Traveling across the globe for the first time

Chapter 1084 Consuming Spiritual Marrow
Zhang Haoran understood this principle, but he still felt that the Southern Emperor was just trying to scare him, deliberately exaggerating the power of the emperor to prevent him from causing trouble for the real body.

When the three emperors fell, none of the emperors died. However, this only shows that emperors have many ways to protect themselves, not that they are truly invincible.

If the War Emperor and the Spirit Emperor were to fight one-on-one, he refused to believe that the War Emperor would be the first to die.

Moreover, if he hadn't shown mercy in the previous battle, the Human Emperor would already be dead.

Of course, what the Southern Emperor said wasn't entirely unreasonable. If they were facing ordinary strongmen, these emperors would still be very difficult to kill.

Zhang Haoran's methods are unique; he can use the sword soul to continuously weaken the enemy's strength, which is why he feels that killing an emperor is not difficult. No matter what kind of life-saving method you use, you must have a corresponding martial arts realm to support it.

Once the opponent's martial arts realm is severed, some of their techniques become useless.

Just like the Human Emperor, he was a sixth-tier powerhouse in his prime, but he was tricked as soon as he descended to the lower realm, which greatly reduced his strength. After that, he suffered a heart-severing sword technique, which caused his martial arts realm to continue to decline. That's why the battle was so easy, and the Human Emperor didn't use any amazing methods from beginning to end.

The Human Emperor is the second-generation protector of the seed, and also a super old silver coin who is good at hiding his true colors. How could he not have some trump cards up his sleeve?
But he was almost killed back then, and he didn't unleash a devastating attack. He only managed to save his life by sacrificing everything he had. It wasn't that the Human Emperor wanted to continue hiding his strength, but rather that he couldn't use those powerful methods.

Zhang Haoran didn't want to argue, lest he be tricked into revealing more information.

He said noncommittally, "I also heard that your Returning to Origin Technique is very miraculous, which is why I insist on it."

Please, senior, teach me the Returning to Origin Technique!

As he spoke, he solemnly performed a martial arts salute. Now that he was going to learn someone else's secret skills, he still had to show basic courtesy.

Whether from the perspective of the human race or from the perspective of his brotherhood with Wang Jinyang and the others, he is destined to be an enemy of the Southern Emperor in the future.

However, one thing at a time, gratitude must be repaid and vengeance must be avenged. This has always been the principle of the new martial artists. Even if they were to take action against the Southern Emperor in the future, they would first repay the favor of the Guiyuan Technique.

Having gained this favor, the Southern Emperor's expression improved considerably, and he said calmly, "I can teach you the Returning to Origin Technique."

However, as the gatekeeper, I must abide by the rules here, and there are some things I cannot do.

Therefore, I can only demonstrate as much as possible within the scope of my authority. Pay attention to the flow of various forces, observe carefully, and feel with your heart.

As soon as he finished speaking, the Southern Emperor began to circulate the Returning Origin Technique, and his body became transparent.

Qi and blood, spiritual power, primal power, and life force—these four forces circulate continuously within the body, sometimes intertwined, sometimes separated. After several major cycles, they finally merge together, giving birth to a new force: the primal force.

Zhang Haoran observed very carefully. In fact, his mental strength was much stronger than that of the projection. With the other party not holding anything back, he only needed to look at it once to remember most of it, and after a little recollection, he basically mastered it.

However, he was still observing carefully to make sure he didn't miss anything, and he complained to himself in frustration, "Damn, this is still discriminatory treatment."

When he was teaching Fang Ping, this old man marked each power with a different color. Why is it that when it comes to me, I have to distinguish them myself?

Although this wouldn't affect his learning of the techniques, it still made him resentful.

"Forget it, at least the old man didn't go too far. He's shown everything he needed to, so there's no need to worry too much."

Besides, Fang Ping relies on deception, while I rely on ability. If I don't mention these details in the future, I won't be ridiculed.

Swordsmen are naturally perceptive, and since their opponent was completely open and made no attempt to conceal anything, he could easily distinguish which forces were involved.

However, this feeling of being treated differently always made him very unhappy.

Actually, this can't be blamed on the Southern Emperor. In the original work, Fang Ping's strength was average, and he was already able to synthesize the original force. He was begging others to learn the Returning Origin Technique, fearing that if there was any difficulty, the other party would lose patience and refuse to learn. That's why he marked each type of energy with a different color.

Zhang Haoran is powerful enough to easily distinguish the characteristics of these energies, so there's no need to be so meticulous.

This is the difference between actively imparting knowledge and being forced to impart knowledge; the level of subjective initiative is different.

For the Southern Emperor, as long as the other party can learn it, there is no need to pay too much attention to the details.

