Knowledge Is Power

Gu Jinlai knew there was a problem.

The Heaven and Earth Universe Diagram was in the hands of the Demon Refining Hall. It was the foundation that allowed the Demon Refining Hall to recruit extraordinary talents from across the land.

It was not unheard of for errors in the description to result in discrepancies in the bestowed treasure, but such cases were rare.

Much less an error where asking for a Spirit Refining Method got him a Heavenly Master Spirit Refining Method instead.

But what could he do even if he knew there was a problem?

Zhang Xiu was in Spirit Refining, and he had three Core Forming disciples. He was even harder to deal with than Zhou Yunyi.

Moreover, he was one of the Demon Refining Hall's three hall masters and controlled its resource channels. Countless Core Forming cultivators wanted to curry favor with him.

A tiger fallen onto the plains was bullied by dogs.

And Zhang Xiu was no dog.

Changjun City was no longer safe to stay in.

Gu Jinlai quickly returned to the small courtyard and began packing. He intended to leave as soon as possible.

He looked at his own Karma.

Nothing had gone right for him lately. Nine times out of ten, it had something to do with Karma.

Different realms could suppress different amounts of Karma.

Given all the trouble he currently faced, if he were in the Spirit Refining realm, these things would hardly have happened at all.

It was because he had fallen back to Core Forming, and Core Forming could not suppress more than ten layers of Karma, that he felt every step was an uphill struggle.

Among Qi Refining, Gang Condensing, and Core Forming cultivators, few have Karma as red as blood. People like that generally turn to ashes beneath their tribulations. Spirit Refining, Spirit Transformation, and even Primordial Spirit cultivators, on the other hand, probably have mostly Bright Red or Dark Red Karma. Their strength is formidable; even when danger descends upon them, they can easily shatter it. Only when Karma piles up into black-red does the danger of answering a tribulation arise.

Gu Jinlai made his guess inwardly.

Spirit Refining!

Spirit Refining!

I must obtain a genuine Spirit Refining Method as soon as possible and return to Spirit Refining!

Gu Jinlai, who had been packing, suddenly paused.

The Heavenly Master Lineage refines Qi into Spirit Transformation. Let me see how much essence and vitality it would consume to restore my Spirit Refining cultivation. If it leaves my blood and qi depleted, forget it. But if it only takes a small price to reach Spirit Refining... it may not be impossible.

He sat down before the table and opened the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method.

"All things possess spirits, and humankind is the most spiritual of all things."

This was the opening line of the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method.

Mountains had mountain spirits, waters had water spirits, wood had wood spirits, and fire had fire spirits.

Even the white clouds in the heavens, lightning, wind, snow, rain, and frost possessed spirituality.

It was merely a matter of how much spirituality they possessed.

There were rumors that the Heavenly Master Lineage specialized in cultivating the Primordial Spirit, but that was not entirely accurate.

What Heavenly Masters cultivated was the soul.

The soul was an intangible substance, profound and impossible to describe. Ordinary people could scarcely touch it, which was why manifestations of the soul such as the Primordial Spirit and divine sense were known to the world.

The arts of the Heavenly Master Lineage killed Demonic Spirits through methods that struck directly at the soul.

However, the soul was a composite of thought, consciousness, flesh and blood, matter, and energy.

When Demonic Spirits transformed into Demonic Beasts, their souls merged as one with flesh and blood, matter, and energy. The Heavenly Master Lineage's secret soul arts retained less than one-tenth of their power and could no longer pose a fatal threat to Demonic Beasts.

In barely a century, the Heavenly Master Lineage had been eliminated by history.

Gu Jinlai continued reading the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method.

This visualization method had nine levels, with one refinement per level.

Seven refinements of the Great Sun allowed the soul to manifest and become a Primordial Spirit. After nine refinements, the Primordial Spirit would reach perfection and touch upon the path of the heavenly beings.

But this cultivation method...

Sure enough, it uses essence as firewood and qi as kindling, igniting the fire of spirituality. Then it uses spiritual fire to evolve a blazing great sun, tempering the mind just as fine steel is refined a hundred times over, forcibly purifying mental consciousness into divine sense.

Gu Jinlai sighed.

If he truly walked the path of the Heavenly Masters, he could only rely on artifact forging and beast taming to earn money.

