The Forbidden Arts Hall had been excavated into the face of a steep cliff and was divided into three levels.
Each level contained over a hundred stone chambers arranged opposite one another. Above every stone door were engraved the name of the forbidden art within and a brief description of it.
The faint glow of formation patterns seeped from quite a few chambers, indicating that people were cultivating forbidden arts inside.
Chu Ran did not linger. He went straight to the third floor and continued toward the deepest part.
The last dozen or so rooms along the corridor were all tightly shut, their formations inactive.
When Chu Ran reached one of the stone chambers, he stopped and looked up at the eight characters carved above the door:
“Origin-Burning Art: Consume lifespan to increase cultivation.”
The description was so brief that, if he had not spent a spirit stone to access it, he would have wasted a great deal of time.
He slowly channeled his spiritual power into the stone door.
With a deep rumble, the door gradually slid open to both sides.
A cloud of stale dust billowed from the gap and drifted through the air.
“So much dust. I wonder how many years it’s been since anyone studied this art.” Chu Ran waved his hand, fanning away the dust blowing toward him.
An art that consumed one’s lifespan was something no one would willingly touch unless they had a deep, irreconcilable grudge or had been driven into a desperate corner with no other way out.
After all, the purpose of cultivation was longevity.
Chu Ran entered the stone chamber. The only thing inside was a meditation cushion placed in the very center.
The smooth walls surrounding the chamber were covered in densely packed writing.
Chu Ran narrowed his eyes and focused his attention.
The motionless characters slowly began to writhe, flowing across the stone walls like tiny snakes.
Every character seemed to contain countless variations. The longer he looked, the more dizzy and disoriented he felt.
This was the “form” of a forbidden art.
If there were only words, then there would be nothing but “meaning”—a pile of useless characters.
Meaning without form was not enough to learn a forbidden art.
That was also why the cultivation methods and secret arts of the major sects were not afraid of being copied or memorized and carried away.
Without the original “form,” any rubbing or transcription was nothing more than a collection of meaningless symbols.
Chu Ran withdrew his gaze and steadied his mind before beginning to read through the writing on the walls from start to finish.
As he read, he stroked his chin and muttered to himself:
“This Origin-Burning Art has four levels, with each wall representing one level.”
“First level: consume ten years of lifespan to raise a Qi Refining cultivator in the early stage to the absolute limit of that stage.”
Although this only increased one’s strength without breaking through to a new realm, such a difference could determine victory or defeat in a life-or-death battle.
“Second level: consume thirty years of lifespan to increase the spiritual energy capacity of the dantian’s qi vortex threefold. At my current fourth level of Qi Refining, that should allow me to reach the fifth level. If used by someone in the late stage of Qi Refining, it can also raise them to the absolute limit of their current level.”
“Third level: consume sixty years of lifespan. When used by someone in the late stage of Qi Refining, it can directly increase their cultivation by one level. If used by a ninth-level Qi Refining cultivator, it would make them practically invincible within the Qi Refining Realm.”
Sixty years of lifespan.
A Qi Refining cultivator only lived for around one hundred and twenty years. Using this level would instantly consume half of their life.
“Fourth level: consume one hundred years of lifespan. Only Foundation Establishment cultivators can use it.”
After thinking for a moment, Chu Ran said, “A Qi Refining cultivator has no more than one hundred and twenty years of lifespan. Consuming a hundred years in one go… Anyone over twenty years old would probably die on the spot.”
The more Chu Ran read, the more delighted he became. His eyes glimmered with excitement.
This forbidden art truly was extraordinarily powerful.
One should never underestimate the difference of a single cultivation level.
Given equal aptitude, without talismans, magical artifacts, or spells to make up the difference, a fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator possessed an overwhelming advantage over a fourth-level cultivator.
Who knew how many spirit stones and external aids it would take to bridge that gap?
Take the serpent demon Chu Ran had killed before, for example. Its strength had been roughly equivalent to that of a fifth-level Qi Refining cultivator.
To kill it, Chu Ran had prepared a whole series of traps and spent seventeen talismans bombarding it relentlessly. Several times, he had nearly died in its jaws before finally managing to slay it by the narrowest of margins.
If Chu Ran had been at the fifth level of Qi Refining, then with the far greater intelligence of a human compared to a demonic beast, he could have killed the serpent demon with only a little effort.
Chu Ran sat down on the meditation cushion, activated the formation within the stone chamber, and began studying the first level.
He cultivated for over an hour before finally rubbing his sore eyes.
“This Origin-Burning Art really is easy to learn. I should be able to master the first level in a day.”
