Those who often practice cultivation know that spirit gathering formations mainly come in two types: gathering spirits and releasing spirits.
What Wang Jixuan needs right now is a releasing spirit formation, which releases and purifies the spirit energy inside spirit stones. This energy can be absorbed by Qi Refiners to strengthen themselves or restore their magical power.
He first took out three bone-penetrating nails and carefully disassembled them, wiping away the restrictions inscribed inside to change them into formation patterns.
Before long, a series of black circles appeared in front of Wang Jixuan. He then took out three diamond-shaped "crystal cores" from his pocket, wrapped them in his breath to make them float above the circles, and gently pressed down.
With a barely audible "click," the formation patterns on the sixteen pieces of the Blade Beast's outer bone lit up, and strands of spirit power were released from the patterns, transforming into a misty, colorless aura.
It worked!
Wang Jixuan clenched his fist tightly, almost letting out a roar of joy.
But he had to hold it in.
He was in his dormitory, and since it was off work hours, the outside was quite lively with pedestrians passing by from time to time.
Wang Jixuan quickly focused his mind and actively circulated his inner breath, gathering the colorless spirit energy rapidly into his palms.
Finally, he felt a brief return to the joy and ease of his past life’s cultivation!
About 92 to 93 percent of the spirit energy here was directly absorbed by him, but there would inevitably be some loss from the formation and dispersal into the air.
He dared not enter a meditative state; for now, he focused solely on absorbing the spirit energy to enhance his cultivation, trying to empty his mind of distractions.
He was quickly approaching a state of fullness in his breath.
Though he had the insights from his previous life, this physical body wasn’t very strong, and he hadn’t started cultivating from a young age. He needed to solidify and thicken his foundation during the Foundation Establishment stage.
The troubles caused by the Black Fire Gang had temporarily settled down.
However, the issues that arose from the Black Fire Gang were even more troublesome and uncontrollable, involving the Spirit Energy Capital, the frontline command of the war zone, and so on.
At this moment, Wang Jixuan was eager to absorb the spirit energy from the crystal cores, also considering the possibility of making a quick escape.
If Captain Zhou couldn’t hold on, he would have no choice but to leave the fortress and try to survive in the gap between human technological civilization and the Blade Beasts.
‘It would be best to cultivate steadily for a while longer.’
Gradually, he felt a swelling sensation throughout his body.
His heart soared, and his senses became clear.
He could distinctly feel a faint spirit light appearing in his Purple Palace, and a simple vortex forming in his dantian.
His breath was full!
The spirit light burst forth!
He had finally taken the first small step in his cultivation!
He was finally! No, he should still be an E-level spirit energy user based on his biological energy response…
The Qi Refining stage focuses on refining qi, using spirit energy to nourish the physical body and cultivating the soul with the essence of the body, thus allowing one to enter the Spirit Gathering stage.
The sign of completing Qi Refining is having a sea of qi like clouds.
The sign of entering the Spirit Gathering stage is producing the first strand of spiritual awareness.
Wang Daolong was still a bit short of that.
Once he entered the Spirit Gathering stage, there would be a relatively long period of cultivation, where cultivators need to refine qi, temper their bodies, gather their spirits, and forge their souls, gradually transforming themselves. When they return to their innate state and their bodies are initially pure, they can enter the True Return stage.
The True Return stage emphasizes immersing oneself in the Dao bone, resonating with the heavens and earth to solidify one’s divine self.
Achieving the four stages of Qi Refining, Spirit Gathering, True Return, and Void Return allows one to complete the Foundation Establishment and start preparing to condense the Golden Core.
‘Though my foundation from my last life was perfect, it wasn’t thick enough.’
Wang Jixuan thought to himself.
If the environment allowed, he actually wanted to establish his foundation for a few more years.
Unfortunately, the cultivation environment in this world was extremely poor, and he still hadn’t found a safe cave dwelling.
About three hours passed like this.
Wang Jixuan felt that the amount of spirit energy he could absorb was rapidly decreasing. Just as he was about to open his eyes, one of the crystal cores made a loud "ping" sound, and cracks appeared on it.
It shattered?
It really was a low-level Blade Beast's crystal core; the other two still had a bit of spirit power left…
—The infusion device in the Spirit Energy Capital was equivalent to the smallest instrument component, which could only be used by one person at a time and could only utilize the lowest-level Blade Beast's crystal cores.
Hmm?
Wang Jixuan opened his eyes a crack, staring at the broken crystal core with a serious expression.
A shallow black mist was quickly gathering and pulling away from the crystal core.
Within the black mist, it seemed like there were faint eyes watching.
The remnant soul of a Blade Beast?
