Lord Shenxiu
Chapter 60: The Way of the White Bones

Chapter 60: Chapter 60: The Way of the White Bones

"Miss Bai, do you feel something is wrong?"

In a certain ancient battlefield, the off-road vehicle’s driver, who had been holding back for many days, finally couldn’t help himself and said to Bai Yu beside him, "Even if Mr. Hua wanted to travel, he wouldn’t always go to these remote places, right? And he sits for half the day..."

They had been following Zhong Shenxiu, running around the ancient battlefield, while Zhong Shenxiu didn’t mention any purpose and just meditated anywhere for long hours.

This style almost made him think he was dealing with a madman.

"Don’t speak nonsense if you don’t understand," Bai Yu shot him a glare, her tone extremely stern, "As Mr. Hua’s temporary drivers and secretaries, we are to fulfill all his needs. This is still good; if we were dealing with a true pervert, that would be hell..."

She shuddered, apparently recalling something chilling, then shook her head as if to throw those memories out of her mind, "Besides... I feel Mr. Hua is practicing some form of exercise, perhaps some ancient Martial Arts secret that requires this kind of special environment."

Although her imagination was vast, she couldn’t imagine that Zhong Shenxiu was not practicing Martial Arts, but Cultivation!

"Have you finally... gathered enough?"

Zhong Shenxiu stood up, looked inward at his sea of consciousness, and saw a strand of White Bone Evil Qi, which made him very satisfied.

After running around for so many days, the first step of containing Evil Qi within himself was finally completed.

As a Gang Sha Realm cultivator, the commencement of their practice involved consuming the Yin from the nine shades, which inherently requires the refinement of Evil Qi into the body, thus all these didn’t affect him.

Moreover, it could be kept highly confidential.

For example, those two guys, who could be considered subordinates or watchers, would never be able to guess what he was doing or what benefits he was obtaining.

He sat back in the vehicle and closed his eyes, saying, "Go back and find a hotel; I need to rest for a while."

"Yes."

Bai Yu nodded, and the driver, without saying anything more, started the off-road vehicle.

...

In the best hotel near the ancient battlefield, inside the VIP suite.

Zhong Shenxiu sat cross-legged and began formally practicing Spells.

Before practicing, he had checked his surroundings to make sure there were no surveillance devices or the like.

Moreover, since the practice of Spells lies in the sea of consciousness, as long as he didn’t exhibit them outwardly, it wouldn’t cause any disturbances or effects of light, allowing him to practice without worries.

He took a deep breath and began to outline the Magic Talisman for the "White Bone Armor."

This was his first chosen Lifeline Spell, oriented toward defense, enabling a cultivator to summon a set of White Bone Armor for protection, even capable of withstanding Spell attacks for a good duration.

With respect to the need for protection, it was a superior Spell.

"To cultivate Daoist Skills, one firstly needs to use divine thoughts and Mana in the sea of consciousness to construct the Magic Talisman... Continuously refining the Talisman will eventually form a talisman seed. At this stage, the Spell is considered to be cultivated to its full potential."

"Once a Spell is cultivated to the stage of forming a talisman seed, the seed of the Talisman can be permanently kept in the sea of consciousness. To cast a Spell, one simply needs to move their divine thought, imprint a Talisman from the seed using their own Mana, and cast it out to form the Spell conveniently and quickly... This is the one-thought creation of Spells for a Gang Sha Realm cultivator!"

The Talisman of White Bone Armor was not too complex, but if solely constructed with a cultivator’s divine thoughts and Mana, Zhong Shenxiu found himself unable to continue after just the first stroke.

"No wonder the cultivation of Spells is difficult... If I were to cultivate purely like this, without a few years, I probably wouldn’t be able to develop the White Bone Armor to the stage of forming a Talisman seed."

He moved his thoughts, drawing on the strand of White Bone Evil Qi stored within him.

Using his divine thoughts as a brush, guided by the refined White Bone Evil Qi as ink, he began to depict the White Bone Talisman.

This time, Zhong Shenxiu had it much easier. A stream of White Bone Evil Qi was equivalent to the White Bone Mana he could accumulate from years of arduous meditation, and it continuously supported the creation of the White Bone Talisman.

At last, a complete White Bone Talisman appeared, signifying the mastery of the spell associated with the White Bone Armor.

Not only that, the talisman kept flickering, devouring the White Bone Evil Qi, and then inwardly collapsing, forming a talisman seed much like a White Bone Relic.

"Success!"

Zhong Shenxiu stood up in delight, and with a single thought, mana surged out from the talisman seed and transformed into the spell of the White Bone Armor.

Crackle!

A layer of Bone Armor that existed between illusion and reality suddenly appeared on his body, each inch fitting perfectly as if it had been custom-made for him.

"This White Bone Armor, its endurance depends on the depth of my mana. As for its defensive power, it could probably withstand small caliber firearms... and, spells like this are mostly vulnerable to Yang Gang Fire and thunder spells... Of course, in this world, I’m not worried."

"If Martial Arts could still possibly be explained and accommodated by science, then my transcendence is genuinely otherworldly. Once exposed, it would cause quite some trouble, so it’s better to keep it hidden if possible."

Zhong Shenxiu glanced at his physical attributes in the Heavenly Show System:

[Name: Hua Wu (Zhong Shenxiu)]

[Eagle Claw Iron Cloth Shirt: Minor Achievement]

[White Bone Grappling Hand: Beginner]

[White Bone Mana: Refining Evil First Layer]

[Destined Daoist Skill: White Bone Armor (Sixth Layer)]

[Heavenly Show Points: 0 (93%)]

[Door of Ten Thousand Gates: Pending Opening]

...

"Refining a stream of Evil Qi actually directly advanced my destined spell to the sixth layer!"

Zhong Shenxiu was both shocked and delighted, "This spell can reach up to nine layers at most, right? No wonder Gang Sha Realm cultivators only focus on their destined spells... How much time and effort would it take to advance a non-foundational Daoist Skill to the sixth layer?"

This was clearly illustrated by the remnants of the Profound Yin Soul.

Even with the aid of the Heavenly Show System, he felt the enhancement to be difficult, and he had lost a significant number of Heavenly Show Points previously.

"In fact, being able to train a spell to the sixth layer’s seed state of talisman meant great achievement already. Higher levels involve transcendence and even innovation among Daoist Grandmasters... If it’s just about breaking through, the sixth layer is sufficient as continuous refinement of Evil Qi and Gang Qi would do. As long as the body can endure it, mana could rapidly advance. Maybe in a year and a half, achieving perfect Yang could be possible, and one might attempt to break through to Divine Power?"

Zhong Shenxiu was astonished.

However, it was hard to come by Evil Qi, and not to mention cultivators’ bodies often couldn’t endure it; this method of breakthrough was fundamentally unstable, and cultivators’ Dao Hearts likely couldn’t control such powers, making the prospects of such a breakthrough quite slim.

Therefore, some Immortal Sects would send Gang Sha Realm or even Divine Power Realm cultivators out to gain worldly experiences, enrich their life understandings, and perfect their Dao Hearts.

The poorer ones didn’t have many sources of Evil Qi and Gang Qi at their sects, and had to find it themselves.

"However, this is my own body after all. This world is scarce in vital energy, and it might not support the combination to Divine Power, so I’m not worried about ’pulling the shoots to help them grow.’ Tomorrow, I will continue my journey to seek more Evil Qi and refine my fundamental spells!"

Zhong Shenxiu quickly made up his mind.

...