Chương 155: The Mark of Growth; The Secret to Souls (2)
Shout-out to James25 ma, DENSYS BRATINI, Jazzonicasian17
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"Ordinarily, I would be afraid to if led anywhere else from the intended destination when considering the man I've been following. But color me curious instead," Ah Yin smiled as she looked around at the familiar spot now completely unrecognizable if not for the fact she remembered the way around here.
Ja Sun, too, looked around. They were inside the sunset forest instead of the Star Dou Great Forest. The location where they used to camp was now completely demolished. Ja Sun had a few reasons to choose this location instead of the Great Forest divided by the borders of the two empires.
First, he was now cautious of the Spirit City more and wanted to change the pattern of their travels and choose different routes and destinations. Second, he simply wanted to check on the Blessed Land. Third, he wanted to have enough peace and because the outer rings of the Great Forest would often be visited by ambitious rogue spirit masters, this was easier to achieve in Sunset Forest instead.
He didn't care too much about the group of almost 4 100000-year-old beasts. They served no immediate purpose and Ja Sun's strength wasn't enough to directly rob them of their treasures. Even if he did create a mission, by itself, there was no urgent objective to achieve. If there is no motive in itself, Ja Sun simply couldn't create a mission out of it because his trait depended on his initiative.
"We're here to relax. I wanted to confess something else but it is better to show you instead of speaking," Ja Sun smiled, "Just be sure to keep your domain activated at all times and mask our presence."
"And what about your spirit ring? You do have quite the demands, right? Are you planning to try and absorb a 70000-year-old spirit beast?" Ah Yin humored.
"An 84000-year-old spirit ring," Ja Sun smiled and replied.
"What?" Ah Yin frowned. This was already the level of spirit ring that a Titled Douluo would opt for.
"Just... watch," Ja Sun sat down cross-legged in the middle of the thicket while Ah Yin expanded her domain. She has seen Ja Sun once materialize his spirit ring, the fifth one to be specific. But she, just like Qian Daoliu, misunderstood the situation as Ja Sun absorbing two beasts instead of one.
Ja Sun felt his spirit energy bubbling against a very familiar blockade. The Nightmare's Fantasy inside of Ja Sun alongside the Bright Goddess Butterfly were moving within his world of consciousness in excitement. Bright Goddess Butterfly's intelligence grew with rising cultivation and she now understood how quick her growth has been compared to her life with a physical body so as long as Ja Sun advances, there was no doubt that Bright Goddess would advance, too.
But Ja Sun, at the moment, had other considerations. It has been proven through facts that absorbing treasures for growth is done best during a breakthrough itself. At that moment, the energy within a Spirit Master is volatile and difficult to control but that wasn't a problem for Ja Sun. He was simply comparing the advantages with the demerits of absorbing the Beautiful Silk Tulip. The obvious advantage was the high probability of finally changing the accumulated, quantitative advantages to his martial soul into a qualitative one. There would also be an obvious benefit to his spirit cultivation due to high compatibility and the resonance achieved during the breakthrough.
The disadvantages were fairly obvious, too. Questions will be raised. He had revealed the Bloody Swan Kiss to Bibi Dong and later Xie Xan got Yearning Heartbroken Red's approval. This would be the third Immortal Herb he reveals. Again, it was the annoyance brought by these questions that made Ja Sun consider his choice. Aside from this, he could incite Qian Daoliu's doubt but until now Ja Sun had come to appreciate the man who only acted like a sugar-master to give freebies at most times and left his disciples to their own devices.
Although Ja Sun expected the same thing to happen this time, too, he had to consider the possibility that Qian Daoliu might inquire real questions. The use of all herbs was still not known the almost 90% of the spirit masters even now. This was due to the lack of professions that push Spirit Masters creatively. Uses of a few herbs such as Black Jade Bamboo and other non-immortal herbs were known to be ground into a paste and relatively toughen up the body. But again, not many took this path.
For Spirit Masters, the life of cultivation is usually straightforward. Breakthrough and Spirit Rings and Spirit Bones. Their actions, thus, revolve around these motives.
Making up his mind since the answer was quite obvious, Ja Sun took out the Beautiful Silk Tulip. The Immortal variation of this herb couldn't be reused. Surprising Ah Yin, Ja Sun took a deep whiff of the herb while blanketing it within his spirit energy. The suppressed spirit energy within Ja Sun shot through the blockade in an instant.
