Chapter 18

"Hmph, we have already stopped competing with them for the disciples cultivated by our sect. If these young nobles also come to compete, don't blame me for being impolite. Although our branch has declined for many years, we cannot allow others to trample us," the scholar in the robe replied with a stern expression.

"Since Senior Brother has made up his mind, Junior Brother and Sister Zhong will naturally support you. There are only three of us spirit masters left in this branch, so we must stand together," the man with the loose hair said after some consideration, finally making up his mind.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, his face suddenly changed, and he began to cough violently. He hurriedly took off the vermilion gourd from his waist, pulled out the stopper, and drank several mouthfuls of emerald green liquid.

A strong aroma of alcohol spread, revealing it to be some unknown potent liquor.

After a few swigs of the strong liquor, the man with the loose hair's complexion improved somewhat.

"Junior Brother Zhu, are you alright? The coldness in your body has been a chronic illness for many years. Relying solely on medicinal wine is treating the symptoms, not the root cause," the scholar showed a look of concern.

"Senior Brother Gui, don't worry. As long as I drink this 'Three Yang Wine' in time, I can control the cold illness. There's no need to be overly concerned," the man with the loose hair replied with a smile, seemingly not taking his illness seriously.

"It's all my fault. I should have known that when you just advanced to the spirit master stage, you should have consolidated your realm more before going to the Nightmare Cliff. Otherwise, you might not have contracted this cold illness," the scholar said with regret.

"This isn't Senior Brother's fault. Back then, I volunteered to go. After all, Senior Brother was at a critical point in cultivation and couldn't leave the sect for a moment. Meanwhile, Sister Zhong was in grave danger and couldn't afford to waste any time," the man with the loose hair shook his head and said.

"After this spirit opening ceremony, I will ask Uncle again to obtain more Pure Yang Pills. Although this pill cannot cure your cold illness, it can at least alleviate your suffering," the scholar said solemnly.

"Forget it. Uncle is currently in a life-and-death seclusion. The previous disturbances have already caused much dissatisfaction among the other mountain heads. If we go again, we will give them a handle to use against us," the man with the loose hair said with a bitter smile.

"You don't need to worry about that. If they come to find us, I will deal with them," the scholar said with a cold snort.

The man with the loose hair hesitated for a moment but finally said nothing more.

After a few more words, the two men disappeared again in a faint mist.

At this time, the group of young men and women arrived at a row of newly built stone houses. Under the big man's casual gesture, they were all assigned to their rooms.

When Liu Ming pushed open the door, which still carried a faint scent of new wood, a room no more than three or four zhang wide and long appeared before him.

Inside was a green wooden table, a wooden chair of the same material, and a gray-white stone bed about a zhang long, covered with a thin layer of cotton bedding. There was nothing else in the room.

Seeing all this, Liu Ming did not show any disappointment. Instead, he sighed lightly, walked a few steps to the stone bed, and sat down.

The simple furnishings in the stone house reminded him of his difficult life on the Savage Island, causing his mind to wander.

After an unknown amount of time, he finally came back to his senses. After some thought, he began to carefully inspect every corner and all the furniture in the stone house. Finding nothing unusual, he finally relaxed and lay down on the stone bed, silently recalling some past events.

Years ago, he was taken to the Savage Island by the authorities due to his father's crimes. Although many years had passed, he still remembered many details.

At the time of the incident, there were only a few servants and himself and his father at home.

As for his mother, he had never seen her since he was a child. He heard that she had passed away due to complications during childbirth.

As for other relatives and friends, his father had never mentioned them.

However, he had heard from others that his father had brought him, then an infant, from a distant place. Where they originally lived, no one knew.

His father was very strict with him. From the moment he could understand, he was taught to read and write and to recite ancient texts.

A few days before his father's arrest, he suddenly made the then young Liu Ming memorize a very secret location until he knew it by heart and repeatedly warned him not to tell anyone else.

A few days later, his father was arrested by the bailiffs, and he was sent directly to the Savage Island.

Perhaps those bailiffs never thought they could get any useful information from a child of a few years old.

