In his room, Zhu Ziyang felt completely refreshed after his shower, sprawling lazily on the bed, not wanting to move a muscle. He squinted his eyes, contemplating his future plans and arrangements.
His Spirit evolving into a dual Light and Death Attribute was an unexpected pleasant surprise. This meant he had to make a decision: continue strengthening the Death Attribute, or stick to his original plan of strengthening the Light Attribute.
He fell into deep thought.
While the Death Attribute was indeed powerful, it also presented numerous problems.
Firstly, Spirit Beasts with the Death Attribute were at least high-level Spirit Beasts, generally powerful and difficult to hunt. With Zhu Ziyang's current background and strength, hunting a Death Attribute Spirit Beast within a thousand years might not be difficult, but once it exceeded a thousand years, it would be challenging, as his father's combat power was not that great.
Secondly, Death Attribute Spirit Beasts were extremely rare in both variety and number. He was already very lucky to have encountered a White Bone Scythe Demon. According to the information Zhu Ziyang knew, there were no Death Attribute Spirit Beasts in the Spirit Beast gathering areas near Anyang City.
Finally, and most importantly, if he primarily cultivated the Death Attribute, he could easily be mistaken for an Evil Soul Master by other Spirit Masters!
Being mistaken for an Evil Soul Master would be very bad.
After the end of the Church era, nobles ushered in a golden age, and so did Evil Soul Masters. Without the suppression of Spirit Hall, Evil Soul Masters on the continent became extremely rampant. It was said that after ten thousand years of development, Evil Soul Masters had even established a Sect, which showed their audacity and unruliness.
So, did the various Empires on the continent not take any measures against Evil Soul Masters? Zhu Ziyang was not clear about the Sun Moon Empire, but the Three Great Empires' attitude towards Evil Soul Masters was: better to kill a thousand innocents than let one guilty person go!
However, the Empire's adults only had an attitude. The only organization on the continent that explicitly hunted down Evil Soul Masters was Shrek Academy!
As the continent's top academy, Shrek Academy's attitude and actions were very firm when facing Evil Soul Masters.
Zhu Ziyang still wanted to get into Shrek Academy and did not want to cause unnecessary trouble because of his Spirit.
In contrast, the Light Attribute was different. The Light Attribute and Death Attribute were equally powerful, but compared to the rarity of the Death Attribute, the Light Attribute was more common. Therefore, there were far more Light Attribute Spirit Beasts than Death Attribute Spirit Beasts, and their strength would not be too difficult for Zhu Changhe. Most importantly, there were Light Attribute Spirit Beasts near Anyang City!
Having suitable Spirit Beasts nearby was the greatest blessing for a Spirit Master. This meant he would not need to travel long distances to other regions to hunt for spirit rings, which was very cost-effective in terms of both time and space.
Ultimately, Zhu Ziyang decided to primarily cultivate the Light Attribute and supplement it with the Death Attribute.
"Alas! This is the only way!" Zhu Ziyang sighed, even after making his decision.
In the end, he still lacked strength!
"Alas!" He sighed again, then shook his head and muttered to himself, "Never mind, I'm only level 11, and it's still a long way to level 20. I'll think about it later. The most important thing now is to improve my strength! Cultivate!"
Thinking this, Zhu Ziyang quickly cleared his mind of all hesitation and emotional turmoil, sat up cross-legged, and began to cultivate with single-minded focus.
This was his first cultivation after absorbing a spirit ring, and Zhu Ziyang was very much looking forward to it.
He sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and prepared to enter meditation. However, the next second, he found himself practicing the Xiao Guangming Breathing Method. Zhu Ziyang was startled, but he did not stop his actions. Ever since his Spirit awakened, the Xiao Guangming Breathing Method seemed to have completely become an ordinary breathing method, with no movement from the wisp of qi in his Danzhong Acupoint.
Zhu Ziyang had already given up on the desire to continue exploring it.
However, the Xiao Guangming Breathing Method seemed to have realized Zhu Ziyang's thoughts. So this time, when Zhu Ziyang practiced the Xiao Guangming Breathing Method again, the wisp of qi in his Danzhong Acupoint, which had been dormant for seven days, stirred again!
Zhu Ziyang was startled, his consciousness instantly drawn to this wisp of qi. He felt curious.
Soon, the Xiao Guangming Breathing Method completed its cycle. According to previous situations, that wisp of qi should have returned to Zhu Ziyang's Danzhong Acupoint.
However, this time, it did not obediently return to the Danzhong Acupoint, but continued to move. Zhu Ziyang, who had been watching it closely, instantly caught this change. He looked in surprise at the still-moving wisp of qi, watching it shoot straight up to his glabella, the Niwan Acupoint, also known as the Upper Danzhong!
