Chapter 253: Four-Level Ancient Soul Technique, Second Nascent Soul Secret Method

Perhaps because of the better preservation in this area, the number of blood corpses was extremely small. Consequently, the power of the formations encountered increased sharply.

After all, the Heavenly Soul Sect was one of the ancient dominant forces. Even the residual formations made it difficult for them to fully break through. Identity tokens were one of the correct methods.

A short while later, they arrived at the Heavenly Soul Sect's Scripture Repository.

As Wang Yu attempted to cross, a light gray barrier suddenly appeared, blocking him. The two exchanged glances, then simultaneously produced their tokens and pressed them against the barrier. The barrier immediately responded with wave-like ripples, then swallowed them like water as they stepped forward.

His vision dimmed for a moment, and when it cleared, Wang Yu found himself on the tenth floor of the repository.泷 Yiran was no longer beside him. It was clear that the tokens determined which floor they could access.

He carefully surveyed the tenth floor. Jade slips hung uniformly on the walls. This area was much more spacious than it appeared from the outside. Most of the jade slips were grayish-black, indicating a loss of their inherent power. As expected, when Wang Yu reached out to touch one, it crumbled into a handful of dust and drifted away.

He couldn't help but sigh, "Time is truly a terrifying force." Jade slips transmit knowledge through texts and insights inscribed within them using spiritual sense, typically prepared by cultivators for convenience. Over time, the spiritual sense within them faded and was not replenished, causing the jade slips themselves to decay. It seemed the most primitive methods of recording information were the safest.

As he scanned the room, most of the jade slips hanging on the walls were indeed damaged. However, some had survived. After he extracted and fully absorbed the information from them using his spiritual sense, the jade slips would then crumble into dust, having completed their final transmission.

"Excellent," Wang Yu murmured. This discovery alone was enough to satisfy him. It consisted almost entirely of advanced spiritual sense techniques, complete with the insights of ancient practitioners. These included: spiritual threads, soul extraction, telekinesis, soul shock, meditative spirit enhancement, commanding spirits and ghosts, soul absorption, and many more. This knowledge thoroughly refined his rudimentary spiritual sense applications. These advanced techniques were fundamental and would provide him with a lifetime of study. While not offensive secret arts, the benefits were undoubtedly immense.

And this was only a portion of their knowledge; it was hard to imagine the depth of the Heavenly Soul Sect's research into the soul path during its peak.

In addition to these spiritual sense techniques, he also found a complete Tier 4 secret art and a fragmented one whose tier was indiscernible.

The former was the Heavenly Infant Body Seizure Rebirth Art! This was an exceptionally profound body-seizing secret art, usable only by Nascent Soul cultivators. According to its description, it allowed one to perfectly reshape their own body within another's. While appearing to be a simple body seizure, it was actually a form of rebirth by using another's shell. It was most effective when seizing a newborn infant and could even extend one's lifespan by a hundred years, which was truly formidable. It was important to note that typical body-seizing techniques could not extend a Nascent Soul cultivator's lifespan. If a cultivator at 1,000 years old performed a body seizure, they would still only have 600 years of life remaining. This specific secret art, however, could absorb the lifespan of an infant. Of course, this benefit only applied to the first use; subsequent uses would not integrate additional lifespan. Wang Yu doubted he would ever need to use this secret art. Nevertheless, he was keen to learn it.

The latter was the Soul-Shattering Death Ray! This was a fragmented soul path divine ability, though not too severely damaged. Based on Wang Yu's assessment, the surviving portions were at a Tier 3 level. If completed, it would be at least Tier 4, and possibly even more powerful.

After reviewing his gains, a smile spread across his face. "Do true disciples of the Heavenly Soul Sect really possess such authority, or was the owner of this token someone special?" He was inclined to believe the latter.

