Monster Chronicles: My Daoist Skill Comes from Mythology
Chapter 71: Refining Soldiers on Blade Mountain, Emperor’s True Energy

Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Refining Soldiers on Blade Mountain, Emperor’s True Energy

The Real World, Hidden Sword Manor.

Song Lin snapped back to reality from the other world.

"I must regain mastery of the Eight Formation Diagram of Armies."

With the Eight Formation Diagram of Armies, combined with the Taiyin Golden Pupil, remote micromanagement could become possible.

He could even control Taoist Soldiers to attack his enemies while hiding.

Thinking of this, Song Lin stood up and headed outside.

Chao Chong and others were directing servants to haul in crates of supplies.

Soul Resurrection Grass, Black Altars, human bones, and the corpses for refining Dog-headed Taoist Soldiers.

Seeing Song Lin step outside, Chao Chong bowed deeply: "Greetings, Taoist."

Others, upon seeing this, stopped their cultivation and quickly ran over to pay their respects.

"Mm, how is the practice of Red Dragon Qi Gong progressing?"

"Replying to Taoist, Ling’er and I have both cultivated Dan Zhong True Qi." Chao Chong said excitedly.

"Not bad."

In theory, Red Dragon Qi Gong could be cultivated to the Qi Refinement stage, granting the practitioner over 200 years of life.

The Taoist Temple’s cultivation techniques all had anti-plagiarism measures embedded, so he couldn’t teach them to others. Red Dragon Qi Gong, however, was easy to learn and would become a mandatory technique for future subordinates.

"How many corpses have you gathered?"

"Two bodies imbued with the Yin Year and Yin Month energies, a hundred sets of bones, ten black dogs, and various other materials."

Just acquiring these materials had nearly drained the Hidden Sword Manor’s and Song Lin’s combined savings.

The former was needed for refining Dog-headed Taoist Soldiers, while the latter was for refining Rampant Soldiers.

"Good. Find a hidden chamber, and ensure no outsiders come near."

"Yes."

Inside the secret room, Song Lin adjusted his Divine Breath, his body radiating a faint moonlight, accompanied by the dense Taiyin Moonlight Power emanating from a laurel tree trunk nearby.

After this period of cultivation, his Qi Refinement progress reached 2000 out of 20,000 points, or 1%.

His white True Qi was now surrounded by a faint silver glow.

In front of him were a hundred dharma altars, each adorned with Divine Weapon Talismans, Qi Gathering Talismans, and so forth.

He pulled out ten paper effigies from his pocket and tossed them into the air.

Bang!

White mist dispersed, and more than a dozen paper effigies materialized. They decapitated roosters, evenly spreading fresh blood over the dharma altars.

Afterward, Song Lin donned his Taoist robe and equipped himself with magic artifacts such as seals, talismans, orders, and banners.

Bang!

The Eight Immortal Table lit up with candle flames.

He then instructed the paper effigies to lay a layer of steel blades on the ground, blade edges facing up. Song Lin stepped onto them barefoot, treading carefully in Gang Step.

This was the sinister Sword Mountain Technique. Taoist Soldiers refined through this method were fiercer and wilder.

Higher-level techniques included the Cloud Ascending Skill and Fire Sea Skill.

Holding his magic sword, Song Lin began chanting the Summoning Soldiers Spell:

"Taoist Soldiers of the law, come to my altar; those who follow me shall prosper, those who defy me shall perish; aid the Tao, help me ascend to truth, heed the liturgy, and act without delay!"

Due to time constraints, for now, only Mountain Roaming Demon Soldiers could be refined.

The proper refining method required forty-nine days to produce even preliminary soldiers, with vigilance against backlash throughout. Song Lin had once witnessed someone backfire during a session at the Yin Yang Altar.

However, after exploring for years in the story’s world, he had discovered a quicker method for refining soldiers, which involved adding a bit of Taiyin Moonlight Power.

Taiyin Moonlight Power accelerated the growth of ghosts and gods, including the refinement of Dog-headed Taoist Soldiers.

Five days later.

Clouds of gloom shrouded the sky over Hidden Sword Manor, with evil energy surging upward.

Everyone looked up, horror-stricken.

Inside the secret chamber, a sand table illusion hovered before Song Lin, with a hundred Rampant Soldiers and two Dog-headed Taoist Soldiers standing not far away.

Song Lin softly recited the Charming Spell, causing the Rampant Soldiers and the sand table to vanish. The Dog-headed Taoist Soldiers, being physical entities, had to don cloaks and follow him closely.

"You all stay behind to guard the place. Make sure no outsiders enter the chamber."

"Understood!"

Song Lin mounted the Red Dragon and disappeared into the horizon with the two Dog-headed Taoist Soldiers.

The scenery receded swiftly on either side, the fierce wind whipping through his robes.

This month-long leave had proven fruitful. His Qi Refinement progress broke through to 1%, and he had acquired a hundred Taoist Soldiers and two Qi Refinement-stage Dog-headed Taoist Soldiers.

