âI have to perform Spirit Awakening on tens of thousands of them in a year?â
âIf I really grind myself to the bone, I could probably pull it off, right? I think so? But thatâs even more ridiculous than making tens of thousands of Spirit Nurturing Beads. Youâd have to be insane to do that. Itâs a death wish. Even being a reincarnated old monster wouldnât save me.â
âA person capable of that could only be a High-Tier Spirit Nurturer, but they belong to the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land. If one of them really did reincarnate, why be so secretive? Why come to the Celestial Spirit Sect to lay low and develop?â
âAmong the current Three Great Holy Lands, while the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land is the youngest, Spirit Mountain is the one bringing up the rear.â
Gan Zili looked startled for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile. "My apologies, I didnât explain clearly, leading to a misunderstanding, Junior Brother.
"The Spiritual Wisdom of a Flower Demon Elf is not easily born. It requires the Flower Sea to be extremely pure, so they are often cultivated in Secret Realms to prevent contamination.
"Even so, the rate of normal, spontaneous Spirit Awakening doesnât exceed a quarter.
"And because the Cyan Wood Secret Realm was contaminated, although this batch of the Flower Sea has been nurtured for several hundred years, the results are expected to be poor.
"So the Sect wants us to help them achieve Spirit Awakening as much as possible.
"The minimum requirement is one hundred, which comes down to twenty-five each.
"So, youâre not required to perform Spirit Awakening on every single Flower Wood, Junior Brother. Instead, you should select some with ample Spiritualityâthose most likely to develop Spiritual Wisdomâand use your Spirit Nurturing Technique to help them achieve it.
"To put it plainly, we just need to go into this so-called âstillbornâ Flower Sea, each pick twenty-something strong ones, and bring them to life.
"Spread out over a year, this task isnât arduous. It just involves a larger element of luck.
"After all, we are all Secret Level Spirit Nurturers, still at the stage of performing Spirit Awakening for Demon Beasts. Plant Spirit Awakening is something for the Law Level.
"However, Flower Demon Flower Wood, even the âstillbornâ ones, arenât considered entirely plants, so itâs not too difficult a task."
Hearing this, Zhang Deming nodded. He now understood the reason.
Gan Zili added, "The Flower Sea has already been sealed off. You know the location, Junior Brother, so you can go in to nurture them whenever you wish.
"There are no other mission orders assigned for this year, so you are completely free to arrange your own schedule for the nurturing and Spirit Awakening.
"With that said, is there anything else you donât understand, Junior Brother?"
Zhang Deming shook his head. "No."
Gan Zili then gave a few more instructions before announcing that their discussion was concluded.
Zhang Deming stood up, left, and walked to the edge of the waterfall, leaping straight off.
The Light Wings on his back vibrated, and Zhang Deming flew back to the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower.
The three of them watched Zhang Demingâs departing figure. Gan Zili frowned slightly and said, "There are only a handful of Tier Three Spirit Nurturers with Mastery who havenât sold themselves to the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land.
"And of those who donât belong to any power, I havenât heard of any being forced to reincarnate.
"Senior Brother, should we investigate?"
Yue Mengsheng shook his head. "Thereâs no need. With a Spirit Nurturing Technique like that, he has no reason to come to our Sect to scheme anything.
"If he made a name for himself, which of the Four-Nine Upper Sects wouldnât be scrambling to recruit him?
"Even if he went to the Spirit Nurturing Holy Land, as long as he was willing to sign a bit of a binding contract, he could secure a decent position.
"Add to that the fact that heâs clearly living in seclusion and avoiding the Spirit Mountain Holy Land, we can be almost certain he has no significant background. Regardless of his previous identity, thereâs no need to investigate.
"He was originally a Loose Cultivator, not someone nurtured by a sect, so he has no deep emotional ties.
"If you investigate and arenât discovered, fine. But if you are, you might alienate him. He could even leave for another sect. Since thatâs the case, why bother!"
Gan Zili nodded. "Alright. I just thought that someone with such a Spirit Nurturing Technique couldnât possibly be a nobody."
·········
Starting the next day, Zhang Deming continued to diligently idle, simultaneously cramming all sorts of general knowledge and information about the Celestial Spirit Sect.
For nearly half a month, Zhang Deming didnât go to the Flower Sea. He spent the entire time idling and absorbing knowledge.
After a period of idling with Spirit Crystals in his Three-Star High-Grade Cave Mansion, Zhang Deming felt that he was on the verge of a breakthrough for his Tai Chi One Life.
On this day, Zhang Deming didnât go to the information office. Instead, he stayed obediently in the Cultivation Room of the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower, peacefully idling.
When noon arrived, Zhang Demingâs expression flickered, and the script panel appeared before his eyes.
