Chapter 126

First of all, cultivation techniques do not have grades as specific as that of spiritual talismans and items. However, its grading system is more easily defined than that of spiritual goods. The level of cultivation one can reach with this technique decides the grade of the technique.

For example, even if Li Qing Shan practises the “Xian Tian Qi Refining Technique” to the 9th realm, he would only be a 3rd level Qi Refining warrior. This goes to show that the technique is not very sophisticated and can be considered as the weakest entry level cultivation technique. He would need to search for a new technique to cultivate if he wished to further progress.

There are many more cultivation techniques that can help the cultivator reach the 9th Qi Refining stage, even to experience a Heavenly Tribulation to reach the legendary Foundation Establishment stage. As to whether there are stronger techniques out there, the book he read only ambiguously discussed about it. It only stated that there definitely would be, but was unable to list any of them out; clearly showing the author’s lack of knowledge in this department.

But it was true. "Face of the Undead" is one such technique. When the highest level was achieved, one could attain the status of Bodhisattva, as mentioned by the Green Bull to Qing Shan from the start.

The so-called Bodhisattva, is to have the heart of Bodhicitta and to make the four great vows - vow to convert all sentient beings, vow to cut off all vexations, vow to learn all the Buddha’s teachings and vow to attain Buddhahood. Finally proving worthy of the position of Bodhisattva

This was the saying in the sutras, which Little An read about on the boat and wrote word by word on Li Qing Shan’s palm. However, the Face of the Undead also had four different goals.

Endless extermination of the living ; endless pain and trouble ; endless destruction of Buddhist beliefs and institutions ; endless severing of the Buddhist Dao promises.

Although he was expressionless( obviously *SKULL JOKE YOHOHOHOHO* ), Qing Shan could clearly feel his extreme seriousness when Little An wrote these two opposing desires onto his palm.

Needless to say, these two opposing wishes were things that Li Qing Shan did not quite understand. Obviously, he would not admit that he was an illiterate, but he felt that that that Buddhist Practitioner must have experienced a great provocation to have had such a huge change in mentality.

After thinking about it, Li Qing Shan obtained his own direct “understanding”, that the guy was probably quite awesome. As to how awesome he was, he did not know. This world most probably had no one that understood how awesome he was.

Even here, where there existed plenty of practitioners that could shift the mountains and calm the seas, the Bodhisattva still quietly sits on top of his Lotus Seat, looking at life with either a kind or distant gaze.

Practitioners only dare to call themselves practitioners and not immortals or buddhas. That is not something that exists in the world, perhaps only when reaching above the Nine Heavens that the Green Bull mentioned would one be able to see them. As to Li Qing Shan’s thoughts on them, they were stronger practitioners, and one could not even fathom their power.

Thus, the conclusion was simple. A godly technique that could allow one to cultivate till they became a Bodhisattva did not need a grade to be termed with. If this news were leaked, then it would not be as simple as exterminating demons, but would incite a chaotic battle to ensue in the Nine Provinces.

Little An, by practising the "Face of the Undead", could be said to have an overwhelming absolute superiority over other practitioners of the same cultivation level. However, Little An only just started to cultivate over these past few months and could only be considered to be a beginner who has not even reached the first level yet. As his cultivation grows, this superiority would grow stronger and reveal Little An’s true power.

These were all but thoughts running through Li Qing Shan’s mind. At these moments, Little An would just quietly stare at the side of his face and feel satisfied. He did not think so deeply. He just wanted to stay by his side, that’s all. Looking to grow a body of flesh and blood was only so that he could publicly stay by his side. Becoming stronger was only to become his aide, rather than a burden.

With his genius intellect, he was able to understand more of the Face of the Undead, and feel the terror within. What great despair must a great Buddhist Practitioner must have felt, for him to create such a technique. For him to so unreluctantly throw himself into the depths of hell, to construct a Lotus Seat out of skeletons, feasting on flesh and blood. To feel happiness from despair, and as such creating his own Elysium.

