Cultivating in Seclusion

Chapter 48: Major Completion of the Cultivation Realm

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"Ahem! You little brat!" Card Fairy hastily replied, "Is your Purple-Spotted Bamboo Brush ready yet?"

"Let me check!" Wang Yan hurriedly took out the Purple-Spotted Bamboo Brush soaking in beast blood. As soon as he lifted it out, he noticed that it seemed somewhat different, giving off faint, almost imperceptible wisps of spiritual energy. Its tip was still inside the bottle. He quickly pulled it free and saw a clump of purple-black blood congealed around it. "Card Fairy! What's going on?"

"Hmm! It looks much better now. Wash it first, then soak it in some more demon beast blood, just like last time!" Card Fairy promptly instructed.

"Well... all right!" Wang Yan hastily agreed. After a good deal of bustling about, he finally finished.

"All right! First, I'll teach you the eighty-one basic formation characters! Remember them!" Card Fairy continued...

"Okay!"

"...!"

In the days that followed, Wang Yan behaved himself, going nowhere and staying tucked away in his cave abode.

The cave abode was some distance from where the mortals of the Ye Family Stockade lived, set into a mountainside in the area with the richest spiritual energy. Ye Shisan's cultivation cave lay on one side, and Ye Mingtian's cultivation quarters on the other.

Wang Yan knew Ye Mingtian did not trust him and was effectively keeping watch over him to prevent any sneaky tricks. But Wang Yan was at a crucial stage of cultivation himself and had plenty to do, so he could not be bothered to go out anyway.

What he had seen and heard at the Lü Family Marketplace had left quite an impression on him. He understood full well that in the current Cultivation World, without cultivation and strength, he would suffer humiliation wherever he went. Besides, entering the Firecloud Sect required reaching perfection of the cultivation realm.

He had long since resolved to cultivate diligently.

Wang Yan had already purchased enough pills at the Lü Family Marketplace. Aside from taking pills and meditating diligently each day, he spent his remaining time studying the Way of Formation, drawing runes, and practicing Artifact Refining.

And on this particular day...

Wang Yan sat cross-legged on the ground, with quite a few blank talismans spread before him, now covered in dull, lightless characters. Holding the Purple-Spotted Bamboo Brush, he concentrated intently on drawing a tiny, peculiar character on one talisman. His complete absorption and painstaking care made it clear that he was giving his studies everything he had.

Suddenly!

"Hum!" Golden light surged. With a final hook of the Purple-Spotted Bamboo Brush in Wang Yan's hand, an exceptionally beautiful rune took shape. The golden radiance came from the talisman, which glittered all over with flecks of gold, seemingly containing an astonishing amount of magic power and spiritual energy.

Just then...

"Oh? Not bad, you little brat! You're almost ready to start drawing paired runes!" Card Fairy's voice rang out.

Card Fairy had already taught Wang Yan the eighty-one basic characters of the Way of Formation. According to her, combining these eighty-one characters in different ways could produce countless rune combinations, creating countless formations that channeled spiritual energy. These various formation rune combinations could then be incorporated into Immortal Cards to preserve their divine abilities.

"Mm! I finally succeeded. Drawing formation runes really is difficult!" Wang Yan nodded happily, then paused and hurriedly asked, "Card Fairy, when can we start refining the Spell Collection Card?"

"Don't worry! Soon!" Card Fairy promptly replied. "Once your Artifact Refining is up to the task and you can successfully combine two formation characters into paired runes, you can start learning how to refine it!"

"I see. Then it's still a ways off!" Wang Yan nodded. Ever since he had begun practicing the Heart-Control Art, he had clearly felt a change in his state of mind. He seemed calmer and more focused than before, and he was gradually coming to understand Card Fairy's painstaking intentions.

"Yes. Combining two formation runes is several times harder than drawing a single rune!" Card Fairy promptly replied. "It also consumes quite a bit of magic power. It would be best to wait until you reach major completion of the cultivation realm!"

"Okay! No problem!" Wang Yan quickly agreed, then continued after a pause, "In that case, I'll focus on cultivating over the next few days. I feel the bottleneck to major completion of the cultivation realm starting to loosen!"

"All right! No problem!"

"Oh, right! Card Fairy! What do you think about Ye Shisan's situation?" As though remembering something, Wang Yan hurriedly asked another question.

"Let me think about it a little more. Ye Shisan's character really is excellent, but he's a little too simplehearted. His comprehension is good too, but his cultivation has strayed somewhat off course. Getting him to stop practicing the Body-Refining Technique and start cultivating spells will probably be rather difficult!" Card Fairy continued, "Still, I have some confidence now! Just be patient!"

"All right!" Wang Yan promptly replied. "Hmm, try to hurry, though, so that fellow stops pestering me!"

"No problem!"

As it turned out, although Wang Yan did not particularly want to bother with Ye Shisan, the young man's honest, good-natured disposition left him at a loss. Ye Shisan followed him around all day, calling him "Big Brother" over and over and asking Wang Yan to teach him spells.

