The Origin of Cultivators

Black Fiend was locked inside a cage, standing upright like a human with its paws resting on the wire mesh. Its eyes stared fearfully at the two figures outside—or more accurately, one person and one ghost.

"What... what are you going to do?!"

"Release me at once! Otherwise, I'll call my underlings!"

Though Black Fiend spoke fiercely and even bared its teeth, its tiny fluffy body and little fangs had no intimidating presence whatsoever. Especially now, when it was trembling all over and putting on a fierce front to hide its fear, it only looked even cuter.

"It... seems to be able to see me!" Chen Jin studied Black Fiend with rare curiosity. There were not many things capable of arousing her interest.

"Cats can see things people can't!" Fang Xiu said, then immediately felt that something was off. This cat had apparently been unable to see Chen Jin before.

Fang Xiu looked at it curiously. This was a magical creature he had created—a legendary monster. "What's your name?"

The black cat gave Fang Xiu a proud glance. "This king is called Black Fiend!"

Fang Xiu nodded. "How did you gather so many cats? And how did you control the cat pack?"

Black Fiend answered without hesitation, "It's called King's Summoning. Because I am a born king, and everyone must obey my commands."

With Clock Eye activated, Fang Xiu carefully examined Black Fiend and discovered that its soul structure had undergone some marvelous changes since he had created it. It was as though, when the artificial soul merged with the cat's body, it had integrated the cat's memories and produced a strange soul sigil.

Fang Xiu clenched his right hand into a fist and struck his left palm, suddenly understanding something. The soul he had created was vastly different from innate souls, and also vastly different from the ordinary souls mentioned in the Otherworld Broadcast.

It possessed an extraordinarily complex structure from birth. Though it was extremely weak in terms of power and could not compare with the other world, it could carry memories and exist independently while only at the so-called Tier-1 formal Professionals stage.

"According to the Otherworld Broadcast, only when Professionals reach Tier 4 and open a mana space do their souls undergo earth-shaking changes, becoming capable of carrying memories and constructing magic or witchcraft within the mana space."

"But the souls I created, with a structure similar to the Three Souls Seven Spirits, can carry memories at Tier 1. That means that at Tier 1, spells can be constructed directly within the soul."

Fang Xiu was somewhat excited. If so, he might even be able to find his own path to constructing spells from the three remaining extraordinary items in his collection.

Fang Xiu opened the cage, grabbed Black Fiend in his hand, and gave it several vigorous rubs. Black Fiend immediately began meowing loudly.

"Hahaha, it actually feels pretty good!"

Fang Xiu raised Black Fiend with both hands and carefully studied its soul through its eyes. In the end, he nodded with certainty. "It seems that when you fused with those memories, you gained a soul-related ability—or rather, a spell for summoning cats, communicating with them, and controlling them."

Fang Xiu stretched out his hand, and the power of Soul Domination immediately entered Black Fiend's soul. In an instant, Black Fiend felt its body, soul, thoughts, and memories freeze. That terrifying aura suppressed everything about it, rendering it completely unable to move. The power circled around its soul once before dissipating.

"All right, Black Fiend. From now on, I'm your master. This is your home, so don't run around!"

"If you dare run away even once, I'll erase the innate spell in your soul, then skin you, pull out your tendons, and stew you!"

"Don't think I won't be able to find you. Your soul light is so strong that I could see you from half a city away."

Fang Xiu coldly glared at Black Fiend. Black Fiend, which had been planning to flee the moment it touched the ground, felt a chill run down its spine and immediately wilted. It obediently curled up beneath the leg of the sofa.

Chen Jin watched it curiously. Girls always had a particular fondness and curiosity for little animals, but the proud Black Fiend had no interest in these foolish humans. Even a female ghost was merely a female ghost transformed from a human.

"Hmph!" Chen Jin wanted to pet it, but Black Fiend immediately lifted its head, sprang forward with graceful catlike steps, and easily escaped.

Fang Xiu had become highly proficient in his attempts to create souls. After Black Fiend, he carried out more than a dozen further experiments. Repeated use caused even the Saint's Ring, once brilliant with mana light, to grow dim.

Yet after adjustment after adjustment, the original soul structure truly took on the form of the Three Souls Seven Spirits. The three souls governed memory, wisdom, and external perception respectively, while the seven spirits stored a person's desires and emotions. It seemed that only such a structure could allow a soul to reach its most stable state.

"Is my subconscious at work? Or is this simply the most stable structure a soul should have?" Fang Xiu yawned in the study. Beside him stood more than a dozen transparent jars, each containing an artificial soul surrounded by swirling mist.

"Every blank artificial soul can be fused into a living creature, creating an existence similar to Black Fiend. Perhaps I can call them Spirit Seeds."

"However, only one Spirit Seed can be fused in, and its spirit value can only be seven points. Once it exceeds that, an ordinary soul simply can't bear it."

Fang Xiu took out a Spirit Seed with the structure of the Three Souls Seven Spirits, sat cross-legged on the bed, took a deep breath, held it in both hands, and pressed it into his face.

The Spirit Seed bloomed with white light. Throughout the entire room, the flickering soul light could be seen bursting and dancing like fireworks.

Fang Xiu felt a marvelous force surge into his soul. His mind became incomparably clear, as though he were looking down upon his own body from a lofty perspective.

His soul merged with the Spirit Seed and transformed into a strange, dreamlike form. Fang Xiu could feel his memories gradually flowing from his brain into his soul, while wondrous feelers began extending outward from his body.

"So this is the power of the soul. The power of a formal Professional's soul can already break free of the body's restraints and reach beyond it."

Fang Xiu discovered that he no longer needed to activate Clock Eye to observe the world from that strange perspective. However, his range only extended across this room; anything farther away was beyond his sight.

Compared with the magnificent sight revealed by Clock Eye, which allowed him to see the flickering soul light throughout the entire city, Fang Xiu's own soul power was too weak to be worth mentioning.

Yet Fang Xiu was incomparably excited at this moment, because this was truly his own power—power held in his own hands, discovered, organized, and created by himself.

"What should this power be called? What should I name it? This marvelous power I created, born from the Spirit Seed of the Three Souls Seven Spirits!"

"Isn't this power similar to the cultivation, Qi Refiners, and Immortals of legend? Then I'll call it the Cultivation System! Perhaps in the future, I can forge a truly complete method of cultivation!"

Fang Xiu closed his eyes and allowed his soul feelers to spread throughout the room.

Fang Xiu saw a cup on the table. His soul feelers reached toward it, wanting to pick it up, but he immediately discovered that they simply passed through the cup. The two seemed to have no intersection at all. To each other, they were illusory existences, incapable of colliding in any way.

"Ah! I forgot. This world doesn't have a magic network, so soul power alone cannot merge with mana and become Spiritual Power. That means it can't interfere with reality."

"Spells! Perhaps I can directly copy and draw inspiration from those three extraordinary items to create spells that can be used against souls in a mana-less state!"