Second-Grade Ascent, Spiritual Root Evolution, Two-Star Breakthrough
If one had to name the material talisman masters prized above all others, ink would claim the title without contest.
Did that mean every other material was worthless? Of course not. Ink was only one of countless mediums for drawing talismans — yet in the realm of cultivation, it carried a meaning far beyond mere utility.
A talisman was the path of painting an entire vast world onto a scrap of paper no larger than a palm. And a world, by rights, ought to be antique and beautiful. That was why ink was the supreme material for rendering heaven and earth.
Thump!
The Talisman Dao spiritual energy spilling from Nain’s racing heart was the same. Black and viscous as ink, yet faintly luminous with an auspicious glow. From her heart it flooded outward along her blood channels, scattering through her entire body.
“Hhhh…”
There was no pain this time. Instead, a dense, heavy spiritual energy rolled slowly through her, sweeping impurities clean. Pleasure, not agony — a deep, satisfying ease.
The circulating energy split into two streams. One was fouled spiritual energy, swollen with the body’s turbid qi. The other rode her meridians, laying a thin coat of Talisman Dao spiritual energy over every channel. Those meridians widened from a two-lane road into a four-lane highway. Her control of spiritual energy became easily twice as fast. The smoothly flowing Talisman Dao energy gathered to a single point and surged back toward her heart.
The heart, on the verge of transformation, hammered wildly — more than five times its ordinary pace. Still no pain. Only comfort, and a rising joy.
Talisman Dao.
Where once only a single character had been inscribed at the heart’s center, a new stroke blazed into being in a flare of dazzling light. Beyond Talisman came Dao. Impurities welled from the tip of her right index finger and dripped to the floor.
The transformed heart settled and slowed. A strange vibration ran the length of Nain’s body, dispersing out to her extremities. Achievement. Exultation.
The grade of her life was rising. She was becoming a being of a higher order. A mundane body was shedding its husk, drawing nearer to the immortal.
It was an utterly addictive sensation. A soft, foolish smile on her face, Nain let her head fall back against the bed.
“Cultivation really is the best…”
Pou poked its head out over the edge of the mattress and looked down at Nain’s undignified expression. Then, like a small animal gulping down its prey, it flopped completely over her face. A smooth, silky texture pressed along her cheeks.
“Mph—mph!”
Nain flailed at the air. Her nose and mouth were sealed shut; she couldn’t breathe.
“Wh—what the—!”
She grabbed the scroll covering her head with both hands. No matter how hard she pulled, Pou would not come free. For a long while she thrashed and rolled across the cultivation chamber floor.
“Hah… hah…!”
At last she peeled Pou off and gasped for air, thinking hard.
It’s definite. The higher my realm climbs, the stronger its spirituality gets.
Pou~!
The white scroll thrashed in her hands. For a scrap of paper, it radiated an impressive amount of sulky resentment.
They say a Foundation Establishment cultivator’s spirit treasure is no different from a human, and can even take human form…
“…Don’t tell me this one can too?”
Flap-flap!
Nain carefully set down Pou, who was huffing and puffing like a furious child. She couldn’t picture it. That thing that loved warm spots like a cat and drifted blankly through the air for fun?
It was probably throwing a tantrum because I dumped my head right onto the bed where it was napping. Yeah. That’s definitely it.
She sighed lightly and shook her head. What was she supposed to do with this creature? It was a body of precious golden spiritual paper — far too rare. She would simply have to serve it for the rest of her life.
“Pou~?”
Nain called in a voice of pure honey, gentler than anything she had ever produced in her life. From its sulking corner of the chamber, Pou drifted down.
It may be spiteful, but it still does its job.
She reached to unfurl it — then froze as a thought struck her.
Pou?
The scroll tilted, puzzled that its master was not unfolding it. It waited a moment longer, then, finding Nain still motionless, fluttered back into the bed.
Originally she had meant to confirm that the Talisman Dao Sacred Body had safely risen to the second grade. There was no need. The sensation under the hand she pressed to her chest proved, beyond any doubt, that the Talisman Dao Sacred Body had reached grade two.
My senses are fine. Why bother checking?
A cultivator who could not trust her own perception was finished. Peering at Pou as obsessively as a stock ticker was hardly a healthy habit either. Nain nodded to herself, settled into a lotus seat beside the bed again — a little farther away this time — and closed her eyes.
Is this really proper behavior for the master…?
A flicker of self-pity rose, but she crushed it down and shut her eyes.
My original goals were three.
Promote the Talisman Dao Sacred Body to the second grade. Evolve the Five Spiritual Roots. And finally, break through to Qi Refinement Stage, Two Stars.
Her constitution, the Talisman Dao Sacred Body, raised the grade of her Talisman Dao spiritual energy. Her talent, once the Five Spiritual Roots evolved into Four, would accelerate her cultivation speed. Completing those two first, then breaking through to Two Stars, was the efficient order.
Nain felt a twinge of nerves. Evolving a spiritual root was an act utterly alien to her experience.
In the entire history of the cultivation world, I doubt anyone has ever evolved a spiritual root.
A spiritual root was inborn talent, pure and simple. Just as intelligence and muscle density were products of genes fixed at birth, a spiritual root was the talent of soul and mind. The domain of the soul was a forbidden realm only Nascent Soul cultivators dared touch — and beyond that, the point was moot.
“Hoo.”
