Huang Yulang was utterly stunned just from reading the introduction, his heart pounding in his chest.
He’d never imagined that a Heaven-defying Technique existed in this world that specialized in cultivating the Divine Soul to achieve Immortal and Undying Supreme Transcendence.
Cultivators strengthen their Divine Soul by cultivating their physical body.
The higher their cultivation level, the stronger their Divine Soul naturally becomes.
But this Celestial Soul Technique could reach an astonishing height without even needing to cultivate the physical body.
This completely overturned Huang Yulang’s understanding.
Immortal and Undying, Supreme Transcendence.
Huang Yulang gasped.
‘What kind of existence is this?
Could such a Great Power truly exist between heaven and earth?’
Huang Yulang truly couldn’t imagine what kind of being could have created such an unconventional Heaven-defying Technique.
Huang Yulang wished he could abandon all his other cultivation and focus everything on this Celestial Soul Technique.
But as he continued reading, his brow furrowed, for the Jade Scroll only contained the cultivation method for the First-Level Human Soul.
“An incomplete technique…
Ugh…”
Huang Yulang couldn’t help but sigh.
‘It seems even the heavens wouldn’t allow such a Heaven-defying Technique to exist in its complete form.
That Yun Ji’s Divine Soul was several times stronger than mine, and I’m basically using a cheat.
Even after he died as a ninth-level Qi Cultivation practitioner, his Three Souls remained intact for a short time.
He even used a technique and nearly possessed my body.
It just goes to show how domineering and heaven-defying this Cultivation Technique is.’
‘Yun Ji probably hadn’t obtained the Cultivation Technique that long ago.
His Human Soul hadn’t reached Great Success.
Otherwise, he would have sensed the life-and-death crisis in advance and taken precautions.’
“Fate is truly fickle!” Huang Yulang exclaimed in admiration.
He then composed his Heart Spirit and began to carefully study the cultivation method of the Human Soul.
The cultivation method for the Human Soul was very simple.
It involved stimulating one’s own emotions—joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure—as well as one’s interests.
This had to be combined with specific breathing frequencies, particular postures for sleeping and meditating, and other healthy physical habits, all to grant the body various forms of release and freedom.
When the body is comfortable, it strengthens the seven corporeal souls.
The strengthened corporeal souls then nourish the Three Souls, gradually bringing them to Great Success and completing the Human Soul.
Huang Yulang finally understood.
‘I shouldn’t overly suppress my emotions and desires.
I should release them when necessary and act as I please.
But I can’t be too self-indulgent, either.
I need to maintain a healthy mindset for self-control.
After all, too much is as bad as not enough.’
‘People with a good mentality don’t have much stress in their lives.
They rarely get sick and tend to live longer.
It’s really the same principle.’
After understanding the Human Soul’s cultivation method, Huang Yulang shook his head with a wry smile.
‘This kind of Cultivation Technique might be easy to practice in a peaceful world like Huaxia.’
‘But in a perilous cultivation world like this, how many people can truly live as they please, unrestrained and carefree?
This Cultivation Technique really is unorthodox to the extreme.’
‘I’ll set that aside for now.
I’ll just do my best to follow the instructions in the Cultivation Technique.
It doesn’t matter what level I reach.’
‘My Mysterious Jade Pendant not only boosts my Physical Strength but also enhances the Power of my Divine Soul.
My future achievements might not necessarily be worse than what’s recorded in this Cultivation Technique.
I’ll just go with the flow.’
‘If I can practice this Celestial Soul Technique, I will.
If not, then so be it.
It’s only an incomplete version anyway.’ Huang Yulang smiled calmly, put the Jade Scroll into his Storage Pouch, and then took out all the bottles and jars.
“Water Spirit Pills!” Huang Yulang’s spirits lifted.
This was an Elixir that could enhance Water Attribute Spiritual Power.
He quickly opened the bottle and glanced inside.
There were more than ten pills, and a wave of moist vapor, mixed with the unique fragrance of herbs, wafted out from the porcelain bottle.
