He shook his head and replied to the young fellow, “Okay, since you’ve learned it, give it a go.”
Following that, the elder retrieved an ordinary ore and tossed it to Ou Yangming. The young fellow chuckled and accepted the material, then he melted it into a treasure saber with a flash of thought.
Although Ou Yangming had somewhat restrained himself to not smith at his fastest speed, the time he spent to smith the treasure saber was the same as the time taken by Bai Zhiyi. Given such an ability, he could be proud among his peers.
As his Military Fire flickered, the Stun Art Rune was easily carved on the equipment.
It was Ou Yangming’s first time engraving the rune, thus he was not too familiar with the technique yet. Despite that, the rune that floated in his sea of consciousness swayed in front of him as though it was tangible. Besides, under the Military Fire’s control, the rune even turned into the treasure saber’s style and produced the most beneficial and right carving plan.
Everything seemed to have happened automatically, allowing Ou Yangming to reach his target effortlessly.
At last, when Ou Yangming curbed his Military Fire and handed the saber to Bai Zhiyi, the elder was already in admiration.
Yes, the look in the elder’s eyes showed that he was convinced.
Ou Yangming managed to replicate the Skill Rune after seeing it once. Moreover, he made subtle adjustments to the rune when he carved it, causing the Stun Art on the weapon to be more powerful.
Bai Zhiyi sensed it himself, so he was even more surprised.
If he was not certain that Ou Yangming had not learned the poison-series Stun Art before this, he would have doubted the fellow for pretending to be inadequate.
The elder sighed and finally understood that some beings could not be treated with conventional reasonings and morals because they existed to attack other people.
“Good fella, since you’ve learned it, think about how you can carve the 2 Skill Runes on the equipment. They must merge and be mutually dependent, but their independencies must also be preserved, where they won’t crumble due to some unreliable reasons,” Bai Zhiyi stated seriously.
Ou Yangming responded loudly, but he was dazed when he stared at the treasure saber in his hands.
He had smithed innumerable pieces of equipment before this, but he knew nothing about pieces of Dual Skill Equipment. After thinking carefully, the young fellow lifted the saber and gently stroked with his finger to draw another wonderful power to carve it on the weapon.
Having said that, Ou Yangming was forced to stop after a brief moment.
This was because he realized that no matter how careful he planned, the Stun Art’s rune paths would inevitably be ruined.
If Ou Yangming forced his way through, the only result would be the disappearance of one of the skills, and it could not be recovered.
It was certainly not easy to make the 2 Skill Runes coexist.
Seeing as Ou Yangming furrowed his eyebrows and stared at the saber as if he was deep in his thoughts, Bai Zhiyi could not help but grin. “Young fella, I really thought that you’re almighty. Hehe, you finally need me now, don’t you?”
Chapter 610 - Spiritual World
Ou Yangming was slightly stunned, and he did not know to cry or to laugh. “Elder Bai, I wasn’t being rude and overstepping boundaries, was I?”
Bai Zhiyi stroked his long beard and responded rather proudly, “Hehe, I was only kidding.” He thought, ‘You didn’t overstep boundaries, but your abilities are too huge of a blow.’
He shook his head and said, “Lil’ Ou, different families and sects have their unique techniques to smith pieces of Dual Skill Equipment.” He continued after some thought, “According to reason, I can’t teach you before you join the Beast King Sect, but since you’re willing to pass the Poisonous Gas Diffusion to my sect, I’ll make an exception this time.”
Ou Yangming’s face changed, and he asked in a deep voice, “Elder Bai, if I learn this skill, does it mean that I must join the beast King Sect?”
Bai Zhiyi stared at him and questioned, “The Beast King Sect is one of Danzhou’s Nine Great Sects. Many people want to join us but fail to do so, so why are you being picky?”
The young fellow laughed but wondered, ‘The imperial family and the inherited aristocratic families from the 8 counties in the lower realm are also the only ones that can communicate with the Spiritual Realm. There are 9 of them in total, so are they related to Danzhou’s Nine Great Secfs?’
