Douluo Continent: A Thousand Miles of Cultivation

Qian Shui forced his limited soul power to disregard the physical pressure caused by excessive use of soul power, and frantically urged his primordial spirit and martial soul to burst forth from his body!

Leaning his entire body back, he used the small stick he carried with his left hand to block the path of the Hidden Tree Serpent's attack, deflecting its direction.

At the same time, his right hand scraped against the scales of the tree snake, and taking advantage of the gap, he fiercely grabbed in with his five fingers, and then gripped it tightly. He didn't care if his nails hurt, he just pulled hard and twisted his wrist and fingers desperately!

The primordial spirit martial soul that emerged from the body activated its first soul skill, gripping the dagger and charging at top speed. A flash of dark light appeared, and the dagger pierced the head of the tree-hidden snake, which was swaying due to the pain in its body and the obstruction in its attack path.

In an instant, it pinned the tree snake's head firmly to the tree!

This was a desperate attack by Qian Shui! After this attack, he was completely out of soul power and his physical strength was exhausted! If he failed, he would surely lose his life here!

Fortunately, relying on her instantaneous combat instincts, Qian Shui dealt with the Tree-Hiding Serpent.

Qian Shui, fueled by the lingering effects of his adrenaline, quickly grabbed a branch with his left hand and hung himself from the tree to prevent the Tree Serpent, weakened by death, from losing its grip and falling from the hundreds of meters high.

Qian Shui, panting heavily, hung there for a while, then flipped over, climbed onto the tree branch, and found a relatively thick branch to sit on.

Leaning his head back against the tree trunk, he didn't want to move at all. Only after catching his breath did he begin to slowly absorb soul power.

Qian Shui didn't wait for his soul power to fully recover because the sun was about to set. Glancing at the large spicy strip hanging from the tree and the yellow soul ring that was about to dissipate, Qian Shui was somewhat annoyed.

He disliked pointless killing, and besides, the snake was quite beautiful. But there was nothing he could do; when the law of the jungle dictates a fight to the death, there's no logic to it.

"Why did you provoke me? Now look what's happened, I'm eating snake meat!"

Qian Shui gained a lot from this battle, but now is not the time to summarize his experience. He climbed to the top of the tree canopy.

All that could be seen was a chilling mountain forest, an endless expanse of lush, primeval woodland. As the evening glow faded, flocks of birds would occasionally take flight in the distance, announcing that this pristine land was about to be embraced by night.

The forest is even more lively at night than during the day, and Qianshui needs to return to the camp as soon as possible to recover her soul power.

Qian Shui drew his dagger, and the Tree-Hidden Serpent's body plummeted straight to the ground, causing a tremor. Fortunately, this was a rainforest with high humidity, so it didn't stir up any dust.

At this moment, Qian Shui's body and dagger were covered in snake blood, and he was filled with the smell of blood. All he wanted now was to get back as soon as possible.

Getting down a tree is easier than getting up one, though it takes a bit of effort! Anyway, Qian Shui quickly slid down and dragged the giant snake downstream from the camp.

Qian Shui quickly gutted the giant snake downstream from the camp. He dared not keep the head, but the snake skin was a valuable item and it would be a waste. He cut off a section of snake meat to eat that night, and the rest had to be taken back and disposed of to prevent other spirit beasts from luring it away.

They returned to the camp before it got completely dark. Qianshui enlarged the fire and put the prepared snake meat on it to roast.

He planned to dig a hole, wrap the remaining snake meat in large leaves, bury it in the soil to prevent the smell from escaping, and deal with it the next day.

While digging a pit with a dagger, he kept an eye on the heat, and when it was almost cooked, he would take a couple of bites of the cooked food to stave off his hunger.

After finishing all the prepared snake meat, Qian Shui also finished off that huge pile of spicy strips.

Today's events were truly exhausting. Qian Shui felt incredibly sleepy, something she hadn't done in a long time, and even the pleasure of cultivation was becoming unbearable.

Qianshui desperately wanted to follow his body's instincts and rest properly, but he couldn't. The snake had terrified him today, and he was now even more afraid to lose consciousness.

There's nothing I can do but continue cultivating. I won't think about anything else. I'll figure out what to do after I recover!

Although she was exhausted, the benefits were truly immense. After recovering her soul power, Qian Shui felt that her soul power level had broken through, and her total soul power had also become much greater.

The meat of a hundred-year-old soul beast is not considered low-grade; one's body also benefits from it.

With his strength restored, Qian Shui dared to cultivate more deeply, directly releasing his Martial Soul. He had some ideas he wanted to try out.

Killing the tree snake opened up a whole new world of ideas for him.

Firstly, when his primordial spirit and martial soul emerged from his body to release soul skills, he clearly perceived how the soul skills operated and then took effect!

Secondly, when he was fighting with all his might, his soul power was already very low. He subconsciously activated his cultivation method at the same time, whether it was immortal cultivation or martial soul cultivation. It was a matter of life and death, so he had to absorb as much as possible.

