Once Upon A Time, There Was A Spirit Sword Mountain

“Beloved minister has done meritorious deeds, so Zhen would like to confer the title of Iron Hat King, what does beloved minister think?”

The Lady Boss’s expression suddenly looked as if she was holding extreme pain.

“… Since you, this guy, are in the mood to bullsh*t, it means you’re okay. Just stay here to feel the thrill of breaking through a new level for a while, I am going back to sleep now.”

With that, she yawned, pushed open the door and left.

As for Wang Lu, just like what the Lady Boss said, he slowly realized the pleasant sensation of breaking through a new level.

Since the birth of the Emperor Bone, he had officially entered the eighth layer of the Non-Phase Sword Bone. Under the control of the Emperor Bone, more than two hundred bones with abundant of vitality released terrifying power several times more than the previous one. Although he just broke through a level, his overall strength upgrade was difficult to measure.

Wang Lu casually reached out his hand to break a corner of the bedside cabinet, and the hardwood was immediately crushed into fragments…

For a regular cultivator who had just completed the Body Refining Stage, perhaps this was a normal achievement. However, for Wang Lu who had never experienced such increase in strength from the first time he started his life as a cultivator, it confirmed what his Master said to him: attack and speed are nothing. The only thing that mattered was the degree of toughness.

Actually, after entering the eighth layer of the Non-Phase Sword Bone, the intrinsic property of the bone hasn’t changed; it was still extreme defense, without caring for the destructive power. At the moment, his strength has grown considerably, but the side effect, which came from when the Non-Phase Sword Bone’s level up, wasn’t too obvious… Wang Lu still found it hard to assess his toughness degree. However, he deduced that he was probably not inferior to those Foundation Establishment cultivators who could freely use their magical power inside and outside their body, and this was him when he just completed the Body Refining Stage. He hasn’t even started Qi gathering yet.

The Non-Phase Sword Bone walked in the extreme Immortal Cultivation Path. However, no matter how picky Wang Lu was, he still had to accept this extreme path. After all, to be able to occupy the Elder position in the Heavenly Sword Hall, his cheap Master definitely has her own uniqueness. Wang Lu speculated that even if his Master was a stage lower than the other Elders, but her defense capability was probably not inferior to those several Yuanying Stage Elders.

Of course, this was just his conjecture. The gap between Jindan Stage and Yuanying Stage was much larger than the gap between two lower level stages, much less those several Elders had already reached the peak Yuanying Stage. In theory, Yuanying Stage was at least ten times stronger than the peak Jindan Stage. Although his Master’s Non-Phase Method was absolutely peerless in terms of toughness, the several Elders, with their unique skills and ancient cultivation methods, might not necessarily be inferior…

After suffering through that mind breaking pain, Wang Lu very much wanted to vent against his Master. However, since his Master was not here, he could only let his imagination run wild. He fantasized that his Master, after flouting the law, was captured by the second and third Elders, and could only use her body as payment for the crime. Wang Lu lamented that he had been deeply scarred by his two years experience in the Non-Phase Peak, and the only thing that he could do was to fantasize.

Completing the eighth layer of the Non-Phase Sword Bone was certainly encouraging, but the next step was the crucial key—drawing the qi into the body. According to the note from his Master, once he successfully completed the Body Refining Stage, he would understand the secret of his Void Spirit Root. Thus, he wondered about the difference between Qi gathering before his breakthrough and now…

Leaving the residual stabbing pain all over his body at the back of his mind, Wang Lu once again closed his eyes and began Internal Inspection.

When he opened his eyes, he was immediately shocked! Everywhere around him was clear as sky! Under the golden sunlight, he saw the green mountains, gurgling rivers, bird songs, and fragrant flowers.

This…

Upon witnessing this scene, Wang Lu took the time to sort out his thoughts. Like what his Master said, after breaking through the eighth layer, everything would be different. Initially, this was just a dark space. Although there were mountains and rivers, and more than two hundred flashing Jade Pillars that illuminated the place, the distant place was still a depressingly pure blackness. In short, it was like a bustling night scene.

