Training Yin Soldiers
"The Yang Gathering Formation is incredibly powerful!"
Cultivating within the cauldron, in just a few breaths, the originally solidified soul body nearly collapsed, and the consciousness was constantly shattered and reassembled under the scorching golden flames.
Even the Day Wandering Realm cannot escape the scorching heat of the sun and the sea of fire.
Not daring to continue acting recklessly, he adjusted the formation's effect to 30% in a flash. The light and flames inside the cauldron immediately weakened, and the golden flames changed from dazzling to warm and gentle, like the first rays of dawn. Lin Xu's soul slowly solidified in this soft halo.
This time the situation was much better. In his Thought Overclocking state, Lin Xu mobilized his magic power to repair the cracks in his soul. Warm golden light seeped into every damaged part like a drizzle, and the soul was restored to its original state in just a few breaths.
As the sun slowly moved westward, the light and fire absorbed by the Yang Gathering Formation weakened. Lin Xu adjusted the array's spiritual core to maintain the stability of the flames within the cauldron.
As the sun set and the last rays of sunlight faded away, darkness returned to the cauldron once more.
Just a few minutes later, the first ray of cool moonlight fell from the cauldron like a silver veil, illuminating the darkness once more.
This time, however, it was not sunlight, but the clear, frosty glow of the moon.
Unlike the intense heat of sunlight, moonlight is as cold as a chilling spring, its chill penetrating deep into the soul.
The soul, which had become accustomed to the scorching sunlight, was suddenly subjected to this bone-chilling cold current, like hot iron being plunged into ice water, producing a piercing quenching sound.
"Click~"
His soul shattered, and fine cracks spread like a spider web. The intense pain almost tore Lin Xu's consciousness apart. He immediately manipulated the Yin-Gathering Array to reduce the intensity of the moonlight to one-tenth.
Taking advantage of the brief interval when the moonlight was thin, Lin Xu quickly mobilized his magic power to repair the cracks in his soul.
As the magic flowed, it was like a cold current carrying silver sand, melting away strands of moonlight and transforming them into pure magic power.
Once his soul was fully restored, Lin Xu adjusted the array's output efficiency, gathering more moonlight to Soul Refining.
The moonlight, like a blade, repeatedly scraped the surface of the soul, each penetration feeling like an ice needle piercing the depths of consciousness.
As the long night passed and dawn broke once more, the icy chill within the cauldron dissipated, and the bone-chilling cold was completely dispelled.
The formation was deactivated, and darkness returned to the cauldron once more. Lin Xu's consciousness recovered from the excruciating pain of the Soul Refining.
The spiritual sense scanned the soul body, which was originally illusory and fragile, but after repeated tempering, its outline could now be clearly seen.
The soul, which would have scattered with a gust of wind, now resembled translucent ice.
He carefully sensed it for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction. "At this rate, I should be able to reach level six in another ten or twenty days."
As your profession level advances to the intermediate stage, the difficulty of cultivation gradually increases, requiring a longer period of accumulation until you break free from your cocoon and transform into a butterfly.
In the blink of an eye, the soul passed through the cauldron and returned to the body. After moving around a bit, the discomfort from being separated from the body overnight quickly disappeared as the magical Soul Leaving the Body circulated.
"Start the furnace!" Lin Xu ordered.
The Black Tiger Demon, who had rushed over, immediately opened the cauldron lid, Glazed Spirit Lamp transformed into light and fell into his hand, radiating a faint spiritual glow.
He glanced around and saw that on the flat ground in front of the cave, more than two hundred red-clad paper figures were arranged around the Ghost Bride, looking like blooming red wedding flowers from the sky.
"Go in, all of you." He glanced at Yan Jingshu, Ghost Bride, without hesitation, transformed into a streak of blood and instantly disappeared into the cauldron.
The Red-Robed Ghosts followed closely behind, detaching themselves from the paper figures and throwing themselves into the cauldron.
