The Aloof Master Is Secretly Kissed Every Night by the Paranoid Villain - Chapter 12

Seeing that he had finally agreed, a calculated gleam flashed within the black snake’s deep blue pupils. He planned to trick Xie Yuan into cultivating the ghost path first. Then, once the boy was controlled and eroded by the ghost qi, he would secretly alter the master-servant contract to make himself the master and this boy the servant. When that time came, would Xie Yuan not be completely at his mercy?

He told Xie Yuan that the difference between cultivating the immortal path and cultivating the ghost path lay in the fact that one absorbed the spiritual energy emitted by living things, while the other absorbed the ghost qi emitted by the dead.

To cultivate the immortal path, a cultivator used the spiritual root within their body to absorb spiritual energy. The higher the quality of the spiritual root, the faster they could absorb spiritual energy, and the greater the achievements they could attain. To cultivate the ghost path, ordinary cultivators also used their spiritual roots to absorb ghost qi, but doing so would contaminate the spiritual root, making it extremely difficult to ever cultivate the immortal path again.

Therefore, ghost cultivators were generally those whose spiritual roots lacked purity. They chose this path to take a shortcut and rapidly increase their strength. After all, no matter who cultivated ghost qi, as long as they were willing to give up on attaining immortality and ascending, their cultivation speed would be faster than that of an immortal cultivator, completely unrestricted by the grade of their spiritual root.

However, Xie Yuan’s Yin-Extreme Ghost Body was uniquely blessed by heaven. His body not only possessed a spiritual root but also concealed a ghost meridian. Even though his spiritual root was destroyed, he could still walk the path of a ghost cultivator, and his cultivation speed would far surpass that of any other ghost cultivator.

“What do I need to do?” Xie Yuan’s expression remained indifferent, but a tempest of shock had already erupted within his heart. He had truly not expected that this body of his concealed such a secret. He had to make good use of it.

“A graveyard with the most dead matter, of course!” The black snake, whose name was Xuan Qing, chuckled at this moment. “I remember that the back mountain of this Wentian Sect was the very battlefield of the ancient war between immortals and demons. It is the perfect place for your cultivation.”

“Very well.” Xie Yuan did not refuse.

He immediately consumed two of the Fasting Pills that Wen Shiqing had given him earlier and, taking advantage of the late night, slipped away to the back mountain.

The battlefield was naturally sealed off. Xuan Qing spoke with utter carelessness, “You have me on you. A barrier of this level will treat you like thin air. Just keep walking forward.”

Xie Yuan narrowed his eyes slightly and tested the waters by stepping through. Surely enough, he felt no resistance. He could not help but grow a few degrees more wary of Xuan Qing’s true identity.

However, before he could think further, a dense, biting chill rushed over him, causing him to gasp. His legs could barely support his weight, and he collapsed onto his knees.

“Do not go any further!” Xuan Qing shouted. “Enter meditation right here! Absorb all this chill into your body! Follow the mental cultivation method Wen Shiqing gave you, but reverse the flow of the ghost qi within your meridians. Once a vortex of ghost qi forms at your dantian, you will have successfully entered the gate!”

Spiritual energy belonged to yang, while ghost qi belonged to yin. Yin and yang were opposites. Therefore, cultivating the ghost path merely required one to run the immortal mental cultivation method in reverse. Xuan Qing had seen the method Wen Shiqing gave to Xie Yuan, and it was the most suitable for Xie Yuan’s current state.

“All right.” Xie Yuan gritted his teeth and replied.

He felt the ominous, freezing chill seep into every single pore, gnawing at every inch of his body. The agonizing pain made it impossible for him to utter another word. He could only use his trembling fingers to reverse the mental cultivation method Wen Shiqing had given him.

From Xuan Qing’s perspective, thin strands of pitch-black ghost qi could be seen surging out from the ruined ground of this battlefield, hovering and circling without dispersing. Accompanied by piercing, sharp shrieks, they bared their fangs and brandished their claws as they rushed toward Xie Yuan. Every strand that forced its way into Xie Yuan’s body made the youth’s tremors grow more violent.

As expected, the ghost qi and malevolent energy of the battlefield are the heaviest. Xuan Qing laughed internally.

If this continued, in less than ten to fifteen days, Xie Yuan’s soul would be damaged by the malevolent energy attached to the ghost qi. When that time came, an opportunity would arise for him to turn the boy into his puppet.

Xie Yuan spent the entire night in extreme, agonizing pain.

Those strands of ghost qi were the residual resentment of the cultivators who had died on the battlefield. They shrieked and wailed inside his mind, giving voice to their unwillingness and hatred. If it had been anyone else, they would have likely broken down long ago.

However, Xie Yuan had long grown accustomed to pain and hatred. He managed to endure through sheer willpower, refining most of the ghost qi within his body to form a vortex of ghost qi. As the first light of dawn broke, he stepped firmly into the Qi Refining Realm of ghost cultivation.

He staggered to his feet, only to hear Xuan Qing gloating in his ear, “That hurt terribly, did it not, brat?”

Xie Yuan did not care. He licked his lower lip, which he had bitten raw until it bled. Despite his deathly pale face, he let out a laugh. “It was nothing more than this.”

“Keep pretending!”

Xie Yuan ignored him. He gazed into the distance toward the desolate and ruined depths of the battlefield, his eyes a mixture of wariness and faint excitement. Cultivating at the mere edge allowed him to reach the Qi Refining Realm in a single night. If he came here every night and continuously explored deeper into the area, becoming stronger would only be a matter of time.

When Xie Yuan returned to the Spring Scenery Villa, the sky was already bright.

As he pushed open the courtyard gate, a warm spring breeze rushed over him, dispelling the lingering chill around his body and bringing with it a faint fragrance of flowers. For some reason, it made Xie Yuan recall the cold face of Wen Shiqing as he stood in the courtyard to activate the formation.

Even though the man was delivering orders to him in an austere tone, he had still arranged for him to stay in such a wonderful courtyard. Should it be said that Xiao Heng’s charm was simply too immense, causing the man to extend his love to a substitute to such an extent?

What if… What if he surpassed Xiao Heng? What would Wen Shiqing do then? Would he instantly change his face in fury, wishing to kill this substitute who dared to surpass the original? Or would he transfer the love he bestowed upon Xiao Heng and invest it into him instead?

Xie Yuan raised his hand, and pitch-black ghost qi swirled within his palm, resembling the eerie, burning fire of the netherworld. The youth’s delicate features were stained with a malevolent aura as he let out a cold laugh.

“So, Master, what will you do?”