During this time, he would occasionally recall his two-hundred-year cultivation journey.
His childhood with his grandfather in Qing Tian Village, though barely enough to make ends meet, was a time of peace he would never experience again.
He often remembered his grandfather's teachings. His grandfather was a down-on-his-luck old scholar who taught him to read and write. Every day, he tended to their half-acre of medicinal herbs, hoping to earn a little more money.
Until that night when bandits broke into the village, the escape in the rainy night, and then getting lost in the mountains. After that, he encountered strange vines and almost died.
The strange vines parasitized his body, and he inadvertently obtained a mysterious little bead. Later, he accidentally heard about cultivators, and that's how he entered the world of cultivation.
Falling Star Immortal City, gathering spiritual herbs in Blazing Flame Valley, joining the Hao Yuan Sect, and his master Wei Shen, who wanted to use his body to refine pills. Twelve Immortal Cities, the Otherworld Demons. And then inexplicably arriving in this Flowing Cloud Sea. Opportunities and crises often accompanied him on his cultivation path. Many of his memories had become blurred.
These experiences would occasionally surface in his mind, affecting his state of mind.
In this leisurely manner, three months passed, and Zhang Ling's state of mind returned to its former tranquility.
On this day, he returned to his cultivation cave once again. In the quiet room, he and the Xuan Tortoise sat facing each other. Looking at the Xuan Tortoise, whose face was very similar to his own, Zhang Ling sensed the Xuan Tortoise's condition.
During these twenty years of cultivation, the Xuan Tortoise had also been diligently cultivating. The second primordial spirit had obtained many demon race inheritances from the Glittering Demon Mountain in the demon race territory. He had selected three secret techniques from the stone pagoda engraved with many demon beast totems.
The first one he chose was a Xuan Ice Art left behind by a ninth-order Xuan Ice Tortoise.
The Xuan Ice Tortoise was a rare ice-attribute demon tortoise, and it also had some special bloodlines. Most adult Xuan Ice Tortoises could reach the sixth or seventh order of strength, and a small number could cultivate into transformed demon cultivators.
It was said that there were several tortoise demon clans near the Azure Cloud Water Marsh controlled by the Flood Dragon clan, including transformed Xuan Ice Tortoises.
The Xuan Ice Art left behind by the Xuan Ice Tortoise was not just a simple attack or defense spell, but it contained many methods of ice-attribute demon beasts, making it very suitable for tortoise-type demon beasts to use.
Considering that the Xuan Tortoise was also an ice-attribute tortoise demon, he chose this set of Xuan Ice Art first.
During this time, the Xuan Tortoise had focused most of its cultivation on this. Mastering this set of Xuan Ice Art would allow it to better display its strength.
He did not choose inheritances left behind by tortoise-type demon cultivators for the other two secret techniques. Instead, he chose a Cloud Mist Water Escape.
The Cloud Mist Water Escape was a legacy left behind by a Black Water Flood Dragon proficient in water escape techniques. In Zhang Ling's opinion, this water escape technique was quite special. It was a special escape technique developed on top of the Five Elements Water Escape, and it seemed to have incorporated some illusionary divine abilities. When cast, a large area of water-attribute spiritual power would transform into a large cloud of mist to hide the user.
Although the escape speed was not particularly fast compared to other escape techniques, it was very suitable for hiding oneself and launching sneak attacks.
This technique was very suitable for the Xuan Tortoise, as it still retained many characteristics of its own race even after transforming into human form.
Tortoise-type demon cultivators excelled in defense, but their attack speed was slower compared to other demon cultivators, especially among those of the same rank. Mastering a good escape technique could slightly compensate for these shortcomings.
At the same time, Zhang Ling also experimented with the purple light orbs that emitted a purple mist, which he had harvested from the demon race's independent space, and found that they could be massively produced using the mysterious little bead.
The purple mist that formed after the purple light orbs exploded had a strong suppressive effect on the cultivator's divine sense. It could be used in conjunction with this escape technique.
Moreover, the water bubble ancient treasure in his hand, which could transform into clones, could also be used in conjunction with it, playing a significant role whether it was used to hide oneself, confuse enemies, or escape quickly.
As for the last secret technique, it was the most special. It was called the Gluttonous Spirit Devouring Art, an ancient demon secret technique obtained from a Gluttonous Totem.
The Gluttonous Totem contained an introduction to this secret technique, which stated that it was a demon race secret technique passed down from another realm. It was originally a secret technique mastered by the most ancient Heavenly Demon King, who left it behind after ascending.
The Gluttonous was also a powerful true spirit, said to be able to devour everything and extremely gluttonous, so gluttonous that it seemed to want to eat its own body, leaving only a head. Many ancient books also contained introductions to this true spirit, often referred to as a ferocious beast.
This Spirit Devouring Art seemed to have a similar effect, enhancing one's own strength by devouring some spiritual objects. This enhancement mostly manifested in the physical body. The power was more reflected in the power of the physical body, making it more like a body refinement secret technique.
It sounded powerful, but it wasn't. Not just any spiritual object could be devoured, and there were great hidden dangers.
Demon beasts were like cultivators, containing spiritual power within their bodies. Although the spiritual power in low-level demon beasts was quite mixed, the spiritual power in high-level demon beasts was constantly refined like that of cultivators.
The same was true for transformed demon cultivators. Devouring a large amount of spiritual objects that did not match one's own cultivation attributes would cause some rejection and even great damage to oneself.
After studying it, Zhang Ling found that this demon race secret technique seemed incomplete, but it was indeed very suitable for some demon races to cultivate. It was especially suitable for demon beasts with scales and armor.
He saw the cross-legged Xuan Tortoise suddenly open its mouth and spit out a ball of silver-gray spiritual energy. It gathered above its head, turning into a shimmering silver light.
This special spiritual power constantly flickered with silver light, as if scattering a layer of silver powder, enveloping most of the Xuan Tortoise's body.
As the Xuan Tortoise breathed, many silver light spots adhered to the surface of its body, causing its body to sometimes appear ice-blue and sometimes turn silver-gray, making it look quite strange.
After a moment, all the silver light spots completely merged into its body and disappeared.
The Xuan Tortoise suddenly stretched out its right hand and lightly flicked its index finger. A silver-gray light flashed past, and with a loud bang, it directly punched a deep hole in the stone wall in front of it.
He saw a silver light flash in the hollow, and a slightly curved black tortoise claw flew out, like a sharp thorn flashing with spiritual light, looking extremely sharp.
Seeing this scene, Zhang Ling smiled slightly. Upon closer inspection, one would see that the Xuan Tortoise's left hand was holding a silver stone block that shimmered with bright silver light.
This was a small piece of Heavenly Astral Silver, which the Xuan Tortoise was refining and absorbing using the Gluttonous Spirit Devouring Art. The spiritual power refined was the silver light spots just now. Most of the light spots were directly integrated into the tortoise shell of its main body, enhancing the protection of the tortoise shell.
A small part was integrated into the tortoise claws of its right hand, enhancing the hardness and attack power of the tortoise claws.
This was the greatest effect of this demon race secret technique, constantly enhancing one's own physical strength by directly refining and absorbing some special spiritual mines.
It was most suitable for demon cultivators whose main bodies had scales and armor to cultivate. Of course, other demon cultivators could also cultivate it, but the effect would be somewhat worse.
In Zhang Ling's opinion, this secret technique had some similarities with the demon refinement techniques of the human race.