“But it’s almost midnight. I’ll first test whether this lifespan will refresh as well.”
If his lifespan could also be restored, then this forbidden art would effectively have no cost for him.
He placed both hands before his chest and rapidly formed hand seals. Then he shouted softly, “Origin-Burning Art!”
Before his voice had even faded, Chu Ran felt as though his body had paused for a moment, as if something had vanished from his life.
Then the hair at his temples began to turn white, fine wrinkles appeared at the corners of his eyes, and his face took on a more weathered look.
He seemed to have aged by ten years.
However, his cultivation had not increased.
It was not that the forbidden art was fake. Rather, Chu Ran had not yet cultivated it to the entry level.
He had merely forced the forbidden art into motion, consuming his lifespan without being able to convert that lost lifespan into an increase in cultivation.
That was why most cultivators could only rely on comprehension when studying forbidden arts and did not dare casually attempt to activate them.
One wrong step, and the price would be real.
Once lifespan was consumed, it was gone for good. It could not be recovered.
Feeling the hollow absence inside his body, Chu Ran did not panic. He simply waited in silence.
After a while, he murmured, “It’s midnight.”
The instant he finished speaking, a warm force surged from the depths of his body. Chu Ran felt that what he had lost moments ago had returned.
The white hair at his temples turned black again, and he once more regained his youthful, handsome appearance.
“Hahaha! Even consumed lifespan can be restored!” Chu Ran was overjoyed.
Now that he knew his lifespan could be completely replenished, he no longer had any reservations. Practicing through actual use would allow him to identify his mistakes more quickly.
It was like learning to swim. Going through the motions on shore a hundred times was not as useful as jumping into the water and flailing around a few times.
He formed the hand seals again and activated the Origin-Burning Art.
This time, he did not stop halfway. While activating the art, he sensed the path of spiritual energy circulating through his body and compared it with the “form” engraved on the walls.
Whenever something was wrong, he adjusted it immediately. Whenever the flow became sluggish, he forced his way through.
Time flew by, and soon it was the evening of the following day.
“Origin-Burning Art, third level!”
With a soft shout from Chu Ran, his black hair instantly turned white and fell loosely around him. Deep furrows appeared across his face, his skin became dry and slack, and even his teeth began to loosen.
He looked like a hundred-year-old man in the final stages of his life.
Yet his aura grew increasingly powerful. It surged from the fourth level of Qi Refining all the way to the sixth level.
Chu Ran grinned as he felt the immense power within him.
At this moment, he felt that he could kill his ordinary self with a single casual move.
This was the might of a forbidden art.
The powerful aura lasted for the time it took an incense stick to burn before Chu Ran fell back from the sixth level of Qi Refining to the fourth.
Once midnight passed, his youthful appearance returned, and there was no trace of the frail old man he had been moments before.
With Chu Ran’s aptitude, it should have taken him three days to cultivate to the second level.
By relying on such reckless activation, he had reached the third level in only two days.
“Tomorrow will be the third day. I can’t use it again, or someone will surely notice something amiss.”
“This forbidden art can’t be used casually, either. I have to conceal my appearance whenever I use it. If I’m discovered, I’ll have to silence the witnesses. Otherwise, once someone identifies it, I’ll surely be seized and taken away for study.”
Chu Ran knew better than anyone what a cultivator who could expend his lifespan indefinitely without suffering the slightest harm would mean to the cultivation world.
The fourth layer could only be simulated in his mind. Without using the Burning Essence Art to identify and correct flaws, his progress was far slower.
Chu Ran wasn’t in a hurry. After all, the fourth layer was still within the Qi Refining stage, and he couldn’t use it anyway. There would be plenty of time to learn it later when the opportunity arose.
It wasn’t until late at night, when Chu Ran saw the jade slip growing increasingly dim, that he slowly rose and opened the stone door.
Chu Ran stepped out of the stone chamber and stood in the corridor. His gaze inadvertently swept over one of the stone doors opposite him.
A line of words was engraved upon it:
“Spirit-Severing Fleeting-Hong Sword: Sacrifice the dantian for one dazzling sword strike!”
Chu Ran’s footsteps halted. His eyes remained fixed on those words for a long while.
“This seems to be a one-use sword technique that consumes the dantian. Since it’s placed in the innermost part of the third level alongside the Burning Essence Art, it must be of the same rank.”
“There isn’t enough time.”
He withdrew his gaze, committed the Spirit-Severing Fleeting-Hong Sword to memory, and turned toward the end of the corridor.