Chapter 55 - 55 55 Devouring Evil Residual Echo Mysterious Primordial Qi

55: Chapter 55 Devouring Evil Residual Echo, Mysterious Primordial Qi 55: Chapter 55 Devouring Evil Residual Echo, Mysterious Primordial Qi “Eh?” Surprised, An Jing carefully separated the ink jade-like skull from the Vine Demon, while the pitch-black vines crawled out from the skull’s eye sockets, gently shaking and twitching, like the sprouts of flesh and blood, ready to transform into a snail or a hermit crab, preparing to crawl away and escape. This phenomenon made An Jing use his sword to pin down the skull monster, causing its limbs to flail like a thrashing octopus, curiously saying, “Quite unusual, and very hard— the Fiend Sword can’t even pierce through it.” “This is the demon’s true form.” The Sword Spirit spoke thoughtfully, “I see, so it’s not a Spirit Plant possessed by a demon. I wondered why I didn’t detect any Demonic Qi from these glowing grasses… This is a cultivator’s skull that turned evil; he was very likely to have been a Wood Element Spirit Root, possessing the method to control Spirit Plants.” “After becoming possessed, his flesh and blood body fell to become this skull demon, manipulating the natural ‘Spiritual Light Vines’ in the cave as a body and trap, lying in wait to slay the creatures that passed by.” “Eliminate it,” the Sword Spirit said indifferently, “This is the lowest class of ‘Remnant Demon,’ devoid of complete self-awareness.” “Mm.” An Jing nodded slightly, exerted force with his sword blade, and stabbed from the mouth’s position, nailing the skull hermit crab to the ground. Blood Fiend surged, and pitiful wails arose from those fleshy vines, then turned into streaks of pitch-black Demonic Qi and dissipated into nothing. Only a vague white ashy mist remained, drifting unstoppably at the center of the skull, flickering with a faint light. “This is…” An Jing was somewhat puzzled, while the Sword Spirit looked in surprise, “It’s actually a ‘Residual Echo,’ quite useful.” “What is that?” An Jing, his mood relaxed after eliminating the demon, asked with curiosity, “And that Spirit Root, I’ve heard you mention it before at Hanging Fate Manor, what is it exactly?” “Where there’s a deep yearning, there’s bound to be an echo.” The Sword Spirit educated patiently, “This world devours evil and returns truth, the Residual Echo is what’s leftover from a demon’s elimination, as the world purifies everything, turning into a sliver of Mysterious Primordial Qi. Lower-grade echoes are like the faint mist you see before you, while higher-grade ones can transform into many Divine Abnormalities and spiritual shapes, divine birds and dragons, pills and alchemy scriptures.” “A Residual Echo contains memories or cultivation of the possessed cultivator or the demon, the purest kind there is. If the echo is powerful enough, it can even posses a variety of Divine Abnormalities, useful for crafting magic treasures, cultivating Divine Skills, healing injuries—a reward from the world to us demon-slaying cultivators.” “The Great Formation in Hanging Fate Valley that awakened your Fate Pattern essentially used my power to help you exterminate Heart Demons, generating Mysterious Primordial Qi, aiding your awakening to Heavenly Mandate.” “However,” At this point, the Sword Spirit fell into contemplation, “In my era, a Residual Echo was at least left behind by a ‘True Demon,’ or even a ‘Great Demon.’ “Moreover, echoes left by True Demons all had their specific and unique shapes, never just a breath like this… This is too weak.” “Yeah… why is that…” The Sword Spirit mused to himself until this point, when he suddenly fell into confusion, “It seems I know, I was involved… But…” “I can’t remember…” An Jing said nothing, waiting quietly. “Sigh.” After pondering for a while, the Sword Spirit, ever the carefree one, was disinclined to dwell on it, and sighed, “If I can’t remember, then so be it.” “Can the echo help restore your memories, Subdue Evil?” An Jing spoke at this moment, and the Sword Spirit chuckled lightly, “Considerate of you. Of course, it can.” “However, given the nature of my essence, it would take an extremely powerful Heavenly Demon Echo