After he had finished examining everything, he noticed a dark, octagonal stone platform in the center of the floor. It was only knee-high, resembling a meditation platform. Blurred ancient script was carved into its side. Wang Yu struggled to decipher it for a while before a look of pleasant surprise crossed his face as he finally confirmed its meaning: "The complete Ancient Soul Art is indeed here." Fortunately, it wasn't transmitted through a jade slip; otherwise, he might not have been able to complete it.

After a moment's hesitation, Wang Yu sat cross-legged on the platform. The Ancient Soul Art automatically began to circulate, as if triggered by his presence. Each time he completed a full cycle of cultivation, a new passage of scripture would naturally appear in his mind. This was the Tier 3 content of the art. Discovering the profound utility of the octagonal stone platform, Wang Yu settled in, continuously absorbing the complete inheritance.

Then, something unexpected occurred.

Inside his Niwan Palace. This was the repository of one's soul, and all of Wang Yu's cultivated spiritual sense power resided here, appearing as a vast, misty gray expanse. Hundreds of dark paper boats moved through the mist, constantly circling a shimmering azure light mass, like a protective layer. These were manifestations of the basic Soul-Carving Evil Boat Curse. Around the azure light mass was a ring of white light, representing Wang Yu's Heavenly Soul One Qi secret art. This art could both enhance his spiritual sense and protect his Niwan Palace from external evil, even purifying the Niwan itself. Its comprehensiveness was remarkable.

At that moment, within the azure light mass, a phantom of Wang Yu appeared. This was not his true soul, but the miraculous Ancient Soul, formed by the complete mastery of the Ancient Soul Art! As the cultivation method continued to be perfected, the Ancient Soul grew brighter, and the phantom began to solidify. However, a new crisis simultaneously emerged.

Rustling sounds emanated from the mist shrouding his Niwan Palace. This sensation was eerily familiar, like someone whispering in his ear. He couldn't quite discern the whispers, nor could he explain them. Yet, they instilled a deep sense of irritation. Wisps of black qi emerged from the surface of Wang Yu's Ancient Soul, transforming into malicious ghostly faces. These faces howled, dispersing the spiritual sense around the Ancient Soul. Neither the black paper boats nor the Heavenly Soul One Qi reacted, but Wang Yu's consciousness suddenly sharpened, and his eyes widened.

Heavenly Demon Malice! He was all too familiar with this power and had never expected the Heavenly Soul Sect's inheritance to be so intrinsically linked to the legendary Heavenly Demons.

Immediately afterward, the octagonal stone platform transmitted a method for refining Heavenly Demon Malice and strengthening the origin of the divine soul. Wang Yu instantly hesitated. Having previously cultivated the Demonic Embryo Profound Origin Secret Art, he deeply understood the terrifying nature of Heavenly Demon Malice. A single misstep could lead to personality distortion and corruption, or, in severe cases, the complete loss of one's body and essence to the malevolent thoughts. To ensure absolute safety, he had never actively absorbed Heavenly Demon Malice to nourish his demonic embryo, relying solely on the passive growth provided by his cultivation slots.

"The demonic path is indeed extreme, but its effects are undeniably potent." As he hesitated, the ghostly faces surrounding his Ancient Soul, unrefined, began to manifest a desire to devour souls, and started gnawing at Wang Yu's Ancient Soul. "Damn!"

Without further hesitation, Wang Yu activated all six of his cultivation slots, dedicating them all to this segment of the Ancient Soul Art for emergency processing. Indeed, with a sixfold efficiency boost, the Heavenly Demon Malice, emanating from nothingness, was swiftly captured. It transformed into individual black orbs, eventually coalescing into 108 beads that hung around the Ancient Soul's neck, resembling a string of Buddhist prayer beads!

Wang Yu's brow furrowed. Could the Heavenly Soul Sect's inheritance have incorporated remnants from Buddhist traditions? Given that one was ancient and the other primordial, separated by tens of thousands of years, it wasn't impossible.

After an indeterminate amount of time, once the octagonal stone platform's transmission was complete, Wang Yu immediately exited his cultivation state. As he restored his cultivation slots, his expression became subtly grim. He had succeeded.