The rest were some healing and detoxification pills, their value incomparable to the Water Spirit Pills.
Huang Yulang had the Seven Great Spiritual Roots.
Although they were all low-grade, it wasn’t impossible to cultivate with low-grade Spiritual Roots—it was just very slow.
It was also easy to encounter bottlenecks when trying to break through, and it required more resources than what geniuses consumed.
For Huang Yulang to have reached the peak of the first level of Qi Cultivation with his Wood Attribute Spiritual Root was already a stroke of dumb luck.
He would have been content to continue cultivating with his Wood Spiritual Root as his main one and had never even thought about cultivating his other Spiritual Roots.
‘My master warned me that cultivating a secondary Spiritual Root is far more difficult than focusing on a primary one.
But how can I waste these elixirs that have fallen into my lap?
I even have a high-grade Water Attribute Magical Flying Sword.
I can’t just let it sit there as a decoration, can I?’
‘Whatever.
My talent is already trash.
How much worse can it get?
Besides, I can’t advance my Wood Attribute Spiritual Root anytime soon.
I can’t just spend all this time traveling or hunting beasts for fun, can I?’
Huang Yulang made up his mind to cultivate his Water Spiritual Root as a secondary attribute.
He popped a Water Spirit Pill into his mouth and began to cultivate.
The Water Spirit Pill entered his body, and a formidable Water Spiritual Power immediately spread out.
But this Water Spiritual Power was not docile.
It rampaged through his body as if trying to burst out.
With no time for other thoughts, Huang Yulang locked his Divine Sense onto the small blue dot marking the location of his Water Spiritual Root.
He desperately tried to make his Water Spiritual Root connect with the rampaging Water Spiritual Power inside him.
Before the Water Spiritual Power could even get close to the Water Attribute Spiritual Root, the Wood Attribute Spiritual Energy Vortex in his Dantian spun slightly and dispersed it.
It gave the Water Spiritual Root no chance at all.
Even his other Spiritual Roots joined in the commotion, making it extremely difficult for the Water Spiritual Root to capture and absorb the rampaging Water Spiritual Power.
Seated cross-legged, Huang Yulang’s expression was extremely grim.
‘I thought it might be difficult, but I never expected it to be this hard.’
‘At this rate, if I can’t suppress the Wood Attribute Spiritual Energy Vortex, my low-grade Spiritual Root talent will probably give me no chance of cultivating any other Spiritual Roots.’
Soon, the rampaging Water Spiritual Power, having not been absorbed, diffused out of his body through the Acupoints All Over his Body.
Huang Yulang opened his eyes, utterly dejected.
His heart ached at the waste.
‘A whole Water Spirit Pill, just wasted like that.
What a sin!’
‘Fortunately, I set up a Spirit Gathering Array here beforehand.
Although the Spiritual Power from the Water Spirit Pill has diffused out, it hasn’t dissipated into the world.
It’s been trapped around me by the Spirit Gathering Array.’
Huang Yulang was unwilling to give up.
He took a deep breath, not daring to waste another precious Water Spirit Pill.
He began circulating a Water Attribute Qi Refining technique to sense the Water Spiritual Qi that had gathered around him.
An hour passed, then two, then five.
A day.
Three days.
A week.
Huang Yulang finally opened his eyes, dejected.
During that week, he had tried many methods.
He even used the One Qi Primordial Skill to draw the Water Spiritual Qi into his Dantian and then tried to use the skill’s properties to gather it into his Water Spiritual Root.
But his other Spiritual Roots continued to cause trouble.
The moment the Spiritual Energy Vortex trembled even slightly, the Water Spiritual Qi gathered by the One Qi Primordial Skill would immediately scatter, giving him no opportunity at all.
After persisting for a week, Huang Yulang decisively gave up.
There was no point in continuing.
To cultivate his Water Spiritual Root, he had to find a way to suppress the Wood Attribute Spiritual Energy Vortex.
Otherwise, it was hopeless.
Unfortunately, Yun Ji’s remnant memories contained no information about this, so he would have to find another way.
