Chapter 183: Chapter 183: Myriad Spirits Attain Divinity

Immortal Peach Mountain, Cave Residence.

After the new year, Yu Menghan came to visit once again.

It was time for the once-a-month treatment for the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly.

Li Ping placed his hand on the Celestial Profound Crystal, channeling his Nourishing Life Skill Power into the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly to heal its injuries.

A moment later, he removed his hand, drenched in sweat.

With the day’s treatment complete, Yu Menghan inspected the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly’s condition, a satisfied smile gracing her face.

She put the Celestial Profound Crystal, which sealed the Seven-Color Illusory Light Butterfly, into her Storage Bag.

At the same time, she also took out a huge piece of black Divine Wood from her Storage Bag and laid it horizontally in the courtyard of the cave residence.

Yu Menghan smiled and said, "Fellow Daoist Li, this section of thousand-year-old Ironwood should satisfy your needs."

This black Divine Wood was precisely the payment she had promised Li Ping for the treatment—thirty feet of thousand-year-old Ironwood.

"Oh?" Seeing her take out the Divine Wood, Li Ping couldn’t help but show his surprise.

However, the materials for his inheritance were of utmost importance; he wouldn’t just take Yu Menghan’s word for it. He immediately walked over to the thousand-year-old Ironwood and began to inspect it carefully.

Seeing him act this way, Yu Menghan couldn’t help but purse her lips.

After a long while, once his inspection confirmed there were no issues, Li Ping smiled and cupped his hands. "Since you say so, Fairy, I won’t be polite. This piece of Ironwood is exactly what I need."

After storing the Ironwood in his own Storage Bag, Li Ping returned to the pavilion to chat idly with Yu Menghan.

During their idle conversation, he brought up another matter. "By the way, Fairy Yu, I’ve recently found that my Divine Sense is a bit insufficient when controlling my Ten Thousand Work Puppet. I was wondering if your esteemed commerce association has any cultivation techniques for strengthening Divine Sense for sale? I’m willing to purchase one at a high price."

The Ten Thousand Work Puppet, thirty feet of thousand-year-old Ironwood, and one Tier Three Life Soul—he had gathered all three of these inheritance materials.

In theory, he could now use his Inheritance Tree to acquire the memories left in the Ten Thousand Work Puppet by a puppet master from the Celestial Skill Sect, gaining the ability to craft Tier Three Puppets.

But the Tier Three Life Soul in his possession belonged to the Demon Dao Core Formation Cultivator, Yan Liming.

As a Core Formation Cultivator who had lived for over four hundred years, Yan Liming’s memories were a massive treasure trove. Moreover, Li Ping hoped to find out where he had obtained the crafting method for the ’All Heaven Star Banner’.

Therefore, he was reluctant to feed the Life Soul to the Inheritance Tree before he could acquire those memories.

However, his own cultivation was only at the Mid-stage of Foundation Establishment, and his Divine Sense wasn’t strong enough to forcibly Soul Search a Core Formation Cultivator. Thus, the matter of Soul Searching had been put on hold.

His original plan was to wait until his cultivation reached the Late-stage of Foundation Establishment, when his Divine Sense would be significantly stronger, and then attempt to Soul Search Yan Liming.

At his current cultivation speed, breaking through to the Late-stage would take another thirty to forty years. But now, with the thousand-year-old Ironwood in hand, Li Ping couldn’t wait that long.

He had thought of another idea.

That was to cultivate a technique for strengthening Divine Sense, increase its intensity, and then Soul Search Yan Liming, stripping his memories completely clean.

But to his frustration, he had searched through the Jade Cliff Palace, the Ten Thousand Laws Tower... and even had Zhang Tie check the Secret Skill Pavilion in the Immortal City, yet he couldn’t find any cultivation technique of this kind.

Clearly, cultivation techniques that strengthened Divine Sense were extremely rare in the Cultivation Realm.

In the end, Li Ping had no choice but to turn his hopes to Yu Menghan.

She came from the incredibly mysterious Ying Sea Commerce Association; perhaps she could meet Li Ping’s needs.

"A cultivation technique to strengthen Divine Sense?" Yu Menghan was stunned for a moment, then fell into deep thought.

