Chapter 27: Gilded Version

Inside Uchiha Aozora's Spiritual Sea, the wordless Heavenly Page floated motionless at the center.

On this blank page, five golden droplets swam like tadpoles.

Of these Gongde droplets, three originated from clearing riverways, while the other two came from delivering messages and retrieving lost items respectively.

Watching the golden droplets darting about, Uchiha Aozora couldn't help but beam with satisfaction.

In just one week, he had already gathered five Gongde droplets. If used properly, these could perfect at least one Daoist cultivation method or supernatural technique.

"Which Daoist technique should I refine?"

[Dao Yin Lian Qi] — this is foundational. Just as all techniques require energy to activate, in the Ninja World, all Ninjutsu requires chakra. Once fully refined, would Dao Yin Lian Qi improve my chakra regeneration speed, or like [Bunshin], have advanced stages of its own?

[Jia Xing] — it's already pale gold now. Judging from the previous integration of Gongde, continued refinement would probably bring knowledge on altering meridians and bones. By then, even Byakugan or Sharingan might struggle to distinguish true from false during Transformation.

[Fire Release: Intelligent Hard Work] — no need to consider for now. Without a strengthened body, everything would be in vain.

[Yu Qi] — I've already obtained the method to control ordinary objects. The remaining knowledge must be about controlling spiritual artifacts, but since I don't even possess chakra-conductive metal yet, this can wait.

[Bunshin] — completed already.

[Embodiment Beyond the Self] —

Mentioning Embodiment Beyond the Self made Uchiha Aozora pause briefly.

"Well, there's only a faint shadow of Embodiment Beyond the Self right now, relying entirely on Gongde to complete it, but I don't even know how much it'll consume. Let me gather some elemental duplicates first to see if they can help fill in certain gaps."

[Yin Yang Eye] — perhaps in the future, when the Sharingan evolves, it might provide new insights. Using Gongde for it now would be wasteful.

Weighing his options for quite some time, Uchiha Aozora eliminated most choices, leaving only [Dao Yin Lian Qi] and [Jia Xing] as viable candidates.

After further consideration, he decided against Jia Xing.

"There aren't many opportunities to use [Transformation Jutsu] right now, and no chance to create alternate identities either. I'll leave this for later!"

Once his decision was made, Uchiha Aozora wasted no time and immediately visualized [Dao Yin Lian Qi] onto the Heavenly Book.

Staring at the four familiar pale golden characters, Aozora was overcome with emotion.

Since drawing his first chakra at age five and seeing those four ancient characters, his uncertainty in the ninja world had greatly diminished.

The Heavenly Book's ancient script and those pale golden characters felt like old friends, offering him comfort and support in this unfamiliar world.

Lost in these thoughts, the golden droplets had already rushed toward the characters like fish sensing blood in water, rushing to merge into them one after another.

The droplets' luster gradually faded, while the golden glow of the ancient characters intensified.

When the characters finally gleamed with gilded brilliance, only one droplet remained of the original five.

This last droplet desperately tried to squeeze itself into the characters too.

But no matter how hard it struggled, it simply couldn't penetrate the four ancient symbols.

Eventually, the golden droplet gave up reluctantly, abandoning its attempt to enter the gilded characters, and resumed floating leisurely across the Heavenly Page.

Seeing this, Uchiha Aozora felt quite disappointed and muttered to himself, "It seems Gongde can only assist in completing existing spiritual techniques. To trigger new ones, I still have to rely on myself."

Just as he finished sighing, the next moment Aozora eagerly extended his mischievous little hand toward the golden edition of [Dao Yin Lian Qi].

Text flowed through his mind, forming itself into passages.

Scene after scene played continuously within his mind's eye.

After quite some time, Aozora opened his eyes and exclaimed with admiration, "No wonder it's the golden version. This version is truly off the charts!"

The new edition of [Dao Yin Lian Qi] did not contain much new content. Instead, it improved the original technique that could only be cultivated through special movements, making it cultivatable through sitting, lying down, walking, or standing.

Compared with the original version, the golden edition had lower efficiency at merely half the original rate.

Yet Uchiha Aozora was still delighted.

Of course, when conditions allowed, he would still use the original version for cultivation. But now during previously untrainable periods, he could also cultivate using the golden edition's [Dao Yin Lian Qi].

His body had always been stronger than that of an average person, allowing him to generate more Chakra.

Now with the golden edition's [Dao Yin Lian Qi], while others slept he could generate Chakra, while others walked he could generate Chakra, even when eating he could generate Chakra.

With cultivation time several times longer than others throughout the day, his Chakra reserves would rapidly surpass those of other ninja.

"And best of all," he thought, "no more burning the midnight oil! Now I can cultivate even while sleeping. Big brother won't have to worry about my dark circles anymore!"

Eagerly, Aozora began cultivating the golden edition's [Dao Yin Lian Qi] according to the Heavenly Book inheritance.

The first method he practiced was called the "Sleeping Posture".

Facing east, Aozora curled up on his side like a resting dog or a coiled dragon. He rested his head on his right arm and placed his left hand lightly over his navel. He then stretched his left leg out while pulling his right one in close.

After positioning himself correctly, Aozora slowly began breathing according to the technique transmitted from the Heavenly Book.

As his breathing rhythm synchronized perfectly with what was described in the inheritance, Aozora drew out part of his Chakra from his Dantian to begin circulating it through his meridians.

Initially, this Chakra required Aozora's control.

However, once completed one full circulation, without further intervention from Aozora, this Chakra continued progressing along the meridian pathway automatically through continued respiration.

Each completed cycle brought back a new wisp of Chakra to nourish his Dantian.

Witnessing this, Aozora ceased forcefully maintaining his alertness and closed his eyes, sinking into deep sleep.

The night passed dreamlessly.

But in the morning, Aozora had a dream—an extremely hungry dream.

In his dream, his belly sprouted a large mouth, devouring everything hungrily.

This terrifying starving dream startled Aozora awake, making him realize he was indeed hungry.

"Gurgle...gurgle..."

Empty stomach rebelling against emptiness.

Suffering from intense hunger, Aozora disregarded washing up, rushing three steps at a time into the kitchen where he quickly prepared food for sustenance.

Aozora devoured three massive bowls of noodles, finally feeling alive again.

"I completely forgot that [Dao Yin Lian Qi] still involves transforming essence into energy. Next time before cultivating, I should eat more snacks."

"That doesn't sound right. From now on, Aozora needs to eat more not just at night, but during the day too. Aozora should always keep all sorts of snacks handy."

"Huh, come to think of it, Aozora's somehow ended up with a body that doesn't gain weight no matter how much he eats!"

Thinking this, Aozora's mood suddenly improved greatly.

"It's just that this might be somewhat costly for Aozora."

"Oh right, Aozora should make some money today first. He needed to go ask about claiming the demolition compensation."

After lying down for two minutes after the meal, Aozora returned to his room, washed up, and changed into a long robe with the Uchiha clan emblem embroidered on the back.

Today was a rest-and-bathe day, and clan leaders were expected to remain at home.

So Aozora strolled slowly toward the Uchiha estate.

Each of his steps was precise, as if pacing out farmland, with every stride perfectly uniform in both length and timing.

Last night, Aozora had already practiced [the Sleeping Form].

Now he began practicing [the Walking Form] of the gilded edition of [Dao Yin Lian Qi].

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