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Chapter 181 - Dark Hand
🕑 Added 2025-08-06 04:38:03 +0000 UTCWhile the elders in the Beiyan continent were endlessly smacking jade slips to their foreheads in the inn, back in the Infinite Dao Sect, all the avatars were busy analyzing and experimenting with techniques.
Aotian's knowledge base—and consequently that of his avatars—was simply too strong, and the analysis was quite fast. Combined with the massive quantity of materials and minds working together, synthesis began to operate at full speed.
And the first target of Aotian's focus was the Refiner-Tier body refinement techniques.
Draconic Body Refinement – Refiner-Tier Version (Updated) ✓
The analysis of the 800 techniques he had just purchased was quick, and soon that knowledge was integrated into the technique he already used, improving it slightly—which made almost no difference, but Aotian still took advantage of the opportunity, sat down, and operated the Draconic Body Refinement technique.
The patterns that appeared in his roots, activated by the revised technique, were nearly identical to the previous ones, with almost invisible differences. If it weren't for Aotian's powerful minds assisting him in cultivation, his own Foundation Establishment-level control would likely struggle to implement these changes.
As before, the pattern's energy was sent to his cells, and they, which previously wouldn't absorb anything as if saturated with energy, now managed to take in a bit more before stopping a few seconds later.
Aotian opened his eyes and stroked his chin thoughtfully.
'When a technique reaches the edge of near-perfection, any stacking of materials allows it to advance just a few nanometers in power, and the more a technique advances toward perfection, the harder it becomes to make further progress, and the more irrelevant the gains become. Just like now, even after stacking 800 more techniques, my strength barely changed,' he analyzed with a serious gaze.
Shaking his head, he shifted his focus to continue processing techniques, and soon the second synthesis emerged. This time, a brand new one he hadn't done before.
Draconic Body Refinement – Founder-Tier Version ✓
Aotian's eyes lit up as the technique floated in his mind, and without wasting time, he created a fire-element-only version for Rihai.
In his main body, he pulled out an empty jade slip from his storage pouch, pressed it to his forehead, and transferred the technique into it. Then, he dashed out of his room toward Rihai's.
With a mischievous grin, he knocked on her door and raised his voice.
"Haier, I have something to give you!"
It didn't take long for the door to open, and Rihai, with her beautiful blue eyes, appeared, staring at him curiously.
Seeing her, Aotian didn't hesitate, launching a surprise attack—picking her up in his arms as their clothes vanished, and the door behind them closed.
…
While practicing dual cultivation with Rihai, Aotian applied the recently improved Refiner-Tier body refinement technique to enhance her body cultivation.
Since a high level of energy control was required, and he didn't want to give her the old upgraded technique directly—since that could make it seem like they were hiding better things from her—he decided to apply the technique himself.
And with dual cultivation, he was able to do it with ease. Although she could sense that he was using the technique, she probably wouldn’t be able to tell the difference — she'd just think he had better control and managed to apply it a hair better than she could, since the improvement was almost negligible.
Even though there wasn't much advantage to applying this enhancement, Aotian still wanted to do it for his wife. After all, even a hair's-width of difference was still an advantage.
After finishing the application, which took no more than a few seconds, he took advantage of already being there and finished the dual cultivation session…
'I must finish this purely out of altruism, I swear!' he joked mentally before focusing on his beautiful wife.
As for handing over the jade slip with the Founder-Tier body refinement technique, he would do that after the healthy "exercise."
While the main body enjoyed life, the avatars were still going full steam ahead, creating new techniques.
Hours passed as more and more techniques came to life.
Celestial Rotation of the Five Elements – Founder-Tier (Updated) ✓
Celestial Rotation of the Five Elements – Core-Tier ✓
Various Five Elements Spells – Founder-Tier (Updated) ✓
Various Five Elements Spells – Core-Tier ✓
Aotian had bought enough techniques for those at the pavilion, and the synthesis of these techniques was simple.
But it didn't stop there, and a pleasant surprise awaited Aotian in the next phase.
Draconic Body Refinement – Core-Tier Version ✓
Despite having purchased only 200 body refinement techniques of that level, he still managed to synthesize a new technique reaching near-perfection.
Since he needed only 100 examples to synthesize Refiner-Tier techniques, and when moving to Founder-Tier, he needed 200, he deduced that for Core-Tier, he'd need 300. But, in fact, he was mistaken.
Surprisingly, he only needed 200.
Upon realizing that, his eyes gleamed, and he deduced something.
