Flame-Splitting Art

If his guess was right, the Spirit Seed inside him was transforming into a Spirit Root. He could feel the seed growing larger and larger, stirring the Dharma Power within him.

After the time it took to drink a cup of tea, a soft pop sounded inside him. The Spirit Seed seemed to burst under pressure from something within, and an icy sensation flooded his entire body, only to vanish in an instant.

That was it?

Had his Spirit Root formed successfully?

But he hardly felt anything.

Wang Yu hesitated, then instinctively circulated his cultivation art again, drawing in spiritual energy.

Whoosh.

Specks of spiritual energy within several yards swept toward him like water sucked into a giant whale's maw, swallowed into his body in an instant.

Such efficiency at drawing in spiritual energy!

Wang Yu was badly startled.

No, reaching the Third Layer of the Qi Refining Realm must have something to do with it too.

Wang Yu closed his eyes and began examining his body with his divine sense.

The Spirit Seed had disappeared, and his Dharma Power had settled down again. Yet it had increased by more than two-thirds compared with the Second Layer of the Qi Refining Realm, and the upper limit of his divine sense had risen somewhat as well.

But where was his Spirit Root?

Wang Yu carefully searched his body with his divine sense but found nothing unusual.

Puzzled, Wang Yu tried circulating the third-layer formula of the Yin Water Art. However, the sparse spiritual energy around him allowed him to draw only a little spiritual power into his body, making him frown.

No wonder every Immortal Cultivator he had met said that after reaching the third layer of Qi Refining, one could only continue cultivating in a Spirit Domain with a Spirit Vein.

With his greatly increased efficiency at drawing in energy, the thin spiritual energy in this environment truly could no longer meet the needs of normal cultivation.

Moreover, even with abundant spiritual energy, reaching the third-layer bottleneck would probably take at least three or four years. He would still have to find medicines to aid his cultivation.

It seemed he could no longer stay in Tongzhou City. He should visit Guangyuan Market, test his Spirit Root's attributes there while he was at it, then pay the Yin Household a visit.

After all, according to Yin Linglong, Guangyuan Market had specialized Magical Artifacts for testing Spirit Roots.

As Wang Yu considered this, he rummaged inside his robe and took out a gray bag-the Storage Bag City Lord Huang had left behind after his death.

At the second layer of Qi Refining, he had only been able to open it halfway. Now that he had reached the third layer, he could probably open it properly.

He held the bag in one hand and slowly channeled Dharma Power into it.

The tightly fastened mouth gradually loosened. After a flicker of white light, it finally opened completely.

Delighted, Wang Yu extended his divine sense inside and finally determined the Storage Bag's capacity. It contained a space a little over two meters across, enough to hold some personal belongings.

He turned the bag's mouth toward the ground.

White light flashed at the opening, and a small pile of Spirit Stones, two green wooden boxes, and a book with a crimson cover spilled out.

Wang Yu counted roughly thirty Spirit Stones in the small pile.

He opened the two wooden boxes in turn. Each held a section of branch so vividly green it seemed ready to drip.

Curious, Wang Yu reached out to pick up one of the branches.

Crack!

The instant his fingers touched it, the branch shattered like porcelain, turning into a puddle of clear green water inside the wooden box. It rapidly vanished before his eyes.

Somewhat bewildered, Wang Yu raised the fingers that had touched the branch and sniffed them, catching a rich medicinal fragrance.

That thing looked quite extraordinary. It must have been worth quite a few Spirit Stones, right?

He muttered inwardly, feeling a faint pang at the loss. No longer daring to touch the other green branch, he closed the remaining wooden box and picked up the crimson-covered book.

"Flame-Splitting Art."

It was actually a spell manual.

"Taiyuan, enter overclocked synchronization mode."

Overjoyed, Wang Yu's eyes flashed with crystalline light as he quickly opened the book and began reading.

The manual was quite thick. A Late Qi Refining Rogue Cultivator who called himself Yu Ming had drawn on years of spellcasting experience to devise a secret art capable of splitting flame spells.

