Chapter 132 - 90: Three Months Later, Withering and Flourishing Spiritual Breath

Chapter 132: Chapter 90: Three Months Later, Withering and Flourishing Spiritual Breath

In front of the main hall of Xuanzhen Temple.

Li Yinsheng and Shangguan Ling’Er were discussing the Dao under the eaves of the main hall, while Mu Xiaoyu, holding the Cold Leaf Sword, practiced the Yin Yang Light-Splitting Sword. She was practicing far harder than Li Yinsheng had anticipated. Initially, he thought that even with the assistance of the Blood Refining Core, it would take his junior sister seven or eight months to completely refine the Mother Insect, and that would already be considered quite fast. But now, only three months had passed, and she had already refined half of it, increasing her cultivation by twelve or thirteen years. Adding her original ten years, her cultivation now exceeded twenty years, surpassing Li Yinsheng before he had met her.

Her Qingxuan Scripture had now reached the Fifth Layer. Li Yinsheng estimated that in another three months, she would completely refine the Mother Insect and naturally break through to the Sixth Layer. At that time, he could pass the Cold Bright Sword and the Brass Incense Burner to her. For Li Yinsheng, who was now a Grand Daoist, these two Upper Grade Magical Artifacts were no longer of much use. Although his junior sister’s cultivation wouldn’t be able to unleash their true power by then, it would be enough for initial usage.

Furthermore, her Yin Yang Light-Splitting Sword had already produced thirty-one sword lights. For Li Yinsheng, who had already mastered five hundred and twelve sword lights, guiding his junior sister in practicing the Light-Splitting Sword was incredibly simple. This was even with him instructing her to focus primarily on overall cultivation; otherwise, she could have produced over thirty-five sword lights. However, if she were to add just one more sword light, reaching thirty-two, she would receive a reward of sixteen years of cultivation. Li Yinsheng currently lacked a magical artifact like the Blood Refining Core to assist his cultivation, so claiming the reward directly would be a bit of a waste. He needed to visit Zulu Temple first.

He had originally planned to visit Zulu Temple within a month of returning, but Shangguan Ling’Er’s appearance disrupted those plans. Although he had directly learned the Six Interpretations of Life and Death and numerous annotations through the Spiritual Sense Jade Scroll, mastering a cultivation technique wasn’t just about having the knowledge in one’s head. No matter how balanced and peaceful the Qingxuan Scripture was, making it easy to transition from, it still required a process. While Shangguan Ling’Er’s major cultivation was not the Six Interpretations of Life and Death, she practiced the Path of Five Elements. The Wood Element portion of her path offered numerous references for his technique. Therefore, she was able to provide substantial guidance during Li Yinsheng’s transition. Since Shangguan Ling’Er had been staying at Xuanzhen Temple for the past three months, discussing the Dao with him daily, he temporarily shelved his plans to visit Zulu Temple.

Although she claimed her energy was dispersed across the Five Elements and didn’t favor any single one, their actual Dao discussions proved otherwise. Li Yinsheng could say with certainty that her mastery in the Wood Element alone far exceeded that of Daoist Lang Gan, whose major cultivation was the Wood Element and Wind Technique. If her proficiency in the other four elements, as well as her overall understanding of the generation and restriction of the Five Elements, was at the same level, it would be truly terrifying. Perhaps because of their mutual connection through his Martial Uncle, or because Li Yinsheng practiced her family’s cultivation technique, she rarely hid anything when interacting with him. According to her, aside from referencing the Six Interpretations of Life and Death for the Wood Element, her other four elements each referenced an Immortal Daoist Method of similar caliber.

Thanks to her guidance in the Path of Wood, it only took Li Yinsheng three months to convert his foundation from the Qingxuan Scripture to the Six Interpretations of Life and Death. He was now in the Divine Travel Realm. After the transition, he immediately achieved One Withering and One Thriving, currently remaining at the second layer of the Withered Realm. He would need to cultivate to the second layer of the Rong Realm next, and bring that layer to Perfection before he could break through to the Dharma Image Realm. Although cultivators in the Withered Realm were not known for their combat prowess, even at his current stage, the quality and quantity of his magical power far surpassed what he had before the transition. Additionally, before completing the transition, he didn’t waste the Qingxuan Divine Light, using it to completely finish Washing Marrow and Cleansing Veins for his junior sister. If they wanted to improve her aptitude further in the future, they would have to seek marrow-washing methods even more advanced than the Qingxuan Divine Light.

