I Traveled to Douluo and Split into Five People

"What's there to hesitate over? There are three of us. I have Blue Silver Grass and the Clear Sky Hammer, you have the Clear Sky Hammer and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, and he has the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda and Blue Silver Grass. Perfect. As for whether it'll be easy to explain to Ning Fengzhi, you're just a child—what could you possibly explain? Besides, if a Clear Sky Hammer appears in someone surnamed Ning, he'll probably be thrilled beyond measure."

That was true enough.

Martial Soul bloodlines could not be faked. Ning Fengzhi would not suspect whether Ning Yulin was truly his son. He would only speculate whether the mother's side possessed the Clear Sky Hammer bloodline.

"Wait!"

Zhou Xuefeng suddenly said.

"Say, if I go straight to the Seven Treasure Shop and display the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda Martial Soul, could I enter the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect?!"

"Do you even need to ask? Of course you could!"

Ning Yulin stared straight at Zhou Xuefeng.

"In fact, if you showed your Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul, then as someone with Twin Martial Souls, even if you only appeared to have level-two Innate Soul Power, your status would probably surpass Rongrong's before she was born! It's just..."

"In that case, if I enter the Seven Treasures Sect, Ning Fengzhi will probably demand that I cultivate Blue Silver Grass first, then later attach high-year Spirit Rings to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda to see whether its limitations can be broken."

Zhou Xuefeng finished the latter half of the thought himself and pondered for a moment.

"Then let's do this. I'll go to the Seven Treasure Shop and give it a try after I attach my first Spirit Ring to the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda."

The four waited for a while, but Yu Tianrui did not appear, so they each dispersed.

Ning Yulin lay awake, turning over to gaze at the round moon beyond the window and hoping that everything would go smoothly.

After Spirit Hall opened its library, An Lan began searching for information on lightning-attribute abilities instead.

"Rather than choosing a Sub-Dragon Spirit Beast along the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon route, the Thunderous Nether Vine is probably the most suitable Spirit Ring for Blue Lightning. It has the ability to cultivate by absorbing the power of lightning."

Tang Yin slept for a while, then got up to continue practicing with the hammer. With the spiritual support of five people, he could correspondingly shorten his sleeping time.

Yu Tianrui was cultivating the Essence of Qi Method. He felt the same as An Lan: his Martial Soul's attribute abilities had improved, and he immersed himself in it wholeheartedly.

The next day, after waking up, Zhou Xuefeng continued wandering through the city.

Yet he still could not find anywhere willing to take him in. Even when he offered to wash dishes at restaurants, no one wanted him; their staffing was full.

"Ah, big cities have the prosperity of big cities, while small cities have the romance of small cities."

Unable to find a way to survive in the city, Zhou Xuefeng sighed and prepared to leave. Using the twenty-odd Copper Soul Coins gifted by the village chief, he bought several knives, rope, and a Core Flame, then headed into the wilderness to settle down.

Several days later, in the mountains outside the city.

Zhou Xuefeng looked at the crude little wooden hut before him, filled with a sense of accomplishment.

"For the next half year, this will be my shelter."

After possessing the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul, he possessed strength no weaker than that of an ordinary adult. Felling trees, chopping firewood, and building a small hut took no effort at all. After switching to the Golden Feather Luan Bird, he could roast things with fire and eliminate pests, ensuring his safety.

"Thanks, Ed Stafford and Bear Grylls."

After thinking for a moment, Zhou Xuefeng suddenly picked up a piece of wood and began carving it. Before his Martial Soul awakening, he had said that if he awakened a Martial Soul capable of cultivation, he would properly worship the gods he had prayed to before.

"Blue Silver Grass is herbaceous and belongs to wood. So, should I worship Eastern Azure Emperor Taihao?"

"Though it seems like it should be Fuxi."

He carved the wooden plaque into a simple divine tablet and placed it in the center of the hut, silently paying his respects. Cultivating alone in the wilderness for too long could easily cause mental problems. Having some way to divert his attention was not bad either.

"Azure Emperor, I don't know whether you can receive my offerings of incense. Please bless me. Please bless me."

Cultivation

After getting everything settled, several more days passed.

Hunting, gathering reserve food, and so on—although Zhou Xuefeng's hunting methods were extremely crude, once he activated the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Martial Soul and Golden Feather Luan Bird Martial Soul, dealing with beasts somewhat stronger than ordinary animals posed no difficulty whatsoever.

