If you don't give up, I'd like to be your adoptive father.

Chapter 1349 Plundering the Spiritual Opportunity
"How much spiritual energy has my immortal bones gained?" Xi Juan asked curiously.

Wu Yazi thought for a moment and said, "About five per thousand."

Xi Juan was somewhat disappointed and said, "It's less than one percent, how can that be considered a huge change?"
Perhaps it was because I vanquished demons and my mind was at ease, causing a change in my energy, which led to the teacher's misunderstanding.

Wu Yazi said solemnly, "This is the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, not the internal energy refined by absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

Even an increase of one ten-thousandth, let alone five per thousand, would be a remarkable achievement.

Even the most common innate superhuman strength, if increased by 0.5% per year, and allowed to live for two thousand years, would increase spiritual energy to ten times its original value.

Even ordinary innate superhuman strength can transform into immortal bones.

There are elixirs in this world that can extend one's life by two thousand years; if one has the right connections, they are not impossible to find.

Besides the Nine-Turn Bone-Changing Pill, have you heard of any other secret methods or divine medicines that can transform ordinary innate supernatural abilities into immortal bones?
Moreover, your spiritual talent is not an ordinary supernatural ability, but the most powerful innate talent: Immortal Bone!

Your innate immortality is also more abundant than others.

Her sword bones are not celestial bones; their spiritual energy is relatively ordinary. She can cultivate more sword intent and nourish her sword bones with that intent to continuously increase her spiritual energy.

The "Great Destroyer" combined with Kunpeng Intelligence can be described as a "production line factory for sword intent".

Even so, from the time she ate the peaches of immortality until today, her spiritual intelligence has not increased by more than one percent per year.

Before discovering today that Xi Juan's immortal bone spiritual potential had suddenly increased by five per thousand, she was extremely satisfied with the growth rate of her sword bone, even proud and boastful, daring to brag about herself in front of all the gods and immortals in the Three Realms.

She also firmly believed that if all the gods knew that her sword bone spiritual energy was increasing at a rate of 1%, they would be shocked, envious, or even jealous and hateful, and would suspect that she had cheated.

The concept of time held by immortals differs from that of mortals. Immortals are immortal beings with infinite time; a 1% increase in growth per year, multiplied by infinite time, results in "infinite" growth.

1% per year, doubles in 100 years, ten times in 1000 years, and a hundred times in 10,000 years.

For immortals, tens of thousands of years of cultivation is quite common.

Tens of thousands of years later, Xiaoyu's sword bone essence was enhanced hundreds of times, becoming even stronger than immortal bones. How could they not be envious, jealous, and hateful?
"If it increases by 0.5% in one or two years, that's indeed terrifying. But can the spiritual energy within my immortal bones continue to grow? Perhaps this is just a one-off burst," Xi Juan said doubtfully.

Wu Yazi said, "You must understand that spiritual energy is something we are born with, and theoretically it will only keep disappearing, not increasing."

Once it starts to increase, it must be because you've used some repeatable method.

For example, consuming special rare and precious herbs.

If you can take it today, you can take it tomorrow, and your spiritual potential will increase again.

For example, you might practice a certain secret technique that can increase your spiritual energy.

Today's practice increased my spiritual insight; continuing to practice tomorrow will also increase it.

Xi Juan finally understood why her teacher was taking it so seriously.

A flash of inspiration either doesn't increase, or if it does, it means he has accidentally touched upon a key point.

That key point isn't something you can master all at once.

"Teacher, why is my spiritual energy increasing? If my spiritual energy continues to increase, can I defy fate and transform my Yuan Dan into an immortal golden elixir?" he asked excitedly.

Wu Yazi said, "Spiritual energy is spiritual energy, and primordial elixir is primordial elixir. The immortal bones brought by spiritual energy only increase your affinity for certain spiritual energies of heaven and earth, and increase the efficiency of refining spiritual energy."