Bai Zhiyi shook his head and stated, “Ah, Lil’ Ou, whether or not you’ll join the Beast King Sect, let’s leave that for next time. Now, let me tell you about the key techniques for dual skill.”
Ou Yangming responded to him and made a wise choice to avoid the question.
Since Bai Zhiyi wanted to pretend not to know, why would he open up the topic? If everything was said in the open, it might not be a good thing.
Bai Zhiyi had a grave look on his face. Once he spoke about smithing art, he looked extremely stern.
A Dual Skill Rune was an incredibly powerful ability; many people desired to have a piece of equipment with 2 different skills attached to it, as well as the ability to choose between the skills while they used the equipment.
Needless to say, the greater the equipment, the harder it would be to smith it.
The main difficulty of a piece of Dual Skill Equipment was attaching 2 dissimilar runes to it without making them affect each other.
“The Beast King Sect’s major cultivation technique stresses on keeping natal spirit beasts, by which it exploits the strong points and avoids the weak points, and it’s a joint attack. Therefore, our smithing art is inevitably influenced in this aspect too,” Bai Zhiyi explained and pointed at the saber in front of him. “You can imagine it as a person, who mainly cultivates our sect’s Human-Beast Joint Attack Secret Technique.”
Ou Yangming’s eyelids flickered, and he questioned in disbelief, “You’re saying that between the 2 Skill Runes, one’s human-cultivated while the other’s beast-cultivated?”
“Yes, you’re promising and worth teaching.” Bai Zhiyi laughed out loud. “The Stun Art and the Poisonous Gas Diffusion are poison-series runes, so you can take the latter as the Humans’ major cultivation technique and the former as the Beasts’ minor cultivation technique. That said, when they encounter enemies, they can only unleash the greatest might by cooperating with each other and exert forces at the same time.” He suddenly lowered his voice and continued, “I’ll be teaching you the Beast King Sect’s Dual Cultivation Secret Technique now, so remember it well.”
The young fellow nodded with a strange look on his face. He had remembered every word said by Bai Zhiyi, but the fact that the technique was known as the Dual Cultivation Secret Technique was unexplainable and odd to him.
Nonetheless, though the secret technique’s name was not that great, its contents made it worthy of being the Nine Great Sect’s secret technique.
Furthermore, Ou Yangming was surprised and overjoyed because after hearing the secret technique’s contents, the mysterious Military Fire in his sea of consciousness seemed to have undergone a wonderful change.
The Military Fire slowly boiled in his sea of consciousness as though it illuminated the entire area.
At the same time, Ou Yangming’s mental power spread and expanded too, such that every hint of it began to merge with his Military Fire.
Although they had changed each other before this, a conversion was always involved. This time, his mental power and Military Fire started to fuse according to the Beast King Sect’s secret technique as if they were going to become one.
Ou Yangming did not know why there was such a sudden change, but he knew it was certainly favorable for him.
The Military Fire had always been his proudest assets, and it was also the ultimate trump card that helped him gain fame.
Nevertheless, it was a foreign item, after all, hence Ou Yangming was always worried about one thing. If an u
nforeseen change caused him to lose the Military Fire, would he hit rock bottom?
Even though the young fellow never spoke about it to anyone, the thought lingered in his head like a nightmare. Every time he felt down or suffered a negative impact, the thought would surface again and make him feel helpless.
However, from this point onward, it would no longer be a problem for him.
This was because the Military Fire had become him, and his mental power was the fire itself.
The 2 were similar to the human and beast practitioners from the Beast King Sect; they became inseparable.
Ou Yangming was elated. He never expected to gain such a great benefit at this moment.
This was a much more valuable gift than allowing him to browse anything in the Beast King Sect’s library without any restraints.
Once Bai Zhiyi was done stating everything and was about to explain them in detail, he suddenly saw Ou Yangming sitting with his legs crossed on the ground with a surging aura around him.