His rank as North First Official, responsible for collecting Qi and feeding off it, granted him the right to summon up to 120 Rampant Soldiers. This was the sect-sanctioned limit for pulling Taoist Soldiers; private refinements were similarly capped at 120.

If exceeded, the Taoist Temple might confiscate them.

The sect’s rules forbade Taoists from amassing personal wealth. Despite having taken over Hidden Sword Manor, Song Lin still had to remit 20% of the profits to the sect.

Soon, Song Lin arrived outside North Manor.

The estate was heavily guarded. Inside the Spirit Hall, First Disciple Lu Qingshan, Second Disciple Gu Qingfeng, and Third Disciple Ming Yue were all present.

Alongside them were Tongshou and several unnamed stewards.

They all seemed puzzled to see Song Lin there.

Ordinary Taoists generally weren’t qualified to appear in this place.

Standing behind Ziyuan Taoist were as many as two hundred Dog-headed Taoist Soldiers, while countless dharma altars were packed not far away, featuring dozens of types of Rampant Soldiers—altogether numbering fifty thousand.

Before everyone stood a yellow-cloth dharma altar. Judging from the blood-oath talisman placed atop it, it seemed to be some kind of covenant magic formation.

A plain-looking middle-aged Taoist stood in front of the dharma altar.

When he saw Song Lin enter with two Dog-headed Taoist Soldiers by his side, Ziyuan Taoist stroked his beard and smiled: "You’ve learned how to refine Taoist Soldiers?"

"Thanks to your guidance, it was only today that I succeeded." Song Lin smiled back.

"Good, good! I didn’t misjudge you!" Ziyuan Taoist cheerfully patted Song Lin on the shoulder, while several disciples looked on with envy.

"What kind of Qi are you refining?"

The moment Ziyuan Taoist made contact with Song Lin, his expression turned somewhat astonished.

"I am unsure myself. While training at Hu Mountain, I accidentally discovered a few drops of golden liquid under a ten-thousand-year-old stalactite and used it for Qi Refinement."

"Let me see your True Qi."

Song Lin activated his True Qi, his body radiating a faint spiritual light.

"Such concentrated Moonlight Power." Ziyuan Taoist suddenly realized.

"It must be Emperor’s Nectar. For demons and ghosts, Emperor’s Nectar is a supreme tonic. It flows once every sixty years, with each drop enabling a demon to skip sixty years of absorbing the Sun and Moon Essences. No wonder refining soldiers seems so easy for you."

"So it’s Emperor’s Nectar. Without a closer look, one might mistake it for Moonlight True Qi," remarked a hawk-nosed Taoist with emerald eyes and square pupils in surprise.

"Indeed, hard to differentiate," echoed Tongshou Taoist.

"Emperor’s Nectar True Qi? What grade of True Qi is it, roughly?" Song Lin asked eagerly.

He hadn’t expected the academic name for Taiyin Moonlight True Qi to be this, and it sounded rather imposing.

"First-rank!"

As soon as this was spoken, not only the three major disciples, but even Tongshou and the others began looking at Song Lin differently.

This was First-rank True Qi.

True Qi was divided into nine ranks, with First-rank being the highest.

In the entire Taoist Temple, only the temple master possessed First-rank True Qi, and he had sustained indelible injuries obtaining it.

Ziyuan Taoist wielded Second-rank Thunder Striking True Qi and had endured endless hardship to cultivate it in a copper temple constantly struck by lightning, nearly losing his life in the process.

That Song Lin had easily obtained First-rank True Qi was nothing short of enviable and jealousy-inducing.

"Keep working hard. Emperor’s Nectar hasn’t flowed for ten thousand years. What little remains now is incredibly scarce, and you may need to search for a long time."

"Now that I recall, the gatekeeper Liu Taoist also once refined Emperor’s Nectar," Fang Tong Taoist suddenly remembered.

"Seems so. Pity he later switched to Fourth-rank Moonlight True Qi."

Indeed, the remaining Emperor’s Nectar was in critically short supply.

Refining Emperor’s Nectar True Qi was even harder than finding a needle in a haystack. Forget a lifespan of two hundred years from Qi Refinement—it might take another thousand years of life before even finding it.

With this thought, everyone’s feelings finally calmed down.

Seeing this, Song Lin let out a sigh of relief. He’d almost exhibited his grandeur before everyone. Since they assumed as much, it would no longer be an issue.

Ziyuan Taoist, thinking Song Lin was disheartened, offered words of consolation:

"It’s fine. You’re still young. Searching for a while longer isn’t a problem. If all else fails, you can switch to Moonlight True Qi later on—it is still mid-to-upper-rank True Qi."

Before Song Lin could respond, Ziyuan Taoist scanned the room, his expression turning stern: "Now that everyone is here, let us begin the ceremony. Once it’s complete, we will return to the Taoist Temple to participate in the Flood Control Grand Ceremony."

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