But at this moment, it was bright as day. Not only was the immediate place bright, but the blue sky even reached the distant place. The more than two hundred Jade Pillars were still shining, but their lights were dwarfed by a more intense light source.

And, that light source was the Sun—the Emperor Bone, which was, after being struck by the Lady Boss Palm, the key that changed everything. The existence of the Emperor Bone was not solely to provide the light source, but it also enabled Wang Lu to see the faraway “boundary” that were propped up by the two hundred bones.

According to what Wang Lu learned from the sect, that boundary was a cultivator’s most important component—spirit root—which looked like a layer of filter. Beyond this boundary, there was the surrounding omnipresent spiritual energy. Within the boundary was the cultivator’s Jade Mansion. Of course, considering that Wang Lu has just completed his Body Refining Stage, what Wang Lu had was not a complete Jade Mansion, but just its foundation, which was known as the Interior Mansion.

In simple terms, the Immortal Cultivation process was as follow: absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy into the Jade Mansion, and then converting it into one own’s power. It could also be converted into Immortal power, magical power, or demon power… It was different from person to person. However, the majority of the cultivators would follow this procedure. In short, it was to draw the qi into the body.

In this process, the most critical factor was a person’s spirit root attribute, which was that layer of filter. Firstly, on the vast majority of non-cultivators, the boundaries between the inside and outside were similar to fortified barriers, and the spiritual energy was blocked on the outside, so they simply couldn’t absorb enough spiritual energy to convert it into magical power, disabling them from cultivating.

Secondly, on the so-called Five Elements Spirit Root, which was also known as pseudo-spirit root, the filter was slightly humane. It could accommodate appropriate amount of spiritual energy into the body, however, the absorbing process was completely indiscriminate: not only the absorbed spiritual energy was scarce, but it was also chaotic. Even worse was the amount of absorbed spiritual energy was highly random. Different cultivators, in different time and place, with different Qi gathering method, would absorb different amount of spiritual energy. As a result, the process of Qi gathering was largely inefficient.

The Four and Three Elements Spirit Roots were actually not that different from the Five Elements Spirit Root. Nevertheless, the qi gathering process was easier. In the words of Wang Lu, it was better to be gang-raped by three people than five. At least, the child would find it easier to recognize the father.

As for the Double Elements Spirit Root, the situation was somewhat different.

When the filter could only accommodate two elemental attributes of spiritual energy, even if the proportion of each element still has many variations and uncertainties, there were many methods to differentiate them. Moreover, many methods did not even need to differentiate the attributes, yet they still could naturally transform the spiritual energy into magical power. Thus, the road of Immortal Cultivation for this kind of spirit root was naturally broader and flatter. Moreover, it was from this level of spirit root that one has the possibility to become a Jindan Stage Daoist Master, and only these Jindan Stage Daoist Masters have the qualification to take a foothold in the Immortal Cultivation World. Thus, this Double Elements Spirit Root was also known as the True Spirit Root.

However, among the other spirit roots, this Double Elements Spirit Root could only be ranked in fifth place because the two elements could engender each other; whether it was support, repel, or indifferent [1]. When the two elements happened to support one another, it would be very useful in the Qi gathering. Not only would it speed up the cultivation progress of that cultivator, the spell that they cast with their magical power would also be several times stronger.

The next one was Compound Spirit Root, which was actually similar to the Double Elements Spirit Root. However, this Compound Spirit Root has a more stable filter in absorbing the surrounding spiritual energy. Moreover, the elements would always support one another, and thus, this was ranked at the third place.

As for the Single Attribute Spirit Soot, generally speaking, it was also the best earthly spirit root. Not only was the absorbed spiritual energy relatively pure, the absorption rate was also fast. Although it could only draw one type of element from the total of five elements, it was several times more efficient in drawing its element compared to the lower rank spirit roots. As for the Heavenly Spirit Root, theoretically, it was a flawless spirit root. Naturally, it could absorb a very high purity of a single element spiritual energy. As long as it was done with a proper cultivation method, the cultivation progress would be inconceivably quick—of course, on the other hand, cultivation methods that were compatible with Heavenly Spirit Roots were extremely rare. Moreover, since the last Age of Chaos, the surrounding spiritual energy had undergone a drastic change, so Heavenly Spirit Roots may not necessarily be in demand like the era before that.