Ye Shisan's cultivation had been guided by Ye Mingtian. The cultivation method was actually something Ye Mingtian had pieced together himself from a secret manual he had obtained somewhere or other. It fused a mortal martial artist's internal cultivation method with a cultivator's method of absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. What he had passed on to Ye Shisan focused primarily on body refinement and raising cultivation, but had already strayed from the proper path of a cultivator.

It did not allow a cultivator to gather magic power in the dantian, instead continually strengthening the flesh. It was quite a peculiar oddity.

Naturally, Wang Yan would not go questioning or challenging Ye Mingtian. But Ye Shisan was fascinated by the Fireball Spell Wang Yan had cast, as well as the flying sword ability he had witnessed. They left him itching unbearably to try them himself, so of course he kept pestering Wang Yan to teach him spells.

Of course...

Wang Yan did not yet have the ability to identify Ye Shisan's underlying problem. Card Fairy was naturally the one who had spotted it. The solution should have been simple: have Ye Shisan practice a genuine cultivator's cultivation method. But perhaps because he had practiced the method Ye Mingtian had cobbled together, his flesh, muscles, and meridians differed from those of ordinary cultivators. Ordinary cultivation methods and divine abilities actually failed him, making it difficult to gather spiritual energy. Even Card Fairy had no immediate solution and needed time to think of a divine ability suitable for him.

In truth, Wang Yan had little interest in the matter and could simply have turned Ye Shisan down. Card Fairy, however, was very interested, apparently because sitting around was too boring.

Another important discovery was that Card Fairy had actually found Ye Shisan possessed an earth-metal dual immortal root, a rare aptitude among cultivators that qualified as quite good.

"Oh! That's good, then! I'll get back to cultivating!" Wang Yan had only asked in passing. With that, he tapped his Storage Bag and took out several bottles and jars, along with a few red, fire-type Spirit Stones. Holding them in his palms, he swallowed two Spiritual Energy Pills and sat cross-legged to cultivate...

This was the method Card Fairy had taught him for breaking through his bottleneck. The Spiritual Energy Pills needed little explanation: taking a double dose increased the spiritual energy in his body to force through the bottleneck. Spirit Stones, meanwhile, were solid spiritual energy condensed within mineral stone and contained astonishing amounts of it, allowing that energy to be absorbed. Since Wang Yan practiced a fire-type cultivation method, he naturally needed fire-type Spirit Stones.

However, Wang Yan had already tried twice over the past few days, and both attempts had failed.

This time, however, he felt somewhat confident.

He had successfully mastered the first level of the Heart-Control Art. The art had twelve levels in total. Card Fairy had originally thought it would be impressive enough if Wang Yan mastered the first level before reaching major completion of the cultivation realm, never expecting him to accomplish it so quickly.

No wonder Wang Yan had managed to comprehend all eighty-one basic formation runes in such a short time; this had played a part as well. Another reason was his own intelligence and resourcefulness.

A cultivator's immortal root aptitude had nothing to do with intelligence or sex; it was entirely innate. But becoming a formation master or talisman refiner required sufficient talent. Both formation mastery and talisman refinement were extremely intricate and complicated disciplines, demanding enough aptitude and intelligence to study and comprehend their respective paths.

The Immortal Cards Card Fairy had developed combined these two already intricate and cumbersome disciplines into a new one. Without exceptional intelligence and comprehension, it was impossible to practice.

This was also why Card Fairy valued Wang Yan so highly. In addition, his personality was exceptionally well suited to using the Immortal Card Artifact... She truly hoped he could inherit it and carry it to greater glory throughout the Cultivation World.

Perhaps it was because Card Fairy's method worked...

Or perhaps, after so many attempts at breaking through, it was finally Wang Yan's turn to succeed!

That day!

"Haha! I did it!" Wang Yan's wildly excited voice rang through the cave. Looking almost beside himself with excitement, he flew out of the cave...

Although Wang Yan had always appeared completely assured and had used Immortal Cards to kill several cultivators at major completion of the cultivation realm in succession, he was deeply worried inside. If someone ever learned that he possessed a treasure like the Immortal Card Artifact, or discovered that he had killed cultivators from the Ma Family and the Lü Household, his meager cultivation might not be enough to keep him safe even with Immortal Cards protecting him. Every small step forward in his cultivation meant another measure of hope for protecting himself...

Another source of pressure was Wang Ziling, who had long since reached major completion of the cultivation realm. He weighed heavily on Wang Yan and made him extremely wary...

Now, at last, the water had flowed and the channel had formed-he had successfully advanced! Naturally, he was delighted.

"Very good, very good! You've finally advanced!" Card Fairy looked thoroughly pleased as she nodded repeatedly. Then she paused, coughed twice, and said, "Looks like you have another chance!"

"A chance?" Wang Yan's heart stirred at her words, and he suddenly understood. "Right, right, right! Card Fairy! The Lottery Cube!"