The Eternal Soaring Sword

Chapter 4 - High Mountain

Zhao Jiuge finished his cultivation night and stood up lazily to stretch. He relied on the sun to discern directions and rushed forward. As he moved, he thought about cultivating.

He suddenly sensed a fluctuation of spiritual energy, and his eyes followed the source. He saw a bright red plant that caught his attention. This unknown plant is only as tall as its waist and has red leaves. In the middle were three softly swaying fruits. They looked like ordinary fruits but emitted a hint of spiritual energy.

Zhao Jiuge carefully inspected the plant and recalled the records in the jade tube. All things in the world have a spirit, and the world sometimes gives birth to animals or plants that contain spirits.

After thinking about it for a while and observing it for half a day, his eyes turned red. “It's supposed to be spirit fruit, I just don't know what it is. However, the records in the jade tube said that most spirit herbs had powerful spirit beasts guarding them. The spiritual energy emanating from it was not strong, so it was definitely a fairly ordinary spirit fruit. ” He swallowed his saliva and looked around carefully.

He found that there was no movement and no one was guarding the factory. Zhao Jiuge quickly picked up the three pieces and looked at them. He could not find anything strange or extraordinary about them. He put one of them in his mouth without hesitation.

A stream of juice flowed down his throat and he got rid of the two remaining fruits. He had not taken more than a few steps and was still enjoying the taste of the fruit when he suddenly felt a pain emanating from his stomach. It was as if his stomach was burning.

A burning pain spread throughout his body and sweat droplets slowly descended from his face. Zhao Jiuge quickly sat down and discovered that the spiritual energy from the fruit had exploded in his stomach. It felt like his meridians were burning, and he did not dare to hesitate.

He quickly used the Sanskrit Heart Sutra to move the spiritual energy that had exploded from the fruit into his meridians. As spiritual energy slowly mixed into his meridians, it turned into spirit power.

He repeated the larger cycle several times before the burning sensation disappeared from his stomach, and along with it went spiritual energy that exploded from his fruit. Zhao Jiuge could not help but be surprised to find that the little spirit fruit had given him spiritual energy equivalent to several days of cultivation. It was hard to imagine what kind of effect the potion of the cultivation world would have, and at the same time, he yearned for progress in his own cultivation.

Right now, he was just starting out and had to spend time cultivating every day, in order to absorb spiritual energy. Once he entered the Blood Movement Realm, his blood flow alone would cause his body to absorb spiritual energy naturally, without even cultivating. Once he reached the Spirit Transformation Realm and could form his spiritual energy into an external force to attack, his body would automatically replenish his spirit power.

Once he reached the Foundation Realm, he would have complete control over his spirit power and would create a formation within his dantian to allow him to automatically absorb a large amount of spiritual energy. When sufficient spiritual energy gathered, a spirit core the size of a green bean would form in his dantian.

The spirit core quality was divided into nine tiers, and the core of each person was different. However, as long as one could form a core, even if it was the lowest level, it would still increase their lifespan by several hundred years. The nine values would determine whether they would succeed or fail in reaching the Nascent Soul Realm. The core of some people was too bad to reach the Nascent Soul Realm, and some people could reach the Nascent Soul Realm but would not be able to advance a step further. 

Legend has it that some people who managed to become immortals have created great signs as they form their newborn souls. When their core broke into a newborn soul, the law horn blew and heavenly music was played. Forming one's core during the Foundation Realm was the most important step. A strong foundation, however, is the most important ingredient. Without a good foundation, forget about being immortal, you would not even be able to form your Nascent Soul.

Even the worst nucleus can increase one's lifespan by several hundred years, and successfully creating a newborn soul can increase one's lifespan by several thousand years. However, out of the tens of thousands of people, only one could reach the Nascent Soul Realm. Many people died of old age in the Spirit Core Realm. As for the next realm, there was no information on the jade tube that his teacher had left behind, but Zhao Jiuge felt it would be more difficult. He knew that he had a long road ahead of him.

“Ah, no wonder Master said that cultivating is like crossing a river with thousands of people crowded into one wooden bridge. Difficult path. Even if they manage to break through people, it doesn't mean they can cross the bridge safely.” Although Zhao Jiuge said this, his eyes were filled with determination. The harder it was, the more excited his heart was for that beautiful world and the more he wanted the strength to become stronger.

