Divine Soul Contemplation

Chen Ming had benefited, but he was also shocked by the overbearing nature of this secret method.

Such strange means, I'm afraid they would be classified as demonic!

If people found out, they would likely bring disaster.

It seems that in the future, he would still have to be as careful as possible and not let people easily know his origins.

Chen Ming's thoughts churned, and the origin energy transmitted by the spirit worm into his body continuously refined his soul, subtly giving him a feeling of impending breakthrough.

"This place is not suitable for lingering. I need to find a hidden place to break through again, lest more complications arise!"

With a plan in mind, Chen Ming recited an incantation and took the spirit worm back into his body.

With a turn of the magic art in his hand, a pair of illusory flesh wings grew on his back. With a gentle flap, he vanished without a trace.

Several months later, in a secluded and extremely quiet mountain valley, rarely frequented by humans.

A bright moon hung high in the sky, its moonlight cascading down, and a gentle breeze blew.

Chen Ming sat cross-legged on a giant rock, wisps of smoke appearing and disappearing around him. At first glance, he looked like an immortal who had transcended the mortal world.

But upon closer inspection, the giant rock he sat on was covered with dense, ferocious poisonous insects.

The smoke that swirled around him was formed by the breath exhaled by those poisonous insects.

Chen Ming had searched for a long time before finding this hidden mountain valley, and then he conjured myriad poisonous insects to guard it, preparing to break through to the Contemplation Realm.

The Qi Gathering Realm was merely the initial stage of the path, attracting Heaven and Earth Origin Energy, mostly used to temper the physical body and soul. One could only perceive the scenes within the Sea of Consciousness through internal vision, and the magic power generated was shallow.

Casting spells often required numerous tedious rituals, or drawing talismans and praying, which was very troublesome.

But upon reaching the Contemplation Realm, the soul condenses and transforms into a Divine Soul, which sits in the Sea of Consciousness, generating Spiritual Sense. It was a completely different matter.

With the Divine Soul's thought as a guide and the physical body as a medium, one could contemplate heaven, earth, and nature. Through wondrous and profound means, one could unleash supernatural abilities like lightning, electricity, and true fire without external aid.

Ling Yangzi's "Azure Wood Poisonous Gas" was formed through Divine Soul Contemplation.

Furthermore, if one encountered a calamity and the physical body was destroyed, the Divine Soul could escape the body and flee, preserving a thread of life.

It was also Ling Yangzi's misfortune to encounter Chen Ming's strange methods; his Divine Soul did not escape and turned to ashes.

At this moment, Chen Ming's physical body and soul, having received the origin energy converted from Ling Yangzi's soul and body devoured by the spirit worm, had reached a bottleneck.

It was just a final push away from condensing his soul, transforming it into a Divine Soul, and descending into the Sea of Consciousness to achieve the Contemplation Realm.

According to the records in the ancient texts, reaching this stage was a crucial hurdle.

If the soul failed to condense successfully, the soul would be damaged at best, and utterly annihilated at worst.

Chen Ming carefully circulated the magic art, his mind guiding his Three Souls and Seven Spirits to his Sea of Consciousness.

He had expected it to be incredibly difficult, but as soon as he urged them, the Three Souls and Seven Spirits within his Sea of Consciousness instantly condensed, transforming into a Divine Soul that bore a seven-tenths resemblance to Chen Ming's physical body.

Once the Divine Soul was formed, Chen Ming felt as if a layer of shackles had been removed from his heart. He sensed something and his gaze fell upon the Lotus Platform in his Sea of Consciousness.

The Divine Soul sat cross-legged on the Lotus Platform, its Spiritual Sense born spontaneously, and the Lotus Platform itself began to emit light.

Information about the Lotus Platform flowed into Chen Ming's Divine Soul.

It turned out this Lotus Platform was called the "Creation Lotus Platform." With nurturing, it could grow patterns, which would then shed and transform into Incantation Text, evolving into various Magic Art Secret Methods.

Furthermore, the Creation Lotus Platform had the miraculous effects of protecting the Divine Soul and aiding in breakthroughs.

The main reason Chen Ming was able to enter the Contemplation Realm so easily was his cultivation of the "Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects" secret method.

Coupled with the effects of the Creation Lotus Platform, he had broken through without any bottlenecks.

"So this is the Contemplation Realm?"

With a thought, Chen Ming's Spiritual Sense moved, and his Divine Soul left the Lotus Platform in his Sea of Consciousness, separating from his body.

Looking at his physical body, Chen Ming had a realization.

