Chapter 94: Breakthrough, True Spirit Body (Two in One)

Chapter 94: Breakthrough, True Spirit Body (Two in One)



"Your pee can actually help spirit plants grow?"

Chu Ning was surprised as he mentally communicated with Ling Xiaobai through divine sense, and Ling Xiaobai gave a soft "meow" in response.

There was a hint of pride in that meow.

"Want food!"

The next moment, Ling Xiaobai's voice sounded in Chu Ning's mind.

Apparently, Ling Xiaobai could understand more than just the words "let me go."

However, this form of communication was indeed more convenient.

"Okay, remember to help these Iron Stem Orchids grow every day. If they bear Iron Orchid Fruits, I'll give you a few to eat."

As soon as Chu Ning finished speaking, Ling Xiaobai meowed and scurried over to the other Iron Stem Orchid plants.

And proceeded to pee on them.

Chu Ning's reaction was more composed compared to yesterday. His only thought at the moment was...

"If this little guy keeps peeing like this every day, will the scent be too strong when I meditate among these Iron Stem Orchids in the future?"

With that in mind, Chu Ning continued to cast the Green Wood Spring Technique, enveloping the entire ring of Iron Stem Orchids with verdant energy.

After casting the technique thirty more times, Chu Ning finally stopped and turned his attention to the Green Spirit Fruit trees.

He cast the Green Wood Spring Technique on them as well before finally sitting down cross-legged in the densest part of the Green Spirit Fruit grove to cultivate the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

Ever since he arrived at Fangshi, his cultivation had been irregular.

Previously, it was due to the beast disaster, which had taken up too much of his energy in making talismans.

Then, his spirit plants hadn't been doing well, and the Green Wood Spring Technique, which he usually relied on for cultivation, hadn't been very effective.

In the past few days, he had caught up a little by using spirit stones, but now that the Green Spirit Fruits and Iron Stem Orchids were thriving again, he could resume his daily cultivation routine.

[Green Wood Eternal Spring Art (Low-grade Yellow Tier), Second Layer (528/900)]



[Nine Transforming Body Refining Art, First Volume, Unwithering Bones 181/600]



[Refine God Technique, First Layer 171/1000]



After checking his proficiency levels, Chu Ning closed his eyes and began to cultivate.

Immediately, strands of spiritual energy from the Green Spirit Fruits converged into his body.

Ling Xiaobai, who had been paying no attention to Chu Ning's cultivation before, tilted her little head in surprise upon seeing this scene.

Then, she lowered her head to look at her own body, deep in thought.

But soon, the little kitten went back to lying on the ground and fell asleep.

Chu Ning cultivated for half a day, feeling satisfied with the speed of his cultivation with the aid of the Green Wood Spring Technique.

The Green Wood Eternal Spring Art successfully increased by 1 point in proficiency.

Chu Ning didn't stop there. The next moment, he took out a jade bottle from his storage bag and poured out a pill.

It was the Gathering Yuan Pill that he had just bought from Gu Xiaqing.

All this time, Chu Ning hadn't relied heavily on pills for cultivation.

This was mainly because with the Green Wood Spring Technique, his cultivation speed wasn't slow.

And there was another important reason: Chu Ning possessed the Yin Wood Spirit Body, which allowed him to absorb spiritual energy from spirit stones very quickly.

Ordinary cultivators couldn't absorb spiritual energy from spirit stones rapidly.

Therefore, the best method was to use spirit stones to buy pills to aid in cultivation.

And Chu Ning only used spirit stones directly when he needed a major breakthrough.

However, at this moment, Chu Ning was still planning to give it a try. He was already at the sixth layer of the Refine Qi stage, and the Gathering Yuan Pill was most effective in the middle stages of Refine Qi.

At the late stages, its effects would be diminished.

Chu Ning picked up a Gathering Yuan Pill and swallowed it.

As he felt the spiritual energy transformed from the pill, he began to cultivate the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

It wasn't until the pill's effects were fully absorbed that Chu Ning slowly opened his eyes and immediately checked his proficiency in the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

[Green Wood Eternal Spring Art (Low-grade Yellow Tier), Second Layer (532/900)]



"One Gathering Yuan Pill increased my proficiency by 3 points."

