Chapter 7 Soul Manipulation
Zhong Yue went to the Valley of Remedy and retrieve his ten monthly Yuling Pellets. He then visited the manager of the upper house to move into his own courtyard.
“This courtyard is divided into three parts. The back part of the courtyard is the place where you rest, the center is the hall for meetings and it comes with a training room that is meant for cultivation, and lastly, the front part is the place where the servants stay.”
The manager brought Zhong Yue to have a view of this courtyard and said with a smile, “Some of the kids from rich families usually brought their own servants to serve them so they could have more time to spend on their cultivation. This is the token of the entire courtyard and it has an incredible effect. Just place it in the notch over there and it would trigger the totem pillar in the courtyard and form a barrier that blocks off any outsiders. To remove the barrier, simply take the token out of the notch will do. By the way, you should nourish the token with your soul and psyche in order to become the owner of it so as to restrict others from using it.”
Zhong Yue was happy about this function of the token as it was really helpful. Daily cultivation required great focus and peace as things could easily turn sour when cultivation was interrupted abruptly. One could suffer heavy injuries or even death in the worst case scenario.
With this token, the others would not be able to enter the courtyard without permission, thereby preventing the aforementioned situation from transpiring.
Besides, one could also safely place their valuables in the courtyard without any worries about them being stolen.
“May I ask... How do the upper house disciples usually cultivate?” asked Zhong Yue.
The manager laughed and said, “Every disciple that manages to get into the upper house will be reported to the Qi Practitioners of the Swords Gate. Then the Qi Practitioners will come down themselves and select their ideal disciples to teach them techniques and guide them in cultivation. Usually, every Qi Practitioner will have ten to twenty upper house disciples at once, because if one of their disciples become a Qi Practitioners, they will share the honor as well. Don’t worry too much, my junior martial brother. As long as you’ve passed the test of Cloudless Hall, you will be chosen by one of the Qi Practitioners in no time.”
“I see...” said the relaxed Zhong Yue.
After the manager left, Zhong Yue immediately placed the token into the notch located on the door. The totem god pillar vibrated strongly and let out a noise before forming a barrier that sealed the entire courtyard. The basket was then put on the ground carefully by Zhong Yue and the weathered bronze lamp was taken out as well. The lights of the lamp appeared to be fading anytime soon and Xin Huo remained asleep.
How long is Xin Huo going to be asleep?
Then, he took out a small and attractive-looking jade bottle. When he removed the stopper, and a light and fragrant medicinal incense could be smelled almost instantly. Lying at the bottom of the bottle were ten pellets about the size of a soybean; these pellets were the Yuling Pellets.
In the past, he had to risk his life and pour in immense amounts of effort to gather herbs in the mountains to concoct his own pellets. Not only that, the success rate of making his own pellets cannot be guaranteed as well.
But now, ten pellets were distributed to him after he became an upper house disciple. Moreover, he would be receiving ten pellets a month! This was indeed an incredible boon for Zhong Yue.
One Yuling Pellet was capable of granting a normal person incredible speed and strength and would allow them to be able to survive without any food and water for almost half a month. Even for the Swords Gate’s outer disciples, they could cultivate for two or three days without any rest with just one Yuling Pellet!
Zhong Yue consumed one Yuling Pellet; immediately, he could feel that the strong medicinal essence quickly turned into pure energy that gushed throughout his body; such a sensation was very nice. If his body was like a barren and dried land, then the medicinal efficacy of the Yuling Pellet would be akin to nourishing currents of flowing water. His muscles quickly reverted back to their original state; the feeling was indeed intriguing.
Not long after, the now skinny Zhong Yue – due to the cultivation of【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】– had returned back to his original state where he was very fit and muscular.
He also felt that his psyche and soul had been replenished by the pellet he consumed. All of these made him feel very comfortable.
Yuling Pellets are indeed amazing. They said those from the large tribes get to consume such pellets daily, no wonder they could improve so fast! I should take this chance to cultivate the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】right now and see if I can improve even further!
