Chapter Twelve: Cork Style Ten

“Ah… Senior Sister, are you going to lock me in?”
Qu Yi held the night pearl and turned in the cave. At the entrance, Bai Man had already planted three small flags, with a spirit stone placed in the center of them. Soon, a tricolor net appeared across the entire entrance, sealing it off completely, which shocked him greatly.
Bai Man stood at the entrance, smiling triumphantly, and shouted inside the cave, “Younger brother, do you have any fasting pills on you? It will take a month to dispel this Three Spirit Forbidden Spider Formation. You’d better stay in there and keep quiet.”
As soon as she finished speaking, two chirping sounds were heard, and the golden crown heron flew away with Bai Man.
Qu Yi looked at the glowing net at the entrance—red, yellow, and blue threads intertwined to form a massive spiritual net. The grid was less than an inch wide; even a spider couldn’t escape, let alone him.
“Senior Sister Bai Man, you really… This is quite a strong scare tactic,” Qu Yi said, shaking his head and sighing.
Now, Qu Yi finally understood why De Quan had shaken his head and sighed—he knew he would be teased by Bai Man but couldn’t say so outright.
Qu Yi reached toward the entrance, and the net formation immediately formed a tricolor fist, knocking him to the ground.
“I…” Qu Yi wanted to cry but couldn’t.
Since he couldn’t escape, he had no choice but to stay in the cave for a month.
The light from the night pearl was strong, allowing him to see clearly around. Holding the pearl, he stepped deeper into the cave to find out what was going on. He had no confidence in staying in one place for a month—it would drive him mad.
The cave smelled musty, as if it had been sealed for endless years before being opened. A thick layer of mold kept emanating from the depths. The cave was fairly spacious, about three to four meters high, with dark rocks on the walls. Fortunately, the floor was solid rock, not muddy, making it easy to walk.
In the mysterious cave of the Beast Mountain, Qu Yi had experienced a strange adventure, which made him develop a special affection for caves. Now, in this cave, he felt hopeful, wondering if another adventure awaited him.
Hope is beautiful, but reality is cruel. After walking ten miles to the deepest part of the cave, Qu Yi found no treasures and sensed no spiritual fluctuations anywhere, leaving him deeply disappointed.

Qu Yi quickly understood that if there were treasures in this cave, his master would have discovered them long ago. After all, with his Yuan Ying stage cultivation level, his spiritual perception could cover the entire Zhuiyun Peak, and he must have already scanned this cave thoroughly.

“I still have to wait another month. I can’t just sit here doing nothing; I need to find something to do!” Qu Yi thought to himself.

While Qu Yi was lost in thought, a voice came from outside the cave: “Fifth junior brother, are you inside?”

De Quan had arrived.

It turned out that De Quan knew Bai Man liked to tease people, especially the new disciples, who would be her special targets. But due to her special status, De Quan couldn’t intervene and could only let Bai Man tease them for now. Once she left, De Quan would come out.

“Oh, Fourth senior brother, I’m inside,” Qu Yi replied happily.

Hearing this, De Quan was also pleased and then asked, “Fifth junior brother, your junior sister wants to lock you in for a month, right? I can’t break this formation, so you’ll have to stay inside for a full month. But if you need anything, you can tell me now.”

With De Quan’s early Foundation stage cultivation level, it was quite easy for him to break the ‘Three Spiritual Forbidden Spider Formation’.

Qu Yi was stunned for a moment before understanding De Quan’s predicament. He said, “Fourth senior brother, could you find me some spells for the Qi Guiding stage to practice?”

Practicing inside the cave for a month wouldn’t be so boring, that was Qu Yi’s idea.

Upon hearing this, De Quan was shocked. Then he remembered Qu Yi’s energy level not long ago. It turned out this younger junior brother had already reached the early Qi Guiding stage. It could only be said that when Bai Man was around, De Quan’s attention was on her and he hadn’t noticed. Now that he recalled, he understood.

“Fifth junior brother, you’ve already reached the early Qi Guiding stage? How could you progress so fast? That’s impossible! You have a Five Spirit Root constitution—how could you progress this quickly?” De Quan exclaimed, his voice filled with joy but mostly confusion.

According to normal rules, it would take a year to progress from a congenital constitution to the early Qi Guiding stage. If it were the worst Five Spirit Root constitution, it would take even longer.

Qu Yi couldn’t tell the truth. Although De Quan was close to him, he wouldn’t reveal the secret of that mysterious sphere. With his weak strength, if that secret were exposed, his fate would be sealed.

“Fourth senior brother, I don’t know why either. By the way, do you have any spell books? Throw one in so I can practice,” Qu Yi asked again.