This increase was actually similar to directly using ten spirit stones, maybe even slightly less."

Chu Ning pondered this in his heart.

"But it takes me longer to refine ten spirit stones directly.

So, using these pills can save me some time and help speed up my cultivation.

However, considering that the effects of pills will weaken with prolonged use, I can only take them for a period of time."

With that in mind, Chu Ning made up his mind.

In the following days, he could use Gathering Yuan Pills to aid his cultivation for a while.

And he didn't need to be secretive about it anymore; he could just buy them directly from Gu Xiaqing.

This way, he would have a valid reason for his increased cultivation speed, as he couldn't keep his cultivation level at "Refine Qi Fourth Layer" forever in the eyes of others.

For the next ten days, Chu Ning spent his days cultivating, farming, and playing with Ling Xiaobai.

He intentionally trained Ling Xiaobai to understand his normal speech, sometimes saying a sentence and then repeating it through divine sense.

The results were good, as Ling Xiaobai gradually began to understand some simple words.

As for cultivation, Chu Ning cultivated both his body and his spiritual sense without neglecting either, taking one Gathering Yuan Pill every day to aid in his cultivation of the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

At the same time, the Iron Stem Orchids, which had been planted for five days, were now growing healthily, and Chu Ning began to use the Green Wood Spring Technique on them as well for his cultivation.

He even occasionally used spirit stones.

With these multiple boosts, Chu Ning's proficiency in the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art increased rapidly, gaining nearly 5 points of proficiency every day.

In just ten days, Chu Ning's proficiency in the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art increased by 50 points.

And the entire bottle of Gathering Yuan Pills was finished.

Having tasted the benefits, Chu Ning went to Gu Xiaqing's shop early in the morning to buy more pills to continue aiding his cultivation.

Ling Xiaobai didn't know what was going on, but she seemed to be sleeping less than before over the past two days.

When Chu Ning went out, she followed eagerly by his side.

"Senior Sister Gu."

When Chu Ning arrived at Gu Xiaqing's shop, she was holding a few jade bottles and fiddling with the pills inside.

"Oh, what a cute spirit beast! Chu Ning, did you nurture this spirit beast yourself? I've never seen it before."

As she spoke, her eyes sparkled with interest.

It seemed that Ling Xiaobai's charm had a certain effect on women.

"It's not one that I nurtured; I found it on my travels," Chu Ning replied casually, about to ask Gu Xiaoqin about buying Gathering Yuan Pills.

However, this young woman was clearly captivated by the slightly cute Ling Xiaobai.

At that moment, she walked right up to Chu Ning's side.

Ling Xiaobai eyed Gu Xiaoqin warily, her guard up, looking ready to launch an attack at any moment.

Chu Ning quickly transmitted his thoughts to Ling Xiaobai through divine sense, indicating that this person was his friend and there was no danger.

Upon receiving the transmission, Ling Xiaobai relaxed her guard.

Only then did Chu Ning breathe a sigh of relief.

He hadn't forgotten that when he first met Ling Xiaobai, she had been able to launch an offensive spell.

Although he had blocked it with a mid-grade artifact, the Silver Crystalfrost Bamboo Shield, at the time.

Ling Xiaobai's white spell seemed to be ice-based, and from the looks of it, its power wasn't weak either.

If Gu Xiaoqin wasn't careful and got hurt, it wouldn't be a good situation.

Gu Xiaoqin's interest was piqued when she saw Ling Xiaobai's expression.

She crouched down and curiously asked, "You found it? What kind of spirit beast is this? I've never seen one like it before."

Chu Ning shook his head. "I don't know either."

He had hoped that Gu Xiaoqin would recognize it, but it seemed that his fellow sect senior sister was also clueless.

Gu Xiaoqin just curiously examined Ling Xiaobai.

"This little spirit beast is so adorable..."

As she spoke, Gu Xiaoqin reached out to pet Ling Xiaobai.

However, the little creature didn't want to be touched and jumped away, landing on Chu Ning's shoulder.

