Capítulo 4: Devouring Martial Spirit
Editor: Caron_
Ancient Magus!
Ye Tian's curiosity was immediately piqued. From what he knew, Magi on the Shen Zhou Continent were considered half good, half evil, and were extremely rare. They were like hermits in the mountains—they were always very low profile, but they couldn't be overlooked.
The tales spoke of Magi who could create elixirs and pills that helped Martial Warriors cultivate and dangerous poisons that could harm even high-realm experts. The Magus was said to be an expert in all manners of evil magic, and though they might appear weak and fragile, they were in truth extremely powerful entities.
In Shen Zhou Continent's history, there had been Magi who practiced medicine, traveling from place to place and saving countless lives, but there had also been evil Magi who harnessed evil magic and made sacrifices to contact demons from the beyond in exchange for power. These evil Magi were considered Dark Magi and were universally hated by all Martial Warriors.
Ultimately, the Magus was an extremely rare entity enshrouded in mystery, and Ye Tian didn't know of a single practitioner in the entire White Cloud Region.
"And what kind of Magus wrote this scroll…?" Ye Tian murmured, anticipation growing in his heart as his eyes moved along the scroll.
The sheepskin parchment wasn't large, but the characters teemed together. There were at least a thousand characters and Ye Tian read extremely carefully, not missing a single word.
As he read, Ye Tian discovered that this scroll was the Magus Balata's notebook, and along with all sorts of Magus cultivation techniques and different elixir and pill recipes, there were also assorted daily reflections.
"The author, Balata, a Magus from antiquity, was born without a Martial Spirit and could never become a Martial Warrior. Luckily, a kind master chose me and I became one of the extremely rare Magi."
Ye Tian was immediately filled with jealousy. Even though the Martial Warrior path had been sealed off from this Balata, a Magus had still valued him and trained him to become a powerful Magi.
"I was curious. Why did I need a Martial Spirit to become a Martial Warrior? And why was the absence of a Martial Spirit such a curse? This curiosity stayed with me, and after I finished my Magus training, it gave me direction. I decided that I would create Martial Spirits and enable everyone on Shen Zhou Continent to become a Martial Warrior!"
"En?"
When he read these words, Ye Tian shook, immediately standing upright and bringing the sheepskin parchment closer to his oil lamp, his attention even more focused than before.
Under the bright light, the words on the sheepskin revealed themselves to Ye Tian.
"After thousands of trials, I finally found the mysterious connection between the Martial Spirit and the body—people with the Martial Spirit have mysterious energy within them that allows the Martial Spirit to enter their body and dwell within them. I named this the 'Martial Spirit Energy'."
"But if the body doesn't have Martial Spirit Energy, then the Martial Spirit won't be attracted to the body and the person won't become a Martial Artist… This understanding guided me in the right direction in my search for a method to create the Martial Spirit."
Ye Tian's eyes burned, his eyes staring with an almost manic gleam as he read.
"After many attempts, I concluded that the Martial Spirit was a natural phenomenon and is impossible to create, but I did discover a method to create Martial Spirit Energy…"
Creating the Martial Spirit was impossible?
Ye Tian felt as if a bucket of freezing water had been splashed on him just as he was growing excited, and his burning eyes went dim. Nevertheless, he continued reading.
"I couldn't create the Martial Spirit, but I could utilize Martial Spirit Energy to lure a Martial Spirit into the body and lock the Martial Spirit into the flesh. I named this method, 'Possession'."
"Or perhaps more accurately, the process involves devouring. Using the Martial Spirit Energy I have created, a practitioner can reform his empty body and give it a devouring property."
"When a Martial Warrior dies, his Martial Spirit will linger for three days before dissipating. This means that in this three day period, I could use this devouring property to devour the dead Martial Warrior's Martial Spirit…"
When Ye Tian read these words, he couldn't hold back the excitement in his heart and let out a loud and long shout.
"Devouring ability! Devouring the Martial Spirit! Truly, the heavens always leave a path, hahaha…" Ye Tian laughed crazily, clutching the sheepskin scroll. His whole body shook with excitement. He felt as if he had been snatched from the jaws of death and new life was bubbling forth in a spring of fresh water emerging from the bottom of his heart. He had never felt so good.
"Tian er?"
"Is everything alright? Tian er…"
Almost immediately, Lin Mei's motherly voice called back from the hallway, and she could clearly be heard approaching Ye Tian's room.
Ye Tian's laughter immediately cut off, and he hurriedly shouted towards his door: "Mom, I'm fine. Is dinner ready? I'm hungry." He hurriedly changed the subject.
"There's still some time before dinner. If you're hungry, have some dried meat. This child—you're already so big yet you're still crying out when you're hungry…" Lin Mei called back, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, but nevertheless relieved that nothing had happened. She left his door and allowed Ye Tian his space.
Inside the room, Ye Tian was still reading the sheepskin scroll, emotionally charged.
The heavens always left a way out for you. The White Tiger's gift was incredibly precious, and this page from the Ancient Magus' notebook actually described the method to devour a Martial Spirit.
Ye Tian was suddenly filled with hope for the future. The Martial Warrior path had opened up for him again.
Under the dimming light, the ancient sheepskin scroll seemed to carry a mysterious weight.
The ancient characters written on it were like a divine revelation to Ye Tian, sinking into him and permeating his whole being.
"Shen Zhou Continent is vast and boundless, and many beasts without Martial Spirits still become extremely powerful. I didn't understand this, but after hundreds of years of investigation, I finally discovered the answer in beast blood. Even the most ordinary beast will have trace amounts of Martial Spirit Energy within them, and they can use this to attract the Spiritual Qi of the Heavens and Earth into their flesh and gradually evolve themselves."