"Yin Sheng," Shangguan Ling’Er said. "Didn’t you mention going to Zulu Temple before? When are you going?"

"Today," Li Yinsheng replied. "Would Miss Shangguan like to come along?"

Over the past three months, they had grown quite familiar with each other. They had gone from addressing each other as "Fellow Daoist" to her calling him by his name, while he called her Miss Shangguan.

"I have some free time, so let’s go together," Shangguan Ling’Er smiled. "It’s a good opportunity to ask if they have a way to repair Ningzhi’s White Rainbow Sword. If they can’t, you’ll have to come with me to the Dharma Vein," she added, playfully twirling a delicate Profound Color Ruyi in her palm. "However, the Dharma Vein is quite far from here."

"Let’s hope Zulu Temple has a solution," Li Yinsheng said. As he spoke, he raised his finger and tapped the air toward a nearby peach seedling.

A vibrant green light flew from his fingertip and landed on the seedling. The one-foot-tall peach seedling trembled slightly, shooting up an inch and sprouting two fresh buds. This was the miraculous ability born after achieving One Withering and One Thriving in the Six Interpretations of Life and Death—the Withering and Flourishing Spiritual Breath.

The Withering and Flourishing Spiritual Breath was somewhat similar to the Qingxuan Divine Light in that it was born independently of magical power and required a long time to recover after consumption, but its functions were vastly different. The Spiritual Breath had dual uses: withering and flourishing. Its withering application went without saying—it was an extreme threat to all living creatures. A light strike would damage a target’s lifespan, while a heavy blow could cause them to pass away on the spot. On the other hand, its flourishing application had many wondrous uses.

Aside from the most basic function of helping people rapidly recover from injuries, it could also restore or even extend lifespan. It could also accelerate the growth of spirit plants and the maturation of demonic beasts without side effects, just as it had done a moment ago, though it couldn’t over-stimulate them all at once. This peach seedling had sprouted from a pit left behind by that Ancient Sacrificial Spirit. It was originally incredibly difficult to grow. Before he went to Bamboo Forest Peak, it had only produced a tiny shoot, and upon his return, it hadn’t changed much. However, after he stimulated it daily with the Withering and Flourishing Spiritual Breath recently, it had grown to a foot tall. While the growth rate wasn’t incredibly fast, there was at least hope for its maturation.

Furthermore, he had used the Withering and Flourishing Spiritual Breath to treat his Martial Uncle’s body and restore some of his lifespan. However, his Martial Uncle’s condition was much more severe. Even after expending a significant amount of the Spiritual Breath, he had only managed to restore his Martial Uncle’s lifespan to twenty years. He didn’t expose the fact that his Martial Uncle’s lifespan was nearing its end; his Martial Uncle had kept it a secret from him simply because he didn’t want him to worry. Once he helped his Martial Uncle recover his cultivation, his lifespan would naturally return to normal.

According to the records of the Six Interpretations of Life and Death, he was currently only at the stage of One Withering and One Thriving. While the Spiritual Breath’s effect on restoring and extending lifespan was already impressive, it was far from its limit. Once he cultivated Two Witherings and Two Thrivings, or even Three Witherings and Three Thrivings, he estimated his own lifespan would directly increase by one hundred and fifty years. And by expending a massive amount of the Withering and Flourishing Spiritual Breath, he could help other cultivators increase their lifespans by up to sixty years.

Therefore, great cultivators who succeeded in the Six Interpretations of Life and Death, despite not being Alchemy Masters themselves, held a status vaguely more revered. After all, elixirs capable of extending life by fifty years could only be refined by a very small number of top-tier Daoists of the Alchemy Dao, and the material costs were astronomical. However, Li Yinsheng felt no urgency regarding his lifespan. He hadn’t used the Withering and Flourishing Spiritual Breath to extend his own life at all, instead using a portion of it to cultivate the Red Jade Mosquitoes.

