Chapter 19: Taking Shape

Half an hour later.

Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Cheng Buzheng's eyes suddenly snapped open, a flash of crystalline light streaking through them as he sensed that his magic power had returned to its optimal state. His gaze naturally swept across the room.

He looked at the nine spirit stones before him; two of them had already turned into ordinary stones—the two that had been absorbed by the Little Jade Disc.

Now, his escape technique was mastered, but he wondered if the two spirit stones could allow him to take it a step further.

This was a matter of life and death. Having read numerous travelogues of cultivators today, he had discovered that the Qi Refining stage was an extremely dangerous period. Most evil cultivators were at the Qi Refining stage, and there were also many low-level cultivators looking for easy gains without labor.

This resulted in the highest probability of accidents occurring when Qi Refining cultivators ventured out. He also noticed that very few cultivators used Earth Escape techniques to travel.

After all, traveling via Earth Escape was like being a mole; it lacked the elegance of flying on a tool.

However, most Qi Refining cultivators who were slain were those flying on tools, which suggested that using Earth Escape to travel was a much safer method.

As for exactly how many feet deep he should sink while using Earth Escape to avoid attracting attention, he would need to deliberate carefully. After all, different levels of cultivation meant different ranges of divine sense detection.

To ensure the smooth progress of his grand quest for immortality, having made his decision, he acted immediately. Connecting his will to the Little Jade Disc, he wrapped his divine sense around the two spirit stones.

Deep within his sea of consciousness, the patterns on the Little Jade Disc glowed faintly.

In an instant, the panel floating above the disc changed.

Master of the Heavenly Jade Disc: Cheng Buzheng Realm: Qi Refining Layer One Cultivation Method: Tier 1 Mid-grade (Common) - Red Fire Manual (Beginner) Spells: Tier 1 Low-grade (Common) - Amethyst Carving (Not Started), Tier 1 Low-grade (Premium) - Earth Escape Technique (Consummate) Spiritual Power Value: 2

The Spiritual Power Value had now become two, and the two spirit stones wrapped in his divine sense had, like the previous two, turned into ordinary stones.

Now, four ordinary stones lay quietly before him.

Cheng Buzheng did not care about the stones turning into pebbles; his entire mind was focused on the panel.

With a heart full of trepidation, he watched the panel above the disc. The tiny figure formed from his three-colored soul reached out a finger and gently pressed upon "Earth Escape Technique."

Suddenly, the patterns on the Little Jade Disc flashed faintly and then went out, but the Spiritual Power Value on the panel did not change in the slightest.

Facing this result, he had somewhat expected it, but he still felt quite disappointed.

After pondering for a moment, he thought, "The remaining five spirit stones cannot be used like this. I need spirit stones to buy Bigu Pills, spirit stones to buy cultivation-enhancing pills, and spirit stones to buy spiritual materials. There are simply too many things that require spirit stones. Since two points of Spiritual Power cannot advance the Earth Escape Technique, I shouldn't let them sit idle. It would be a waste. Better to... use them on Amethyst Carving."

Although the spell "Amethyst Carving" was powerful, it was extremely difficult to practice. Almost no Qi Refining cultivators in sects knew this spell.

To learn it, one not only had to be familiar with spiritual runes but also had to condense thousands of them within a short period. The difficulty of cultivation was evident.

However, once mastered, it was a rare and powerful spell.

Subsequently, Cheng Buzheng's gaze fell upon "Amethyst Carving" on the panel. Once he learned this, his repertoire of spells would be complete—covering attack, defense, control, and escape, leaving him with no weaknesses.

"At the same time, I can take the next step: accepting tasks, accumulating spirit stones, and developing in silence. That is also a good way! Although it deviates slightly from my original plan and the sequence is different, the essence remains the same."

At this thought, Cheng Buzheng no longer hesitated.

As all the memories regarding "Amethyst Carving" surged, he immediately extracted the complete memory of the spell and condensed it into the form of a seed.

Then, he placed it directly into the central hollow of the Little Jade Disc. The tiny figure formed from his three-colored soul floated above the disc, extended its index finger, and gently pressed upon the "Amethyst Carving" spell on the panel.

