Refining Dharma Coins
The paltry "Soul Refining Efficiency +5%" boost was insignificant, but the passive effect "Soul Protection +1" was very useful.
Once a soul left the body, it was extremely fragile. Even a gust of wind could scatter it, and the slightest carelessness would leave both soul and spirit dispersed.
Soul-Nourishing Incense was cheap, but it offered some protection against outside malign influences. It could save a life at a critical moment and was an essential resource for cultivation.
"Looks like I'll have to solve the resource problem before I can cultivate in peace..." He slowly closed his eyes, his fingertips brushing the mottled patterns on the lamp.
Knock, knock...
A knock sounded at the door, followed by a menial servant's dull voice. "Senior Brother Lin, your lunch has been delivered. Please enjoy it."
Lin Xu opened his eyes, rose, and went to the door.
The menial servant stood outside holding a coarse porcelain bowl, steam rising from it in white mist.
"Thank you." He took the meal and noticed that the servant's eyes were unfocused and lifeless, as though he were a walking corpse.
A thought occurred to him, and he opened the servant's personal panel:
Name: Zhang San Race: Human Identity: Xuanwei Monastery menial servant Occupation: Menial servant Level: 0 Strength: 7 Agility: 8 Constitution: 8 Spirit: 11 Intelligence: 7 Skills: Serving tea and water (beginner), sweeping and dusting (beginner) Evaluation: A roadside weed
This was a true picture of the vast majority of life in the Spirit Realm. They had no intelligence and followed their instincts, numbly repeating their labors like machines of flesh and blood.
The only noteworthy thing was that his Spirit attribute had reached 11, actually a little higher than that of an ordinary person.
That might also have been why he had been chosen as a menial servant. These servants were actually reserve outer disciples. Once they turned fifteen, they would, depending on their aptitude, either become outer disciples or join the Dharma Protector Hall as Dao soldiers of Xuanwei Monastery.
Lin Xu soon learned why Zhang San's Spirit attribute was so high.
"This rice... can nourish the soul?" He tasted a mouthful of the green-tinged rice and was surprised to feel a faint wisp of soul power flow into his sea of consciousness. Though it was only a trace, it refreshed his spirit.
Item: Green Soul Rice Grade: Green, ordinary Durability: Consumable Effect: Restores a tiny amount of soul power when eaten. Long-term consumption can stabilize the soul and nourish the soul body. Soul Refining Efficiency +1% Description: A special rice cultivated by Xuanwei Monastery. It grows above a branch of a spirit vein, drawing in faint Spiritual Qi and condensing it into a green soul. Its grains therefore have a green tinge, and it is called Green Soul.
"Surprises everywhere..." Lin Xu gazed at the green light flowing through the rice in his bowl. This seemingly crude meal actually concealed a mystery.
In reality, even Spirit Realm adventurers short on money could only look longingly at something so good, let alone ordinary people.
Here at Xuanwei Monastery, even the menial servants' meals concealed an opportunity to increase soul power. It showed how deep the sect's foundations ran.
A thought rose unbidden in Lin Xu's mind. If, if I could seize Xuanwei Monastery, I'd have a foothold in the Spirit Realm.
Once the thought surfaced, it spread through his mind like wildfire across a prairie.
Before his first cultivation session, he would not have dared harbor such an overreaching ambition. The basic requirement for becoming a true disciple was level five, the Day Wandering Realm.
Climbing from a mortal's level zero to level five in a month was nothing short of a fantasy.
But now he had legendary-grade talent, and defying the heavens to change his fate was no longer an extravagant hope.
"It still comes down to resources..." He settled his distracting thoughts and swallowed the Green Soul Rice in great mouthfuls, feeling that faint but pure wisp of soul power disperse through his sea of consciousness.
Having finished his meal, Lin Xu handed the bowl and chopsticks to Zhang San, left the courtyard, and headed for the Merit Hall.
The Merit Hall was where Xuanwei Monastery disciples took on tasks and accumulated merit points, which could be exchanged for cultivation resources, cultivation manuals, and even pills and Dharma treasures.
