Chapter 14

Yuan Ming, seeing that his fingers were not seriously injured, paid no further attention to them and reached out to take the incense burner.

At this moment, the last spark on the black incense stick finally extinguished, and a faint glow appeared. His fingers passed right through the incense burner.

In the next instant, the green pottery incense burner completely disappeared, transforming into a stream of light that flew into the arm mark.

Yuan Ming's pupils constricted, and his previously somewhat dazed mind instantly became clear.

He rolled up his right arm and saw the green mark reappear there, but it no longer emitted any light.

Yuan Ming gently touched the mark, and the memory of transforming into the young emperor began to resurface in his mind, bit by bit.

"It seems this incense burner only sent me to the young emperor for a period of time, and once the time limit was reached, it immediately returned to my body." He pondered for a moment, feeling somewhat enlightened.

This experience was very novel, and with his youthful enthusiasm, Yuan Ming couldn't help but want to try it again.

Unfortunately, he had no more magical power in his body, and he couldn't summon the incense burner.

"The experience with the incense burner was indeed mysterious, but the most important thing now is to cultivate enough magical power to perform the Fur-Coating Technique!" Yuan Ming steadied himself, put aside his playful thoughts, and sat down in a meditative posture, ready to practice the Blood Qi Technique.

"My progress with the Blood Qi Technique is really too slow. The Jade Pot Daoist boasted that the Nine Elements Technique accumulates magical power very quickly. Perhaps I should give it a try." A thought suddenly popped into his mind.

However, the Nine Elements Technique and the Blood Qi Technique are two completely different cultivation methods. It's uncertain whether the magical power cultivated by this technique can be used to perform the Fur-Coating Technique.

"Regardless, let's give it a try first."

Yuan Ming made up his mind, slowly closed his eyes, and began to carefully recall the content of the Nine Elements Technique, silently reciting it in his mind.

Before long, he felt that the acupoints all over his body gradually opened, and the external spiritual energy slowly seeped in through the opened acupoints, transforming into a warm current that flowed through the eight extraordinary meridians.

"The Nine Elements Technique can use all the acupoints on the body to simultaneously absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth!" Yuan Ming was both surprised and delighted.

The Blood Qi Technique could only use a few easily controlled acupoints such as the Yongquan on the soles of the feet and the Baihui on the top of the head to communicate with the outside world. In terms of the number of acupoints, the Nine Elements Technique far surpassed the Blood Qi Technique.

Yuan Ming continued to meditate and practice, absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

At first, the spiritual energy gradually seeped in, but as he continuously circulated it, the speed of the spiritual energy entering his body gradually increased, and the entire process was smooth and unobstructed.

Gradually, the spiritual energy in the eight extraordinary meridians accumulated more and more, eventually filling the meridians and becoming somewhat swollen.

Yuan Ming didn't know if this situation was normal, but he could only continue to practice the Nine Elements Technique, trying to smooth out the spiritual energy. Soon, a clear stream of spiritual energy formed, which was completely different from the faint flow of the Blood Qi Technique.

He controlled the stream of spiritual energy to circulate through his body for one cycle, finally descending to the dantian.

Whether it was the Nine Elements Technique or the Blood Qi Technique, the basic principles were the same: to circulate the absorbed spiritual energy in the body for one cycle and then let it descend to the dantian, where it would be transformed into magical power.

Yuan Ming closely watched the stream of spiritual energy, fearing it might scatter again.

However, his worries did not materialize. The stream of spiritual energy smoothly broke through the bottleneck of the dantian and entered it.

"Is it really that easy?" Yuan Ming was pleasantly surprised.

The problem that had troubled him for half a month while practicing the Blood Qi Technique was now quietly resolved.

All of this was due to the Nine Elements Technique. This cultivation method was a true path to cultivation, and its grade was absolutely far superior to the Blood Qi Technique. It could even be said that the two were not on the same level.

"No wonder the Jade Pot Daoist was so enthusiastic about the Nine Elements Technique." Yuan Ming thought to himself.

What he didn't know was that the "Nine Elements Technique" was the top-level introductory cultivation method of the Changchun Temple in the Central Jin Kingdom. Even ordinary inner disciples of the Changchun Temple might not have the opportunity to learn it. Its guidance and expertise in cultivation were far beyond the "Blood Qi Technique," a common method from the southern border.

Yuan Ming took a deep breath and continued to practice the technique. The spiritual energy condensed in the dantian suddenly became agitated, like a wild horse that had broken free of its reins, showing signs of rampant collision.

He immediately recalled the phrase "the mind enters the void, the intention guards the dantian," and immediately focused all his mental awareness on the dantian.

After a short while, the spiritual energy in the dantian became extremely hot, with a faint feeling of burning.

