Spiritual Substance

Biodata

Power Progression

Characteristics

• Spiritual Substance emerges from the soul, initially appearing as mist-like threads that gather into a river within the body; it can alleviate exhaustion and be stored in suitable vessels such as Ji Jue's Wristwatch. 4
• It cannot appear or vanish without cause; apparent losses indicate that it has performed work and been converted. 32
• Spiritual Substance ultimately disperses after use and returns to the Present World's cycle, but its origin in a soul means it inevitably bears that soul's influence, qualities, and possible qualitative transformations. 300
• It can be drawn from Ji Jue and used to facilitate the fusion of materials. 32
• A Chosen One's Spiritual Substance gradually acquires qualities associated with their Supreme Goodness lineage. 52
• Embers-aligned Spiritual Substance specializes in adjusting and controlling material properties, while other lineages exhibit distinct traits, such as Ascension's rapid recovery, Celestial Origin's control, and Mirror's concealment. 52
• Pure Spiritual Substance can serve as a medium for alchemical construction without a physical vessel, though producing an independently existing construct this way is an advanced undertaking. 148
• Its purity, compatibility, and qualitative transformations affect its usefulness as an alchemical material. 300 563
• Under extreme purification, Spiritual Substance can approach the theoretical state of a Philosopher's Stone, though absolute purity cannot be achieved in practice. 300
• Residual or contaminated Spiritual Substance can retain memories, thoughts, obsessions, and other influences, allowing it to form abnormal phenomena or spread Spirit Plagues. 480 482
• Spiritual Substance can be restrained and sealed in matter through Solid Alchemy, including Sin-Corrupted Spiritual Substance extracted from a large-scale target. 304
• The loss of consciousness and selfhood can cause uncontrolled Spiritual Substance leakage; combined with lingering emotions, this leakage can become fertile ground for further abnormal phenomena and Secret Rites. 1081
• Spiritual Substance can be compressed and catalyzed to a density exceeding ordinary matter, allowing otherwise insubstantial attacks to pierce physical defenses. 487 1089
• Vast industrial electrical output can be converted into Spiritual Substance when supported by suitable alchemical systems and containment infrastructure. 1083
• Spiritual Substance may be cultivated into large-scale networks or “forests” of crystals connected by Spirit Essence Circuits, allowing it to serve as the basis for immense constructed environments. 1100

Manipulation

Material Enhancement

Spiritual Substance can alter and reinforce material properties through alchemical operations.

• Embers-aligned Spiritual Substance can enhance hardness, toughness, strength, and other physical properties. 52
• It can reinforce the user's own body, such as strengthening bones against fractures or hardening skin against attacks. 52
• Through Fluid Alchemy, the strengthening of Spiritual Substance can cause physical properties to converge and improve alongside the soul. 101
• It can be implanted into matter and anchored through Fluid and Solid Alchemy, allowing elevated spirituality and materiality to stabilize one another. 563
• With sufficient Spiritual Substance, material properties—including strength, hardness, toughness, rigidity, conductivity, and innate special traits—can be enhanced continuously and potentially maintained permanently. 472 551
• Embers-aligned Spiritual Substance can also cause uncontrolled fiendish mutation and materialization when injected into living targets without adequate control. 701
• Spiritual Substance and extracted Liquified Life can be used to re-temper a weapon, weakening accumulated murderous influence while directing the creation toward a new material and spiritual state. 1075

Spiritual Bestowal and Extraction

Spiritual Substance may grant, sustain, or remove a creation's spiritual response.

• Ji Jue can infuse an ordinary object with Spiritual Substance, allowing it to develop a spiritual response. 147
• A weak spiritual response can be destroyed by even slight fluctuations during extraction; preserving it requires precise control. 147
• Freely extracting and transferring the sentience created by Deus Ex Machina is considered beginner-level Spiritual Substance manipulation. 148
• A nurtured fragment of spirituality can react to the nature of injected Spiritual Substance and gradually grow into a divided spirit resembling its user. 668
• Spirituality bestowed by Deus Ex Machina can persist for years rather than naturally dissipating, provided it remains compatible with its vessel and receives a sustained supply of Spirit Essence. 665
• Gaseous Alchemy can implant Spiritual Substance into matter, forming a self-sustaining cycle in which spirituality elevates materiality and activated materiality stabilizes spirituality. 563
• A sufficiently stable implanted spirit can absorb free Spiritual Substance from its environment, accumulate, metamorphose, and develop into a Creation Spirit. 563
• Ye Xian's Spirit Essence Refinement ultimately allowed her to form herself as a pure Spiritual Substance creation, demonstrating the highest known level of independent spiritual construction. 1007
• Ji Jue reconstructed the Poison Heart Ring's exposed Spirit Essence Circuits and Blessings before merging its revised spiritual structure with a Nether Sea Worm and mercury to complete Isis's awakening. 1083

Storage and Recovery

Spiritual Substance can be stored externally rather than kept entirely within a Chosen One's soul.

• Mercury can be shaped into a Spirit Essence Cage for storing mechanical spirit essence and residual spirits. 181
• Ji Jue's Wristwatch can store a portion of his Spiritual Substance and replenish its displayed reserve as Spiritual Substance flows into it. 4
• Spirituality nurtured with a user's own Spiritual Substance can accept that user's essence without conflict, allowing immediate drawing and use. 668
• Once sufficiently developed, a spirit within such a vessel can slowly absorb Spiritual Substance from the air and recover independently. 668
• External reserves do not remove the limits of a user's input and output efficiency. 670
• Stolen or extracted Spiritual Substance can be preserved in mercury crystals for later analysis, tracking, or alchemical use. 1090

Tracking and Detection

Residual Spiritual Substance can provide a link to its source or former host when it remains attached to consciousness, memory, or spiritual structures.