Although Dequan didn’t dare break the formation, he could create a gap in it and throw a book in—something he could still do.
“Alright, junior brother. You practice the metal-based cultivation techniques, while I practice the wood-based ones. I only have wood-related spells, but you can still learn them. I’ll throw it to you.” Seeing that Qu Yi didn’t explain further, Dequan didn’t press for details and was still willing to help.
Suddenly, Dequan took out a bright red wooden sword from his storage bag. The sword was straight and emitted a dazzling glow—it was clearly a mid-grade magic weapon.
It was Dequan’s precious sword, the Mid-Grade Magic Weapon Pan Tao Sword, crafted from the heart of a thousand-year-old Panlong Spirit Peach Tree using advanced refining techniques.
“Flowers fall, peaches bloom!”
With a shout, Dequan swung the Pan Tao Sword in a circle. Wood-type vital energy flowed into it, then was thrust forcefully toward the opening in the formation. A circular hole appeared in the “Three Spirits Forbidden Spider Formation,” blocking the red, yellow, and blue spiritual energies.
“Junior brother, catch it!”
Quickly, Dequan threw a green-covered book in as soon as he saw the hole in the formation.
Qu Yi, who had been waiting, caught the book immediately. The circular hole in the formation disappeared, and the three-colored net reappeared.
“Thank you, Fourth Senior Brother! I’ll practice here for a month,” Qu Yi said happily.
Dequan advised him to study it carefully before flying away.
Holding the green-covered book, Qu Yi saw the words “Ten Softwood Techniques” on its cover. It contained only ten pages with ten illustrations, each accompanied by descriptive text. Scanning through them quickly, Qu Yi jotted down the contents.
Bend, twist, pull, fold, coil, bounce, slap, squeeze, tug, tap—these were the ten techniques of the “Ten Softwood Techniques.” They involved using the wood-type vital energy in the body to emit it in different shapes, creating ten distinct attack methods.
However, according to the accompanying descriptions, most of these techniques could only be practiced during the Foundation Establishment stage, as only then would there be enough vital energy to emit it in various shapes. At the Qi Guidance stage, since the vital energy was mainly used for purifying the body, too little energy could be released externally, making it difficult to use these techniques.

Qu Yi possesses wood element energy stored in his liver, and he is indeed capable of practicing the “Ten Softwood Styles.” However, after reading the description, he decided not to start practicing right away. After all, De Quan only knew that Qu Yi was practicing multi-element techniques. If, after a month, he were found to have solely wood element energy, De Quan might go mad from shock, and if he accidentally revealed anything then, Qu Yi would face serious trouble.

“I’ll use gold element energy to practice the Ten Softwood Styles instead,” Qu Yi said softly. A golden glow flickered at the tip of his right middle finger—pure gold element energy.

Inside his body, his dantian contained a mixture of the five elements’ true energy, while his internal organs stored pure energy of a single element. When Qu Yi wanted to use a technique, he could draw out the corresponding element energy from his organs, bring it into his dantian, and combine it with the mixed true energy before releasing it. Of course, he could use the same method to summon other elements as well.

In short, Qu Yi could use the five elements—gold, wood, water, fire, and earth—to practice the “Ten Softwood Styles” simultaneously.

Of course, at this stage, he didn’t dare to draw on large amounts of true energy for practice. Mastering even one of the techniques required too much energy, and he wasn’t strong enough at the initial stage of drawing in energy.

For now, Qu Yi could only practice the moves depicted in the ten illustrations.

“Bend the Wood!”

Qu Yi held his Green Python Sword and drew a rainbow-like shape in front of him, resembling someone pulling down on the top of a tree.

This move seemed simple, and Qu Yi initially paid it little attention. But after practicing it dozens of times in a row, he began to struggle—how could he achieve the same effect with each strike? Could he swing the sword at a consistent speed by using true energy?… He imagined various scenarios.

Though seemingly simple, this was actually the most complex move, as it had numerous follow-up actions.

“Keep going. I’ll master this move first!”

Though puzzled, trapped in this cave with no way to get answers, Qu Yi decided to keep practicing until he mastered it. Then he could ask for help later and would likely be able to use it quickly.

Twenty days passed as Qu Yi continued practicing the “Ten Softwood Styles.”

“Today, I’ll try using true energy!” Qu Yi said confidently. Over these twenty days, he had mastered all ten moves, swinging each one no less than ten thousand times. He could even perform them accurately even in his dreams.

“Gold element energy, activate wood!”

Qu Yi held the Green Python Sword and swiftly thrust it at the cave wall in front of him. He drew out all the metal energy in his body, concentrating it at the tip of the sword, before sending out a beam of golden light.

A flash of golden light disappeared into the cave wall.

Bang!

The metal energy dot, the size of a fingertip, directly shattered the cave wall. There was a muffled sound as rocks slid down.

Hearing this muffled noise, Qu Yi sensed something was wrong. He had knocked on this cave wall before, and the sound had always been loud and clear—never muffled like this. So, he immediately went to the cave wall and looked at the broken spot with some surprise.

Behind the broken section of the wall, there was actually a small hole about the size of a head. Inside that hole lay a card shaped like a purple bougainvillea, glowing with golden light.