Illuminating the Self

Name: Zhou Wuji (eighth rank)

Lifespan: 85

Spirit (Shen): 323

True Qi (Qi): 425

Body (Essence): 121

Northern Dipper Tianshu Scripture: proficient

Xiaoxiang Swordsmanship: minor accomplishment

Zhou Wuji looked at the data displayed on the page, feeling quite satisfied.

For the spirit, body, and True Qi data, he had used his condition just after opening his Divine Aperture as the baseline, setting all three values-essence, Qi, and spirit-to one hundred.

No matter which cultivation school one belonged to, its foundation lay in the three treasures of essence, Qi, and spirit.

Spirit meant the mind, and Qi meant True Qi. The essence among them actually referred to the cultivator's body.

By quantifying essence, Qi, and spirit, he could clearly see the progress of his cultivation.

As for spells and martial arts, they were actually techniques and methods for practical use, not the Dao, not the foundation.

Zhou Wuji reviewed his data several times. He felt his spirit had grown a little too quickly.

His True Qi had improved because he had opened his acupoints, allowing rapid progress.

Why had his spirit grown so quickly?

He suddenly thought of the origin profound spirit and origin profound Qi converted by the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment.

Origin profound Qi is Qi, so origin profound spirit must be spirit, right?

Converting so many people's fate profiles not only improved my swordsmanship, but also brought tremendous growth to my spirit?

Zhou Wuji was not certain either. He could only wait until he absorbed origin profound spirit again to verify it.

If that's really the case, can the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment also convert origin mystic essence?

Anticipation stirred in Zhou Wuji again. If that really was the case, his cultivation would become very simple. He would only need to kill more demons, devils, ghosts, and monsters.

He reminded himself that the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment had strict commandments, yet he was not bound by them. That was what allowed him to advance so quickly.

He could disregard the commandments of the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, but he had to have his own Dao, his own principles.

The next morning, Daoist Yiping brought Zhou Wuji to the Law Transmission Hall.

Daoist Yiping obtained a General Compendium of Daoist Arts from the steward. It listed the various spells corresponding to each rank.

During his days at the Flying Profound Hall, Zhou Wuji had actually already read this book. He had also long since decided which spells he wanted to learn.

Daoist Yiping said quietly to Zhou Wuji, "Even with the fees reduced or waived, you can't choose too many. Five to seven spells would be appropriate."

He advised, "The Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword is an eighth-rank cultivation method corresponding to the nine apertures of the upper Dantian. You must learn it.

"Besides that, the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation is also essential. Internally, this incantation can purify the spirit and steady the mind; externally, it can help others drive out evil entities, ghosts, and demons. It's very important."

Zhou Wuji nodded. His martial uncle was right. Learning more spells was not necessarily better.

This was not a question of whether he appeared greedy. Rather, cultivating spells was complicated, and achieving anything in a single spell required a great investment of effort and resources.

Take the Rejuvenation Technique. Without the origin profound spirit converted by the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, he might not master it even if he practiced his entire life.

Even with the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, he could not waste origin profound spirit on unimportant spells.

Zhou Wuji chose three more spells: the Fire Bell Incantation, the Six Yang Dharma Eye, and the Five Yin Pouch.

The Fire Bell Incantation was actually a ninth-rank spell, a very low level.

Most wandering Daoists without a proper inheritance knew how to use a Fire Bell Talisman. With a shake, the talisman paper would turn into blazing flames in the wind. It looked quite intimidating.

In fact, the Fire Bell Incantation was a talisman art for dispersing Yin Qi. It could be used as either an incantation or a talisman.

Proper Daoists mostly cultivated the Fire Bell Incantation for the convenience of lighting fires.

The Six Yang Dharma Eye was a middle-to-high-level eighth-rank spell. It allowed cultivators to see evil entities, ghostly spirits, and Yin Qi.

Cultivated to a profound level, it allowed the eyes to unleash six yang Law Power and directly destroy evil entities and ghostly spirits.

The final spell, the Five Yin Pouch, wove five Yin Spirits into a pouch to carry inanimate objects. This was also a spell Zhou Wuji had set his sights on long ago.

Daoist Yiping could not help frowning when he saw Zhou Wuji's choices.

Although the Six Yang Dharma Eye was difficult to cultivate, it suited Zhou Wuji, who had opened his eye apertures. The Fire Bell Incantation was a method useful for traveling the martial world, so it was practical enough.

Only the Five Yin Pouch required setting up an altar to make offerings to Yin soldiers. Not only was it tedious and complicated, it was also extremely dangerous.

