Destiny is ashes

Chapter 55: The Evil-Devouring Sound, the Mysterious Qi

"what?"

An Jing peeled the black jade-like skull from the vine monster with some surprise, and the pitch-black vines crawled out from the eye sockets of the skull, shaking and twitching slightly, like blood and flesh buds, as if they were about to turn into a snail or a hermit crab, preparing to crawl away.

This strange vision made An Jing use his sword to hold the skull monster, causing it to tumble like an octopus. He said curiously, "It's quite strange, and it's very hard - the evil sword can't pierce it."

"This is the true form of this monster." The sword spirit said thoughtfully, "So that's it. It's not a spirit plant that has become evil. I was wondering why I didn't detect any evil energy on these fluorescent grasses... This is the skull of a monk who has been possessed by a demon. He was probably a wood spirit when he was alive, and he mastered the method of controlling spirit plants."

"After he was possessed by the devil, his flesh and blood body was transformed into this skull devil, controlling the natural 'spiritual vines' in the cave as his body and traps, ambushing and killing passing creatures."

"Destroy it." The sword spirit said calmly: "This is the lowest level of 'remnant demon', without complete self-awareness."

"Ah."

An Jing nodded slightly, and with force, he stabbed the sword through the crab's mouth, pinning the skull to the ground.

Blood surged, and those flesh and blood vines let out sharp wails, and then turned into dark demonic energy and dissipated into nothingness.

Only a bit of hazy white-gray mist remained, lingering in the center of the skull, flashing a faint light.

"This is……"

An Jing was a little confused, and the sword spirit took a look and was a little surprised: "It turned out to be 'reverberation', which is quite useful."

"What is that?" An Jing felt much more relaxed after destroying the monster, and asked curiously, "And the spiritual root, I heard you talk about it last time at Xuanming Manor, what is it?"

"If you keep thinking about it, there will be a response."

The sword spirit also taught earnestly: "This side of the world devours evil and is true. This residual sound is a trace of mysterious energy left after the monsters were destroyed and the world purified everything. The low-level ones are just like what you see before your eyes, just hazy mist. The high-level ones will turn into many magical spirit forms, divine birds, dragons, snakes, immortal pills and Taoist scriptures."

"The remnant sound contains some memories or cultivation of the demon cultivators or monsters. It is extremely pure. A strong enough reverberation even has various magical effects. It can be used to forge magic weapons, cultivate magical powers, and recover from injuries. It is a reward from heaven and earth to demon-killing cultivators like us."

"The formation in Xuanming Valley that allows you to awaken your destiny is essentially using my power to help you eliminate your inner demons, generate Xuanyuan Qi, and assist you in awakening your destiny."

"but."

At this point, the sword spirit fell into deep thought: "In my era, the reverberation must be at least something left behind by a 'true demon' or even a 'great demon'."

"Moreover, the remnants left by the true demons all have their own unique forms. They are definitely not just a wisp of breath like now... This is too weak."

"Yes... why..." The sword spirit muttered to himself here, and suddenly fell into confusion: "I seem to know that I am involved... but..."

"I do not remember……"

An Jing didn't say anything, he just waited quietly.

"Alas." After thinking for a while, the sword spirit was still a free and easy-going person. He was too lazy to bother and sighed, "I can't remember, forget it."

"Will the echo help restore your memory, Fuxie?" An Jing asked at this moment, and the sword spirit chuckled and said, "You are thoughtful. Of course."

"However, given my essence, I need a very, very powerful Heavenly Demon Echo to be able to recover. Forget about it now." The sword spirit looked at the gray gas: "As for this trace of residual demon echo, it can improve my spiritual cultivation a little bit, but it has almost no effect on me. On the contrary, you, whose spirit has been shocked just now, can recover and consolidate your foundation."

"I will tell you how to collect it. You can store it in your soul."

An Jing followed the instructions, visualized the secret method, circulated his soul, and absorbed the white-gray mist into the sea of ​​​​mind - when it entered the sea of ​​​​mind, it turned into a hazy flame, hanging around the sword spirit's body, like stars surrounding the sun.

When you are in a state of peace and tranquility, practicing the Pure and Quiet Sword Contemplation, you can call upon this echo to stabilize your soul.

After doing all this, the sword spirit slowly said: "As for the spiritual roots... I also told you that before the [Fate Martial Arts], the practice method of the era I was in was [Spiritual Root Refining Qi]."

"Just like the fate-based martial arts, without a destiny-based martial arts, one cannot break through the inner breath and reach inner strength. In the spiritual root system, if one does not have spiritual roots, one cannot break through from the 'spiritual awakening' stage to the 'qi refining' stage."

"I see." An Jing roughly understood that this was the most essential talent that determined the difference between immortals and mortals.

Ordinary people can also practice, but they can only practice to the peak of the first realm at most. Only those who have destiny and spiritual roots can continue to advance on the path of practice.

He couldn't help but ask: "I do have a destiny - but do I have spiritual roots?"

"Have."

The sword spirit said: "And the talent is not bad, with the three spiritual roots of 'gold, earth, and wood'."

"Among them, earth generates gold, gold overcomes wood, and wood overcomes earth. Between the generation and the restraint, earth helps gold and suppresses wood, while wood overcomes earth and makes it dormant. Only the gold spiritual root is growing stronger - you really have a great talent in the way of gold."

"That's why I recommend "Taibai Haoling Divine Forbidden" to you."

“It’s a pity that there are no resources.”

An Jing felt a little regretful, but when he raised his head and looked at the ruins attic, he suddenly thought of something: "But wait, Fu Xie."

"You say..." He narrowed his eyes and looked at the old attic, which had a lot of metal materials: "Does it count as 'hardware'?"

"This……"

The sword spirit was stunned for a moment, as if he had not thought about this. However, when he followed An Jing's gaze to the collapsed Tiange Hall and scanned the metal structures, he could not help but think: "Yes, scrap iron is also iron. Go and have a look. I will check whether the quality of the hardware is up to standard!"

An Jing set off immediately.

The surface of the collapsed columns and beams was a layer of "red copper" covered with rust. Neither the thieves nor the owner who moved the house would think of scraping away these materials. Very little of them could be used, and only a thin layer at the bottom was usable.

The lamps that had long gone out were made of "purple tin". Although old, they were surprisingly well preserved. The outermost layer of purple tin seemed to have a hint of light because of the high-grade lamp oil that was used back then. The quality was not low.

Finally, An Jing found a lot of black iron nails on a wall. It was probably where some notices or notifications were nailed in the past. The person who cleaned it up was lazy and didn't remove the densely packed nails. Now it's a good thing for An Jing, and it's well preserved.

To sum up, five taels of red copper can be used, one jin and two taels of purple tin can be used, and three taels of black iron can be used.

(End of this chapter)