Legacy of the Spirit Stone

Chapter 76 – Wu Tong Qi Condensation

Because the Yang Clan's spirit crystals were not abundant before, the tools Chen Yang used to draw talismans were merely outstanding mortal items.

However, the scholar's spiritual brush, spiritual ink, and inkstone were all Qi Condensation-level spiritual items.

Especially the brush, which was a high-quality spiritual treasure of the Mid Qi Condensation level.

"It really is as the saying goes, 'a pillow comes when you're drowsy.'"

Chen Yang thought to himself.

Just when his talisman skills had reached a small achievement, someone kindly brought him this entire set of tools.

With this equipment, his success rate in drawing talismans would significantly improve in the future.

After conveying his thoughts to Yang Lingqing, this set of items belonged to Chen Yang.

Lingqing thoughtfully placed a storage bag beside him, making it convenient for him to access the items without taking up space.

Aside from this set of spiritual items, the scholar had the most human skin masks on him.

After counting, there were a total of thirty-six masks, both male and female, all with youthful appearances around twenty years old.

Seeing these items, both Lingqing and Lingrui felt a chill in their hearts.

Thirty-six human skin masks meant that this person had at least harmed thirty-six people. These people might not have died at the time, but their future lives would be worse than death.

"Having committed so many evil deeds, this person truly deserved to die," Yang Lingqing said.

Then they found over a hundred spirit crystals in the scholar's second storage bag.

This was a normal reserve for a Late Qi Condensation cultivator, but unfortunately, they didn't know where this person's cave was, where there should be more accumulated spirit crystals.

The remaining items were from the storage bags of the three masked individuals.

Compared to the scholar, they were much poorer.

After buying information about Yang Lingrui from the Heaven's Secrets Pavilion, they had little spirit crystals left, and the three of them together didn't even have a hundred.

The rest were mostly good quality healing pills for Early Qi Condensation, and an unused inferior speed talisman.

The two thought they wouldn't find anything else, but unexpectedly, in the storage bag of the female cultivator from Yellow Flower Valley, they found a cultivation method and a spell technique.

The cultivation method was called "Fragrant Blossom Seeking Art," at the Perfected Qi Condensation level.

The spell technique was called "Yellow Sand Scripture," at the Late Qi Condensation level.

"These two should be the cultivation methods of the Desert Sea's Yellow Flower Valley, a nice unexpected gain to enrich our clan's Scripture Repository," Yang Lingrui said.

Yang Lingqing browsed through the cultivation method, finding that it wasn't difficult to practice and had a low entry barrier, but it required a specific cultivation environment.

Just like the rogue cultivator who signed a contract with the Yang Clan's Bamboo Forest Cave, needing the bamboo forest's pure energy to cultivate.

Cultivating the "Fragrant Blossom Seeking Art" also required a place with the fragrance of a hundred flowers.

Currently, there were no conditions, but if the Yang Clan could create such a place in the future, it would provide more choices and opportunities for the younger generation of cultivators.

"Sister Qing, this is for you."

After tallying up the spoils, Yang Lingrui gave the Earth Element Magic Disk in his pocket to Yang Lingqing.

Apart from Chen Yang, this was Yang Lingqing's first time using a spiritual treasure. She held the magic disk in her hand, and with a slight thought, three earthen pillars rose from the ground.

Following her control, the earthen pillars continuously changed into various shapes.

"What a wonderful treasure, significantly enhancing spellcasting speed, control, and power!"

Yang Lingqing exclaimed with joy.

"As long as Sister Qing finds it handy, I have an armguard prepared for Brother Hu, which I'll deliver to him."

"Don't rush, there's something urgent at home now."

"What is it?"

"Wu Tong has opened all twelve Qi Nodes and is about to condense her Qi Palace today."

Since being brought up the mountain, Wu Tong had been cultivating in the Yang Clan's Forbidden Zone for over three years.

During this time, she hadn't left the Forbidden Zone even once, waking up before dawn to cultivate and returning to her room to rest only when the moon was high, never missing a day in over a thousand nights.

It was hard on her father, Wu San, who hadn't seen his daughter in three years.

Knowing that Zhao Qi had mastered the immortal arts, he climbed onto the roof every night, gazing towards Misty Mountain, muttering "daughter... daughter..."

"Wu Tong greets the two immortal masters!"

Not yet having entered Qi Condensation, she hadn't been taken as a disciple by Elder Yu and still addressed Yang Lingqing and Yang Lingrui as immortal masters.

"Wu Tong, you have been diligent for three years, and now you are about to reap the rewards and achieve the Qi Condensation Realm."

Yang Lingqing said, "We will guard you, so today, follow the method and calmly condense your Qi Palace."

"Thank you, immortal masters!"

After thanking them, Wu Tong didn't waste words, calmed herself, and slowly assumed a stance, performing the Zhou Tian Rotation Method to guide the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into her dantian.

At first, everything went smoothly. Spiritual energy was drawn in, entering her body through the twelve Qi Nodes, then slowly flowing towards her lower abdomen along the meridians.

But as the spiritual energy entered her dantian, Wu Tong's expression began to change.

A severe, tearing pain emanated from that area, causing her to tremble and her body to shake.

Seeing this, Yang Lingqing and Yang Lingrui both frowned, their expressions turning serious. They had never seen such a situation before and began to slowly mobilize their spiritual power to prevent any accidents with Wu Tong.

In fact, this situation didn't arise because Wu Tong was doing something wrong.

