Chapter 80

Yuan Ming spent much less time on the animal training books than he had anticipated. After returning the books to their places, he began to pace in front of the bookshelves, selecting some new content to read.

When he came to the "Geography" section, Yuan Ming stopped, his gaze roving over the shelves for a long time before he picked out a book called "The Land Chronicles."

This book was larger and thicker than the others, with a cover made of hard wooden boards, intricately carved with a map.

Yuan Ming opened "The Land Chronicles" and began to read, but found that the first page was folded. He unfolded it and discovered that it was as large as three pages, with a vast terrain map drawn in black and red lines.

To call it a terrain map was not entirely accurate, as the upper part of the map was only a rough outline, showing the general regions of the territory without any topographical details.

The lower part, however, was clearly marked with various topographical features, with mountains rising and valleys sinking, the terrain and waterways vividly depicted.

However, Yuan Ming's gaze was fixed on the upper third of the map, which was as simple as it could be. The reason was that near the edge of the map, two large characters, "Zhongyuan," were marked, which was the vague hometown in his memory, the place he wanted to return to but didn't know where to go.

After a careful look, Yuan Ming found that even the third of the map was incomplete, only roughly marking the territories of two countries, one called Da Jin, the same as the small emperor's country he had seen when lighting the incense, and the other called Xi Yue.

These two countries were neighbors, both bordering the vast Ten Thousand Mountains, which stretched like a dragon. Beyond the thick black line of the mountain range, the Southern Borderlands lay.

The Southern Borderlands were depicted in much greater detail, with not only mountains and rivers but also the territories of various countries and entities similar to countries.

After a thorough search, Yuan Ming finally found the location of the Bila Cave. After a careful comparison, he was surprised to find that the vast Bila Cave was insignificant compared to the immense Ten Thousand Mountains.

The territory of the entire Southern Borderlands was even more vast.

After a while, Yuan Ming tried to find a route from the Southern Borderlands to Zhongyuan but found nothing.

"The world is vast, and returning home is not an easy task," Yuan Ming sighed to himself.

At this moment, he remembered something and began to search the map again. After a while, he finally found a small mountain, marked with the words "Qingao Mountain."

This was the hometown mentioned by Hagong, his last concern before he died.

Yuan Ming planned to wait until he had a firm footing in the Bila Cave and then find a way to go to Qingao Mountain. Returning to Zhongyuan was too difficult, but going to Qingao Mountain would be relatively easier.

After a moment, he put away his thoughts, folded the map back, and began to read the book.

The book mainly described the various mountains and rivers of the Southern Borderlands, interspersed with many legends and strange stories, bizarre and of unknown truth.

Since most of the places were unfamiliar to him, he had no concept of them in his mind. After a while, he lost interest and put the book back.

He then specifically looked for several geographical books, hoping to find more information about Zhongyuan, but the descriptions were sparse and did not provide much information.

"Being in the Southern Borderlands, books about Zhongyuan are indeed scarce," Yuan Ming said to himself as he put the last book back on the shelf and continued to pace, looking for other sections.

A few steps later, he stopped in front of the "Cultivation" section.

Yuan Ming casually took a book from the shelf and glanced at the cover, which was written in Southern Borderlands script: "Cultivation Basics." He immediately became interested.

His path to cultivation was unexpected, and being a fur beast slave in the Ten Thousand Mountains, no one had taught him the basics of cultivation.

After becoming a nominal disciple by chance, no one had answered his questions, and he was in dire need of this knowledge.

He immediately returned to his seat and began to read the book carefully.

After a while, Yuan Ming frowned, thinking to himself, "So, even among cultivators, there are differences, with distinctions between Dharma Cultivators, Body Cultivators, and Soul Cultivators."

According to the book, Body Cultivators focus on strengthening their physical bodies, practicing body-strengthening techniques, and honing their skin, muscles, bones, blood, and organs to the point where their bodies are as strong as magical treasures. In battle, they do not rely on external objects; their bodies are weapons, and they have strong survival capabilities.

Dharma Cultivators, on the other hand, focus on accumulating and refining magical power, drawing the spiritual energy of the world into their bodies, purifying and refining it, and storing it in their dantian and meridians. When combined with spells, they can achieve incredible abilities, and at higher levels, they can move mountains and fill seas.

