Third Level of Sea of Consciousness Realm

"Still, lying on talismans is more comfortable."

Wei Suo had never earned so many Spirit Stones at once before. Spread across his bed, they nearly dazzled his eyes, but when he lay down on them, the Spirit Stones were hard as rocks and not comfortable at all. "Old man? Old man?" After calling out twice with no response from the Green Robe Old Man, Wei Suo knew that the old man was recuperating his vital energy. He sat up, grabbed a Spirit Stone, closed his eyes, and began cultivating.

In just a moment, Wei Suo's breathing, heartbeat, and pulse entered a strange rhythm. A faint stream of green air also emanated from the Spirit Stone in his hand and seeped into the skin of his palm.

Wei Suo remained motionless. More and more pale green currents flowed from the smooth, rounded Spirit Stone and seeped into his body. As more of that pale green air entered him, a warm, jade-like sheen faintly emerged on his skin, while the Low-grade Spirit Stone glittering with crystalline green light in his hand grew paler and paler.

After roughly the time it took to burn half an incense stick, the last trace of green on the Low-grade Spirit Stone in Wei Suo's hand faded away. It became completely transparent, with faint specks visible inside that seemed to be impurities. Then, with a crack, the Low-grade Spirit Stone shattered in his hand.

With a whoosh, Wei Suo exhaled a mouthful of slightly purple turbid air, opened his eyes, and looked with lingering dissatisfaction at the Spirit Stone that had broken into seven or eight pieces in his hand.

"Damn it, looks like I still have to risk life and limb earning Spirit Stones to buy a high-rank True Essence cultivation art."

Though absorbing a Low-grade Spirit Stone had left him feeling incomparably refreshed, Wei Suo still shook his head helplessly after tossing away the now-useless fragments.

According to the Green Robe Old Man, over the past twenty to thirty thousand years, cultivators' techniques had been divided into four tiers according to their quality: Heaven, Earth, Profound, and Yellow. Heaven Tier techniques were the most formidable, while Yellow Tier techniques were the worst.

Although the Purple Profound True Art Wei Suo cultivated was at least a Profound Grade cultivation method, it was at the very bottom among Profound Grade methods.

In the current Cultivation World, cultivation realms were classified according to one's True Essence. The reason a cultivator's first realm was called the Sea of Consciousness Realm was that one had to be able to absorb the spiritual energy from Spirit Stones or refine medicinal pills, transform it into True Essence, and open up at least one acupoint within the body capable of storing True Essence before one could be considered an initiated cultivator. The Sea of Consciousness Realm got its name because when True Essence flowed through the body, it could produce the sound of rivers and seas surging.

Yet Wei Suo had already opened a second acupoint in his body for storing True Essence and reached the Second Level of Sea of Consciousness Realm. But when the True Essence in his body flowed during cultivation, could he hear the roaring sound of great rivers and seas?

No... Wei Suo could not even hear a splashing sound like someone taking a piss.

The reason was that the Purple Profound True Art Wei Suo cultivated was simply too low-grade.

If someone cultivated a Mid-tier Profound Grade technique to the Second Level of Sea of Consciousness Realm, their total amount of True Essence would likely be three to four times greater than Wei Suo's with his low-tier Profound Grade technique. Those who cultivated Profound Grade High Rank techniques would be around ten times stronger than him. Thus, with Wei Suo's current cultivation, he could use the Azure Water Blade only a little over twenty times at most. But someone at the same Second Level of Sea of Consciousness Realm who cultivated a Profound Grade High Rank technique could use the Azure Water Blade at least two hundred times.

It was not merely a matter of quantity. Even if Wei Suo obtained some powerful spell arts now, he might be unable to cast them due to insufficient True Essence. But a cultivator who cultivated another high-rank technique might already be able to use them.

When the True Essence in Wei Suo's body flowed through his meridians now, it truly did not even sound like the flow of urine. But cultivators who practiced Earth Tier or Heaven Tier techniques would possess True Essence dozens of times stronger than his at the First Level of Sea of Consciousness Realm. When it flowed, it might already sound like a great river rushing onward.