This startled Gu Xiaoqin.

"This little one was just brought back, and she's still a bit shy," Chu Ning explained, seeing Ling Xiaobai's behavior.

"Senior Sister Gu, do you have any Gathering Yuan Pills for sale? I want to buy some," Chu Ning said.

Seeing that Ling Xiaobai wasn't very receptive to her, Gu Xiaoqin reluctantly withdrew her hand, glancing at the little beast a few more times before turning to Chu Ning and asking, "Gathering Yuan Pills? Are you going to take them yourself?"

Chu Ning nodded. "Yes, I'm about to break through, so I want to buy some to improve my cultivation."

"So, Chu Ning is about to break through to the fifth layer of Refining Qi," Gu Xiaoqin said with a gentle smile.

"How many do you need?"

Chu Ning thought for a moment. "30 pills."

30 pills would be enough for a month's worth of consumption.

"30 pills?" Gu Xiaoqin was slightly taken aback by his request.

Then, she continued seriously, "Chu Ning, taking more pills isn't necessarily better.

Normally, it's best to take the Gathering Yuan Pills once every three days to fully absorb their medicinal effects."

She paused before adding, "Also, pills usually contain some pill toxins. Taking them every three days gives your body time to expel these toxins through cultivation.

If you take them too frequently, the pill toxins will accumulate in your body, and over time, they may cause some damage."

"Pill toxins?" Chu Ning was surprised to hear this.

He had been taking them consecutively for ten days and hadn't felt any pill toxins.

With this thought, he asked Gu Xiaoqin, "Senior Sister Gu, if the pill toxins remain in the body, can we sense them?"

"Of course!" Gu Xiaoqin nodded.

"Our cultivators' senses are quite sensitive. It's not just about taking 30 pills.

Even if you take 5 or 10 pills, if the pill toxins aren't expelled in time, you'll still be able to sense them during cultivation."

Chu Ning blinked at her words.

He had taken 10 pills consecutively, one every day, and hadn't felt any presence of pill toxins.

Was it because of the Yin Wood Spirit Body, or the Nine Transforming Body Refining Art?

Chu Ning pondered this thought but decided not to dwell on it.

After all, for now, this frequency of pill consumption didn't seem to have any negative effects on him.

Since that was the case, taking them for a longer period probably wouldn't be an issue either.

At worst, if he started to sense pill toxins, he could always stop taking the pills and expel the toxins.

With that in mind, Chu Ning said to Gu Xiaoqin, "Senior Sister Gu, I'll be careful. I'll buy a small amount first, and I'll manage the timing of consumption myself."

Hearing Chu Ning's assurance, Gu Xiaoqin naturally didn't say anything more.

She took out three bottles of Gathering Yuan Pills and handed them to Chu Ning.

Then, she retrieved another jade bottle and poured out two extra pills, smiling as she said, "I won't give Chu Ning a discount on the price, but I'll give you two extra pills. When your Golden Yuan Fruits mature, remember to give me a better price."

"Sure, thank you, Senior Sister," Chu Ning said as he reached out to hand over 300 spirit stones and receive the pills.

With these pills, he could focus on cultivating and improving his progress in the following days.

Chu Ning returned to his courtyard with Ling Xiaobai.

He headed straight to the backyard.

The Iron Stem Orchids had grown half a foot taller since he had bought and planted them.

During this time, apart from Chu Ning's daily casting of the Green Wood Spring Technique, Ling Xiaobai had also played an indispensable role.

It was thanks to Ling Xiaobai's consistent "irrigation" that the Iron Stem Orchids were thriving.

What delighted Chu Ning even more was that all 50 of the Iron Stem Orchids had bloomed.

And with these flowers, the Iron Stem Orchids were guaranteed to bear fruit.

Chu Ning didn't attribute this to the power of his Green Wood Spring Technique; it seemed that Ling Xiaobai had something to do with it.

"This little one has quite a few tricks up her sleeve," Chu Ning praised Ling Xiaobai.

After praising his companion, he cast the Green Wood Spring Technique on the Iron Stem Orchids a full thirty times.

Then, he began cultivating the Nine Transforming Body Refining Art in the nearby area.

