Chapter 155: The Mark of Growth; The Secret to Souls (2)

Name:Quest Maker of Soul Land Author:
Chapter 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.

---

*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.