The first part consisted entirely of the cultivator boasting about his own greatness, the adventures he had experienced, and the formidable enemies he had slain. Only a few pages in the middle actually recorded the method for casting the Flame-Splitting Art, along with a diagram of Spell Spirit Markings composed of three Spirit Inscriptions. The final part recorded some of his practical insights and experiences from fighting other Immortal Cultivators.

After finishing it, Wang Yu checked his limited remaining mental energy and began studying the spell with the Taiyuan system's assistance.

This so-called Flame-Splitting Art was an ingenious casting technique that forcibly split a Spell Mark, testing the caster's control over his divine sense and Spell Marks.

With the aid of his enhanced thinking, Wang Yu understood the art's essence after reading the relevant passages just once. He soon became fully absorbed in comprehending the Flame-Splitting Art's Spell Spirit Markings.

Two days later.

Wang Yu stood in front of the house and pointed a finger into the empty air ahead.

Puff.

A flame appeared at his fingertip. It was Firefly.

After half a year of practice, he could now form this Spell Mark with little risk of failure.

He began chanting and formed a seal with one hand. Within his Divine Sense Sea, another indistinct Spell Mark faintly emerged over the Firefly Spell Mark, then covered it completely.

The Firefly Spell Mark twisted and split directly into two smaller Spell Marks, with a faint crimson thread of light still linking them.

Puff.

The flame outside blurred, then likewise split into two smaller, thinner flames.

As Wang Yu watched the divided flames before him, a hint of delight appeared on his face.

"Go!"

He flicked his finger twice toward the two flames without touching them.

Boom! Boom!

The two flames shot out and struck two nearby saplings with perfect accuracy. They transformed into billowing pillars of fire, reducing both trees to wisps of smoke in an instant.

Wang Yu was startled at the sight.

Was it his imagination, or had Firefly become even more powerful since he formed his Spirit Root?

During these two days of studying the Flame-Splitting Art's Spirit Inscriptions, he had confirmed that Spell Spirit Markings recorded in spell manuals were indeed far easier to comprehend than Primordial Spells. That was why he had mastered the Flame-Splitting Art so easily in such a short time.

He had noticed this difference in difficulty when studying the Qi-Observing Technique aboard the Iron Arrow, but now he was even more certain.

Now he continued chanting, and Firefly appeared before him again. He tapped the empty air twice with his finger. After three soft sounds in succession, four even smaller miniature flames appeared, but all of them flickered and blurred, seemingly liable to go out at any moment.

Given his current Dharma Power and divine sense, this was probably his limit.

He shook his sleeve, and all four miniature flames vanished at once.

Several days later, in the afternoon, in the same open space outside the house.

Having just finished practicing the Four Tiger Pounce Forms, Wang Yu was bare-chested and covered in sweat. He formed seals with both hands and began chanting, then reached upward with one hand and grasped at the empty air. After specks of blue light flickered, a fist-sized ball of water formed out of nowhere above his head. It fell straight down, spreading into a wash of clear water that rinsed most of the sweat from his upper body.

Feeling slightly refreshed, Wang Yu changed his hand seal and began chanting again. He extended one palm, then closed his five fingers.

Crackle.

A spark appeared on the surface of his fist, then stretched into a slender thread of electricity that flickered in and out of sight over his fist. After flashing a few times, it vanished with another crackle.

These were Water Gathering and Lightning Flash, the two spells he had learned over the past half year.

Unlike Firefly, however, these two Parlor Trick Arts were harder to comprehend and master. One merely conjured a ball of clear water from thin air, while the other produced only a faint electrical spark.

The former did solve the problem of carrying a waterskin on future journeys, but the latter was pitifully weak. Apart from making anyone it touched feel a slight tingling, it had no destructive power at all. Compared with Firefly, it was the difference between heaven and earth, though its power did match the description of Parlor Trick Arts in Introduction to Spells.

If they were all Primordial Spells, why was Firefly so astonishingly powerful?

Wang Yu remained somewhat puzzled.