Soul Strengthening

Withdrawing from that chaotic Sea of Consciousness, Zhou Xuan's consciousness returned to his body. He snapped his eyes open, gasping for air.

An unprecedented sense of exhaustion swept over him, as if he hadn't closed his eyes for three days and three nights; his mind was fatigued to the extreme.

Yet, his thoughts were clearer than they had ever been.

He slowly raised his hand and spread it out before his eyes.

These were still the hands of a cultivator in the Body Tempering Realm; the skin was not particularly delicate, and the knuckles bore thin calluses from years of manual labor.

But at this moment, in Zhou Xuan's perception, these hands had become somewhat different.

He could clearly feel the texture of every inch of skin, the contraction of every muscle fiber, and could even faintly hear the sound of blood flowing through his veins.

This level of control over his body had reached an unfathomable, microscopic state.

Zhou Xuan's heart stirred. He extended his index finger and thumb, gently pinching a speck of dust from the floor.

The entire process was incredibly delicate; his fingers felt weightless, and the nearly invisible speck of dust was held firmly between his fingertips without the slightest tremor.

It was a very subtle sensation.

In the past, he could have done this, but never with such ease and grace; it would have required his full concentration to barely succeed.

Now, however, it felt as natural as breathing.

He tried standing up and moving his limbs within the cramped thatched hut.

He attempted to throw a punch.

The wind whistled, and the strike was full of power.

He carefully sensed the changes in his body, only to discover that the raw strength of his physical form had not increased at all.

The strength of a ninth-layer Body Tempering cultivator was generally around two thousand jin, and the power of his punch remained within that range, without the slightest excess.

However, he clearly felt that his combat prowess had grown.

With the same punch, as he threw it now, the force traveled from the soles of his feet, through the rotation of his waist and abdomen, and finally into the swing of his arm.

The transmission of power throughout the process became incredibly smooth, with almost no waste whatsoever.

His physical coordination had reached a brand-new height.

If he had previously been a machine with precise parts but rough assembly, now, every screw in this machine had been tightened, and every gear meshed perfectly.

His speed had also increased.

Because of the optimization of his force-exertion, his punching speed and his footwork were at least ten to twenty percent faster than before.

"Talent."

Zhou Xuan softly uttered these two words.

He recalled some things he had heard in his past life among the common folk.

Some people were born with extraordinary control over their bodies, allowing them to learn any martial art or technique far faster than the average person.

Such people were said to possess talent.

For cultivators, as their cultivation level rose, their control over their bodies would naturally rise accordingly.

Therefore, this improvement seemed negligible in the early stages and was easily overlooked.

But Zhou Xuan did not think so.

He had a bold idea. What if this control over his body could continue to improve indefinitely?

If his soul could be continuously cultivated and strengthened through that mysterious scripture, what kind of realm would he eventually reach?

At that time, would he be able to cast spells instantly?

Would he be able to control magical artifacts as easily as moving his own fingers?

When fighting others, would he be able to predict every one of his opponent's moves in advance?

These things were still too far away for him, and he had no access to them yet.

But undoubtedly, this had opened up a new path for him to assist in his cultivation.

This Green Copper fragment was absolutely an incredible treasure!

That mysterious scripture was still in a fragmented state; if he could complete it, what kind of astonishing changes would occur?

He forcibly suppressed these excited thoughts and carefully took another Green Copper fragment he had found in the household trash heap out of his Universe Bag.

This fragment was slightly larger than the previous one, and the patterns on it were even clearer.

He gripped it tightly in his hand, feeling that unique chill, as if he were holding onto the hope of the future.

Next time, once he saved up another one thousand Gold Touch Value, he would use Enlightenment on it directly!

Zhou Xuan made up his mind and solemnly put the Green Copper fragment away, keeping it close to his body.

Just as he finished doing all this, a voice came from outside the thatched hut—it was Zhou Ye, his voice lowered but filled with a mix of excitement and anxiety.

"Brother Xuan! Are you inside?"

Hearing this, Zhou Xuan straightened his slightly disheveled clothes and said, "I am. Come in."

Soon, the door of the thatched cottage was pushed open, and Zhou Ye poked his head in, looking around cautiously.

As soon as he saw Zhou Xuan, he hurried forward and said mysteriously, "Brother Xuan, I found something very strange at the Miscellaneous Affairs Department today!"

"Something strange?" Zhou Xuan asked, feeling curious.

Zhou Ye first glanced nervously outside the door, and only after confirming that no one was there did he lean in close to Zhou Xuan.

He lowered his voice and said, "Brother Xuan, do you remember what you asked me to do before? You told me to keep an eye out for things that looked dangerous or trash that no one wanted."

Zhou Xuan nodded.

"For the past two days, I've been digging deep into the area we're responsible for, and today, I accidentally discovered a batch of discarded medicinal herbs."

"The strange thing is, those herbs look perfectly fine; they aren't spoiled at all!" Zhou Ye's tone was filled with confusion.

"Medicinal herbs?" Zhou Xuan was stunned for a moment.

"Does our Miscellaneous Affairs Department even receive waste from the Herb Garden?"

In his impression, the Miscellaneous Affairs Department mainly handled waste pills and dregs from the Pill Room, fragments of broken artifacts from the Artifact Peak, or the daily living refuse produced by the sect disciples.

How could a place like the Herb Garden produce waste?

"They do!"

Zhou Ye nodded immediately.

"But it's very rare. Our sect's Herb Garden is always managed personally by the senior brothers and sisters from Pill Peak. They treat it like a treasure, and they only grow precious spiritual plants and herbs."

"They take better care of them than their own children, so nothing usually goes wrong, and the waste sent over is minimal."

"But for the past few days, I don't know what's going on, but the waste sent from the Herb Garden has suddenly increased."

"And what they've been sending are things I've never seen before."

As he spoke, Zhou Ye carefully pulled a small bundle wrapped in coarse cloth from his bosom.

He placed the bundle on the table and slowly opened it.

As the cloth unfolded, a pure and gentle spiritual energy instantly permeated the air.

Zhou Xuan's gaze fell upon the bundle, and his eyes narrowed immediately.

Inside the cloth, there was actually a handful of crystal-clear grains of rice.

These grains were exceptionally large, each one the size of a peanut, with a warm, jade-like luster and a faint, precious glow flowing across their surfaces.

Just by looking at them, one could feel the remarkable spiritual energy contained within.

"Spirit Rice?"

Zhou Xuan blurted out.

This was a special type of rice infused with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Consuming it long-term not only sated hunger but also subtly improved one's physique and replenished blood energy. For cultivators in the Body Tempering Realm, it was a rare and invaluable aid for cultivation.

However, Spirit Rice had extremely harsh requirements for its growing environment, resulting in low yields and high prices.

Within the sect, only those esteemed inner disciples, or even true disciples, were qualified to enjoy it.

But now, this Spirit Rice, which was worth a fortune in the outside world, was being treated as trash and dumped in piles into the Miscellaneous Affairs Department?