Chapter 28
Chapter 28: Moonlight Tempering
The excitement didn’t last long before Shao Heng pressed it down and forced herself to think clearly.
In three months, the Mystic Moon Secret Realm would open. The mysterious spiritual power within the Moon-Inquiry Token would naturally carry its holder inside.
Six months later, the realm would close—and right after that came the disciples’ grand competition.
In Elder Zhao’s eyes, if Shao Heng could seize enough opportunities in the secret realm, then even if she didn’t advance smoothly into the inner sect through the competition, an inner sect elder might still take a liking to her and accept her as a true disciple. That would make it far easier to obtain the Life-Extending Azure Pill.
And by gifting her an immortal art, Elder Zhao was paying her side of the bargain upfront. It ensured that even if Shao Heng later entered the inner sect and realized the value of the Life-Extending Azure Pill and the Moon-Inquiry Token didn’t perfectly match, resentment wouldn’t take root.
This immortal art wasn’t the killing method Shao Heng wanted most, but Three-Thousand-Li Moon walked the path of light and shadow. In quality, it was already excellent among lower-grade immortal arts.
Only three months remained until the secret realm opened. She was confident she could break through to the mid First Realm, but time was too short to push herself to the late First Realm.
And when the Mystic Moon Secret Realm opened, there would be First Realm perfection cultivators with over 900 cauldrons of spiritual power. Against that kind of gap, escape arts would matter more than anything.
Earlier, why had one Wind-Blowing Technique left seven people helpless?
Yes, her mastery made the spell sharper—but the true reason was simple: her spiritual power was high enough.
Even Zhao Chuan Zhen, the strongest among them, didn’t have a fraction of her cauldrons. Of course he’d been toyed with like a child.
Inside the Mystic Moon Secret Realm, she would face elite disciples trained on concentrated inner sect resources—people with hundreds more cauldrons than her. She would be the weaker side in the same way.
When the enemy was strong and she was weak, escape was the first priority.
“It’s stifling,” Shao Heng muttered, rubbing Duo Bao’s fluffy head with one hand while pressing the jade slip to her forehead with the other.
She read carefully and memorized every line.
Unlike basic spells, the most important thing about a graded immortal art was the trace of true intent within the jade slip. That intent had to be engraved with spiritual sense by a high-level cultivator who had mastered the art. Without it, even if someone obtained the formulas, they couldn’t truly bring out the method’s power.
As Shao Heng comprehended it, the true intent in the jade slip grew thinner and thinner. In the time it took incense to burn halfway, it vanished completely—cutting off any possibility of passing it on.
In “technique, companion, wealth, and land,” technique came first. Cultivation methods and immortal arts were the foundation of everything—yet most of the Human Clan’s techniques were concentrated within immortal sects.
Outside the sect, even after Shao Heng watched the Trading Market for a long time, she’d still found no news of immortal arts. The difficulty spoke for itself.
“So profound.”
Three-Thousand-Li Moon was developed from the Ming Yue Shadow-Reflection Outline and branched into many variations of escape techniques.
She had only just grasped the beginning, but she’d already seen the refinement within it—more intricate than all the basic spells she’d learned combined.
“Three months is enough for me to get started.”
She lifted Duo Bao off her leg, set it onto the chair, then took out another cushion and sat cross-legged.
Following the outline, she used spiritual power to refine several acupoints in advance, preparing them to carry moonlight later.
After cultivating for half a day, the sun sank beyond the western peaks. A pale moon broke through the clouds and hung high.
Shao Heng shifted into the Five Hearts Facing Heaven posture. She silently recited the formula, driving her spiritual power through a rapid great cycle.
Soon she sensed moonlight everywhere. To her perception, it flowed like water, cool and endless.
Beside her, the golden monkey scratched its head. A yearning gleam rose in its silver eyes, and it crept closer to Shao Heng as if drawn by instinct.
Most of the Demon Clan had a tradition of worshiping the moon. Legends said that once every 60 years, on Gengshen Night, when moon essence was richest, a strange scene would appear: moonlight condensed into solid form, like countless olives gathering into 10,000 golden threads that draped down in dense strands. It was called Imperial Flowing Nectar.
If an ordinary beast obtained it, it could awaken intelligence and step onto the path of a demon cultivator. If a Demon Clan member with cultivation obtained even one, it could surpass months of bitter training.
It wasn’t Gengshen Night.
And yet, when Shao Heng began absorbing moonlight, a terrifying suction burst from her body.
Moonlight gathered around her, denser and denser, forming several golden threads that wrapped her waist.
Silver-white “olives” appeared out of thin air, floating one by one to Shao Heng’s forehead, merging into her niwan.
Comfort flooded her from head to toe.
Tai Yin moonlight didn’t chill her. Instead, her spirit platform felt clearer than it ever had.
When she looked inward, her bones and meridians were coated in a faint silver-white sheen. Under the moonlight’s tempering, they grew tougher, denser, more resilient.
When the moon sank and the sun rose, dawn broke.
Shao Heng opened her eyes, shock filling them.
“My yellow sprout…” Her voice was hoarse. “It was tempered by moonlight.”
The spiritual power cultivated from the Origin-Nourishing Qi-Raising Art was already pure, but after being tempered, it carried an extra trace of Tai Yin cold.
Her cauldrons of spiritual power hadn’t increased.
But when she formed a hand seal, an ice-forged long arrow condensed out of thin air—clean, sharp, instantaneous. It shot into the field ridge with a boom.
Joy flared across her face. “Spell power increased by 30%!”
Neither the tempering of the yellow sprout nor the increase in spell power was recorded in Three-Thousand-Li Moon.
If it wasn’t the method, then it was her.
Her thoughts leapt forward like sparks. If absorbing moonlight did this… what about absorbing sunlight? Or starlight?
If her guess was right, then—
Her expression tightened.
“It’s a shame absorption methods are so rare.” She exhaled slowly. “I only saw a lower-grade immortal art called the Golden Crow Sun-Embracing Visualization Diagram on the fifth floor of the Wondrous Dharma Tower. Maybe it contains a technique for absorbing sunlight.”
But that scroll required 2,100 contribution points.
“If I can get the Golden Crow Sun-Embracing Visualization Diagram before entering the Mystic Moon Secret Realm, my chances of fighting for opportunities inside will be even greater.”
Urgency rose like a tide.
Only three months remained.
About 90 days to gather 2,100 contribution points, and the number on her disciple token was still a big fat zero.
What misery.
The priority was to advance to the mid First Realm, then start taking tasks immediately—building contribution points while sharpening her battle skills.
Shao Heng looked toward the spirit fields.
In the early morning, Duo Bao was already awake. It dutifully drew three buckets of well water, took a white porcelain bottle, poured in the spirit liquid she’d prepared in advance, stirred it with its paw, and began irrigating the rice seedlings.
When it finished, it held up the bottle and offered it to Shao Heng like a child presenting homework.
Shao Heng had long noticed that Azure Emperor spirit liquid had a time limit. If it wasn’t used within 10 days, it lost its mysterious effect. It had to be replenished regularly.
She placed a finger at the bottle’s mouth and let spirit liquid gather, filling it halfway.
Then she let Duo Bao taste two drops.
It smacked its lips in satisfaction and curled obediently at her feet.
Shao Heng’s gaze lingered on the silver mark on its forehead.
It had grown clearer.
What it meant, she didn’t know.
She would likely have to wait until Duo Bao grew bigger to investigate further.