Chapter 9: Entering Spiritual Insight
Several months passed in a flash.
Perhaps because the Post-Heaven Realm was too insignificant for immortals, Daoist Ziyang didn’t appear often. Most of the time, it was the maids who guided Luo Xue and the others in their cultivation.
The months of cultivation had mostly yielded results. Li Zining, who had the fastest progress among the five girls, was on the verge of stepping into the Spiritual Insight stage.
Yu Yiling and Huang Xinya followed closely behind. At the peak of Bright Eyes, their gazes alone could kill slightly weaker ordinary people.
In the mortal world, martial artists who could cultivate to Bright Eyes were powerful enough to dominate a region.
Once they reached Spiritual Insight, they would truly possess the qualifications to step into the realm of Martial Arts Grandmaster.
In just a few months, these little girls had gone from powerless young children to a realm that mortal martial artists spent their entire lives striving to reach.
Besides the blessed environment of Mount Ziyang and the immortal cultivation techniques personally compiled by Daoist Ziyang, their extraordinary aptitude was the key.
Even Su Yiyao, with her half-hearted cultivation, had already entered the Sensitive Nose stage. The two traffickers who had kidnapped them were around this level, though actual combat prowess was a different matter.
Unfortunately, Luo Xue remained the exception.
“…It really is almost none.”
Luo Xue looked at Su Yiyao, immersed in meditative cultivation beside her, and sighed heavily.
This wasn’t Luo Xue’s fault. Most ordinary people, even with immortal techniques and guidance, might need to dedicate decades to their studies.
Only when they achieved sudden enlightenment could they truly embark on the path of immortality.
With that much time, it would be better to temper their bodies day and night like mortal martial artists; the chances of reaching the Innate Realm would be higher.
The mediocrity of most mortals wasn’t due to a lack of opportunity, but rather that opportunities wouldn’t help them anyway.
Although Luo Xue’s system panel did have a “Cultivation Aptitude” stat where she could allocate survival points, the biggest problem was that Cultivation Aptitude, unlike Yin Poison Resistance, couldn’t be freely allocated points. Instead, it required a one-time allocation of a certain number of survival points to advance to the next stage.
Luo Xue’s current aptitude was “Almost None.” The next stage was “Barely There,” requiring a total of 100 survival points.
All the points Luo Xue possessed added up to less than 100. The initial 10 points, plus the 30 points from completing a dangerous task, had all been invested in Yin Poison Resistance.
Because as time went on, the “Yin Breath Poison” had gradually seeped into Luo Xue’s internal organs.
However, after her Yin Poison Resistance reached 40, Luo Xue was certain that even if she swallowed the Yin Breath Poison directly, it wouldn’t cause her much harm. It seemed she had reached a certain threshold.
But strangely, Daoist Ziyang didn’t seem to mind Luo Xue’s inability to cultivate. On the contrary, he seemed increasingly interested.
Every time he appeared, Daoist Ziyang continued to show concern for Luo Xue, much to the resentment and jealousy of Li Zining and the other two.
They were cultivating so diligently, wasn’t it to gain more favor from Daoist Ziyang!
They couldn’t understand why Master was so concerned about an ugly freak…
Luo Xue couldn’t understand either, but she could vaguely guess part of the truth.
“It must be because of my inexplicable poison resistance…”
In reality, Luo Xue was in the most dangerous position among them.
Because she didn’t know what Daoist Ziyang wanted from her. The other girls would likely only face mortal danger when their cultivation reached a certain stage, triggering Daoist Ziyang’s scheme.
As for Luo Xue…
Perhaps it would be when Daoist Ziyang lost interest.
However, recently, Daoist Ziyang seemed to have become more impatient. Each time he appeared, he was very concerned about their cultivation progress and had even implicitly taken his anger out on Su Yiyao several times, blaming her for cultivating too slowly.
Thinking of this, Luo Xue sighed softly again.
Why did it feel like no matter where she went, her fate was always a bit tragic…
“Let’s keep trying.”
Luo Xue patted her cheeks, trying to cheer herself up, and looked at the cyan jade slip in her hand.
This was another basic cultivation technique, the “Breathing Technique,” personally bestowed upon Luo Xue by Daoist Ziyang later. It was said to be easier to learn than the “Ziyang Technique” that Su Yiyao and the others were cultivating, but its upper limit was lower.
If the Ziyang Technique could smoothly lead one to the first stage of immortality, the Spirit Condensation Realm, the bottleneck of the Breathing Technique was at the Innate Realm.
Breaking through the Innate Realm with the Breathing Technique was incredibly difficult.
Generally, those who cultivated the Breathing Technique were mortals with no hope of immortality.
Of course, even so, it was still much more difficult to learn than mortal martial arts techniques.
After all, once mastered, becoming a Martial Arts Grandmaster was only a matter of time.
Luo Xue felt that this was already quite impressive. Anyway, she wasn’t interested in cultivating that Ziyang Technique; just hearing the name made her uneasy.
“Spiritual inspiration…”
Luo Xue held the cyan jade slip and slowly closed her eyes.
The so-called Post-Heaven Realm was the first step away from a mortal body.
The Post-Heaven Realm involved opening the five senses: mouth, ears, nose, eyes, and spirit. After completing the Spiritual Insight stage and achieving introspection of the spirit, one would step into the Innate Realm.
Mortal martial artists used internal energy cultivated through physical training to open the five senses, which required a significant amount of time, because besides talent, accumulating profound internal energy also took time.
But immortal methods were clearly different. The ubiquitous spiritual energy in blessed lands was transformed into internal spiritual power through immortal techniques, with talent and the technique itself playing a greater role.
After all, different techniques produced different spiritual power with varying efficiency.
Luo Xue had browsed through many books on Mount Ziyang in her spare time (which wasn’t much different from reading novels) and had seen records of peerless geniuses achieving sudden enlightenment, advancing one realm with each thought, stepping from mortal to Foundation Establishment in three breaths.
To achieve this, one first had to learn to sense the free-flowing spiritual energy in the air, known as “grasping spiritual inspiration.” Therefore, places rich in spiritual energy were better for grasping inspiration.
This profound and mysterious matter couldn’t be taught. Those with dull talent wouldn’t be able to sense it even if they bathed in immortal dew formed from spiritual energy.
…Luo Xue had a premonition that she was one such person.
But no matter what, the opportunity was rare, and Luo Xue still wanted to cultivate immortality, even though she knew Daoist Ziyang harbored ill intentions.
Luo Xue held the jade slip as usual, meditating for a long time, but unfortunately, she still gained nothing.
Just as she was about to give up again, a strange feeling suddenly arose in her heart.
“Spiritual inspiration?”
Before Luo Xue could carefully examine this feeling, Li Zining’s incredibly excited voice came from outside the door,
“I did it! I did it! Ahahahaha… I did it! I’ve entered Spiritual Insight!”
Her loud voice immediately woke the other girls who were meditating. Just as they were about to complain, Daoist Ziyang instantly appeared in the courtyard.
His anxious expression was tinged with joy, and he immediately walked towards Li Zining’s room.
“…Is it true?”
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