The Yuan Dan is like a pool, and the Immortal Bone is the channel connecting the pool.

Building irrigation ditches won't fundamentally affect the pool. You can't turn a small pool into a universe.

However, if you diligently cultivate good deeds, you will not be cast into the Fengdu Hell.

When this life ends, I can help you preserve your spiritual insight for the next life.

That is, to be reincarnated with 'complete spiritual cultivation'.

As for why your inspiration has increased...

Wu Yazi glanced at the corpse on the ground, and had some guesses in her mind, but rationally she was unwilling to believe it.

"Spiritual potential can never grow out of thin air. It grows through cultivation at an extremely slow rate."

But inspiration can disappear or be redirected.

If your innate supernatural abilities are destroyed, causing your spiritual energy to leak out, you can transfer it to your bloodline to enhance its power and strengthen your physique.

However, the enhancement of physical strength by spiritual energy is similar to how immortal power nourishes the mortal body.

It has an effect, but it is far less valuable than the original supernatural power.

All I can say is that this is an attempt to minimize the losses.

No one has ever improved their physique through such a guaranteed method of physical depletion.

Upon hearing these words, Xi Juan followed her gaze to the corpse on the ground and felt a strange sense of horror. Her expression turned panicked, and she said urgently, "Teacher, do you suspect that the spiritual energy in my body was transferred from these demons?"
"That's impossible! I haven't practiced any demonic arts or evil spells, nor have I plundered their spiritual energy!"

Wu Yazi said, "Why are you panicking? If you really know the demonic art of plundering spiritual energy, I would very much like to learn it from you, so that we can improve together as master and disciple!"

“We can’t learn this kind of demonic skill!” Xi Juan cried out.

Wu Yazi asked, "Do you know this kind of demonic skill?"

"I won't, really," Xi Juan quickly replied.

"Yes, you don't know. Why are you making noise about something that doesn't even exist?" Wu Yazi said irritably.

—So if it were available, you would still want to learn? Teacher, I don't think you're as upright as I thought!
Xi Juan said sullenly, "I haven't cultivated any demonic arts, so the spiritual energy couldn't have transferred from the Eight Heroes of the Western Sea to my immortal bones on its own."

Wu Yazi pondered and said, "The spiritual energy has transferred to you for some unknown reason. Which do you think is more incredible, the creation of a demonic technique that absorbs spiritual energy?"

I can tell you that the latter is even more difficult and incredible.

You cannot use 'I have never practiced demonic arts' as a reason to deny that the inspiration came from the Eight Heroes of the Western Sea.

She paused, staring into Xi Juan's eyes, and then said, "Proving my point is actually quite simple. Let's try again!"

Xi Juan's expression changed slightly, and she asked in a hoarse voice, "Are you going to kill someone?"

Wu Yazi said calmly, "No, it's not about killing people, it's about eliminating demons and protecting the righteous path!"

Xi Juan's expression was conflicted. "To be honest, Master, I felt extremely happy when I killed the Eight Heroes of the Western Sea."

Let alone those eight, even if I killed eighty more, I would still be full of fighting spirit and extremely willing.

But if it's to kill someone to plunder their spiritual energy, even if they're demons or evil cultivators, this disciple doesn't feel comfortable with it and is somewhat worried.

“You’re worried about losing control? That’s good.” Wu Yazi smiled and nodded. “If you can have this kind of worry, then I don’t need to worry.”

Xi Juan blurted out, "Teacher, I'm afraid you won't be able to control yourself!"

He regretted it as soon as he finished speaking, lowered his head, and secretly glanced at the teacher's expression.

Master Wuyazi's expression was indeed unpleasant. "You're the one who draws inspiration from others, not me. What can't I control?"

Xi Juan said awkwardly, "This disciple feels that Master is a bit... concerned about spiritual energy and demonic arts. We don't really need to care about such trivial matters."

The Eight Heroes of the Western Sea are dead. I'm continuing my journey with my cousin to celebrate the Lunar New Year home.

