Spirit Fruits Are Delicious

Ordinary people had three Essence Platforms. With five, one could ignite Essence Fire and begin qi refinement. Ancient qi refiners had no more than ten. The Elixir Cauldron School cultivated both life and nature, so they might have had a few more. Dedicated martial cultivators might have had even more, perhaps dozens or hundreds, even attaining the Dao through martial arts and achieving bodily sanctification...

Could someone who had achieved bodily sanctification have that many?

And considering that each successive Essence Platform was taller and larger, and harder to gather, clearly, having so many was absolutely impossible.

He had definitely visualized them wrong.

Just then, Yunzhi's voice reached his ears again:

"My method is a makeshift one that I figured out myself. It came from heaven and earth, though it happens to accord with the immortal master's advice to 'let nature take its course.' Still, as long as you succeed in visualizing them, the result is the same."

That makeshift method really isn't much good.

Chen Du wasn't too worried, though, because he realized he couldn't quite call his visualization a complete failure, either.

At least he had clearly seen four Essence Platforms.

What if I just ignore the wrong ones?

"I'm so glad I haven't led you astray, little immortal master. Next, I'll teach you how to ignite Essence Fire. It's another method I figured out myself. I've heard there are more ingenious techniques in the human world. Humans are more clever, after all, but I was born in the Age of Dharma's End, so I don't know those methods either."

To be safe, I won't try that just yet.

Besides, Chen Du hadn't eaten a spirit fruit, and four Essence Platforms weren't enough to ignite Essence Fire.

Instead, he suddenly sensed an unusual fluctuation of spiritual qi beside him.

"There's no need to hurry, little immortal master. Take your time. Even when the conditions are met, igniting Essence Fire can't be done in a single step. It also takes... what? You've already ignited it?"

It seems the immortal master's spirit fruits are particularly extraordinary.

That was what Yunzhi thought.

"It seems the little immortal master's talent truly is extraordinary."

That was what Yunzhi said.

"If you were human, it would be time to learn a qi refinement method. But as yao, we can also learn about taking human form first.

"This is simple! I once heard from an old friend that there are two ways to take human form:

"The first is to let nature take its course and pay it no mind. The great Dao has its own wonders. When the opportunity arrives, you will naturally take on a different appearance according to your own mind and character. That old friend of mine used this method. Because she was bold and uninhibited, and loved fighting, she took the form of a strong, broad-shouldered, thick-waisted woman;

"The other is to carve and polish it with care. From this point onward, you constantly visualize the appearance you want to take in your mind, suggesting it to yourself again and again. When the time comes, it will be done.

"After taking human form, you can also learn transformation techniques to change your appearance."

It sounds like she used the second method.

"Little immortal master, consider it yourself, or discuss it with the immortal master.

"I'll teach you a qi refinement method next:

"The spiritual qi of heaven and earth is rich and varied. There are several broad categories, and the smaller ones number far more than hundreds or thousands. We spirits, yao, ghosts, and monsters mostly gather the essence of the sun and moon to refine yin and yang qi. Others gather the essence of the five elements to refine five-element qi, gather the essence of mountains and rivers to refine the spiritual qi of heaven and earth, or gather the spiritual essence of the seasons to refine the spiritual qi of the four seasons. The list goes on, according to what suits each individual.

"This is a method for gathering the essence of the sun and moon to refine yin and yang spiritual qi. Listen carefully first, little immortal master, then see whether it suits you afterward.

"..."

Chen Du listened and committed it to memory.

He could see the various kinds of spiritual qi between heaven and earth with great clarity. Over the past six months, he had also looked through many ancient texts in the temple that he hadn't paid much attention to before, and studied their underlying patterns in depth. From the connections between spiritual qi and heaven and earth, he could roughly tell which category each belonged to. For example, during the days of continuous spring rain not long ago, a translucent sort of spiritual essence had grown more abundant in the air. This was probably the spiritual essence brought by water vapor, one of the many kinds found between heaven and earth. And around the Awakening of Insects, the spiritual qi of heaven and earth had undergone a distinctive change, which might have been the seasonal spiritual essence Yunzhi had spoken of.

He could also distinguish the spiritual qi brought by the sun and moon.

The spiritual essence of the five elements was easy to distinguish, too.

Cloud shadows shifted endlessly, while the teachings continued in the temple.

As she spoke, birds chirped on the mountain, a gentle breeze brushed the treetops again and again, and the sun slowly climbed above them. What a bright and beautiful spring day it was.

Yunzhi spoke with great trepidation.

She knew that, compared with what she had spoken of earlier, what she was saying now was more important. A mistake would have greater consequences, so she had to be even more careful.

Though the immortal master probably wasn't listening all that closely anyway.

"I came to understand the Dao on my own. There's nothing profound in what I know, and that's all of it. I don't know whether it will be of any use to you, little immortal master."

Yunzhi stood up.

"Meow~"

The cat finally stood up too. She lowered her front, raised her backside, and stretched at length, even spreading her claws like flowers in bloom.

Normally, she could never have sat still for so long.

If she hadn't been thinking about taking charge and protecting the Daoist, she would have run outside to catch bugs long ago.

"Immortal master?"

Yunzhi looked tentatively to the side.

The immortal master had his eyes closed, seemingly in meditation.

"Hmm?"

Chen Du was startled out of it by her voice. He had been sensing the changes.

"I've disturbed your rest, immortal master." It seemed the immortal master really hadn't listened much to what she had said, which put her somewhat at ease. "I've told the little immortal master most of what I know."

