บท 8: Spirit Souls
This world, for the most part, was quite primitive. There were steam-powered devices much less electronic ones and despite his rudimentary knowledge on the subject of mechanics and physics, Ja Sun's mind worked the most in worthless areas of civilization— battles. Still, this world wasn't all that primitive.
The large cities of this world were more advanced than villages. There are paved paths made of cobblestones, sturdy rock structures with clear architectural aesthetic and purposes. And finally, the clothes. Ja Sun believed that in ancient civilization, clothing would be cumbersome. And it is, for the poor and the ordinary.
But there are many 'robes' in this world which are as modern as a tuxedo or a pair of a pantsuit. The enchanting 'robe', was one such item. It wasn't cumbersome to wear at all.
The set of Blue-silver Enchanting Robe came with a pair of trousers, an inner shirt alongside the main robe. The inner shirt was full-sleeved and soft. It was plain white and completely hidden under the robe. The robe itself was like a long coat. If Ja Sun recalled correctly, the blue coat with the hems reaching his knees but the buttons only ending around his waist looked similar to the popular celebratory outfit of Central India— Sherwani. But this one was lighter and much more comfortable. Not only that, the robe didn't completely cover the base of his neck and allowed the room for breathing.
Aside from the blue color, the middle of the robe was layered by a silver strip which made the black buttons pop out. Not only that, there was a breathtaking silver embroidery over the left and right shoulders of the robe that moved down the sleeves by a slight margin.
Much to Ja Sun's relief, the pair of trousers were blue in color and not silver.
Right now, Ja Sun really felt good. He had slipped out of filthy clothes. He had his residence on wheels, a strong ox that needed much less maintenance, and finally...
"I got them money!"
He tossed the heavy pouch up and down his hand. In total, he had 56 copper coins, 32 silver coins, and 20 gold coins. The conversion of the coins was quite strange since the currency of the two empires on the continent differed. Still, in Heaven Dou Empire, a gold coin equals 10 silver coins and a silver coin equals 100 copper coins.
Not only that, within the pouch was a beautiful ornate necklace with a large crimson crystal embedded as a centerpiece. It wasn't useful to Ja Sun at the moment so it was pushed inside the leather coin pouch.
The pants came with pockets. While Ja Sun belted the coin pouch, he still kept the Devil Blood Crystal in his pocket.
Ja Sun knew what Blood Crystals are. In fact, they are one of the few materials that can be utilized alongside his Revitalized Blood Qi Art and enhance his speed of training.
"All I need to do is find a good place to stop~ All I need to do is find a weak carriage to rob~"
After all...
Nobody would expect a fellow carriage owner to suddenly attack, right? This is simply the perfect disguise for a bandit. And even lure potential bandits.
---
"In the end... this feels like home," Ja Sun sighed. The continent was already covered by the night sky. The crescent moon failed to provide much light within the Demon Pond Forest due to the wide crowns of the trees. Unlike his previous position, Ja Sun rode his carriage towards the location of Five-spotted Antelopes. Right now, he had removed his only set of 'comfortable' clothes and wore the unfortunate driver's outfit. The mustard-colored tunic and brown pants still couldn't hide the brilliance of his spirit enhancement.
His silver hair seemed to resonate with the moonlight and the sight of the glowing green mark of his third eye in the middle of his brows calmed down the antelopes.
Even the previously fumbling ox now moved slightly better, without the pressure of the beasts. Previously, the form consumed his spirit energy and limited his transformation time but right now, Ja Sun absorbed spirit energy with every breath and refined it. Even his heightened quality of spirit qi had increased his transformation time and with the continuous restoration, Ja Sun could keep the form activated for a long time.
Glancing towards the majority of the sleeping antelopes, Ja Sun rode the ox towards the other side and then proceeded to unbind the ox.
"Well... this is it, big guy. Thanks for bringing me here," Ja Sun's smile revealed his teeth which were slightly sharper from their tips. Even his molars had sharper crowns.