Traveling east through two countries would lead him to the Water Cloud Sect’s territory.
Twenty to thirty thousand li to the southeast was Yellow Maple Valley, and to the northeast was Celestial Spring Mountain.
According to Yun Ji’s memories, these three were the largest sects within a radius of several tens of thousands of li, and each was overseen by a Golden Core ancestor who had lived for several hundred years.
There were also seven or eight minor, unranked sects, such as the Corpse-Driving Sect, the Wangyue Sect, the Lingkui Sect, and the Golden Sword Sect.
Huang Yulang packed up, tied his Storage Pouch and the Jade Pendant from his neck together, and secured them close to his body.
Only then, clad in a filthy tiger skin, did he walk out of the barren mountains.
Huang Yulang was currently in the Yu Country.
Yu Country was about half as large again as Yun Country.
Because Yu Country was mostly grassland, the majority of its people were pastoralists, and thus they were a hardy folk, skilled in riding and archery.
Having learned his lesson from the encounter with Yun Ji, Huang Yulang didn’t dare to stir up trouble.
He obediently spent his money on a date-red horse and galloped eastward.
He traveled by day, sticking to the main roads, and never camped in the wilderness at night.
After a full month, he finally arrived at a border city in the eastern part of Yu Country.
He wandered around the city for a bit before arriving at a blacksmith’s shop.
The shelves were lined with all sorts of blades, spears, swords, and halberds.
Watching the blacksmith hammering away with a CLANG, CLANG, CLANG, Huang Yulang gave an awkward smile and stepped forward to ask a question.
“Master, I’d like to have a hammer forged.
What do you think?” The blacksmith glanced at the young man and said with a faint smile.
“Are you sure, young man?
You don’t look very old, and your build is average.
Can you even swing a hammer?” Huang Yulang looked down at himself, speechless.
‘He’s looking down on me,’ he thought with another awkward laugh.
“Heh, Master, don’t be fooled by my youth.
I’ve got some strength.
Money is no object.” The blacksmith’s smile turned playful.
“Is that so?
What a coincidence.
An old three-hundred-jin copper hammer has been passed down in my family.
If you can lift it, I’ll give it to you for free.
How about it?”
‘In his eyes, even if I have some strength, lifting something over a hundred jin would be my limit.
A three-hundred-jin copper hammer is no joke.
Even top-tier martial arts masters in the secular world would struggle to swing it, let alone use it.’
‘He clearly saw my boasting and wanted to put me in my place.’
“Really?” Huang Yulang could easily see through the blacksmith’s intentions, but he feigned a delighted surprise and nodded eagerly.
Seeing Huang Yulang’s reaction, the blacksmith scoffed.
“Heh, ‘Really?’ Go on, ask around town.
Find out who Blacksmith Wang is.
I’m a man of my word.
Would I really cheat a young brat like you?”
Huang Yulang gave an awkward laugh and said no more, following the man into the back room.
In the corner of a storage room sat a rust-spotted, Eight-sided Copper Hammer, about the size of a small millstone.
“This is it, kid.
Let’s see what you’re made of.” The man’s lips curled into a smirk, settling in to watch the show.
Huang Yulang’s eyes lit up.
He now possessed a prodigious strength of over two thousand jin.
A three-hundred-jin hammer was nothing to him.
More importantly, the explosive power of a hammer could better showcase his strength.
Without ceremony, Huang Yulang walked over and snatched up the rusty copper hammer.
He even hefted it in his hand, as if a normal person were weighing a brick.
‘Not bad,’ he thought.
‘The weight and size are just right for me now.’
If there were a giant boulder in front of him, Huang Yulang was confident he could smash it to smithereens with his full strength.
His fists didn’t have that kind of explosive power.
‘In the future, I’ll encounter more cultivators, perhaps even ones beyond my imagination.
But as long as their bodies aren’t as strong as mine, with the right move, I can definitely kill them with a single blow from this hammer.
And if I forge a chain for it later, won’t I have a ranged attack?’