Only after confirming that he would not need to worry about food for some time did he turn his attention back to cultivation.

"They praised it so highly. Is it really that mystical? The Essence of Qi Method..."

He raised his eyes to check the sky. It was already somewhat late, past the cultivation time stated in the formula.

"Tomorrow, then."

He went to sleep.

The following day, at noon.

Zhou Xuefeng recalled the contents of the formula that everyone had reproduced.

(Do not imitate the following actions.)

The supreme essential formula: those who use the true Way shall have lifespans equal to Heaven and Earth. Humans naturally possess six kinds of guiding techniques, yet do not know blowing, exhaling, hissing, swallowing, breathing, and laughing. Blowing removes...

The spirit stands through qi, and qi endures through the spirit. Spirit and qi nourish each other.

Qi Method.

In a room one zhang square, open a small window. At noon each day, eat one's fill of white food, moderate flavors, and make qi easy to circulate. When midnight arrives, strike the teeth together twice seven times.

"Open a window in a room about one zhang square. At noon... eat one's fill of white food, moderate flavors—does that mean vegetarian food? Make the breath easier to circulate. After an hour, knock the upper and lower teeth together fourteen times? Is that simulating swallowing? And after that..."

Also known as the warming qi method: rub both hands together, rub the face, body, hands, and feet, known as dry bathing.

Use both hands to gather the hair at the crown. Once finished, sit properly, rise in comparison, swallow it down to the qi sea; either gather once and swallow once, or gather twice and swallow once.

"..."

Zhou felt speechless, but he still practiced as instructed first.

At midnight, it was time for the Qi Regulation Method.

After midnight, lie flat with a level pillow, stretch out the head and feet, keeping the feet one chi apart. Then...

Once the Qi Method and Qi Regulation Method were proficient, it was time for the Solar Term Method. First close the mouth, silently observe the outer breath entering through the nose, imagine the incoming breath dividing, and when the breath reaches its limit, let it pass from the spleen...

After that came the Assisted Guiding Breath-Swallowing Method and the Guiding New Epoch Secret Formula. They were beginning to feel somewhat like immortal cultivation.

After practicing continuously for half a month, he truly felt quite good.

His body, which had suffered long-term malnutrition as a slave in the Duke's Mansion, seemed to have improved despite the lack of tonics and an unbalanced diet. His spirit was whole, his qi abundant, and he had strength whether sitting or lying down.

He did not feel any particularly obvious improvement in his attribute power, though. Zhou Xuefeng was cultivating Blue Silver Grass.

The hills around the wooden hut were covered in Blue Silver Grass, making them the most suitable Mimicry Training Environment for the Blue Silver Grass Martial Soul. Cultivating other Martial Souls here would yield half the result with twice the effort.

"The me at Spirit Hall estimated correctly. At our current rate, we should be able to obtain our first Spirit Rings in seven or eight months."

"By then, winter will already be here. I need to prepare some winter clothes."

Perfect timing. Since he needed to eat vegetarian food, he could take the beast meat he had stockpiled into the city and sell it for money.

The shopkeeper drove the price down very low.

"Kid, let me put it plainly. Your dried meat wasn't processed well, and it's been sitting for a while. Besides, our restaurant has fixed suppliers. We can't offer a very good price to independent sellers like you."

The man had made himself perfectly clear, and Zhou Xuefeng had no complaints.

"Then what price would you offer for fresh beast meat?"

"You're not very big, but you sure have high aspirations." The manager of the back kitchen was surprised by the little brat's tone and gave him a direct answer. "For meat that's no more than two hours old, I'll pay you five times as much. If it's Spirit Beast meat, ten times!"

Where am I supposed to hunt Spirit Beasts?

There was also a Soul Hunting Forest within the Star Luo Empire for low-level Spirit Masters, but it was very far from Moon Sea City.

"Thank you."

After taking the money, he replenished his supplies and returned to the wooden hut.

He continued cultivating.

"Neither pleased by external gains nor saddened by personal losses! I'm a cultivation machine without feelings!"

Facing sleep, Zhou Xuefeng tried to hypnotize himself.

Spirit Hall Library.

"Do I also need to attach a Spirit Ring with a flight Spirit Skill before I can fly?"

