Chapter 297 - 285: Spirit Cultivation Map
Chapter 297: Chapter 285: Spirit Cultivation Map
Zhao Lin grabbed a Spirit Stone and looked at the Spirit Beast Scroll in his mind.
’You wanted Spirit Stones, didn’t you?’
’Here you go!’
After fading to gray, the Spirit Beast Scroll’s surface was shrouded in a hazy mist, making it seem indistinct, as though it had fallen into a deep sleep.
But the moment Zhao Lin grabbed the Spirit Stone, the mist dissipated, and the Spirit Beast Scroll suddenly lit up, emitting a clear chime!
Dozens of silver threads extended from the Spirit Beast Scroll, like long ’tendrils,’ shooting down Zhao Lin’s arm toward the Spirit Stone.
HISS!
When the tendrils touched the Spirit Stone, their tips instantly turned from silver-white to a jade green, a color that spread back toward the Spirit Beast Scroll.
’It’s absorbing Spiritual Qi.’
Zhao Lin’s interest was piqued, but he wasn’t surprised. He watched silently, waiting to see what would happen next.
Waves of light flowed within the Spirit Stone. Just as Dong Lingcheng had said, the snowflake-like pattern on it vanished, and Spiritual Qi began to flow into Zhao Lin’s body at a visible rate.
After a moment, the Spirit Stone’s color grew fainter, turning from jade green to a light emerald, then slowly fading to gray.
Finally, with a CRUMBLE, it turned into a pile of dust.
Without hesitation, Zhao Lin picked up another Spirit Stone...
And so, the Spirit Beast Scroll drained one Spirit Stone, then a second, then a third, until it had consumed the Spiritual Qi of eight stones in total.
As he picked up the ninth Spirit Stone, Zhao Lin’s hand trembled slightly.
’That stings.’
But painful as it was, the Spirit Beast Scroll was his greatest asset. Never mind a few Spirit Stones—he would find a way to get hundreds if he had to.
Fortunately, after absorbing the ninth Spirit Stone, the Spirit Beast Scroll finally stopped and retracted its dozens of tendrils.
Then it trembled slightly, and ripples spread across its surface.
The nine spirit beasts in the grids slowly emerged from the "water’s surface," their shapes becoming solid and lifelike, as if they were about to spring to life.
’They aren’t going to crawl out of there, are they?’
Startled, Zhao Lin quickly glanced around.
The living room wasn’t large. If the nine spirit beasts came out, it might not be big enough to hold them, especially the largest ones, the bear and the Thunder Catfish.
But then, something unexpected happened: the Spirit Beast Scroll, along with the nine spirit beasts inside it, vanished completely!
His sea of consciousness was now empty, leaving only a vast expanse of primordial chaos.
Zhao Lin was dumbfounded.
’The Spirit Beast Scroll absorbed the energy from the Spirit Stones, and then... it just ran off?’
’Even Spirit Stones couldn’t keep you here?’
Just as he stood there stunned, a colossal Nine Palace Diagram suddenly appeared out of nowhere, blasting open the chaos and descending from above!
This Nine Palace Diagram was tens, even hundreds of times larger than the previous Spirit Beast Scroll. It stood majestically, its background as black as ink, with straight, square golden lines that looked as if they had been etched by a colossal brush.
Zhao Lin "looked up" at the Nine Palace Diagram and saw three large words emblazoned at its top: Spirit Cultivation Map!
’Spirit Cultivation Map?’
Zhao Lin muttered the name to himself and breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed the Spirit Beast Scroll hadn’t vanished but had merely taken on a new form.
Then he wondered in confusion, ’What does the ’Cultivation’ in Spirit Cultivation Map mean? How is it different from the Spirit Beast Scroll?’
His confusion didn’t last long. Just like with the Spirit Beast Scroll before, a flood of new information poured into his mind.
Zhao Lin immediately understood everything.
It turned out the Spirit Beast Scroll had evolved...
He had, intentionally or not, met the two conditions for the Spirit Beast Scroll’s evolution.
First, gathering all nine spirit beasts.
Second, providing sufficient Spiritual Qi.
The evolved Spirit Cultivation Map no longer absorbed the Essence Souls of spirit beasts. Instead, it had the ability to extract Magic from cultivators!
Zhao Lin drew in a sharp breath.
’Instead of spirit beasts, it absorbs people now?’
But as he continued to process the information, he realized it wasn’t quite what he thought.
The Spirit Cultivation Map could obtain Magic in three ways: Absorption, Tracing, and Capture.
The first method: Just like the Spirit Beast Scroll, when a cultivator dies and their Essence Soul emerges, the Spirit Cultivation Map can "Absorb" the Magic that the cultivator had mastered.
