Mysteries of Immortal Puppet Master

Chapter 1361: Chapter 537: Spiritual Sense Stage (2)

Yi Lin Hermit nodded slightly. "Let’s go back for now."

As his voice fell, Dong Chen only felt his vision blur for a moment.

When he came back to his senses, he found himself already outside Yi Lin. Before his eyes stood that bluestone stele carved with the two characters "Yi Lin." The moss on the stele was as before, the characters still indistinct, as if he had never gone in at all.

Dong Chen faced the center of Yi Lin and gave a deep bow. Only then did he slowly retreat. Step by step, after backing away more than ten steps, he finally turned around and strode off.

The Gua Wind had long since dissipated, the mist slowly closing in, covering the entire Yi Lin once more.

Shao Qian Nong leaned his back against the trunk of the old locust tree, his eyes slightly narrowed, a gleam of eager anticipation shining in the slits.

Back then, the reason he ended up in the Myriad Images Sect, apart from personal ties, was even more to calculate the Qi Fortune within Myriad Images, to observe from the sidelines and make comparisons. In this way, he could refine his own craft of Fortune Telling.

"Now that the calamity has already made its move, it seems that terrifying prophecy is about to be fulfilled."

"How interesting."

Bluestone Cave Mansion.

"So, what exactly is this thing?" Ning Zhuo had already finished the Cremation and was carefully observing the lump of Spiritual Nature before him.

The Spiritual Nature was round and complete, full and distinct, different from any Spiritual Nature Ning Zhuo held in his hands.

Divine Skill—Life Hanging Thread!

Ning Zhuo directly used the Divine Skill, linking up with this Spiritual Nature.

The next moment, he sensed the emotions coming from this Spiritual Nature.

The Spiritual Nature both loved and hated him, both feared and felt close to him. This was the first time Ning Zhuo had felt such complicated feelings from a Spiritual Nature.

Just as Ning Zhuo was about to question it, the Spiritual Nature spoke first: "Y-you, you, you... who are you? W-who, who am I?"

Ning Zhuo was stunned for a moment, thought briefly, and then cautiously answered, "I created you; you were born in response to me."

Upon hearing this, the Spiritual Nature sphere voluntarily floated to Ning Zhuo’s side, wanting to touch him yet not daring to, hesitating in an adorably awkward way.

"This Spiritual Nature is probably of no low tier!" Ning Zhuo suppressed his inner astonishment and continued to communicate with it.

Although this Spiritual Nature was capable of communication, its mind was actually a blank slate, quite similar to the previously amnesiac Qing Chi.

More precisely, it was even more thorough than Qing Chi. Qing Chi at least still had some common knowledge of society and nature; this Spiritual Nature completely understood nothing, like a newborn infant.

After a round of communication, Ning Zhuo found that this Spiritual Nature knew nothing at all; it truly was a blank sheet.

With the Life Hanging Divine Power constantly linking them, Ning Zhuo also used some spells for lie detection and confirmed this point.

He also confirmed his previous guess: "This Spiritual Nature has indeed reached the Wisdom Spirit Stage, and furthermore the Spiritual Sense Stage!"

The levels of Spiritual Nature are generally divided into five great tiers.

They are Non-spirit, Void Spirit, Life Spirit, Wisdom Spirit, and Gods.

This Spiritual Nature had just condensed into form and had already reached the Wisdom Spirit Stage, and even within that, the Spiritual Sense Stage.

The Wisdom Spirit Stage is divided into five minor stages: Spirit Communication, Spiritual Rhinoceros, Spiritual Sense, inspiration, and Spiritual Mechanism.

This Spiritual Nature had reached the Spiritual Sense Stage, possessing a powerful capacity for self-awareness and understanding of the world. If it were to cross the two stages that come after and step into the Deity Spirit Stage, that would be truly remarkable!

That would be a qualitative transformation, with the Spiritual Nature itself gaining all sorts of divine wonders.

Ning Zhuo silently tallied his own assets in his heart.

"Yuan Dasheng has reached the first stage of the Wisdom Spirit Stage, the Spirit Communication Rank. The Mengye Tiger is the same."

"Snow-colored Girl·Hui and Snow Core Control·Xie are weaker; both are at the Life Spirit Stage, Spirit Long Stage. At this minor stage, once Spiritual Nature reaches ten-tenths, it can self-repair and be endlessly self-renewing. After that it must go through the two stages of Spirit Movement and Spirit Sensitivity to rise to the Wisdom Spirit Stage."

Buddhist Doctor Meng Yaoyin is a special case.

Her Spiritual Nature should once have been very high, but it has been constantly dragged down by the Dao Injury from that Monster Path. To this day, Ning Zhuo is still waiting for the Big Snake Scythe to show some anomaly.

"So, counting it all up, this Spiritual Nature in front of me is probably the most advanced in its growth."