The Niwan Acupoint, also known as the Sea of Consciousness or the Sea of mental force, is where Spirit Masters store their mental force, corresponding to the Lower Danzhong where spirit power is stored. Generally, Spirit Masters of other types, except for Mental System Spirit Masters, only open their Sea of Consciousness and begin cultivating mental force when they reach the Spirit Elder realm.
Zhu Ziyang was very shocked to find that the wisp of qi actually rushed into his Niwan Palace without any obstruction. He had no time to think and could only control his consciousness to also enter his Sea of Consciousness. Only then did he realize that his Sea of Consciousness seemed to have already been opened. After his consciousness entered the Sea of Consciousness, his mental force instantly poured out from the Sea of Consciousness, sweeping through his body and giving him an extremely pleasant, ethereal feeling, a sensation like reaching ultimate bliss and ascending to immortality.
But he quickly calmed down and immediately manipulated his consciousness to examine his Sea of Consciousness, wanting to see what that wisp of qi actually was and what it intended to do!
Within Zhu Ziyang's Sea of mental force, there was a desolate scene. Apart from a moderately sized blue pond, there was only the mysterious qi floating above the lake; the rest of the area was hazy.
"Is this my Sea of Consciousness? It's so desolate!" Zhu Ziyang observed, muttering to himself, "Is this small pond my mental force? Why is there so much? Sure enough, my Sea of Consciousness must have been opened without my knowledge. A newly opened Sea of Consciousness couldn't possibly contain a Sea of mental force of this size!"
His gaze finally landed on the wisp of qi, with scrutiny and doubt, "What exactly are you?"
There was no response, and Zhu Ziyang felt a bit disheartened.
The next second, his eyes widened, filled with shock and fear. The wisp of qi, under Zhu Ziyang's gaze, suddenly "popped" and exploded into countless golden particles, instantly filling his Sea of Consciousness. Immediately after, Zhu Ziyang felt a sharp pain in his brain, his vision gradually blurred, and he finally fainted.
After an unknown amount of time.
In the room, Zhu Ziyang slowly opened his eyes, his face filled with intense shock and joy. He whispered, "I never expected it! I truly never expected it! Xiao Guangming Breathing Method, hey! Great Bright Art, hey!"
It turned out that the true origin of the Xiao Guangming Breathing Method was the basic operation method of a cultivation technique.
This cultivation technique was the Great Bright Art!
That wisp of qi was the item carrying the complete Great Bright Art inheritance. Only by cultivating this wisp of qi was it possible to obtain the Great Bright Art. After Zhu Ziyang's spirit power cultivation reached level 11, fulfilling the inheritance conditions, the aforementioned inheritance qi rushed into his Sea of Consciousness and exploded there. Its purpose was simple: to impart the Great Bright Art to him.
Now, he had obtained the Great Bright Art.
Cultivation techniques, they should be a cultivation method quite similar to meditation, Zhu Ziyang thought.
The Great Bright Art was a cultivation technique of mysterious origin; his past life memories had no related recollections, so he clearly had not obtained the Great Bright Art in his previous life. Zhu Ziyang was not clear about the specific effects of the Great Bright Art, because the inheritance contained nothing but the technique's incantations and meridian diagrams. To understand the effects of this mysteriously originating cultivation technique, he would need to experiment with it himself!
After a moment of silence, Zhu Ziyang decided to experience it firsthand!
He closed his eyes and sat cross-legged.
He began to circulate the spirit power within his body according to the Great Bright Art's circulation route. The spirit power flowed in a way completely different from meditation, appearing somewhat unrefined and slow. However, as it completed one cycle, he gradually became proficient, and its speed naturally increased. During cultivation, Zhu Ziyang was surprised to find that after his spirit power left his Danzhong, it would be imbued with Light power. These light-imbued spirit power would then slowly seep into his blood, eventually being completely absorbed by the blood, until it entered the Danzhong Acupoint. The remaining light-imbued spirit power, after leaving the Danzhong Acupoint, would revert to pure spirit power, continuing its circulation.
When Zhu Ziyang ended his cultivation state, the expression on his face was one of pleasant surprise, excitement, and exhilaration!
He had already understood the effects of the Great Bright Art.
If the popular meditation methods on the continent were merely ways to circulate spirit power, then the Great Bright Art was a more advanced method for circulating spirit power, bloodline, and even mental force! Zhu Ziyang understood that the Great Bright Art had at least four layers of effects. The first layer was naturally to cultivate spirit power, the second layer was to cultivate mental force, the third layer was to cultivate physique, and the fourth layer was to enhance his affinity with the Light element!
After a night of cultivation, Zhu Ziyang deeply felt that his mental force had increased, his physique had been tempered, and most importantly, the Light Attribute of his Radiant Scythe seemed to have strengthened by several points!
For Zhu Ziyang, who had already decided to primarily cultivate the path of Light, this was undoubtedly a powerful boost!