The Black Tiger Demon closed the cauldron lid again, and Lin Xu manipulated the Spirit Light Lamp to activate the formation within the cauldron, generating the power of water and fire.
The fusion of water and fire, though not as profound as the brilliance of the sun and moon, caused unbearable pain to the Red-Robed Ghosts within the cauldron.
Within the furnace, vengeful spirits howled and crashed against the walls, only to be blocked by the flickering spiritual light, like birds in a cage, unable to escape no matter how hard they tried to fly.
With a thought, flames and cold currents cycled again and again, and the ghosts screamed as they were cleansed by the power of water and fire, and the impurities in their souls were gradually dispelled.
Lin Xu meticulously controlled the power of ice and fire, carefully cleansing the souls. He only stopped after each ghost had experienced the fusion of ice and fire three times.
The next moment, the array operating within the cauldron changed again, and large amounts of Spiritual Qi were drawn in and, after being transformed by the array, surged into the cauldron.
The spirit lamps flickered, and the Spiritual Qi, whose nature had been slightly altered by the array, transformed according to Lin Xu's will, turning into illusory grains of spirit rice that scattered down.
The Food Bestowal Method hungry ghosts is a common Daoist practice used to appease spirits and cleanse them of malevolent energy.
Because of its unique lineage, Xuanwei Monastery has a lot of dealings with ghosts and spirits, and also possesses this kind of magical tradition.
Lin Xu had previously rescued an outer disciple from the front-line military camp who possessed this spell, and he had specifically learned it to use now.
"Waaaaah~"
The ghosts, which had been screaming and howling under the force of water and fire, suddenly became excited, stopped flying, and rushed towards the Spiritual Qi spiritual rice that had been sprinkled from the cauldron.
These spirit rice grains, transformed from mutated Spiritual Qi, are essentially formed by the conversion of Spiritual Qi through magic.
The Red-Robed Ghost simply lunged at the "spiritual rice," swallowing the illusory Spiritual Qi into its belly. It digested and absorbed it in the blink of an eye, then pounced on the other spiritual rice scattered in the cauldron.
The ghostly creatures moved back and forth, digesting and absorbing handfuls of spirit rice. Wisps of grayish-black yin energy slowly separated out, falling to the bottom of the cauldron and turning into solidified dust.
These are impurities of the soul. Joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness all affect the spirit. Those negative emotions from one's previous life are transformed into impurities and contained within the spirit after death.
As each mouthful of spiritual rice entered his stomach, the hidden impurities were gradually expelled, and the originally illusory soul gradually solidified.
"Buzz~"
A slight ripple spread out, like a tiny wave on the surface of water, and disappeared in an instant.
Lin Xu's spiritual sense detected this abnormality amidst the ghost's restlessness. He "scanned" it and realized it was the ghost's advancement.
Like humans, ghosts can also level up and advance through cultivation or external forces.
At this time, with the Water and Fire Refinement and Deliverance, coupled with proper nourishment, the souls of these ghosts became clearer and their power increased.
Some ghosts that had already reached their current limit took advantage of this opportunity to break through that limit.
"Unfortunately, my research on formations is not yet in-depth, and my ability to convert Spiritual Qi attributes is far from sufficient. I can only offer spirit rice, which is considered the most basic form of ghost food..."
Lin Xu looked regretfully at the ghosts feeding in the cauldron. Even a skilled cook can't cook without rice. The ideal energy for releasing the Food Bestowal Technique is incense and faith, since ancestor worship involves burning offerings.
However, he didn't have many sources of incense offerings at the moment, so he could only use Spiritual Qi as a substitute. Even though his Food Bestowal Technique had reached the grandmaster level, he could only produce the most basic spiritual rice due to the limited "materials".
After the ghosts consume the "spirit rice," they need some time to gradually digest it. If it is a higher-grade spirit food, the ghosts can digest the Spiritual Qi more easily, with higher digestion efficiency and faster growth rate.