"The more powerful the beast, the more Martial Spirit Energy lies in their blood. The spell I have created can extract this Martial Spirit Energy from a beast's blood."
"The first step to devouring a Martial Spirit is to bathe your body in a vat of Martial Spirit Energy, forcing the physical form to absorb the powerful substance. With my spell, the practitioner must refine the process and imbue the body with the devouring ability."
Extracting Martial Spirit Energy from a beast's blood?
When Ye Tian read these words, his eyes popped wide and he almost spat out a mouthful of blood.
"The Old White Tiger was a Martial Master Realm beast! If I had known, I would've thrown my moral integrity to the wind! Her blood would've been amazing!" Ye Tian really wanted to slap himself in the face. Because of his worthless integrity, he had wasted the precious blood of a beast that was at least a Martial Master or even higher!
Just from Balata's description, Ye Tian could imagine the incredible amount of Martial Spirit Energy required for the process of imbuing the devouring property, and he knew that this would be a very difficult process for him.
Ye Tian continued reading the few remaining words. The main focus was now on describing the spell used to devour a severed Martial Spirit and refine it to bind it to the body after succeeding in imbuing the devouring property.
"It's easy to obtain the Martial Spirit. When a village elder dies, I can just use their Martial Spirit, but this devouring property…" Ye Tian frowned, falling into deep thought.
To gather enough Martial Spirit Energy, he had to hunt a ridiculous amount of weak beasts, and heaven knew how long he would have to wait before he could gather enough. The only real option was to target powerful beasts.
But with his peak Martial Apprentice power, could he handle such powerful beasts?
Of course, the answer was no.
In the Ye Family Village, the most basic requirement for membership in the hunter team was to be a Level Three Martial Artist. This requirement clearly demonstrated the strength of the beasts outside the village. Anyone under Martial Artist realm Level Three was basically courting death if they accompanied the hunter team.
"Pa!"
As he thought, Ye Tian once again sank into regret, fiercely slapping himself in the face. If he had known, he wouldn't have thrown away the White Tiger's corpse. A beast that was at least in the Martial Master realm! Its blood alone might've been sufficient to provide all the Martial Spirit Energy that Ye Tian needed.
What now?
Ye Tian calmed himself and thought. He already had the method for devouring the Martial Spirit, now he just needed to extract enough Martial Spirit Energy. In other words, he needed to find beast blood.
"Beast blood contains an extraordinary amount of energy and can definitely be used to enhance a Martial Warrior's body, so it will always carry an expensive market price. If I had enough money, I could just buy it, but…"
Ye Tian didn't know whether to laugh or cry. He was only a fifteen-year-old child—how could he possibly have enough money? His father was also only a Level Seven Martial Warrior and couldn't possibly have saved enough.
So what were his options?
To untie a bell, one needed the person who tied it. Ye Tian peered down at the sheepskin scroll, thinking… this scroll was incredibly precious. The price that it could fetch…
But even as he had that thought, Ye Tian immediately discarded it. He knew from his previous life that revealing such a precious thing to others would be the same as treasuring jade. Not only would actually securing payment be up for question, but he might even be risking his life if he did that.
"Not only can devouring the Martial Spirit give a Martial Spiritless person new hope—it can even benefit those who already have Martial Spirits, allowing them to improve their spirit rank. This means that my talent will never bottleneck — this ability is priceless, and all of Shen Zhou Continent would covet it."
Ye Tian's eyes glittered, and he sighed in amazement. He felt as if he had finally understood the true value of this sheepskin scroll; it was a treasure beyond measure.
"Tian er, time for dinner."
Lin Mei's motherly call shook Ye Tian from his trance. He shook his head and mocked himself: "I've already found my direction, so what's the rush? For the cart to reach the mountain, there must be a road."
With this thought, Ye Tian put his heart to rest, carefully storing the sheepskin scroll before opening his door.
In the living room, the family happily ate dinner together, but Ye Tian seemed entirely distracted. It was true that even as he ate, his mind was focused on methods to acquire more Martial Spirit Energy.
"Here, Tian er, eat some more!" Mei Lin said, placing some food in Ye Tian's bowl.
Beside them, Ye Tian's father, Ye Meng, was bragging about his adventures with the Hunter Team.
"Tian er, you might not have heard, but your father killed a fierce tiger today. The captain said that he'll give me the tiger's skin tomorrow, and you can ask your mother to make you a tiger-skin coat for winter, haha!" Ye Meng laughed proudly.
"Dad, I don't want a tiger coat. Can you get me beast blood?" Ye Tian's eyes flashed as he asked expectantly. Even after racking his mind, he could only ask for help from his father. After all, he was just a weak child in the Martial Apprentice realm—how could he ever find enough beast blood on his own?
"You want to use beast blood to train your body?" Ye Meng asked in reply, looking at his son.
Lin Mei's expression dimmed and she sighed: "This is a good method. I've heard that people without a Martial Spirit can still enhance their body with beast blood and eventually become as powerful as Martial Artists. But beast blood is incredibly precious, and our family…"
"Fine! Your father promises you! Tomorrow, I'll get the blood for you. However much you want. As long as your father is still breathing, I will get you everything you need!" Ye Meng loudly agreed.
"Dad!"
Ye Tian's eyes grew wet, and his heart was so overwhelmed that he couldn't utter another word. He could only swear to himself silently, carving the oath deeply into his heart.
I will become a Martial Warrior and become the most powerful Martial Warrior in all of White Cloud Town. I will make my parents proud!
-- Presente
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