Patting the Ox's waist, Ja Sun let the Ox leave.
Since he already had a residence now, Ja Sun didn't feel like binding the Ox and possibly starve it. Hopefully, it could find its way back to the village.
'And I'll find an appropriate spirit beast to pull my carriage. Hehe, they seem welcoming of my presence... I wonder if...'
Ja Sun's thoughts shifted.
"Set Mission."
[Set Parameters.]
"Make one Five-spotted Antelope peaceful towards my presence after removing Spirit Enhancement."
[Objective: Befriending one Five-spotted Antelope after removing Spirit Enhancement.
Mission Rank: D
Rewards: 1000-year-old Five-spotted Antelope's hide.
Time Limit: 7 days.]
'It is possible!'
After a moment's thought, Ja Sun added an additional objective to the mission to check the situation.
[Objective: Befriending one Five-spotted Antelope after removing Spirit Enhancement.
Optional Objectives: Befriend 23 Five-spotted Antelopes after removing spirit enhancement.
Mission Rank: D-C
Rewards: 1000-year-old Five-spotted Antelope's hide—Heavy Shift Footwork.
Time Limit: 7 days.]
Although the rewards looked quite appealing, in the end, Ja Sun didn't accept the mission.
The fact that he could actually use his martial soul to try and communicate with other spirit beasts was certainly interesting but he didn't want to direct the major portion of his time for the next week to rack his brain to quicken the process of communication.
Instead, he set up another mission for himself.
[Objective: Reach the second stage of Revitalized Blood Qi Art.
Optional Objectives:
1) Reach the third stage of Revitalized Blood Qi Art.
2) Reach the fourth stage of Revitalized Blood Qi Art.
3) Reach the fifth stage of Revitalized Blood Qi Art.
4) Reach the sixth stage of Revitalized Blood Qi Art.
Mission Rank: E-D-C-A-S
Rewards: Bloody Burst Technique—Blood Pond Creation Tactic—Nourishing Blood Sea Technique—Crystalized Essence of Blood Spirit Bloodline—Eternal Blood Drop Technique.
Time Limit: 7 Days.]
Ja Sun chuckled bitterly.
Revitalized Blood Qi Art is divided into 9 stages. At every stage, the technique would optimize and refined the blood. The blood will slowly nourish the body and enhance the physical quality. Instead of enhancing major parts of the body to upgrade the quality of blood, this technique strived to achieve the opposite.
This means that every stage of the technique is tied to the quality of blood and not the body. Even if he reached the second stage, there would be no saying when his body will be enhanced enough to compete with the body of ordinary hundred-year-old spirit beasts.
In reality, Ja Sun had added additional objectives till reaching the 9th stage of the technique. He himself doesn't know if he could achieve that in years, much less a week, but that didn't stop him from adding it to the list to see the rewards he can get.
However, the optional objectives of reaching the seventh stage and higher never appeared.
This means that in the given time frame and current potential, the objectives are deemed impossibly. There won't be any lucky encounters in his surroundings that could help him achieve the objectives deemed impossible.
His trait certainly couldn't see the future but it could calculate the attributes of various items and at least, around Ja Sun, there is simply no item or fortune capable of shooting his Revitalized Blood Qi Art to the 9th stage at once!
'Not even seventh stage... basically, if I give it my all, there is a 10% chance to reach the sixth stage of the technique.'
Entering the carriage, Ja Sun sat down with his legs crossed.
"Devil's Blood Crystal is a B-rank reward. Theoretically, it should be able to assist me in the cultivation of technique by a lot...
Let's try it."
Taking out the pitch-black crystal, Ja Sun recollected his thoughts. The Revitalized Blood Qi Art didn't strike his body painfully. But it was certainly tiresome since it would utilize spirit energy in absence of natural resources to refine the blood.
But Ja Sun also knew he couldn't simply ingest the entire crystal. There was a high chance that this action might prove fatal.
So, he stuck his tongue out and licked the crystal.