It was an act of instant comprehension as though Bai Zhiyi’s words enlightened Ou Yangming in a certain way, thus the young fellow began to cultivate eagerly.
Bai Zhiyi blinked as he was bewildered, and he knitted his eyebrows hard because he could not understand what was going. ‘I only described some basic concepts and rather shallow cultivation secret techniques from the Beast King Sect. Why is he making such an exaggerated reaction…’
He could not help but wonder, ‘Did I mention anything about the core secret techniques just now?’
Despite having racked his brain, he did not recall saying anything of that sort.
Ou Yangming was completely immersed in his world at the moment. When his mental power and Military Fire slowly came into contact and intersected, his body began to tremble. This was due to the tremendous power that resulted from the merge, causing him to undergo a thorough change.
“Boom…”
A deafening sound seemed to be heard in Ou Yangming’s sea of consciousness. Following the merge, his mental power had somehow become omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent.
His sea of consciousness had turned into a world, where his mental power was the ruler.
Moreover, the states of the integration of Heaven and man, as well as the thoroughly meticulous, reached their peaks at this time.
Ou Yangming fathomed something all of a sudden. It was an elevation that occurred due to accumulation, allowing his mental power to go beyond his sea of consciousness such that it filled his whole body.
Consequently, his body became his sea of consciousness’s expansion, and his mental conception had similarly powerful control over it.
The control was more than just superficial; it was not as easy as his brain commanding his limbs to move. It was worth noting that the control was comprehensive, by which his brain, limbs, organs, and even every cell on his body was under his control.
Ou Yangming was feeling bright, and he was even struck with a thought. ‘If I can expand the controlled range to go beyond my body, perhaps I’ll be able to do what Six-armed and Ghost Mo did.’
Having said that, Ou Yangming was powerless for the time being. As such, he could only dominate his body without being able to break through the limit.
The young fellow sighed and controlled the essential Qi inside his body, and it burst inside his dantian.
Next, an exceptionally forceful aura surged from his body, and it spread such that it enveloped the entire courtyard.
Big Yellow, which was sleeping in the side room, got up right away and ran toward Ou Yangming without any hesitation. When it noticed the young fellow’s expression and sensed the aura around him, it widened its eyes as it was lost for words.
Bai Zhiyi took a few steps back to avoid the areas where the aura lingered.
Xia Zizhen appeared beside him without warning and asked softly, “Elder Bai, this…”
The elder glared at him and responded, “Can’t you tell that he’s advancing into a Spiritualist!”
“But Brother Ou’s a Spiritualist already…” Xia Zizhen was dumbfounded.
Ou Yangming’s mental power was remarkable and had surpassed a Spiritualist’s boundary, so the aura that he released belonged to a Spiritualist indeed.
Nonetheless, it was hard to distinguish if he was a bodybuilder or a caster by judging from the aura alone.
Bai Zhiyi sighed and shook his head. “You may leave. Don’t tell anyone about this.”
Xia Zizhen was hesitant for a brief moment, but he dared not disobey Bai Zhiyi, so he could only leave in confusion.
Ou Yangming was not bothered about the outside world at all. As long as nobody was planning to kill him at the moment, he would not pay extra attention to the situation around him.
Driven by his notable mental power, the essential Qi inside his dantian kept bursting, causing a marvelous substantial change to happen, where the Qi was turned into spiritual power bit by bit.
Essential Qi and spiritual power were born from one’s dantian, but their powers were Heaven and Earth apart.
After devouring the flesh and blood of many formidable half-spirit beasts and spirit beasts, Ou Yangming’s accumulation was enough for him to advance. Nevertheless, his mental power had entered the Spiritualist boundary first as it was especially powerful, hence his body’s cultivation resources naturally leaned toward his mental power.
When his mental power and Military Fire merged and changed substantially, with the former as a foundation, his essential Qi was forcibly pushed to the Spiritualist boundary.
