Chapter 413 — The Cultivation Perfected

Yan Jingjing, embarrassed, said softly, "I did not cultivate it myself. It came from the Xizhou. I have a pure yang spirit body, and because I have spent years steering the Xizhou and borrowing its power, I used that power to open every one of my spirit treasures. At first, when I left the Xizhou, the spirit treasures would close again, but after I had used it many times they stopped closing."

Si Yunxiang and Ling Yuxiu were struck dumb, and Shen Mu's eyes went wide. It was a little hard to believe.

Yan Jingjing was about the same age as the two of them, and she was already a great expert of sect-master rank.

And they had never noticed before: Yan Jingjing was the most formidable of them all.

Shen Mu had piloted the Xizhou and the Pozhou himself, but once he left the spirit ships his spirit treasures had always closed and sealed again. He had never imagined that piloting them often enough could serve to open them.

"If that is so," Si Yunxiang blurted out, "could we not use the Xizhou to turn out a whole host of sect-master level figures in no time?"

Ling Yuxiu shook her head. "Impossible. To become a Sun Guardian one must have a pure yang body, and even the Sun-Herding clan could not find a second pure yang body, let alone anywhere else."

"The Sect Master, though, could!"

Si Yunxiang turned at once to Shen Mu. "The Sect Master can control the Xizhou. Most likely he can borrow its power and open all his spirit treasures in one go!"

Shen Mu's heart stirred. Yan Jingjing said hastily, "Opening your spirit treasures through the Xizhou makes your realm unstable. Grandfather says such shortcuts are not so solid as cultivating step by step. I came out this time to see how you all cultivate, and whether it can still be remedied."

Shen Mu had no choice but to give up the idea.

Cultivating step by step did hold many pleasures and surprises. Had he not advanced step by step, he could never have discovered the deified form of the Five Luminaries realm, nor the Six Harmonies primordial spirit of the Six Harmonies realm.

Someone like Yan Jingjing, who had opened every spirit treasure with the aid of the Xizhou, would likely have to cultivate the whole way through again, savoring the meaning of each realm in fine detail and comprehending the mysteries hidden in each.

And standing too high, one can seldom see clearly the details below.

Si Yunxiang pondered the women's method until she had it thoroughly, and questioned Ling Yuxiu again until every point of it was clear; only then did she begin cultivating the primordial spirit with Shen Mu.

In the distance, the blindfolded old man said to Emperor Yanfeng, "Emperor, your girl is generous indeed, handing her consort lord over to the Xiang girl for her pleasure."

Emperor Yanfeng gave a cold snort. "Xiu'er has no idea what dual cultivation of the primordial spirit means. She has no such notion at all. If she knew it is something only a husband and wife may do, she would never be so generous."

"Why not warn her?" the blind old man asked, curious.

"No need."

Emperor Yanfeng shook his head. "Only one pair can truly dual-cultivate the primordial spirit. Once two primordial spirits have resonated, they can never resonate with a third. My dear Shen has already resonated with Xiu'er. Even if the Holy Maiden Xiang cultivates alongside him, resonance will never come, and no primordial spirit will be forged. They are still children, fond of frolic, and know nothing of what it means."

He sighed. "Since ancient times they have said the emperor keeps three thousand beauties in his rear palace, but no one knows that an emperor has an emperor's sorrows. The only one who can resonate with the emperor's primordial spirit is the empress herself. To love another in the rear palace is to find no resonance, and to be shut out from the utmost bliss. That, too, is why the imperial line is never numerous."

The blind old man laughed. "With the other consorts the pleasure is not so great, and so the imperial children are few."

Emperor Yanfeng nodded. "Which is why I have no worry at all about Xiu'er. She has already seized the first advantage. Even if my dear Shen takes other women, in the end he will come back to her side. Because he can never resonate with another woman's primordial..."

"I have forged my primordial spirit!"

Si Yunxiang's jubilant cry rang out. Emperor Yanfeng's face went slack. Eyes wide, he stared blankly as Si Yunxiang came racing along like a romping child, Ling Yuxiu wild with delight and romping after her, and Shen Mu celebrating the method's success along with them.

For a long while Emperor Yanfeng could not collect himself.

"But you forgot that the Shen boy has an Overlord Body. An ordinary spirit body, once it has resonated, can never resonate with another. An Overlord Body can."

Leaning on his staff, serene and assured, the blind old man said, "Emperor, I admire the expression on your face very much. A pity I am no painter, or I would paint you as you are now and admire it at my leisure."

"I have painted it," came the deaf old man's voice.

The two old men chuckled, exceedingly pleased with themselves.

"Sect Master, Princess Xiu, what is this method you have created called?" came Si Yunxiang's voice.

"This art of dual-cultivating the primordial spirit is called the Primordial Spirit Guide," Shen Mu and Ling Yuxiu said in one voice.