“So, what kind of technique are you creating? Is it related to Elemental Foundations?”

She was probing a little. Her partner had spoken of the creators of Elemental Foundations as if he weren’t one, but after seeing him create a battle formation and a combat technique on the level of Lady Shufang’s Evil Slaying, she started to think that he may have had a hand in the creation of Elemental Foundations as well.

“You want answers to both?”

“Yes.”

“Should I assume that to be the case in the future?”

“You probably should.”

“Very well. The technique is not related to elemental foundations, and it is a dual cultivation technique.”

“What?! Dual cultivation? Partner, you…”

“I think you are making certain assumptions. This technique is different from most dual cultivation techniques.”

“How so?”

“The function is the same, but the form is different.”

“I see. Well, it is the form that’s the problem.”

“There’s also the problem of maintaining the purity of the yin and yang cores of the parties involved.”

“You want to avoid contamination? How are you going to do that?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“I see. Then, I’ll leave you to it.”

“Mm.”

Hei turned back to the stack of papers he had placed on the desk.

The reason he had requested such an environment, was because it reminded him of his room back at home. Whenever his mother would give him work to do, such as managing the house’s finances, he would go to his wooden desk with his wooden chair and would do everything with pen and paper, even though a computer was much more convenient.

He opened his storage space and retrieved some of the information jades he had taken from the patriarch’s spatial ring. It just so happened that there were a lot of dual cultivation techniques among them, so there was plenty of reference material.

He sent his spiritual perception into the information jades, and within moments, had absorbed the knowledge therein. After sorting the information internally, he had a good grasp of how dual cultivation techniques functioned.

‘I see… Which perverted old man created these? The same effect can be achieved through any kind of physical contact.’

Through his comprehension ability, Hei was able to extract the essence of what dual cultivation techniques were. It involved the male sharing his yang essence with the female and the female, in turn, sharing her yin essence with the male.

When these two essences mixed within the bodies of both parties, a link would be created, forming a bridge between their circulation paths, allowing for both to cultivate simultaneously.

Aside from allowing a more powerful cultivator to help a weaker cultivator to rise up more swiftly, it also benefited those who had similar cultivations.

This was because the mixing of the yin and yang essences caused a certain reaction with the bodies of the cultivators, allowing them to absorb natural qi more readily and brand it with less effort.

It was particularly effective when both essences were pure. But that purity would be eliminated upon the first instance of intimacy. This was something Hei was trying to avoid.

Even though he disagreed with the idea that all dual cultivation techniques had to take a form that requires intimacy between the two parties, he could see how such an idea could become widespread.

It was due to the fact that when two people, more specifically, a man and a woman, performed intimate acts together, this mixing of essences would take place automatically. To then make use of this state in the form of dual cultivation techniques was the practical thing to do if one sought more rapid growth.

The same could be done between two males or two females, but the exchange of essences was not as automatic in those cases, it required active manipulation to reach usable levels. And even then, in most cases, the effectiveness was incomparable to that between a man and a woman.

The standard method wasn’t something Hei wanted to implement for the Shao Clan. For people like himself, Bai, Mei and Tianlan, Xiulan, Liling, and Jingfei, who didn’t have partners, to be forced to perform such acts in order to gain the benefits of dual cultivation… It wasn’t ideal.

And just as Bai had spoken, it would be a shame for the Shao Clan to be without a method of this kind, so Hei was now creating it.

First was to remove the intimacy aspect, which was easily achieved. The need for it only existed when the cultivators’ comprehensions were lacking and they were unable to manipulate their own essences. In fact, with intentional control, one cultivator would be able to do all of the work of creating the link between the two.

It didn’t take very long at all for Hei to create a technique with which holding hands was sufficient. More specifically, as long as both sides were close enough together, essences could be transferred, and a link could be created.

This was slightly abusable, so Hei purposely created another version of the technique which had reduced effectiveness, such that if the target wasn’t willing, the mixing of essences would not take place. It was making the technique worse but wasn’t reducing its usefulness to the Shao Clan.

As for the core members like his siblings, they would receive the full powered technique, which could create links even a few meters away. This could prove very useful to them when they were all together and working on the same goal.

Hei was confident that if he handed this to Bai, she would be able to come up with all sorts of uses for it, from synchronised techniques to a method for her to directly control her allies without having to use Marionette. The second one, in particular, Hei felt would allow Bai to better utilise her gifts.

Now he had a basic dual cultivation technique, but there was still the problem of the contamination of the pure cores. He needed to fine tune it, such that he could allow for the maximum mixing of essences, without the corruption of the pure cores.

From researching the patriarch’s techniques, and the little understanding he gained from the Fang Clan’s knowledge of yin and yang, Hei knew that the yin and yang essence was produced from a core, which released the essence into the rest of the body. The purity of this core affected the purity of the essence.

The essence which left the core was what he wanted to mix. The core itself, however, should never come into contact with external essence, otherwise, an irreversible change would occur, forever reducing the effects of dual cultivation techniques. This compounded with every instance of the same foreign essence, and eventually, dual cultivation techniques would become practically useless.

At that point, the cultivators would have to switch partners in order to wring out some more benefits, but at that point, it would have already reduced to barely acceptable levels.