He used the Spiritual Breath to accelerate their growth; once mature, the mosquitoes would lay eggs, which he would then incubate with his True Blood before accelerating their growth again. Through this repeated process over a short three months, the number of Red Jade Mosquitoes in his Spirit Insect Cage had grown to nearly two hundred. However, with such multifaceted consumption, the Withering and Flourishing Spiritual Breath born after his transition was mostly depleted. It would likely take over a decade for it to recover naturally. Fortunately, when he entered seclusion to claim the sixteen years of cultivation later, the Spiritual Breath would recover somewhat.

"Miss Shangguan, let’s go," Li Yinsheng stood up and said after finishing the daily stimulation of the peach seedling.

"Mm!" Shangguan Ling’Er also stood up. She pinched a hand seal, and the black-and-white Flower Ornament by her ear flew out, transforming to a size of over ten feet and hovering quietly in the air. "Your sword is too flashy and not suitable for travel. Let’s ride my Qiluo Dian instead."

He thought to himself, "Your Flower Ornament doesn’t look much lower-profile either. This Miss Shangguan is simply too wealthy."

So far, the magical treasures he had seen on her included the Five-Colored Glazed Cup, the Profound Jade Ruyi, the short sword transformed from her hairpin, and now the Qiluo Dian. Even her clothes were a Treasure Robe that vastly surpassed the Silver Threaded Magical Robe, its value and utility likely no less than a magical treasure. And she still hadn’t revealed her Lifebound Treasure. In contrast, counting everything he owned, he only had two magical treasures: the Celestial Cyan Sword and the Shadowless Banner he had already refined. The Celestial Cyan Sword was still in its growth phase, and the Shadowless Banner was rather mediocre. Compared to Shangguan Ling’Er, he felt incredibly shabby.

"Thank you for the ride, Miss Shangguan," Li Yinsheng smiled, waving to Mu Xiaoyu, who was still practicing. "Junior sister, let’s go. We’re heading to Zulu Temple."

"Oh!" Mu Xiaoyu cheered, immediately putting away the Cold Leaf Sword and trotting over.

She thought happily, "Yay! I don’t have to practice swordplay today!"

"She’s coming too?" Shangguan Ling’Er raised an eyebrow.

"For this trip to Zulu Temple, aside from my own need for a special magical artifact and repairing the White Rainbow Sword, one of the main goals has always been to forge a magical artifact for my junior sister," Li Yinsheng explained.

"An exclusive magical artifact?" Shangguan Ling’Er looked at the approaching Mu Xiaoyu in surprise.

Before she became a Daoist herself, she also had a few magical artifacts custom-made for her by her elders, none of which were cheap. But this little girl before her had such poor aptitude that her cultivation improvements relied entirely on external items. Although her foundation was very solid, there shouldn’t be a need to custom-make a magical artifact specifically for her, right?

Shangguan Ling’Er stared at Mu Xiaoyu with a very peculiar gaze for several seconds, leaving the little girl completely bewildered. Then, she looked at Li Yinsheng with an even stranger gaze, a hint of suspicion flashing in her eyes.

She thought, "Could this guy... have a special soft spot for this kind of undeveloped, plain-looking young girl?"

"It’s a long story. I’ll tell you on the way," Li Yinsheng said, meeting Shangguan Ling’Er’s gaze.

"Alright," she patted Mu Xiaoyu’s head. "Hop on, you too."

Li Yinsheng pulled Mu Xiaoyu onto the Qiluo Dian. Looking at the two figures, one tall and one short, Shangguan Ling’Er narrowed her eyes slightly, a faint light flickering in them.

Something was wrong, very wrong! She had been staying at Xuanzhen Temple for the past three months. Although her main energy was focused on catching up with Ningzhi and discussing the Dao with Li Yinsheng, she had paid some attention to this little girl. Aside from her diligence in cultivation, the girl truly had no commendable qualities. So why did Li Yinsheng take such good care of her? It could even be called favoritism!

What on earth did she do to deserve it?!

Shangguan Ling’Er couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard she thought.