Yin Dew
"Yin Dew?" Lin Xu's eyes flickered as his gaze fell on a leaf at the tip of a Yin Locust Tree.
The leaf trembled, and a drop of blue-green dew rolled slowly along its veins. Wisps of Yin Qi gathered toward it like weary birds returning to their nests.
At a thought, a wisp of candlelight wound up along the edge of the leaf, gently catching the dew and drawing it down.
"There's even something this good here?" His heart stirred.
Lin Xu had read about Yin Dew at the Hall of Good Deeds. It was not of a high grade, but it was a key auxiliary ingredient in refining Soul-Nourishing Pills. A single drop could be exchanged for 20 merit points.
"Unfortunately, I didn't bring a jade bottle this time." He shook his head slightly. The candlelight flickered, and the drop of Yin Dew entered his sea of consciousness in an instant. An icy sensation spread through his soul body, as though it had been plunged into a frigid spring.
Thought Overclocking activated, and Lin Xu split his attention in two. He kept watch on the area around the Yin Locust Forest while directing part of his spiritual sense to control the Yin Dew and temper his soul body.
He would only dare use this technique of dividing his attention under the special conditions of Thought Overclocking. In particular, at a critical moment in tempering his soul body, the slightest carelessness could damage it, making the loss outweigh the gain.
The radiance of the great sun, formed by the candle flame of the Dao Rhyme Bright Light Lamp shining into his sea of consciousness, scorched his soul body. The chill of the Yin Dew and the great sun's soul-scorching power formed a tempering field of interwoven ice and fire.
Lin Xu's face flickered between light and shadow, and fine beads of cold sweat seeped from his temples. His soul body crackled faintly under the extreme clash of yin and yang, but its cracks quickly healed under the nourishment of his magic power, leaving it increasingly solid.
Under the alternating tempering of ice and fire, impurities were gradually stripped from his once-blurry, illusory soul body, and its contours grew clearer.
After more than a dozen breaths, he stopped. The Yin Dew in his sea of consciousness had vanished, while the area illuminated by the great sun had quietly expanded by a ring.
Lin Xu opened his eyes, and a glimmer of light flashed in their depths.
He tried extending his perception. Even without the aid of the Bright Light Lamp, its range had increased by a tenth, and he could clearly sense the faint rustle of falling leaves brushing branches within ten zhang.
This much progress is comparable to three days in seclusion. Cultivation really does require the help of resources, he thought with feeling.
Sure enough, although the spirit realm was dangerous, it was also a treasure land for cultivation, with resources everywhere.
It's just that I can't take that Yin Dew collection mission... Lin Xu thought, already treating the Yin Locust Forest as his cultivation grounds for the foreseeable future.
Both the many wandering souls and remnant spirits in the forest and the Yin Dew condensed by the Yin Locust Trees were natural resources for tempering his soul body.
What? This place is the monastery's communal property?
As the future master of Xuanwei Monastery, what's wrong with enjoying a few resources in advance?
He glanced at the enormous Yin Locust Tree, knowing it was the source of the gathering of wandering souls and remnant spirits. He lingered no longer, slipping into the thin mist between the trees.
The Yin Locust Forest was vast, but graded Yin Locust Trees were not to be found just anywhere. Lin Xu quietly followed the currents of Yin Qi, his divine sense spreading out like a spiderweb.
The deeper he went, the denser the Yin Qi became. Shifting phantoms began to appear in the mist, and strange whispers seemed to murmur in his ears, stirring his thoughts and leaving him dazed.
Lin Xu frowned slightly. The candle flame immediately turned in his sea of consciousness, and the great sun's light swept through his soul body, dispersing the phantoms in an instant.
He knew this was Yin Qi gathering spirits and giving rise to delusions that disturbed the mind. An ordinary person would have fallen into the illusions without realizing it and ultimately been unable to escape death.
But this environment was a haven for spirit bodies. He swept his gaze around, and the Spirit Eye Technique pierced the layers of mist, revealing several wandering souls clinging to Yin Locust Tree trunks and drawing in Yin Qi.
