The True Purpose...

"Another neighbor had arrived..."

A thousand meters away, wisps of cooking smoke rose from an abandoned wooden house Zhu Yu had passed earlier. Clearly, a newcomer had moved in.

He did not think much of it.

Zhu Yu withdrew his gaze and turned back toward the hilltop. As he neared the wooden house, he suddenly sensed a fluctuation of spiritual energy.

"Hmm? Little Black had finished evolving?"

He hurried into the small courtyard and saw that, in one corner, a black stone as large as a washbasin had become covered in dense cracks.

The next moment.

"Crack..."

A black carapace plate peeled away. Spiritual energy from the air surged together and poured into its body, making the carapace shed even faster.

A moment later.

The gathered spiritual energy slowly dispersed. The black stone had swollen to the size of a millstone. It trembled, first extending six jointed, insect-like legs, then a broad, thick head covered in keratin, followed by two increasingly brilliant buckteeth.

It was Little Black, who had broken through into a First-Order Lower Grade Insect Beast.

Little Black's tiny eyes rolled. Seeing Zhu Yu standing nearby, it let out a hiss and sprinted over on its six legs like a gust of wind. It rubbed against his thigh, its thoughts brimming with joy, attachment, and hunger.

"So fast..."

Surprise appeared on Zhu Yu's face. As if thinking of something, his eyes suddenly lit up. He crouched down, stroked its rough head, and said with a smile:

"Don't rush. Your master will cook for you in a bit..."

As he spoke, he stared at it.

[Target: Little Black]

[Race: Bucktooth Insect]

[First-Order Lower Grade: 1%]

[Talent Spell: Lightness.]

[Status: Healthy, joyful.]

"It really awakened a talent spell!"

The smile on Zhu Yu's face deepened.

Although "Lightness" was merely the lowest-tier Unranked spell, a spell was still a spell. Once cast, it could make an object three times lighter, and it consumed very little. It was one of the more practical Unranked spells.

More importantly, Little Black could now fully serve as a mount. Even if the Corpse Tiger was bred later, Little Black could still help carry things and haul goods.

"Pity it didn't develop intelligence and become an Insect Cultivator..."

Zhu Yu sighed somewhat dissatisfiedly, then looked toward the cultivation column and focused his gaze.

[Requirements to nurture "Little Black": one Starry Wood Leaf per day, one jin of demon beast flesh per day, one Firefly Flower per day, one Snake Thread Grass per day]

"Hmm? Starry Wood Leaf?"

Zhu Yu paused slightly as stray thoughts churned through his mind.

The Starry Wood was suspected to be an avatar of a second-order Moon Sprite. Even if it was not, it was certainly closely connected to one. More importantly, the Moon Sprite might be an Insect Cultivator...

Using its branches and leaves to nurture Little Black...

"The True Sight Eye was nurturing Little Black toward becoming an Insect Cultivator!"

Realization filled Zhu Yu's eyes. Rather than calling the True Sight Eye a cheat, it was more accurate to call it his own innate Divine Ability.

He had previously been constantly thinking about Insect Cultivators. Perhaps that was why the True Sight Eye had prescribed nurturing Little Black with Firefly Flowers and Snake Thread Grass—to make it evolve toward becoming an Insect Cultivator.

There was also the Basic Visualization Diagram. He had been fixated on shortening the time needed to condense soul particles, and sure enough, once it had been analyzed to perfection, it formed traits. Gathering Spirit and Spirit Condensing both sped up meditation and the condensation of soul particles.

It was not as though the Sutra Lecture Hall lacked cultivators whose Basic Visualization Diagrams had reached perfection. According to their explanations, a perfected Basic Visualization Diagram should stabilize toward a Three-Ring Pattern and suppress spiritual energy...

"So this was the True Sight Eye's real ability..."

Zhu Yu's expression filled with delight. From this, he could tell that the True Sight Eye existed attached to him, not the other way around.

"I knew it. Every bit of this cultivation was earned through my own diligence and hard work!"

The kitchen.