Wu Yazi stared into his eyes, "Are you really at ease until you figure out the reason for the increase in spiritual energy?"

Xi Juan's expression changed several times, and she said softly, "Then let's give it a try. I'll go for another walk around Baiyun Water Marsh and see if I can attract a few evil cultivators out."

Wu Yazi said, "The Eight Heroes of the Western Sea have all fallen, who would dare to target you? Wait here for a moment, I'll go and capture a few demons."

After saying that, she vanished into the woods in a flash. Xi Juan looked around but couldn't find her cousin, Di Hua.

After hesitating for a moment, he collected the remains of the Eight Heroes of the Western Sea and planned to dig a pit to bury them.

But before he could finish digging the pit, he suddenly felt a darkness above him, and several "corpses" crashed hard into the unfinished pit.

Then they heard Master Wuyazi say, "Let's kill one first and see how it goes. Don't kill them all at once."

"Ah, isn't that the Five Rings Demon Emperor and the Green-Robed Ancestor? I heard they're already immortals." Xi Juan looked down and exclaimed in surprise.

The teacher arrested five people, two of whom were the infamous and ruthless demons.

Wu Yazi said calmly, "What Demon Emperor, what Ancestor? Shameless, full of empty boasts, they're all just a bunch of brats. Let's kill Wu Huan first, this guy seems to have innate supernatural powers."

"Pfft!" Xi Juan cleanly and decisively chopped off the head of the Fifth Ring Demon Emperor.

Wu Yazi immediately grabbed Xi Juan's wrist and carefully sensed it.

Xi Juan not only did not resist, but also tried her best to open her heart and let the teacher explore her.

“No increase.” Wu Yazi hesitated for a moment. “You destroyed his Yin spirit.”

"Should we beat him into a demon, or completely annihilate his soul?" Xi Juan asked.

Wu Yazi hesitated even more.

In the end, she sighed, "Just like the Eight Heroes of the Western Sea before."

Xi Juan raised her sword again, and the dazzling sword light shattered the Five Rings Demon Emperor's physical body, along with his primordial spirit trapped within it, into nothingness.

"Clang clang clang~~" Amidst a cloud of blood mist, five golden rings fell to the ground.

These five golden rings are the last evidence of the existence of the Five Rings Demon Emperor.

Wu Yazi didn't even look at the Five Rings; he focused solely on sensing Xi Juan's immortal essence.

Only three breaths had passed when she perked up and exclaimed with delight, "There's a reaction! Your immortal bone essence is actually increasing!"

There was only a hint of joy on her face; the remaining nine parts were surprise, doubt, and fear.

If Xi Juan had truly created a peerless demonic art, she would be shocked and puzzled, not feel fear like she does now.

Xi Juan's face showed no joy, only surprise, doubt, panic, and fear.

"What is the reason for this? Could it be that I have hidden a second immortal bone... no, a demonic bone? Am I a born demon?"

"Don't rush, don't panic, try killing another demon."

Seeing his disciple panic, Master Wuyazi quickly regained his composure.

"You want to kill me again? Master, I'm getting scared now," Xi Juan said with a bitter face.

"What are you afraid of? You're slaying demons and monsters," Wu Yazi said.

Xi Juan shook her head repeatedly, "Teacher, don't try to fool me. Only killing the demon cub in a normal battle counts as slaying demons and eliminating evil."

Such executions, driven by impure motives, are by no means just.

Moreover, what I fear is not murder itself, but the evil power that plunders the spirit of others.

Master Wuyazi said, "It is because we do not understand that we panic and feel that it is evil. We are now trying to understand it."

The act of slaying demons to understand them certainly doesn't qualify as righteous, but it also doesn't qualify as evil.

Xi Juan said, "Teacher, you must be careful this time. It would be best to find out the reason why I absorb other people's spiritual energy as soon as possible. We can't keep killing people for the sake of research."

