Consolidating Cultivation and Practicing Spiritual Power

Shi Xuan's innate minor spiritual powers included the Golden Dragon Armor Charm, a marvelous defensive technique. When used, golden dragon scales would appear all over his body. At the ninth stage, even the scales of a true adult golden dragon would manifest. It offered strong defense against both physical and spiritual attacks, far superior to the spell Earth Absorption Armor Technique.

Thinking about this, Shi Xuan became confused. Why was the Golden Dragon Armor Charm, a spell of the first stage, more powerful than Earth Absorption Armor Technique? Did spells themselves have different tiers? For instance, was the Invisibility and Qi Concealment Technique more advanced than a general invisibility spell? The Treasury Records and the other two secret manuals didn't mention this, perhaps because it wasn't important.

Suddenly, Shi Xuan understood why Old Daoist Xu had only left him four talismans, and why these four talismans were several times more potent than the ones he drew himself. It seemed these were Old Daoist Xu's four innate minor spiritual powers, all cultivated to at least the third stage. As for other talismans, even though Old Daoist Xu's cultivation realm surpassed his own, the talismans he drew were only about fifty to sixty percent stronger than Shi Xuan's. There was no need for them to be left as heirlooms.

After realizing this, Shi Xuan understood that while cultivation affected the power of spells, it was far less significant than the spell's rank. Therefore, he should prioritize cultivating his minor spiritual powers. However, he shouldn't neglect other spells either. Although their power might not be great, various wondrous spells could be far more effective than his minor spiritual powers in specific situations, such as wall-penetrating spells, water-repelling spells, fire-repelling spells, and various illusion techniques.

Among Shi Xuan's other three minor spiritual powers, the Invisibility and Qi Concealment Technique needed no further explanation. The Golden Blade Divine Wind Slash was the pale white wind blade used by the Twin-Headed Tiger. But why was that pale white wind blade already at the third stage when the Twin-Headed Tiger had only just broken through its realm and hadn't had time to cultivate its spiritual powers?

This was something Shi Xuan didn't know. Clouds followed dragons, and wind followed tigers. The Twin-Headed Tiger's soul possessed an innate talent for this. When it first connected with the laws of heaven and earth, the spiritual power inscription formed was at the third stage, and subsequent cultivation was several times faster than that of ordinary people.

If he couldn't figure it out, he wouldn't dwell on it. Shi Xuan carefully studied the last minor spiritual power, the Shangqing Hand Pivot Thunder. This was a thunder technique comparable to the Great Unity Sky Thunder, just not as high-level yet. It involved mobilizing the power of the five internal organs with the essence of the soul, then subtly aligning with the five elemental energies. A tremor in the palm produced a metallic clang, capable of shattering anything. It also possessed the innate divine effect of thunder techniques in eliminating ghostly and evil creatures.

While studying the Shangqing Hand Pivot Thunder, Shi Xuan was pleasantly surprised to discover that this minor spiritual power was inherently a second-stage spell. What a delightful surprise! Shi Xuan began to understand why the Twin-Headed Tiger's Golden Blade Divine Wind Slash was at the third stage or higher.

After inspecting his minor spiritual powers, Shi Xuan excitedly prepared to walk to the window, wanting to see what the outside world looked like from his soul's perspective. However, as soon as he left the range of the sandalwood's effect, he felt a chilling wind blowing, threatening to dissipate his soul. Shi Xuan had to immediately engage in Visualization of the Bright Moon to nourish his soul and stabilize his form.

When viewing the world with his soul, the biggest difference was the ability to keenly sense the various spiritual energies in the air. He could even perceive the power of the moon and stars projecting onto the earth with a semi-sensory, semi-intuitive reflection in Shi Xuan's soul.

Therefore, one of the main functions of this realm was to lay the foundation for the next step: breaking through the physical body's barrier to directly sense the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. As for the idea of directly absorbing a certain spiritual energy from heaven and earth to strengthen the soul, that was absolutely out of the question. Heaven and earth's spiritual energies appeared docile, but that was only relative to heaven and earth. To the soul, they were violent and dangerous. Even absorbing a mere trace would result in the soul's immediate annihilation.

Shi Xuan tried several times and found that he couldn't leave his physical body by more than half a zhang. He supposed it was because his soul wasn't strong enough yet. Old Daoist Xu, however, could roam miles away with his soul.

As this was his first time experiencing Soul Departure, Shi Xuan was filled with novelty. However, when his soul began to feel tired, he decisively returned to his physical body through the Baihui acupoint.

Shi Xuan opened his eyes, wiggled his hands, and stomped his feet. The sensation in his physical body was vastly different from that of his soul. Afterward, Shi Xuan stopped cultivating and recovered his body and soul through deep sleep.

Upon waking in the morning, the outside was a hazy white. Snowflakes were falling on the mountainside in this deep mountain. The dancing white blossoms gently landed on Shi Xuan's hand, slowly melting into tiny water droplets. Shi Xuan stood by the window, his heart filled with joy, both for the breakthrough in his realm and for this rare snowfall. Normally, Tongxuan Mountain only received snow at its summit in ordinary years. As someone from southern China in his past life, Shi Xuan had rarely seen snow.

Free from worries about money and the hustle of life, Shi Xuan looked at the white snow outside, feeling only peace and happiness, sensing a hint of carefree and unrestrained bliss.

