All Arts Return to One Stream

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Chapter 44: All Arts Return to One Stream

"Have some dried meat to fill your belly first."

Chen Beiwu took a piece of Illusion Weasel Wolf meat from his Storage Bag and held it out to Golden Egg.

"Gwoo."

As Golden Egg opened and closed its mouth, the chunk of Illusion Weasel Wolf meat, larger than its entire body, instantly vanished in a streak of gray light.

"Urp."

Golden Egg burped, and its basketball-like belly swelled another two full sizes.

Had its scales not still been golden, Chen Beiwu would have thought he had contracted a pufferfish just from its appearance.

Good. Let me see just how terrifying the Sea Absorption Spirit Art's strengthening effect is. Chen Beiwu watched Golden Egg expectantly.

"Gurgle."

Golden Egg's mouth tilted upward, its belly rising and falling.

"???" A trace of confusion appeared in Chen Beiwu's eyes.

Through the Companion Beast Contract, he could tell that Golden Egg had not used the Sea Absorption Spirit Art. It had simply swallowed the Illusion Weasel Wolf meat.

What are you doing? Chen Beiwu asked through his thoughts.

"Gurgle?"

Golden Egg widened its fish eyes, looking utterly witless.

At that sight, an outrageous thought suddenly surfaced in Chen Beiwu's mind.

Could he really have contracted an intellectually disabled fish?

A clueless fish that knew nothing of a demonic beast's instincts and did not even know how to unleash its innate spirit art.

"Gurgle."

Golden Egg stopped moving its fins, seemingly ready to sleep now that it was full.

Chen Beiwu: "..."

For some reason, the longer he looked at Golden Egg, the more convinced he became that his guess was right.

Its belly had swollen so much precisely because it did not know how to unleash its innate Sea Absorption Spirit Art. It had none of a variant Golden Scale's imposing presence or glittering brilliance.

"Wake up." Chen Beiwu grabbed Golden Egg by the tail fin, refusing to let it sleep with its eyes open.

"Gurgle?"

After being jostled like that, a little liveliness returned to Golden Egg's vacant fish eyes.

Without hesitation, Chen Beiwu closed his eyes and used the connection between them through the Companion Beast Contract to guide Golden Egg with his Divine Sense into using its innate spirit art.

"Hum!"

As time passed, the scales covering Golden Egg began drawing upon the spiritual energy in the cultivation room. Its basketball-sized belly rapidly shrank before his eyes as the radiance of its scales brightened and dimmed.

"Whew!"

Chen Beiwu withdrew his Divine Sense, exhaled a stale breath, and looked at Golden Egg in surprise.

After refining what was inside it with its Sea Absorption talent, Golden Egg's strength had soared, jumping straight from ten years of cultivation to fifteen.

And what had allowed such a tremendous improvement was not the Illusion Weasel Wolf meat it had just swallowed, but the reserves in its belly that it had never fully refined.

"Gurgle?"

Golden Egg stared blankly with its fish eyes.

Strange. I only just ate, so why am I hungry again?

Sensing Golden Egg's emotions, Chen Beiwu was rather speechless.

No wonder the cultivators of the Cavern Mystery Immortal Sect had failed to notice anything extraordinary about Golden Egg.

If forming the contract had not allowed him to sense Golden Egg's innate spirit art through its meridians, Chen Beiwu would never have imagined that a Second-Tier Spirit Beast hatchling could not even use the innate spirit art it had been born with.

He would most likely have assumed it was simply a variant Golden Scale that had yet to awaken its innate spell.

Being stupid has its advantages. If Golden Egg weren't so dumb, I probably wouldn't have had the chance to scoop up this overlooked treasure. Chen Beiwu smiled from the heart.

However clueless Golden Egg might be, it was still a second-tier variant with a bloodline comparable to a Treasure Beast's.

As long as Chen Beiwu kept training it with his Divine Sense, it would eventually master its own talent.

;psme&;psme&

"Beep, beep!"

Just then, an alert sounded, and the spiritual energy inside the cultivation room rapidly dwindled.

Chen Beiwu rose, fed Golden Egg a piece of wolf meat, put it away, and pushed open the cultivation room's door to leave.