Recently, among Chu Ning's cultivation of refining qi, refining the body, and refining the spirit, the progress of refining the body was the most stable.

As for refining qi, with the help of the Gathering Yuan Pills and spirit stones, it was progressing smoothly.

As for refining his body, without any significant boosts, he could only make gradual progress.

However, Chu Ning wasn't overly anxious about it. His proficiency in the Unwithering Bones technique was already approaching 200.

According to his previous speculation, once the Unwithering Bones reached 300, he would encounter a bottleneck.

At that point, he could use the Seven-Star Spirit Fruits to break through the bottleneck in one go.

Even if the breakthrough with the Unwithering Bones was a bit slower than advancing to the late Refine Qi stage, the difference shouldn't be too significant.

After cultivating the Nine Transforming Body Refining Art for half an hour, when the Green Wood Spring Technique started to show better effects on the Iron Stem Orchids, Chu Ning jumped up and landed in the middle of the circle of plants.

Then he began to cultivate the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

After half an hour, all the spiritual energy absorbed by the Iron Stem Orchids was completely transferred to Chu Ning's body.

But he didn't stop cultivating right away. Instead, he took out a Gathering Yuan Pill that he had bought from Gu Xiaqing and swallowed it.

Then he continued to cultivate the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

Only after completely refining the pill did Chu Ning stop cultivating and start crafting talismans.

After crafting talismans for the rest of the day, Chu Ning's spiritual sense was significantly depleted.

So, he took out the Black Wood Sword and placed it on his lap, then he started to cultivate the Refine God Technique.

From then on, Chu Ning's life became extremely regimented.

On the days when the market in Fangshi was open, he would spend the morning tending the shop, selling talismans, and crafting more in his spare time.

In the afternoon and evening, he would focus on cultivation.

On days when the market was closed, Chu Ning would go to his spirit field in the morning to tend to his crops.

Then he would find a secluded place to cultivate the Azurewood Sword Art, a technique that was steadily improving with his continuous practice.

It wouldn't be long before he could reach the level of instant casting.

In the afternoon and evening, he would continue to cultivate his spirit and body, as well as the Nine Transforming Body Refining Art.

Time flew by, and before he knew it, two months had passed.

Along the way, Chu Ning finished consuming the Gathering Yuan Pills he had bought and used illusion magic to disguise himself before buying another 30 pills from Gu Xiaqing.

After consuming the very last pill and finishing his cultivation, Chu Ning checked his proficiency levels.

[Green Wood Eternal Spring Art (Low-grade Yellow Tier), Second Layer (899/900)]



[Nine Transforming Body Refining Art, First Volume, Unwithering Bones 251/600]



[Refine God Technique, First Layer 341/1000]



A quick glance at his progress brought a smile to Chu Ning's face.

Over the past two months, he had been diligently cultivating the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art with the aid of Gathering Yuan Pills, spirit stones, and the Green Wood Spring Technique.

He had also purchased spirit chickens, gray spirit rabbits, and other edible spirit beasts from some cultivator families, which he consumed along with spirit rice.

And today, the proficiency of the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art's second layer finally reached the critical point of 899.

According to his previous speculation, once he surpassed 900, he would be able to directly break through to the middle Refine Qi stage and advance to the late Refine Qi stage!

Having finished the last Gathering Yuan Pill, Chu Ning didn't plan to buy more. Instead, he took out a pile of spirit stones, intending to break through to the late Refine Qi stage in one go.

Based on his previous experience, it took three spirit stones to increase the proficiency of the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art by one point at the sixth layer of Refine Qi.

But once he broke through that threshold, the cost would increase.

Chu Ning didn't continue cultivating the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art right away. Instead, he first cultivated the Refine God Technique to adjust his spiritual sense to its optimal state.

Then, with a spirit stone in hand, he began to cultivate the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art.

One by one, the spirit stones were consumed.

After absorbing the spiritual energy from the third spirit stone, Chu Ning felt that the sixth ring of qi in his dantian had reached its limit.

Without any hesitation, he continued to take advantage of his Yin Wood Spirit Body and grabbed another spirit stone to continue cultivating.

