. There are more practical terms here than vague terminologies. Memorization and familiarity with thousands of different scenarios are the key. With the golden orb’s photographic memory, this became extremely simple.

  As such, learning recipes and blueprints are easier than comprehending the vague taoist terminologies of other techniques.

  The twenty portions came off perfectly. The final step came: coagution.

  The essences floated above the water pool before the tter disappeared.

  Click-!

  The fire chambers are set. Pale blue fmes rose up. The essences started to swirl as the fmes danced around them. The solidification soon began.

  Whenever signs of “overcooking” appeared, I lowered the fmes’ temperature. My control over them is enhanced several times by this high-tech cauldron.

  Fifteen minutes ter, twenty light blue pills presented themselves in my eyes.

  *****

  A/N: The bonus chapter will be coming tomorrow.