Zhong Yue started visualizing the【Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】; in his psyche ocean, the Sui Sovereign, Flame Order Palace and Fire Tree appeared slowly. At the same time, his psyche was rapidly depleting, but due to the Yuling Pellet he had consumed, the depleted psyche was also continuously regenerating.
Time passed without him knowing, the medicinal efficacy of the Yuling Pellet was fully used, he then consumed another pellet and continued on cultivating. His psyche ocean was expanding and his soul was getting stronger!
After another brief moment, the pellet’s efficacy was completely depleted again and Zhong Yue consumed the third pellet.
As the pellets, one after another, were being consumed, he slowly sank into the wonder of cultivating imaginary arts. For the first time in his life, he felt so much excitement and hope instead of boredom in cultivating.
Eh? There are no more Yuling Pellets?
Zhong Yue’s cultivation halted as he had used up all the ten Yuling Pellets and he looked, shocked, at the empty bottle. Ordinary upper house disciples needed at least one month to be able to fully consume the ten Yuling Pellets, but he had unconsciously used up all ten of them during his cultivation this time.
It has only been four days since I received the ten pellets. To think that I used up all of them in four days…
Zhong Yue suddenly felt an extreme headache due to this quagmire, it seemed like cultivating the【Sui Sovereign Flame Order Palace Visualization Art】was akin to a massive black hole. Without the appropriate wealth to support it, he would not be able to continue his cultivation.
No wonder Xin Huo said I should eat only rare herbs and precious pellets, I will die of starvation if I only eat whole grains in the future.
Zhong Yue inhaled deeply, got up and walked out of the training room. He went to the backyard garden and slowly stretched his body and muscles. Upon feeling the immense strength in his body, he said in his heart, “Ten Yuling Pellets and four days of continuous cultivation... I wonder if I can perform soul manipulation now?”
He stimulated his psyche as his soul flew out of his body and instantly bound onto a stone pier that weighed approximately one hundred and ten kilos
Hu——
The stone pier suddenly flew up and stopped in mid-air in front of Zhong Yue. His soul manipulated the stone and as his soul flew upwards, the stone followed as well. This was also one of the tricks used by the upper house disciples in combat. The stronger the soul, the heavier the items the soul could lift.
In theory, if the soul was strong enough, one could lift a mountain and fly it around, or it could even be used to eradicate an entire city!
However, this was just the theory of it.
Among the upper house disciples, it would already be considered good if one could lift up anything that was a thousand kilograms. Besides, manipulating heavy items and using them as a form of attack was one of the clumsiest ways to fight. Usually, the upper house disciples would control strong weapons and engrave various totem carvings on the weapons. Therefore, as soon as one’s soul manipulated the weapon, one could control the weapon to maneuver it with incredible mobility and with sharp and immense speed!
Hu-hu-hu——
In the garden, the soul manipulated stone flew up and down swiftly. Suddenly, Zhong Yue lost control of it and it slammed into the ornamental rock mountain. Shockingly, the rock mountain was smashed in half, one of the halves fell into the water!
Swords Gate have their own soul techniques to control weapons, they are all unique and have quintessences of their own. Unlike my cumbersome method that could easily lose control like just now. Only by practicing such techniques will I be able to unleash its full potential.
He stood there and pondered for a moment and thought inwardly, In order to obtain such techniques, I have to be taught by someone. The house manager said there will be Qi Practitioners who will come to take in disciples and teach them, but why has no one come to see me yet?
He didn’t think too much and he activated the【Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art】. As his psyche was stimulated, a dragon claw was formed and it eventually became an entire Jiao Dragon, coiling around Zhong Yue’s body.
After that, a ferocious Jiao Dragon head slowly rose up from his back and stared cruelly ahead, its two front claws grabbed onto Zhong Yue’s shoulders.
Instantly, he felt an immense strength surging into his arms.