A line had already formed outside the Merit Hall. Blank-faced disciples waited silently to receive their daily tasks.
There were only four or five people ahead of him, and after a few minutes, it was Lin Xu's turn.
He looked at the numerous tasks that appeared on the task board:
[Gather thirty drops of morning dew in exchange for ten merit points] [Patrol the mountain for two shichen and drive away prowling beasts in exchange for twenty merit points] [Carry ten shi of spirit soil to the medicinal garden in exchange for twenty-five merit points] [Transcribe the first volume of the "Xuanwei Heart Sutra" in exchange for forty merit points]
Lin Xu's gaze shifted slightly and soon settled on one task:
[Refine Dharma Coins. Each coin can be exchanged for one merit point. Basic target: Twenty coins]
"This one." He accepted the task without hesitation and headed straight to the Incense Offering Hall to collect the materials.
The Incense Offering Hall was in Xuanwei Monastery's front hall. Incense smoke curled through the chamber, and gold powder, yellow paper, and cinnabar talisman brushes lay on the offering table.
Lin Xu took out his task token, and a steward handed him a white porcelain bottle without looking up.
Item: Incense Offering Bottle Type: Dharma artifact Grade: Green, ordinary Effect: Can store the power of incense offerings Incense offerings: 100/100 Description: A vessel for holding incense offerings formed from the wish power of believers. The Incense Offering Hall commonly uses it to store free-floating incense offerings.
Lin Xu lightly touched the slightly warm bottle and sensed the abundant power of incense offerings within.
The Incense Offering Hall had quiet rooms of its own. Lin Xu sat cross-legged in one, placed the bottle before him, and closed his eyes in concentration. A spiritual light flickered faintly in his sea of consciousness.
The Bright Light Lamp in his hand lit itself without a flame. Its light shone brightly, illuminating his sea of consciousness, while his spiritual sense stretched out like threads and wound around the wisps of wish power in the bottle.
The power of incense offerings was drawn out without resistance and ignited in the air by the heart fire of his spiritual sense. A faint cluster of light and flame sprang up in the dark room.
Pop!
The faint sound was like a bubble bursting. A dim trace of seven-colored light flashed through the flame as the impurities in the faith were refined away.
Seven-colored flecks scattered like stardust, and the flame flickered, its light flowing in a jumble of colors.
Lin Xu remained unhurried. His mind sank into his sea of consciousness, his spiritual sense weaving as it carefully combed through the tangled streams of faith, stripping away and burning the assorted prayers one strand at a time.
The lamplight swayed in his sea of consciousness, illuminating the slight furrow between his brows as he concentrated. His spiritual sense guided the purest thread of flame, which silently condensed into the shadow of a copper coin.
The moment the copper coin's shadow took shape, it gained mass and sank slightly before dropping into Lin Xu's palm, smooth to the touch and faintly warm.
It was round on the outside, with a square hole in the middle, and copper-yellow in color. Its shape was identical to that of an ancient Huaxian copper coin, but it weighed far less, as light as a feather.
This was a Dharma Coin, the common currency of the Spirit Realm.
Strangely enough, although Dharma Coins differed in shape between East and West, the energy they contained was exactly the same. A fraction less and they would not take shape; a fraction more and it would overflow.
Without stopping, Lin Xu continued repeating the refining process. Cluster after cluster of incense offerings was refined and condensed, and Dharma Coins dropped into his palm one after another, each as smooth and warm as the first.
One bottle of incense offerings yielded exactly one hundred Dharma Coins.
"Perfect..." He looked at the string of Dharma Coins before him, a satisfied smile appearing on his lips.
According to the task description, refining just twenty Dharma Coins from one bottle of incense offerings counted as completing the task. Any shortfall had to be made up by the disciple, while any excess could be exchanged for extra merit points.
An ordinary outer disciple needed one shichen to refine a bottle of incense offerings, and producing a little over twenty Dharma Coins was already the limit. Lin Xu, however, had refined a hundred in only half an incense stick's time, an astonishing rate.