Wang Jixuan didn’t dare to be careless. This was his first time using a Blade Beast's crystal core, and he had already learned that the process of infusing spirit energy users with Blade Beast crystal cores had a very high death rate…
“Hiss—”
A sound like a lizard flicking its tongue suddenly came from the black mist!
Wang Jixuan pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes, golden-black patterns appearing on his forehead.
He felt a threat from the unknown and was ready to use his magic to protect himself at any moment!
Suddenly!
A shadow shot out from the black mist!
This shadow was only two fingers long but had a full tail, and it darted toward Wang Jixuan's forehead at high speed!
“Hey!”
Wang Jixuan shouted loudly!
He clasped his hands together, and two beams of golden light burst from his eyes, while his palms contained two strands of breath, narrowly slamming down on the shadow.
A sharp scream pierced into Wang Jixuan's heart!
The thing pinned down by Wang Jixuan's hands struggled violently!
Wang Jixuan couldn’t pull it away for the moment, so he opened his eyes to take a closer look.
What a strange creature!
This creature had no facial features like any human, beast, or bird that Wang Jixuan knew. It only had a huge mouth filled with sharp teeth, and a long tongue sticking out from the center!
Behind its mouth was a thick neck, and its body resembled a fierce tiger but was covered with a layer of armor. It had six claws, each with blade-like fingers, and behind its six knees were sharp "blade limbs," with a blade protruding from its back.
At this moment, the remnant soul of the Blade Beast was struggling and changing shapes continuously.
When it curled up its body, the "blades" on its back and limbs made it look like a "tire" full of blades!
In fact, the name "Blade Beast" comes from this basic combat form of the most common Blade Beasts.
Wang Jixuan held it down tightly with the two strands of breath in his palms, not daring to let it move forward even half an inch.
Fortunately, it was just a low-level remnant soul!
The struggling force of the Blade Beast's remnant soul was gradually decreasing. Wang Jixuan didn’t dare to be careless and slowly pulled it away from his face, running through the spells he could use in his mind, and suddenly pushed forward.
The remnant soul of the Blade Beast was pushed back three feet, spinning in the air, and roared toward Wang Jixuan!
He only had three seconds to cast his spell!
Wang Jixuan's hands moved rapidly, almost leaving behind afterimages, completing nine hand seals and pointing forward!
“Those who fight shall line up and advance!”
Buzz!
A ripple burst from Wang Jixuan's fingertips, and the charging remnant soul of the Blade Beast was swept away by the ripple, its body quickly turning to ashes.
But it wasn’t over yet.
The ashes kept flickering, and within them appeared a faint vertical pupil, shining and staring at Wang Jixuan.
What the heck? Did the old monster in the Blade Beast leave behind a restriction or something else?
Wang Jixuan stared at it, his heart not allowing him to show any weakness toward such a monster, while the vertical pupil conveyed a clear emotion.
Uh, if Wang Jixuan wasn’t mistaken, this emotion should be…
[Contempt].
In just an instant, the vertical pupil disappeared.
Wang Jixuan held his breath, watching the spirit energy dissipate, then looked down at the two crystal cores that still had some spirit power left.
A breeze blew, sending a chill down his back.
This…
He frowned and focused, picking up one of the crystal cores to sense it carefully.
There wasn’t much spirit power left in the crystal core.
He secretly felt relieved, glad that he had been cautious and used the formation to extract the spirit energy instead of directly absorbing it with his hands.
If he had absorbed it directly, he could have been taken advantage of by the weak remnant soul of the Blade Beast inside. Even if he could protect his soul, he could still suffer serious injuries.
Wow, is the cultivation in this world so dangerous even for a quick boost?
But…
Cultivation is rough.
Was he just looked down upon by the owner of that big eye, which must be a high-level Blade Beast?
Alright, alright, very good.
Three hundred years east of the river, three hundred years west of the river, don’t bully the old Daoist for being poor!
If he used the spirit gathering formation to extract spirit power, leaving some spirit power in the crystal cores each time, he wouldn’t have to worry about the remnant soul of the Blade Beast attacking him, right?
Then, Wang Jixuan suddenly thought of something.
The crystal core that Zheng Shiduo carried with him still had some weak spirit power left inside.
This meant there could also be a remnant soul of a Blade Beast in there?
He frowned in thought, the image of the remnant soul of the Blade Beast flashing through his mind, deciding to remind Ling Tong about it when he had the chance later.
If even these low-level Blade Beasts were so terrifying, what about the higher-level ones…
‘Better find a way to shamelessly cultivate a bit longer in the fortress.’
Wang Jixuan slightly clenched his fist, the already noticeable vortex in his dantian spinning slightly, a breath rapidly circulating within him, and a thin layer of qi armor appearing on his fist.
The sea of qi was already condensed.
He was nearing completion in the Qi Refining stage!
