Vol. 1 - Ch. 37 - The Weapon

Chapter 37: The Weapon

Ji Yaoge entered seclusion.

If she didn’t, she feared she might truly become a demoness trapped in a spider’s lair. Although she retreated into the stone chamber, she knew she wouldn’t have three months or more to cultivate in peace. She needed to act quickly.

Taking out the jade slip of the Enchanting Bone Art, she infused her divine sense into it—

The darkness before her eyes gradually faded, revealing a familiar scene: Yuan Huan’s "Spider Cave." A massive spider web hung in mid-air, and Meigu sat atop it, her skirt slit high, revealing two long legs dangling and swaying in the air. She held a long smoking pipe in her hand, her gaze piercing through the smoke she exhaled from her red lips, looking down at Ji Yaoge.

It seemed she was prepared for a long conversation today.

Ji Yaoge thought as much.

There was no need for Ji Yaoge to explain her problems; Meigu already understood everything. "So, how does it feel to choke on more than you can handle?"

"..." Ji Yaoge found her smile as annoying as Yuan Huan’s, but she had to admit, "Not good."

"You were too greedy. That’s not a good thing," Meigu blew another ring of smoke at her, her misty eyes carrying a seductive charm.

"I admit it." Ji Yaoge didn’t try to defend her greed. The opportunity was too rare; she was like a poor person who suddenly discovered a treasure trove—there was no reason to leave empty-handed.

"You tried to run before you could walk. You deserved it," Meigu said coldly.

"Besides the Wonderful Lotus Mantra, is there no other way to control emotions?" Ji Yaoge accepted the rebuke and shifted to the topic she was more concerned about. She couldn’t always absorb spirit bones lower than her own level, just as she couldn’t guarantee that every enemy she encountered would be weaker than her. Even if there wasn’t a one-size-fits-all solution, she believed there had to be a way to reasonably control her emotions.

Meigu twirled the smoking pipe in her hand, then jumped down from the spider web, exhaling smoke to either side. The smoke suddenly transformed into two figures. Ji Yaoge raised an eyebrow, recognizing the Snake Demon Hook Chen and the Red Flame Bird. The two demons flanked Meigu, their forms flickering in and out of the smoke.

"The Wonderful Lotus Mantra is just an aid, helping you stay calm while absorbing spirit bones, but it can’t guarantee you won’t be affected. Hook Chen, Red Flame, Jiang Jiao—these are all demon beasts that have cultivated for a thousand years. A thousand years of worldly experience condensed into their final obsessions before death. The emotions contained within are things you’ve never experienced before. How can you expect to control them so easily?" Meigu, accompanied by the illusions of the two demons, paced toward her. "If you can’t fully comprehend them, you can’t completely dissolve them. They will remain in your soul sea forever. You might be able to control and use them, turning their nature into a weapon of seduction, but you’ll never be able to fully integrate them, to wield these emotions at will, or to incorporate them into your soul, transforming them into the Enchanting Bone in others’ hearts."

Ji Yaoge suddenly thought of the swordsmanship principles of the Wu Xiang Sword Sect—those profound yet common teachings that they often heard but also often forgot because they never truly understood them. Meigu’s words were similar to the sword intent of the Wu Xiang Sword Sect.

It was like a sword. When she couldn’t master the sword techniques, the sword was just a sword, and if it exceeded her abilities, it might even harm her. When she mastered the techniques but hadn’t grasped the sword intent, the sword became a weapon, but only a weapon. When she understood the sword's intent and integrated the sword into her soul, the sword became a part of her, naturally under her control. Beyond that, when the sword intent became fully integrated, it was the unity of man and sword. Not only could she control it at will, but the sword could move with her thoughts, transforming into a sword spirit, the ultimate realm of swordsmanship.

The two concepts were likely the same.

But now, she was only at the lowest level of the path of enchantment.

"Mind techniques are difficult to cultivate. Now that you’ve reached the Foundation Establishment stage, you can absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. If you want to return to traditional cultivation methods, it’s still possible. Although slower, it’s more stable. What I’ve taught you so far is only the most basic method. However, once you formally step into the path of Enchanting Bone, there’s no turning back. Your primordial spirit, soul sea, and entire being will change, tempered by countless emotions. The beliefs and rules you once held dear will be shattered. You will no longer be the person you were, but you must still retain your original heart, uncorrupted. This is a difficult path. Your enemy will be yourself, not external dangers. Think it over carefully."

Meigu spoke slowly, and Ji Yaoge looked at her, sometimes seeing Hook Chen, sometimes seeing Red Flame, the two constantly shifting, never revealing her true form.

She was giving Ji Yaoge a choice, acknowledging that she had always held back in her teachings. Only by showing Ji Yaoge the difficulties and dangers of this path could the choice be meaningful.