The second method: A cultivator is already dead, but their skeleton remains.
The Spirit Cultivation Map can "Trace" some of the Magic the cultivator mastered in life from their skeletal remains.
The more complete the skeleton, the more Magic the Spirit Cultivation Map can Trace.
The third method: The owner of the Spirit Cultivation Map comes into close contact with Magic—for example, by being struck by it—allowing the Spirit Cultivation Map to "Capture" the Magic.
But these benefits came with limitations and costs...
The limitation was that the Spirit Cultivation Map only had nine slots, and each slot could only hold one type of Magic. Only Magic of the same element but different tiers could be stacked in a single slot.
For example, if the Spirit Cultivation Map absorbed the "Water Avoidance Skill."
The Water Avoidance Skill is a Tier One Water Element Skill. Once absorbed, its slot cannot hold Magic of any other element.
It could only absorb higher-tier Water Element Skills, like Tier Two, Tier Three, and so on, into that same slot.
’Magic goes up to Tier Five, which means one slot can store same-element Magic from Tier One all the way to Tier Five.’
’Nine slots... that’s forty-five different spells... Not bad at all!’
Zhao Lin’s mind raced, and as he figured out the implications, he excitedly punched his palm.
But when he learned the price required to obtain Magic, his expression stiffened.
The Spirit Cultivation Map required Spirit Stones to analyze Magic. The higher the tier and mastery level of the Magic, the more Spirit Stones were needed.
To analyze a Tier One Magic at the "Initiate" level, it only required one Spirit Stone.
The next level, "Proficient," required four Spirit Stones.
The "Minor Achievement" level, sixteen Spirit Stones...
The cost in Spirit Stones quadrupled at each level.
"Adept," "Major Achievement," and "Perfection" required sixty-four, two hundred fifty-six, and one thousand twenty-four Spirit Stones, respectively!
A thousand Spirit Stones to master a single spell to Perfection.
’Is that expensive?’
’A little.’
’Is it worth it?’
’Absolutely!’
Even the most common Magic, when cultivated to Perfection, could turn the mundane into the miraculous.
If given the chance to spend a thousand Spirit Stones to bring a Magic to Perfection, every cultivator in the Qi Refining Realm would likely be willing to sell everything they own, even go into debt, to seize that opportunity!
Tier Two and Tier Three Magic could also be analyzed, but the cost in Spirit Stones was even higher.
The Spirit Stone cost for a Tier Two Magic was four times that of a Tier One, and a Tier Three Magic was four times that of a Tier Two... and so on.
Zhao Lin did a quick mental calculation. To bring the highest Tier Five Magic to Perfection would require two hundred fifty thousand Spirit Stones!
It was simply an astronomical number.
Even with the wealth of a Golden Core Cultivator, one couldn’t casually produce so many Spirit Stones.
But Zhao Lin believed that if such a transaction existed in the world, no Golden Core Cultivator would refuse it.
At the end of this stream of information, Zhao Lin learned that although the Spirit Beast Scroll was gone, the abilities he had already obtained from it would remain.
As his cultivation level increased, his strength, smell, hearing, self-healing, and his perception of six-elemental Spiritual Roots would all improve accordingly, growing stronger without needing to absorb any more Essence Souls.
With his doubts gone, Zhao Lin’s mind was at ease, and he began to pace excitedly around the room.
The evolution from the Spirit Beast Scroll to the Spirit Cultivation Map was definitely an "upgrade."
It was much better suited for the Cultivation Realm; after all, the abilities of spirit beasts could all be replaced by Magic.
For strength, there was the Giant Strength Skill; for speed, there were the Divine Movement Skill and Flying Escape Skill. But the endless variations of Magic were something that mere attributes could not replace.
’Once I absorb a Magic, the slot’s element is locked in. I have to plan the nine slots carefully.’
’Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Ice, and Lightning can each take a slot. Non-elemental Magic can take another. That’s seven slots used.’
’I’ll keep the other two slots in reserve. I can decide what to do with them when I find the right Magic...’
Zhao Lin paced around the room again and again, finally stopping in front of the wooden box of Spirit Stones. He took them out and counted them carefully.
Dong Lingcheng had sent one hundred Spirit Stones. The Spirit Beast Scroll had used nine, leaving ninety-one.
’One, four, sixteen, sixty-four... These Spirit Stones are only enough to raise a single Magic to the Adept level.’
’The Spirit Cultivation Map is amazing, but it’s a real Spirit Stone guzzler!’
After the excitement wore off, Zhao Lin gradually calmed down and muttered to himself, "I need to think carefully about which Magic to cultivate first."