Next, he just needed to keep cultivating, nourish his soul, and condense his spiritual awareness to enter the Spirit Gathering stage!
Wang Jixuan smiled, quickly putting away the three used-up crystal cores, sealing them with talismans, and thinking about how to get more crystal cores later.
Just this three hours of spirit gathering cultivation was enough to equal fifty days of cultivation in the large shed area of the Wanli Gold Gang in the lower city!
This is the importance of spirit stones!
Wang Jixuan planned to keep the remaining three crystal cores for later use when he attempted to enter the Spirit Gathering stage, as condensing the first strand of spiritual awareness would require a lot of spirit energy.
‘No slacking off; after working so hard, I’ve finally seen a glimmer of hope on the path to immortality.’
Wang Jixuan chuckled lightly and continued to think about how to guard against the remnant soul of the Blade Beast.
He actually had many methods he could use.
But it’s hard to make a meal without rice; every method requires corresponding resources.
He picked up a nearby communication device, which had a message from Zhou Zhengde sent about half an hour ago.
[01: It should be fine for now. An S-level old spirit energy user in the Spirit Energy Capital is in contact with my grandpa. The spirit energy user wants to implement a law requiring all spirit energy users to undergo regular inspections at the Spirit Energy House. They want to use this to take you to the Spirit Energy Capital, but my grandpa refused, saying you’re not a spirit energy user. According to my grandpa's assistant, he has a button that the spirit energy users seem to fear. What should we eat tonight to celebrate?]
Wang Jixuan pondered slightly, still not feeling relieved.
He was considering whether to go down to the lower city to hide for a while…
‘Continue to interrogate Kong Nu.’
Wang Daolong closed his eyes to sense the situation within a hundred meters around him, and he was already able to vaguely see some figures.
Wang Jixuan joined his fingers together, gently pulling, and the soul-capturing talisman slowly unfolded, revealing a three-inch tall remnant soul.
At this moment, the lights in the room were off, and Wang Jixuan slowly approached. The cold, stern face had a beauty reminiscent of a judge from the underworld.
He joined his fingers again and ignited a wisp of true fire.
Kong Nu's remnant soul was continuously howling in Wang Jixuan's heart.
Wang Daolong silently cut off Kong Nu's howls, continuously releasing true fire, feeling the endurance brought by his cultivation improvement.
He wasn’t a pervert; hearing the soul's screams wouldn’t excite him.
He simply wanted to make Kong Nu suffer a bit before his soul was completely dispersed.
After burning for about ten minutes, Wang Jixuan, adhering to the principle of conserving magical power, stopped the burning and looked at Kong Nu's trembling remnant soul, gently saying:
“Landlady's eldest son, please say something I might find interesting.”
“If you stop talking, or if I find it less interesting, I will use true fire to completely burn you away.”
“I can give you a hint, for example, your spirit energy infusion technology.”
Kong Nu shivered a few times and stammered, “We have monitoring chips in our brains… No, I don’t have a body anymore… Who, who are you! Who are you! What is this technology! My soul!”
Wang Jixuan smiled without speaking, a flicker of flame bursting from his fingertips.
…
Half an hour later.
Wang Jixuan lay on his bed, feeling a buzzing in his head. Even though he had prepared his heart, he was still shocked by those numbers.
He seemed to see countless white bones and a sea of blood.
‘Truly a great evil in the world, harming over a hundred thousand people.’
In addition, Wang Jixuan also inquired in detail about the exchanges between Ye Zi and Kong Nu.
What surprised Wang Jixuan was that Kong Nu still believed Ye Zi was innocent at the time of his death, the last shred of kindness left by her mother, a white lotus that hadn’t been tainted…
Ye Zi had gone to Fortress 82 with Kong Nu's family, and they should be able to catch her later.
Wang Jixuan's spiritual sense slightly trembled.
Zhou Zhengde and Doctor Wei Na were jogging over here.
He immediately jumped up, tore the soul-capturing talisman to shreds, quickly went to the toilet, ignited the fragments of the talisman with true fire, letting the ashes fall into the toilet water, and pressed the flush button.
Wang Jixuan opened his left hand, and the pieces of Blade Beast bones that made up the simple spirit gathering formation fell into his palm, which he casually stuffed into his pocket as he opened the alloy door.
Just as Zhou Zhengde was about to knock, his fist almost hit Wang Jixuan.
Zhou Zhengde glanced around and said in a low voice:
“Quick! Come with me! Ling Tong might come to catch you! My communication device has been hacked by her! I’ll take you to find my grandpa!”
Wang Jixuan was taken aback.
Wei Na had already opened a long coat to put on Wang Jixuan.
Just as he was about to agree, his spiritual sense jumped lightly.
At the edge of his vision, Ling Tong's tall and slender figure appeared at the end of the narrow passage.
(End of Chapter)