Ji Yaoge didn’t answer immediately. She was no longer impulsive, but she didn’t hesitate for long either. Just as she had chosen to devour the spirit bones of demon beasts, every choice carried risks. Indeed, she could return to traditional cultivation methods now, but even at the Foundation Establishment stage, this body couldn’t compare to Bai Yun’s talent. She could only follow the old path, cultivating step by step, which was far less exciting than the Enchanting Bone Art.

The uncertainty, whether good or bad, stirred her, awakening the long-suppressed adventurous spirit within her. She was becoming less like her old self, or rather, she was increasingly unwilling to be a conventional person.

"I’ve thought it through. I want to cultivate the Enchanting Bone mind technique."

Meigu’s expression wasn’t exactly one of approval or admiration, but it was at least one of relief.

"Very well, then I will teach you the third chapter of the Enchanting Bone mind technique—the Hua Hun Shu (Soul Transformation Technique)."

The illusions of the Snake Demon and Red Flame Bird merged with Meigu, her appearance unchanged, but she now possessed the allure of both the snake and the bird. She was still the same person, but with an added charm that didn’t belong to her.

"The Soul Transformation Technique uses the power of the soul sea to suppress and utilize spirit bones, transforming them into weapons. There are two ways to practice this technique. The first is to suppress the spirit bones into your soul, forming your Meixiang (Enchanting Form). This is a superficial transformation, useful for illusion and seduction. The second is to refine the spirit bones into spiritual weapons, granting you the innate killing move of the spirit bone’s original owner. The former is reversible; if you want to enter seclusion for cultivation, you can revert the Enchanting Form back into spirit bones for further comprehension. The latter is irreversible, and each spirit bone can only be refined into one spiritual weapon, which can only be used once."

Ji Yaoge listened intently, her heart pounding. The power of the Soul Transformation Technique was evident in Meigu’s brief explanation. To possess the innate killing move of a spirit bone’s original owner, even if only once, was a significant advantage for any cultivator.

However, such a powerful technique wouldn’t be easy to master. Though excited, she didn’t interrupt, and sure enough, Meigu continued, "Of course, refining spiritual weapons isn’t easy. There’s a high chance of failure, resulting in a wasted spirit bone. Additionally, the spirit bones suppressed in your soul sea aren’t dissolved. While you can use them, they can also backfire, subtly influencing your behavior and even turning passive into active control. These are uncontrollable risks. Naturally, if you want to truly master this technique, dissolving and comprehending the spirit bones is the only way. The Wonderful Lotus Mantra and Soul Transformation Technique are merely aids to the Enchanting Bone mind technique. Do you understand?"

"I understand," Ji Yaoge nodded solemnly.

"Then let’s begin." Meigu flew back to the spider web and sat down.

Ji Yaoge closed her eyes.

——

Once she entered seclusion, the rising and setting of the sun and moon no longer mattered to her.

Her soul sea churned, the undissolved spirit bones swirling in the vortex like a beautiful star cluster. Her divine sense transformed into a giant hand in the void of her primordial spirit, fishing out the spirit bones from the vortex. She tightly wrapped them with her primordial spirit’s power, seeking out the purest essence within each bone, then using the primordial spirit’s power to ignite a fire, slowly refining the spirit bones into spiritual weapons the size of a fist—

This process required her to focus her divine sense intensely, controlling the primordial spirit’s fire. Each spirit bone required a different level of heat, testing not only her concentration and the strength of her primordial spirit but also her control over it.

The entire process was less about refining spiritual weapons and more about tempering her primordial spirit, making her divine sense more stable and her primordial spirit stronger. This was also a form of foundational cultivation.

When her primordial spirit became strong enough, it meant her Dao heart was firm, making her less susceptible to external influences. No matter how many temptations surrounded her, she could remain true to herself.

Bang—

The first spiritual weapon exploded within her primordial spirit, turning into useless fragments.

The second, third... the tenth... all shattered into useless bone fragments. It wasn’t until the eighteenth attempt that she achieved a small success, refining a deep gray spiritual weapon.

Spiritual weapons came in different grades. Though all contained the innate killing move of the spirit bone’s original owner, their strength varied depending on the refinement process. A gray spiritual weapon indicated incomplete refinement, making it the lowest grade. Its effectiveness would be limited. Above gray were blue, green, and white, with white being the purest and most powerful, but also the hardest to refine.

Ji Yaoge spent day and night refining spiritual weapons. Initially, she failed more often than not, but as she progressed, she could consistently produce gray-grade spiritual weapons. With practice, she began to produce blue-grade weapons, and occasionally, green-grade ones. This was largely thanks to the large number of spirit bones she had absorbed, allowing her to practice and advance faster than others.

When she had refined most of the ordinary demon beast spirit bones, only the three most difficult ones remained: Hook Chen, Red Flame, and Jiang Jiao. These three spirit bones were too precious to waste by refining them into spiritual weapons. After some thought, she decided to refine only Jiang Jiao’s spirit bone into a spiritual weapon, while the other two would be used for her Enchanting Form.