If he goes too far, he will only lower his own status.

Zhang Haoran watched it several more times, recalled it in his mind, and only after confirming that there were no problems did he breathe a sigh of relief. He had finally learned the Returning Origin Technique.

Then, without telling the Southern Emperor that he had already learned it, he found a futon and sat down.

The Southern Emperor immediately looked over, assuming that he was about to activate the Returning Origin Technique. If there were any mistakes, he could point them out. After all, his life was still in the other party's hands before the other party left the checkpoint, so he had to be careful.

However, Zhang Haoran did not immediately activate the Returning Origin Technique. The Southern Emperor had previously said that the first time one activated a technique, the effect was the best, so he certainly couldn't waste such a good opportunity. He would first improve his spiritual power.

He did not immediately withdraw the spiritual power of his clones. The spiritual strength of the clones would increase as he improved. This was a risk-free business, so naturally the more he earned, the better.

Moreover, he can withdraw his thoughts with just a thought, making it more suitable for breaking through bottlenecks.

As for raising one's mental strength to 200,000, there are naturally other ways.

Zhang Haoran flipped his hand and took out a silver-gray bead. This was the Spirit Marrow, also known as the Soul Bead. It could not only enhance spiritual power but also strengthen the soul.

He swallowed the spiritual essence and began to refine it with his eyes closed.

The Southern Emperor exclaimed in surprise, "Spiritual Essence! I never imagined you possessed such a treasure!"

Actually, he felt that consuming spiritual marrow at this time was a waste.

You should know that this is the most top-tier natural treasure in the Three Realms, and even emperors have good results after consuming it.

In the Southern Emperor's view, he should first convert a portion of his vital energy into spiritual power, and then, when he approaches 20 Hz, swallow the spiritual marrow to break through the barrier.

When mental strength reaches 200,000 Hz, there will be a bottleneck, which can be broken more easily with the help of spiritual essence.

In fact, he knew Zhang Haoran's thoughts. He didn't want to waste the miraculous effects that might occur when he circulated the technique for the first time. Everyone has a bit of wishful thinking. What if he encountered a lossless transformation? Then converting blood and qi into spiritual power would be a waste.

At first, the Southern Emperor felt it was a pity to consume the spiritual marrow at this time, since even emperors did not have many of these top-grade natural treasures.

However, he soon changed his mind.

Because Zhang Haoran was consuming and refining these treasures one after another like candy, as if they weren't the finest natural resources but ordinary candy, showing no intention of cherishing them. Indeed, there was no need to cherish them; if one could use these natural resources on oneself, then using as many as one wanted wouldn't be a waste. Right now, he even complained that the refining speed was too slow, not satisfying enough.

The feeling of spiritual growth is truly captivating.

When the first spiritual marrow was refined, a tremendous change occurred within his sea of ​​consciousness.

A stream of silvery-gray mist surged into the sea of ​​consciousness. Upon entering the sea of ​​consciousness, this mist immediately split into two streams. The smaller stream, which was close to the source of energy, was absorbed by the soul, causing it to grow rapidly. The remaining larger stream of energy was used to enhance mental power.

He didn't pay much attention to improving his mental strength; all his attention was focused on his soul, because that was the foundation of a living being.

Even the two sword souls within the sea of ​​consciousness benefited from this, nourished by this energy that was close to the origin, and began to advance towards the middle stage of the sixth rank.

In fact, Zhang Haoran had already planned it out. The spiritual marrow could strengthen the soul, and with a strong soul, the bottleneck would be weakened.

If you wait until your mental strength reaches a bottleneck before consuming spiritual essence, it will certainly make the breakthrough process smoother, but it will also waste a lot of energy used to break through the bottleneck.

It would be better to take it now and weaken the bottleneck by strengthening his soul. Maybe by the time his mental power reaches 20 Hz, the bottleneck will no longer exist.

Even if the bottleneck still exists, it will definitely be weakened a lot. At that time, you can easily break through it by directly transferring the spiritual power of several clones.

Moreover, his three clones now contain approximately 60,000 hertz of mental energy. No rare or precious material could possibly have such a powerful effect, instantly increasing mental energy by 60,000 hertz.

Breaking through bottlenecks requires a concerted effort; you can't use piecemeal tactics, as that would waste a lot of energy.

Zhang Haoran couldn't sense whether his bottleneck had been weakened, or even how much his mental strength had increased. He only had one thought in his mind: to refine more spiritual essence to strengthen his soul.

The feeling of strengthening one's soul is wonderful and irresistible. It is a kind of inner strength that comes from within and is much more comfortable than the feeling of breaking through a realm.