However, whenever he thought of the secret location he still remembered, he couldn't help but laugh bitterly.

As a child, he didn't know what that place meant, but now he knew that it was as dangerous as a dragon's lair or a tiger's den.

Without sufficient strength, going there would be almost suicidal.

His father must have had a significant secret for him to remember that location so solemnly, and it was likely directly related to his father's arrest and death in prison.

The person behind it must have been very powerful, able to use the charge of 'great disrespect' to sentence his father to death. Ordinary investigation methods would likely be useless and might even alert them, bringing great danger to himself.

But the murder of his father could not go unavenged.

Thinking of this, a look of determination flashed in Liu Ming's eyes, a look that was not typical for someone his age.

If he had been at a loss before, now that he could become a spirit disciple or survive the spirit opening ceremony, he could enter that place after his strength increased, which should not be too difficult.

However, thinking of the terrifying success rate of the spirit opening ceremony for the young nobles, even though he was somewhat confident, his heart sank slightly.

Regarding the specific process of the spirit opening ceremony, he had naturally asked Guan Lao and the others in detail during the journey.

Unfortunately, the two were only high-ranking servants of the Bai family and knew very little. They only knew that the ceremony could use external force to strengthen and reveal the latent spirit meridians in the body and use the power of the ceremony to form a spirit sea, the key difference between a spirit disciple and a qi cultivator.

Only with a spirit sea could a spirit disciple gradually convert yuan energy into true magical power, and the speed of cultivating yuan energy would be vastly different from before, something ordinary qi cultivators could not imagine.

However, the spirit sea was a mysterious thing, and Guan Lao and the others knew nothing about it, which left Liu Ming somewhat frustrated.

Well, all he could do was intensify his practice of the yuan control technique.

Although he didn't know if being more proficient in this technique would help with the spirit opening ceremony, it was the only thing he could do now.

And with the special ability he possessed, although time was running out, it should still have some effect.

Thinking of his unique talent, Liu Ming couldn't help but smile.

This ability was not something he was born with. It was after the dramatic changes in his family and the series of bloody events he witnessed as a child on the Savage Island that he fell seriously ill and suddenly discovered this strange talent.

This ability allowed him to split his consciousness into two, each controlling half of his body to perform different tasks simultaneously.

His ability was significantly different from the rumored 'multitasking' talent.

After splitting his consciousness, with some training, each half could gradually grow stronger and even allow one half to be active while the other was dormant.

In contrast, the typical 'multitasking' ability did not have these characteristics.

After discovering this anomaly and cautiously asking others on the Savage Island and reading some related texts, he finally confirmed after a few years that his ability was a variant and enhanced form of 'multitasking.'

As for what this variant was and whether it had any drawbacks, Liu Ming could not know.

With this talent, he naturally did not waste it. After years of intentional and unintentional training, his mental strength had increased astonishingly, almost doubling that of a normal person.

Otherwise, he would not have been able to persist for so long under the pursuit of numerous bailiffs and black guards.

He had not shown his full ability to Guan Lao and Gu Lao San. With the ability to let half of his consciousness rest, his capabilities were not as simple as one plus one.

On the Savage Island, if he wished, he could practice and study a secret technique continuously for five or six days and nights, and after a good sleep, he would be fully refreshed.

In other words, his practice time was several times that of ordinary people.

This was the fundamental reason why, at such a young age, he could master so many obscure secret techniques on the Savage Island.

Thinking of this, Liu Ming closed his eyes for a moment, then sat up, took a deep breath, and began to practice on the stone bed.

For him, rest was a luxury.

In the following ten days, Liu Ming, except for the designated meal times, almost never left his stone house, practicing the yuan control technique day and night.

The originally cumbersome Tiger Bite Ring, after his arduous practice, became more adept in just a few short days.

During this period, some of the other young men and women, like Liu Ming, stayed in their stone houses and did not go out, while others wandered around the forest, and still others gathered together, chatting enthusiastically every day.

The outer disciples like Fang Xiong ignored this, as long as they did not leave the forest, allowing the young men and women to move freely.

Finally, the day of the spirit opening ceremony arrived.