Upper- and Lower-Tier Dharma Artifacts

In autumn, she picked lotus in the southern pond; the lotus blossoms rose above her head.

It was a beautiful line of poetry, describing a woman gathering lotus seeds, the lotus flowers growing taller than her head. But it was also exceedingly fitting for the present moment. The only difference was that "southern pond" had to be changed to "Blood Pool."

And the time word had to be removed as well.

The ceaselessly trickling blood had already formed a Blood Pool. Beneath the lotus platform stood four Fierce Ghosts with their heads hanging low.

The Fierce Ghosts were steadily dimming.

Yet one of them was still making faint struggles.

It was the Stone-Ball Vengeful Ghost.

The human faces kept offsetting the refining force emanating from the lotus platform for it. But that resistance was limited. As the bloodwater continued to rise, the lotus platform's power kept increasing as well.

In the end, the Stone-Ball Vengeful Ghost could only let out an unwilling curse before its death—"I am an incarnation of the Death-Speaking Yin God! If you kill me, the Death-Speaking Yin God will never let you go!"

Tan Shuchang naturally turned a deaf ear to it, though he also came to a realization. No wonder this Fierce Ghost had seemed so lively compared with the other three, who had been taciturn as stones.

He had previously assumed it was something special about the Land Where Humans and Ghosts Coexist. It turned out that place did not grant Fierce Ghosts an extra boost or restore their awareness as living people. This Fierce Ghost was an incarnation of a Yin Spirit.

"One Yin Spirit is worth at least ten Fierce Ghosts..." The thought inevitably stirred Tan Shuchang's heart.

It was the sort of stirring when turtle and mung bean caught each other's eye in love.

He very much wanted to refine that Death-Speaking Yin God.

Unfortunately, for now, he could only think about it. So Tan Shuchang suppressed the surging thoughts in his heart and stepped onto the lotus platform, which had now fully solidified.

Then he sat down cross-legged.

In an instant, Tan Shuchang experienced something extraordinary. Time seemed to have stopped, yet it also seemed to be racing past. A single breath felt enough to pass through an entire year.

What one cultivated in the Cultivation Realm was cultivation power. Depending on the cultivation method, the divine abilities and techniques that cultivation power could unleash also differed.

Tan Shuchang had originally taken the Sevenfold Demon Body Scripture as his primary cultivation method.

Though he had later obtained the somewhat more powerful Blood-Refined Lotus Art, he had cultivated this technique for far too short a time.

Only by refining his first Fierce Ghost had he enabled this technique to possess technique, law, and force all at once when used. Otherwise, its power would have been too meager to even show.

In the Jia Five Realm, many cultivators clearly obtained a stronger cultivation method, yet still used their original one in battle. This was the root of it.

But now, Tan Shuchang's primary cultivation method was shifting from the Sevenfold Demon Body Scripture to the Blood-Refined Lotus Art.

Within the trickling bloodwater, streams of visible blood essence now poured into Tan Shuchang's body.

The process was exceedingly swift. In merely two breaths, everything vanished without a trace. Yet Tan Shuchang's cultivation had already reached fifteen years!

The other three years came from the time he had spent cultivating on Blackheart Mountain.

Back in the Tan Residence, Tan Shuchang had not been permitted to cultivate. He could study literature and practice martial arts, but cultivation alone was forbidden. Though that had been the late First Madam's decision, Chancellor Tan had silently allowed it as well.

After all, the eldest son who was both cultured and skilled in martial arts, and who also possessed cultivation, was the son Chancellor Tan loved most.

"What a formidable Fierce Ghost Lifting Lotus!"

Tan Shuchang was in an excellent mood. What had increased was not merely twelve years of cultivation power, but also all manner of insights he had gained into the Blood-Refined Lotus Art.

It was as though, within that momentary illusion of time, he had truly cultivated this technique for twelve years.

"Judging solely by the length of my cultivation, I should now be about on par with the younger generation of disciples from great sects like Sword Disciple Mountain," Tan Shuchang said happily.

In great sects such as Sword Disciple Mountain, the direct disciples cultivated step by step. They received enlightenment at three, learned the scriptures at four, and began formal cultivation.

By the time they reached nineteen, so long as they had not fished for three days and dried nets for two, they generally possessed fifteen years of cultivation power.

Such cultivation power could be called exceptionally deep and vigorous.

After all, some younger cultivators who began later did not possess so many years of cultivation power.

And relying on that deep, vigorous cultivation power, even if their mastery of their cultivation method was not profound, they could still drive back or even kill opponents with the sheer abundance of their power.

Without the slightest exaggeration, disciples who emerged from great immortal sects were all elites among cultivators.

After all, many Rogue Cultivators did not even possess Dharma Artifacts, while disciples of these great sects had at least two. One was given by their sect, while the other came from their parents or other elders.

Dharma Artifacts sounded ordinary enough, but they truly were no ordinary objects.

It was not simply a matter of finding suitable materials, forging them, and then adding a few things inside.

In the term Dharma Artifact, dharma came first and artifact came after. This dharma differed from the law of Law's Life Might in cultivation realms. Here, dharma referred to one or more ultimate powers.

For example, seal-type Dharma Artifacts such as mountain seals could generally grow large or shrink small. Once enlarged, they could bring Force Suppression Might to its utmost extreme!

Blade and sword Dharma Artifacts, meanwhile, often had attainments in Law's Life Might.

Yet the power contained in a Dharma Artifact was not limited to one kind. Therefore, a Dharma Artifact's grade was also related to how many ultimate powers it possessed.

Among technique, law, and force, Dharma Artifacts possessing only one were Lower-Tier Dharma Artifacts.

Those possessing two were Upper-Tier Dharma Artifacts.

And those possessing all three were called Spirit-Communing Dharma Artifacts, meaning they were only a step below Spirit-Communing Treasures.

Of course, that was really just gilding one's own face.

Some Spirit-Communing Treasures could revive the dead, allow rebirth from a drop of blood, or let one change cultivation methods and cultivate anew without any loss. It was said that a Spirit-Communing Treasure called the "Heavenly Origin Spirit Pearl"—despite its terribly common name—made its owner impossible to kill by any means for as long as they remained under its protection.

Other Spirit-Communing Treasures could permanently and drastically increase a cultivator's battle prowess, such as transforming a cultivator's flesh-and-blood body into a flame spirit body, a lightning spirit body, and the like.

Such inconceivable powers were things Spirit-Communing Dharma Artifacts could never possess.

"I wonder where Master's Dharma Artifacts are stored?"

Tan Shuchang could not help thinking of this. Blackheart Elder had possessed Dharma Artifacts. Though when his demon body had been severed, and when he encountered the Seventy-Two Sword Aspect jointly unleashed by Sword Disciple Mountain's disciples, many of Blackheart Elder's Dharma Artifacts had likely been shattered along with him.

Still, a century-old Old Devil's collection should have at least one or two pieces remaining.

He had not found them in that residence last time, which was perfectly normal. That old devil was likely a cunning rabbit with three burrows, having hidden them elsewhere.

After all, cultivators in the Jia Five Realm had no habit of carrying all their worldly possessions on them. Indeed, when going out, unless they knew they would be fighting someone, they often did not even bring their Dharma Artifacts.