Seeing this, Li Ping was pleasantly surprised. He knew there might be a lead, so he immediately nodded and said, "That’s right, a cultivation technique to strengthen Divine Sense."

After pondering for a long while, Yu Menghan nodded. "I do know of such a technique. In fact, our association’s technique also comes from the Celestial Skill Sect. It was created by their cultivators specifically for controlling puppets.

However, when the Celestial Skill Sect was annihilated, its Secret Skill Pavilion was also destroyed. The version of this technique that fell into our association’s hands is only the first-level remnant. Cultivating it to completion can increase a cultivator’s Divine Sense strength by about twenty percent. I wonder if that would meet your needs, Fellow Daoist?"

’Only the first-level remnant... and it only increases Divine Sense by twenty percent...’ Li Ping was slightly disappointed.

But he calculated it in his mind. His Divine Sense was already about fifty percent stronger than that of an ordinary Mid-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator. If he could increase it by another twenty percent on top of that, it would be nearly as strong as a Late-stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator’s.

’There’s a good chance I could successfully Soul Search Yan Liming.’

He nodded. "I’d like to buy this secret manual. I hope you can make it happen, Fairy."

Yu Menghan readily agreed to Li Ping’s request. "It’s a trivial matter. No problem."

...

A month later, Xiong Pohai, Xu Guikai, Lin Yue, and the other cultivators from Dai Sangyu’s faction had already departed for the Yan Kingdom with the cultivators from Purple Cloud Valley.

Yu Menghan, meanwhile, came to Immortal Peach Mountain once again.

After the treatment was finished, she took a purple Jade Scroll from her Storage Bag and placed it on the table. "Fellow Daoist Li, this is the cultivation technique you needed for strengthening Divine Sense."

"Oh?"

As he spoke, Li Ping picked up the Jade Scroll, immersed his Divine Sense in it, and began to read it carefully.

After a good while, he put down the Jade Scroll, a smile already on his face. "This is exactly what I need. Thank you, Fairy Yu. How many Spirit Stones will it be?"

Living up to her reputation as a fragrant, wealthy woman, Yu Menghan simply gave a magnanimous wave of her hand when Li Ping asked the price. "Consider it a gift from your little sister to you, Fellow Daoist Li."

Since he could save a sum of Spirit Stones, Li Ping was more than happy to oblige. He followed his heart and put the Jade Scroll away.

After Yu Menghan left, he sat alone in the pavilion, picked up the Jade Scroll again, and began to study it in detail.

This Secret Technique from the Celestial Skill Sect for strengthening Divine Sense was called the "Ten Thousand Spirits Divine Communication Skill," and it was specifically designed for controlling puppets.

After cultivating it, not only could a cultivator enhance their own Divine Sense, but they could also gain the ability of Divine Split.

Once successfully cultivated, a cultivator could multitask with ease, simultaneously controlling multiple puppets in battle without worrying about becoming flustered.

Unfortunately, just as Yu Menghan had said, this "Ten Thousand Spirits Divine Communication Skill" was only the first-level remnant. Not only could it increase Divine Sense by a mere twenty percent, but it also only allowed for the creation of three Divine Thoughts via Divine Thought Transformation.

In other words, even if he successfully cultivated the first level of the technique, he could control a maximum of three puppets in battle.

However, the general outline of the "Ten Thousand Spirits Divine Communication Skill" mentioned that this Secret Technique for strengthening Divine Sense actually had five levels in total.

If one could master all five levels of the Secret Technique, not only would their Divine Sense strength double from its original base, but they could also split off one hundred and eight Divine Thoughts, allowing them to control one hundred and eight puppets simultaneously in battle.

’If I get the chance in the future, I must find a way to get my hands on the remaining four levels of the technique,’ Li Ping thought to himself.

Returning to his training room, he temporarily set aside his own cultivation and began to practice the "Ten Thousand Spirits Divine Communication Skill."

His Divine Sense was already about fifty percent stronger than other cultivators at his level, so practicing the "Ten Thousand Spirits Divine Communication Skill" with his already powerful Divine Sense was like a fish in water.

...

「Donghua Mountain, Jixia City.」

Xiao Changkong’s brow was tightly furrowed as he discussed matters with his two junior brothers.