He glanced at the artifact forging and beast taming sections of the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method.

"It actually contains forging methods for treasure artifacts and spirit artifacts?"

Gu Jinlai immediately turned his attention to the treasure artifact section.

If he could obtain a set of peerless treasure artifacts and then use clear light to max out the Formless Sword Qi, he might not be unable to wrestle with a Spirit Refining cultivator.

"Treasure sword forging method... Melt black iron, cold iron, and black-patterned copper to forge a sword blank... Visualize the composition and structure of a peerless treasure sword in the spiritual world. The clearer and more complete the structure, the better... Once the visualization is complete, use the treasure artifact formed through spiritual visualization, supplemented by spirituality, and inject it into the sword blank to awaken the blank's spirituality..."

Gu Jinlai froze when he read this. "Then the sword blank will grow by itself and transform into the appearance I visualized... The more detailed the visualization and the more spirituality injected, the faster its growth and transformation?"

After reading these descriptions of sword forging, he was stunned.

This was the Heavenly Masters' method of forging swords?

I provide the materials and point you in a direction, then you materials combine yourselves, transform yourselves, and grow into the shape I want?

This kind of forging method...

Was it really legitimate?

He turned to the beast taming section.

The beast taming section provided a detailed biological structural diagram for a creature called the "Battle Tyrannosaur."

A Heavenly Master would capture a velociraptor or a similar fierce beast, visualize the Tyrannosaur's biological structure, then inject that structure into the velociraptor through spirituality, guiding it to grow and transform into a Tyrannosaur.

And that was not all.

The Tyrannosaur fed on mineral deposits, turning its body metallic. In the end, it grew metal armor, claws, and talons as tough as treasure armor and treasure swords, evolving into a Battle Tyrannosaur.

A Battle Tyrannosaur more than ten meters long and weighing over ten tons charging across a battlefield...

It would be utterly unstoppable.

It could pierce through an army of ten thousand!

Gu Jinlai sucked in a cold breath.

"Though I didn't graduate from the biology department, I can accept a velociraptor becoming a Tyrannosaur. They can barely be considered the same species. But for flesh and blood to grow steel? Even Darwin's coffin lid wouldn't stay shut, would it?"

Gu Jinlai's emotions surged.

Although this world had always possessed legends of immortals who flew through the skies and burrowed into the earth, the circles Gu Jinlai had encountered...

Basically all belonged to martial artists.

Yes, martial artists!

Body Tempering, Organ Refining, and Blood Changing aside, even Qi Refining, Gang Condensing, and Core Forming barely counted as cultivation.

Even the divine sense produced by Spirit Refining only brushed against the supernatural.

But the appearance of Heavenly Masters and spirituality opened a door to the extraordinary for him.

He flipped the Great Sun Ninefold Refinement Visualization Method back to the first page.

"All things possess spirits; humankind is the most spiritual of all things."

"Through humanity sharing spirit, create and transform all things."

"The stronger one's own spirituality, and the greater the difference in spirituality between the two, the more pronounced one's influence over all things becomes when sharing spirit."

"Turn snakes into dragons, point at deer and call them horses, pluck grass into swords, turn stone into gold..."

Gu Jinlai's thoughts roiled beyond his control.

These methods might indeed be unworthy of mention in a direct battle, but the mysteries within them were practically the immortal arts of ancient legends.

From Core Forming to Spirit Refining was martial cultivation.

But from Core Forming to True Spirit was immortal cultivation.

Gu Jinlai's mind opened up.

Besides, Heavenly Masters might not be incapable of breaking formations and slaying enemies.

After living in this world for so long, with all kinds of dangers arriving one after another beneath the Karma Buff and leaving him too overwhelmed to look after himself, he had nearly forgotten that he was a man from Blue Star.

What was Blue Star's slogan!?

Practice produced true knowledge!

Knowledge...

Gu Jinlai raised his hand, spread his five fingers, then clenched them fiercely.

"Is power!"

Through humanity sharing spirit, create and transform all things.

He could fully use the alchemical arts of the Heavenly Master Lineage to forge gunpowder cannons, armored vehicles, and battle mechs, breaking formations and slaying enemies.

He would cultivate this Heavenly Master Method.