Soul Cultivation

"Brother Chen, you opened your First Meridian?" Su Youwei noticed the commotion from Mu Chen's breakthrough and asked with delighted surprise.

"Mm, it's open. I feel great."

Mu Chen nodded. With a thought, his First Meridian emitted pure Devouring Power. The Source Qi between heaven and earth entered his body through his pores, giving his skin a faint glow.

This was drawing Qi into the body. Before Meridian Opening, one needed the Qi Gathering Technique to accomplish it, but now he could do so with his First Meridian alone.

"Congratulations." Su Youwei smiled sweetly, happy for Mu Chen.

"It's only just begun. What's there to congratulate? You opened your First Meridian in less than ten days, little girl. You were much faster than me." Mu Chen tapped Su Youwei's nose and rolled his eyes.

Su Youwei's talent truly was no joke. Even with the cheat that was the Devouring Ancestral Symbol, he had taken half a month, while Su Youwei had opened her First Meridian in less than ten days with nothing more than a Qi Gathering Technique.

"Brother Chen, being slower at Meridian Opening doesn't mean you'll be weaker." Su Youwei smiled awkwardly. She did not know why she had opened her meridian so quickly either.

She had simply kept cultivating, and then she had opened her meridian. It had been much easier than she had imagined.

"Alright, Youwei, get familiar with this power. In a few days, we'll enter the Great Zhou Mansion. Then we'll have a place to obtain cultivation resources and Source Arts." Mu Chen said.

I forgot to ask Zhou Qing for a few suitable Source Arts. Looks like I'll have to wait until we get to the Great Zhou Mansion.

Su Youwei nodded. She was also quite curious about what the Great Zhou Mansion was like. There were many tales about it among the common folk—some talented commoners had joined it and ultimately changed their fate against the heavens.

"Little Marten, please lead the way to the place where I can train my soul." Mu Chen's consciousness entered the Ancestral Stone's space.

"The soul and spiritual power are more or less the same, but are you sure? Training your soul will inflict intense pain on it. If you can't endure it, your mind will collapse." Little Marten said seriously.

Back when he still had his body, he had tried it. The pain had made him wish he were dead. After he self-destructed his body, he had not dared to try it with his demon spirit, lest he accidentally be reduced to nothing.

That kind of training inflicted pain directly upon the soul, making it far more terrifying than physical pain.

"Mm. If my soul is stronger, it'll be much easier to gain the Ancestral Symbol's recognition." Mu Chen said.

The reason he had not rushed to activate the Devouring Ancestral Symbol was that mastering an Ancestral Symbol required gaining its approval. Even if he had some compatibility with it, that would only lower the difficulty somewhat.

At the very least, he needed to wait until his intangible soul reached the Void Realm.

"Then keep up. Don't get lost."

Little Marten nodded, turned, and flew away. Mu Chen followed behind him. This place truly was quite complex; he would have to find a chance to explore it in the future.

The Ancestral Stone Spirit, Yan, was currently gravely wounded and asleep. Mu Chen did not know when he would awaken.

The route through the darkness was extremely twisting. Following Little Marten, Mu Chen eventually arrived in a field of white light. Two enormous Crystal Grinding Mills slowly revolved there, emanating a peculiar fluctuation.

Seeing the grinding mills, Mu Chen thought of the Chaos God Grinding Meditation Method. It seemed to involve a grinding mill as well, and both were effective for training spiritual power and the soul.

"The Spirit Grinding Mill. Kid, do you have the guts to try it?" Little Marten stayed far away, pointing at the Crystal Grinding Mills with his little paw.

He was afraid that he might accidentally be sucked inside and have his demon spirit ground to pieces.

Mu Chen narrowed his eyes and looked at where the grinding mills met. As they rotated, white light gathered there, while space itself showed signs of distortion from the Crystal Grinding Mills' rotation.

"Cultivating spiritual power here—the soul, as this world calls it—is extremely effective. But that's only if you can endure it. Otherwise, it will damage the source of your soul, and in serious cases, leave lasting aftereffects."

"Marten Lord has no idea which lunatic came up with such a deranged method for cultivating spiritual power. Having your spirit ground to pieces hurts like hell. Anyway, I don't want to use it." Little Marten said warily.

"Sounds interesting. It's a method of destruction before rebirth, isn't it?" Mu Chen said.

This method of training the soul was even more shocking than he had imagined.

Even thinking with his toes, he knew that using this to cultivate his soul would be excruciating, not to mention the terror of having his soul ground apart.

"You really want to do this?"

Mu Chen nodded. Since he had come this far, how could he retreat?

"Heh, Marten Lord really underestimated you." Little Marten said in surprise. This required immense courage.

You don't need to push yourself this hard. You can take it slower. Marten Lord doesn't want to start calling you Boss so soon.

"Let's begin."

Mu Chen took a deep breath and walked toward the Crystal Grinding Mills. As soon as he reached their point of contact, an irresistible force emerged and enveloped his soul.

He could feel his soul cracking apart bit by bit. That pain was beyond words; even being pierced through the body by a sharp blade could not compare to it.

The grinding mills rotated very slowly. It was the first time Mu Chen had felt time pass so agonizingly slowly. The intense pain twisted his face, and in an instant, cracks appeared across his soul.

After experiencing it himself, Mu Chen understood why Little Marten feared it so much. This pain made one want to die on the spot. If he had not done his utmost to keep his mind clear, he would already have fainted from the pain.

Crack, crack, crack!

As the grinding mills turned, more and more cracks appeared across Mu Chen's body. In the end, it shattered outright, turning into countless points of soul light.

Little Marten watched calmly. He had experienced this before.

Just as the soul shattered, a mass of white light surged from the Spirit Grinding Mill and wrapped around the points of soul light. The scattered points drifted toward his consciousness, gathering together and eventually returning to their original form.

Before Mu Chen could recover his senses, the familiar agonizing pain struck again, exactly as before.

Bang!

Not long afterward, his restored soul exploded once more. The grinding mills again released white light, and the points of soul light gathered and recovered once more.

Mu Chen repeated the process of being ground apart and restored. Though the pain was unbearable, he could feel his soul slowly becoming more solid and stronger. He could only grit his teeth and endure.

"Tut, tut, tut. Mu Chen looks normal, but he's actually crazy." Little Marten watched the spectacle. Having experienced this kind of pain himself, he had the most say in the matter. This was not something a normal person could handle.

Mu Chen's perseverance still earned Little Marten's great admiration. As long as he did not fall, he would surely achieve great things.

He was also curious how many times Mu Chen could endure it. He himself had only managed a little over twenty attempts before reaching his limit.

"Ninety-nine times. Void Realm achieved!" After an unknown amount of time, a weak yet delighted voice rang out as Mu Chen slowly walked out.

His intangible soul had also taken on a transparent hue at that moment. His soul realm had reached the Initial Void Realm, no longer remaining in its former intangible state.