Furthermore, there was also Special Spirit Roots—in fact, this was a very broad classification of all the spirit roots that couldn’t be assigned to a certain element or elements, as well as abnormal spirit roots, due to the special proportion of hybrid spiritual energy. All of those were under the umbrella of Special Spirit Roots. The effectiveness of each of these Special Spirit Roots was greatly varied; it would be too long to mention. To some extent, Wang Lu’s Void Spirit Root should also belong to this Special Spirit Root category, however, its grade was too high, making it on par with Heavenly Spirit Roots.

What then exactly was this Void Spirit Root? Historically, there were only two other people who possessed this kind of spirit root, and those two’s identities were so special that not many records about them were left behind. The records of Immortal Qin were especially rare and already belonged to the realm of myths and legends; the credible parts were extremely few. Now, people only knew about the Great Ancestor Dasheng from gleaming through the historical data and inferring some information from it. What people knew about Great Ancestor Dasheng was his extremely high compatibility with spiritual energy, which resulted in him having a much easier time in drawing qi to his body. However, this came with an adverse effect: he also had a hard time in retaining the qi he had drawn in. This caused him to spend ten fruitless years at the Kunlun Sect in an attempt to remedy this.

Today, Wang Lu fortunately had the privilege to witness the true colors of the most special spirit root in the entire ten thousand years history of the Nine Region—the Void Spirit Root.

At the tip of the two hundred and six Jade Pillars, a transparent membrane quietly supported the entire construction of the Inner Mansion; this was the external barrier of the Void Spirit Root; it was clear and transparent like glazed tile. This was probably the reason why the Void Spirit Root got its name. It has very distinct characteristics compared to the “normal” spirit roots. For example, the external barrier of the Fire Element Heavenly Spirit Root would be covered with clouds of fire. Except for the spiritual energy of fire element, the rest of the spiritual energy would be isolated outside, and they would immediately get burned down if they came too close.

This was also the reason why the Sect Leader had mistakenly assessed Wang Lu’s talent under cursory observation when he first saw Wang Lu and Wang Zhong two years ago.

However, it was hard to make an accurate judgment based on outward appearance. Thus, Wang Lu focused his attention towards his body again using the Internal Inspection Method.

The ability to divide the awareness was the most basic requirement to draw the qi into the body. A part of the cultivator’s awareness must be at the outside world to sense and absorb the surrounding spiritual energy, and another part must stay inside the Inner Mansion so that the spiritual energy could be promptly secured once drawn in. In general, cultivators would prompt the spiritual energy within their body to circulate through the meridians in a loop in order to prevent them from leaving their body. After that, the spiritual energy would be compressed, forming a whirl. Once the whirl was formed, the surrounding spiritual energy would be continuously sucked by the vortex, and finally, the vortex would get bigger and bigger. The cultivator could then use this abundant spiritual energy to build the Jade Mansion. Once the Jade Mansion was built, the cultivators would officially enter the Foundation Establishment Stage.

As for Wang Lu, what he needed to do was to draw the surrounding energy into his body, and, through the process of observation, understand the uniqueness of the Void Spirit Root. Right now, although he was not in the Spirit Sword Mountain but instead in the Spirit Creek Town, there was still an abundance in spiritual energy, which, by virtue of his special type of Heavenly Spirit Root, could be clearly sensed by Wang Lu.

The next step was to absorb. His Master didn’t write on her note the various steps on how to absorb the spiritual energy. It was not because of carelessness, but that there was no need to write it. Wang Lu naturally comprehended the method to absorb the spiritual energy.

The method was very simple—breathe. However, unlike normal breathing, this time, he was to let the Emperor Bone act as a core to mobilize the whole contraction and relaxation of the body to suck the surrounding spiritual energy.

A part of this suction force came from the accumulated boundless vitality of the Non-Phase Sword Bone, and another part came from the natural characteristic of the Void Spirit Root. When Wang Lu issued the directive to the Emperor Bone, the light from the Inner Mansion suddenly became brighter, and then more than two hundred bones started to flash with the same rhythm. Then, that layer of transparent membrane suddenly lit up, and, together with the entire Inner Mansion, took a deep “breath”.

