Awakening Spirit Power

He needed to hurry home and wash up in his current state.

The moment he entered the house, Chen Lan, who was tending the medicinal garden in the small courtyard, was startled. "Brother, what happened to you? How did you end up such a mess?"

"This is the pocket money your brother earned for the family. Give it to Mother later and let her decide how to use it. I haven't bathed in days, so I'll go wash up first." After tossing two hundred taels of silver to Chen Lan, Chen Lin went to draw water from the well.

"So much silver? Brother, did you go hunting outside the city?" Chen Lan instinctively caught the silver, took one look, and immediately asked in shock.

"Mm. The Demon Slayer Envoy assessment is coming up soon. I went out to gain some experience and get used to it." Chen Lin carried the bathing tub and water bucket toward the room, answering carelessly.

"Brother, wait a moment. I'll heat some water for you. Well water is cold for bathing!" Chen Lan hurriedly tucked away the money and called after him.

"Alright. I'll rinse off simply first," Chen Lin replied.

Soaking in the bathing tub, Chen Lin felt the exhaustion of the past few days vanish completely amid the rising steam.

Resting his head against the edge of the tub, Chen Lin prepared to add points and see whether strengthening his soul would allow him to awaken spirit power.

The impression Lu Cheng had left on him that day was simply too profound.

Chen Lin opened the Slaughter Jade Book and looked at the number behind Slaughter Points in his personal data. A broad smile immediately spread across his face.

Though he had spent less than four days in the Two Realms Mountain Range, his gains had been considerable.

Not only had his strength improved by a great deal, but he had also gained 462 Slaughter Points.

He focused his thoughts on the translucent plus sign behind the Soul Strengthening Technique. As his thoughts shifted, the technique's level steadily rose—Level 2, Level 3, Level 4...

As its level climbed ever higher, the instant it reached Level 5, Chen Lin's head suddenly rang with a thunderous boom, and his entire soul trembled.

Then Chen Lin discovered in shock that his consciousness had appeared in a strange place.

The place was mysterious and boundless, filled with endless drifting clouds of colorful mist.

Within that mist, a golden lotus bud swayed and revolved endlessly in the sea of fog. As the golden lotus continuously spun, streams of colorful mist were absorbed into it, transformed into golden translucent liquid, then released beneath the lotus and gathered around it.

"Could this be my Sea of Consciousness? If it is, then this golden lotus and the golden liquid around it... are they spirit power?"

After forming a rough guess, Chen Lin willed himself out of it.

In the quiet bedroom, Chen Lin slowly opened his eyes.

His gaze swept over the room. The tiny wormholes in the table were astonishingly clear, while the clamor from the street and conversations from nearby households all reached his ears with perfect clarity.

"What's going on? Why have everyone's voices suddenly become so loud?" Chen Lin frowned and could not help complaining. Then his eyes widened. "No, it's not that their voices have gotten louder. My hearing has improved—or rather, all five of my senses have strengthened." Staring at the clearly visible dust on the rafters, Chen Lin muttered to himself.

Chen Lin stepped out of the tub, wiping his body as he carefully sensed the changes.

When his eyes fell upon the water bucket beside the tub, a thought crossed his mind. At once, an invisible force controlled the bucket and slowly lifted it into the air.

This invisible force could not be seen with the naked eye, nor could it be detected.

Yet Chen Lin himself could clearly feel it.

Because that invisible force was power extending from his mind in an instant.

"This is spirit power!" Chen Lin's heart raced with excitement. His assumption had been correct—so long as he raised the Soul Strengthening Technique, he could awaken spirit power and become a Spirit Master.

Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Chen Lin kept changing the bucket's height, carefully sensing the characteristics of spirit power.

He felt that this invisible force was wondrous, like a pair of invisible hands that could stretch and move as freely as he pleased.

"Whoosh."

With a turn of his thoughts, the water bucket began dancing in midair beneath the bright sky.