'Perhaps the technique synthesis ability requires a specific number, but that number might be determined by the quality of the techniques used. In the desert continent, Founder-Tier techniques were already rare, and those that existed were of low quality. But in the Beiyan continent, such techniques are very popular, and there are millions—perhaps billions—of cultivators creating and improving them, making high-quality techniques vastly superior to any from the desert continent. If I had used these when creating my Founder-Tier techniques, maybe only 100 would've been needed.'
Aotian had always suspected that quality could affect synthesis, but he had simply never thought so deeply about it, as he had never seen such a stark contrast until now.
Lastly, only the Core-Tier auxiliary arts inheritances remained to be synthesized, but Aotian had only purchased 100 of each, so it still wasn't enough.
He still had one or two other manuals from his conquest of the sect domains, and also the royal library that Bao Wuji stole and had been pressing jade slips to his forehead ever since—but he figured it might not be enough.
After all, the royal library probably wouldn't have as many techniques as a sales pavilion, since they would only keep the best for the family and discard the inferior ones. So Aotian figured that, with luck, there might be at most 10 excellent manuals of each art.
But he wasn't worried, as he still had the elders of the Heritage Pavilion to generate knowledge, and that should be enough—it would just take a bit more time.
…
Beiyan Continent (Flame of the North), Fenglei Empire (Wind and Thunder)
Back at the inn where the avatars were staying, a hooded shadow slipped out silently, drawing no attention.
Crossing shadowy alleys and avoiding prying eyes, the figure made their way from the city center to its outskirts and entered a discreet alleyway.
Beneath the hood was the serious face of a middle-aged man with red hair and red eyes.
[Name: Sun Yiming
Position: Outer Elder (Punishment Pavilion)
Cultivation: 9th Level of Foundation Establishment (Host's Realm)
Body Cultivation: 1st Level of Foundation Establishment (Host's Realm)
Position Ability: Hunter's Heart
Affiliation Skill: Combat Affinity
Position Bonus: Phantom Trail (4 uses per day)]
Sun Yiming, from the Punishment Pavilion, walked down the alley and approached a simple wooden door.
To his eyes, that wasn't just an ordinary alley. He could clearly see traces, hairs, shallow footprints, dirt, and many other clues that, to a normal person, would seem trivial or meaningless. But to Sun Yiming, they told a complete story about the place.
Everything indicated that this place was occasionally visited by opulent individuals or those with strong cultivation—not by ordinary mortals—usually coming alone or in small groups.
This was the Hunter's Heart ability at work, essentially giving the avatar a Sherlock Holmes-style talent.
As he approached the wooden door, he didn't knock—he simply stood before it and whispered quietly, just as he remembered from the crown prince's memories.
"I need information about herbs or treasures that improve the quality of spiritual roots," he said in a low, hoarse tone, his voice slightly aged.
At this moment, his appearance had changed completely, now looking elderly beneath the hood. Even while hooded, Aotian still thought it worth being cautious.
After speaking, he waited there until, with a soft creak, the wooden door opened.
Yiming calmly pushed it open and stepped in without hesitation. He had never been there, but the crown prince had.
The room was a simple wooden chamber, but in the center stood a solid pedestal with a gray box on top, no taller than two palms.
As he entered, the door behind him closed by itself.
Sun Yiming didn't mind and walked up to the box calmly.
On top of it, he saw the mark of a black hand, as if someone had dipped their hand in ink and pressed it there.
And above the hand, there was a vibrant golden number… 100.
'Dark Hand Pavilion, an intelligence-reselling power. Mysterious, no one knows who works there or whom they serve. Rihai didn't mention such a power, so it must be native to this continent—or maybe to another mid-continent. Either way, I'm not interested in who they are, only in what they can do for me.'
Thinking that, he looked at a small rectangular slot on the box, right beneath the golden numbers, in the palm of the black hand.
Sun Yiming took a jade card from his storage ring and inserted it into the slot.
With his intent, the card began transferring 100 high-grade spirit stones. The Dark Hand Pavilion only accepts stones of this grade as payment.
As the numbers on his card dropped, the golden numbers on the box also decreased until they reached zero.
When the transfer was complete, Sun Yiming pulled out the card, and the lid of the box opened in the middle, sliding to the sides and revealing a simple jade slip resting at the bottom.
Sun Yiming took the slip and pressed it to his forehead without hesitation.
Soon, a flow of information entered his mind.
After that, Sun Yiming turned and left the same way he had come.
Meanwhile, back at the sect, Aotian—who was holding a deeply asleep and exhausted Rihai—had his brows slightly furrowed as he processed the information.
'This is going to be complicated.'
Comments
Thiago Diorio
They exist, but they're rare. They'll still show up and be explained. 😶🌫️
acdpqs
You mentioned "Various Five Elements Spells". Are there other types of spells, or rather are they restriceted to a certain powerlevel?