In the following days, Shi Xuan consolidated his Soul Departure realm. His range of activity expanded from the initial half zhang to nearly three zhang. This demonstrated the rapid progress in cultivation at the beginning of a realm breakthrough. However, once he reached three zhang, the speed of his soul cultivation began to slow down.

But Shi Xuan understood that this was normal and wasn't agitated. He also realized that reaching the Soul Departure realm in just over two years was abnormal. This was due to his original physical body's training, the supreme great law, and the medicinal recipes from the great law. His current realm had surpassed his original physical body, and there were no suitable medicinal recipes for his current realm. Although he possessed the supreme great law, his cultivation speed would undoubtedly be much slower than before. He had to be mentally prepared for breakthroughs that might take decades or even longer.

With his realm consolidated, Shi Xuan began to explain the difficulties encountered by Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde again. Just as he finished explaining, Shi Xuan was about to return to his room, intending to start cultivating his minor spiritual powers that evening. He saw Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde exchange glances, then step back a few paces and suddenly kneel on the ground, kowtowing to Shi Xuan.

Shi Xuan understood their intentions but still asked according to the usual protocol, "Why do you two kneel and kowtow?"

The two said in unison, "We implore Master to accept us as disciples into your tutelage." They then kowtowed again in unison.

Shi Xuan had already intended to pass on the Returning to Truth Scripture to a few more people to prevent Old Daoist Xu's lineage from dying out. He had observed that both of them had decent aptitude during their shared hardships and his subsequent discreet observations. They were not ungrateful or morally corrupt individuals. He had long planned to accept them and teach them the Returning to Truth Scripture, but he couldn't be the one to initiate it. They had to request it themselves to show sincerity, making the Daoist Magic precious and the immortal destiny rare.

Shi Xuan organized his words and slowly began, "Based on past events and our recent interactions, I can see you have good character. If you two wish to join my Returning to Truth Sect, you must sincerely abide by our sect's precepts. If you violate them, do not blame me for being ruthless. You must think carefully."

"Having entered the sect, we shall prioritize its precepts." They answered in unison again, likely having discussed this privately more than once.

"First, listen to me. The sect precepts consist of only five articles: First, do not privately transmit cultivation techniques. Second, do not betray your master or ancestors. Third, do not harm fellow disciples. Fourth, do not kill innocent people. Fifth, do not bully the weak. Can you abide by these?" Shi Xuan recalled novels he had read and managed to put together five rules.

Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde were taken aback, not expecting the sect precepts to be only these five. They had imagined that an immortal sect would have a whole book of rules, such as not marrying, not enjoying worldly riches, and so on. However, the two quickly reacted and immediately kowtowed, "If we violate these five precepts, may lightning strike us and our souls be scattered!"

Shi Xuan nodded with satisfaction. "However, Daoist Magic is precious, and the Daoist path is difficult to enter. Today, I will only accept you two as probationary disciples and will only teach you the first half of the Daoist texts. In the future, if you can achieve a breakthrough and strictly adhere to the sect rules, I will formally accept you as disciples. Are you willing?"

Shi Xuan chose to be cautious. He would first teach the content of the first three realms of the Returning to Truth Scripture: body forging, qi nurturing, and soul departure. Only after he found the Daoist sect and observed their conduct over the years would he teach the latter half.

Seeing that they would be taught immortal techniques, the two didn't care about anything else and quickly kowtowed three times, "Disciple thanks Master!"

"I have received great kindness from my senior brother. Today, thinking of my senior brother's lineage having no successor, I feel sorrow. Perhaps I shall accept disciples on behalf of my senior brother. In the future, you two can inherit my senior brother's lineage. Are you willing?" Shi Xuan didn't want to directly take them as his disciples. He still had to seek out the Daoist sect and cultivate for many years. As an uncle-master, he could offer guidance, but as a master, it would be too troublesome. Furthermore, he had taken over this body, and helping Du Bai find someone to inherit his lineage was also fitting.

Yan Jujian and Ding Mingde hadn't expected this. Yan Jujian, being more experienced, saw Shi Xuan's half-smile and quickly kowtowed, "Thank you, Uncle-Master, we are willing to inherit your lineage!" Ding Mingde followed suit and kowtowed in agreement.

Shi Xuan was finally satisfied and let the two rise. He then brought out an incense burner and made a spirit tablet for Du Bai. He had the two kowtow three times before the tablet and offer three sticks of incense, thus completing the initiation ceremony.

Although the two were surprised by the simplicity of the initiation ceremony, they became excited when Shi Xuan produced the Daoist text, the Returning to Truth Scripture.

Shi Xuan used the Copying Technique to replicate the first half of the Returning to Truth Scripture onto the white paper the two had brought. At the same time, he let them see that more than half of the content had not been copied. This was to let them know that their uncle-master wasn't deceiving them. Even though their uncle-master's cultivation wasn't high now, the Returning to Truth Scripture indeed contained content for higher realms.

That evening, after instructing the two to return to their rooms and study the Daoist text thoroughly, Shi Xuan began his planned activities. He smoothly entered a state of Visualization. After visualizing the Clear Wind, Bright Moon, and the Five Directional Thunder Gods, Shi Xuan began to visualize the talismanic script of the second stage of the Minor Clear Wind Escape. This information was directly obtained from the inscription. Thus, innate minor spiritual powers were the only spells that could be cultivated independently without needing to find Daoist texts.