Mortal Mirror

Li Ergou had a lot of experience butchering sheep, and although this was a giant softshell turtle, the method was similar. First, he removed the head and limbs, then flipped the turtle over. The shell on the underside, though hard, was still much softer than the top. Using his copper coin sword, he cut the shell open along the seams, revealing the flesh inside.

The turtle's body was enormous, and he continuously cut off chunks of flesh. Surprisingly, this thing had a lot of meat. Three large buckets, each big enough for three people to hug, were filled, totaling over two thousand pounds of meat.

Black Beard Goat and Black Cat Thirteen both ran over, their eyes gleaming as they looked at the meat, eager to eat it.

Li Ergou chuckled and said, "Seeing how hard you've worked, you can have the innards." With that, he pulled out the turtle's organs. Wow, what a huge mass—heart, liver, spleen, stomach, lungs—quite a lot! He tossed these to the two creatures, who immediately pounced on them with great joy, devouring them.

At that moment, Li Ergou noticed a shining pearl in the turtle's abdomen. The size of a fist, he curiously grabbed it, feeling a very powerful energy radiating from within.

Suddenly, he sensed a strange energy within the pearl. With a thought, he saw a small turtle's shadow inside. Surprised, he extracted the small turtle shadow, which instantly transformed into a stream of light, flying into Li Ergou's forehead.

Immediately, a cultivation technique appeared in his mind.

It turned out to be the turtle's innate divine skill, the Turtle Breathing Technique.

At this moment, he was extremely shocked. Looking at the pearl again, he suddenly understood. Could this be the legendary demon core? So, this giant softshell turtle… good heavens, such a large demon core! How many years had this turtle cultivated?

What he didn't expect was how powerful the bronze mirror was, not only replicating the flesh but also the demon pearl. This treasure mirror was truly an unparalleled treasure!

He was excited and happy. He hadn't expected to gain a cultivation technique from killing a turtle. Rumor has it that martial arts techniques were derived from the techniques of great demons. He wondered if he could cultivate it directly.

Ignoring these thoughts for now, he quickly sorted all the meat and shell, storing them separately. Then, he took out the medicine pot, threw in the medicinal herbs he had brought back from the Spirit Item Pavilion, added a large chunk of turtle meat, poured in water from the bronze mirror, and started simmering it.

While watching the medicine pot, Li Ergou carefully studied the Turtle Breathing Technique. This technique could cultivate three things: first, Qi cultivation, which involved refining the five internal organs, allowing them to store and refine more innate essence.

Furthermore, the essence of the five internal organs could be used to generate Qi, allowing a person to live for a long time without breathing.

Second, Body Tempering, which involved cultivating the muscles, bones, and skin, making the physical body extremely tough, eventually becoming immune to fire and water, impervious to blades and spears.

Third, Divine Strength. Cultivating this technique could make the physical strength increasingly powerful, eventually reaching the power to shake mountains, terrifyingly so.

He was overjoyed, thinking that this was definitely a martial arts technique!

The technique Zhuang Xiaoyao had given him was only the simplest and most basic martial arts technique, difficult to cultivate, weak in power, and very slow to improve.

It was said that cultivation techniques also had levels: Beginner, Advanced, Rare, Secret, and Divine. The martial arts technique he was cultivating probably didn't even qualify as Beginner; it was just a basic formula.

His aptitude was already extremely poor, and cultivating such a technique would have predictable consequences.

Although this was a demon technique, human martial arts techniques originated from demon cultivation methods, only modified by great experts to make them more suitable for human cultivation.

It wasn't impossible to cultivate it directly, but it was important to know that demons had strong bodies, so demon cultivation methods were more violent and powerful. To cultivate demon techniques, one had to have a strong body and endure a more painful cultivation process.

Li Ergou's body had been transformed by the liquid from the Longevity Well gourd and the mysterious gas, making it many times tougher than an ordinary person.

He thought he should be able to withstand it. As for the painful process, hehe, Li Ergou feared nothing more than pain and hardship.

He was beaten up every day at the martial arts hall, which had long tempered him into an unkillable cockroach. So, his current attitude was to do it to the end as long as he didn't die.

Looking at the attack moves of the Turtle Breathing Technique, they were pitifully few, only two moves, one offensive and one defensive, one called Mountain Shaker and the other called Ground Hug.

Mountain Shaker was a punch that could shatter mountains, incredibly terrifying.

Ground Hug could refine a Xuan Turtle Armor, so that even cultivators one level higher than you couldn't break your defense. When cultivated to the extreme, as long as the main body wasn't destroyed, the shield wouldn't break.

Li Ergou was overjoyed when he saw this technique. Wasn't this a life-saving divine skill?

With a hint of excitement and anticipation, he began to try cultivating this technique, wanting to see if he could cultivate it. Cultivating this technique would cause a tearing pain in the body, a feeling as painful as being torn apart by five horses.

Only then did he experience how terrifying this demon technique truly was.

Although it was very painful, for someone who wasn't afraid of pain, he could grit his teeth and persevere.

He stopped after cultivating for half a day. To his delight, this technique was indeed good. Besides the pain all over his body, there were no adverse reactions. Gritting his teeth, he could completely accept it.

Just as he was rejoicing in his heart, the aroma of meat from the medicine pot wafted out, filling the entire courtyard with fragrance.

The medicine was ready, and he excitedly opened the lid of the medicine pot, seeing that the turtle meat and the medicinal herbs had been boiled into a jelly-like substance.

The fragrance also attracted Thirteen and Black Beard Goat. The two creatures stared at Li Ergou with eager eyes, full of desire. Li Ergou chuckled and said, "You two little gluttons finished the innards and started thinking about my elixir? Well, just this once, don't do it again."

With that, he scooped a large spoonful for each of them. Unexpectedly, after eating, the two creatures lay on the ground and began to snore, probably because they had eaten too much.

Li Ergou thought to himself, it seems that this stuff is really strong.

He didn't think much about it and scooped up a spoonful to eat. Sure enough, this thing tasted incredibly rich and delicious. Li Ergou felt it turn into a heat that flowed down his stomach, and then powerful Qi filled his body.

With a thought, he quickly began to circulate his energy to refine these Qi. Perhaps the energy inside this great medicine was particularly huge, as wisps of vapor even appeared above his head.

Li Ergou felt extremely hot all over and began to frantically circulate the Turtle Breathing Technique. To his surprise, perhaps due to the medicinal power, he didn't feel so much pain when cultivating this technique, and there was even a hint of comfort.

This discovery made him extremely happy. It took him a full hour to refine the Qi brought by the meat jelly.

He looked inside and found that the martial arts true Qi in his Shen Gong had become three strands of hair thicker, which made him very excited. This thing was much more powerful than the Qi Cultivation Pill!

What made him even more excited was that the Turtle Breathing Technique was much better than his basic technique, and he could clearly feel his cultivation improving slowly.

Even so, he did not continue to cultivate. Instead, he scooped out the meat jelly, took out the large bowls he had prepared, filled and sealed them separately, and threw them into the bronze mirror to improve their quality. Then, he began to boil the next pot.

He worked hard all night, using up all the medicinal herbs he had bought. Including the replicated herbs, he made four pots of meat jelly, filling a total of one hundred bowls. These meat jellies only used up one-tenth of the turtle meat.

So much meat jelly, or rather, turtle paste, would be enough for him to use for a month.

In the following days, he planned to use these turtle pastes to cultivate his techniques and improve his cultivation.

The plan was good, but the next morning, after reporting to the yamen, just as he was about to leave, he was stopped by Head Constable Wang.