On the contrary, the more intense the pain, the more it indicated she was doing it right.

As mentioned before, in terms of cultivation aptitude, Wu Tong was absolutely at the lowest level.

This poor aptitude was not only reflected in her meridians but also in her dantian.

Her dantian was too small.

So small that it couldn't even accommodate enough spiritual energy to condense a Qi Palace.

And to successfully condense Qi, there was only one way: to force the spiritual energy into the dantian, gradually expanding it.

This process would be accompanied by pain that was unbearable for most people.

"Sister Qing, is this really okay?"

Yang Lingrui asked worriedly, seeing Wu Tong's pained expression.

Yang Lingqing had no experience with this either. Neither the three members of the Yang Clan nor Zhao Qi had encountered such a situation when condensing their Qi Palace, so she was also unsure.

Seeing Wu Tong's face gradually turn pale and the color fade from her lips, they felt something was amiss and were about to intervene with their cultivation methods.

But a thought transmission stopped them.

"It's the Immortal Sovereign!"

"The Immortal Sovereign doesn't want us to interfere."

They immediately withdrew their spiritual power.

They trusted Chen Yang's judgment, but seeing Wu Tong's pained face still made them feel distressed.

Chen Yang watched Wu Tong, his heart devoid of much emotion.

The matter of condensing the Qi Palace was something others couldn't help with; it was up to her alone.

He had observed this young girl for three years and knew her tenacity, believing she could overcome this hurdle.

"Having chosen this path, there is no turning back. Now is the time to forge her Dao heart."

Chen Yang thought to himself.

As time passed, Wu Tong's lips turned from pale pink to blue, and finally to purple, with three of her seven orifices already bleeding.

This sight was hard for Yang Lingqing and Yang Lingrui to bear, but she herself hadn't given up!

Chen Yang looked at the nascent vortex in her dantian, silently approving.

"Ugh..."

Wu Tong coughed up a mouthful of blood, her body swaying, her strength waning.

The prolonged pain had left her brain unable to think further.

"It hurts so much..."

"I can't hold on..."

"Father... Mother..."

In the final moments, the faces of her parents appeared in Wu Tong's mind.

Wu San was handling chores in the Yang Clan's courtyard when he suddenly felt a pang in his heart, stumbling and nearly falling.

"Manager Wu, are you okay?"

"Ah, I'm fine, I'm fine."

Though he said so, Wu San couldn't shake off a growing sense of unease, a feeling he had never experienced before.

Puzzled, he looked up towards Misty Mountain.

In an instant, his expression changed dramatically.

Though he couldn't see what was happening on the mountain, he had a strong feeling it was related to Wu Tong!

He immediately dropped what he was doing and ran back to his residence, climbing onto the roof with hands and feet.

"Pray to the Immortal Sovereign for protection! Pray to the Immortal Sovereign for protection! Pray to the Immortal Sovereign for protection..."

Wu San knelt on the roof, continuously kowtowing towards the mountain, muttering "Pray to the Immortal Sovereign for protection."

Wu Tong seemed to have a dream, dreaming of her parents.

In the dream, her mother had picked fresh flowers, and her father had woven them into a wreath.

Her mother wasn't the pained figure from her usual nightmares but the warm, smiling mother she remembered from childhood.

"Little Tong'er, this wreath is as beautiful as you, take it."

Her mother picked up the wreath and handed it to Wu Tong.

Wu Tong wanted to take it but felt her body was heavy and couldn't move.

"Mother, I'm so tired, it hurts, I can't move..."

"Tong'er can do it, Tong'er is the bravest! Mother believes in you, give it your all!"

Encouraged by her mother, Wu Tong mustered her strength again, using all her might to lift her hand, inching forward until she finally grasped the wreath.

"Mother!"

At that moment, Wu Tong felt her body lighten, and all the previous pain dissipated.

Along with it vanished her mother's warm smile.

Yang Lingqing stepped forward to support Wu Tong, who had fallen into a coma and was about to collapse.

Releasing her divine sense to check, she sensed that Wu Tong's Qi Palace had formed and let out a long breath of relief.

Chen Yang no longer paid attention to this side but instead released his consciousness, looking towards the cemetery on the western side of Pine Mountain.

There lay the commoners who died in the Beast Tide, including Wu Tong's mother.

Just now, at the last moment of Wu Tong's Qi Palace condensation, when she was about to give up, Chen Yang sensed two forces appear.

One was a power of prayer, coming from the foot of the mountain, first circling around Chen Yang, and with his permission, flying towards Wu Tong.

The other was an indistinct, unknown entity that floated from the western cemetery to the courtyard above, also landing on Wu Tong.

Now, with Wu Tong's successful Qi Condensation, this unknown entity transformed into a highly concentrated power of prayer, merging into his body.

"So, such wondrous things truly exist in this world."

Chen Yang contemplated this power of prayer, murmuring to himself, "In life, she gave her life; in death, she gave her Dao, protecting her daughter twice. You are a great mother."

In this world of strange powers and gods, the lives of mortals were as fragile as thin paper.

Slight disturbances or chaos could mean life or death in an instant.

Cultivators often stood aloof, never valuing mortal lives, seeing them as expendable, as livestock to be raised.

But today, Chen Yang had indeed witnessed that even such weak mortals had something within them powerful enough to transcend the body and death.

(Another 3000-word chapter! Because I didn't want to break the story on Wu Tong, I wrote it all in one go! Thank you all for your support!)