fifth form

Chapter 3089 Nourishing the Staff
The Empress Dowager intervened when Tian Fen entered the palace.

The two methods proved ineffective, which means that no one is exempt from the power of the Crimson Sky Sword.

"My mother sent a letter requesting that she invite His Majesty to a banquet..."

Princess Dou couldn't help herself and asked the Empress in the Jiaofang Palace to convey her message.

The new emperor wielding the Crimson Sky Sword is not frightening; what is frightening is who actually possesses the Crimson Sky Sword and what the other party intends to do with it.

In such matters, everyone must prove their innocence.

Even if no one had any intention of seizing the Crimson Sky Sword, no one could guarantee that they didn't have such a character under their command.

The most troublesome thing is the investigation by the Jingzhao Yin Prefecture, which will inevitably find out the family situation of everyone. No one can withstand such an investigation, but without finding the Chixiao Sword in advance, no one can stay out of it.

Sitting at home, trouble fell from the sky. Princess Dou was just as anxious as anyone else, wanting to clear herself of suspicion and get rid of the trouble.

From afar, the new emperor neither refused to attend the banquet nor agreed to attend immediately.

After hearing the sound twice, Zhang Xuezhou took the key and returned to the small hall where he had been assigned to live.

The new emperor wasn't joking when he mentioned "facing the wall." Before the truth of the Crimson Sword case was revealed, Zhang Xuezhou couldn't run around recklessly, lest he ruin things.

He couldn't return to the residence of the Prefect of the Capital, which required careful verification, and could only stay in the Imperial Palace to wait.

It won't be long, maybe three to seven days, or ten days to half a month, or even a month, before all these things come to an end.

Life in the palace was destined to be very boring. Zhang Xuezhou's range of activities was not very large. After wandering around for a while, he lost interest and instead tried to cultivate the nurturing method in his residence.

The cultivation method is not something that can be achieved by simply picking up any weapon. Those skilled in swords cultivate their swords, those skilled in daggers cultivate their daggers, and those skilled in magic cultivate their staffs in order to seek greater power. This requires matching one's own cultivation with their own practice.

In the early stages of cultivation, it's fine, but the level of nurturing is low, and no great power can be nurtured. Some conventional weapons can be used for practice.

However, once one's cultivation level is high enough, nurturing one's skills cannot be done casually. This requires not only divine weapons and sharp blades, but also something that aligns with one's cultivation.

For example, it's not very useful for Zhang Xuezhou to nurture the Crimson Sky Sword, and it's also a bit lacking when he uses the Azure Rock Staff, since Zhang Xuezhou doesn't rely on petrification techniques to fight.

However, the Fangzhang Island innate spiritual wood staff is more suitable for Zhang Xuezhou, as this staff can guide and enhance deterrence capabilities.

Although Zhang Xuezhou survives through cultivation, his methods of attack are mostly related to intimidation.

The reason why Zhang Xuezhou rarely used intimidation when fighting against cultivators was simple: he was certain that his intimidation would have no effect.

Once he enters the Realm of Solitary Self, there is still room for his spirit to grow. This ability will no longer be used to target the weak, but will be able to target cultivators of the same level. Zhang Xuezhou is undoubtedly willing to nurture a magic weapon to assist him and see if he can improve the scope of his target.

Holding the innate spiritual wood staff in his arms, Zhang Xuezhou also relied on the method provided by Montespatton to refine it.

"Squeak!"

As he continuously channeled his spiritual power to nurture it, a low, mouse-like squeak began to resonate in Zhang Xuezhou's mind.

Compared to ordinary cultivators who need to gradually increase their spiritual power during cultivation, Zhang Xuezhou's own spiritual power was extremely strong, so he skipped many complicated procedures and did not need to hone it over many years.

As long as the conditions are met, many complex and complicated cultivation methods are indeed not as difficult as imagined.

If one's own resources far exceed one's needs, then it is as simple as eating and drinking.

Zhang Xuezhou felt that the processes of perception, interaction, and feedback mentioned in the nurturing method were progressing very quickly, and he began to come into contact with the origin of this innate spiritual wood staff.

