141: Methods of Soul Cultivation

"Ultimate Trial Initiated—Youth Jiu Tian!"

At this moment, the face of the gilded Puppet transformed into a handsome youth, so lifelike that it was no different from a real person.

"Kill!"

Thump!

With one step forward, the ground shook.

In the blink of an eye, he arrived before Xiao Weiqing and threw a punch.

"Flame True Body~"

Boom!

With just one strike.

Xiao Weiqing was sent flying over ten meters.

Youth Jiu Tian, however, remained motionless.

“Cough... cough...”

Xiao Weiqing felt as if he had been struck by a mountain; he could barely catch his breath.

“Ha!”

Youth Jiu Tian gave a sharp shout and pushed out a palm strike from a distance.

The surrounding Spiritual Qi gathered into a massive palm.

“Fire Owl!~”

Xiao Weiqing did not dodge or evade; his Qi Fire surged.

The two attacks exploded in mid-air, the air vibrating as a massive shockwave spread in all directions.

Youth Jiu Tian took a large stride forward, passing through the explosion.

A massive fist enlarged in Xiao Weiqing's vision. Unable to dodge in time, he could only cross his arms and coat them with Refined Fire to take the punch head-on.

Crack... accompanied by the sound of bone fracturing, Xiao Weiqing flew backward and slammed into a stone wall, his left arm hanging limp.

“This Physical Body is not on the same Rank; his power and speed far exceed mine. I can't drag this out—I must settle this quickly!”

“Flame Dragon!”

Under the Flame True Body state, the Flame Dragon was incredibly solid, as if it possessed a body of flesh and blood.

Xiao Weiqing leaped onto the dragon's head, holding the Crimson Dragon, and dove toward Youth Jiu Tian with terrifying momentum.

Youth Jiu Tian took a wide step.

“Great Sun Punch!”

“Seamless Slash!”

The three fires of Essence, Qi, and Spirit within his body emerged together. The Crimson Dragon, entwined with three-colored flames, slashed toward the golden fist.

“Boom!~”

The two forces clashed, and the Spiritual Qi within Xiao Weiqing's three Dantians surged frantically.

Crack~

The Crimson Dragon snapped and flew out of his hand.

The fist shadow dissipated, and Youth Jiu Tian retreated several steps.

“An opening.”

Xiao Weiqing leaped down, extending three fingers from his right hand, with the silent Samadhi True Fire dancing at his fingertips.

He aimed straight for Youth Jiu Tian's chest.

Youth Jiu Tian stopped his retreat with a step and delivered a sweeping kick.

A fierce glint flashed in Xiao Weiqing's eyes; he neither retreated nor evaded.

“I'm going all in!”

Puchi!

His fingertips sank into Youth Jiu Tian's body as if cutting through tofu, but Xiao Weiqing himself was also swept away by the kick, leaving half of his body completely numb.

The Samadhi True Fire quickly burned a large hole in the Puppet's body. Youth Jiu Tian looked down at his chest.

He said slowly:

“I have lost.”

“But your heart is not sincere; you may not obtain my techniques.”

Youth Jiu Tian then added, “This method was taught to me by my teacher in my youth. I give it to you.”

After speaking.

The phantom dissipated, leaving a white ball of light in its place. The ball of light flew straight into Xiao Weiqing's brow and vanished.

In Xiao Weiqing's mind, a stream of information surfaced from the depths of his consciousness.

“Starry Sky Contemplation Method.”

“A method of Divine Soul cultivation.”

Xiao Weiqing trembled all over. A Divine Soul cultivation method?

“Is this for real?”

Suppressing his excitement, Xiao Weiqing sat cross-legged and took out some Qi Gathering Pills and Vitality Pills. He swallowed a few of each, and the Spiritual Qi in his body recovered rapidly while the pain in his arm began to subside.

“It seems you have succeeded.”

Xiao Weiqing looked up at the no. 1 puppet, a hint of vigilance in his eyes.

The no. 1 puppet said expressionlessly, “You needn't be like that.”

“I cannot enter this stone chamber. Only when someone passes the set ultimate trial can all restrictions be lifted.”

“Restrictions lifted?”

“Then can you give me that treasure box for Martial Cultivators from earlier?” Xiao Weiqing asked expectantly.

“No!”

“Leave as quickly as possible. This place is about to be sealed.”

With a flash of its figure, the no. 1 puppet disappeared, leaving behind only a spatial tunnel.