"Thank you for your efforts." Chen Du nodded. "Her brain is smooth and her memory is poor. She might forget it all as soon as she hears it, so please keep a closer eye on her over the next couple of days."

"Side-Swept Bangs! Smart!"

The cat immediately turned her head and said angrily.

"Not at all, not at all." Yunzhi kept her manner very humble. "Is there anything you wish to correct, immortal master?"

"There's nothing to say."

After giving that offhand reply, Chen Du prepared to leave.

But he had barely taken a step when another thought occurred to him. Feeling that he ought to return a peach for a plum, he stopped, patted his cat on the head, and spoke as though teaching a child:

"You need only remember this: in the immortal Dao of old, all kinds share the same path. Nurture life and temper the body, and from the body produce essence. Use essence as fire, and gather that fire to refine qi. Use qi as water, and gather that water into a sea. Once magical power is abundant, nurture the primordial spirit. In time, return to yourself and revert to your true nature, and only then attain spiritual clarity. Become one with the Dao, and thus become an immortal."

The cat furrowed her brow and found herself twisting around despite herself, scratching her head furiously with a hind leg.

Yunzhi's expression grew thoughtful, and she sank into contemplation.

Though she had long remained at the stage of gathering qi into a sea, she knew that in ancient times, some masters who had cultivated far enough could send their primordial spirits out of their bodies, travel a thousand li in the time it took to drink a cup of tea, roam mountains and waters, and even pick flowers to bring back.

As she had said earlier, someone who had cultivated qi refinement to a high level could be considered a master even in the ancient pre-Qin era. Someone who reached the stage of sending their primordial spirit out of their body could truly be called an immortal on earth. That level of cultivation was already rare in the world, enough to make one the founding patriarch of a major school. But as for what lay beyond that, or how to cultivate further, she had never heard anything about it.

The immortal master's words seemed to point directly to a path to immortality.

Before she could collect herself, Chen Du had already left.

The cat finally got the bug out, held it in both hands with great ceremony, and presented it to Yunzhi.

"You eat~"

"Many thanks."

Yunzhi did not refuse and accepted it respectfully.

Chen Du returned to his room and carefully counted the indistinct things that also looked like Essence Platforms twice.

Sure enough, there were more than a thousand.

One thousand and ninety-five.

He knew he had visualized them wrong, but he wanted to know where he had gone wrong and what he had mistaken for Essence Platforms, which was why he counted them. Then he rummaged through the ancient texts on the bookshelves, trying to match them against the extraordinary meridians, organs, and acupoints in his body, even combining them to see if they matched, but none of them did.

He didn't know where he had gone wrong.

By now, he was holding a spirit fruit in his hand.

A day had passed, but the fruit's radiance had not diminished at all, and the spiritual qi within it showed no sign of having lessened. Only its tempting, peculiar fragrance had become subdued.

Without hesitation, he popped one into his mouth.

The moment he bit through it, the peculiar fragrance from when it had ripened poured out again, stronger and closer than before. It filled his mouth completely and rushed straight into his nose. At the same time, that longing that seemed to come from the depths of his soul welled up again, leaving him with no desire to chew, only to swallow it as quickly as possible.

Gulp!

After he swallowed it came an intense sense of satisfaction.

His first impression was actually how delicious it was!

It was a deliciousness and satisfaction that went beyond taste.

Then Chen Du saw radiance bloom from his body, just as it had from Yunzhi and his cat. At the same time, he could sense the process of the fruit being digested through the changes in spiritual essence.

He carefully experienced the changes it brought him.

"Hmm..."

As expected, he felt none of the "clarity of mind and spiritual perception with closed eyes" that Yunzhi had described. The spiritual qi he saw looked the same as ever, without any change.

There's no reason it should work on yao but not on humans.

Have I already reached the limit?

The more outward growth Yunzhi had mentioned, on the other hand, was there. Chen Du could now clearly feel that he was full of energy, even better than when his body had fully recovered after exhaustion. It was as though every part of his body was brimming with strength, even overflowing with it. His physical condition rapidly reached its peak and continued to climb.

As for the increase in strength, it was easy to misjudge without testing it, so he couldn't tell for the moment.

Chen Du hurriedly closed his eyes and visualized.

Yunzhi's makeshift method really wasn't suited to him.

Now he saw more than a thousand indistinct, false Essence Platforms, and at the same time, seven real, reliable ones.

An increase of three whole platforms!

It was indeed an opportunity for the birds and beasts of the mountains to transcend their bounds. Three Essence Platforms had appeared out of nowhere. A wild beast that ate one could probably immediately comprehend the Dao and awaken its intelligence, and it could also equal half a lifetime of arduous cultivation for many ancient qi refiners.

Chen Du turned his head to look. The bamboo basket was still packed full, with twenty-five fruits remaining.

According to Yunzhi, the more Essence Platforms one had, the more efficiently one could refine qi later. The drawback was that accumulating essence would take a great deal of time, and each additional Essence Platform was harder to temper and build. On top of that, qi and blood inevitably declined with age, making essence harder to accumulate. That Patriarch Chen Tuan had lived only a little over a hundred years. A person couldn't spend half their life, their entire youth, preparing to refine qi.

At the same time, having more Essence Platforms also made them harder to ignite.

The first drawback didn't affect Chen Du much, because he could accumulate essence and build Essence Platforms by eating the fruits. The second was what concerned him more.

Should he keep building more Essence Platforms or start refining qi sooner? He needed to strike the balance that suited him best.

Hmm, I might as well eat another one and see.

They smell so good and taste so delicious!

I'll eat another one and see.