Chapter 227: Sacred Divine Slash

After returning to his log cabin, Chen Mobai immediately took out a mid-grade spirit stone from his storage pouch.

Unlike the immortal sect's spirit stones that Che Yucheng used, which had been repeatedly recharged and contained only about 60-70% of their spiritual energy, this spirit stone he obtained from the Divine Wood Sect was unused and brimming with spiritual energy.

Chen Mobai had a total of six such mid-grade spirit stones. All were hard-earned during his four years at the Divine Wood Sect. Two were his welfare benefits from the Spirit Plant Department, one was given by Sun Gaochang for purchasing spirit wine, and the remaining three were a reward from Sun Gaochang, arranged with logistics, after he surpassed all true disciples to rank first.

Considering this, the Spirit Plant Department was indeed quite good. As long as one focused on cultivation, not only would no one bother them, but various welfare benefits and rewards were never in short supply.

After inserting a mid-grade spirit stone into the No-Phase Puppet's energy slot, Chen Mobai, following the control mental method taught by Che Yucheng, linked his divine sense with the puppet's core chip controller. In an instant, Chen Mobai felt as if he had exchanged bodies.

Through the No-Phase Puppet's visual capture, he saw himself sitting cross-legged on a futon with his eyes closed, after his divine sense had left his body. Reaching out his hand, he touched his own cheek with the puppet's palm, a very strange sensation.

This was the deepest method of puppet manipulation, known as the "Descent of Divinity Art." As the name suggested, it involved integrating one's divine sense into the puppet, allowing for perfect control over the puppet's movements, for performing spells, engaging in combat, or carrying out tasks.

The only drawback was that after employing the "Descent of Divinity Art," one's physical body would become uncontrollable. However, there was a way to solve this. One only needed to "Split Spirit and Manifest Thoughts." The "Spirit Control Art" that Qing Nü gave him contained the cultivation methods for these divine sense techniques.

This divine sense method had four layers. Qing Nü had put considerable thought into choosing this cultivation art back then, as it was most suitable for Chen Mobai at that time. He had asked Che Yucheng, who also said that this cultivation art was very helpful for practicing puppet manipulation.

The first layer of the Spirit Control Art was called "Divine Sense Egress." Once mastered, it conferred divine sense strength equivalent to the Foundation Establishment realm. Chen Mobai's ability to easily complete the final step of Foundation Establishment was attributed to this.

The second layer was named "Split Spirit and Manifest Thoughts." It required splitting one's divine sense. After splitting into two, both portions of divine sense could simultaneously progress and improve, which was equivalent to double the efficiency.

The third layer, "Fusion of Spirit into One," involved waiting until the separated divine sense was almost as strong as the main divine sense, then re-merging the two divine senses. This would then dramatically increase one's divine sense by two-fold. The steps of the second and third layers could be repeated continuously until one's divine sense became powerful enough to fill the entire Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness, which signified the complete mastery of the Spirit Control Art.

Finally, the fourth layer was called "Wandering Spirit, Controlling Qi." With the sheer power of one's divine sense alone, one could ascend to the heavens and descend into the earth, and unleash a formidable spell called "Spirit Control Slash." It was said to instantly kill targets within ten li with a single thought.

For opponents whose divine sense realm was inferior to one's own, this "Spirit Control Slash" could achieve an overwhelming suppressive effect, making it a truly devastating technique for realm suppression. Chen Mobai was a staunch believer in the "realm suppression theory," and he felt it was highly necessary for him to master this "Spirit Control Slash."

However, his main priority now was to first master "Split Spirit and Manifest Thoughts." This way, he could control the No-Phase Puppet to launch a pincer attack simultaneously while fighting an opponent himself.

After establishing his foundation, he had already perfected the first layer of the Spirit Control Art. Now, he could proceed with the second layer, "Split Spirit and Manifest Thoughts," at any time. However, the Spirit Control Art specifically noted that splitting one's divine sense would cause intense pain and discomfort. Those with wavering willpower were advised not to cultivate this step, and could instead switch to other, more gentle divine sense enhancement techniques.