Instantly, the Spiritual Power Value on the panel dropped to zero, while the patterns on the Little Jade Disc below glowed faintly. Waves of white light entwined around the seed within the hollow.

Wrapped in white light and guided by the Little Jade Disc's deduction, the white light slowly faded, eventually forming a purple bead.

This purple bead was the same size as the bead formed by the Earth Escape Technique, emitting a misty purple glow. One could faintly see countless purple characters drifting and wandering inside the bead.

Cheng Buzheng took one look and, without hesitation, swallowed it.

Immediately, purple light radiated from his soul. At this moment, his entire soul shone with purple light like a deity, as if a god had descended into the mortal realm.

Countless streaks of purple light enveloped his soul, as if a god were being nurtured, about to be born into the world to save humanity.

His consciousness resided in a vast, white world, where he practiced "Amethyst Carving" day and night without pause. From being clumsy at the start to becoming quite proficient, an unknown number of seasons passed.

Days and nights cycled, years passed one after another. After an unknown amount of time—perhaps an instant, perhaps ten thousand years, as time had lost all meaning—he finally mastered the technique to the stage of Consummation.

In the outside world, Cheng Buzheng, who was in a state of comprehension, practiced the spell continuously along with his mind. He went from being clumsy to the beginner stage, where he could cast it successfully in an instant; from beginner to consummate, he mastered it completely in the blink of an eye.

As he reached the stage of Consummation, Cheng Buzheng abruptly opened his eyes.

Magic power surged within his dantian. Guided by his will, a small carving began to form bit by bit. This small carving was composed of heavy-textured red clouds.

Cheng Buzheng surged his magic power, and the carving grew larger and larger until it was the size of a millstone. This was the limit of the spell; it could not grow any larger, so he turned to refining the details.

The basic shape of the carving was formed, presenting a circle within a circle. After a moment of thought, Cheng Buzheng decided to add blade-like, right-angled triangular fins around the outer circle, covering the outer ring with nine full rows.

This way, when the Amethyst Carving attacked, it would not only be faster but would also possess powerful cutting capabilities.

When supported by magic power, the frantically spinning Amethyst Carving would undoubtedly be a devastating weapon.

Since the Amethyst Carving was shaped by magic power and the first step was complete, Cheng Buzheng saw that he could proceed to the second step.

With a slight movement of his divine sense, countless threads of divine sense dispersed like tiny tadpoles swimming to find their respective nests. Everything happened naturally, as if he had done it countless times before.

In the blink of an eye, the countless threads of divine sense imprinted themselves onto the Amethyst Carving. Suddenly, dense patterns condensed within the carving, crisscrossing like the veins of the object.

These patterns were the spiritual runes, which were the core of this special spell.

This was a special spell—half spell, half tool-refining technique, combining the essence of both.

Normally, the next step would be to absorb the essence of spiritual objects to fully stabilize the spell. Cheng Buzheng thought for a moment, and with a thought, he imprinted the hovering Amethyst Carving onto the back of his right hand.

The back of his right hand now displayed an inner circle and an outer circle filled with triangular blade-like carvings. With another thought, the pattern vanished.

Cheng Buzheng sank his consciousness into his sea of consciousness to check the panel.

Master of the Heavenly Jade Disc: Cheng Buzheng Realm: Qi Refining Layer One Cultivation Method: Tier 1 Mid-grade (Common) - Red Fire Manual (Beginner) Spells: Tier 1 Low-grade (Premium) - Amethyst Carving (Consummate), Tier 1 Low-grade (Premium) - Earth Escape Technique (Consummate) Spiritual Power Value: 0

As expected, after the deduction, the quality of the Amethyst Carving spell had also been promoted. Seeing the "Common" quality of the Red Fire Manual, a somewhat immature thought crossed Cheng Buzheng's mind.

Thinking of the fact that he only had five spirit stones left, he suppressed the thought and put away the remaining five stones on the bed.

Then, closing his eyes slightly, Cheng Buzheng began another night of cultivation—his daily mandatory task.

The night passed in silence.

***

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(End of Chapter)