In the vast world of mountains and seas, whether human or demon, it is only after passing the Child Talisman examination and being officially registered in the Daoist registry that one is qualified to absorb spiritual energy and cultivate as a Dao Child.
Even in some cultivation families, those carefully selected seeds of cultivation can only passively nourish their bodies with elixirs and spiritual items before obtaining the Dao Talisman.
Otherwise, they would be killed without question!
In other words, She Shuangbai, who is the same age as Yu Lie, must have been cultivating for less than two years.
And in less than two years, this person has already advanced to the upper-level Dao Child and obtained the position of the Hall Master of the Alchemy Hall.
Such speed in Blackwater Town is truly astonishing!
Yu Lie pondered, his heart filled with complexity.
His mind was tense, and the slight laziness that had crept in due to his recent comfortable life vanished instantly.
With such a person in the town, even without the so-called "Great Recruitment," how could Yu Lie continue to cultivate at a leisurely pace?
Yu Lie warned himself, "I must seize every opportunity to rapidly increase my cultivation and quickly leave Blackwater Town!"
After all, Blackwater Town is just a remote and barbaric small town.
Even the so-called "three years without becoming a Dao Disciple" rule, which prevents one from leaving the town, is not particularly strict.
Because a Dao Child is merely a novice in the Dao, slightly above ordinary mortals.
In terms of life hierarchy, they are only equivalent to ninth-grade fierce beasts and are not considered true Daoists.
The three-year period for learning the Dao is actually a normal time frame set by the Dao Court.
If one cannot complete the cultivation of the Dao Child realm within three years, there is no need to continue cultivating.
However, these three years are based on the assumption of a well-off family with no worries about food and clothing and an ample supply of elixirs.
In fact, even three years is not necessary.
When Yu Lie was still in the prefecture city, he occasionally heard of people who could complete three transformations in a single year and obtain the Dao Disciple Talisman in the second year after passing the Child Talisman examination!
He even heard that in the Dao Palaces of the provincial cities, some cultivation seeds could obtain the Dao Disciple Talisman after just a hundred days of body cultivation.
It's only in a place like Blackwater Town, being a rural area with poor resources and mostly mediocre talents among the Dao Children who end up here, that three years of cultivation might not even compare to one year of cultivation in a well-off family.
And Yu Lie, with his average talent, would never have left the prefecture city if he hadn't had no other choice but to come to a place like Blackwater Town to have a chance at success!
Suppressing the melancholy in his heart, Yu Lie's eyes gradually cleared.
He exhaled and silently said, "To make rapid progress, I can no longer rely solely on the benefits of the Poison Hall and grind my way to the brink of the upper level. I must, like last time, first cultivate 'Bone Poison' and then use the intermediate-level poison technique to increase my cultivation speed!"
Yu Lie's eyes flickered.
He calculated and found that if he could reach the intermediate level of the poison technique, the remaining two to three months would be enough for him to approach the upper-level Dao Child.
With enough opportunities, he might even advance to the upper level before or during the "Great Recruitment"!
At that time, the dangers outside the town would undoubtedly be much less for him.
In the next moment, Yu Lie's heart settled: "Hunting the Black Snake Fish King is imperative!"
The fish king's poison sac contains venom a hundred times stronger than that of ordinary black snake fish, enough to serve as the main ingredient for Yu Lie to complete his Bone Poison cultivation.
Moreover, the fish king's entire body is a treasure.
Yu Lie could eat its flesh and refine elixirs, which would be far more effective than ordinary black snake fish or Blood-Strengthening Pills!
However, hunting the black snake fish doesn't have to be done the next day.
The fish king is fierce, and Yu Lie needs to plan carefully.
Moreover, the tasks assigned by Hall Master She, whether it's purchasing protective talismans or the alchemy techniques related to the black mynah, are worth Yu Lie's attention.
Purchasing talismans requires gathering funds, and Yu Lie needs some time to prepare.
So, he first turned his attention to the "Blood-Raising Beast-Taming Pill Technique" that Hall Master She had left for him.
Yu Lie brought the black mynah to the center of the altar and sat down cross-legged, spreading out the alchemy book and pondering each word and sentence.
