Chapter 51: Return

Xu Ziyan moved and landed near the water pond with sword flight. She quietly checked her body and a look of surprise appeared on her face. She found that her realm had broken through again, reaching the Fourth Layer of Qi Refining Stage.

She lowered her head and thought for a moment, then turned to look at the nearby water pond. She sensed that the water in this pond must have boosted her realm.

She crouched by the pond, cupped her hands to scoop some water, and brought it near her nose to smell it. A surprised expression appeared on her face again. She lowered her head and took a sip. As soon as the Spirit Spring Water entered her mouth, it flowed down her throat. A surge of heat immediately arose in her dantian, moving powerfully through her meridians. After completing a Grand Cycle, it returned to her dantian. Xu Ziyan was carefully observing her body the whole time and instantly felt a slight increase in her cultivation level. Although that thread of True Essence was very faint and hard to notice without careful attention, it had indeed increased by a tiny bit.

Xu Ziyan was overjoyed. Through her alchemy inheritance, she immediately realized how lucky she was. She had encountered a Spiritual Spring, something very rare in the Cultivation World. Remembering the wonderful uses of the Spiritual Spring, she excitedly checked her body again. This check made Xu Ziyan so happy she almost jumped up from the ground. She finally discovered that she had now become a Spirit Body, completely transparent from inside out. She could constantly feel the Spiritual Energy from heaven and earth seeping into her body thread by thread.

Xu Ziyan knew that after gaining a Spirit Body, she was effectively cultivating all the time. The Spiritual Energy between heaven and earth would continuously seep into her body, flowing through her meridians, and finally gather in her dantian as her True Essence.

Although this pace wasn’t fast, it gave her more cultivation time than others. Accumulated over time, it would definitely become a considerable reserve. Besides, this was only when Xu Ziyan wasn’t actively cultivating. If she did cultivate, even without taking any elixirs from now on, her progress would still be much faster than others.

After finishing her body examination, Xu Ziyan focused her attention on the Spiritual Spring. She knew very well what a miraculous thing this Spiritual Spring before her was. Many high-level elixirs required Spirit Spring Water as a key ingredient. With the Spirit Spring Water, Xu Ziyan could refine many elixirs she previously couldn’t.

Xu Ziyan quickly took out all the bottles from her storage pouch. She had prepared many bottles in her storage pouch for pill refining purposes. Counting them, there were over fifty empty bottles. After thinking a moment, she also emptied the bottles containing elixirs. This way, she gathered a total of one hundred twenty bottles.

Only after filling all one hundred twenty bottles with Spirit Spring Water and storing them in her storage pouch did Xu Ziyan stand up satisfied. She looked at the pond with reluctance, but she knew that because of the Spiritual Spring’s aura, Monster Beasts would surely come soon to claim this place as their territory. It would be impossible for her to come back later to collect more Spirit Spring Water.

But Xu Ziyan still carefully memorized this pond’s location. If her cultivation level reached a point where she wasn’t afraid of Monster Beasts in the future, she could return anytime to collect the Spiritual Spring. Thinking of this, Xu Ziyan felt puzzled. Why was there no Monster Beast at this Spiritual Spring right now? Could it be that the Monster Beast went out visiting? Little did she know that the giant snake Monster Beast originally occupying this place was lured away by her Beast Luring Talisman, leaving the pond to join the fight for the talisman, and ultimately lost its life because of it.

Standing by the pond, Xu Ziyan took one last look at the Spiritual Spring, then began preparing to leave. Although Xu Ziyan was now a Spirit Body, her cultivation level was still low. This made her like Tang Monk’s flesh—if someone captured Xu Ziyan, ate her, or used her as a main ingredient for refining elixirs, it would directly boost that person’s cultivation level.

Therefore, Xu Ziyan absolutely couldn’t let anyone know she had a Spirit Body. Also, when Xu Ziyan broke through earlier, the Breath-Concealing Talisman hiding her Fourth Layer of Qi Refining Stage had expired. So she needed to make a new Breath-Concealing Talisman.

Xu Ziyan took out a talisman brush and talisman paper from her storage pouch, spreading them flat on a smooth, level rock. With her realm improvement, Xu Ziyan could now make fourth-grade talismans.

Picking up the talisman brush, calming her mind and focusing, Xu Ziyan raised her Fourth Layer of Qi Refining Stage cultivation to its peak, and carefully began creating a Primordial Chaos Talisman. Once completed, this talisman would completely conceal the fact that Xu Ziyan was a Spirit Body. Even someone at the peak of Core Formation Stage wouldn’t be able to tell Xu Ziyan was a Spirit Body, and wouldn’t detect it even with a hands-on examination.

After fifteen minutes, Xu Ziyan put away the talisman brush and let out a long breath. Seeing the flowing glow on the Primordial Chaos Talisman, Xu Ziyan nodded with satisfaction. She opened her mouth and inhaled, and the Primordial Chaos Talisman floated up from the rock, flew to the top of Xu Ziyan’s head, then disappeared into her Baihui Acupoint. Xu Ziyan’s body suddenly became chaotic, no longer showing she was a Spirit Body, but it didn’t prevent the Spiritual Energy from heaven and earth from continuing to seep into her body thread by thread.

Xu Ziyan checked her body again and felt very satisfied. She picked up the talisman brush again and started making a Breath-Concealing Talisman. Xu Ziyan had made Breath-Concealing Talismans many times before, and soon a top-quality fourth-grade Breath-Concealing Talisman was completed. Xu Ziyan absorbed the talisman into her body, thought for a moment, and decided to display her cultivation level as the Tenth Layer of Houtian.

Xu Ziyan had already finished reading all the books on the first floor of the clan’s Library Pavilion. She really wanted to read the books on the second floor now, so she needed to enter the Inner Hall as soon as possible. To enter the Inner Hall, she had to reach at least the first layer of Qi Refining Stage. Although displaying her cultivation as the Tenth Layer of Houtian now would shock some people, she could just say that she fell into a valley in the Cangmang Mountain Range and, while hungry, randomly ate a fruit and inexplicably broke through. If asked about the valley, she could say she got lost and couldn’t remember it anymore—they probably wouldn’t have any way to verify it. And it would also give her an excuse for future breakthroughs.

After handling everything, Xu Ziyan rose with sword flight again and flew out of Cangmang Mountain. Because of Xu Ziyan’s Beast Luring Talisman, the Beast Tide had already retreated. Xu Ziyan tried to fly as high as possible, carefully releasing her Spiritual Power. Whenever she sensed even a slight hint of danger, she immediately changed her route.

After half a day, Xu Ziyan stood above Tongyou Valley again. Seeing no Monster Beasts here and no corpses of disciples from her clan, she guessed they had already returned to Zhongdu City.

Making hand seals, she turned around and flew with sword flight toward Zhongdu City. About ten miles from Zhongdu City, she descended with sword flight and then walked toward Zhongdu City on foot.

Meanwhile, Zhongdu City wasn’t peaceful despite the Beast Tide’s retreat. A tense and dangerous atmosphere was spreading through Zhongdu City…