“Stingy!”

Xiao Weiqing curled his lip, picked up the broken Crimson Dragon, and stepped into the spatial tunnel.

Starlight flowed within the spatial tunnel.

In an instant.

Xiao Weiqing arrived in a wilderness.

“Where is this?”

The unfamiliar surroundings told Xiao Weiqing that this was definitely not Twin Mountains.

Roar!~

The roar of a violent bear.

Walking toward the sound, Xiao Weiqing saw a Red One-horned Bear about five meters long.

He followed the one-horned bear a short distance and entered a bear cave.

Thump!~ Bang!~

“Awoo~”

The Red One-horned Bear crawled out limping. It looked back every few steps at the cave it had lived in for many years, fleeing reluctantly... Ten days later.

Xiao Weiqing opened his eyes inside the cave.

“Status Panel.”

Realm: Second Realm (Third Dantian)

Extraordinary Talent: Samadhi True Fire (Samadhi True Fire Spirit Refining Art)

Mental Energy: 23.3

Spiritual Qi: shenque acupoint, Qi Sea, shanzhong, Yintang

Physique: Bone Forging

Essence, Qi, and Spirit Fire: (1000/1000) strands

Samadhi True Fire: (29/10000) wisps

Innate Skill: ...“This contemplation method is too powerful.”

Even though it wasn't his first time cultivating it, Xiao Weiqing was still shocked. In just ten days, his Mental Energy had increased by a full 1.9 levels.

What kind of concept was that?

Back at the academy, even using moon spring spirit liquid every day, his cultivation speed wouldn't have reached half of this.

“As expected, nothing that can directly Cultivate the Divine Soul is simple.”

Furthermore.

The 13 fire-element elemental essence crystals allowed him to successfully fuse 26 wisps of Samadhi True Fire, raising his strength to a new level.

“I wonder if other elemental essence crystals will work.”

This gave Xiao Weiqing a new goal for his upcoming journey through the ruins.

Walking out of the cave looking disheveled, he headed east. There was a pool there where Xiao Weiqing planned to take a bath; he already smelled sour.

“Swoosh!~”

“Clang!~”

Gently swinging the broken Crimson Dragon, he struck down an incoming arrow. Xiao Weiqing looked coldly toward the shadows.

Two figures slowly emerged, one fat and one short-haired; both had the emblem of the Tianlang Empire embroidered on their sleeves.

“Friend, don't be nervous. We mean no ill will.”

“Is that so?”

“Well, unfortunately, I do!”

Xiao Weiqing's gaze sharpened.

“Fire Owl!~”

Puchi~

The fat man stiffly looked down at his chest and fell straight over.

The Short-haired Youth's pupils shrank, and he was struck with terror. He immediately turned around.

He had only one thought in his mind: “Escape!”

With a quick stride, Xiao Weiqing caught up instantly.

“Slash!”

“Ahhh~~”

An arm fell to the ground.

“Mercy! Let me go, I'll give you all the elemental stones.”

“Fine!”

The Short-haired Youth wailed in pain, manipulating a white card to pull out all the elemental stones he had collected.

There were fully forty or fifty of them, in all sorts of colors.

“Thank you!”

“Then...”

Puchi~

Thump... thump... A head rolled on the ground.

Xiao Weiqing picked up all the elemental stones and checked the two men's backpacks.

A few sets of clothes and a notebook.

“A diary?”

These two clearly weren't anything good, yet they kept a diary?

After flipping through a few pages, Xiao Weiqing's face grew increasingly dark.

“Animals!”

Looking at the shocking crimes recorded in the diary, Xiao Weiqing cursed.

In here, aside from the trial notification information which was useful to him, the rest of the content made Xiao Weiqing wish he could resurrect these two just to kill them again.

He carefully browsed the notification.

The trial for these ruins had officially begun. One needed to obtain 100 elemental stones within the specified time to enter the center of the ruins and participate in the final trial.

He looked at the card on his arm; why hadn't he received the notification?

“Could it be because I was inside the God's Residence earlier?”

He packed up.

Xiao Weiqing took a bath and changed into a set of clean clothes—the Short-haired Youth's.

He began walking toward the south.

It turned out that when he was at Twin Mountains, the center of the ruins was to the north. As a result of coming out of the God's Residence, he had been sent straight to the northern part of the ruins' center, crossing more than half of the ruins.