"Wait, am I forgetting something?"

Just now, within his Divine Sea, a strand of thought had flashed by; when he tried to catch it, it was already gone.

His gaze once again focused on the Spiritual Nature before his eyes.

Although it had been Cremated by him and personally created by his own hands, in Ning Zhuo’s eyes this Spiritual Nature seemed shrouded in a thick fog of mystery.

"That Nascent Soul came far too strangely!"

"And that Nascent Soul itself was very odd."

Ning Zhuo unconsciously lowered his head and looked at his Mechanical Ring.

"The Nascent Soul brought a deadly killing intent. If not for the Mechanical Ring, I’d probably have lost my life."

"Now that I’ve Cremated it, it counts as erasing the root, cutting off the source of that killing intent."

"But I have a feeling that this calamity has not been fully dispelled and will still come looking for me in the future."

This made Ning Zhuo frown slightly as he continued to evaluate.

"That Nascent Soul was already heavily injured before, on the verge of collapse. This shows that whatever harmed it was at least an existence of the same level."

"So if there’s a follow-up in the future, the opponents I’ll most likely face will be Nascent Soul Level experts? Or even those at the Peak of the Nascent Soul?"

"As for the Transforming Spirit Level..."

Ning Zhuo shook his head, feeling that possibility was not great.

As for above the Transforming Spirit Level, that possibility was even more remote.

Within the Cultivation World, most forces and organizations are basically headed by Nascent Soul Level figures. At most, some have a Transforming Spirit Level leader.

Even in as great a sect as the Myriad Images Sect, the Sect Leader, Peak Masters, and Hall Masters are all Nascent Soul Level, and some are even at the Golden Core Level.

Then there is the Wangchuan Underworld. The Lord of Wanchuan is at the Transforming Spirit Level, while the civil and military officials under him are mostly Nascent Soul and Golden Core.

They definitely have more Transforming Spirit Level figures, but these people often do not wield worldly authority.

As to why this is done, Ning Zhuo does not understand. He has read extensively and found this to be a universal phenomenon, as if an established convention.

Those with the Transforming Spirit Level as the ones in charge are in fact already rare.

In reality, such existences are often "dragon whose head is seen but tail unseen."

Void Refining Practitioners above Transforming Spirit are even more ethereal, basically existing only in legend.

Cultivation Level higher than that is even more rare!

Ning Zhuo knew that there must be a major reason behind such a structure. But his own level was too low right now; he could not yet access secrets of that tier.

He greatly underestimated the terrifying karmic entanglements behind that Demon and Confucian Dual-phase Nascent Soul.

Now, Yi Lin Hermit of the Myriad Images Sect already has his eyes on him. Yi Lin Hermit alone is a Transforming Spirit Level existence.

If he were truly discovered, the entire Myriad Images Sect, the Huazhang Country, and even the Demon Path would come to settle accounts with him and resolve this karma.

"I Cremated a Nascent Soul; even if its condition was extremely poor, it was still a Nascent Soul."

"Obtaining a mysterious Spiritual Nature at the Wisdom Spirit Stage, Spiritual Sense Stage, is reasonable."

"But does it have any Innate?"

"How should I design a Mechanical Body for it?"

Ning Zhuo did not understand this Spiritual Nature, and for a time he could not come up with a concrete direction.

Sun Lingtong and Qing Chi returned.

Qing Chi walked in front, her steps light. She held in her hands a palm-sized Jade Box, its body a jasper green with a faint Spirit Light flowing over it.

Her cheeks still glowed with an excited blush, sweat at her temples not yet dry, and the hem of her clothes was stained with a few scraps of Talisman Paper left on the trial field. At this moment, her whole mind was set on reporting her merits to Ning Zhuo.

Sun Lingtong followed behind her. In an apricot-yellow short jacket, his cheeks chubby, with a pair of large round eyes, their blacks and whites clearly defined. His hands were clasped behind his back, his short legs moving very fast, giving him the air of a little old man.

"Young Master, look at the reward from the minor trial." Qing Chi presented the treasure to Ning Zhuo.

Ning Zhuo wasn’t very familiar with the reward, but when he previously helped Qing Chi, Sun Lingtong had mentioned in passing that this reward was quite good.

Anything that caught his boss’s eye would naturally not be inferior.

For a moment, Ning Zhuo grew interested. He took the Jade Box and opened it for a look.

Ning Zhuo had originally thought that the reward inside this Jade Box would be related to Talisman, but unexpectedly it turned out to be three seeds.

Of these three seeds, one was gray-brown, one dark brown, and one deep brown. Their surfaces bore patterns like dust, like threads, or like networks. Beneath the seed shells, a faint Spirit Light could be seen flowing.

Ning Zhuo: "These are?"

Qing Chi hurriedly explained, "Young Master, these are three Talisman Seeds."