Up and down, left and right, spinning and leaping—it made Chen Lin's eyes shine.

When his gaze shifted to the table nearby, the solid wooden table, weighing more than fifty jin, also floated into the air.

Feeling that he still had strength to spare, Chen Lin immediately looked at the bathing tub, the wardrobe in the distance, the wooden bed, the stool...

Wherever Chen Lin looked, the furniture in the room rose from the ground one after another, hovering in midair like ghosts.

"With all this stuff, there must be over a thousand jin here. Yet controlling it doesn't feel strenuous at all. This is truly inconceivable!"

Delighted, Chen Lin set the floating furniture back onto the floor, then turned eager eyes toward the Deep Blue Sword on the table.

Clang!

With a thought from Chen Lin, the sword instantly flew out of its sheath.

As Chen Lin's thoughts shifted, the sword moved like a remote-controlled aircraft, performing one unbelievable maneuver after another under his control.

While controlling the flying sword as it danced through the air, Chen Lin also used his spirit power to try putting on his clothes.

His heart could not calm for a long while. Have I stepped onto the path of a Sword Immortal? Flying on a sword, taking someone's head from a thousand miles away—this is simply too thrilling! Who could possibly be my opponent from now on?

Others practiced martial arts while he cultivated immortality. Others cultivated while he added points. This was simply too satisfying.

The next time he went to the Two Realms Mountain Range, he would not end up as bedraggled as before.

With his mysterious power to control objects from afar and sharp weapons, he could completely kill prey from a distance and harvest Slaughter Points.

"I wonder what level my spirit power is at now. It seems I'll need to find a chance to speak with the Head Instructor of the War God Temple." Chen Lin thought to himself.

Chen Lin knew very little about Spirit Masters.

He only knew that Spirit Masters were also formidable martial artists. While cultivating martial arts, they also cultivated spirit power.

Although cultivating both required far more time than specializing in martial arts alone, spirit power allowed them to draw in spiritual energy, so their progress was not much slower than that of martial artists who focused solely on martial arts.

Some exceptionally gifted people even progressed several times faster than martial artists who specialized in martial arts, because their powerful spirit power allowed them to draw in spiritual energy over a sufficiently vast range.

It made many people sigh that Spirit Masters were the chosen children of heaven.

Of course, Chen Lin did not think himself invincible merely because he had awakened spirit power.

After all, while people who awakened spirit power were few in this world, they were not nonexistent. Even a powerful Spirit Master like the Head Instructor of Nanqing City's War God Temple was merely the person in charge of one city branch and was not even considered part of the headquarters.

Chen Lin truly could not imagine just how powerful Xiang Yuntian and Feng Qiyuan, the two martial artists said to be the strongest on the Xuantian Continent and capable of making countless factions bow their heads, must be.

"With my current strength, I probably can't even catch a glimpse of them." Chen Lin silently reminded himself that although his strength had improved immensely, there were still many powerful people in this world. He could not look down on everyone under heaven.

Of course, though Chen Lin warned himself of this, he did not entirely underestimate his own strength either.

At the very least, with his current strength, he could let his family live carefree lives and settle some of the disgusting troubles that had clung to the previous owner of this body like a shadow.

"Work hard. I've only just turned eighteen, and the days ahead are still long. Before long, I'll enter the ranks of the top experts in the Nine Provinces. Then no one will dare set their wicked thoughts on me again." Determination gleamed in Chen Lin's eyes.

Duan Xingze's actions that day had truly disgusted him. If not for concerns over his family's safety, Chen Lin would definitely have killed that bastard on the spot and left Nanqing City.

With his golden finger, he could easily lie low in the wilderness for a year or two before moving to another city to live. There would have been no problem at all.

But those were merely thoughts born from Chen Lin's anger. If it truly came down to it, he would not choose to do that.

After all, upon transmigrating into this world, he had not only taken over someone else's body, but had also received much care and concern from that person's family.

He was not cold-blooded. How could he possibly feel no attachment at all?