Yuan Ming was not panicked. The Jade Pot Daoist had already told him that this feeling was a sign that the spiritual energy was about to be transformed into magical power.

He immediately quickened his recitation of the Nine Elements Technique in his mind, assisting the burning spiritual energy to break through the constraints. Soon, it completed the final transformation, turning into a cool stream of magical power.

"The Nine Elements Technique is indeed much more advanced than the Blood Qi Technique in condensing magical power." Yuan Ming marveled.

He did not continue to practice but instead directed the newly condensed magical power to his fingers and, without hesitation, touched the green mark on his right arm.

All the events that had happened to him today were initiated by this mysterious incense burner, especially the unexpected acquisition of the Nine Elements Technique, which made him want to summon the incense burner again to see if there could be other extraordinary experiences.

As he expected, the mark emitted a suction force, absorbing the thread of magical power. The mark glowed green, and the mysterious incense burner appeared in the air.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming sighed in relief.

Now he was almost certain that the green incense burner was not a one-time consumable item. The green mark was formed after the incense burner attached to his body, and it could be summoned by injecting a small amount of magical power.

He happily examined the incense burner in his hand and suddenly let out a light "hmm."

The green incense burner was the same as before in every other aspect, except that the Taiji pattern on it was dull and no longer shone as brightly as before.

Yuan Ming raised his eyebrows and felt the Taiji pattern, even using magical power to inject it, but nothing unusual happened.

"It seems this Taiji pattern is related to some mechanism of the incense burner." He thought to himself and then shifted his gaze to the two black incense sticks inside the incense burner, looking thoughtful.

Based on the previous situation, lighting these two black incense sticks would allow him to travel through space and possess someone's body. Since there were only two incense sticks left, he had two more opportunities to travel and possess someone.

However, the incense burner was mysterious and had attached to his body. If he couldn't grasp the full picture, he would not feel at ease.

After much deliberation, Yuan Ming gritted his teeth, lit a piece of cloth, and brought it close to the black incense sticks in the incense burner.

This time, he lit one of the two long incense sticks.

However, no matter how the flame burned, the black long incense stick showed no signs of being lit.

"What's going on? It was so easy to light before." Yuan Ming frowned and brought the burning cloth close to the other black long incense stick, but it also failed to light.

"Strange, perhaps the incense burner needs to meet certain conditions to light the incense and travel through space?" He muttered to himself, his gaze suddenly falling on the dim Yin-Yang Taiji pattern.

"Perhaps it can only be lit when the Taiji pattern is bright?" Yuan Ming speculated.

Apart from this reason, he couldn't think of any other possibilities, but he had no idea how to make the Taiji pattern bright.

"Rumble..."

His stomach growled, and a strong sense of hunger hit him, interrupting his thoughts.

"Never mind, this incense burner is indeed very mysterious. It's not realistic to investigate it thoroughly in a short time. I'll think about it later." Yuan Ming shook his head and stopped wasting his mental energy.

He held the incense burner and considered how to store it in his body.

The incense burner had always returned to his right arm on its own, and he had not yet figured out the method to store it.

As soon as this thought crossed his mind, the green incense burner suddenly became transparent, transforming into a green light and returning to his right arm, forming the mark.

"Indeed, it is a treasure." Yuan Ming's face lit up, becoming even more convinced that the incense burner was a rare treasure.

However, no matter how powerful the treasure, it couldn't solve the problem of hunger.

He got up and went into the underground cave, taking out a piece of animal skin. Inside were five or six wild fruits, leftovers from before.

The meat in the cave was already gone, and he still couldn't perform the Fur-Coating Technique to go out and hunt. For now, he could only rely on these wild fruits to barely sustain himself.

"I must master the Fur-Coating Technique before the fruits run out!" Yuan Ming made up his mind, grabbed a fruit, and devoured it, slightly alleviating his hunger.

Without any delay, he immediately sat down in a meditative posture and practiced the Nine Elements Technique.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth gathered around him, entering his body through various acupoints, and the magical power in his dantian began to condense again.

Five days passed in the blink of an eye.

Yuan Ming sat in the underground cave, looking somewhat haggard, with pale, dry lips.

At his age, he was in the prime of his growth, and one wild fruit a day was far from enough to satisfy his hunger. He could only barely survive, but fortunately, his practice of the Nine Elements Technique was surprisingly smooth.

The spiritual energy of heaven and earth continuously gathered from all directions, entering his body through the acupoints, and then circulated through the meridians according to the route of the Nine Elements Technique, transforming into a stream of magical power.

The magical power in his dantian gathered into threads and slowly flowed. Half a day later, it formed a small vortex.

"Finally, the magical power vortex has formed." Yuan Ming was overjoyed.

According to what the Fire-Calling Elder had said before, forming a magical power vortex meant that the foundation of magical power was established, and he could perform