: Imprinted Utterances

Author: Gu Zhenren

Date: 2024-11-02

Such cultivation methods held significant meaning.

Take Hua Guzi for instance. If she wished to establish a clan and expand her lineage in the future, these cultivation methods would form a crucial part of her family's foundation!

"The Patriarch should arrive in the coming days."

"Once he's here, I'll extract the relevant information about the Toxic Flame Chrysanthemum for him to take back for the clan's use."

Ning Zhuo made his plans internally.

While waiting for Patriarch Ning Jiufan, he continued his own cultivation.

Up to now, having experienced significant battles with Han Zhou, Chang Yan, and Hua Guzi, he had firmly established himself on Little Struggle Peak, gaining widespread recognition among the cultivators.

Coupled with the fact that Senior Apprentice-Brother Lin Shanshan and his cohorts no longer schemed against him, Ning Zhuo's days became very peaceful.

Every day, he went to the training ground to spar with Han Zhou.

Oh, and Hua Guzi too.

This half-demon, half-human female cultivator, the day after presenting her gift, once again intercepted Ning Zhuo on his way, publicly giving him another present.

Ning Zhuo had no choice. Coincidentally, he felt that he could no longer make significant improvements from sparring with Han Zhou, so he allowed Hua Guzi to join the daily sparring sessions.

Hua Guzi was ecstatic!

That night, she returned to sleep but lay awake, unable to rest, clamping her legs tightly around the quilt, wearing a besotted grin lost in fantasy, tossing and turning, consumed by her thoughts all night.

Although she was weaker in close combat, her spellcasting prowess was strong.

During their spars, Ning Zhuo focused mainly on spell battles with her.

In Wood Element spells, Ning Zhuo was still completely outclassed by Hua Guzi. But unlike his more hot-headed peers, the difficult experiences in Fire Persimmon Immortal City had long taught him what truly mattered.

Ning Zhuo immersed himself in the sparring sessions, and countless new insights once again flooded in.

After each session, during breaks, he would carefully ponder and review his gains and losses. Returning to his cave abode, he would also复盘 the day's spell battles, summarizing his experiences and constantly refining himself.

His progress was once again visibly apparent, showing noticeable improvements every day.

"As expected of Young Master Ning Zhuo!" Hua Guzi witnessed his rapid advancement firsthand and repeatedly praised him enthusiastically, her tone bordering on flattery.

As she spoke, she took the opportunity to step forward a few paces, trying to get closer to Ning Zhuo.

"Not at all, not at all, I still have a long way to go," Ning Zhuo said modestly, subtly retreating a few steps to maintain distance from Hua Guzi, while not forgetting to humbly seek advice. "I noticed when you cast Wood Element spells, several were extremely swift, almost without any starting gestures. Why is that?"

"Oh, that's the Heart Imprint," Hua Guzi said casually, her gaze burning as she stared at Ning Zhuo.

"Heart Imprint!" A glint of sharp light flashed in Ning Zhuo's eyes.

Hua Guzi used his moment of contemplation to step forward again.

Ning Zhuo's expression turned cold. "Stop right there. Explain it to me from where you are."

Hua Guzi jolted, screaming inwardly: "He scolded me! Young Master Ning Zhuo scolded me!!"

A wave of joy spread through her heart.

Ning Zhuo, sensing the internal situation through the Life Thread and My Buddha's Heart Demon Imprint, couldn't help but darken his expression slightly.

Fortunately, Hua Guzi was relatively obedient and dutifully explained to Ning Zhuo: "Young Master Ning Zhuo must certainly be aware of Utterance Imprints, Body Imprints, and Heart Imprints."

Ning Zhuo nodded.

Hua Guzi explained from a high-level perspective: "These three are all techniques for cultivators to control their power. Essentially, they are methods to guide and utilize magical energy."

"Utterance Imprints involve using specific incantations or syllables to control energy. For example, the sound 'Zha', or the 'Heng-Ha' two breaths."

"Body Imprints usually refer to hand seals and finger techniques, but can also involve body movements to achieve the purpose. For instance, the most famous Heavenly Demon Dance."