The remnant spirits commonly seen at the forest's edge had vanished. Everywhere he looked, there were only wandering souls. Clearly, nourished by the Yin Qi, even remnant spirits could condense into wandering souls within a few weeks.
Not daring to use the Soul-Guiding Bell to summon souls again, Lin Xu tapped his forehead with a fingertip. The candle flame in the Bright Light Lamp swayed slightly, and a thread of fire shot out in an instant, precisely binding a wandering soul.
Before it could resist, the chain of candle flame jerked tight and dragged it into the lamp.
"Sizzle-"
The candle flame flickered violently, like a drop of cold water falling into a pan of hot oil. The wandering soul twisted and struggled in the flame, letting out a soundless shriek.
A moment later, the shriek ceased and the flame steadied. Wisps of lamp oil quickly formed, nearly spilling over the lamp's rim.
"Thought Overclocking!"
Without hesitation, Lin Xu entered the overclocked state again. His extraordinary intellect allowed him to control himself with precision. His spiritual sense resonated with the lamp, and every minute line on the magical artifact appeared clearly in his sea of consciousness. The wick trembled in perfect rhythm with his awareness.
The Dao Rhyme Bright Light Lamp was an entry-level magical artifact mass-produced by Xuanwei Monastery, used to temper disciples' souls and open their divine apertures.
Beyond it were the higher-grade "Spirit Light Lamp" and "Divine Light Lamp," each a step above the last. All used candle flames to temper the mind and the mind to command candle flames, ultimately lighting the small space of the spiritual platform and illuminating the Primordial Spirit, giving rise to various divine abilities.
From what Lin Xu had seen, once cultivator disciples advanced their cultivation methods, they could exchange merit points for higher-grade lamp artifacts, but the number of points required was enormous.
By contrast, the Bright Lamp Spirit Kindling Art also contained a method of refining the artifact with one's own spiritual light. It required only magic power and a small amount of spiritual materials to gradually refine the Dao Rhyme Bright Light Lamp to the Spirit Light, Divine Light, and even higher levels.
The only drawback was that it took a long time. But an artifact refined by its owner was more closely attuned to their mind and spirit, and its power far surpassed others of the same grade.
On a panel, it might be the difference between ordinary, fine, and even rare. But in cultivation, it meant a deep resonance between the cultivator and the spirit lamp artifact. Whereas magic power could originally be stored only in the sea of consciousness, the spirit lamp could now serve as an extension, greatly expanding its capacity. When called upon, the power responded as readily as an arm or a finger, without the slightest hindrance.
This was also an advantage the Bright Lamp Spirit Kindling Art offered in cultivation.
At a slight thought from Lin Xu, the candle flame abruptly permeated every inch of the lamp body's patterns, blending and resonating with his own spiritual light.
The lamp body trembled faintly and gave off a pale white glow, breathing spiritual light in and out as though alive.
Tiny flaws and impurities in the artifact's lamp body, invisible to the naked eye, were slowly expelled and repaired as spiritual light washed over them. The patterns inside the lamp gradually expanded under its nourishment, extending like meridians.
During the process, large amounts of magic power burned in the lamp. The lamp oil, which had been about to overflow, quickly receded, turning into specks of spiritual light that seeped into the lamp body.
Sensing how quickly the lamp oil was being consumed, Lin Xu continued tempering the artifact while releasing candle flame to bind another wandering soul and drag it into the flame for refinement in an instant.
In the state of Thought Overclocking, his control over his magic power reached an extreme. Even the force used to restrain the wandering soul was precise to the smallest fraction, and he converted every last strand of soul power contained in its soul body into pure spiritual light, guiding it along the wick and into the lamp body's meridians.
A few breaths later, the magic power gained from refining that wandering soul was exhausted once more. The Bright Light Lamp fired another chain of candle flame, its movement smooth and unimpeded.
Lin Xu slowly set off, refining the spirit lamp as he walked. The vast Yin Locust Forest had become a testing ground for tempering his artifact.