Chapter 22: Five Elements Qi Gathering Method

After informing Ding Zhen, Lin Donglai headed toward Lingxi Peak amidst her envious glances and sincere congratulations.

Lingxi Peak was the place where newly admitted outer disciples learned their crafts; as for collecting their outer disciple stipends, they had to go to Merit Peak.

Upon arriving at Lingxi Peak, he found it bustling with activity. Various buildings were visible: the Lecture Hall, Library, Cultivation Rooms, Alchemy Hall, Spirit Plant Hall, Talisman Hall, Array Hall, Weapon Hall, and a Miscellaneous Arts Hall.

Lin Donglai first went to the Library. At the first level of Qi Refinement, one could receive one early-stage Qi Refinement cultivation technique.

Upon reaching the second level of Qi Refinement, one could receive one free spell.

The Library was a branch of the Inner Sect's Scripture Pavilion, but it only contained early-stage Qi Refinement techniques, basic spells, and various primary cultivation manuals, pill recipes, and weapon formulas for apprentices to borrow.

Following Elder Qin's guidance, Lin Donglai intended to practice the Five Elements Qi Gathering Technique, as he needed Five Elements essence to cultivate his Inner Vision Blessed Field.

Five Elements essence could be refined from Five Elements spiritual qi. Once refined, the Five Elements spiritual qi became attribute-less spiritual qi, which could be condensed into attribute-less spiritual liquid through special methods.

However, Lin Donglai still wanted to ask if there were any fundamental sect techniques that allowed for further cultivation at the Qi Refinement level that might suit him better. Otherwise, it would be troublesome if he reached Foundation Establishment only to find he had no suitable technique to practice.

Although the Earth Immortal inheritance was powerful, it primarily focused on nurturing Blessed Lands and Grotto-heavens, becoming more potent the further one progressed. For now, he still had to rely on the cultivation techniques of the Azure Wood Sect.

The person guarding the Library was an old outer disciple deacon, appearing to be about forty years old. Only his temples were white, and he was currently reading "The Demonic Enchantress Fell in Love with Me" with great interest, occasionally letting out lewd giggles that were entirely inconsistent with his appearance and temperament.

After giggling, he rolled over on his lounge chair and continued reading.

"Senior!" Lin Donglai respectfully presented his outer disciple token. "I have come to collect a cultivation technique."

The deacon immediately wiped the smile from his face, glanced at the token, and said, "Go to the second floor of the Library yourself. Once you find it, transcribe a copy."

Lin Donglai did not go in directly but said earnestly, "I would be grateful if Senior Brother could explain it to me."

"There is nothing to explain," the deacon shook his head. "There is a stone monument on the first floor. Just look at the monument; it contains the catalog of techniques."

Hearing this, Lin Donglai decisively entered the Library.

The deacon curled his lip. "Not even a single spirit stone for a tip, yet he expects me to explain it to him."

Upon entering the Library, Lin Donglai indeed saw a tall stone monument. At the base of the monument, a Dragon Turtle was carved.

The various sizes of text on the monument were the names of the techniques, with their characteristics noted beside them.

*Eternal Longevity Springless Technique*: A Water, Earth, and Wood attribute Purple Mansion True Technique, excellent for longevity.

*Stream-Crossing Lost Remnants Technique*: A Water attribute Purple Mansion True Technique, excellent for divination; requires mastery of numerology and extraordinary comprehension.

*Purple Mist Morning Truth Life-Nurturing Technique*: An attribute-less Purple Mansion True Technique; requires gathering the purple qi of the morning sun daily. The purple qi can be used to assist in breaking through bottlenecks.

Below the three Purple Mansion techniques were the Foundation Establishment techniques.

*Yangguan Golden Palace Suppression Art*: A Gold, Earth, and Fire attribute technique, excellent for suppression.

*Qionglin Green Jade Precious Tree Art*: A Water, Wood, and Earth attribute technique, excellent for countering spells.

Below the Foundation Establishment techniques were the Qi Refinement techniques.

To his surprise, the Five Elements Qi Gathering Method was ranked first.

*Five Elements Qi Gathering Method*: A Five Elements technique that can be split or combined, excellent for versatile arts.

The rest were not worth looking at, as none were suitable.

Having finally gained a clear understanding, Lin Donglai headed to the second floor of the Library.

An old man was dozing at the top of the stairs; Lin Donglai walked past him and headed inside.

There were quite a few disciples in the Library transcribing techniques and spells.