"Heart Imprints use thoughts and willpower to guide magical energy, achieving the effect of instant spellcasting."

"The reason I can cast certain spells so swiftly is precisely because I use Heart Imprints!"

Ning Zhuo was greatly interested in this, as his My Buddha's Heart Demon Imprint could also emit Heart Imprints.

Hua Guzi said, "The prerequisites for using Heart Imprints are, first, a high degree of mental concentration, which requires training. Second, having spell talisman seeds within the Foundation Establishment dantian."

Ning Zhuo nodded: "I'm aware of this. Cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage select certain spells as their innate spells."

"If one's cultivation reaches a sufficiently refined level, and their understanding of a spell progresses from the surface to the underlying principles, they can form spell talisman seeds."

"Later, when forming the Golden Core, these spell talismans will be engraved on the core's surface, fully晋升 as innate spells."

"These innate spells are not only more powerful when cast but also released more quickly. Furthermore, based on them, one can combine them with others to unleash more complex and varied abilities."

"But how does one comprehend these spells and grasp the spell talisman seeds? And how should I choose them?"

Hua Guzi replied: "Firstly, our selection of spells is actually limited. Depending on the cultivation techniques we practice, many techniques, when cultivated to a certain stage, naturally generate some spell talisman seeds. These spells are often closely related to the technique itself, originally being part of the technique."

"As for how to comprehend the spell talismans, I used them many times, then contemplated them, and eventually formed them."

Ning Zhuo pressed further, asking exactly how many times she had used them.

It turned out Hua Guzi couldn't recall the number. She had formed the talisman seeds in her dantian during the mid-Foundation Establishment stage.

Ning Zhuo wanted to have talisman seeds in the early Foundation Establishment stage, which presented many difficulties.

"On one hand, there's the issue of comprehending the spell's core principles. On the other hand, constructing a talisman seed requires the dantian to emit light as a prerequisite. Only with this radiance can one use the light to construct the spell talisman seed."

This greatly disappointed Ning Zhuo.

Because the stage of the dantian emitting light wasn't something achievable in the early Foundation Establishment stage.

It required the dantian's foundation to reach a point of overflowing abundance before it could produce brilliant, overflowing light.

Although Heart Imprints were out of reach, Body Imprints and Utterance Imprints could still be cultivated.

Ning Zhuo discussed this matter with Hua Guzi.

Although Hua Guzi was a rogue cultivator, her heritage was excellent, and she was quite knowledgeable about these topics. Towards Ning Zhuo, she held nothing back, sharing everything she knew.

Excluding her burning gaze, her constant attempts to get closer to Ning Zhuo, her occasional痴笑, and drooling, she was indeed a good teacher.

Ning Zhuo chose to cultivate Utterance Imprints.

Under Hua Guzi's guidance, Ning Zhuo progressed rapidly, soon compressing his Utterance Imprints to the limit of his current ability.

"Earth veins潜潜, mysterious roots幽幽, vines entangle, all things imprisoned. Arise!"

Wood Element – Root and Vine Entanglement.

"Pine winds啸啸, emerald waves涛涛, forest sea surges, overturning the earth. Sweep!"

Wood Element – Pine Wave Emerald Tide.

"Ancient trees苍苍, tree realm茫茫, heaven and earth change color, spiritual roots descend. Descend!"

Wood Element – Tree Realm Descent.

Considering that his ten fingers were needed for manipulating the threads, hand seals were not feasible.

Heart Imprints were temporarily beyond reach, so he could only use Utterance Imprints for now.

His current use of Utterance Imprints resulted in slightly longer incantations. Actually, the time to cast spells wasn't much different from before, and was even somewhat slower.

But in practical combat, Ning Zhuo's fighting capacity showed a clear increase.

This was because previously, when casting spells, Ning Zhuo had to concentrate fully, meticulously controlling his magical energy with his mind.

Now, he only needed to speak the Utterance Imprint to cast spells. His attention could be entirely focused on controlling his mechanisms, achieving a division of mind.

"Just a day apart, and Fellow Daoist Ning Zhuo has made such progress again. Congratulations," Han Zhou said as he entered the training ground and witnessed Ning Zhuo's practice, sincerely impressed.