She steadied her breath, sank into the deep reaches of her mind, and gazed upon the Five Spiritual Roots planted in her soul. The roots, gleaming in five colors, were murky and tangled together — not a pretty sight.
So this is my spiritual root.
Borrowing Pou’s authority, Nain faced her own spiritual root for the first time in her life, and a strange emotion washed over her. However shabby and ugly it looked, this was the family that had stayed by her side for a full twenty years. She regarded it with fond eyes for a long moment — then, without a shred of hesitation, unleashed the breakthrough she had held in check.
Goodbye, Five Spiritual Roots. Let’s meet again as a prettier set of Four.
Grrrooan…
Leaving behind the oddly mournful demise of the Five Spiritual Roots, a violent tremor shook her entire mental world, accompanied by a sound like something tearing apart. Alarmed by the force of the collapse, she yanked her consciousness back to reality.
Flash!
Her submerged mind snapped back. Everything felt oddly unreal; she blinked. At some point, the evolution of her spiritual root had already finished.
“Hh—!”
She inhaled without thinking — and startled. Spiritual qi poured into her like a tidal wave, drenching her meridians. The volume was a full three times what it had been before.
“Whoa!”
She trembled as she played with the spiritual qi like sticky rice cakes. Control, sensitivity, intake capacity — all of it was on another plane entirely. It felt like a person whose vision had been so poor they could see nothing, putting on glasses for the first time: the whole world sharp, clean, and new.
“So this… is a Four Spiritual Roots cultivator…!”
Had the world always been this beautiful? Gazing around the cultivation chamber saturated with spiritual qi, Nain felt a pang of pity for everyone stuck with Five Spiritual Roots. They would never see this magnificent sight.
“Poor ordinary folks.”
She giggled behind her hand, then reined in her feelings. Today still had a great deal of work left in it.
At once she began drawing in spiritual qi, preparing to break through to Qi Refinement Stage, Two Stars.
The five elements — Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth — divided into yin and yang became the Ten Heavenly Stems. The attribute of the first Spiritual Star at Nain’s center was Gui Water, belonging to Yin Water. Yang Water symbolized great rivers and seas; Yin Water, therefore, was the delicacy of water itself.
Excluding the center, eight positions remained. The Five Elements Spirit Ascension Enlightenment Method filled the eight directions clockwise. First, then, was the north.
With her breathing, she guided the spiritual energy filling her dantian upward. As she focused, reciting the method’s formula inwardly, the energy began to cohere on its own. The core formula of the Five Elements Spirit Ascension Enlightenment Method was mutual generation — a rising cycle of support.
With Gui Water as the nucleus, I awaken the birth of all things.
By the principle of water generating wood, Nain’s second star took on the attribute of Jia Wood. A vivid, living blue — the color of life itself — sank into the spiritual energy. Black and blue tangled together in just the right measure, forming a pure, clear star.
But that was not the end.
Current Realm: Qi Refinement Stage, 1 Star — 100%
(+100% Spiritual Energy Compression Limit)
Spiritual energy compressed past its limit poured into the completed Jia Wood Star. The northern star, still small beside the central Gui Water Star, fed on the energy and swelled. Its final size did not fall short of the first star at all.
Fwaaah!
The finished Jia Wood Star of dark blue light rose in the north. The central Gui Water Star turned in heavy orbit alongside it, resonating. Waves of resonating spiritual energy wound thickly through her dantian as the two stars generated and elevated each other.
Water soaked a parched body; a tree set roots upon the river. But it could go no further. There were not enough of the five elements yet.
She set the regret aside. Excessive greed was worse than having nothing at all.
That’s enough for today.
Nain lifted eyelids that felt a thousand catties heavy. Consciousness that had sunk deep into her body surfaced and swept the surroundings. A sneeze burst out of her against her will.
“Ahem—cough!”
From that moment, a sense of déjà vu prickled. No. Don’t tell me — again?
Dust floating in the air made her nose itch; her throat, stripped of moisture, cracked and ached. Ignoring it, she hurriedly tapped the terminal on her wrist.
Immortal Calendar Year 470 (CE 2500)
January 17 — 05:45
“Ah. Only two days. Thank goodness.”
Unlike last time, two whole weeks had not slipped away.
She stepped out of the cultivation chamber, drank some water, and stretched her stiff body thoroughly. Her shoulders and the backside that had been sitting for so long ached especially hard.
And look at that — my skin’s glowing again.
Nain examined the self-luminous skin covering her whole body. Last time it had shone pure white; this time it glowed a soft dark blue, as if she had turned into a blue-skinned alien.
Well, this should fade once enough time passes.
It was residual spiritual energy left in the flesh after a realm advancement — a phenomenon known as luminous disease. Ordinary people never heard of it in their entire lives, but geniuses with Three Spiritual Roots or better experienced it at least once. And here it was, paying another visit without fail.
“Yaaawn…!”
Conveniently, it was five in the morning — the hour her favorite documentary aired. She burrowed under a blanket on the living-room sofa.
Pou~
The moment she reached for the remote to start the broadcast, Pou emerged from the cultivation chamber, weaving unsteadily as if still half-asleep.
“Wait. Scrolls sleep too?”
She laughed once at the absurdity and scooped Pou up. Time to check the results of this simultaneous advancement.
“I wonder how much I’ve changed?”
Fwaaah!
Dark characters, like shadows, engraved themselves across the white paper.