This reminded Chen Mobai of the "Nourishing Thought Forging Spirit Art" and the "Exciting Spirit Wandering Heaven Art," where the former was gentle and the latter intense. At that time, for his college entrance examination, he had actually wanted to try the faster "Exciting Spirit Wandering Heaven Art," but unfortunately, he couldn't afford or acquire the second-tier "thought incense," so he could only choose the slower "Nourishing Thought Forging Spirit Art."

Now that he had established his foundation, and was considered a middle-tier member of the immortal sect, he was qualified to purchase some spiritual elixirs and miraculous medicines that could stabilize divine sense and nourish the mind. He could finally give it a try.

He logged out and then back into his immortal sect network account, 'If I Become the Green Emperor in Future Years'. Upon refreshing, two halos appeared, indicating his upgrade from the Qi Condensation realm to the Foundation Establishment realm, and unlocking the ability to purchase all second-tier spiritual items on the immortal sect's network.

Compared to first-tier items, which were often in short supply due to three hundred million cultivators scrambling to buy them, second-tier items were much easier to acquire. Chen Mobai checked the immortal sect's official website and found that there were still 34 boxes of second-tier "thought incense" in stock. However, the price was a bit steep, requiring 120,000 good deeds points per box. But he had no choice; as it was a necessity, he had to buy it.

After buying the thought incense, Chen Mobai then looked at spiritual brushes for talisman drawing. He now needed a second-tier talisman brush, and found that even the cheapest required 390,000 good deeds points. He could only shake his head, deciding to instead find some raw materials at the Divine Wood Sect and have someone custom-make it for him. Ming Yihua had already inquired about the craftsmanship fee for a second-tier talisman brush for him, and it only cost 20,000 good deeds points, which was very cheap. He had already thought it all through.

For the brush handle, he would use the second-tier golden-edged jade bamboo from the Water Mansion. Now that he had established his foundation, this item was no longer very useful to him. Furthermore, after removing the formation plate embedded with high-grade spirit stones, the spiritual energy in that area would only grow weaker, and growing bamboo there would only lead to its decay. As for the brush tip, he had also inquired. The Spirit Beast Department of the Divine Wood Sect kept six second-tier Profound Spirit Rabbits. After he returned post-Foundation Establishment, he would be considered an elder-level figure, so obtaining two tufts of rabbit fur shouldn't be a problem.

Since the thought incense would take two more days to be delivered, Chen Mobai began to tinker with the No-Phase Puppet again.

After establishing his foundation, both of the cultivation arts he practiced needed to be updated. The "Pure Yang Scroll" was easy to deal with. It was originally one of the two major inherited cultivation arts of the Wuqi Dao Academy. The library contained its five major chapters, from the Qi Condensation chapter to the Spirit Transformation chapter, but all required corresponding permissions to exchange, to prevent students from aiming too high too quickly. After leaving Che Yucheng, Chen Mobai went directly to the library and obtained the Pure Yang Foundation Establishment chapter.

However, this was actually of little use to him at the moment. Because he had established his foundation using the "Eternal Life Scripture," and had focused on this wood-attribute cultivation art for the past few years, he had barely cultivated the Pure Yang Scroll. He had only naturally broken through to the seventh layer of Qi Condensation as his Pure Yang Dharma Body improved. Speaking of which, his Pure Yang Dharma Body had been progressing steadily using spirit stones over the past few years. At an efficiency of one spirit stone every three days, he had already mastered the Two Yang Body. It was just that the Three Yang Body was a bit delayed. 900 spirit stones would require 2,700 days, which was over seven years. To date, he had only progressed less than halfway with the Three Yang Body. Fortunately, he had heeded Che Yucheng's advice and first established his foundation using the Eternal Life Scripture. Otherwise, he might only have been able to master the Three Yang Body and take this step by his eighth year of study.

However, after establishing his foundation, Chen Mobai also found that his speed in converting spiritual roots using spirit stones had increased.