Eternal Life: I Can Sell Everything

Chapter 247: Chapter 243: Thus Passes Time, Who Can Keep Pace?

Song Ciwan sat cross-legged in her room. Outside, moonlight filtered in like a soft veil.

Draped in moonlight, she felt an extraordinary sense of fulfillment and peace.

Soon, she made her decision.

’Don’t bite off more than you can chew.’ The Cultivation Techniques and various Magic she currently possessed were already enough to keep her studying for a long time.

A Low Level Lightweight Skill like Grasshopper, once cultivated to the Returning to the Essence Realm, would surpass a High Level Lightweight Skill that wasn’t deeply mastered.

Of course, Grasshopper’s potential was too low. Song Ciwan had obtained the complete version from the start, so there was no need to delve any deeper into it. Therefore, the second Daoist Skill Song Ciwan chose was an Escape Technique: Escape into the Night!

[You have consumed three hundred Primordial Pearls and sold the hatred, bitterness, and sorrow of an Early-Stage Qi Refining Cultivator, weighing one pound and twelve ounces, to obtain the complete Escape Technique: Escape into the Night.]

Song Ciwan immediately understood something else. When the Cultivation of the person she was trading with was lower, the weight of their "human desires" decreased. Thus, to obtain the complete version of an equivalent technique, she would need to spend more Primordial Pearls.

’So that’s how it works!’

As Song Ciwan quickly memorized the complete contents of Escape into the Night, she carefully processed the various pieces of information fed back to her by the Heaven and Earth Scale.

A thought occurred to her, and she quickly sold a third mass of human desires.

[You have consumed five hundred Primordial Pearls and sold the hatred, hatred, and hatred of an Innate Second Transformation Opening Realm Martial Artist, weighing two pounds and one ounce, to obtain the complete Palm Thunder. Palm Thunder has been upgraded to the Five Thunders True Method: Wind and Thunder Chapter.]

Five Thunders True Method: Wind and Thunder Chapter—

Those five hundred Primordial Pearls were not spent in vain!

In the void, vast and mighty scriptures surged into Song Ciwan’s mind like rolling thunder. She immediately calmed her mind and focused her spirit, receiving it with all her might.

The Five Thunders Righteous Method was a High Level Daoist Skill!

Although the Wind and Thunder Chapter was only one part of the Five Thunders Righteous Method, and couldn’t be considered high-level on its own, its power was in a completely different league compared to the elementary Palm Thunder.

Song Ciwan had always felt that she lacked direct, high-damage offensive abilities. The appearance of the Wind and Thunder Chapter perfectly filled this void.

She had too many alternate identities. Some of her Cultivation Techniques, like the Illusion-Breaking Blade Technique and the Void Illusion Demon Sword, were best kept hidden.

As for her identity as Xin Mian, it was best to use her Infinite Power sparingly as well.

This meant that her most frequently used technique was still the Blazing Flame Technique. But while the Blazing Flame Technique was fine for dealing with a ragtag mob, it was nowhere near powerful enough to compete against a Celestial Pride!

Yes, although Song Ciwan didn’t show it, the moment Du Xingheng had appeared, a faint impulse to challenge him had stirred deep within her.

It wasn’t just Du Xingheng. There was also Duan Xinghun, Chi Hua Fairy Fang Yingxia, the top Human on the Celestial Pride List, Yun Liuguang, and even the number one of all Ten Thousand Spirits, Tushan Jing! Song Ciwan vaguely considered all of them her rivals.

She would never speak of this lofty ambition to anyone.

She rarely even consciously dwelled on these thoughts, but in her subconscious, the unwavering desire to climb to the very peak had always existed, never once faltering.

’Among the Celestial Prides of the Ten Thousand Spirits, who else could it be but me?’

’Afraid to think it? Unworthy of thinking it?’

’No. Since I’ve chosen to walk the path of longevity, my sights shouldn’t be set merely on the Ten Thousand Spirits Celestial Pride List.’

’I must go higher and farther—so far that even the flow of time cannot reach me.’

The Wind and Thunder Technique churned within Song Ciwan. Her spirit roiled as her True Qi circulated. Gradually, all Distracting Thoughts were eliminated, and an idea of incredible speed began to form within her Divine Soul.

The Wind and Thunder Technique wasn’t just an Attack Technique. To control wind and thunder was to move as fast as the wind and quick as lightning; it was a Speeding Technique in its own right.

