Chapter 147: A New Divine Ability, Shop

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Translated by Frog in the Well

Read it only at Nineheavens.org
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Cheong Hwa-ran’s explanation continued.

“The Supreme Elder values Yeom Chae-ryeong, the only one among his children who has a spiritual root, immensely. To the point of investing massive resources to make her a Golden Core 9th layer. Up to that point, it is a parent’s heart, so I understand, but…”

As if someone were there, she bit her lips while glaring at the empty air.

“When she challenged the Nascent Soul stage twice and failed, he is now even trying to gift her talent. That method is extracting a Spirit Body and transplanting it.”

“Spirit Body transplantation…?”

Listening quietly, Jin So-myeong muttered in spite of himself.

Extracting a Spirit Body, which was no different from a soul’s constitution or talent? No matter how much he thought about it, a cultivator whose Spirit Body was stolen did not seem likely to remain intact.

Did the father and daughter, who were innocent to the point of being naive earlier, hide such a sinister scheme?

For the first time in a while, it felt like a stinging blow to the back of his head.

Jin So-myeong, who merely moved his lips in dumbfoundedness, knitted his brows.

“By the way, what does extracting and transplanting a Spirit Body have to do with me that you tell me to be careful?”

Cheong Hwa-ran, who blinked her eyes and tilted her head, replied as if asking why he asked something so obvious.

“The Supreme Elder is probably targeting Fellow Daoist Jin’s Spirit Body as well.”

“…My Spirit Body? Who says I have a Spirit Body?”

“Ah, because our Medicine King Sect reached the conclusion that Fellow Daoist Jin’s rapid growth was thanks to a Spirit Body.”

It was absurd to the point of sighing for a moment, but he merely let out a sigh and left it at that. Naturally, they could misunderstand. Because growing as fast as Jin So-myeong without a Spirit Body was close to impossible.

“By just what means do they extract a Spirit Body?”

“I only know the name of the secret technique, the God-Obliterating Spirit-Stealing Great Art. I do not know the detailed method. However, I found out that he will play a trick in the midst of challenging the Nascent Soul stage.”

“Haha.”

“…To speak frankly, it is not certain whether the Supreme Elder is targeting Fellow Daoist Jin or not. It is simply that such a possibility exists. Originally, I was that target.”

It was getting crazier by the moment.

Who would have thought Cheong Hwa-ran, who was called the future of the Medicine King Sect, was the sacrificial lamb to have her Spirit Body extracted?

“Strictly speaking, I am an outsider who entered the Medicine King Sect after achieving Foundation Establishment. Nevertheless, the Medicine King Sect invested so much in me to an undeserved degree.”

Cheong Hwa-ran, who bit her lips, spoke as if lamenting.

“At first I was merely grateful, but I grew terrified at the excessively lavish investment. After investigating over a long period, I eventually found out that the Medicine King Sect possessed a secret technique to extract and transplant a Spirit Body.”

Listening to the explanation that continued like a complaint, Jin So-myeong turned his gaze. He stared at the sunlight pouring through the rock crevice.

The sky is so clear, yet the people living beneath it live so complexly.

It was not a matter to be particularly disappointed or lament over. Because there were bound to be various kinds of people in the world.

“Do you have evidence?”

“I discovered traces of experimenting with the God-Obliterating Spirit-Stealing Great Art. …Although this cannot be called perfect evidence, there are many other suspicious points.”

She said that if she tried to go out, they blocked her using this and that excuse, and if she insisted on going out, surveillance was attached under the guise of escort.

“Moreover, my realm is Golden Core, but I have almost no combat capability. Telling me to concentrate only on achieving the Nascent Soul stage as quickly as possible, they did not permit even a single proper secret technique.”

“That is indeed somewhat strange.”

Up to an escort could be considered as protecting a disciple with precious talent, but not teaching combat arts at all was a bit strange.

If only to protect one’s life in an emergency, it was normal to teach a few self-defense secret techniques.

Also, the higher a cultivator’s grade was, the harder it was to raise their realm solely by cultivating safely. By the time one reached the Nascent Soul stage, one had to possess experience of overcoming all sorts of adversities. Coddling safely was not the only way.

Jin So-myeong, who stared at the sky reflecting through the cave entrance, opened his mouth.

“What is the reason you informed me of such information? Do you wish for me to kill the Supreme Elder?”

Startled, she hurriedly waved her hands.

“Ah, no. I do not wish for it to that extent. In any case, because they haven’t done anything to harm me yet… you simply need to help me depart quietly from the Medicine King Sect.”

“Mmh…”

“Actually, everything might be my delusion. Therefore, I will form a Nascent Soul outside and then return to verify.”

Jin So-myeong, who tapped his scabbard like a habit, nodded his head.

“I understand for now. In any case, since I must achieve the Nascent Soul stage to properly help Fellow Daoist Cheong, we shall speak again at that time.”

***

Having finished the conversation with Cheong Hwa-ran, Jin So-myeong, who returned to Natian City, closed his eyes as if meditating.