Cultivation Technique: Turtle Water Defense Array Skill (Tier Five)
Cultivation: Tai Chi Lv1 (300,000/300,000)
Skills: Spirit Nurturing Summoning Skill Lv3 (0/50), Jade Demon Blood-Sucking Vine Lv3 (0/50), Enhancement Skill Lv3 (0/500), Oratory Word Spirit Lv2 (0/10), Hidden Breath Technique Lv2 (0/10)
Spiritual Power Recovery: 100 Spiritual Power / 3 minutes
Experience Growth: 10 Experience / 3 minutes
âInitially, for my Tai Chi One Life breakthrough, I planned to choose the Jade Demon Blood-Sucking Vine as my Skill Treeâs branch rune. Thatâs why I fused it with the Summoning-class Flower Demon Vine Technique.â
âBut after my Enhancement Skill reached Tier Three, I changed my mind.â
âThis was because when the Spirit Nurturing Summoning Skill was my Rune Core, the Magic Enhancement gained from advancing simply increased its level.â
âOnly the fusion of multiple techniques actually strengthens a skillâs foundation.â
âSo, if condensing the branch rune for the Tai Chi One Life breakthrough worked the same way, choosing Enhancement Skill would obviously be better.â
After a moment of hesitation, Zhang Deming took a deep breath and finally made his decision.
The rune for the Spirit Nurturing Summoning Skill appeared between his eyebrows. Zhang Deming opened his mouth, and a glowing ball of runes for the Enhancement Skill was spat out.
Immediately, Spiritual Power surged through his body, rushing towards the Enhancement Skillâs Rune Ball.
Because it was a Mastery Rune Ball, and was also currently active, this minor stage breakthrough should have been somewhat difficult. For Zhang Deming, however, it seemed exceptionally simple.
The Rune Ball trembled a few times before shattering completely.
It transformed into a special â+â shaped rune in front of him and once again imprinted itself between his eyebrows.
The Spirit Nurturing Master rune between his eyebrows began to rapidly complete itself. A white ball of light slowly rose above Zhang Demingâs head, spinning gently.
When the transformation of the Rune Core between his eyebrows was complete, the ball of light above his head also finished forming.
At that moment, Zhang Demingâs whole body shuddered. The Spiritual Power in his Dantian flowed back into his body, disappearing into his flesh.
When his Dantian was completely empty, after his body had absorbed all the Spiritual Power, a new wisp of Spiritual Power was born from within.
With this wisp of Spiritual Power, Zhang Demingâs aura began to grow rapidly.
In an instant, he broke through Tai Chi One Life and reached the Tai Chi Second Life stage.
A not-so-large wave of Spiritual Power Sea Absorption swept out from the Cultivation Room. Because it was a Three-Star High-Grade Spirit Vein, it could barely satisfy even a Three Talents Cultivator, let alone a Tai Chi Cultivator.
Therefore, the disturbance wasnât significant. There was only a slight fluctuation, and the absorption reached saturation before it could even spread beyond the Flying Spring Waterfall Towerâs Array Space.
On the entire Spirit Nurturing Peak, only Yang Guangfu of Guardian Cliff frowned slightly. He stepped out of his room and looked towards the Flying Spring Waterfall Tower.
Under the gaze of his spiritual eyes, he saw the swirling Spiritual Power within the tower.
âWhat is this?â
âA breakthrough?â
âThe disturbance is too small. How seamless must the breakthrough be, and how perfect the rune, to require such a small amount of supplemental Spiritual Power?â
âOr is Senior Brother Zhang refining something?â
Yang Guangfu watched as the spiritual vortex slowly shrank. He hesitated for a moment but ultimately chose not to enter, returning to his room to continue his cultivation.
···········
After completing his breakthrough, Zhang Deming felt his script running rapidly, his empty Dantian quickly filling up. He paid it no further mind.
Looking at the scriptâs information, Zhang Demingâs face lit up with joy.
········
Skills: Enhancement Skill Lv3 (50/500), Spirit Nurturing Summoning Skill Lv3 (5/50)
········
âAs expected, the enhancement to a skill from advancing isnât a fundamental improvement, but a level-based one.â
âI encountered this once before with the Spirit Nurturing Technique, and this advancement has confirmed it.â
âGood thing I chose the Enhancement Skill. If I had picked the Jade Demon Blood-Sucking Vine first, it would have been impossible to gain fifty points of skill experience.â
âAfter all, that would have been equivalent to a full upgrade. A breakthrough for the Tai Chi One Life stage couldnât possibly have such an exaggerated effect.â
âBut now, my advancement has essentially earned me fifty points of Qi Fortune, a bountiful harvest indeed.â