Fast, faster, faster still—so fast the wind couldn’t keep up, as fast as a flash of lightning, surpassing everything!

She activated her Insight Technique. On the panel, the experience for the Wind and Thunder Chapter was also rising rapidly.

(Beginner 10/100)

(Beginner 35/100)

(Beginner 76/100)

...

(Skilled 23/1000)

An unknown amount of time passed before dawn suddenly broke in the east.

Song Ciwan opened her eyes to see that the moonlight had been replaced by sunlight. Her Five Thunders True Method Wind and Thunder Chapter had gone from just starting at the Beginner level directly to the Skilled realm.

She should have traded for some cultivation time to practice the Five Thunders Righteous Method, but upon first receiving the technique, she had immediately fallen into a state of epiphany, completely forgetting about trading for time—

—or rather, she hadn’t forgotten. Instead, she had been so immersed in her epiphany that she had naturally cast everything else aside.

Perhaps her own attributes were an extremely good match for the Wind and Thunder Chapter, or perhaps her comprehension grew stronger the deeper her Cultivation became. In any case, her progress with the Wind and Thunder Chapter was exceptionally smooth, giving Song Ciwan an immersive taste of the joy of high-speed cultivation.

’At least it’s not as difficult as the Great Derivation Birth Skill...’

Song Ciwan ceased her cultivation and regulated her breathing for a moment. Then, she quickly changed her face, switching to her Mu Dalang appearance.

She changed her clothes and her aura. In an instant, she transformed from the Cultivator, Xin Mian, into the mortal handyman, Mu Dalang.

Day and night, two different identities, yet Song Ciwan never got them mixed up.

When day broke, "Mu Dalang" once again emerged from a corner of Siquan Square and walked into the Demon Refining Platform.

The work at the Demon Refining Platform was as heavy as ever that day. The pile of Demon Fiend corpses was still enormous.

Although they were hiring new handymen, the newcomers were ultimately not skilled enough, and there weren’t nearly enough of them to ease the heavy workload at the Demon Refining Platform.

So, Song Ciwan became even more diligent. She conscientiously performed her Demon Washing duties, always taking on more tasks to come into contact with more Demon Fiends. When she got off work in the afternoon, she had obtained a total of ten pounds and two ounces of Malice from ordinary Demon Fiends, and four pounds and five ounces of Malice from Spirit Communication Stage Demon Fiends.

It was even more than the day before!

Thus, the new Lifespan she gained that day was ninety-two years, plus three hundred and ninety years.

’A great harvest. Excellent.’

Song Ciwan felt she had entered a very regular, virtuous cycle: Washing Demons by day, cultivating by night. She didn’t need to talk to anyone or interact with anyone. The complexities of the world didn’t enter her sight, and its turmoil had nothing to do with her. She just had to advance, to keep moving forward.

This feeling of single-minded focus was difficult to describe, but she savored it.

「In the blink of an eye, ten-odd days passed.」

Xie Yunxiang had not yet come out of seclusion—or perhaps he had? In any case, Song Ciwan hadn’t seen him, so she just assumed he was still in seclusion.

Meanwhile, after this period of cultivation, all the various Cultivation Techniques Song Ciwan had learned had improved dramatically.

This was especially true for the Wind and Thunder Skill. During this period, Song Ciwan had frequently traded Xie Yunxiang’s emotional energy to purchase cultivation time. In total, she had cultivated the Wind and Thunder Chapter for over "ten years." In those "ten years," the Wind and Thunder Chapter had advanced directly from the Skilled realm to the Mastery Realm!

Her progress with the Great Derivation Birth Skill, however, remained minimal. Song Ciwan had learned not to stubbornly grind away at it. Occasionally, she would trade for cultivation time to practice it for a while, but that was all.

This Daoist Technique had to be honed slowly over a very long time; it couldn’t be rushed.

In short, as long as she practiced it every now and then to keep from getting rusty, it was enough.

On this day, Song Ciwan checked her Lifespan and saw that her total had reached four thousand, six hundred and fifty-two years!

Recently, however, the number of Demon Fiends at the Demon Refining Platform had started to dwindle. The peak period at the start of the year seemed to have passed.

All of Pinglan City fell into an indescribable calm, a tranquility that inevitably gave one the feeling of a storm on the horizon.