Beastmaster of the Ages

Chapter 1620 - Soul Cultivation

Everything about Mu Ziyan, including her looks, attitude, and behavior, was filled with deceit. Though she looked open minded and generous on the surface, seeming so harmless that others would put down their guard around her, she was actually the one in the imperium that had the most chance to become the next sovereign. In other words, her power would be no less than Li Wushuang's.

Let's bet on it, Tianming thought, shutting off the Soul Tower. He figured that she would inspect his vita. If he let her discover the Soul Tower, he would lose a trump card he could use when it really counted.

"Hey, I'm going to teach you now, so what should you call me?" she asked, looking at his white hair from behind.

"Great Grandmaster?"

"Are you trying to make me sound old?!" She gave his head a powerful whack. Though her fingers were fine and small, the slap felt like being bumped into by Lan Huang.

"Master!" Tianming hurriedly corrected himself.

"Master your ass. I want to be addressed as the Fairest Nation-felling Big Sister Who's Loved By All."

"That's a little long..." he whined, though did as he was told. By then, her palms were sandwiching his head. Using his third eye, he could see that as she spoke, her eyes were shining with a violet light. Violet fog also began forming around her body, making her silhouette much bigger. The fog was actually a manifestation of her soul powers. While it was harmless against flesh, Tianming immediately felt a threat once he had put the Soul Tower away. To his weak vita, the fog appeared like a humongous giant that could crush it at any time. It entered his ears and reached his sea of consciousness where his vita resided.

"It's still just a first divine soul, and an uncultivated one at that.... How did a weakling like you even make it this far? Nobody on your level would dare to leave their soul that weak! You really are a lucky one. If any one of your enemies had been a master of soul techniques, you would've been crippled for good."

"Well, I just haven't met a good teacher until now," Tianming said, obscuring the fact that he had the Soul Tower's protection.

"Tch, you and your sweet mouth. No wonder that pretty girl you keep got tricked," she said, rolling her eyes. Then, she sighed and continued, "Even so, you were lucky that your soul was unharmed and you met me. In fact, you're like a piece of unsculpted jade for me to shape."

"Are you saying I'm pure and innocent?"

"Your vita is. It's not as lewd as you're making it sound."

"Just tell me how to cultivate it!" If his vita grew stronger, his caelum and terra would change, too. He wanted to join the fight at the Myriadeyes Wonder of the Tranquil Battlefield's third level, but without the Soul Tower, he wasn't sure he would be able to go far with his current soul. Hence, this was crucial.

"You don't have to cultivate it for now," Mu Ziyan said.

"Why?"

"I'm going to teach you the strongest soul cultivation technique of the Violetcloud Archclan, the same one I'm using. Only that will fit your talent as a nonabane. However, you can only start using it at the second general soul level." As she said that, it was as if she had become a different person. Her gaze was distant and the fog around her made her look like a master of the soul.

"Doesn’t that mean I can't use it at all? I didn't even make it to the start."

"Don't worry. Big sister here will use my fourth imperial soul's violet fog to nourish your soul and raise it to the second general soul level. That way you'll have the purest second general soul in all of history. After that, you can start using the Violetfog Rushcloud Mantra. That’ll allow you to grow much faster than anyone else."

"Nourish my soul? Is that even possible?"

"Yes. Unlike normal cultivation, it's possible to receive direct assistance for soul cultivation. Naturally, you'll have to rely on yourself for the basics. The only difference is that seniors like us can help a bit more directly," she proudly said.

"So you finally admit that you're a senior."

"Hey, stop paying attention to useless details!" As she sat close behind him, it was hard to avoid some bodily contact. After feeling something bounce against the back of his head a few times, Tianming awkwardly pulled his neck in. It's fine... Focus on the important things. The thought of that made it feel even weirder. How would the nourishing even work? Either way, he could use the Soul Tower at the last moment if something was wrong.

"Close your eyes and imagine you're sleeping. Forget your worldly worries. There’s only a world of happiness. Think about the person that gives you warmth... recall how good she feels," Mu Ziyan said. Her voice rang in his ear in a trance-inducing fashion as the violet fog continued flooding into his sea of consciousness, making him feel like he was afloat. It was like being in the wondersky realm. Tianming was tempted to snap out of it using the Soul Tower, but recalling Feiling's situation caused him to suppress that urge. He emptied his mind and felt much better; he no longer sensed any threat coming from Mu Ziyan.

After the initial trouble, he felt like he was flowing with the current. It was incredibly relaxing. Mu Ziyan's fourth imperial soul felt like a sea of clouds that surrounded him. His uncultivated soul freely moved about in the clouds with her guidance, slowly growing.

"The key to the Violetfog Rushcloud Mantra is this violet soul fog. It lingers within every soul, even those of mortals. The goal of the technique is to expand that fog," she explained. As the fog entered his soul, it gradually grew. He felt like his divine soul was being nourished in her fourth imperial soul like a child being nourished by its pregnant mother. His soul was growing stronger and fighting to be birthed. The day it left the womb would be the day his soul became a second general soul. After that, he would be able to train on his own.

"This sensation is a little weird..." Tianming said.

"That's right. I've never nourished anyone's soul before. Why does it feel like I'm carrying a child?" she said.

Though it was weird, the growth of his vita was plain to see. It was much faster than the rate of normal soul cultivation, though it couldn't compare to Lingfeng's. He was an exception with eighty thousand vitae inside him.

The soul-nourishing process was a relaxing one for Tianming, but incredibly draining for Mu Ziyan. When she was finished, she waved and leaned against her chair with furrowed brows. "Now piss off, you energy vampire... Big Sis is worn out. I need to charge up. Come back in five days!"

Tianming was more awake than he had ever been, but she was as weak as a limp noodle. "Thank you!"

He immediately left after thanking her. Then he checked on the state of his vita—it was indeed larger and stronger than before. It was also encompassed in a violet fog that surrounded his vita like blood vessels. He didn't think too much about it, but he put the Soul Tower back just in case.

What he didn't expect was that Soul Tower would suck up all the violet veins in his vita like nothing. "What in the world?"

After that, his vita seemed a little worn out. "Did the Soul Tower just cause Astralqueen Ziyan's efforts to be in vain?"

Right as he was worrying over it, he noticed that his vita was the same enlarged size as before, just without the veins. The tiredness also only lasted for a moment. "What does this mean?"

He wasn't really sure. Mu Ziyan had nourished his soul and strengthened it, but it caused violet veins to appear, which the Soul Tower sucked away. Even then, the progress remained.

"I'll just come again in five days. I wonder what her reaction will be when she notices the veins are missing."

Five days later, he came again and Mu Ziyan seemingly unwillingly started nourishing his soul. It was the same relaxing process. However, she didn't seem to notice the disappearance of those veins. It seemed that she wasn't able to tell how much violet fog there was within him, and could only inspect the size of his vita with it.

"Let's do this, then." Every time he left, he used the Soul Tower to suck away the violet veins. His soul continued growing and the day it became a second general soul wasn't far off. At the same time, he continued making progress with the Frozen Glasstree and Imperius Ruins. He had a feeling that his next breakthrough would see him rise to fame once more on the third level of the Tranquil Battlefield.action