Zhong Yue seemed to sense a change in his sea of consciousness and wanted to open his eyes, while the Suihuang Visualization he had formed with his spirit was also trembling, liable to collapse at any moment.
"Don't get distracted!"
The Kindling Child shouted, "If you get distracted, all your previous efforts will be wasted and your spirit will be damaged. It'll be even harder to completely visualize the Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang Visualization afterward! You have to strike while the iron is hot and finish this cultivation session!"
Zhong Yue reined in his thoughts and focused completely. The Fire Epoch Palace, the Fire Tree, and Suihuang stopped trembling as well, instead becoming more and more complete and stable.
After a long while, Zhong Yue felt his spirit completely exhausted. He opened his eyes and stared incredulously at the resplendent Fire Epoch Palace around him, then lowered his head to look at himself, even more unable to believe it!
"Don't be surprised. This is a scene you visualized with your spirit. It only exists in your sea of consciousness, and what it consumed was your spirit—but what it tempered was your soul."
The Kindling Child stood proudly on his shoulder and said, "The Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang Visualization is nothing like that rustic cultivation method you practiced before. Your rustic cultivation method is barely useful for refining the soul, and does nothing at all to temper the spirit. But the Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang Visualization I taught you can refine the soul and temper the spirit, making your spirit stronger each time!"
Zhong Yue was just about to rise and walk out of the Fire Epoch Palace to look at the scenery outside when he suddenly heard a loud crash. The Fire Epoch Palace collapsed, the Fire Tree melted away, and even the Suihuang body he had condensed dissolved with them, revealing the true form of his soul.
"What's this?" Zhong Yue was somewhat confused.
"If you walk out of the Fire Epoch Palace, your soul will be leaving your body."
The Kindling Child laughed. "The Fire Epoch Palace and the Sword Gate both represent a doorway. Within the doorway is your body, while beyond the doorway is outside your body. Whether you step out of the Fire Epoch Palace or the Sword Gate, it is soul egress. You've only just come into contact with the Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang Visualization, so being able to reach this step is already quite good."
"Really?" Zhong Yue's eyes lit up, and he rejoiced.
The Kindling Child's expression immediately turned stern again. With his hands clasped behind his back, he paced across Zhong Yue's soul's shoulder and sneered, "Descendant of Fuxi, don't get conceited. You're still far inferior to a pureblood Kindling inheritor. A pureblood Kindling inheritor only needs one glance to visualize the entire visualization completely, while you've only visualized its general outline. You still need to keep cultivating!"
Zhong Yue, however, took it in stride and laughed. "The pureblood Divine Clan is that powerful? But they're a Divine Clan, while I'm of the Human race. It's only natural that I can't compare with them. Diligence can make up for lack of aptitude. I'll cultivate harder—I refuse to believe I'll be worse than them."
The Kindling Child's face fell, and he muttered inwardly, "Diligence can make up for lack of aptitude? Your comprehension is higher than everyone else's, and you're more diligent than everyone else too. How are the others supposed to live?"
Among generation after generation of Kindling inheritors, Zhong Yue's comprehension could only be considered ordinary. However, every single one of the inheritors the Kindling Child had experienced had been pureblood members of the Fuxi Divine Clan!
That Zhong Yue had managed to reach this step had already greatly surprised the Kindling Child.
"Your spirit is too weak. A single visualization exhausted it completely, so you need to rest for a while. After practicing the Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang Visualization a few more times, your spirit will grow stronger and stronger. Once you can manifest your spirit so that it becomes visible to the eye, you'll have achieved minor success." The Kindling Child looked at his sea of consciousness and saw that the sea, which was more than ten zhang across, had already run dry. He smiled.
Zhong Yue was stunned. "Manifest my spirit so that it becomes visible to the eye, and that's only minor success? That's something only qi refiners can accomplish. Can I really do it?"
Suddenly, he felt dizzy and drowsy. His eyelids closed of their own accord, and he fell into a deep sleep. Indeed, that single visualization had consumed too much of his spirit.
