She could draw this power from her own spiritual root, and it had different effects when applied to different things.
For example, she could imprint desired effects on a person’s soul. It could also enhance her abilities as a Diviner when refining Porcelain Persons. Even when applied to food, it made the dishes exceptionally delicious.
Just like the restraint she was currently using on Jiang Anya to ensure she could never harm her again.
She was well aware that if the secret of her spiritual root were to be exposed, it would cost her life. This world was never short of greedy people. Therefore, she buried the secret of her spiritual root deep in her heart and never spoke of it to anyone. She didn’t even dare to use it, fearing that someone with ulterior motives might discover it.
This power was innate. Since she didn’t know exactly what kind of power it was, she naturally didn’t know if it could be enhanced. But later, she discovered that as her cultivation level increased and her spiritual root strengthened, this power also grew slightly.
Currently, her cultivation level was only at the mid Foundation Establishment stage. This power was far weaker compared to a hundred years later when she had successfully condensed her Nascent Soul and reached the Nascent Soul Stage.
Therefore, she only had about ten threads of this power, and today she had used one on Jiang Anya.
Now that she could become a Porcelain Refiner, the frequency of using this power would increase, making it impossible to keep it hidden forever.
Survival was crucial. It seemed that improving her cultivation level was now an urgent priority.
Suddenly, she sensed a familiar aura and sharply turned her gaze toward a direction outside the courtyard. It was one of Chen Qingyang’s people.
Murong Chao curled her lips into a faint smile. Chen Qingyang was quite confident, sending only one shadow guard to watch her.
Indeed, in his mind, she was just an ordinary person with no talent for cultivation. Sending his highest-ranking shadow guard was already a sign of his high regard for her.
She paid no attention to it. Although her cultivation level was only at the mid Foundation Establishment stage, she had plenty of tricks up her sleeve. This person couldn’t stop her.
No one could hinder what she intended to do. Tomorrow, she had something very important to accomplish.
During her time at the Xuantian Sect, Wei Xiangyuan treated her exceptionally well on the surface, taking her everywhere. In those six years, she broadened her horizons, witnessing the profound heritage and strength of noble families, major factions, and the royal family.
She also learned that Wei Xiangyuan came from a small family with limited heritage. However, he had a loyal subordinate who was exceptionally clever and possessed a talent for treasure hunting. Over a hundred years, this subordinate had discovered dozens of spiritual veins and even established an intelligence network for him.
This person was Zhou Ziliang, whom Wei Xiangyuan had saved a hundred years ago. The world had given him the nickname “Treasure-Seeking Rat.”
Murong Chao knew all this because Zhou Ziliang had personally told her.
Wei Xiangyuan appeared to treat her extremely well on the surface, so Zhou Ziliang believed that Wei Xiangyuan held her, his closed-door disciple, in high regard. He shared his experiences with her, hoping she would feel grateful and repay Wei Xiangyuan’s kindness.
Repay? Ha! Wei Xiangyuan had personally taken his payment—he had dug out her spiritual root. Kindness? How utterly laughable.
Zhou Ziliang had personally recounted that a hundred years ago, Wei Xiangyuan, then the master of a peak, led his disciples on a training expedition. At the border of the Fengyun Kingdom, in the monster-infested area—the very Death Forest where Chen Qingyang had saved her—he rescued Zhou Ziliang, who was on the brink of death.
Zhou Ziliang only mentioned it was a day in late March. Now, it was precisely late March, meaning it would happen sometime in the next few days. She didn’t know the exact day, so she could only go and wait for the opportunity.
How could she miss such a perfect chance to intercept?
She wanted to see if Wei Xiangyuan, now deprived of Zhou Ziliang’s assistance and lacking cultivation resources and information, would still become the sect master of the Xuantian Sect as he had in her previous life.
The foremost sect of the Yagu Continent could not have a sect master like Wei Xiangyuan, who lacked both character and virtue. By doing this, she was essentially doing a good deed for the Xuantian Sect.
Moreover, a major event was about to occur in the Death Forest this time. On the very day after Wei Xiangyuan saved Zhou Ziliang, a tremendous opportunity would be seized by Wei Xiangyuan.
It could be said that this was the luckiest moment of his entire life, completely altering his destiny.
Since she had returned to this time, how could she miss such an opportunity?
In the cultivation world, opportunities belonged to whoever seized them—there was no such thing as modesty or yielding.
With the curfew now in effect, she couldn’t leave the city. She would have to wait until morning to depart, but she couldn’t waste the entire night. She decided to begin cultivating the Purple-Gold Mystic Art.
Murong Chao slipped into the Purple-Gold Space.
The first part of the Purple-Gold Mystic Art consisted of foundational techniques. Though seemingly simple, she realized upon starting her cultivation that these basics were not as easy to master as they appeared.
She also understood why those who possessed Ancient Arts were invariably powerful individuals.
Only by laying a solid foundation could one advance by leaps and bounds in later cultivation.
Cultivating foundational techniques required a quiet, undisturbed, and spacious environment. Fortunately, she had the Purple-Gold Space; otherwise, she would have had no suitable place.
Thus, on the dark, fertile soil of the Purple-Gold Space, the stunning young woman in a pale purple dress moved with grace, her figure fluttering like a purple butterfly.
Murong Chao practiced each move and stance strictly according to the foundational techniques described in the Purple-Gold Mystic Art. Each page corresponded to one technique, and she had no idea how many techniques there were in total.
She cultivated with the utmost calmness, without any impatience to achieve quick results. Her patience, perseverance, and diligence were fully reflected in her cultivation.
At this moment, she immersed herself wholeheartedly in these techniques. In her spiritual sense, each move on the pages of the Purple-Gold Mystic Art appeared as if someone were demonstrating it right before her eyes, incredibly clear.
With her photographic memory, Murong Chao mastered these techniques almost instantly. Yet, she repeated each one over and over until she could execute them perfectly without a second thought.
Through repeated practice, Murong Chao discovered that each technique had astonishing effects. With every repetition of each move, she could feel changes in her body—this was tempering her physique.
Only now did Murong Chao realize that the foundational techniques of the Purple-Gold Mystic Art could not only strengthen her dantian and Spiritual Root but also broaden her meridians and enhance the resilience of her bones and muscles.
The effect on her Spiritual Root was the most significant, with its transformation being particularly noticeable. Murong Chao clearly saw that her Spiritual Root had thickened considerably.
This was an unexpected delight. After all, a cultivator’s greatest weakness was when their Spiritual Power was completely depleted, leaving them at their most vulnerable. If their bones and muscles were strong enough, it would provide an additional layer of protection.
Indeed, laziness had no place in cultivation.
A night passed, and she had flipped through about one-third of the first part of the Purple-Gold Mystic Art, learning thirty techniques. Based on this estimate, if the entire first part consisted of foundational techniques, there should be around eighty to ninety techniques in total.
Wait—techniques in Ancient Arts likely followed certain principles. The concept of “nine nines returning to the truth” came to mind. Could it be that the foundational techniques of the Purple-Gold Mystic Art consisted of exactly eighty-one techniques?
As this thought emerged, even Murong Chao’s typically calm heart began to race with excitement.
She had only learned thirty moves and already gained so much—what if she mastered them all?
Murong Chao carefully counted the gains of the night.