A mistake in its cultivation could cause the Yin soldiers to turn on the practitioner, shortening his lifespan at best or killing him on the spot at worst.

But seeing that Zhou Wuji had made up his mind, he could hardly say anything more.

The Law Transmission Hall's steward brought out the five spells. Zhou Wuji knelt before the statue of the North Pole Heavenly Emperor and swore never to privately teach these secret methods to others, then received the five spells.

Back at the Flying Profound Hall, Daoist Yiping earnestly told Zhou Wuji, "The Five Yin Pouch requires setting up an altar to make offerings to Yin soldiers. There are a great many rules involved.

"You haven't received your register yet, so you can only establish a lower altar. Remember, a lower altar is a Daoist's private ritual altar and must not enter an Orthodox God's temple..."

Zhou Wuji knew quite a bit about Daoist cultivation, but he had very little actual experience.

Having Daoist Yiping's guidance could not have been better. He humbly asked his martial uncle about the various cultivation methods.

Daoist Yiping said, "The others are all minor arts. Only the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword is a true method, a foundation for cultivation.

"First learn the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword here with me. There will be time enough to learn the other spells afterward."

"What you say is the proper path, martial uncle. That is exactly what I should do," Zhou Wuji said sincerely.

Daoist Yiping smiled, then explained in detail all the key points and tricks of cultivating the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword.

This method was very profound, effectively an upgraded version of the Northern Dipper Tianshu Scripture, and the foundation for advancing to the seventh rank.

With his foundation in the Northern Dipper Tianshu Scripture, Zhou Wuji found it fairly easy to get started with this method.

But the method was profound. Although he understood its principles after a day of study, he still could not properly grasp its many cultivation details.

Daoist Yiping did not mind. It would have been strange if Zhou Wuji had learned it in a single day.

That evening, Zhou Wuji read through the Heart-Purifying Divine Incantation, Fire Bell Incantation, Six Yang Dharma Eye, and Five Yin Pouch several times.

Thanks to his powerful spirit, although he could not claim to have learned them after a few readings, he had forcibly committed all their incantations to memory.

When he went to bed, Zhou Wuji opened the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment and saw that five more spells had appeared on his page.

However, he had not even reached the beginner level in any of these five spells...

Zhou Wuji had long known that his aptitude for Daoist cultivation was mediocre, so he was not discouraged.

I can use cheats. No matter how good someone's aptitude is, can it beat my cheats?!

There were still six strands of origin profound spirit in the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment, just right to put to use now.

He selected the two highest fate profiles, converted them into two strands of origin profound spirit, and invested them directly in the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword. A small world unfolded, and Zhou Wuji practiced bitterly within it, day and night without rest.

Incantations, hand seals, footwork, spirit visualization, circulating True Qi-all the skills of the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword were deeply imprinted in Zhou Wuji's mind through countless repetitions of grueling practice.

When he opened his eyes and looked at the Northern Emperor's Book of Heavenly Punishment again, the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword had already reached the proficient level.

Yet Zhou Wuji knew this was already the limit. Even hundreds or thousands of strands of origin profound spirit converted from fate profiles below two taels could not raise the Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword to a higher level.

It was like solving mathematics problems. Hundreds or thousands of people combined could still fall short of one person's intelligence.

Fortunately, a proficient-level Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword was already quite good.

As he saw it, Martial Uncle Yiping's Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword was only at this level, no higher.

Zhou Wuji got out of bed, performed the Seven Star Gang Steps, formed Law Seals with his hands, silently recited the incantation, and visualized the seven star gods transformed from the seven stars of the Northern Dipper.

He built it up this way for two hundred breaths, or three minutes by the more precise timekeeping of his previous life.

Zhou Wuji pointed, and seven points of azure starlight flashed out, linking together before him into a deep-blue sword of light a little over a foot long.

The light on the sword flickered unsteadily, making it seem illusory and unreal.

He controlled it with his spirit, and the deep-blue sword of light flashed into the wall over ten feet away.

Zhou Wuji went closer to inspect it. The wall was completely undamaged, and he could not help smiling.

The Seven Stars Demon-Slaying Sword was meant to deal with evil entities and Yin demons in the first place. Although it contained True Qi, it had almost no destructive power against objects or bodies of flesh and blood.

Of course, this was also because his cultivation level was too low. Cultivated to an extremely high level, the magical sword would be sharper than a real sword.

Most Daoist flying swords spoken of in the world were magical swords condensed from Law Power like this, rather than actual physical swords...