A Mortal's Start in the Spirit Beast Mountain

Compared to the spacious first floor, the second floor is much smaller. It displays mid-to-high-level cultivation manuals, covering main cultivation techniques, various secret arts, and inheritances in alchemy and weapon crafting. Luo Ming already possesses the inheritance of talisman-making, so he naturally won't expend energy on that. His main purposes for coming here are twofold: first, to obtain the follow-up cultivation methods of the *Spirit Control Technique*, and second, to find cultivation methods or secret arts that can enhance divine sense.

Almost all cultivators know that the stronger one's divine sense, the greater the advantage. Not only can one gain the upper hand in combat, but it also greatly helps in breaking through realms. Even the number of spirit beasts one can command is affected by the strength of one's divine sense.

However, spiritual cultivation techniques are extremely rare and not commonplace. Not only are they difficult to obtain, but the conditions for cultivation are also extremely demanding.

The cultivation techniques area on the second floor was clearly marked. After looking around, Luo Ming walked to a jade shelf and picked up the jade slips one by one to examine them carefully.

"Spiritual Fire Forging Technique" - This technique uses the spiritual fire of heaven and earth to temper one's divine sense, supplemented by pills that nourish the spirit and replenish vital energy, allowing one's divine sense to grow rapidly...

"Where...where am I supposed to find a Heavenly Spirit Fire?" Luo Ming gave up immediately after finishing the first part. Heavenly Spirit Fire was incredibly rare; even Nascent Soul cultivators might not possess it. As a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he didn't even need to think about it.

"The Frost Poison Tempering Technique" - This technique involves soaking one's consciousness in extremely cold poison, using the poison to stimulate the consciousness to grow stronger. The cultivation process requires enduring the pain of being devoured by thousands of ants...

"What's the difference between this and suicide?" Luo Ming frowned and put down the jade slip, his heart filled with helplessness.

He then examined several other secret techniques for tempering spiritual sense, only to find that either the cultivation conditions were outrageously harsh, or they exuded an aura of unreliability, practically tantamount to self-harm. Only then did Luo Ming understand why, despite everyone knowing the benefits of spiritual sense, so few people cultivated it—most people simply dared not attempt it, for the slightest mistake could result in the complete annihilation of their soul and spirit.

It was precisely for this reason that he admired the Great Evolution Divine Lord even more, for he had created a spiritual cultivation technique like the Great Evolution Technique, which did not have particularly demanding cultivation conditions. Although this technique required extremely high comprehension, it was still a rare and precious achievement. Luo Ming searched through the spiritual cultivation technique area but ultimately could not find a suitable one, so he had to give up for the time being and secretly resolved to find a way to obtain the Great Evolution Technique in the future.

Slightly downcast, Luo Ming turned and glanced at the area next to him displaying spiritual eye techniques, his eyes suddenly lighting up. Cultivating a spiritual eye technique would be a tremendous gain; he greatly envied the Clear and Bright Spiritual Eyes and Annihilation Dharma Eyes of the Old Demon Han from his previous life's novels.

"Qianyang Fire Eye"? Another cultivation technique that requires spiritual fire to practice. Luo Ming was about to put it down when his gaze fell on the annotation of the cultivation conditions: "If one cannot control the spiritual fire of heaven and earth, a high-level Yang attribute demonic fire may be used as a substitute."

"Demon fire?" Luo Ming's heart skipped a beat, and he instantly thought of the Fat Yang Bird—the flames around that little guy were pure Yang attribute, and of high quality and extremely powerful.

Luo Ming happily put away the jade slip of "Qianyang Fire Eye" and was about to leave to get the follow-up cultivation method of "Yu Ling Jue" when a thought suddenly flashed through his mind: Since "Qianyang Fire Eye" can be replaced by demonic fire, can "Spirit Fire Forging God Technique", which he had given up before, also be tried to cultivate with the demonic fire of the Zhiyang Bird?