The process of forming an Enchanting Form was similar to refining spiritual weapons, relying on the power of the primordial spirit. First, she infused her divine sense into the spirit bone, using her own divine sense to suppress the bone’s obsession, then buried the spirit bone deep within her soul sea using the power of her primordial spirit. This process was simpler than refining spiritual weapons, with less chance of error, but it consumed more of her primordial spirit. After burying Hook Chen and Red Flame’s bones in her soul sea, her primordial spirit and spiritual energy were exhausted, forcing her to meditate for a full cycle before refining the final Jiang Jiao Lion’s spirit bone.

She saved this spirit bone for last because Jiang Jiao Lion’s cultivation was the highest, making it the hardest to refine. But she didn’t want to waste such a valuable spirit bone—failure was not an option.

Her soul sea roiled, pushing out the final Jiang Jiao Lion spirit bone. The primordial spirit’s fire flickered, slowly refining the spirit bone, its color and shape gradually changing. Ji Yaoge wasn’t in a hurry, adjusting her state of mind to its peak...

Bang.

A small explosion sounded as the primordial spirit’s fire extinguished, leaving a green spiritual weapon floating in mid-air.

Ji Yaoge opened her eyes, her body drenched in sweat.

The Jiang Jiao Lion, with a thousand years of cultivation, had reached a level close to the Golden Core stage of human cultivators. Its green-grade innate killing move—Lion King’s Roar—was a technique capable of challenging Core Formation cultivators in life-and-death battles.

This was her terrifying weapon for fighting above her level.

——

With the spirit bones refined, Ji Yaoge meditated for several more cycles, restoring her primordial spirit and spiritual energy to normal before emerging from the stone chamber.

One Jiang Jiao Lion’s green-grade spiritual weapon, nine ordinary demon beast green-grade spiritual weapons, and countless blue and gray-grade spiritual weapons—she hadn’t even counted them all. Such a massive harvest put her in a great mood, helping her move past the shadow of losing control. She stepped out of the stone chamber, feeling refreshed.

Outside, more than ten days had passed.

Two more snowfalls had blanketed Shigong Ridge in white. The demon beast corpses piled outside the cave had been cleaned up, with the furs, bones, blood, and crystals neatly sorted and stored in various stone chambers. Although the damaged cave hadn’t been repaired, the mess had been cleaned up. The wooden girl and Bai Yan were indeed efficient.

During this time, the wooden girl had also selected the best furs and sewn a set of clothes for everyone. As Ji Yaoge stepped out, Xiao Bai was draping a snow fox cloak over Bai Yan. Seeing her emerge, she quickly abandoned Bai Yan, grabbed a cloak, and rushed over to her.

"You’re out." The wooden girl had changed her strategy. To gain a few more days of freedom, she decided to flatter herself. She unfolded the cloak and smiled warmly, "Try it on. I sewed this cloak using Fire Sparrow feathers. It’s light, beautiful, warm, and resistant to both water and fire."

Fire Sparrows were flocking demon beasts, each bird no bigger than a palm. To sew this cloak, she must have spent considerable effort gathering enough feathers. But there was no denying that the Fire Sparrow feathers were indeed beautiful. The fine red feathers shimmered with a golden-orange hue in the sunlight, and the natural patterns on the feathers resembled flickering flames, adding a touch of vitality to the cloak.

Ji Yaoge spread her arms, and the wooden girl, delighted, draped the cloak over her shoulders. Ji Yaoge’s voice, soft and tinged with amusement, said, "You’ve put in a lot of effort."

The breath brushed past her ear, and the wooden girl suddenly stammered, "I-I-I... it was no trouble, no trouble at all." She felt her heart pounding like a drum.

By then, Bai Yan had approached, his eyes lighting up as he looked at Ji Yaoge. He praised, "Beautiful! Senior Sister should have dressed like this long ago."

Ji Yaoge looked at him. Bai Yan was already handsome, and the snow fox cloak made him look even more refined and elegant, with a touch of otherworldliness. She smiled, her eyes curving, "Junior Brother looks great too, even more handsome."

There was a warmth in her eyes that had never been there before, making Bai Yan’s heart skip a beat. Something felt off, but when he looked closely, she seemed no different—just...

"Ji Yaoge, come inside." A cold voice came from the cave entrance. Yuan Huan had appeared in the snow, still wearing his thin robe, and called out to her.

Seeing his serious expression, as if something urgent had come up, Ji Yaoge nodded and headed back into the cave. After a few steps, the wooden girl grabbed her hand.

"This is for Brother Yuan. He’s been acting scary these past two days. Can you give it to him for me?" The wooden girl stuffed a piece of clothing into her arms.

Ji Yaoge glanced at it and smiled, "Alright," before continuing into the cave.

The wooden girl watched her retreating figure and nudged Bai Yan with her elbow. "Big Brother Bai, don’t you think she’s become... cooler?"

"No," Bai Yan also stared at her retreating figure. "I think she’s become more beautiful..."

Cooler? More beautiful? It was hard to say.

It just felt like she was different.

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