The mynah, having been disturbed from its sleep, had its feathers slightly ruffled.
But when it saw that it was Yu Lie and not the usual Poison-Extracting Dao Child who attended to it, it whistled nonchalantly.
Beep...
Smack!
Without looking up, Yu Lie casually tapped the birdcage.
The mynah immediately fell silent, covering its beak and sneaking glances at Yu Lie, not daring to make another sound.
After a long while, Yu Lie looked up from the book, his eyes filled with surprise as he gazed at the black mynah.
This "Blood-Raising Beast-Taming Pill Technique" is a method of refining a pill by combining the blood of a Daoist with the blood of a beast.
The process is simpler than that of the Blood-Strengthening Pill.
Having experience with the Blood-Strengthening Pill, Yu Lie understood most of it after a single read.
He was confident that with a bit more study, he could replicate the pill formula and even enhance the effectiveness of the refined pills.
The purpose of this Beast-Taming Pill is to adjust the diet of the beast, making it fond of the Daoist, treating them as kin, and allowing the Daoist to control the beast and communicate with it.
Moreover, through "Blood Grasp," the two can share sensations and feelings to a certain extent.
If Yu Lie can refine the Beast-Taming Pill, he can tame suitable beasts and use them as pets.
Although the book given by Hall Master She doesn't have the mark of Blackwater Town's library, it has the dragon energy certification of the Dao Court, with not a single word missing, ensuring its quality.
"This formula is indeed quite valuable! It seems that She Shuangbai is indeed just trying to win people over."
Considering the value of the alchemy book, Yu Lie nodded, a look of satisfaction in his eyes, forgiving She Shuangbai's overbearing behavior.
Then, he looked at the black mynah covering its beak in front of him.
Yu Lie stroked his chin, "This mynah is indeed quite spiritual. It seems it is most likely the 'Crimson-Eyed Cold Crow' that She Shuangbai mentioned."
The Crimson-Eyed Cold Crow is a type of spirit bird recorded in the "Blood-Raising Beast-Taming Pill Technique."
This bird is a hybrid of a spirit crow and a mynah.
Its eyes are crimson, capable of seeing through ghosts, illusions, and deceptions, with the ability to perceive hidden dangers.
Despite its unremarkable appearance, it is extremely good at hiding.
If tamed, it would be an excellent sentinel for a Daoist's pet.
However, Yu Lie's Crimson-Eyed Cold Crow is many generations removed, with no trace of crow left in it, looking purely like a mynah.
Its eyes are only a dark red, not the bright crimson, let alone golden red.
At most, its spiritual nature is slightly stronger than that of ordinary birds, barely qualifying as a low-tier spirit beast.
Yu Lie opened the birdcage, signaling the mynah to jump out and land on his shoulder.
The mynah obeyed without a word, respectfully landing on Yu Lie's shoulder.
It then stared straight ahead, motionless like a wooden chicken.
After nearly half a year of rearing, the mynah had long accepted its fate, not daring to neglect any of Yu Lie's commands.
Yu Lie sighed lightly, saying to the mynah, "I never expected that you, who no one wanted to buy back then, would turn out to be a spirit bird."
His voice was filled with relief, grateful that the mynah hadn't been sold and that it had survived his experiments over the past six months.
As he pondered, Yu Lie casually took out some Blood-Strengthening Pill powder from the Blood Toad's belly and fed it to the mynah, beginning to build a rapport with it.
The mynah sniffed the powder, tested it, and upon realizing it was for it, swallowed it in one gulp.
Yu Lie continued to flip through the alchemy book, studying its contents.
In the next moment, thud!
A fat bird fell from Yu Lie's shoulder, hitting the ground hard.
It struggled to crawl, rolling around dizzily and whistling recklessly, no longer afraid of Yu Lie.
"Beep beep, master! Sir! I am your master!"
Yu Lie's forehead twitched as if a black line had appeared.
He glanced at the mynah, his eyebrows slightly raised:
"Oops, I forgot to tell this guy that the Blood-Strengthening Pill should be held in the mouth!"
Fortunately, he had only given it a small amount of powder.
Otherwise, with its blood energy agitated, it might have plucked out all its feathers in the heat.
(End of Chapter)