Many changes began to take place within Ja Sun's body that he consciously took note of.
First and foremost, black specks of light began emerging from his body as they brought a breath of spirit beast from their existence, deeply shaking Ah Yin due to the strange phenomenon Ja Sun was achieving once again that should be exclusive to Spirit Beasts only.
Second, the Yin-Yang War Physique core set within his heart began to grow active. It would passively absorb natural energy around Ja Sun to slowly but gradually refine his physique, but now, it actively absorbed the energy in the surroundings. It wasn't spirit energy that this core absorbed. Ah Yin was hard-pressed for Ja Sun's core began to actively absorb the life energy on which her domain thrived and began making its own. Siphoning off nature itself.
But Ja Sun's body had gone through much. Its strength, too, had reached the point where he could contend with strength specialized spirit masters. The advancement brought from the Yin-Yang War Physique was relatively minor at the moment due to the surprising turn of events that made his physique reach the level of Titled Douluo before his other aspects when his mental energy was the most promising one.
And it remained a promising one.
If the effect of the formation of the sixth spirit ring and absorption of Beautiful Silk Tulip was low on the Yin-Yang War Physique, then it was much better on the Life-Death Spirit Cauldron within his world of consciousness. The quantity of his mental energy far surpassed a Spirit Douluo already. After all, when Ja Sun refined the Life Gold, it had created another sea of consciousness within Ja Sun. The two separate seas of consciousness ended up being merged. One affected by the life attribute of Life Gold and Ja Sun's primary one affected by rot/death attribute. It was the merge of the two that doubled Ja Sun's quantity of Mental Energy when compared to his peers in this department and now it was pushed.
The Death and Life Astral Combatant that had become a part of his mental core began letting out a virtuous light. The current breakthrough affecting and pushing their growth as the cloudy mental energy began to condense and get refined. A strange world soon formed within Ja Sun.
The Cauldron became the core and it held the Life Gold. The Life Astral Combatant continued to remain connected with the cauldron, constantly refining the death energy into life. In return, Life Gold constantly let out drops of death attribute that flew up. This formed a purple pillar from the mouth of the green cauldron as it reached the liquid sphere covering the immortal lands. Within the liquified representation of mental energy was the Death Astral Combatant fully submerged.
The entirety of Ja Sun's world of consciousness had a golden barrier around every aspect of it including the two spirit souls. This was the effect of Fiery Golden Pupils' third ability— Countering the mental attacks.
Ja Sun felt it silently. His mental energy had now reached the level of a Titled Douluo finally and he could only imagine the devastating strike it could achieve in tandem to Fiery Golden Pupils' three-fold enhancement.
What's higher than a Titled Douluo, Ja Sun did not know. And he very much wanted to be pushed into the corner to find it out.
While the two aspects of his growth had reached the level Ja Sun had not expected to reach so quickly— mental and physical, the remaining aspect of his cultivation now took a firm step forward.
Ja Sun's spirit energy began to climb. His spirit rings began appearing around him like regal halos. Ah Yin felt a little numb when she saw six black spirit rings revolving around Ja Sun and she realized something. Maybe she should have kept a few secrets to match up with Ja Sun's situation. But then again, Ah Yin simply did not understand the concept of a human achieving the same thing as her while suddenly revealing that the purple spirit rings can be upgraded even more.
'An ability of his Evil Title or Three-eyed Silver Lion?' Ah Yin wondered silently.
Rank 61.
Breaking through this rank was easy. With all the advancement and the residue energy left by absorbing the second skull bone ensured that the boost in cultivation after the breakthrough would be a promising one.
Rank 62.
It began to slow down but it was a relatively slow decline in pace.
The effects of the Beautiful Silk Tulip finally reached the spot it was always intended to affect the most. Not Ja Sun's spirit, mental, or physical energies. No—
The phantom of his martial soul appeared behind him again. The Three-Eyed Silver Lion had long opened its third eye after absorbing the life gold but there was no apparent difference.
