Chapter 161 - 112: Two Withered, Two Flourishing, Moon Soul Sword

Chapter 161: Chapter 112: Two Withered, Two Flourishing, Moon Soul Sword

Inside the Grotto Heaven, a bright moon hung high in the night sky. Li Yinsheng sat cross-legged on the White Jade Platform. Above his head bloomed an epiphyllum flower about ten feet wide. Moonlight cascaded down upon the petals like white gauze, slowly refined into crystal-clear, milky-white Moon Dew. He had tested this when he previously claimed the reward of thirty-two years of cultivation. The full moon in the Grotto Heaven was virtually identical to the one in the outside world; both could be used to refine Moon Dew.

Although the small-scale Moonlight Spirit Refining Array he cast on his own was quite inefficient at producing Moon Dew, the moon in the Grotto Heaven was always full, allowing for continuous, uninterrupted refinement. During his last cultivation session here, he had constantly split his Heart and Spirit to refine Moon Dew and strengthen his soul. By the end of it, his soul and Divine Sense had nearly doubled in strength.

Now, however, he was a Grand Daoist with over three hundred years of cultivation and a profound foundation. Even with the rich harvest from his previous seclusion, it hadn’t been enough to trigger a qualitative transformation. But as his current seclusion neared its end—combined with the accumulation from several earlier, shorter sessions—the situation was entirely different.

First and foremost was the Six Interpretations of Life and Death. After his cultivation surpassed the four-hundred-year mark, he had finally stepped into the second layer of the Rong Realm. When he initially switched to this technique, he had passed through the first layer of the Rong Realm, but it hadn’t lasted long before he advanced to the second layer of the Withered Realm. As a result, he hadn’t fully experienced the unique characteristics of the Rong Realm.

It was only upon reaching the second layer of the Rong Realm that he realized how terrifying this stage was compared to the Withered Realm. The moment he broke through, the Magical Power within his body surged violently, deepening by seventy percent in the blink of an eye. Furthermore, the purity of his Magical Power also saw a massive improvement. All things considered, his current Magical Power had more than doubled compared to when he was in the Withered Realm.

Aside from the increase in both quality and quantity, undergoing two witherings and two flourishings had granted the Six Interpretations of Life and Death a new miraculous property: the ability to restore Magical Power at an astonishing speed. His current recovery rate was nearly ten times what it had been before. If a Body Cultivator practicing the True Blood Secret Scripture could passively heal just by breathing, then the Six Interpretations of Life and Death allowed him to passively recover Magical Power with every breath—perhaps even to a more exaggerated degree.

When he executed the Yin Yang Light-Splitting Sword now, as long as he kept the Sword Light under one hundred and twenty-eight strands, his Magical Power consumption was actually slightly lower than his recovery rate. What was more, he had only recently stepped into the Rong Realm. As he continued to cultivate, there would be even greater improvements. According to the records of the Six Interpretations of Life and Death, once he cultivated the second layer of the Rong Realm to perfection, he would be able to steadily condense his Dharma Aspect. Following that, the third layer of the Withered Realm should be broken through simultaneously with the Dharma Image Realm.

Beyond the Six Interpretations of Life and Death was his minor, the True Blood Secret Scripture. At the eleventh layer of the True Blood Secret Scripture, thirty percent of the blood in his body had transformed into True Blood. However, reaching the twelfth layer required fully fifty percent of his blood to be converted. At that stage, every movement he made would carry terrifyingly destructive power. Consequently, the twelfth layer was incredibly difficult to achieve. After all, refining another twenty percent of Mortal Blood into True Blood was not something that could be accomplished overnight.

He had originally thought he wouldn’t reach the twelfth layer until he accumulated around five hundred years of cultivation. However, the Vein Casting Rope belonging to Daoist Zhao Xuan from Zulu Temple truly had its unique merits. Its efficiency in tempering Qi Blood far exceeded his expectations. As this seclusion drew to a close, he had actually managed to barely break through to the twelfth layer.

Of course, while the Vein Casting Rope was highly effective, the price was correspondingly steep. The agony of using Metal Qi for body tempering was on a completely different level than the Blood Refining Core. Saying it felt like suffering death by a thousand cuts was putting it mildly; he felt as if he had been tossed into a meat grinder. This level of pain likely surpassed the vast majority of normal body tempering methods and took a severe toll on one’s Heart and Spirit. He wondered if his junior sister would be able to endure the Vein Casting Rope if he let her try it in the future. Given its overwhelming potency, however, he figured she wouldn’t even need to use it until she became a Daoist herself.

Once True Blood accounted for half of the blood in his body, some subtle changes occurred. During Introspection, he discovered that his entire body’s Qi Blood was faintly shimmering with an incredibly inconspicuous golden light. Though extremely dim, this light was definitely not an illusion. Furthermore, whenever he exerted a significant amount of Qi and Blood Power, the golden glow would noticeably brighten. However, the True Blood Secret Scripture contained no record of this phenomenon. To be precise, the scripture had very little information regarding the twelfth layer at all—so little that Li Yinsheng genuinely doubted if anyone had ever successfully cultivated it.

He wondered if this twelfth layer only existed in its creator’s imagination. After making several personal attempts, he still couldn’t find any practical use for this golden light born from his Qi Blood. Since staying in the Grotto Heaven didn’t allow him to be distracted for too long, he couldn’t afford to study it in detail. He would have to wait until he left.

"I hope this golden light actually has some kind of use and isn’t just for show," he said, shaking his head. Given his current Cultivation Realm, the notes left behind by the senior members of his temple could hardly offer much practical help with his cultivation anymore; they only served to broaden his horizons.

However, after thoroughly examining his Qi Blood, despite failing to figure out the golden light’s purpose, he stumbled upon another unexpected boon. Perhaps because he had spent so long using Metal Qi for body tempering, his physique and Qi Blood had clearly developed an affinity for the Metal Element. If he obtained a Metal Element-focused Magical Treasure or other such artifacts in the future, he should be able to wield them with much greater ease. His proficiency wouldn’t necessarily be inferior to that of a Cultivator whose major cultivation was a Metal Element Cultivation Technique. Currently, however, he didn’t possess any Metal Element treasures, so this newly acquired affinity had no immediate use.