• Aether-lineage perception can observe Spiritual Substance flow, lingering regrets, residual thoughts, and other minute traces that remain around people or objects. 491 1093
• The combination of Myriad Sensations Responding and Ever Present in Mind is commonly used by Artisans to create tracking-type items. 491 1093
• Spiritual Substance left within an enemy's consciousness can be deliberately disturbed to trigger backlash, revealing the approximate location of the connected target before the link is severed. 1093

Suppression and Environmental Control

Spiritual Substance can be controlled on an environmental scale through advanced alchemy.

• Solid Alchemy can isolate, extract, and seal Sin-Corrupted Spiritual Substance by using matter to restrict its flow. 304
• The Crown of Isis can create a near-vacuum of Spiritual Substance over a wide area, causing Spiritual Substance to flow naturally from high-density regions into the depleted zone. 483
• Such a vacuum can draw in and annihilate Spiritual Substance moths, infected creatures, and other abnormal Spiritual Substance phenomena. 483 495
• The Crown of Isis has also been used to purify the aberrant Spiritual Substance responsible for Dream Loss Syndrome across Haizhou. 482
• Large-scale suppression can disrupt equipment and Spiritual Substance-dependent constructs by abruptly depriving them of usable Spiritual Substance. 495
• Through Isis's Hand, Solid Alchemy can detect, extract, and seal aberrant Spiritual Substance across a city-scale area, including contamination hidden within infected people. 1084
• Mercury barriers and Spirit Essence Circuit cages can confine hostile spiritual entities, preventing their Spiritual Substance from escaping or spreading further influence. 1088
• At its expanded scale, the Crown of Isis can cut off not only incoming Spiritual Substance but also the souls, desires, and resentment carried by abnormal spiritual environments. 1097

Uses in Modern Alchemy

Limitations and Risks

• Maintaining self-enhancement through Spiritual Substance for too long is unsafe for a beginner; Lao Zhang advises Ji Jue to practice for no more than five minutes per day. 52
• Excessive or high-frequency use can deplete a Chosen One's Spiritual Substance, leaving them exhausted or completely overdrawn. 7
• Complex manipulation can cause Spiritual Substance to dissipate and escape the user's control, leaving the user exhausted. 106
• Some creations possess complex inherent spirituality, access restrictions, or Spirit Essence Circuits that can consume enormous quantities of Spiritual Substance without responding to the user. 32
• Recasting lingering spirits consumes excessive Spiritual Substance; if too much is depleted controlling a ferocious creation, lingering spirits can cause backlash. 150
• Excessive use of external spiritual reserves can drain the user dry during storage or overwhelm them while drawing upon the reserve. 670
• Artificial souls created with Spiritual Substance can be destroyed, manipulated, or destabilized by other lineages and hostile abilities. 349
• Spiritual Substance can carry contamination, residual memories, obsessions, and Sin Corruption, enabling Spirit Plagues and other abnormalities to spread through ordinary objects and living beings. 480
• Unconscious or selfless targets may leak enormous quantities of Spiritual Substance; lingering emotional residue can turn the resulting environment into a breeding ground for further spiritual abnormalities. 1081
• Spirit Essence Crystals contaminated by Great Evil can be saturated with extracted negative emotions and used to transmit psychological pollution through an existing Spiritual Substance connection. 1087
• Hostile constructs can infiltrate and parasitize a target's Spiritual Substance, potentially seizing control of it or turning it against its owner. 1006
• Some entities can drain Spiritual Substance without leaving detectable residue, making analysis, tracking, and direct countermeasures difficult. 1036 1037
• Extreme environmental depletion can disable or delay Spiritual Substance-dependent equipment indiscriminately, including allied constructs caught within a Crown of Isis vacuum. 495 1097

Related Concepts

• Spirit Essence Crystal — A condensed crystal forged from extracted spirit essence; an absolutely purified example is called a Philosopher's Stone in theory. 267 300
• Creation Spirit — A spirit associated with a crafted creation; some possess traits of both Creation Spirits and spirit-essence lifeforms. 563
• Seed of Spirituality — A weak, nurturable spiritual fragment that can develop according to the user's injected Spiritual Substance. 668
• Blessed Creation — Equipment that bears Blessings through materials and Spirit Essence Circuits, functioning as an external extension of a Chosen One's Matrix. 367
• Spirit Plague — An abnormal contagion that spreads through circulating Spiritual Substance and may arise from residual memories, thoughts, or obsessions. 480
• Dream Loss Syndrome — A Spirit Plague originating from the remnants of Myriad Phenomena Paradise and Hua Xu Jun's ancient dream ritual; it spreads through Spiritual Substance, resentment, and dreams. 1076 1084
• Philosopher's Stone — The theoretical ultimate of Spiritual Substance purification: a Spirit Essence Crystal free of all impurity, contamination, and acquired transformation. 300
• Crown of Isis — Isis's silver cloud form, used to purify, extract, and create large-scale vacuums of abnormal Spiritual Substance. 482 483 1084 1097
• Isis's Hand — An advanced application of Solid Alchemy used by the Crown of Isis to detect, remove, and seal aberrant Spiritual Substance. 1084
• Spirit Essence Hand — A specialized manifestation of Ji Jue's Spiritual Substance manipulation, created through the interaction of Miraculous Hands, Primacy of Spirit, and the Matrix of Non-Aggression. 179
• Spiritual Substance Forest — A large-scale network of Spiritual Substance crystals and Spirit Essence Circuits constructed to imitate the conditions of reality. 1100