The complete Ancient Soul Art was a top-grade Tier 4 soul cultivation method, powerful enough to enable a practitioner to cultivate Tier 5 spiritual sense. However, its ultimate purpose upon completion was to refine the Ancient Soul into a Second Nascent Soul! Using spiritual sense as material, Heavenly Demon Malice as bone, and a portion of Wang Yu's soul as the foundation, it aimed to create a Second Nascent Soul—a pinnacle soul-splitting technique in this world. The two would be indistinguishable; if Wang Yu's main body perished, the Second Nascent Soul would seamlessly transform into his primary form.

While seemingly impressive, this very aspect touched upon Wang Yu's deepest reservations. The greatest taboo for a spiritual avatar was the emergence of an independent consciousness, especially when extremely dangerous elements like Heavenly Demon Malice were involved. To a certain extent, instability was almost guaranteed. For Wang Yu, the value of this Ancient Soul Art was significantly diminished!

"Alas," Wang Yu sighed deeply and gracefully rose from the octagonal stone platform. To control the three corpses in battle, his spiritual sense would need to achieve another breakthrough. Otherwise, he could only control a single Tier 3 refined corpse at any given time. What else could he do? He would just have to practice it for now. In any case, he couldn't expect to perfect it within a century or two, and without achieving the Nascent Soul stage, the Second Nascent Soul could not even begin to form. Besides, there might be a solution in the future. He felt that the Demonic Embryo Profound Origin, also utilizing Heavenly Demon Malice, was more profound and sophisticated. He just didn't know its origin. If the opportunity arose in the future, perhaps he could personally inquire with the Nine-Sword Evil Monarch.

With the cultivation method now complete, Wang Yu also acquired a collection of spiritual sense secret arts, pill recipes, and soul artifact forging methods. These were primarily advanced versions of the Tier 2 Ancient Soul Art, mostly Tier 3. There were fewer Tier 4 secret arts, and one even required the Second Nascent Soul, which was of limited use to him for now.

Mountain Search for Demons — Tier 3: Traces Across Ten Thousand Miles! The range of his gray-white vision expanded significantly, though at an increased cost. It allowed for much finer detection; within a certain range, even the patterns on a mosquito's wings could be seen with perfect clarity. Ordinary stealth techniques were rendered virtually useless, as it could penetrate most environmental obstructions, such as earth, mountains, dense fog, and other natural formations.

Soul Shattering Finger — Tier 3: Soul Extinguishing Finger! This upgraded version offered a substantial increase in power. While not particularly remarkable otherwise, it gained the ability to induce amnesia. With careful control of its force, it could erase memories without harming the soul.

Heavenly Soul One Qi — Tier 3: Heavenly Soul One Qi! With the cultivation method fully upgraded, these secret arts also transitioned smoothly. Because Wang Yu had already cultivated them to the pinnacle of their previous tiers, his progress in cultivating their advanced versions would be exceptionally swift. He could achieve minor mastery within a few months, a benefit of his previous accumulation. Despite being Tier 3 spiritual sense secret arts, they still presented some cultivation challenges. Even so, this pace was significantly faster than cultivating Tier 3 secret arts from scratch. He was confident that within fifteen years, he could progressively advance them to the realm of grand mastery. However, achieving complete perfection would require reliance on his cultivation slots, as he simply didn't possess the immense amount of energy needed otherwise.

Regarding the pill recipes, the cost of the ingredients was becoming increasingly prohibitive, with some components he had never even heard of. Nevertheless, if he wanted his spiritual sense to quickly break through to the mid-Tier 3 stage, alchemical assistance would be indispensable.

As for soul artifacts: Glazed Soul Lamp — Tier 3: Eight-Petal Soul Lotus Treasure Lamp! Soul Suppressing Seal — Tier 3: Nether Tiger Ghost Prison Seal! He also acquired methods for a new Soul-Scattering Evil Whip and the Tier 4 soul artifact, the Ancient Soul Sword. All of these were high-end items that would be difficult to refine in a short period.