Needless to say, Hei wanted to prevent such a thing, so he had to handle this cultivation technique very carefully.

That being said, testing this particular technique was not something he could do alone.

He got up from his chair and proceed to the door.

“Are you done already?”

“No.”

“Then, what are you doing?”

“I require a woman to lend me her assistance in testing the technique.”

Yuying’s eyes opened wide. He needed a woman to help him ‘test’ his technique? And a dual cultivation technique at that… Even though he had said that the form was different, how different could it be?

It seemed he and Xiaoli were about to do something scandalous. And she was going to record all of it. After all, she already had a customer lined up.

Of course, she was going to close her eyes during the process. This wasn’t something her innocent self should be exposed to.

Hei continued.

“There are two standing right outside.”

“What?! You’re considering asking Auntie Yimin?”

“Why not?”

“… Wouldn’t most people choose Xiaoli? What are you thinking?”

“Hm?”

Hei wasn’t sure what she meant.

“What’s the difference? Aren’t they both women? They are both equally as useful to me.”

Yuying rolled her eyes.

“Suit yourself.”

She gave him an odd look as he walked towards the door. For Honghuo’s sake, she hoped that the person who ended up helping Hei with his technique would be Xiaoli lest he be shocked to death when he watched it.

Still unclear of his partner’s thoughts, Hei opened the door and found that the scene seemed to have relaxed from earlier.

Auntie Yimin spoke.

“Oh? You’ve come out again? What have you made this time?”

After Xiaoli had calmed down, Auntie Yimin managed to get all the details from her. To think such a major change had taken place in the Zhu Clan. And that this boy in front of her was a major player.

No wonder he was able to make a technique similar to Lady Shufang’s Evil Slaying.

“I have yet to finish, which is why I came out here. I require a volunteer to help me with the fine-tuning. Would either of you be willing?”

“Hoho? You sure you don’t just want to ask Xiaoli here?”

Auntie Yimin wrapped her arm around Xiaoli’s shoulders and poked her cheeks.

Xiaoli’s face went red.

“Auntie Yimin, I’m not a little kid anymore!”

“Haha. To me, you’ll always be the little girl who came crying to me when your first tooth fell out. Hahaha! You acted as if it was the end of the world.”

“That was so long ago. I’ve changed a lot since then!”

“Oh? Then why was it that a few months ago, you came running to me when your-”

Xiaoli placed her hands over Auntie Yimin’s mouth. The redness in her face intensified.

“Auntie Yimin!”

“Alright, alright. It’s a shame that your mother wasn’t here at the time. If I recall correctly, your mouth sent your parents on another one of their trips, didn’t it?”

“They just like to travel!”

Auntie Yimin rubbed Xiaoli’s head.

“But why is it that every time they go on a trip, I also feel like going on one shortly afterword?”

Xiaoli puffed her cheeks out.

“Because you’re unoriginal.”

“Hahaha.”

Hei watched as these two conversed as if he weren’t there.

“Then… Are either of you willing to lend me your assistance?”

It was at this point that Auntie Yimin noticed Hei’s presence again. The fellow was like a ghost.

“Will this old lady do? I’ll give you a hand.”

“Much appreciated.”

Hei turned around to walk back into the study, and Yuying covered her face with her hand. She apologised to Honghuo in her mind. There was nothing she could do at this point.

As Auntie Yimin stepped forward to enter the study, she felt a hand press down on her shoulder, and then an increasingly tight grip.

“Hm? Xiaoli, do you have something to say?”

The corner of Xiaoli’s mouth was twitching and she was releasing a strange aura which Auntie Yimin hadn’t seen from her before.

“Auntie Yimin… Don’t you think the younger generation should handle matters between the younger generation?”

Auntie Yimin laughed awkwardly.

“Y-you’re right, Xiaoli. This old lady has become muddleheaded with age. Why don’t you help our guest in my place.”

Xiaoli’s hand disappeared from Auntie Yimin’s shoulder and a dazzling smile appeared on her face.

“What are you talking about, Auntie Yimin? You’re still bouncing with youthful vibrancy. This junior spoke out of line.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Auntie Yimin moved Xiaoli by the shoulders and gave her backside a good kick, sending her stumbling into the study.

“Thinking you can butter me up. Try again when your chest matures!”

Xiaoli’s crossed her arms over her chest.

“Auntie Yimin!”

This had been a slight source of insecurity for her, and her mother was never around to give her advice. It seemed every time Xiaoli thought to speak to her about it, her parents would be on another trip…

Auntie Yimin waved her hand with a smile on her face.

“You kids have fun.”

She placed extra emphasis on the word kids. This was to remind Xiaoli of how old the boy was in case she had forgotten.

And forgotten, she had. Being reminded of it now, Xiaoli’s face, which had regained its usual colour, turned red once more.

“Okay, see you later, Auntie Yimin.”

Auntie Yimin watched as Xiaoli hurriedly closed the door. How could she not know that Xiaoli had been wanting to spend some time alone with that boy?

As soon as the door closed, Auntie Yimin's expression changed. Far too much had happened in a short time, and she was now the strongest cultivator in the clan.

It seemed she would be having to leave the library soon...