In truth, the possibility existed that it was entirely a misunderstanding and she was simply terrified by her own conjecture. The Supreme Elder father and daughter might have no malice at all.

As he reviewed various possibilities, a sigh came out naturally.

‘How bothersome.’

In truth, Jin So-myeong liked simple and clear things. Yet the surrounding people, especially cultivators, lived hiding too complex schemes.

He understood.

‘It cannot be helped since the world is harsh.’

Furthermore, it was not that there were only people with malice. Didn’t he receive countless kindnesses at Sky Island during his Foundation Establishment days? Good connections were also plentiful enough.

It was merely difficult to distinguish between goodwill and hostility.

‘Perhaps my obsession with cultivation is because I wish to escape from such shackles…’

Drawing his sword that was with him waking or sleeping, he held it horizontally.

His face reflected on the surface of the sword as clean as a mirror. Jin So-myeong, who stared quietly at it which was hard to distinguish whether it was himself or the sword, reached a decision.

There was no need to care how others lived.

No matter how complexly the world rolled, if he only concentrated on what he had to do, everything became simple.

Cleave and kill enemies, and repay those who showed goodwill. Maintaining his own standard was enough.

‘I shall refine the Nascent Condensation Pill directly myself.’

He discarded the thought of relying on the Medicine King Sect.

Didn’t he learn pill refining to prepare for such situations in the first place? It was simply that the time had come to seriously treat pill refining, which he had regarded merely as a final bastion or insurance.

Jin So-myeong, who resolved to challenge the Nascent Condensation Pill, fell into thought.

‘What is the biggest problem right now?’

What was lacking? Pondering briefly gave the answer immediately.

Experience.

Although various preparations including the Rank 4 flame were roughly resolved, he had no experience refining the Nascent Condensation Pill.

No matter how good his luck was, it seemed he had to try at least seven or eight times to succeed, but combining the key ingredients, the Lost Void Leaf Herb and the Illusionary Void Spirit Flower, they amounted to merely three stalks.

‘With my pill refining skill, can I refine the Nascent Condensation Pill within three tries?’

Thinking calmly, it seemed it would be difficult. Once that judgment was reached, the flow of thought naturally went toward the Supreme Great Abilities.

If the problem lay in lacking materials…

‘Can I copy spiritual herbs with the Supreme Great Abilities?’

At the thought that arose like a topic of meditation, although it seemed like preposterous nonsense, he seriously weighed the feasibility of realization.

Because if he could copy spiritual herbs, it would make things convenient not only when refining the Nascent Condensation Pill but throughout his future cultivation.

However.

Too naturally, copying spiritual herbs with a Golden Core realm was nonsense. Was it not the domain of creation? Even if he achieved the Nascent Soul stage, it was equally impossible.

There were also limits to the Supreme Great Abilities.

Although he might be able to copy spiritual herbs if he sacrificed lifespan, that was merely a one-time solution. He could not sacrifice lifespan every time he needed a spiritual herb, could he?

If he were to make a powerful wish by sacrificing lifespan, he had to use it in a manner that would be helpful in the future as well, like the Secret Realm of the Mind.

‘I don’t truly need to copy spiritual herbs. The important thing is the outcome. I simply need the spiritual herbs to use as ingredients to increase somehow…’

Pondering while wandering where his steps led, before he knew it, he arrived at the spiritual herb field of the Secret Realm of the Mind, and a particularly large tree caught his eye amidst the profusely blooming spiritual herbs.

Myriad Souls Tree.

As the Secret Realm of the Mind reached Rank 4, the fellow who was in a sleeping state woke up, and its diligent absorption of spiritual Qi made it seem like it would bear fruit someday.

‘…Fruit will bear again even if plucked from the tree branches.’

A ticklish feeling that a solution was visible arose.

Of course, fruit did not pop out from the empty air where there was nothing.

A fertile soil for the tree to take root, appropriate nutrients, environmental factors like sunlight and temperature, the time to digest nutrients and bear fruit, and so forth. Countless conditions had to be satisfied.

Lump all those conditions together as growth, and if accelerating growth, could one not obtain fruit faster and in greater quantities?

Resultantly, it was identical to the ingredients increasing.

‘Growth acceleration…’

Should he obtain such a divine ability by sacrificing lifespan? So that he could easily raise the necessary spiritual herbs.

It seemed like a plausible solution, but as he tried to realize it, problems cropped up.

‘Special spiritual herbs like the ingredients for the Nascent Condensation Pill do not grow just anywhere.’

Most of what Jin So-myeong needed were precious and rare spiritual herbs that could not be bought even with spirit stones. Such spiritual herbs usually grew only in special environments.

It meant that planting them in ordinary ground and accelerating growth was useless.

Zero is zero no matter how large a number it is multiplied by. Since the seeds would not even sprout in the first place if planted, what use would it be to accelerate growth?

‘And since I am sacrificing lifespan to obtain a powerful divine ability anyway, I wish it would also be helpful in battle.’

