Chapter Fifty-Six: Exploration

Winding back and forth, everything returned once more to the matter of the spiritual elixir. Chen Yu stared at it for a while, then smiled gently and shook his head, pushing himself up from the green stone. The spiritual elixir had always been a troublesome problem—he knew well enough that it was impossible to find a breakthrough in a short time. Since that was the case, he might as well focus on more practical affairs, lest he waste his effort in vain.

For now, it didn't matter how it worked or how it had granted him spiritual power; the important thing was that he had it. The priority was not to pursue its origins. "I need to find a way to draw out this spiritual power," he muttered.

Chen Yu was never one for coyness or half-hidden gestures; he had always been straightforward, disliking convoluted twists and turns. As he walked toward the Daoist temple, he reviewed in his mind all the methods that could potentially stir and guide the power within him.

Yet after going through them all, not a single method recorded in the Daoist scriptures—books he had read countless times—had succeeded. Even the initial surge of power had relied on a sudden burst of inspiration, quite unlike the original methods described. If he followed those accounts to the letter, he doubted he could even raise a ripple.

Thinking it over, he decided to distill the strengths and weaknesses of each method, extract what was useful, and attempt to piece them together, supplementing with his own insights as the pioneer of spiritual power. Perhaps it would yield some results.

He was indeed the first and only practitioner. With no other options, he resolved to try.

He had experience with patching together techniques—after all, the Spirit-Summoning Strengthening Art had set a precedent. Chen Yu felt confident this time as well.

Having made up his mind, he couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. This time, he couldn't let Brother Chicken take the lead; he had to try it himself to make timely adjustments.

Speaking of Brother Chicken, ever since the incident with the green spiritual root and the elixir, the rooster had become more spirited than ever, strutting around the coop all day with his fiery red comb. After confirming the effect of the green spiritual root, Chen Yu had mercifully sent Brother Chicken back from the woodshed, reuniting him with his two beloved hens and a flock of chicks who had grown considerably.

He had been favored by the heavens, for the weather had brought only light rain, never a storm. Since the gentle March rains, not a single chick had fallen ill or died; every day they followed the mother hen, chirping as they scratched the soil along the temple walls.

Perhaps it was the good temple fare, but the chicks had grown rapidly. Lately, he was thinking of building a separate coop for them; originally he planned to fence off a stretch of woodland behind the temple, but while it would provide space, the work would be enormous.

With his crude construction skills, he doubted he could manage it. Such a task belonged to experienced country folk.

He still remembered when the old Daoist was around and a violent storm had struck, collapsing an inner room. The temple folk, led by that second-rate martial expert, spent tremendous effort only to have their newly repaired lodge collapse again. In the end, they had to call two carpenters up the mountain for help.

It was the same for Chen Yu: exhausting time and energy was one thing, but if the coop collapsed the next day and the chicks were injured or killed, it would be far more heartbreaking—these were his carefully raised reserves, bought with silver.

He could raise other animals, but chickens were cheaper and easier than pigs, horses, or sheep—and he had experience from his previous life. He could barely manage chickens, but as for the other three, unless he could hire a pig-raising expert from the village, it was better not to try.

"Actually, keeping some mountain goats would be fine," he mused.

Although he had never raised them, Chen Yu remembered that mountain goats simply grazed on the hillside, needing little care and not requiring expensive feed like horses. If he came into more money, he could buy a few.

...

Smack! Chen Yu slapped his palm against a tree trunk, leaving a red imprint. He glanced at his palm as he kneaded it, noting two pale marks. He hadn't used any inner force.

Even so, his slap had dented the bowl-thick trunk, splitting the bark to reveal the white tissue beneath—yet his hand was unharmed.

"The spiritual elixir's effect is still strong," he remarked.

Since taking the green spiritual root, his absorption of the elixir had remained rapid. Only recently had it slowed, but by now he was used to it—he simply waited for the vegetable patch to sprout new buds, knowing a few bites would suffice.

"It seems combining the Spirit-Summoning Strengthening Art with external training is the way forward."

He no longer cared much about advancing his martial arts, but had spent time perfecting his technique, gradually refining it to approach true Daoist mastery.

Now, as his improvements bore fruit, the results surprised even him.

At this rate, when his external training was complete, he would surpass ordinary second-rate martial artists.

External training paired with spiritual elixir was on a whole different level compared to ordinary methods—unless his opponent specialized in external or hard qigong.

But Chen Yu knew well that even the most advanced external arts could not make one truly impervious to blades and bullets. In the end, it was always a matter of one strike.

Even with the elixir, he was no exception. This was not some place where great powers appeared at a whim; apart from martial arts, things were much the same as in his previous life.

Iron skin and copper bones were mere metaphors; golden bodies and divine forms existed only in legends. The flawless body spoken of among Daoists had never truly been achieved.

Many had ruined themselves trying.

He remembered several such cases from Yunhe Temple.

He put the matter aside and withdrew his hand. For now, his martial progress was steady and not a concern; the real bottleneck was how to harness and manipulate spiritual power.

Page (2/3)

Contrary to his expectations, the new technique stalled right from its inception.

Currently, Chen Yu could only sense the spiritual fluctuations through various spirit-driving methods, but he could neither guide nor touch them.

Days had passed since his first attempt; though he continued to integrate techniques and extract their essence, he was still far from genuine control.

Fortunately, as his spirit accumulated and his attempts grew frequent, the spiritual wave became much stronger. Progress, however slow, was still progress; there was hope rather than stagnation.

By comparison, creating the Spirit-Summoning Strengthening Art had truly been easy. Luck had favored him.

He recalled how, with a single spark of inspiration, a copy of Yunhe Gong, and a Qi Gathering technique, he had drafted a new method within days.

Not so now; he remained stuck outside the threshold.

In truth, compared to the trial-and-error approach with physical force and elixir recovery, the realm of the spirit was far more elusive—touching upon the mind, requiring careful exploration.

Slow progress was understandable. With this thought, Chen Yu eased his heart and let things take their course.

Aside from these matters, he had seen the unknown orb of light several more times in recent days. Achieving the same tranquil state was no longer difficult.

The repeated experience proved it wasn't an illusion or coincidence.

He also noticed that as his spirit accumulated and matured, the orb seemed to expand; the pitch black within was fading, as if losing its color.

He estimated that at this rate, in four or five more days, it would turn from black to pure white.

What kind of change would follow, he couldn't say—he only had a vague intuition that it would not be a bad thing.

"A pity the green spiritual root hasn't matured, and the Divine Orchard Fruit is all eaten—otherwise, I could speed things up."

He had consumed all the initial Divine Orchard Fruit; now, except for the source of the primal spiritual root, the second batch of transplanted herbs—like the bowel-cleansing grass and green spiritual root—were nearly depleted.

To eat more, he would have to wait for the next harvest.

Drawing in the cool air, Chen Yu sat cross-legged.

For now, he set aside external aids and focused his mind, clearing away distractions as he attempted to drive his spiritual power.

Whenever he had spare time, he would sink into this state. The endeavor was clearly trailblazing, and the achievement thrilled him. His innate curiosity about the spiritual realm made him eager to see if it was truly as mysterious as legend claimed.

And so, he immersed himself—finding joy in the experience, known only to himself.