"I'll do my best." Wu Yazi felt that killing all these people wouldn't be enough to analyze Xi Juan's strange abilities.

It takes killing hundreds or thousands of people to summarize the patterns from a large number of cases, and then to deduce the reasons from the patterns.

"Pfft!" Xi Juan killed another evil cultivator and chopped off the head of the Green-Robed Ancestor.

Only the physical body is killed, without harming the spirit. The spiritual energy within Xi Juan's immortal bones showed no obvious fluctuations.

“You can kill his Yin spirit with ‘Blood Fiend Sword Qi’ without his soul being scattered,” Wu Yazi said.

Xi Juan's skill in controlling the blood demon was far inferior to hers, and it took her a lot of effort to finally wear down the evil cultivator's Yin spirit.

Wu Yazi sensed that the spiritual energy of the immortal bones was slightly increasing.

Once the increase in spiritual energy in the immortal bones ceased, she then instructed him to completely annihilate the evil cultivator's soul, which had lost its Yin spirit power.

Surprisingly, a faint spark of inspiration was squeezed out once again.

"Now we can be 100% certain that the spiritual energy that increased in your immortal bones was indeed transferred from this evil cultivator. Spiritual energy cannot be added out of thin air, nor can it disappear out of thin air."

Wu Yazi seemed to be deep in thought, and then analyzed for his disciple: "Although spiritual talent is something one is born with, it is not something one is necessarily born with."

Only a few people, in the process of life and death, obtain a kind of energy from the universe. Let's say it's called 'dark energy'.

This kind of 'dark energy' cannot be naturally absorbed from the world.

In the process of the soul moving from death to rebirth, it acquires this dark energy in the universe; theoretically, when a person moves from life to death, this dark energy should be released and return to the universe.

Cultivators with profound spiritual attainment possess the power to manipulate the laws of the Great Dao, allowing them to preserve 'dark energy' during reincarnation and carry it into the next life.

Your superpower is the ability to actively intercept dark energy that should return to the world and compete with the world for spiritual energy. This ability is truly terrifying!

The most spiritual energy is extracted from evil cultivators by destroying their souls.

However, doing this carries significant karmic consequences, so it needs to be carefully weighed.

Xi Juan's doubts were partially answered, and a hint of joy mixed with her panic. She asked, "So, this is a normal innate supernatural ability?"

Wu Yazi pondered for a moment and said, "Wait a moment, I will go and capture another group of villains."

Xi Juan pointed to the three evil cultivators in the pit and asked in confusion, "We haven't even killed these few yet, and you're going to capture a whole group? How many is a group?"

"Previously, I was only focused on increasing the number of cases and neglected the diversity of the sample, only catching evil cultivators and demons."

"Now I'll go and capture a few more mortals, a few more immortals, and a few more extraordinary people. Once we have enough, we'll have a whole group," Wu Yazi said.

Xi Juan's heart, which had just calmed down, was filled with panic again. "Teacher, how many people are we going to kill?"

—Only today have I seen the true colors of my teacher. He is indeed not a virtuous and genuine practitioner of the Xuanmen sect!

"In order to kill fewer people in the future, you must kill more people today! If I don't help you, you will be groping around in a daze, and you won't be able to figure out your own abilities until you kill thousands upon thousands of people," Wu Yazi said.

She truly had absolutely no psychological burden.

Even without Xi Juan's ingenious intervention, "Grand Tutor Yu" would have arrived and carried out a thorough cleanup of Mangdang Mountain.

Now we can make use of them to help our apprentices study immortal bones and increase their spiritual energy.

Aside from worrying that her apprentice's "superpowers" might be hiding a conspiracy, she didn't have any negative emotions.

But I don't need to study it thoroughly! It's not like I can't live my life in a daze.

Despite feeling a lot of negative emotions, Xi Juan nodded and said, "Teacher, you can go now."

Regardless, the teacher was trying to help him. And the people the teacher found were indeed shady characters.

(End of this chapter)