Now that Little Black had condensed a trace of Spiritual Power, it no longer feared the aura Zhu Yu gave off. It was currently burying its face in a wooden basin, eating with abandon.

Zhu Yu sat before the stove, waiting for the food to cook while channeling Spiritual Power into a thumb-sized seed. It was jade-green in color, with faint brown patterns branded across its surface.

After some time.

Crack...

A faint crisp sound rang out. A fissure split open at the base of the seed, and three or four slender, translucent roots slowly poked out.

"It finally sprouted..."

Seeing this, Zhu Yu shook his head with a smile. He took a flowerpot he had prepared long ago from beneath the water vat, reached out and buried the Wood Spirit Flower Spirit Seed in the soil, then pressed his palm over it and continued channeling Spiritual Power.

Before long.

His palm suddenly touched something unusual. When he moved his hand aside, two leaves came into view, green on the inside and marked with brown patterns. In the perception of his Divine Sense, specks of emerald light drew close and gathered around them.

"Not bad..."

Zhu Yu nodded in satisfaction. The Corpse Field soil was already rich in earth-attributed spiritual energy. Now that the Wood Spirit Flower could gather wood-attributed spiritual energy, his future meditation and cultivation would proceed even more smoothly.

He stared at it, and a panel appeared.

[Target: Wood Spirit Flower Seedling]

[Unranked: 2%]

[Medicinal Effect: Spirit Gathering (wood attribute)]

[Status: Healthy.]

Its function was very singular. Perhaps precisely because it was so singular, even as a seedling, its ability to gather spiritual energy was not much inferior to the Fluorescent Flora found everywhere on the streets.

Zhu Yu's gaze fell upon the Wood Spirit Flower's cultivation column. His thoughts stirred as he imagined it gathering both wood- and earth-attributed spiritual energy. He silently said, "Build a model. Analyze the Wood Spirit Flower and match it with spiritual objects suitable for its growth."

The next instant, a piece of information flooded into his mind.

[Requirements to nurture "Wood Spirit Flower": grind one earth-attributed Spirit Stone and half a wood-attributed Spirit Stone into powder, mix thoroughly with Spirit Soil and earth-attributed Spirit Spring water to serve as potting soil for one month, then nourish it once daily with Spiritual Power]

"It really worked!"

Zhu Yu's eyes brightened at once, and the corners of his mouth rose involuntarily. Since the True Sight Eye had such an effect, he could completely lean toward analyzing and nurturing whatever he needed in the future.

For instance, the spell Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating.

Because he had learned too little spell knowledge, he could not alter the Dharma Vein Diagram or construct spiritual objects. But that did not mean he could not influence their changes.

And the source of those changes lay in the Dharma Veins within the Inner Heaven and Earth of the human body.

As everyone knew, every Dharma Vein had different proportions of primary and secondary attributes. Constructing spiritual objects with different Dharma Vein combinations produced vastly different effects.

The overwhelming majority of Dharma Veins were entirely incompatible. Even if spiritual objects were fused into them, what formed in the end would only be a dead seed.

But some Dharma Veins were compatible, and that left room for choice!

For example, Gold-Chewing Iron-Eating's Secondary Stomach could contain items, making it equivalent to a growable storage bag.

By slightly altering the attribute proportions of the Dharma Veins within the Inner Heaven and Earth, combining it with the Primary Stomach, weakening its shrinking and storing effects, and strengthening the Secondary Stomach's toughness and endurance, it could store for long periods the gastric fluid from the Primary Stomach—fluid capable of dissolving gold and melting iron—for use against enemies.

Or he could do the reverse, weakening other aspects and strengthening its ability to shrink and store objects.

There was also the Primary Stomach: strengthen its gastric fluid's ability to dissolve gold and melt iron, while weakening its other functions...

For others, finding compatible Dharma Veins was already incomparably difficult. Deliberately selecting Dharma Vein combinations beneficial to themselves on top of that was nothing but a fantasy beyond the clouds.

But for Zhu Yu, it was simple!