Not to mention ordinary people, even Venerable Ones would be puzzled and gasp in amazement at the sight of this situation.
Chapter 611 - Smithing A Poisonous Saber
Ou Yangming exhaled deeply. He could sense that his body had been tempered. In particular, the essential Qi in his dantian had all been converted into spiritual power.
From then on, even without using his mental power, his body alone had already reached a Spiritualist’s standard.
Forceful spiritual power kept gushing in his meridians, and it felt extremely different as compared to before. If his essential Qi was similar to a small stream, what he experienced at the moment was a torrential stream in a big river.
A violent aura exploded from Ou Yangming’s body. It was a power that burst out when one first became a Spiritualist.
Nonetheless, as soon as the power was released, it was completely curbed by Ou Yangming in less than a breath’s time.
Bai Zhiyi, who was a distance away, was surprised. He looked at Ou Yangming in shock as he could not figure out how the young fellow managed to do it.
A Spiritualist—be it a bodybuilder or a caster—that had just advanced would not be able to control his or her aura perfectly. Theoretically, their auras would be unstable for a certain period, so they would only be able to curb their auras freely after they stabilized their boundary.
In the lower realm, when powerhouses at the peak of Yang Grade became Supreme Great Ancestors, they already needed to do that. This was why there would naturally be a stronger effect when they advance from Supreme Great Ancestors into Spiritualists.
However, Ou Yangming could curb his aura instantly and controlled it perfectly, hence Bai Zhiyi regarded him with special respect.
Ou Yangming opened his eyes and smiled apologetically. “Elder Bai, I’m sorry, I delayed some time again.”
Bai Zhiyi’s face twitched, and he smiled bitterly. “Young fella, if you do this a few more times, I’ll die from shock.”
The young fellow scratched his head and immediately responded, “I guarantee you that it won’t happen again, so don’t worry.”
“If you can do the same thing again now, I’ll really be floored.” Bai Zhiyi scoffed.
The more profound one’s cultivation base, the harder it would be to upgrade. Based on Ou Yangming’s standard at the moment, it would truly be unbelievable if he could advance again in a short period.
Ou Yangming smiled em
barrassedly and said, “Elder Bai, let’s talk business.”
Bai Zhiyi humphed and replied to him, “Alright, at least you have the conscience to focus on what’s important. I’ve told you what I know about the secret technique, so what are your thoughts?” He looked at Ou Yanging with bright eyes as though he wanted to spot something from the young fellow.
He was very curious about the reason Ou Yanging changed drastically after listening to his descriptions.
Sure enough, an instant comprehension could only be discovered but not sought.
Ou Yangming pondered seriously and answered, “Elder Bai, your words were precious, and they inspired me very much.”
Bai Zhiyi thought, ‘You don’t say. If you weren’t inspired, how could you have entered a state of instant comprehension?’
“I have an idea on how the equipment can be smithed, but I need some time to derive how it can function,” Ou Yangming added seriously.
“Oh, you have an idea already?” Bai Zhiyi’s eyelids flickered as he questioned.
“Yes.” Ou Yangming nodded, then he lowered his head and closed his eyes as he entered his sea of consciousness with his mental conception once more.
His sea of consciousness had undergone a tremendous change, by which his mental power and Military Fire had become one. As such, he could control them as he wished without being obstructed at all.
With a flash of thought, several types of ores appeared in his sea of consciousness. They appeared so abruptly as if they already belonged there.
A spiritual world—inside Ou Yangming’s sea of consciousness, a spiritual world similar to that of the little red bird had been constructed.
In actuality, Ou Yangming’s mental power was remarkable, but it was still far from being able to construct a legitimate spiritual world. Even when he could employ the Simulated Spiritual First in the lower realm to help cultivators at the peak of Yang Grade to advance to Extreme Grade, it was merely a superficial function of his mental power; he still had a long way to go before he could turn virtual into reality as he would be in a real spiritual world.
Immortal Path to Heaven c1-725 Page 360