The moment this thought crossed Luo Ming's mind, he started working. He checked his sect contribution points, and the points he had accumulated were just enough to exchange for another secret technique. Combined with the two techniques he received as a reward when advancing to Foundation Establishment, he could finally acquire both the "Spirit Fire Forging Divine Technique" and the "Qianyang Fire Eye".

"Anyway, it's just a try. If it doesn't work, we'll stop immediately," Luo Ming decided.

Although the Fat Sun Bird was proud and had not yet been tamed by him, as a disciple of the Spirit Beast Mountain, he had his own methods for taming spirit beasts. If the other party insisted on not yielding, he could only resort to some coercive measures—but that would damage the spirit beast's potential, and he would never do so unless absolutely necessary.

"I've kept that little guy locked in this secret room for almost two months now. I wonder how he's doing?"

Sometimes, subduing a spirit beast is similar to training a hawk in my previous life. It all comes down to who can outlast the other. Now that he is close to Foundation Establishment and his cultivation is higher than the other's, he can use some tricks to wear down the other's will and then offer some benefits. Usually, the beast will obediently submit.

After finishing up with the matters concerning cultivation techniques and secret arts, Luo Ming began to arrange the move. He had already chosen a specific location in the sect's main hall, so all Luo Ming needed to do was move his belongings there.

Moving in the cultivation world is very simple. You just put what you need to take into your storage bag. Unlike in my previous life, you don't have to carry big bags and small packages and hire a car to haul them away.

The new cave dwelling wasn't far, located on a mountain peak near Deacon Qin's cave. In reality, all the good spiritual vein sites had already been occupied, so his choices weren't many. Anyway, he was quite familiar with Deacon Qin and had a good impression of that kind old man, so he might as well become neighbors.

Since they were moving there, they naturally had to inform the other party in advance. Seeing that Luo Ming had successfully established his foundation and that they were going to be neighbors, this Steward Qin was exceptionally happy. He not only helped Luo Ming choose the location of his cave dwelling, but also wanted to personally design the layout of the cave for Luo Ming.

"Junior Brother Luo, this cave dwelling is not to be taken lightly. If it is laid out properly, it will be of great benefit to your future cultivation." Deacon Qin spoke eloquently to Luo Ming, clearly showing that he was quite knowledgeable in this area.

Luo Ming was very interested after listening and quickly asked the enthusiastic Deacon Qin to explain in detail.

"This cave dwelling is not simply a cave dug in the mountains; it involves Yin and Yang and the Five Elements. Could you please tell me about Junior Brother Luo's spiritual root attribute?"

"Junior Brother's three spiritual roots: metal, water, and earth."

"That makes things easier. This mountain has abundant metal and earth elemental spiritual energy. Junior brother only needs to set up a water elemental formation on this mountain to increase the proportion of water elemental spiritual energy and suppress fire and wood elemental spiritual energy. It would be best if it matched his own spiritual root attribute. This would increase his cultivation speed by at least 20%."

"Twenty percent?" Luo Ming exclaimed in shock.

This improvement is quite significant. He didn't expect that simply adjusting the layout of his cave dwelling could lead to such a large improvement. His interest was immediately piqued; there were indeed many ways to cultivate immortality.

"Haha, I just tinkered around with it when I had nothing else to do. This jade slip records some of my insights on cave dwelling layout. You can study it first before you start building your cave dwelling. After all, every bit of increase in cultivation speed is worthwhile."

"Thank you, Senior Brother Qin! Once this place is completed, I will definitely treat you to a few drinks." Luo Ming accepted the jade slip with great care. He hadn't expected that this Steward Qin was also knowledgeable in this area. Indeed, those who live long know more.

In fact, many sects have cultivators like Steward Qin who, having exhausted their potential and found it difficult to make any progress in their cultivation, start to pursue their own hobbies. Some study alchemy, some like making talismans, but those who study the feng shui of cave dwellings are rare.