Now that I've settled on my Companion Beast, the most important thing is to find a cultivation method on the Immortal Alliance Official Website that suits both Golden Egg and me. As Chen Beiwu thought, he picked up his phone and opened the Immortal Alliance Official Website.

Demonic beasts could rely on their bloodline instincts to consume the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and accumulate cultivation, but a cultivator's Companion Beast could not.

After forming the Three Treasures Companion Seal, a cultivator needed to convert the demonic power within the beast into magic power. Only then could they cultivate through the beast, making full use of their Companion Beast's Three Meridians rather than cultivating demonic power on its behalf.

The Companion Beast could then rapidly accumulate cultivation as its cultivator practiced a cultivation method and condensed magic power.

[Great Unity True Water Manual]

[North Sea Return to Ruins Scripture]

[Heavenly River Nine-Turn Boundless Scripture]

[Azure Sea Calamity-Transcending Eight Treasures Scripture]

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Looking at the renowned cultivation methods listed on the Immortal Alliance Official Website, Chen Beiwu hesitated.

The first step in purging a Companion Beast's demonic power was simple: have the contracted Spirit Beast abandon its bloodline instincts and switch to a human cultivator's cultivation method.

But because he had not previously considered contracting a Golden Scale, the water-attribute cultivation methods he had added to his cart were all Nascent Soul methods better suited to Spirit Beasts such as Azure Spirit Newts, Azure-Wave Spirit Carp, and Darkwater Spirit Turtles.

Forget it. I'll look for some other methods.

Chen Beiwu opened the cultivation method filters and selected wood and water (Heavenly Spiritual Root) under spiritual roots, Ten Thousand Beasts Art under advanced cultivation methods, and Golden Scale under Companion Beasts.

The Ten Thousand Beasts Art was one of the Immortal Alliance's four renowned foundational cultivation methods. Countless towering figures in cultivation had long since extrapolated the advanced methods suitable for transitioning from it to their utmost limits.

Thus, even after Chen Beiwu added all three criteria, the final results still included several hundred top-tier cultivation methods.

He read through their descriptions, eventually opening [All Arts Return to One Stream Jianmu Heavenly Scripture] to examine its general principles.

"Ten thousand rivers return to the sea; Jianmu reaches the heavens. Water and wood generate each other; the Dao follows nature."

"Those who cultivate this heavenly scripture must nourish wood with water and anchor water with wood, allowing the two to aid each other. With the Jianmu of heaven and earth as their bones, they must forge the All Arts Return to One Stream Jianmu Dao Body. Thus may they attain eternal life."

That piqued Chen Beiwu's interest, and he opened the introduction to [All Arts Return to One Stream Jianmu Heavenly Scripture].

This cultivation method had lofty ambitions, pointing straight toward Spirit Transformation. However, since Chen Beiwu had not yet purchased it and lacked the necessary access, he could only view information about its four main sections for now.

"This method is exceedingly difficult. Those with a wood spiritual root purity below 70 or a water spiritual root purity below 80 cannot cultivate it!"

Qi Refining section: "Water Generates Wood"

Foundation Establishment section: "Water and Wood Generate Each Other"

Golden Core section: "Jianmu Law Fusion"

Nascent Soul section: "All Arts Return to One Stream"

...;psme&;psme&

After reading the brief introductions to the four sections of [All Arts Return to One Stream Jianmu Heavenly Scripture], Chen Beiwu broadly understood the cultivation method's underlying intent.

Although it appeared to cultivate water and wood together, it actually placed one of the two attributes in the leading role.

Practiced forward, it allowed water to generate wood and forged the Jianmu Eternal Life Dao Body. Practiced in reverse, it could reverse the five elements, using wood to generate water, diminishing wood arts to cultivate water arts. This gave its practitioner the immensely powerful All Arts Return to One Stream Dao Body, capable of embracing a hundred rivers like the sea and smelting ten thousand arts into one.

Both Chen Beiwu and Golden Egg possessed dual wood and water spiritual roots of exceptionally high purity, making them an excellent fit for this cultivation method.

You're the one.

Chen Beiwu hesitated no longer and added the Qi Refining section of [All Arts Return to One Stream Jianmu Heavenly Scripture] straight to his cart, but did not check out.

Because he simply could not afford it right now!

(End of chapter)