The Kindling Child also left his sea of consciousness and returned to the broken lamp. Black miasma surged around them, and massive sounds continuously rang out. The tiny child, only the size of a finger, looked at the sleeping Zhong Yue, then at the black miasma, a lost look appearing on his face. "How long did I sleep, exactly? Why did the Fuxi Divine Clan of the past become like this? What happened during that time? And what are those things in the black miasma... This little Divine Clan says it's now the Human Emperor Era. What kind of era is the Human Emperor Era..."
Within Zhong Yue's sea of consciousness, his spirit was born endlessly like a trickling stream, gradually filling the sea of consciousness.
Several hours later, Zhong Yue awoke. After meditating slightly, he immediately entered his sea of consciousness, and joy rose in his heart. The sea of consciousness, which had originally been only a dozen zhang across, was now nearly half again as large—more than twenty zhang across!
He had to know that it had taken him several years of practicing the Sword Gate Soul Egress Visualization to form a sea of consciousness more than ten zhang across. Yet after cultivating the Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang Visualization only once, his spirit had actually become half again as strong!
"How powerful is this visualization method? Just what is the Kindling Child's origin?"
He steadied his mind and visualized the Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang again. Since his spirit was more than twice as strong as before, visualizing the Fire Epoch Palace, Suihuang, and the Fire Tree was much easier this time.
After a moment, Zhong Yue's soul opened its eyes. The Fire Epoch Palace formed from his spirit was far more stable than before. Although this visualization had consumed a great deal of spirit, nearly half of it still remained for him to squander.
"There's still so much spirit left in my sea of consciousness. It should be enough to support me in walking out of the Fire Epoch Palace, right?"
Zhong Yue's heart pounded twice. In six years of cultivation, he had never managed to achieve soul egress. Yet now, after practicing the Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang Visualization only twice, he felt confident that he could accomplish it.
Within the Fire Epoch Palace, the Suihuang formed from Zhong Yue's soul moved his feet and walked toward the outside of the Fire Epoch Palace!
As his feet moved, his spirit was rapidly consumed. One step, two steps, three steps—the sea of spirit in his sea of consciousness swiftly receded!
When he took the ninth step, Zhong Yue had already reached the entrance of the Fire Epoch Palace, with half a foot about to cross out of this divine palace. At that moment, his spirit was already nearly exhausted.
Finally, his ninth step fully crossed out, and at the same time, his sea of consciousness was completely drained!
Boom!
A world-shaking roar exploded beside his ears, like spring thunder racing across the heavens and exploding, deafening and soul-shaking. The world spun before Zhong Yue's eyes, and all of a sudden, it seemed as if he had stepped into an entirely new world!
At this moment, his soul had actually walked out of his body and was standing before him!
Soul egress.
Zhong Yue's mind surged with emotion. He had finally achieved soul egress!
He had entered the Sword Gate at the age of nine, and six years had passed since then. After six years of painstaking cultivation—working a hundred times harder than others and never yielding despite countless setbacks—he had still failed to achieve egress. Yet now, after cultivating the Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang Visualization for only a few short hours, he had actually done it!
Zhong Yue was both shocked and delighted. He wanted nothing more than to laugh and cry out loud, giving full vent to the joy in his heart.
Flames drifted through the air. The Kindling Child flew out of the Bronze Lamp and faced Zhong Yue. Only after flying out of his body this time did Zhong Yue realize how tiny his own soul was—it was actually about the same size as the Kindling Child.
The two tiny figures stared at each other, then suddenly burst out laughing together.
"Now that you've achieved egress, you've merely taken the first step. You're still some distance away from becoming a qi refiner."
The Kindling Child looked him up and down and said, "The egress realm is far too lowly. Your soul is still very weak. You can't even perform Soul Sacrifice, much less sense the spirit."
"Soul Sacrifice?"
Zhong Yue's soul returned to his body. He felt dizzy and light-headed, a side effect of his spirit being completely exhausted. Forcing down his desire to fall asleep, Zhong Yue said, "Among the fifty thousand Outer Disciples of my Sword Gate, fewer than a thousand can perform Soul Sacrifice. How could Soul Sacrifice be something that can be accomplished so easily?"