An Lan had originally been studying the directions others chose for their Spirit Skills when this question suddenly occurred to him. It felt incredibly strange that avian Martial Souls needed to attach a flight skill before they could fly.

"The avian Martial Souls in the original work..."

The one that left the deepest impression was naturally the Courtesan Phoenix. Its Third Spirit Skill was a dedicated flight ability called Phoenix Nirvana. Bai Chenxiang's Point-tailed Swift also had flight as its Third Spirit Skill.

"Shui Bing'er seems unable to fly either."

The famous Ice Phoenix had been made into a control-type Martial Soul, which was one thing, but it also seemed unable to fly without using a Martial Soul Fusion Skill. That was rather disappointing.

"Something doesn't seem right. Shui Bing'er's Martial Soul registration name during the Spirit Master Tournament seemed to be... Condensing Water Flying Luan?"

"Is her Martial Soul actually an Ice Phoenix or not?"

Scratching his head, An Lan realized that after so much time, all he remembered about Shui Bing'er were her thighs in mismatched long socks, her lovestruck younger sister, and, regarding her Martial Soul, an instant-cast ice seal and an Ice Ring of Resistance.

"It feels just as strange as Tang San's Blue Silver Grass needing an Entanglement Spirit Ring for an avian Martial Soul to need a Spirit Ring before it can fly."

"I should ask a teacher."

As a native resident of Spirit City, although An Lan possessed only level-two Innate Soul Power, his Martial Soul appeared quite powerful.

He enrolled in Spirit Hall Academy.

He did not see the later trio of the Golden Generation. He guessed they had not awakened their Martial Souls yet. Otherwise, the news of that little fox being accepted as Bibi Dong's disciple should have caused quite a stir.

Of course, Bibi Dong might have accepted her disciple in secret. An Lan's current status did not grant him access to such information.

He found a teacher from the beginner class and asked his question.

"Teacher, I've looked through a great deal of material in the library. Why do most Spirit Masters with avian Martial Souls need to acquire a Spirit Skill related to flight before they can fly? For birds, isn't flying an instinct?"

"Many people have had similar doubts about this question."

The teacher did not ridicule what appeared to be common knowledge. Instead, he patiently guided him.

"Do you know the difference between Beast Spirits and Tool Spirits?"

"I do." An Lan nodded. "Beast Spirits mostly need to rely on the Spirit Master's own body to exist, and their abilities need to be displayed through possession. Tool Spirits are mostly handheld implements that can be used after leaving the hand. Beast Spirits focus on a Spirit Master's physique, while Tool Spirits focus on a Spirit Master's spiritual power."

"It seems you know quite a bit."

The teacher smiled.

"Martial Soul, Martial Soul—the key lies in the word soul. The soul of spirit, the soul of bloodline. Although whether Tool Spirits or Beast Spirits, most can be traced to a concrete reflection, they are ultimately different existences from what they reflect. For example, a Beast Spirit Master's Martial Soul Avatar at level seventy. It looks no different from a Spirit Beast while active, doesn't it? But is it a real Spirit Beast? Of course not..."

"I don't know the details either. After all, I haven't cultivated a Martial Soul Avatar yet. However, based on my inference, Soul Power is the key to everything. As for being unable to fly before obtaining a flight Spirit Skill, I suspect it may be related to the quality and control of Soul Power. Possess your Martial Soul."

An Lan thought of something, but still followed the teacher's request and possessed his Martial Soul.

"Try drawing your Martial Soul wings together in front of you."

Following the instruction, a pair of faintly golden, somewhat illusory wings crossed and folded together before An Lan.

Soul Power

"Look carefully. What do you think?"

After pondering for a moment, An Lan seemed to understand.

"Teacher, do you mean they aren't solid enough?"

The teacher nodded approvingly.

"That's right. They aren't solid enough—form without substance. When you have the chance, observe avian Martial Soul Spirit Masters with more than three Spirit Rings and see the difference between their wings and yours."

"Thank you, Teacher."

These answers were at least somewhat helpful. An Lan thanked him and turned to leave. The teacher shook his head and continued with his own work. If An Lan's Soul Power had been above level five, he absolutely would not have advised him to try things unrelated to cultivation. But with only level-two Soul Power, unless he encountered some great opportunity, even breaking through to Soul Ancestor would be considered good fortune. Once there was no road left in cultivation, he could slowly study such things.

Suddenly, the teacher muttered something to himself.