"This is probably the soul of the staff!"

A green light appeared in their senses, accompanied by sounds that were difficult to communicate with from other creatures. Taking advantage of the fight among the gourd vines, Zhang Xuezhou and his companions severed the spirit wood staff by the roots.

From the perspective of ordinary living beings, the staff they severed was already dead.

However, the innate spirit wood staff was not human, and the opponent was indeed not dead, and even resisted his use of the remaining power of the staff.

"If we can't work together, what use are you!"

The weapon spirit cultivated by Montespatton's nurturing method is as responsive as an arm, with no coordination issues; the Ruyi Transformation Staff moves almost entirely at will.

Montesbarton's concept of a 'spirit' can be categorized as a special kind of spiritual energy entity, or an empty shell waiting to be commanded.

Just like Zhang Xuezhou's body, as long as his three souls and seven spirits enter it, he can control the body and unleash its power.

Once the spiritwood staff is analyzed and can function normally, the existence of the staff's original soul is irrelevant; at most, its power will decrease, but there is no issue of it being unusable.

"Squeak..."

Seemingly sensing Zhang Xuezhou's intention, the green light became extremely agitated and tried to wander around.

But in the green light, lotus leaves kept emerging, stretching out like vines.

This is the method of the Master of the Cundi Sect. If the lotus leaves can be continuously operated and pushed to restrain it, a different kind of control can be achieved, thereby controlling the soul of the staff and ultimately realizing the mind-to-mind command between the person and the magic weapon.

As long as this treasure isn't used against the two leaders, this method of manipulation should likely have no long-term consequences.

Zhang Xuezhou wasn't looking down on Zhunti's method, nor was he trying to avoid using his staff against Zhunti and suffering a backlash. Rather, he found that Montespatton's cultivation method seemed simpler.

Compared to indirect manipulation, self-cultivation naturally leads to responsive control, allowing for faster and more in-depth utilization of one's abilities.

"It's not easy to catch you normally, but it's much easier now. If you have to blame someone, blame Master Zhunti for setting up this huge net, which made it so easy for me to capture you!"

Zhang Xuezhou kept exploring, like a fisherman waiting for the snipe and the clam to fight, constantly observing the green light. Finally, he confirmed that he could also control the staff. Only then did he use his spiritual power to strike, wanting to completely erase the green light and thus regain a well-controlled staff.

A burly man wielding an axe appeared in the green light, then transformed into a female nun holding a sword.

In its futile resistance, this form was not only wrapped and entangled by lotus leaves, but also suffered continuous mental attacks from Zhang Xuezhou, causing its body to crack and collapse.

Several years ago, Zhang Xuezhou and his group were almost wiped out by this spirit wood staff. Now, he can strike with ease and simplicity, and when he pursues them, it's almost like hitting a fixed target.

"You're the kind of person who only responds to force!"

The creatures that had taken form collapsed one after another. Zhang Xuezhou sensed that the green light was rushing towards him like a cornered dog. He was about to give it a big blow and suppress it head-on until he crushed and obliterated it when he suddenly noticed that the green light had jumped to the side of his soul.

When Zhang Xuezhou pointed his mind forward, the green light also pointed forward.

This direction is not simply a matter of consistency in behavior and actions. Zhang Xuezhou felt as if his mental power had been amplified by some kind of device, making him much stronger than before.

"Could this be the spiritual power I can unleash after achieving great success in my practice of the Heart Sutra?"

The sound of shattering reached his ears, and Zhang Xuezhou saw the furniture in the small hall's side room being smashed by the staff.

From trembling to cracking, and then turning into dust, this piece of furniture was as if it had experienced high-frequency vibrations, destroying its original structure and turning into fragments of a scattered structure.

All of this was achieved solely through the use of the innate spirit wood staff.

Zhang Xuezhou aimed to exert psychological pressure and deterrence to defeat his opponents; he never intended to engage in physical sabotage.

This was not what he had thought in the past, but Zhang Xuezhou also wondered if if his mental strength were to increase again, and thus a new qualitative change was triggered by quantitative change, it might evolve into a physical destruction that seemed to have immeasurable power at the moment.