Thus, Qian Shui discovered something that wasn't exactly a secret—two cultivation methods could be practiced simultaneously!

Qian Shui's second martial soul is the embodiment of his own 'essence, energy, and spirit' as a unified martial soul, and the cultivation method cultivates 'essence, energy, and spirit'! What about the martial soul meditation method? It cultivates the martial soul!

It's a perfect match! Let's put the skill issues aside for now and get right to training!

As he spoke, Qian Shui's primordial spirit left his body, and while meditating, he gathered Qi in his dantian!

The simultaneous practice of the two cultivation methods resulted in Qian Shui absorbing soul power! Meanwhile, the cultivation method of circulating energy through the microcosmic and macrocosmic orbits at an extremely rapid pace, causing his internal energy to expand continuously.

The cultivation method of refining Qi is originally about tempering the physical body and strengthening the internal organs to cultivate essence and Qi. Strong essence and Qi can raise one's own upper limit and allow one to exhale a lot of energy.

These energies are cultivated through the meridians, one of the carriers of the soul, so naturally the soul power and spiritual power will continuously become stronger as the meridians widen and strengthen.

Finally, when the three are combined into one, the concrete manifestation of this is the condensation of a pill!

The next step is naturally to cultivate diligently until one truly cultivates the primordial spirit and unites it with the body. This personal will, existing in the form of an energy body, is the ultimate form for comprehending the rules of the Great Dao of Heaven and Earth! Comprehending the Great Dao in a way that is close to the Dao is the foundation for immortality.

The Martial Soul Technique relies on soul power to violently dismantle and subtly change one's own qualities in order to accommodate more soul power, and finally manifests itself by breaking through levels.

The two now complement each other, and Qian Shui's progress in both can be described as a breakthrough of a level. Just by doing this, his soul power has broken through a small level.

Finally, the night was over. With the morning breeze blowing, Qian Shui shook off the dew and stood up to stretch, welcoming a new and bright day.

Chapter 16 Time and Parting

Life is like flowing water; if you don't stir it, it will remain unchanged, just like the daily flow of a thousand streams.

He spent about a week building his treehouse in the tallest tree in the vicinity.

It was very simple; it was just a platform built with relatively straight branches of similar diameter, with a few frames added, and the roof covered with large leaves, which served as shelter from the wind and rain.

Then he covered the ground with stones and hay, and used some tall stones to lift it off the floor so that he could live in the treehouse.

Fortunately, he developed a way to use his primordial spirit and martial soul, allowing him to transport goods outside his body. This way, his physical body no longer needed to climb up and down trees. Once the goods were almost transported, he would use his physical body to climb the tree, taking his time to do the work carefully.

By the way, snakeskin is really good for making rope.

Now Qianshui was finally settled, far away from the snakes, insects, and rodents on the ground, enjoying a life of ease. So he started eating whatever he could get his fill again.

Simply trying to survive is extremely boring; people need life and leisure.

As we all know, the Naruto run is super cool, and Chisui certainly wouldn't miss it. She'll be playing with this for the next while.

Moreover, he has already figured out the way to study the first soul skill!

If it is true that the primordial spirit is in harmony with the Dao, then when the Thousand Water Martial Soul leaves the body and the consciousness enters the Martial Soul, and then releases the first soul skill, he can more intuitively feel the process of 'Netherworld Possession' being activated and taking effect.

One can only marvel at the convenience of the rules of Martial Souls. Externally, it manifests as the forced fixation of 'essence, energy, and spirit'. As a Martial Soul, it allowed Qian Shui to directly experience the feeling of the Nascent Soul stage and the Body Integration stage.

Logically speaking, in the world of cultivation, if one cultivates step by step, it would be impossible to experience this in less than a hundred or two hundred years. Qian Shui analyzed that this might be his cheat code? But this thing seems to be completely replicable!

Thinking that I must find someone to test it again in the future, if it really works, then it is really possible that the next generation of this world will all have full soul power innately, and all have twin martial souls!

However, it must be under control, otherwise you'll be asking for trouble. It's best not to try it lightly before you have absolute strength, otherwise it could very well be Pandora's box!

Regarding the use of the Soul Return Technique, Qian Shui stated that he had grasped the operating logic of "Netherworld Possession." In layman's terms, it means that soul power is condensed into a strengthening technique, which is then applied to the body or something else through the martial soul.

When Qian Shui tested it before, he directly used his martial soul to release the skill. His senses were still in his body, so he could only feel that the skill was taking effect, but he didn't quite understand the operating logic.

Having understood the operating logic, Qian Shui tried to imitate it himself using his soul power, and sure enough, he produced an enhanced effect. Unfortunately, it was not as stable as a soul skill, which could be used by injecting soul power.

It requires mental energy to construct and operate the soul power, but its advantage lies in its high degree of freedom. Qian Shui hasn't fully grasped it yet, but interestingly, he can apply it arbitrarily; it's not limited to his own use!

My spirit floated behind me and actively released a skill; it feels like I could be a support character!