Would it not be a waste if it were only useful for pill refining?

Since a red skirt is better for the same price, he wished to possess a highly versatile divine ability useful in various fields.

‘Should I just wish blindly? Asking for a divine ability that can copy spiritual herbs and is also useful in battle?’

However, if the Supreme Great Abilities were used without a clear direction, the efficiency dropped somewhat. It meant that additional lifespan would be consumed.

Just as he pondered and pondered.

Baek Dan-il visited the spiritual herb field of the Secret Realm of the Mind.

It was not a particularly strange thing. Although the clones stayed near the outskirts of his Divine Sense lately, they occasionally went to and from the Secret Realm of the Mind when business arose.

Watching the fellow who was harvesting spiritual herbs as if to use them for pill refining, he asked without much thought.

“I wish to increase a single spiritual herb into several, how should I do it?”

“…”

Baek Dan-il, who stared blankly at him, grasped the spiritual herb he had just harvested and ripped it apart. Holding the spiritual herb cleaved vertically along the grain of the stem divided in both hands, he spoke.

“It became two.”

For a moment, he tried to laugh it off since it was absurd, but he paused. Receiving the spiritual herb divided exactly in two, he muttered.

“Indeed. The spiritual herb increased to two.”

“Correct.”

Leaving behind Baek Dan-il who left to do his work, Jin So-myeong, who toyed with the cleaved spiritual herb, narrowed his eyes.

Of course, too naturally, even if dividing a spiritual herb in half, it was not copied. In the first place, most pill refinings required using a single spiritual herb in its entirety.

That is to say…

‘If I restore the spiritual herb split in half to be perfectly intact, does that not truly make two spiritual herbs?’

The problem was only one. Could he restore the spiritual herb divided in two?

‘…It seems possible?’

If copying were a kind of creation, this was healing, namely the domain of regeneration. The difficulty was much lower.

He estimated how much lifespan would be consumed to obtain a divine ability capable of restoring a split spiritual herb to be perfectly intact, and it was roughly at the level of three hundred years.

Of course, this was the case when making a wish without any preparation, and utilizing the Rank 4 Longevity-Extending Pill obtained not long ago could drastically reduce the lifespan consumption.

After this and that contemplation, he reached a decision.

‘Let us do it. If it is a regeneration-related divine ability, it will also be useful in battle.’

He wished to make the wish right away, but held back. There was a task to do before that.

Calling the Natian City deacons, he told them to procure Rank 2 and Rank 3 Longevity-Extending Pills, and thanks to his immense wealth, they could be obtained quickly.

When time passed and his Supreme Great Abilities were completely full.

From Rank 2 to Rank 4. He consumed three Longevity-Extending Pills simultaneously.

Right before the intense vitality originating from the pills transformed into lifespan, he made a wish harboring aspiration.

‘I wish to obtain a divine ability capable of restoring a spiritual herb of which only a portion remains…no, a spiritual object…to its original state. I hope it will be helpful not only in battle but in ordinary cultivation.’

[Jin So-myeong]

[Lifespan]: 71 / 653

[Realm]: Golden Core 8th layer

[Supreme Great Ability]: 0 / 1.9 million

[Divine Abilities]: <Secret Realm of the Mind>, <Myriad Flows Restoration>

Thanks to consuming the three Longevity-Extending Pills, the lifespan consumption was drastically reduced. He consumed exactly forty-nine years of lifespan, and

Myriad Flows Restoration.

He obtained a divine ability that restored the function and state of a target to normal.

Of course, it did not fully restore without any conditions.

Myriad Flows Restoration utilized the Supreme Great Abilities as an energy source. The more severe the level of ruin, and the more precious the spiritual object that had to be restored, the larger the Supreme Great Ability consumption grew.

A day later.

As soon as around 60,000 Supreme Great Abilities recovered, he tested the newly acquired divine ability straight away.

Going to the spiritual herb field, he pulled out an appropriate Rank 3 spiritual herb and cleaved it exactly in two from root to stem.

Following that, the moment he utilized the Myriad Flows Restoration divine ability.

10,000 Supreme Great Abilities were consumed, and the spiritual herb that had been split in half absorbed the surrounding spiritual Qi as if absorbing nutrients, then regenerated in an instant and returned to a perfect state.

“Oh.”

The spiritual herb became two.

Looking only at the outcome, he was now able to copy spiritual herbs by consuming the Supreme Great Abilities.

Furthermore, the Myriad Flows Restoration divine ability was highly likely to work on spiritual objects other than spiritual herbs. Because he had made the wish in such a manner in the first place.

In the distant future.

If countless spiritual objects accumulated in the Secret Realm of the Mind,

would he not be able to obtain any treasure if he merely paid Supreme Great Abilities?

In that case, could it not be said that a shop using Supreme Great Abilities as currency was established?

The [Shop], one of the functions he wished would appear in the status window someday. A thought arose that today might be its starting point.

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