The blissful feeling completely immersed him, and he mechanically took out one spiritual marrow after another and kept refining them. What he was thinking now was to refine them faster and make his soul even stronger.

The soul power that originally only appeared occasionally during breakthroughs has now permeated the entire sea of ​​consciousness.

Now his sea of ​​consciousness is filled with silver mist, and this mist is different from the silver-gray mist provided by the spiritual marrow. It is the purest soul power and the potential that has been developed. It can not only be transformed into spiritual power, but also be absorbed by the sword soul and magic weapon.

Even the magical sword and defensive equipment that had been behaving themselves within the sea of ​​consciousness were now frantically absorbing soul power.

Previously, the amount of soul power that surged out each time was not much, and it was basically divided up by the two great sword souls. They could only occasionally get a little bit. Now, the soul power in the sea of ​​consciousness is so much that it is so dense that it is almost liquefied.

Even without actively absorbing it, soul power gathered around, causing the two magical treasures to radiate a shimmering light, their quality continuously improving...

Well, to be precise, it's recovering.

These two magical treasures were originally of very high quality, conservatively estimated to be at the seventh rank. They were forcibly downgraded by the Ruthless Great Emperor, and after receiving a sufficient supply of soul power, they recovered quite quickly.

Previously, Zhang Haoran's soul was not strong enough, so he could only release a portion of his soul power each time he made a breakthrough.

However, after consuming a large amount of spiritual essence this time, his soul has grown to an unbelievable level. The soul that could only be vaguely sensed before has now begun to condense into a physical form.

As for that soul power, it is simply the aura emitted by the soul, which will continuously flow into the sea of ​​consciousness to supply the growth of the two sword souls and the magic weapon. Of course, a portion of it will also be converted into spiritual power.

This is the benefit of elevating one's essential soul.

His current state is something everyone would envy.

Although the God Emperor and others had also obtained a large amount of spiritual essence, they knew almost nothing about the soul and had no corresponding cultivation techniques, so their absorption efficiency was very low.

Even after refining the spiritual marrow, one can only sense an increase in spiritual power.

The powerful figures in the cultivation world mainly cultivate their souls. Whether it's the Golden Core or the Nascent Soul, they are merely vessels for the soul. As for the Loose Immortals, they exist directly in the form of soul bodies. They have special cultivation techniques for the soul, but they don't have rare and precious materials like spiritual marrow to refine.

Moreover, being able to refine so much at once is something even a seventh-tier expert would envy. It's a complete waste of resources; refining so much at once doesn't guarantee that one can digest it all. It's absolutely a waste.

Zhang Haoran kept consuming spiritual marrow, and even felt that the refining speed was not fast enough.

This is about improving one's fundamentals and strengthening one's soul; he doesn't care about wasting time.

His soul was too sensitive, and the feeling of growing stronger was intoxicating. Even with his willpower, he could not overcome it, and before he knew it, he had already refined three hundred spirit marrows.

At this moment, the soul, which was originally in a state of nothingness and could only be sensed, gradually began to have some texture.

If the soul can be fully materialized, it will transform into a martial arts primordial spirit.

Martial arts primordial spirit is almost an immortal and indestructible existence!

Martial artists who reach this level have transcended the limitations of lifespan and can easily live for millions of years. Even if their physical bodies are destroyed, they can survive through their martial spirit.

Of course, Zhang Haoran is still far from achieving this. His soul has only just begun to materialize, and he has a long way to go before he can condense a martial arts primordial spirit.

"Boom!"

Just as he was immersed in the pleasure of his soul growing stronger and was unable to extricate himself, a turbulent storm suddenly surged within his sea of ​​consciousness.

The spiritual energy that had been residing at the outermost edge of the sea of ​​consciousness was now surging continuously, and the pale blue spiritual energy burst forth with dazzling brilliance.

Zhang Haoran also woke up at this moment and immediately noticed the changes in his sea of ​​consciousness.

The mental energy that had been suppressed by the sword soul and confined to the outer edge of the sea of ​​consciousness launched a counterattack, seemingly trying to occupy the center of the sea of ​​consciousness. The mental energy began to boil and surged towards the center of the sea of ​​consciousness.

The two sword souls at the center of the sea of ​​consciousness did not feel challenged; on the contrary, they seemed to accept it. Even the soul power that filled the sea of ​​consciousness did not stop them this time.

It even began to shrink to one side, giving up a portion of the area to allow mental energy to enter.

Originally, every time new spiritual power was born, it would be constantly tempered and compressed by sword intent, which is why his spiritual power grew slower than his blood and qi.

The situation was different at this time. No matter how much the sword intent was tempered and compressed, the mental power did not decrease, but instead became stronger and stronger, as if it was being replenished by an inexhaustible source of energy.

(End of this chapter)