Spirit Restraint and Transformation

After that, the Land God returned to the Divine Domain to refine the resentful baleful energy he had absorbed.

Over the next few days, Ling Qing first compiled his annotations into a volume, then joined the Land God and the Tiger Demon in repeatedly revising it.

Ling Qing could read and write, and had spent more than ten years studying by lamplight. He was the most learned and could understand the general meaning of the scriptures.

He also possessed the Druid inheritance. Since it, too, involved comprehending the natural world, he had the deepest understanding of the fundamental method in the first scroll.

The Land God, being a deity, did not know many characters and was unfamiliar with the scriptures' meaning.

But he had studied them for many years. Combined with his experience as a god, whenever he caught a glimmer of insight, he would examine it closely and refine it, making his contributions the most precise.

Though the Tiger Demon was ignorant and unenlightened, it had been the first to obtain the two ancient scrolls and had studied them the longest.

It was also reckless and daring. With only a fragment of knowledge, it had dared to practice, and so its gains were the most varied.

The three of them worked together to sort through the scriptures, making safety in cultivation and plain, accessible language their guiding principles as they sought to restore the scriptures' profound meaning.

After many rounds of sorting and revision, Ling Qing first copied Xu Shi's annotations in full and arranged them into a volume to serve as the official version.

Then he compiled another volume of the version the three of them had organized, to serve as a supplementary edition.

As for the Divine Script on the Ancient Animal Skin Scroll, they could not understand it, much less copy it, so it was not included as an original.

Since no one could read the Divine Script or its annotations, Ling Qing and the others decided to give the method a name.

The first part of the scripture described how to gather the authority of Heaven and Earth into a single vessel.

The principles governing Heaven and Earth's movement could be regarded as the divine workings of Heaven and Earth, and could also be called spirits.

The method of binding the divine workings of Heaven and Earth and transforming them into authority was called Spirit Restraint.

The second part contained three methods of application, among which the Spirit Transformation Method was the most elaborate.

So, after discussing it with the Land God, Ling Qing named it the Spirit Restraint and Transformation Method.

Although the Tiger Demon had also helped sort out the scriptures, most of its contributions had concerned the Spirit Transformation Method.

Moreover, its ferocious nature remained unchanged, so Ling Qing and the Land God did not teach it the fundamental method of Spirit Restraint. Instead, they promised to find it a divine post once it had atoned for its sins.

Then it might be able to become a deity without being reborn and suffering the hardships of reincarnation.

As for the original animal-skin scroll, the Land God had given Ling Qing the first part earlier, and now he gave him the second part as well.

So the two compiled volumes—the official version and the supplementary edition—were left with the Land God.

As for Ling Qing, he opened his own status panel and took a look.

Spirit Restraint and Transformation Method

Level: Not yet initiated

Quality: Epic

A method of gathering and controlling the authority of mountains, rivers, and the earth, then forging divine authority into oneself.

Note: The character possesses the original method. Once the character obtains the relevant language and successfully deciphers it, this skill's quality can be promoted to Mythic.

Compared to before, the skill was now complete, but its quality had been fixed at Epic.

The word "Mythic" that had originally appeared in parentheses was gone, because the original Divine Script had been removed.

This meant that even Xu Shi's annotations had not fully explained the original meaning of the Divine Script.

But Ling Qing was in no hurry. He possessed the original Divine Script, and he was about to go to Mount Lao to seek a master.

When he got there, he could look for this kind of writing at Lao Mountain Shangqing Palace.

Even if he could not find any clues in this world, he could search in other Time Fragments.

Perhaps he would reach an era when the Divine Script was widely used and learn to read it.

Besides, he had not even understood Xu Shi's annotations yet. With only the supplementary edition they had compiled, he could upgrade the skill only to Advanced.

To upgrade it further, he would have to understand the official version.

Though this method seemed simpler and more limited compared to the Druid inheritance,

its underlying ideas were in no way inferior to any part of the Druid inheritance.

Ling Qing even suspected that if he could fully decipher the original Divine Script, its value might rival the entire Druid inheritance.

Perhaps it might even surpass it.

Of course, this was only his conjecture. Compared with the Divine Script, whose meaning he did not yet understand, or the Spirit Restraint and Transformation Method, which still required painstaking study,

the Druid inheritance, which embedded all its teachings in the heart and mind, was more useful to him at present.

Most important of all was its ability to organize his own condition and turn it into a status panel.

It not only allowed him to understand himself more clearly, but also gave him the feeling that he was cheating.

For Ling Qing, who had always been an ordinary person, this gave him a tremendous boost in confidence. It made him believe he was no worse than anyone else and gave him even more motivation to grow stronger.

At dawn, Ling Qing straightened his clothes and adjusted the Book Box on his back, then tightened the Tiger Skin Pouch at his waist.

Gripping his wooden staff, he said his farewells to the Land God. "It has truly been my good fortune to meet you, sir.

"Today we part, as I intend to go to Mount Lao to seek the Way and learn the immortals' arts.

"If I succeed, we will surely meet again someday. If I do not, I will come visit you when I return."

"It has been this old man's good fortune to meet you as well, sir. I hope you achieve your wish and enter the immortal sect."

The Land God cupped his hands and saw him off. "Travel safely, sir."

"Take care, sir."

After Ling Qing finished speaking, he turned and headed toward Miao Mountain, facing the morning sun.

The Tiger Demon that had plagued the area around Miao Mountain, along with its tiger pack, had already been brought to justice. The pack had even eaten most of the wild beasts, so the mountains were quite peaceful now.

Naturally, there was no need for him to take the long way around anymore.

The Land God watched Ling Qing's figure disappear from sight, then turned and returned to the Land God Temple.

He was not worried about the villagers, either.

Once word spread that the Tiger Demon had been brought to justice, the villagers, loath to leave their homeland, would return on their own.

Ling Qing traveled east, crossing mountains and ridges, passing through forests and wading across streams. Using his Druid abilities, he went straight ahead.

Dense woods and brambles that would have stopped an ordinary person posed no obstacle to him. They could even help him along.

By noon, he stopped at the foot of a hillock and found a Greenstone to sit on.

He untied the Tiger Skin Pouch from his waist and took out dry rations and water, then ate them with some wild fruit he had picked along the way.

The Tiger Skin Pouch had been made by the Land God from the Tiger Demon's stomach, with ordinary tiger hide wrapped around the outside.

Ever since the Tiger Demon had lost one of the ancient scrolls, it had not dared leave the remaining one lying around carelessly.

As it happened, the Spirit Transformation Method in the second scroll contained a Concealment Art that could enlarge and shrink objects.

It could also be applied to an object to expand the space inside it.

After learning some of its secrets, the Tiger Demon had wanted to find something that could store items. But external objects could still be lost, so it decided to experiment on its own body.

After searching and searching, it found that only its stomach could hold anything, so it applied the Universe Art to its stomach.

To keep this from interfering with digestion—or causing it to digest something important—it divided the space into sections.

It had been wildly reckless, but somehow it had succeeded.

Otherwise, if one mistake had ruined its stomach, it would have been reduced to dry bones long ago, and none of this trouble would have happened.

Though if that had happened, Ling Qing would not have obtained this miraculous Tiger Skin Pouch.

He had not taken any of the Tiger Demon's other belongings, leaving them with the Land God instead.

Whether tiger hide or bones, Ling Qing had no way of processing them.

The Land God could put them to use, so there was no need for Ling Qing to take them.

As for the hides, sinews, and bones of the evil tigers...

and their tiger cocks,

they were all stored inside the Tiger Skin Pouch.