There was no effect.
*Slurp*
He sucked on the tip and yet, there was no effect.
'Who knew... I couldn't even suck right...' Ja Sun thought in passing. If such a form of contact didn't work and there weren't actually any methods stated in the technique itself to absorb the Crystal's energy, Ja Sun tried to use his spirit energy as a conductor.
Misty white spirit energy gathered around his palm. With the constant practice of the Gentle Palm Technique, Ja Sun could instinctively gather spirit energy over his palms.
The moment his claw covered with foggy spirit energy came into contact with each other, the original pale mist turned pinkish and then finally, red. Ja Sun felt that the spirit energy which would dissipate into his surrounding due to lack of action was now connected to the crystal and from it, a current of warm energy continuously entered his body.
Using the Revitalized Blood Qi Art, Ja Sun discovered that he could actually manipulate the warm currents of energy to nourish his blood.
As he did so, his green eyes turned deep and the tattoo on his forehead shone softly.
His entire body was soon covered in perspiration and matted his furry limbs.
However, Ja Sun continued to use the Concentric Spirit and Revitalized Blood Qi Art technique without any issues.
---
Ja Sun walked out of the carriage. Looking around, he observed the antelopes surrounding his carriage like protective siblings and let out a devious smirk.
*Uughh*
A young calf out of the group slowly walked towards the entrance of the carriage. Its body no longer than 70 centimeters. This calf was the newborn of the antelope group and it could already move in a period of 2 days.
The moment it laid eyes on Ja Sun, it pushed one of the green-yellow mangoes with its snout while letting out excited whimpers.
"Ah, I could hunt myself... but if you all want to worship me and bring fruits to me... tsk tsk, you all spoil me too much!"
Ja Sun picked up the mango and bit on its end before sucking on it.
*Slurp*
Instantly, an intense sweetness flooded his mouth. His tongue seemed to be rejoicing. Meanwhile, Ja Sun's eyes wandered around the periphery of the thicket.
The Demon Pond Forest did not have many high-tier spirit beasts. The core region is basically occupied the rare beasts with cultivation higher than thousands of years. And despite his martial soul's natural affinity with spirit beasts, he dared not enter the core region or expand his area of influence to the core region.
Area of influence, in this context, meant Ja Sun's ability to increase the pace of cultivation of every organism in the area of 50 kilometers in radius. After all, the world wasn't made of rainbows and candies. The hundred-year-old beasts around him might not be aggressive but spirit beasts are not peaceful by nature. At least, most of them aren't. There was no telling if a thousand or ten-thousand-year-old spirit beast might try to attack him out of nowhere.
While scanning his surroundings, he saw a familiar Lone Bone Monkey hanging down the branch and sleeping with a content expression.
'Such a large commotion will be soon detected. Maybe another week or so. It can be earlier if a team of spirit masters enters the forest for spirit rings.'
Ja Sun thought carefully.
'But this week has been so fulfilling. I never knew cultivation with high-quality resources can be so addictive. It's nothing like my previous lifetime... this is far more intense!'
Ja Sun recalled the rewards he received and exhaled softly. Right now, every single exhale of his, if observed properly, is mixed with impure qi. However, impurity is a relative term in this context. Right now, the spirit energy in Ja Sun's reservoir was quite condensed. So, the turbid qi he would unconsciously release is actually capable of competing with the quality of energy in the recently awakened martial scholars.
'I couldn't even reach the fifth stage of the Revitalized Blood Qi Art... it's a shame. But even with a crystalized blood essence, my body can only achieve this much.
The rewards are directly related to the cultivation of the body's blood.
Bloody Burst Technique is a sacrificial skill. Using spirit energy, I can conduct my blood as a fuel to obtain great strength temporarily. The greater the quality of my blood, the higher the strength. Given that my blood's quality would eventually push my physique to the ranks of stage 4 spirit master, the peak strength I can obtain should be in the confines of this realm.