for there to be any possibility of repair, so don’t think about it now.” The Sword Spirit looked at the ash-colored mist: “As for this strand of Remnant Demon Echo, it can enhance a trace of cultivation in the soul and spirit aspect, its effect on me is nearly null, but for you, since your spirit has just been impacted, it’s well-suited for you to recover a bit and stabilize your foundation.” “I will tell you the method to converge it, you can incorporate it into your soul and spirit.” An Jing followed the guidance, visualized the secret technique, circulated his soul and spirit, and absorbed this strand of ash-colored mist into his Divine Sea—upon entering the Divine Sea, it transformed into a wisp of hazy flame that hung around the main body of the Sword Spirit, resembling the stars that orbit the sun. When An Jing entered meditation and practiced the Tranquil Sword Manual, he could utilize this strand of echo to stabilize his soul and spirit. After all this was done, the Sword Spirit slowly said, “As for the Spirit Root… I also told you, before the Fate Pattern Martial Arts, the cultivation method of the era I was from was the ‘Spirit Root Qi Refinement’.” “Just as in the system of Fate Pattern Martial Arts, without the Heavenly Mandate Fate Pattern, one cannot break through Inner Breath and reach Inner Strength. Similarly, without a Spirit Root in the Spirit Root system, one cannot break through from the ‘Spirit Awakening’ realm to ‘Qi Refinement’.” “I see,” An Jing roughly understood; it was a fundamental talent that determined the divide between immortals and mortals. Ordinary people could also cultivate, but they could at most reach the pinnacle of the first realm. Only those with Fate Patterns and Spirit Roots could continue to advance on the path of cultivation. He couldn’t help but ask, “I do have a Fate Pattern—do I have a Spirit Root as well?” “Yes.” The Sword Spirit said, “And your talent is quite good; you have the ‘Metal, Earth, Wood’ triple Spirit Roots.” “Among these, Earth generates Metal, Metal overcomes Wood, and Wood overcomes Earth. In the cycle of generation and conquest, Earth aids Metal but suppresses Wood, Wood in turn conquers Earth causing it to hibernate, yet the Metal Spirit Root alone stands out as vigorous—your talent in the way of Metal is indeed not small.” “That’s why I recommended the ‘Taibai Luminous Godly Ban’ for you.” “It’s a pity there are no resources.” An Jing felt somewhat regretful, but when he looked up at the ruins of the pavilion, he suddenly had an idea, “But wait, Subdue Evil.” “You say…” he narrowed his eyes, looking toward the ancient pavilion constructed largely from metals, “Does it count as ‘Five Metals’?” Sёarch* The ηovёlFire .net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality. “This…” The Sword Spirit was stunned for a moment, apparently not having considered this point. But as it followed An Jing’s gaze towards the collapsing Heaven’s Pavilion hall, scanning those metal structures, it couldn’t help but become excited: “Indeed, scrap iron is still iron; go take a look, I will assess if the quality of those Five Metals is up to standard!” An Jing immediately set off. The surface layer of the collapsing columns and beams was ‘red copper’, full of verdigris. Thieves and the original owners alike would not have thought to scrape off these materials, and very little of it could be used, with only the thinnest layer at the very bottom being serviceable. The lamps that had long since been extinguished were made of ‘Purple Tin’. Although aged, they were surprisingly well preserved, and the outermost layer of Purple Tin seemed to have absorbed the high-quality lamp oil from the past, gaining a trace of luminosity, making its quality not low. In the end, An Jing found a good number of ‘Mysterious Iron’ nails on one wall. That was probably where notices or documents were posted in the past. Those who cleared out the place had been lazy and didn’t remove the dense cluster of nails, which now benefitted An Jing, and they were all well-preserved. After tallying it up, he had five liangs of red copper, one jin and two liangs of Purple Tin, and three liangs of Mysterious Iron.