In an instant, the Spiritual Energy that was freely moving in a loop within his body froze, stopping in its track. After which, all of the surrounding spiritual energy frantically rushed into his “core”.

It was so fast!

Even if he was prepared, Wang Lu didn’t expect the spiritual energy would be this frantic to rush in in just a single breath! All of the surrounding spiritual energy within the radius of one hundred meters from him seemed to come and converge, forming the shape of a storm!

This situation would be extremely dangerous for anyone who had just stepped on the path of Immortal Cultivation. Whether it was the spirit root’s external barrier or the body’s meridian channels, if they were suddenly flushed with this much spiritual energy without having experienced the “baptism” of the surrounding spiritual energy, then the cultivators would likely suffer qi deviation and perish as their bodies burst.

The next moment, the waves of spiritual energy crashed towards the external barrier. Under the impact of those waves of spiritual energy, that layer of thin, transparent and seemingly fragile membrane flickered with an extremely bright white-golden light, yet it was as steady as Mt. Tai.

Meanwhile, rains of white-golden light burst inside the Inner Mansion. Wang Lu was stunned; he realized that it was the highly purified spiritual energy transformed by the Void Spirit Root… Although it didn’t belong to any type of elements, it looked just as fierce.

However, before Wang Lu could observe it in detail, the white-golden rain volatilized in ‘midair”, turning into a thick fog before thoroughly dispersing back into the surroundings..

The entire process took approximately three to five breaths long. When Wang Lu was about to respond, the white-golden fog had thoroughly dissipated, and the spirit root’s external barrier was no longer flickering with an extremely bright white-golden light; now, it was just surrounded by the spiritual energy… It was virtually no different than before it began. It was as if the Inner Mansion had never taken that “deep breath”.

When his awareness completely converged back into the Inner Mansion, Wang Lu mused for a moment and finally understood why.

“I see… This is the key of why the Void Spirit Root can’t cultivate.”

The so-called compatibility with the spiritual energy was actually a misunderstanding. The fact was that, when the spiritual energy went through the external barrier of the Void Spirit Root, it condensed into unrecognizable energy. This unknown energy couldn’t be converged and contained by any cultivation methods available, and thus, it instantly dissipated out of the body. If not the Void Spirit Root owner himself, anyone would only see the mass influx of spiritual energy gushing out like water coming out of a broken dam.

This situation could be compared to a popular analogy: if a poor guy met his damned future mother-in-law in the house, he has no other way but to go out.

Thinking of this, Wang Lu could not help but feel happy. This Void Spirit Root was that damned mother-in-law! And only Immortal Qin and Great Ancestor Dasheng, those two generations who had a close connection with the Immortal World, were able to acquire the correct cultivation method, which was beyond what the current generation could expect.

However, according to his Master, this Non-Phase Sword Bone has the chance to change the fate of its user, which was something that defied the natural order… But how?

The note from his Master ended on this part. Apparently, she didn’t expect Wang Lu to cultivate so fast. But, in one month, he has already completed the eighth layer of the Non-Phase Sword Bone and entered the Qi Cultivating Stage.

What should he do now then? He could wait for his Master to return and give him the method, or he could…

Wang Lu couldn’t help but thought, “If even that retarded b*tch could come up with this divine skill of Non-Phase Sword Bone, don’t tell me I, the stop student, couldn’t extrapolate from the existing method and the current situation? Anyway, since the objectives are clear; I just need to analyze well.”

Right now, after the surrounding spiritual energy passed through the “baptism” of the mother-in-law spirit root, if he wanted to “hold hands” with Ms. Perfect, there was only one method available!

Wang Lu’s awareness once again entered the Inner Mansion. He then put his attention on the external barrier above the two hundred and six Jade Pillars.

His Master had designed the appearance of the Non-Phase Sword Bone to be like this; her intention was obvious. To ensure that the guy could be together with the Ms. Perfect, then the guy had to… force himself upon the girl!

[1] see five element theory: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wu_Xing