Blood Pond Creation Tactic and Nourishing Blood Sea Technique are the same methods of cultivation. Both the techniques require an individual to fill a large ditch with high volumes of blood, preferably of the same species as the user. The only difference is that the Blood Pond Creation Tactic innately has negative psychological effects on the user while the Nourishing Blood Sea Technique has resolved this issue.
'But... where will I find so much blood? I mean, there are gigantic spirit beasts but they can kill me with a sneeze and... uh, who wants to kill and create a sticky pool of blood made from humans? The Spirit Hall will then surely fuck me up,' Ja Sun shook his head. Although he felt great, the rewards were discouraging.
'But with the Revitalized Blood Qi Art reaching the fourth stage, my body is far sturdier. I may be able to hunt a spirit ring on my own... but...'
Ja Sun returned to the interior of the carriage.
His ability to increase cultivation speed for himself and others did not come with the utilization of spirit energy. His spirit energy was only expended while spirit beast enhancement itself. So, even if other beasts around him had their cultivation increased, Ja Sun won't feel exhausted and would be able to retreat as he wishes in case of emergency.
'I have a little knowledge of spirit beasts. In fact, I have tremendous information about the strongest and most astounding species but too little about the regular spirit beast. The Three-eyed Silver Lion has three attributes— Spirit, Light, and Space— with the spirit attribute being the main. This is also indicated by enhancement in cultivation.
Previously, I thought that the most optimal spirit ring should come from a similar beast spirit beast but the tome of spirit rings denies it as a red herring.
Spirit Rings are synonyms to evolution to a martial spirit. And I need to pick a route of evolution based on my needs. I can go down the pure combat route, each spirit ring enhancing my strength. Since this spirit also enhances agility, the Speed Path of evolution is also open where I translate speed as power.
However, the greatest use of this martial spirit is as an auxiliary system. Light attribute can heal. And the spirit attribute in this one can actually enhance cultivation... I can even try and rule this entire forest with this spirit but it would take too long. Finally, the spatial attribute indicates speed and control path.
"Too many options to choose from... too bad that my own situation is so unreasonable that I want to get all the choices," Ja Sun pursed his lips and lied down to rest. He was quite exhausted.
'It would be the best that I don't even have to fight... not only that, I don't know why others still don't know about spirit souls. Like, damn, the tome was practically a boner worship for spirit souls...'
Unlike spirit rings, spirit souls were an entirely different concept.
In Douluo Continent, the profession of spirit masters is divided into ten ranks starting from rank 1. From rank 1-10, a spirit master is titled— spirit scholar. But rank 10 also represents a bottleneck that will not break unless a spirit master absorbs a spirit ring.
So, to the spirit masters, spirit rings were extremely important. Even if the spirit rings did not provide any additional abilities to the martial soul, spirit masters would still strive to absorb spirit rings to breakthrough their bottlenecks.
However, spirit rings are like a one-time reward. You kill the spirit beast, you gain the spirit ring and that is it. At rank 20, facing the second bottleneck, a spirit master must kill another spirit beast and go through all of it again.
According to the tome of Spirit Rings, there exists another form of advancement and this is why Ja Sun considered the tome to be an inheritance. This knowledge wasn't found anywhere!
Spirit Souls.
While spirit rings are formed after the death of the spirit beast, it also represents the spirit beast's reluctance and hatred. That is the reason why there is usually a single ability in spirit rings while the spirit beasts can accomplish so much in skills. Why would a spirit beast willingly give his cultivation and skills to his murderer?
Meanwhile, Spirit Souls were a representation of the entire cultivation of the spirit beast. The spirit beast lives on, albeit shackled to the spirit master, and the spirit master gains greater benefits.
There are also two methods of obtaining a spirit soul.
One, cooperation.
Two, absolute dominance.
The first method required relatively less energy and cost while the latter required a great deal of energy and cost.
'But whether it is a spirit ring or spirit soul... I can only wait till I find a compatible spirit beast.'
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