One of his junior brothers was Yan Changqiu, who had the appearance of a hale and hearty old man. The other was a young-looking cultivator in a flowing cyan robe, none other than Qiu Changfeng, the other Late-stage Core Formation Cultivator of the Academy Palace.

Whatever could make the three de facto leaders of the Academy Palace treat it with such gravity was certainly no small matter.

In fact, they were discussing the ’Dai Sangyu Murders Her Master’ message that Huang Yunzi had sent not long ago.

In just a few short days, the Daoist Guardian Alliance had lost three Core Formation Level combatants. This was an absolutely shocking development.

Qiu Changfeng spoke up, puzzled. "Senior Brother Xiao, Senior Brother Yan, you have both been to Fenglan Immortal City. What are your thoughts on this matter?"

Yan Changqiu sighed. "I did indeed spend some time with City Lord Bai. However, her disciple was only a Foundation Establishment Cultivator at the time. She was also a female cultivator, and with the propriety between men and women, I didn’t pay her much mind."

Xiao Changkong nodded slightly. "City Lord Bai and I were friends for many years. Her disposition was indeed on the softer side, and she was often disorganized and lacked a methodical approach. If she was truly ambushed by a disciple she trusted, it wouldn’t be surprising if she couldn’t react in time."

"However..." He shook his head again. "That new Core Formation disciple of hers, while arrogant and straightforward, didn’t seem like someone who would go so far as to collude with Demon Cultivators, in my opinion."

Qiu Changfeng frowned. "In that case, could Huang Yunzi’s message contain false statements? Perhaps there’s a hidden story behind the deaths of City Lord Bai and her disciple?"

"It’s hard to say. As the saying goes, ’you can know a person’s face, but not their heart.’ My judgment of character isn’t a hundred percent accurate either." Xiao Changkong placed the black ring in his hand down on the table with a CLACK.

He spoke calmly, "This ring, forged from Soul Nourishing Wood, does indeed contain the aura of a Demon Cultivator. Furthermore, the aura is extremely pure; it must have been left by a high-tier Demon Cultivator who practiced the ’Nine Nether Soul Devouring Skill.’ Only core disciples of the Nine Nether Sect can practice this technique. Even if Huang Yunzi wanted to fake it, he couldn’t have made it this realistic."

"The ’Nine Nether Soul Devouring Skill’..." Yan Changqiu and Qiu Changfeng both nodded, clearly having heard of this infamous cultivation technique.

Qiu Changfeng asked, "Then how should we handle this matter?"

Xiao Changkong shook his head helplessly. "Under normal circumstances, we could simply dispatch a Core Formation Cultivator to investigate the truth. But right now, the four major sects of the Demon Dao are launching a full-scale invasion, and the Qi Kingdom is facing the main Demon Cultivator army. Core Formation Cultivators cannot easily leave Jixia... We will shelve this matter for now and refrain from making a final judgment. We’ll find a way to investigate it clearly in the future and give Fellow Daoist Bai the justice she deserves."

Despite his words, all three of them knew the truth.

Investigating a case is always easiest right after it happens, on the scene. Once some time has passed and the evidence has been erased, it becomes much more difficult to figure out the specifics.

It could only be said that this incident came at a very bad time.

After all, no one could say for certain how long this protracted war between the Righteous and Demon factions would last.

After discussing the matter of Fenglan Master and her disciple, the three of them began to strategize for the war against the four Demon Dao sects.

"There’s a high probability that the Yuan Kingdom cannot be held," Xiao Changkong said, his brows knitting together. "I have decided to withdraw all cultivators from the Yuan Kingdom back to the Qi Kingdom. This time, we will make the Qi Kingdom the main battlefield!"

Qiu Changfeng and Yan Changqiu had no objections to his decision.

Previously, the Daoist Guardian Alliance had been able to hold a stalemate against the four Demon Dao sects in the Yuan Kingdom mainly because of support from the cultivation sects of the Central and Western Realms.

But now, the cultivators from the Central and Western Realms had all gone north to support the Yan and Liang Kingdoms.

That left their forces here looking rather thin and weak, so they had no choice but to cede the Yuan Kingdom.

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