For his purpose, even if Little An had to kill the masses, bring upon material troubles for himself, destroy temples and ruin the way of the Buddha, he would not find it troublesome.

Li Qing Shan took out a colourful Treasure Pouch and laughed: "See what’s this?"

The treasure pouch was from the Madam’s body. How could he forget to loot the corpse once he killed her? Conducting heroic duties and stealing from the rich to gift the poor are intricately linked. As such, he robbed the Madam of her wealth to remunerate his poor self. Unfortunately, that Fu Rong did not carry a Treasure Pouch, if not he would have another in his hands. But as a person, one should never be too greedy.

"How? I did what I promised, right!"

The blood flames in Little An’s eyes flickered cheerfully.

Li Qing Shan said: "Let’s take a look at our harvest this time." Inserting his spiritual Qi into the Treasure Pouch, a whole new space was opened before his very eyes, the size of which was comparable to his body.

There were many things inside, but the things like make-up, handkerchiefs and other miscellaneous items were thrown away by him. What he wanted to see were only pills, spiritual talismans, cultivation techniques and anything else related to cultivation.

However, there were no spiritual items in the Treasure Pouch. It seemed that the madam did not participate in any battles after handling social escorts for so many years and hence did not have any prepared.

There were a few bottles of pills, but two of them were aphrodisiac in nature, named “Spring Inducing Pills”. After Li Qing Shan took a whiff, he felt that there was a fire going up within his abdomen region. He was unaware of the ingredients used to concoct such pills, which were surprisingly able to have such a strong effect even against Qi practitioners.

The other two bottles were of the opposite nature, named “Calming Heart Pills”. With a gentle whiff, his thoughts became clearer but the fire in his abdomen did not subside. It was truly a weird situation where he was aroused like wildfire, yet had a heart still as water.

As for cultivation techniques, there was a book called “Little Techniques”. Li Qing Shan browsed through it once and discovered that it would allow one’s cultivation to reach the 6th level of Qi Refining to activate his Qi Sea upon fully practising the technique. In comparison to the “Xian Tian Qi Refining Technique”, it was much stronger. Unfortunately, the book detailed a technique that requires a partner and for one to cultivate in the midst of sexual pleasure, treating the partner as a “cultivation furnace”. The “Spring Inducing Pills” and the “Calming Heart Pills” were meant to be used during such cultivation. By letting the “cultivation furnace” consume the “Spring Inducing Pills”, one could wantonly extract the Ying Yang Qi from it. By consuming the “Calming Heart Pill” one could manage and soothe the balance of Ying Yang to cultivate this “Little Techniques”.

It was no wonder that the Pavilion was opened so publicly. This was the only way they could publicly search for “cultivation furnaces”. Earning money was merely a secondary task for them. Refining Qi was their main job. If not, simply abducting women for prostitution would have gotten them exterminated by the Eagle Wolf Guard long ago.

With such a troublesome cultivation process, Li Qing Shan would obviously not practise it. Although the “Xian Tian Refining Qi Technique” was lower in grade, but it was simple to cultivate and was the ideal technique to build up one’s foundations. Unless one was a miraculously gifted talent, one’s foundation usually started off with this technique.

Putting all these aside, Qing Shan finally found two bottles of Condensing Qi Pills. It seemed that no matter what sect one belonged to, these fundamental pills were things one could not lack. Although her possession was merely that of ten over pills, it was enough to be satisfied with. Thus, the number of Qi Condensing Pills Qing Shan possessed reached over seventy over pills. A small fortune, one could consider him to have.

Other things that Li Qing Shan paid more attention to included a stack of accounting books. He looked through them but his mind fogged up and he decided to hand them over to Zhou Wen Bin the next day.

Lastly, there was money, lots and lots of money. Li Qing Shan had never seen so much money in his life. In total, it was worth several hundred thousand silver pieces. Although each note was worth a thousand, there were thick stacks all over the place. Even though the Pavilion earned money as a side objective, once they started earning, they were as ruthless as robbers. And since there was no place safer than that of one’s Treasure Pouch, Li Qing Shan heavily benefited from this.