After asking a few questions, Lin Donglai reached the bookshelf corresponding to the Five Elements Qi Gathering Method.

Two entire rows of bookshelves were dedicated to the Five Elements Qi Gathering Method.

Lin Donglai had no choice but to find a book titled *General Principles of the Five Elements* and open it.

Although the Five Elements Qi Gathering Method was only a Qi Refinement stage technique, its origins were not simple; it was left behind by the ancient Primordial Five Elements Sect.

To be precise, this method was the Qi Refinement portion of the Golden Core technique, the *Primordial Dan Scripture*.

It was a combination of ten different Qi Gathering methods, divided into Yang Five Elements and Yin Five Elements.

Men began by practicing the Yang Five Elements; once they mastered the Yang Five Elements cycle, it would become their Yin Five Elements foundation upon reaching Foundation Establishment.

Women began by practicing the Yin Five Elements, and upon reaching Foundation Establishment, they would supplement the Yang Five Elements.

Of course, they could also practice together as Dao companions.

Ultimately, when the Yin and Yang Five Elements were perfectly harmonized and generated one another, it would reach the Purple Mansion stage.

Once the Five Elements reached perfection and could progress no further, they would be circulated through the method of mutual restraint to return the primordial Five Elements into a Primordial Golden Core.

However, the methods regarding how to achieve Five Elements Foundation Establishment, Yin-Yang dual cultivation, and the transformation of restraint into Primordial essence had all been lost.

Only the Five Elements Qi Gathering Method remained widely circulated.

Among them, the Yang Five Elements could be split into the Jia-Yin Life-Gathering Method, Geng-Shen Gold-Gathering Method, Bing-Wu Sun-Gathering Method, Wu-Chen Earth-Gathering Method, and Ren-Zi Water-Gathering Method.

For example, since Lin Donglai possessed a low-grade Five Elements spiritual root with flourishing Wood and the low-grade Jia-Wood physique, he could focus on the Jia-Yin Qi Gathering Method. Every day during the Yin hour, he would face east to gather the vitality of Jia-Wood to cultivate Jia-Yin True Qi.

This True Qi possessed the characteristics of Jia-Wood: it favored Sun, Earth, and Water, and loathed Metal. Once he reached the middle stage of Qi Refinement, he could practice supplementary Fire, Earth, and Water techniques. Once the Jia-Wood grew robust—at the late stage of Qi Refinement—it would no longer loathe Metal but would instead favor its hardness, allowing him to supplement Metal techniques. In this way, the Five Elements would gradually balance and generate one another, eventually returning to a state of flourishing Wood.

For subsequent Foundation Establishment, he could transition to the Foundation Establishment portion of the *Eternal Longevity Springless Technique* or the *Qionglin Green Jade Precious Tree Art*, both of which would be highly compatible.

If Lin Donglai wanted to transcribe it for cultivation, he actually only needed to transcribe the Jia-Yin Qi Gathering portion for the early stage of Qi Refinement.

The second floor of the Lingxi Peak Library only held the first three levels of techniques, so supervision was not particularly strict. If one had an extraordinary memory, one could force themselves to memorize them, or if one had spirit stones, one could simply buy a transcription from others.

However, Lin Donglai still went to look at the Qi Refinement portions of other techniques, such as the Qi Refinement portions of several Purple Mansion techniques.

The Qi Refinement portion of the *Eternal Longevity Springless Technique* was extremely rigorous; it required Water, Wood, and Earth spiritual roots to practice, and ordinary people could easily suffer from Qi Deviation. It required guidance from a master.

After suffering Qi Deviation, some would turn into children, some into old men, some men would turn into women, and some women into men—it was a major problem.

The *Stream-Crossing Lost Remnants Technique* required learning a vast amount of knowledge regarding numerology, Feng Shui, and treasure appraisal, as well as understanding current worldly affairs; it immediately discouraged an ordinary outer disciple like Lin Donglai.

Only the *Purple Mist Morning Truth Life-Nurturing Technique* had an extremely simple Qi Refinement stage. It only required gathering a wisp of purple qi daily at sunrise by facing the sun, accumulating it bit by bit.

It even noted that the Merit Hall collected morning purple qi year-round.

This was a purely auxiliary technique. Since purple qi could help one break through bottlenecks personally, it could naturally assist others in breaking through as well. By accumulating it over time, it might even be used by the sect's Purple Mansion Grand Elders to assist in breaking through to the Golden Core stage.