The spiritual energy entered Chu Ning's body, transformed into qi in his dantian, and then hovered outside the sixth ring of qi.

Following the instructions of the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art, Chu Ning began to merge this scattered qi, forcibly pushing it toward the sixth ring of qi.

As more and more qi gathered, a faint, larger ring of qi gradually formed above the sixth ring.

Chu Ning continued to absorb the spiritual energy from the spirit stones, one after another.

When the tenth spirit stone in his hand turned to powder, Chu Ning slowly opened his eyes, and the gleam in them faded back to normal.

"Refine Qi Seventh Layer!"

Chu Ning murmured softly, a smile spreading across his face.

In just two years since joining the Qingxi Sect, he had broken through to the late Refine Qi stage!

It was something he hadn't dared to imagine when he first joined the sect.

Chu Ning immediately checked his proficiency levels.

[Green Wood Eternal Spring Art (Low-grade Yellow Tier), Third Layer (1/2100)]



[Nine Transforming Body Refining Art, First Volume, Unwithering Bones 251/600]



[Refine God Technique, First Layer 341/1000]



As expected, his proficiency in the Green Wood Eternal Spring Art had entered the third layer.

Then, as Chu Ning continued to scan the information, his eyes lit up with delight.

[Talent Refresh, Reward Talent "True Spirit Body":

1. True Spirit Talisman: Able to convert self-taught instant-cast spells into true spirit talismans for talisman crafting (requires corresponding attribute spirit body).

2. True Spirit Spell: Able to convert self-drawn talismans into true spirit spells stored in the talisman ring, achieving instant casting (number of talismans is limited)]



Chu Ning carefully read through the introduction of the True Spirit Body talent, and only one thought came to mind.

Too powerful!

The first ability of the True Spirit Body was easy to understand. Since he possessed the Yin Wood Spirit Body, he could convert the wood-attribute instant-cast spells he had learned into corresponding talisman-casting techniques.

For example, the Green Wood Spring Technique and the Azurewood Sword Art...

Half a month ago, after more than four months of cultivation, Chu Ning had mastered the Azurewood Sword Art, an elementary advanced spell, to the point of instant casting, turning it into a divine ability.

And with the True Spirit Talisman ability, he could convert these instant-cast spells into talisman-casting techniques, allowing him to directly draw these spells onto talisman paper.

After all, even talismans required time to activate their power.

Moreover, one had to retrieve them from their storage bag.

In a life-or-death battle, the difference between winning and losing could be just a split second.

According to the introduction of True Spirit Spells, it meant that the spells he had previously drawn, such as the Xuan Bing Talisman, the Earth Escape Talisman, and others, could all be directly converted into True Spirit Spells.

This was equivalent to being able to cast the Xuan Bing Spell and the Earth Escape Spell instantaneously.

Although it mentioned that the number of True Spirit Spells was limited, it was still enough to greatly excite Chu Ning.

At this moment, Chu Ning couldn't contain his eagerness to try out this newfound ability.

He leaped up, first went to the table, picked up a talisman brush, and laid out some talisman paper.

He wanted to test the wonders of this True Spirit Spell.

As the brush touched the paper, his thoughts moved, and the next moment, Chu Ning's brush danced across the paper.

He was attempting to draw the Azurewood Sword Art!

Even though he had never seen a talisman of the Azurewood Sword Art before, and he didn't even know if such a sword talisman existed in the cultivation world, Chu Ning was now intuitively inspired.

The insights about the Azurewood Sword Art in his mind naturally transformed into talisman patterns, and in just a short while, the talisman patterns were completely outlined on the paper.

As Chu Ning lifted his brush, a flash of green light passed by, and immediately, a talisman appeared in front of him.

"Low-grade High-quality Talisman! Azurewood Sword Talisman!"

Chu Ning looked at the high-quality talisman in front of him and couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of this True Spirit Spell.

He immediately wanted to try out the power of this True Spirit Spell.

However, it was obviously inappropriate to try out various spells in this courtyard.