Sun Lingtong strongly agreed, nodding repeatedly within the mechanical dragon.

He knew the various reasons – this was actually the result of accumulated effort bursting forth!

"Xiao Zhuo's foundational skills are very solid. It's just that during his fourteen years in Fire Persimmon Immortal City, he neglected direct confrontations and sparring."

"Mainly to收敛锋芒 and hide his abilities, so even if there were sparring sessions in the academy, Xiao Zhuo would only exert ten or twenty percent of his strength, which naturally provided no benefit for improvement."

"Although he had real combat experience during his period of controlling the black market, life-and-death battles are very dangerous and require going all out. This again lacked the benefits of sparring – discovering one's own shortcomings and improving one's abilities through direct较量."

"Brother Han Zhou," Ning Zhuo greeted via voice transmission while sparring.

Han Zhou was about to respond when Hua Guzi's voice transmission紧随而至: "How did you, this beggar, get in?"

"This is the world of just me and Young Master Ning Zhuo!"

"Get out!!"

Han Zhou: "?!"

He冷笑一声, transmitting back: "Fellow Daoist Hua, you may not know this, but this training ground is where Fellow Daoist Ning Zhuo and I often spar. Compared to us, you are the last to join."

However, Hua Guzi was unreasonable, insistently demanding that Han Zhou leave so she could be alone with Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo, through the Life Thread, immediately sensed this.

He promptly spoke coldly to Hua Guzi, not via transmission but aloud: "Fellow Daoist Hua, Brother Han Zhou is my guest. As the saying goes, 'When three people walk together, one of them must be my teacher.' Having one more person to spar with is beneficial for all of us!"

These words, spoken openly, moved Han Zhou deeply.

Hua Guzi's expression changed, revealing a pleading smile: "Young Master Ning Zhuo is right."

Distracted while speaking, she was struck in the abdomen by a mechanical fist controlled by Ning Zhuo.

Hua Guzi flew backward like a shrimp, landing on the ground.

Han Zhou was startled.

Ning Zhuo said coldly: "Fellow Daoist Hua, when we spar, please maintain full concentration."

Hua Guzi screamed inwardly: "He hit me! He hit me again! He hit my abdomen, it hurts... the pain feels so good!"

Hua Guzi grimaced,扭曲 her expression to prevent her joy from leaking out, unaware that Ning Zhuo sensed it all clearly.

"This female cultivator..." Ning Zhuo's face grew even colder.

Han Zhou felt apprehensive for Ning Zhuo.

But the next moment, Hua Guzi floated up again, meekly saying: "Young Master Ning Zhuo, your教训 is correct!"

After saying this, she shot a fierce glare at Han Zhou.

Han Zhou: ...

In the subsequent interactions, Han Zhou often received fierce looks from Hua Guzi.

"I'm probably the多余 one!" Han Zhou thought gloomily, feeling ostracized.

Ning Zhuo, however, paid him more attention and didn't neglect him.

Ning Zhuo needed to rely on Han Zhou as a third party to curb Hua Guzi's痴狂. After all, when outsiders were present, Hua Guzi was much more restrained.

When that day's sparring ended, the three left the training ground together for a short distance.

Ning Zhuo walked in the middle, with Han Zhou on his left and Guzi on his right, already presenting a small semblance of a following.

Ning Jiufan, hidden in the crowd, observed Ning Zhuo and nodded inwardly: "This kid has only been here for a short while, and already has two Foundation Establishment cultivators following him. Moreover, their cultivation is higher than his."

"Truly worthy of being a descendant of my Ning Family."

Ning Zhuo parted ways with Han Zhou and coldly rejected Hua Guzi, thwarting her attempt to follow him back to his cave abode. He entered the abode alone.

Soon, Ning Jiufan came to visit.

Ning Zhuo welcomed him into the cave abode and bowed deeply: "Patriarch, you have finally arrived! I have been eagerly awaiting your arrival for days!"

Ning Jiufan immediately felt a strong sense of vigilance. This wasn't the first time he had been算计 by Ning Zhuo.

"What crooked idea are you scheming now? Wait, could it be that you've gotten into some trouble?"

(End of )