The 'Lion' still looked like a glorified wolf. Its image had always been contradictory in Ja Sun's mind but that didn't stop him to try and reach greater heights with it. After all, it's just the appearance held little to no significant value to him regarding this. It roared silently and Ah Yin felt suppressed. Her martial soul had evolved. It may have reached the peak of what a plant-type martial soul can achieve in this world and yet, like a ruler of the forest, the silent roars boomed in every living beings' mind within the forest.
The vertical third eye on the lion's forehead gleamed and Ja Sun's body began to transform. His body bulked up. His forearms and calves extended into tough greying talons and a coat of luxurious silver fur covered and outlined Ja Sun's body as he only grew further, tearing through the confines of his clothes. The fur extended from its pits to the sides of his chest and abdomen, leaving the center alone. His legs, too, grew furry and so did his back. Pitch-black hair now grew wavy silver and hid the furry ears Ja Sun didn't like showing too much.
{A/N: Visualize the ssj5 transformation without the tail.}
But Ja Sun's forehead ached. He felt it and yet his expression remained calm. The emerald vertical eye tattoo on Ja Sun's forehead suddenly began to tear with only a thin line of blood escaping from the tear as it materialized into an actual third eye.
The striking eye gazed at Ah Yin. Out of Ja Sun's three eyes now, two remained closed and the third one looked around. Similar to Ja Sun's eye structure, this one, too, came out affected by the Fiery Golden Pupils. However, this time, emerald irises surrounded a vertical golden pupil that belonged to the cat family. And Ja Sun's third pupil looked resplendent when compared to his primary pair of eyes.
Rank 63.
It began to stop. The effect of the herb was miraculous and even more so for Ja Sun who had boosted the effects by using it during a major breakthrough.
Opening his eyes, Ja Sun retrieved his six spirit rings. He was now aware of his changes and the effect of his sixth spirit ring. Again, his new ability was somewhat technical but he was grateful for it nonetheless.
The greatest change, however, was...
'The individual enhancement of cultivation in this form has doubled. From 5 to 10%... but everything else is the same...'
The structure of his martial soul had not changed. It did evolve, Ja Sun was sure of it but as this transformation took place, Ja Sun realized something.
His martial soul was incomplete. Every martial soul, weak or strong, has a chance of awakening but he felt it deeply this time. There was potential in his Evil Title. And it was too much. What Ja Sun felt from Evil Title was vastly different from the sheer emptiness behind Silver Lion and this made Ja Sun curious. The requirements of awakening are often cryptic but evolving is far simpler. Ja Sun, too, opted for the more simplistic path, and only following this did he now realize that no matter what he does, there was simply 'no' potential 'behind' this martial soul.
This wasn't something Ja Sun could solve in a matter of minutes and even without Evil Title's devilish potential, the Silver Lion's spirit skills are superior to what his peers can only hope to achieve.
Observing his body, Ja Sun realized that he would need to wear the outfits that accommodate the bulking of his body from now on, too.
'Or I could make one... I have the best material already prepared...' Ja Sun recalled Ground Devil's corpse inside of his storage ring and the two Spirit Bones he got from the Beasttaken.
Adapting himself to control his third eye, Ja Sun soon closed it and sighed in relief, "I'll need some time to practice while using three eyes instead of one," he mumbled as his body reverted to his more humane form. The third on Ja Sun's eyes closed up but instead of reverting into an emerald dot, it remained in a glamorous green totem in the middle of his forehead with intricate patterns around the vertical eyelids.
As he looked at Ah Yin, Ja Sun cracked a grin, "You said that getting the sixth ring would allow you to share some secrets, it's my turn now."
---
*Woooo*
*Woooo*
*Woooo*
In the heart of Star Dou Great Forest still unmapped by any organization and only known to the select few who have reached the pinnacle of this realm was a large gold-furred wolf with a... mane. Instead of paws is sported sharp dragon claws and complimenting its golden fur was a pair of brilliant red eyes... and a third one in the middle of its forehead.
It looked in the northern direction and constantly yowled. There was excitement in its tone. With each call, the surroundings around the beast would glimmer in gold and the nearby spirit beasts who got marked by such a light would fly off or run away in excitement while feeling their own pace of growth rising at a breakneck pace.
---
"It's... amazing," Ah Yin smiled gently while looking at the foggy Nightmare's Fantasy and the beautiful Bright Goddess Butterfly flying around happily while letting out an ethereal and captivating glow.