"Theoretically, there should be many variations of its use, such as controlling the speed of release or the duration of use. Further research might even change the logic of its application..."

Qian Shui was a little excited. Logically speaking, this was already considered a self-created soul skill, an extremely rare ability in this world!

But he also understood that this was merely the most rudimentary application of special energy. Otherwise, he would have been flying on a sword long ago!

The ever-changing spells in the world of cultivation are incredibly useful, like the Cleansing Spell! With this spell, he wouldn't need to bathe anymore! And this is only the lowest level of spell!

"Sigh, I used to think system novels were mindless, but now all I want is a system! How awesome would it be to have a cheat code all the way through? Why would I need to spend time developing new skills?"

Although Qian Shui doesn't dislike system novels, he can't stand how many of them forcefully deus ex machina! He once started with a Pangu Axe, which he looked down on, but now he just wants an ordinary beginner's sword, and he can't even get it to work!

"I've already awakened my martial soul, and I'm still cheating! I'm still cheating! Is this the treatment Tangtang, a transmigrator, gets?!"

Sighing and lamenting are useless; the fact that a time traveler is born knowing the plot is already the biggest cheat code!

If you can't even handle this, to give an inappropriate example, why not switch to being an instructor? Ignoring everything else, just go down that road once, give the whole storyline and the whole map a boost, but without Deus Ex, and see if you can lead your troops out of the bald guy's 400,000-strong army!

Could the situation in Douluo Continent have come to this? Even if the entire group is wiped out in the finale, there's still the enormous Silver Dragon King in the Star Dou Great Forest, and the Sun and Moon Continent in the far north and overseas. It's not a hopeless situation.

If we switch to Shrouding the Heavens, we'll have to face the darkness and turmoil. If Emperor Ye can survive, who can guarantee they can? If we switch to Perfect World, we might as well seal ourselves away with Zhang Bairen; at least we won't die.

In this kind of desperate situation, it's probably really necessary to have some kind of cheat code, otherwise you wouldn't even be able to see the protagonist's backside!

After all, their power level is much higher; they are called the child of both dimension and time. The character's future self is already too powerful. In Red Hair's words, they have severed this point in time!

Therefore, in her previous life, Qian Shui always felt that Douluo Continent didn't need any cheat codes at all. Anyone who knew the plot could play any role!

This is what they call "minding one's own business" and "enjoying the spectacle while watching the drama unfold"! If you're so capable, why don't you do it yourself!

They tell others to work hard without complaining, but when they themselves get involved, they don't dare utter a sound! Because they've learned the hard way, and saying anything more would be a slap in the face!

……

A month passed quickly, and Qian Shui's life became more and more comfortable. His soul power level also reached level 15, and he gradually adapted to life in the treetop.

With persistent practice, Qian Shui was able to walk on the trees as if it were flat ground, and he felt good about himself, confident that he had the feeling of a martial arts master!

He juggles daily life with spiritual practice, and his days are quite fulfilling.

Qian Renxue gradually sensed something was wrong; why had her friend disappeared for so long?

Logically speaking, there should indeed be situations where one spends a whole month hunting for soul beasts. After all, hunting for soul beasts relies on luck, and if one cannot find a suitable soul beast, there is nothing that can be done.

However, Qian Renxue had already seen Bibi Dong appear in Wuhun City. At first, she comforted herself, thinking that perhaps Bibi Dong had something to do and had returned first, and had someone else take care of Qian Shui.

But so much time had passed that even the servants began to inquire about Qian Shui, asking where he was, when he would return, and whether his room needed cleaning.

Qian Renxue herself didn't know, and asked Qian Xunji with doubt. Qian Xunji believed Bibi Dong's reason, saying that she was taken away to obtain a soul ring and then went to train.

Having received an explanation, Qian Renxue no longer suspected anything and went to cultivate.

But time flies, one month, two months, three months. Qian Renxue's heart sank to the bottom! She distrusted Bibi Dong terribly; she even suspected that Bibi Dong had killed Qian Shui and buried her somewhere random!

Qian Renxue had a big argument with Bibi Dong over this, and ended up leaving in tears.

"Where's my 1,000 water?"

In Qian Renxue's memory, the Qian Shui who cared about her image, who had long hair; who would comb it into a ball, stick it in her hair, or tie it into a high ponytail; who was always mature and stubborn, and a little bit bad-boy and handsome—all of that disappeared from her life like a bubble.

Qian Renxue hurriedly searched for Qian Xunji and Qian Daoliu, but thanks to the widespread use of Qian Shui's "invisible man" tactic, they didn't take it seriously, believing that Bibi Dong was really just arranging for Qian Shui to cultivate.

Thinking that her friends might have died tragically in the wilderness, their remains left unburied and devoured by wild beasts, Qian Renxue was overcome with grief, and her eyes turned red from crying.

She even ran away from home a few times, but she wasn't Qian Shui; she was just a six-year-old girl. She couldn't even leave the vicinity of Wuhun City before she was found and brought back.