Chu Ning's figure flashed, and he flew out of Fangshi City with Ling Xiaobai, arriving at a small hill on the northeast side of his spirit field.

This place was where he had been cultivating the Azurewood Sword Art all this time.

When the True Spirit Body talent was refreshed, Chu Ning naturally knew how to use the True Spirit Spells.

With a thought, the next moment, Chu Ning felt five small talisman-like light dots appearing in his palm.

"This probably means I can convert five True Spirit Spells?"

With this thought in mind, Chu Ning took out several talismans from his storage bag.

Beast Trap Talisman, Dark Thunder Talisman, Earth Escape Talisman, Geng Metal Sword Talisman, and Diamond Talisman.

"Integrate!"

Chu Ning first picked up the Beast Trap Talisman and brought it close to one of the light dots in his palm. The next moment, the talisman patterns on the Beast Trap Talisman flashed with white light.

The spiritual power of the talisman patterns flew out and drilled into one of the light dots in Chu Ning's palm.

At the same time, the talisman turned into ashes.

"So it's already integrated?"

Surprised, Chu Ning looked at the white talisman light dot in his palm and then glanced at Ling Xiaobai with interest.

The little creature saw the mischievous look in Chu Ning's eyes and felt that something was amiss.

"Little White, don't worry, I'm just going to try out the spell."

As he spoke, Chu Ning waved his hand, and a beam of white light shot out, enveloping Ling Xiaobai.

It was the binding power of the Beast Trap Talisman.

"Meow!"

Caught off guard by the Beast Trap Talisman, Ling Xiaobai let out a pitiful meow.

However, she seemed to understand what Chu Ning had said earlier, so at this moment, she didn't resist.

Chu Ning quickly performed the necessary incantations to release the Beast Trap Talisman.

Then, he laughed and didn't hesitate to try integrating the other talismans.

Picking up the Geng Metal Sword Talisman, Chu Ning brought it close to his palm.

Golden light flashed, and the talisman patterns drilled into the second light dot in his palm.

"Even a Metal-attributed talisman worked!"

Chu Ning was delighted to see this.

He didn't have a Metal spirit root, so when he tried to learn the Metal Sword Spell before, he had made no progress at all.

Now, when he tried the Geng Metal Sword Talisman, he was surprised to find that it worked on the first try.

However, after thinking about it, Chu Ning understood why.

Although this talisman had been transformed into a True Spirit Spell, the process of casting it was the same as activating a regular talisman.

Just like how he could make and use the Geng Metal Sword Talisman, relying on the talisman patterns to draw upon the metallic spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

So, whether or not he had a Metal spirit root didn't matter.

With this in mind, Chu Ning also tried the Dark Thunder Talisman and the Earth Escape Talisman, and both were successfully integrated into True Spirit Spells without exception.

When Chu Ning picked up the Diamond Talisman, he hesitated and put it down.

Then, he took out a low-grade high-quality Flowlight Ice Shield Talisman from his storage bag.

This talisman was given to him by Liao Yunming in Lingfu Pavilion, and it was actually a low-grade high-quality defensive talisman recorded in the Lingfu Talisman manual. Chu Ning had never used it before.

When Chu Ning brought this talisman close to the talisman light dot in his palm, it showed no reaction at all.

"So only self-made talismans can be integrated."

Chu Ning shook his head, remembering the previous introduction about True Spirit Spells.

He put away the Flowlight Ice Shield Talisman and then picked up the Diamond Talisman again, bringing it close to his palm.

Sure enough, the next moment, the talisman flashed and disappeared into the talisman ring.

However, when Chu Ning tried to bring another talisman close to the first talisman light dot in his palm, he was unable to succeed.

"Cooldown period?"

Chu Ning thought of a possibility, but he didn't rush it. Instead, he tried again after a short while.

After a quarter of an hour, another Beast Trap Talisman finally integrated into the talisman ring in his palm.

Immediately, Chu Ning's palm lit up with a circle of colorful talisman light rings.

With another thought, the circle of light rings disappeared.

When he looked at his palm again, there was no sign of anything unusual.

However, Chu Ning could clearly feel that as long as he willed it, the five talismans could be activated at any time.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end