If the Divine Soul left the body and was not nourished by the physical form, it would likely dissipate before long.

If the physical body were destroyed, he would have to quickly become a Ghost Cultivator or find another body.

"My Divine Soul still cannot easily leave the Sea of Consciousness. The physical body and Divine Soul are interdependent; neither can be easily abandoned unless absolutely necessary!"

Chen Ming's Divine Soul descended once more, sitting cross-legged on the Lotus Platform in his Sea of Consciousness, finally feeling a sense of stability.

With his Divine Soul returned to its place, Chen Ming opened his eyes and stood up from the giant rock.

With a thought, the smoke around him contracted, and the Myriad Poisonous Insects condensed, transforming into Red Spirit Worms that landed on his palm.

"Now that I have cultivated to the Contemplation Realm and my Divine Soul has returned to its place, I can't keep you in my Sea of Consciousness anymore!"

The Spirit Worm seemed to understand Chen Ming's words, emitting a "squeaking" sound.

"Don't worry, I'll find you a place to stay!"

With that, Chen Ming took out a dark, earthen jar.

This Earthen Jar was a Magic Tool that had fallen from Ling Yangzi after his death.

It was unclear what materials Ling Yangzi had integrated into it, but it could contain and store highly poisonous gas. When activated by a secret method, it could spray out and form a protective barrier.

"There's nothing else around, so I'll refine this earthen jar again and make a place for you to stay!"

Chen Ming circulated his mana, enveloping the earthen jar.

Before long, the earthen jar shed its dark color and turned a simple, ancient grayish-green.

Chen Ming didn't have any good magic arts for refining magic tools, so he could only change the jar's appearance for now. Its other abilities wouldn't change; he'd have to wait for an opportunity to refine it further later.

With a beckoning motion, the earthen jar flew up and settled on Chen Ming's left hand.

"Come on!"

Upon Chen Ming's summons, the Red Spirit Worm flew and landed inside the earthen jar.

"You'll hide in this magic tool jar, and I'll refine Ling Yangzi's 'Azure Wood Poisonous Gas' to conceal you. You can't let anyone easily see your true nature!"

Chen Ming shifted his magic art, and the jar in his hand trembled, emitting a clear, lustrous glow and generating a suction force.

This suction force originated from the spirit worm within the jar, specifically targeting the soul. Once drawn into the jar, it would be devoured by the spirit worm, transformed into Origin Energy, and fed back to Chen Ming.

With the spirit worm hidden in the jar, its Spiritual Energy masked by the jar's properties, it would be difficult for anyone to detect.

"From now on, this magic tool will be called the 'Spirit Devouring Jar'!"

"As for you, you'll be called 'Red Spirit'!"

The Red Spirit Worm inside the Spirit Devouring Jar sensed Chen Ming's thoughts and knew its name. It wiggled its head inside the jar, seemingly very pleased.

It devoured a few wisps of the 'Azure Wood Poisonous Gas' stored by Ling Yangzi in the jar before contentedly curling up and becoming still.

Having refined the 'Spirit Devouring Jar' and settled the Red Spirit Worm, Chen Ming finally had some free time to begin comprehending Ling Yangzi's cultivation magic art, 'Azure Wood Poisonous Gas'.

Although Ling Yangzi's 'Azure Wood Poisonous Gas' was a poisonous Heretical Path, it could still cultivate the soul and break through to the Contemplation Realm.

This was much better than the methods Chen Ming had previously, which could only reach the Qi Gathering Realm.

If not for Chen Ming's 'Hundred Thousand Eight Thousand Insects' secret method, which allowed him to refine spirit worms for protection, he would have been no match for Ling Yangzi.

The core of 'Azure Wood Poisonous Gas' originated from contemplating the 'Eastern Yi Wood Qi', but it had deviated from the orthodox path and become a Heretical Path.

However, at this moment, this was the only magic art Chen Ming possessed, so he could only cultivate it first.

He sat cross-legged, facing east, knocked his teeth nine times, and contemplated the incantation with his soul.

In a short while, it was as if he were in a world of clouds and mist. The Eastern Yi Wood Qi descended from the void, guided by the magic art, transforming into green wood qi, and then poison was generated within the qi.

As long as this qi was gathered and refined by the Spiritual Sense of the soul, it could be transformed into a stream of 'Azure Wood Poisonous Gas'.

Just as Chen Ming's Spiritual Sense was about to gather and refine it, the Lotus Platform beneath him suddenly emitted light, and an unexpected change occurred.