If it were the old Qing Shan that acquired so much money, he would be ecstatic to the point of going crazy. How much meat could he buy? How much Ginseng could he acquire? Now, he was dressed prim and properly, feasted on the best, and had more than enough pills to require Ginsengs. There was no place for him to spend money anymore.

However, if he really wanted to cultivate the “Little Techniques”, the several hundred thousand worth of silver would be enough to purchase a few girls. He entertained these dirty thoughts in his head for a while before keeping the silver and Qi Condensing Pills into his Treasure Pouch.

Passing that colourful Treasure Pouch to Little An, he said: “ As promised, this is yours.”

Little An then put the wooden plate into the new Treasure Pouch, and returned the old Treasure Pouch to Li Qing Shan. Overjoyed, Little An played with the things inside happily. He seemed more like a child than ever.

As Li Qing Shan looked at him, he smiled slightly and felt his bundled up nerves slowly easing up. He slowly started to feel a sense of peace that he could only get from being home. No matter what, he was not alone.

A Qi Condensing Pill was thrown into the air and dropped into Li Qing Shan’s mouth as he once again started to meditate.

At this moment, Zhuo Zhi Bo was fuming. “Li Qing Shan! How dare you play around with this old man.” Ge Jian and Qian Rong Zheng, both as silent as cicadas in winter, did not dare to respond.

“Commander, should we go all the way?” An Eagle Wolf Guard made a “kill” gesture and the surrounding guards all revealed cruel expressions. They were all Zhuo Zhi Bo’s trusted men, and times like this call for them to help their master and lessen his burden. In their opinion, no matter how powerful Li Qing Shan is with his Body Refining Technique, if he got surrounded by five 3rd and 4th Level Qi Refining Practitioners, there would be no way for him to survive.

"If I could kill him, I would personally kill him long ago!" replied Zhuo Zhi Bo as he forcefully suppressed his rage. “ I’ve already asked the people in the Clear River Magistrate to investigate. It will not take long before something comes out. Only after then shall we discuss about this again. Now, all of you are not to get in touch with him. Ge Jian, you are not to see him anymore. I will send others instead. Rong Zheng, like him, you are new guard member. You guys spend substantial time together. You need to find out whether his background is authentic or not.”

Ge Jian sighed in relief. Qian Rong Zheng however slightly paled. She was venomous in means and thoughts but she was thoroughly shocked by the cruel and decisive means of Li Qing Shan.

Ge Jian also worriedly mentioned: "If you really want to take action, Zhou Wen Bin seems to value this kid. The vice leader too..."

Zhuo Zhi Bo replied: "If I really wanted to take action, this Jia Ping City has no one that can protect him."

Li Qing Shan did not know of these hidden conspiracies. Even if he did know he would not mind. He was eating Qi Condensing Pills like candy and increasing his strength. Once his fist was strong enough, he would first get rid of that asshole Zhao Liang Qing and then Zhuo Zhi Bo.

In a short 2 hours, he had already consumed 3 Qi Condensing Pills, which dissolved to form True Qi and Demonic Qi. Although he could rely on the “Spiritual Turtle Calms the Seas Scripture” to ensure that his mental state never tires, his digestion of the Condensing Qi Pills was not much more superior to that of his peer Refining Qi Practitioners.

T/L note: Yo guys, end of the chapter already. I would like to know how you like the site so far and what else you guys would like on this site and how to improve the site to make it better. So please do comment down below or drop me an email to tell me what you think I should change to make your novel reading experience better! Also, my editor and I decided on changing Little An’s cultivation technique from Dao of Beautiful Bones to Face of the Undead. This is because we felt the current name would be more suited for it. This technique is after all a technique meant for slaughter and extermination, not one of seduction. It also fits the translation better in this context. Chinese phrases generally have multiple meanings to them so it’s less of a right/wrong scenario and more of a bias towards which in whatever circumstances. Hope you lot take up to it well!