Chapter 274 - 196: Exiting Seclusion, the Spirit Wood Bead Advances

Chapter 274: Chapter 196: Exiting Seclusion, the Spirit Wood Bead Advances

In the bedroom, Zhao Zuo took out the materials for advancing the Spirit Wood Bead from his Storage Bag. They were three Middle Grade, Wood Attribute Spiritual Objects. The Spirit Wood Bead had three advancement paths, which required one, two, or three Spiritual Objects respectively.

’Since I have to make a choice...’ Of course, Zhao Zuo chose the most powerful path.

The three Spiritual Objects each served a different purpose. The first, corresponding to Vitality, was the Life Spirit Stone Flower. This Spiritual Object grew on cliffs ten thousand meters high. Its substance was neither metal nor wood. It was pure white with concentric circles of green patterns on its surface, but it gave off no discernible aura, making it look quite ordinary.

In reality, however, the Vitality contained within the Life Spirit Stone Flower was incredibly potent. It could directly heal both internal and external injuries. Even in a hopeless situation, it could stave off death for a short while.

The second was the Spirit-Returning Warm Jade, which restored stamina.

The third was the Pure Yang Fruit, used for detoxification. As a Middle Grade Spiritual Object, it could neutralize all poisons encountered in the Qi Cultivation Stage to some degree and was often kept as a life-saving trump card.

Zhao Zuo speculated that once the Spirit Wood Bead advanced to an Upper Grade Spiritual Object, it should be able to counteract the more common poisons of the Foundation Establishment Stage. ’But its other attributes, stamina and energy recovery, are also extremely important...’

"Advance."

Immediately, the familiar Gray Space expanded, enveloping all four Heaven and Earth Spiritual Objects. The essences of the three new Spiritual Objects were swiftly extracted, forming three streams of differently colored liquid that floated and slowly rotated around the cyan bead.

The Spirit Wood Bead was cyan, and within it, several strands of emerald-green thread had intertwined to form a circular grid, giving it an extraordinary appearance brimming with Vitality.

Zhao Zuo immediately leaned forward, pressing his head nearly against the gray wall to carefully observe the changes within the space. The essences of the three Spiritual Objects orbited the Spirit Wood Bead like planets. At the same time, they began to separate out extremely fine wisps of essence, which then started to slowly merge.

The initial refinement into liquid had been the first round of purification and extraction. However, the Gray Light Space didn’t merge them directly. Instead, it drew out the essence wisp by wisp, performing a second purification. This process guaranteed the absolute purity of the final Spirit Wood Bead.

While Zhao Zuo could somewhat comprehend the initial process of melting and extraction, the subsequent step of merging the Energy wisp by wisp while maintaining perfect stability left him in disbelief.

’To fuse so slowly, yet remain so stable... it’s as if the energies felt no repulsion toward each other at all.’

As time trickled by, the planetary orbs of energy from the three Spiritual Objects within the Gray Light Space began to shrink. Simultaneously, any trace impurities within the space were annihilated.

Everything was silent, yet imbued with an unimaginable wonder.

Zhao Zuo held his breath, his attention fixed on the Spirit Wood Bead’s advancement. The bead’s surface grew even smoother. Inside, the mesh constructed from the emerald Energy strands tightened, the gaps shrinking until it finally formed a solid, emerald-green cocoon.

As time went on, the advancement reached its final stage. Creation Points flowed into the process, branding fine golden threads onto the surface of the emerald cocoon, which faintly formed the silhouette of a giant tree.

’Is that Jianmu? Or maybe the World Tree?’

After his Clear Heart Jade Pendant had transformed into the Qilin Seal, Zhao Zuo understood... The evolution of his Magical Artifacts during upgrades and advancements wasn’t entirely up to him. His Golden Finger would guide them toward some powerful, primordial source.

Of course, for the Qilin Seal and the Spirit Wood Bead to truly manifest the power of those legendary beings, they would need a great deal more time and many more upgrades and advancements.

Zhao Zuo reached out and took the newly upgraded Spirit Wood Bead.

The next moment, a transparent panel materialized before his eyes.

[Upgrade Description: Vigor restoration, stamina recovery, and Vitality enhancement have all been massively increased. Detoxification ability is significantly improved. Can currently mitigate all One-Tier toxins, partially neutralize basic-level Second-Tier toxins, and suppress most of their poisonous effects.]

Zhao Zuo was very satisfied with this change. Cultivators had a vast arsenal of techniques, and poisoning was one of the most insidious and difficult to detect. The Spirit Wood Bead’s advancement had shored up his last remaining weakness.

Immediately, the black text before him distorted and reformed.

[Rank: Upper Grade Spiritual Object · Spirit Wood Bead]

[Experience: 23451/20000]

[Status: Upgradeable]

Zhao Zuo lightly tapped "Upgrade." Twenty thousand experience points were deducted, leaving 3,451.

The familiar gray light spread out, enveloping the Spirit Wood Bead. Since a simple upgrade didn’t require absorbing external Energy, the process was complete in about fifteen minutes.

The Spirit Wood Bead had now reached the level of Upper Grade Spiritual Object +1, its poison resistance further enhanced.

After checking the effects of the upgrade, Zhao Zuo wrapped the Spirit Wood Bead in Mana and stored it in his Dantian. A cool stream of energy immediately surged from the bead and flowed slowly through his Meridians, restoring his depleted stamina.

Four different energies now circulated within Zhao Zuo’s body: his Mana, and the energies from the Qilin Seal, the Source Water Bead, the Spirit Wood Bead, and the Huayang Bead. They all flowed through his Meridians, yet remained perfectly distinct, never interfering with one another.

Zhao Zuo lay down on his bed and spoke softly.

"Focus, activate!"

An hour later, Zhao Zuo’s eyes snapped open. He gasped, taking in a deep breath of fresh air. For the entire hour he was in his focused state, he had even forgotten to breathe.

The benefit was... Zhao Zuo was now even closer to achieving the Great Success stage of his Cloud Manipulation Art.

The May weather was no longer cold, though a slight chill still lingered in the mornings and evenings. For someone with Zhao Zuo’s physique, however, it had little effect.

He had basically achieved all his recent goals. The next priority was to advance his Cloud Manipulation Art to the Great Success stage. Once he did that, he could begin compressing his Mana and shatter the Mana Barrier completely.

The sky was a vast azure, with only a few scattered clouds painted fiery red by the setting sun.

In the kitchen, Zhao Zuo ate his meal of Spirit Rice and spicy Demon Beast meat. This had been his life for several months: refining artifacts and practicing his Cultivation in solitude, never interacting with anyone.

Zhao Zuo had thought he was used to this life. But for some reason, he felt a sudden pang of loneliness.

Suddenly, the steadily strengthening aura from the second floor vanished.

Zhao Zuo immediately put down his bowl and chopsticks. He looked toward the stairs outside the kitchen with a hint of anticipation. Before long, the sound of light footsteps drifted down from the second floor, and a familiar figure came into view.

"You finally broke through," he said calmly, doing his best to suppress the joy in his heart lest he do something rash.

"I did."

Shen Yunjiao replied softly. Her words were simple, but her gaze was gentle and her eyes were filled with emotion. It was clear her own heart was anything but calm.

During her breakthrough, she hadn’t completely lost her sense of the outside world. She had sensed Zhao Zuo’s presence many times, and especially over the past few months, his reassuring aura had been a constant presence on the first floor.

........