Compared to Body Cultivators, the book clearly favored Dharma Cultivators. Although their bodies are weaker, they can use spells and control magical objects, with a wide range of attack methods and the ability to enhance themselves through means such as activating and wearing magical treasures and refining with medicines, making their offensive and defensive capabilities more comprehensive.

The third category mentioned in the book was Soul Cultivators, but the section was very brief.

The author of the book seemed to have a clear bias against Soul Cultivators, stating that they neither strengthen their bodies nor cultivate magical power, but focus on refining their spiritual energy, which is considered a heretical path in cultivation.

The term "heretical" was a very negative evaluation.

The book then briefly described some of the abilities of Soul Cultivators, but the descriptions were somewhat mystical.

For example, the book mentioned that at a certain level, Soul Cultivators can control soulless corpses, making them move and attack like living beings.

"Who knows what that silver cat really is?" When he read this, Yuan Ming couldn't help but think of the scene in the human-xiao king's cave where the silver cat controlled the corpse to attack.

The book also described the abilities of soul wandering and soul searching.

The description of soul wandering stated that at a certain level, Soul Cultivators can separate their spirits from their bodies, travel through the air, and even attack others from a distance.

What interested Yuan Ming the most was the ability to search souls.

With this ability, Soul Cultivators can forcibly invade others' minds, search and explore their memories, and even forcibly alter or erase them.

"If I had this ability, could I recover my own memories?" Yuan Ming wondered to himself.

As he continued reading, Yuan Ming gradually understood that while Soul Cultivators had distinct advantages, they also had fatal flaws.

Compared to the other two systems, the conditions for cultivating as a Soul Cultivator were more stringent, and the process was more dangerous. Even with proper guidance, it was easy to go astray.

The less severe outcome was losing one's mind and becoming a fool, while the more severe outcome was the complete destruction of the soul, leaving no chance for reincarnation.

Seeing this, Yuan Ming felt a cold sweat. He had not yet experienced such a situation, and he wondered if it was due to good luck or because the "Yin Moon Technique" given to him by the silver cat was special.

Reflecting on his current situation, his cultivation was progressing slowly, but he had not noticed any risk of going astray. Instead, he felt that this technique could alleviate the hidden dangers left by his previous cultivation of the Fur Technique, which was his main motivation for continuing.

Yuan Ming even thought that the author's bias against Soul Cultivators might be exaggerated, and he was somewhat dismissive of it.

After all, the Fur Technique was still an important reliance in battle, and without a better method, he did not plan to give it up. The "Yin Moon Technique" was also essential for him to continue cultivating.

After that, Yuan Ming tried to find more information about Soul Cultivators, but there were no separate records, only some scattered and conflicting information mixed with other content, making it difficult to discern the truth.

However, there was one point that was consistent in these records.

That was their attitude toward Soul Cultivators, ranging from cautious avoidance to outright condemnation, with the majority considering them heretical, and only a small percentage not following the dark path.

Based on his prior judgment, Yuan Ming did not comment, but he decided to further cultivate the "Yin Moon Technique" because of its mysterious nature and its involvement with the soul and memory.

After putting back the last batch of materials, Yuan Ming stretched and was about to look for more to read when a middle-aged man in a steward's uniform came down the stairs, shouting, "It's almost the hour of the Dog, and the library will close soon."

He realized that he had been reading in the Guicang Pavilion for half a day without noticing.

He did not leave immediately but took a quick tour of the first floor, only leaving reluctantly at the hour of the Dog.

...

The next afternoon, Yuan Ming went to the Administrative Hall.

With his current knowledge, excellent memory, and familiarity with Huochan, he naturally passed the initial recognition by the steward and received the task of taking care of the fire weasels.

Following the task's instructions, he returned to the Fire Refinement Hall to find the Third Cave Master.

The Third Cave Master lived in a secluded courtyard in the bamboo forest on the back mountain, in a very quiet environment.

After asking several fellow disciples, Yuan Ming found the path to the courtyard. However, before he reached the bamboo forest, he encountered Chen Wan.

In the Fire Refinement Hall, apart from the three inner disciples of the Third Cave Master, the other elders mostly had only one inner disciple or none at all.

Usually, these inner disciples served their masters, receiving guidance and teachings at all times, and Chen Wan was no exception. Therefore, since entering the sect, Yuan Ming had rarely seen her.