Still, throughout Tianxuan Continent, techniques below the Profound Grade were not particularly hard to find. Yet techniques at Profound Grade High Rank and above were generally cultivation methods belonging to sects. Even if one earned enough Spirit Stones, one could not buy them at all. Unless one was willing to join those sects, become their disciple, serve them, and render meritorious service, one might have a chance to receive instruction in those techniques.

Joining such sects sounded good enough. They even issued fixed amounts of Spirit Stones for cultivation every day. But when the time came for them to demand your life, you could not back out. Wei Suo knew that when Tianyi Sect had hunted a fifth-tier demon beast, the Fire Qilin Beast, beyond the Heavenly Dome several years ago, at least forty disciples had died. And a fifth-tier demon beast only had one demon core inside it. The disciples who survived could not possibly each receive a Fire Qilin Beast demon core.

By comparison, Wei Suo still felt that keeping his own little life in his own hands was the better bargain.

"I wonder what grade of technique Shui Ling'er cultivates. Xuanfeng Sect is said to be one of Tianxuan Continent's great sects, with influence many times greater than Tianyi Sect's. She probably cultivates at least an Earth Tier technique. And what grade does that little beauty with the perky butt cultivate? It looks like it is at least Profound Grade High Rank."

With a pile of Spirit Stones beside him, Wei Suo glanced at the painted portraits of Shui Ling'er hanging by his bed and thought of Han Weiwei again. Comparing them unconsciously in his heart, he felt that the little beauty with the perky butt had a uniquely seductive charm as well. Yet Shui Ling'er's high, full, snow-white breasts seemed even more capable of making one's blood boil.

"Forget it. Even if my Purple Profound True Art is a little lousy, if I can cultivate to the Golden Core Realm, I'll still count as someone."

Though Wei Suo lacked patience, he was not someone who aimed too high. After realizing that obtaining a higher-rank True Essence cultivation method would be difficult for the time being, he picked up another Low-grade Spirit Stone and resumed cultivating.

Late at night, in the dimly lit little stone house, an oil lamp flickered uncertainly. Wei Suo sat motionless on his bed as wisps of green air flowed from the Spirit Stone in his hand and were drawn into his body. On the stone table before his bed, aside from some blank vermilion talisman paper, another pile of completed Fireball Talismans had already accumulated.

As time slipped away soundlessly, the lamp oil in the oil lamp on the stone table suddenly ran out. The flame flickered several times, then abruptly went out.

In the darkness, a point of purple radiance suddenly emerged from the location of Wei Suo's Purple Palace acupoint in his chest. At the same time, his body trembled slightly, and at last, faint sounds like trickling water arose within him.

"Damn it, I've finally cultivated to the Third Level of Sea of Consciousness Realm!"

Wei Suo opened his eyes in wild excitement, and the purple gleam in them flashed away in an instant.

After five consecutive days of staying indoors to refine talismans and cultivate, Wei Suo had finally succeeded in breaking through to the Third Level of Sea of Consciousness Realm. If he closed his eyes and looked inward now, he would see clusters of purple True Essence in three places within his body: the Heavenly Spirit, Purple Palace, and dantian. Streams of True Essence linked these three acupoints and flowed through his body in an orderly pattern.

Compared with before, the total amount of True Essence in Wei Suo's body had nearly doubled.

"Not easy at all. I've finally got a bit of a pissing sound."

This breakthrough to the Third Level of Sea of Consciousness Realm had come somewhat faster than Wei Suo expected. He had originally estimated that even with sufficient Spirit Stones, it would take at least eight or nine days. But perhaps because he had cultivated for so long while short of Spirit Stones, his body now absorbed spiritual energy far more thoroughly than ordinary cultivators. And perhaps because refining talismans every day had tempered his divine sense, Wei Suo found that his divine sense seemed considerably stronger than before. This made his inward observation during cultivation clearer, so after spending only five days and consuming forty Low-grade Spirit Stones, his Purple Profound True Art broke through to the Third Level of Sea of Consciousness Realm.

"Ah, I have to think of a way to go out and earn Spirit Stones again."

After carefully sensing the changes in his body and relighting the oil lamp, Wei Suo looked at the pile of talismans and materials on the stone table and shook his head helplessly once more.

Including the one Low-grade Spirit Stone he had originally possessed, Wei Suo now had only twenty-seven Low-grade Spirit Stones left. Moreover, the Fire Scorpion Blood he had obtained last time was basically used up.