"So you can constantly increase their cultivation," Ah Yin understood for the most part once Ja Sun explained the rules of the Spirit Souls and their benefits.
"Is there anything else you want to tell me?" Ah Yin inquired.
"Well, there is one more thing," Ja Sun admitted, "But I don't want to tell that to anyone really. It's not even some great secret but that's the only thing I came with in this world and would like to keep it that way."
Ah Yin stared at Ja Sun for a few seconds before nodding.
"So? All I need is greater mental energy and the rest is taken care of by the spirit soul itself, right?" Ah Yin changed the subject and Ja Sun lied down with a comforted grunt escaping his lips, "Nngh, yeah, pretty much."
"It could change the way of spirit masters completely," Ah Yin lied beside Ja Sun and smiled.
"No, it won't. When they have spirit souls, they will try to kill even more spirit beasts to enhance the cultivation of their own spirit souls, and given that only 1% of the cultivation is siphoned, the massacre will be greater," Ja Sun explained the most reasonable course of action the humanity will take because he did the same in the Disorienting Ghost Canyon.
Ah Yin clicked her tongue, realizing that she had been a little too optimistic for a moment.
"But still I'd want a Spirit Soul for my remaining three rings. I haven't killed a spirit beast for its spirit ring yet so why start now, too," Ah Yin smiled.
"You will need great mental energy," Ja Sun replied, "Why don't you join Yuehua when I use the Mental Acupuncture Technique?"
"That brutal method? No, of course, no. The remainder of Blue Silver Emperor's Core constantly increases my mental energy. At rank 70, when I do form my own core, I think my mental energy will improve substantially. Anyway..." Ah Yin pondered, "What should we do now?"
Ja Sun, according to others, was supposed to 'look' for a spirit beast. Instead, they got free right after the first few hours of travel.
"Why not take this chance? We've got a week, right? Let's see if we can stay within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Your cultivation will grow quickly in that spot and I will keep my spirit transformation activated... and my skull bone's ability, too. That's a substantial boost to anyone in cultivation."
Ja Sun smiled. The Three-Eyed Silver Lion severely lacks in the 'self' enhancement. Even after absorbing the Beautiful Silk Tulip, only his individual pace of cultivation increased from 5 to 10% in the state of spirit transformation and even then it lacked when compared to the overall 15% provided to others. Now understanding the lack of potential within the Martial Soul itself, probably because this beast itself being the mutation of a Spirit Beast widely renowned as the Auspicious Emperor, Ja Sun reasoned that only by actively vying for more opportunities to evolve he may have a chance to cover this up.
Even if this lack of potential was not a weakness now, who can be sure that it may not become in the future?
When the couple returned to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, Ah Yin was absolutely furious to find all the Blue Silver Variants she had planted rooted and destroyed. A new wave of herbs was growing but in sparse locations and once again, Ja Sun observed the Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass growing on the two sides of the lake.
But this place was truly abandoned, Ja Sun and Ah Yin surveyed. The caves were now destroyed so that no other evidence could be found of this location. Not being an actual plant anymore, Ah Yin's growth in this location wasn't a gobsmacking 1000 times as it was other plants. After discussing, Ah Yin concluded that with Ja Sun's enhancements, her cultivation speed reached upto 580%!
This was a cheat that Ah Yin wanted to make use of completely. So, Ja Sun constantly used True Fantasy, a skill of his skull bone, that enhances the original 15% by an addition of 30% and remained in his transformed state. With his perfect control, Ja Sun only expended his spirit energy to keep the True Fantasy activated. This skill simply was a domain in all but name. However, its use lied in large-scale battles that need strict coordination, for instance, the battle against the horde of Beasttakens.
Ja Sun would have to stop using the skill every three hours but Ah Yin soon expanded her own domain and would pump him up with spirit energy, truly working Ja Sun up as he, too, delved deeper into the art of developing spirit essence tools. He now had two projects in mind that would utilize his talents in the art of turning rare minerals into the fabric and his past knowledge of weapons.
It was time to bring the guns in a sword fight.
Meanwhile, seeing this location completely emptied, Ah Yin, too, had proclaimed this area to be the location of the Blue Silver Palace.
"Only if we find ourselves being chased by the Spirit Hall," Ah Yin chuckled, feeling giddy at the quick pace of her own breakthrough.
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