The hind claw of the Jiao Dragon clung onto Zhong Yue’s legs, making him feel the explosive force and speed of a dragon.
He visually measured his arms and legs in disbelief. The Jiao Dragon that wound around his body, arms and legs felt so real, the body of the dragon even slithered around slowly and the dragon whiskers hung down from its head that was dangling in front of Zhong Yue.
He felt like he is really being coiled by a ferocious dragon; its power seemingly combining with his own!
“Cultivating the【Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art】to such a level ..., perhaps I have reached its highest level already?” mumbled Zhong Yue.
“You still have a long way to go.”
Suddenly, Xin Huo’s voice was heard and Zhong Yue immediately felt extremely happy. A flame spark floated out from the lamp placed in the training room. The flame then turned into small arms and legs with a red-haired head that was out of proportion. It was Xin Huo!
“Your【Jiao Dragon Winding Body Totem Art】is still weak. You only have the skin of the Jiao Dragon instead of the inner body or even the spirit of the Jiao Dragon.”
Xin Huo jumped onto Zhong Yue and walked into the dragon’s mouth and around all of the Jiao Dragon’s body and said, “Look at this, there is no flesh, veins or internal organs. With only what you have now, you would only be able to unleash a tiny portion of the Jiao Dragon's true strength. Your totem will also not emit the aura of a Jiao Dragon, which is why you are still far from mastering this technique. To reach the maximum limit of this technique, you must capture a Jiao Dragon alive. Then, you have to dissect it and research its muscles, veins, bones and the internal organ structures along with the spirituality of the Jiao Dragon.”
Zhong Yue laughed and said, “If I could really capture a living Jiao Dragon, would I still even need to cultivate this technique?”
“Well, that’s true.”
Xin Huo gave it a thought and agreed, “However, if you are the pure-blood descendant of the Fuxi celestial race, with just emitting your aura you could make the Jiao Dragons bow before you for your research, not to mention capturing them... Huh? The aura of the Fuxi celestial race ... and there’s so many of them! Go, go, go! Bring me out quickly!”
Zhong Yue dispersed his psyche and Xin Huo quickly dived into his psyche ocean and said rushingly, “If I still can’t find a pure-blood descendant to pass down the heritage of Xin Huo, I’m afraid that I will soon be extinguished forever. There are so many people here, maybe I can find a pure-blood descendant!”
Zhong Yue brought him out of the courtyard and many upper house disciples could be seen going to the upper house’s Knowledge Teaching Pavilion, maybe there are some Qi Practitioners who came down to impart knowledge to the disciples.
Why was there still no one who came to teach me? Zhong Yue could only feel even more depressed as he saw some of the outer disciples that had passed the test at the same time as him heading to the pavilion.
Xin Huo looked outside through the eyes of Zhong Yue and said, “Not a pure-blood, not a pure-blood, not a pure-blood … What happened to the Fuxi celestial race? There’s not even a single pure-blood among these thousands of people and they are even far worse than you! Let’s go to that side, there appears to be quite a lot of people there, maybe I will find a pure-blood!”
Zhong Yue also thought of going to the pavilion and asked the person in charge of the matter of there being no Qi Practitioner coming to teach him. When he got close to the pavilion, two rays of light flew across and two totem pillars landed at the front and back of Zhong Yue!
As soon as the totem pillars landed, a force suddenly impacted upon Zhong Yue, nailing him to the spot!
“Zhong Shan Clan, Zhong Yue? Seems like you grew fatter, I almost couldn't recognize you.”
An upper house disciple then walked forward and after measuring Zhong Yue, he suddenly raised his leg and cruelly swung towards Zhong Yue’s knees. He laughed and said, “Junior Martial Brother Zhong Yue, although we have yet to meet and there is no enmity between us, I am still doing this as you have mocked my teacher’s face. You brought this upon yourself! By the way, my teacher’s first name is Tian. For that, I would have to ask you to kneel outside of the pavilion for a couple of hours!”