After tasting the sweet benefits of the spirit fruit, Zhao Jiuge would constantly examine his surroundings to search for spirit herbs as he traveled during the day. He watched his surroundings closely because if he relaxed even for a moment, he would lose the spirit herbs. It also added excitement to his life, something else to do rather than just traveling during the day and cultivating at night.

The sun rose in the east, the trees were dense, and the mountain range spread out like a dragon. Immediately, the morning light dyed Zhao Jiuge's face with a golden light. Ever since he devoured the last spirit fruit, he felt like he was not far from reaching the final stage of the Spirit Detecting Realm. The spirit power in his body became denser and dazzling like a golden light shining down on his face. He decided he would not travel today. Instead, after exercising a little, he sat down to absorb the spiritual energy.

Zhao Jiuge sat there cross-legged as he cultivated to absorb the spiritual energy in the surroundings. His closed eyes trembled and his young face became slightly darker after experiencing a month of living in the mountains, but overall, he looked even more determined.

The spiritual energy kept rotating through his body again and again. Night fell and the sounds of insects and birds echoed. Just as he felt he had no hope of reaching the final stage of the Spirit Detecting Realm today, he heard a rustling sound. His ears moved when he heard this sound—it didn't sound like the wind blowing in the grass.

As he was zoning in, the smell of soil entered his nose and he suddenly turned to the side. It was good that his cultivation level had increased, as it made his limbs become stronger and more flexible. If it was back when he was in the village, it would be a hard blow for him. What he saw under the scattered moonlight caused his body to be filled with cold sweat. It is three feet long with two blood red eyes and four limbs. However, both forelimbs were raised, as if it was a person standing.

His face was ugly and his limbs looked skinny, but his tail was shocking, giving him strength. Zhao Jiuge took two steps back and took out a hunting knife from his back. He tightly grasped the blade as he began to measure the strange beast. The strange beast also sized up Zhao Jiuge before suddenly showing a ferocious expression. At that moment, the beast kicked with both of its hind legs, and its two claws that smelled like earth slashed towards Zhao Jiuge.

Zhao Jiuge's heart stiffened and his hair stood up. He raised his hand and slashed at the beast. The beast did not dodge but instead swept its tail to block the blade. Zhao Jiuge felt his entire right arm go numb as the blade cut off the tail of the beast. However, the tail of the beast was completely fine aside from the white mark. This seemingly weak beast was extremely strong.

Zhao Jiuge was shocked. He wanted to escape, but the beast got too close and constantly pressed on. The beast's tail swept over him again, and all Zhao Jiuge could do was lift his knife and face it forcefully.

This time, blood flowed out of his mouth. Panicking, Zhao Jiuge suddenly thought of the spirit power in his body and quickly moved some to his right arm. The beast pounced again, but Zhao Jiuge slashed down with all his might this time. The monster was cut from its neck to its stomach. Blood slowly flowed out and his entrails were faintly visible.

Zhao Jiuge found that this was effective and quickly slashed at the monster even more. The monster was cut several times and blood splattered all over Zhao Jiuge's clothes. There were red sparks everywhere. The final slash was aimed at the beast's head, causing it to fall to the ground. Then his limbs moved slightly and stopped moving.

Zhao Jiuge looked at the ferocious beasts on the ground and felt a lingering fear. He was panting and thinking about today's meeting. Zhao Jiuge disliked his weakness. If he had reached the Spirit Transformation Realm, he would not have had a difficult time.

However, since this beast had been killed by him, it might not be that powerful. Perhaps he had eaten a spirit herb in the mountain and had obtained a bit of intelligence. Zhao Jiuge could not help but recall the records inside the jade tube. All living beings in the world enjoy the nourishment of spiritual energy. No matter what life form, as long as they had a cultivation method, they could cultivate. After comprehending the mysteries of heaven and earth, many cultivation methods were created to help people in the future travel an easier path.

Many animals are born without much intelligence and rely on their natural ability to live or die. Some who were lucky enough to gain intelligence had no cultivation method, and those who did were able to form the core. However, they would then be hunted by many cultivators for their cores as they were rare materials for refining pills and treasures.

Although spirit beasts had powerful bodies and had a longer life than humans, their cultivation was more difficult than humans. Of course, there were some powerful races with pure bloodlines and unique abilities. They cultivated faster than humans and could gain strength that would make humans tremble in fear. Today's meeting had given Zhao Jiuge some initial understanding of the ferocious beasts and at the same time made him yearn even more for the path of cultivation.