As he spoke, he suddenly felt that his spirit had recovered slightly. However, the recovery was much slower than after a good sleep. If he wanted to recover his spirit quickly, he still needed to sleep deeply.
Soul Sacrifice was another realm. After achieving soul egress, one could attach the soul to an object and offer it up, making the object rise and fly. But Soul Sacrifice required an extremely powerful soul and was not something that could be accomplished easily.
Those capable of performing Soul Sacrifice were all outstanding figures among the Outer Disciples!
"Is Soul Sacrifice that difficult?"
The Kindling Child landed on his shoulder, puzzled. "The next time you visualize, you can try performing Soul Sacrifice."
Zhong Yue's eyelids grew heavier and heavier. He murmured, "How could it be so soon..."
When he awoke again, he immediately inspected his sea of consciousness. He saw that it had grown a little larger yet again, and he was both shocked and delighted. "Perhaps I really can try Soul Sacrifice this time... Huh? Why have I lost so much weight?"
He lowered his head and saw that in the short span of two or three days, he had become drastically thinner, reduced to skin and bones. His heart jolted in alarm. Although Zhong Yue was only fifteen, his physical constitution ranked among the very best of the tens of thousands of Outer Disciples in the Sword Gate. He was one of the few Outer Disciples who cultivated martial arts.
Martial arts were not important to qi refiners. It was rare to hear of a qi refiner who cultivated martial arts and achieved great accomplishments, so the Sword Gate was not enthusiastic about martial arts.
The Sword Gate mainly cultivated sword qi. One first comprehended the spirit, then borrowed the spirit to cultivate sword qi. Even ordinary qi refiners of the Sword Gate could make sword qi tread the void; their three-foot sword qi was indestructible. However, the Sword Gate was ultimately a Holy Land with a long history, so it had some martial arts inheritances as well, and it did not forbid Outer Disciples from cultivating them.
The martial arts technique Zhong Yue had obtained among the Outer Disciples was called the Dragon Totem Body Coiling Art. It was also a visualization method, originating from a tribe of the Human race that worshiped dragons as its totem. By visualizing a vicious dragon coiling around his body, one could strengthen the physique, making every movement seem to carry a dragon's aid and granting immense strength.
After cultivating it until now, Zhong Yue's physique was several times stronger than that of ordinary Outer Disciples. The reason he painstakingly cultivated this martial arts technique was also that he came from poverty and often had to descend the mountain to search for medicinal herbs and refine pills to improve himself. He needed a means of protecting his life.
The Dragon Totem Body Coiling Art had also allowed him to escape death several times when he encountered ferocious beasts, leaving only scars across his body without costing him his life.
Yet in only two or three days, the healthy body he had forged through painstakingly cultivating the martial arts technique had withered away in an instant, leaving Zhong Yue somewhat unable to accept it.
Although his body had become thinner, Zhong Yue did not feel any weaker. His strength was still there.
"Cultivating the Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang Visualization requires a massive amount of energy. The muscles in your body were consumed by your two visualizations."
The Kindling Child explained, "Your body is considered fairly strong. You must have a body-tempering technique, right? You did very well. The body, spirit, and soul support one another. If you want great accomplishments, you must have a good body! If your body had been even slightly weaker, your first visualization of the Fire Epoch Palace Suihuang would have starved you to death."
Zhong Yue was startled. He blurted out, "People can die cultivating this technique?"
"Of course. The spirit and body are connected. When the body is powerful, the spirit will become stronger as well. Consuming spirit also consumes the energy within the body. Visualizing consumes the spirit, and at the same time, it consumes the energy within the body. If the body is even a little weak, you'll absolutely starve to death."
The Kindling Child laughed. "Fortunately, your foundation is decent enough to withstand two visualizations. But if you visualize a third time, I'm afraid you'll become nothing but a skeleton. For now, you have to eat. You need to eat a lot—not only until you're full, but until you're well fed. It would be best if you stopped eating ordinary grains and ate only miraculous pills and panaceas. Otherwise, your body will be hollowed out!"
Before you continue