Fangxian Heretical Path

Chapter 140 The Divine Silk Talent Illuminates the Entire Body (4.4 thousand words)
Fang Shu's mind was detached from worldly affairs as he quietly observed the scene in the spiritual chamber, free from distracting thoughts, simply admiring it.

After an unknown amount of time, he suddenly felt a hunger pang in his stomach, and only then did he regain his senses and bring his consciousness back into his body.

In the dim light, he opened his eyes, and the entire room was instantly illuminated.

This was because he had only recently broken through to the next level, and the divine light in his eyes was not yet able to be contained in time, so it was as if it were flashing out like thunder.

This is both a sign that he has not yet mastered his own magical power and another sign that he has broken through to become a Qi Refining Immortal.

"I have long heard that immortals can make a room bright with light and intimidate people with their eyes, subduing mortals and ghosts with a single glance."

Fang Shu thought to himself, "Now that I have successfully broken through, I know that this was not an empty promise."

With divine sense in his body, he will be able to see in all directions, including left, right, up, and down. He can even see through the rocks and soil under his feet, leaving no blind spots.

This is undoubtedly a great help in the face of imminent battle.

Furthermore, divine consciousness itself is also a form of magical power.

Without needing to change much, it is like a ray of light or heat, capable of dispelling darkness and drying out moisture from a distance.

This kind of soul-destroying technique allows Fang Shu to walk among mortals and shatter the minds of the timid with a single glance. Even immortal cultivators who have refined essences will feel seven times smaller or even frozen in place if he sweeps them with his divine sense.

Thinking about this, Fang Shu only realized now that the sense of fear he felt when the Du Guanzhu and others used their divine sense to examine him before was actually a result of them suppressing their malice.

Otherwise, he wouldn't just have felt a chill at the time, but would have remained trembling with fear afterward, and even had nightmares for several nights.

Fang Shu muttered to himself, "The difference between Qi Refining Immortals and Essence Refining Immortals is already like heaven and earth, just from divine sense alone. What about true qi?"

With a gentle wave of his hand, something that was neither light nor water appeared in his hand, its color slightly purple, like a ribbon, and it wrapped around his hand.

This substance is the true energy generated from the interaction of the blood and soul within the immortal's body after surviving the "calamity of hunger and defilement".

If divine consciousness is the light of a candle, then true energy is the flame of that candle. It is the true source of magical power and the means by which immortals live on wind and dew, free from impurities and hunger.

Fang Shu could feel that even without using magic, simply by releasing his true energy, he could easily pierce through metal and stone and rot a person's body.

Furthermore, his true energy was extracted from the blood and qi of lead-based qi and insect-based qi, and thus possessed the wonders of lead-based qi, metal-based qi, and snake- and insect-based qi.

Clang!

With a gentle flick of his wrist, Fang Shu conjured a purple-tinged blade of true energy in his hand. He then casually flicked the blade aside.

With a hissing sound, a single boulder placed in the spirit room was instantly cut with a mark a foot deep, as easily as cutting tofu, without any resistance.

This is how, after cultivating true qi, a qi-cultivating immortal can release true qi with the ease of a gesture. Without needing magical artifacts, a simple pinch of the hand is equivalent to a low-level or even high-level spell.

Of course, ordinary immortals do not have a foundation as solid as Fang Shu's. When their true energy is released, its effectiveness is much less, and it cannot penetrate a solid rock to a depth of one foot.

After briefly testing the true energy that had sprouted within him, Fang Shu restrained himself from making any further moves.

Clang!

He simply took out the long tongue sword from his mouth again and infused it with his true energy.

Once the true energy was applied, the tongue sword seemed to be enhanced with the fire blade technique, with bursts of sword light.

When he used his true energy to unleash the Fire Blade Technique again, the sword light and fire on the blade surged even more fiercely, like a dragon as thick as an arm, howling and spitting out flames, its power increasing even more, far surpassing what it had been before.

Fang Shu estimated that his current sword strike should have reached the power of a genuine fourth-grade tribulation spell. If he were to kill a Refining Immortal, even himself before his seclusion, it should be as easy as slaughtering a chicken or a dog.

Sure enough, he casually swung his sword and struck the giant rock that was performing magic, easily splitting the half-zhang-long rock in two without any resistance.

After only one attempt, Fang Shu once again suppressed the urge to act, lest he get too carried away and damage the spirit chamber.

It should be known that this place belongs to the Jin family, not him. There are also arrays set up around it, so he dares not destroy it at will, lest he be extorted.

After testing his divine sense and true energy, Fang Shu was certain that his breakthrough was a great success and without any flaws!
Finally, a look of joy appeared on his face, and he opened his mouth, making hoarse noises.

Swaying unsteadily, he struggled to rise from the altar and stood for a long time in the spirit chamber.

He stroked his own emaciated, skeletal body, showing no regret or worry.

The reason his physical body had become this grotesque was not because he had injured it during his breakthrough.

It's just that his vital energy was consumed excessively, especially when true energy was generated. All the vital energy in his body was connected with his soul and was consumed in large quantities, turning into true energy.

This is why his skin and flesh withered, and even the fat in his skull was burned away.

But this is no big deal. With true qi by his side and the ability to absorb spiritual energy from heaven and earth on his own, he can replenish his physical body even by eating ordinary birds and beasts. If he has elixirs or other nourishing substances, the recovery speed will be even faster.

With his stomach growling with hunger, Fang Shu didn't hesitate any longer. He immediately stuck out his long tongue and took the storage pouch outside the altar.

Without needing to use his qi and blood to slowly open it, under the control of his divine sense, the purse was opened in the blink of an eye, and all the items inside were poured out.

Compared to before, Fang Shu's speed in retrieving this item is undoubtedly more than ten times faster.

If this storage pouch is intact and is a magic artifact of the first level of the fourth level of the tribulation, then he can use his divine sense to search directly inside the pouch, taking out only the items he needs, without having to empty everything out.

This is also one of the great uses of divine sense, which can control magical artifacts and spells remotely and freely.

Kaka!

The sound of eating immediately rang out on the altar.

Fang Shu lowered his head and greedily ate the meat, pills, and other items that he had prepared in his purse one by one.

Between the grinding of teeth and the rumbling of the intestines.

His withered body immediately grew stronger and gradually recovered during this process.

In the time it takes to eat a meal, his skin became plump, and his face was even more rosy and white, making him almost indistinguishable from his body before his seclusion.

Furthermore, now that he is surrounded by true qi, he can control and clean all the pores on his body, truly achieving a state of not sweating or producing filth. This is the appearance of "being free from filth and hunger," which is also another name for the fourth tribulation of immortals.

After a hearty meal, Fang Shu touched his own forehead.

His hair, which had been burned off, has now grown back to half an inch long, and his eyebrows and eyelashes have been restored to their original state.

If he were to focus on nourishing the top of his head with his true energy in a few more days, his hair would grow even faster, and it wouldn't be long before he could tie it up.

In this way, when he emerges from seclusion, his appearance will not seem too strange or attract attention.

Eat and drink well.

Fang Shu, in the spiritual chamber, exhaled a breath, his face serene, his mind and body at peace.

It was time for him to further investigate the spiritual root he had planted and to find out what mysteries it held.

Although a pseudo-spiritual root is not as good as a true innate spiritual root, it can still bring certain unique benefits to immortals after being planted. This is his second greatest gain from this tribulation, second only to breaking through his cultivation realm, which makes him extremely excited.

Buzzing!
The next moment, another burst of golden light emanated from the spirit chamber, originating from Fang Shu's forehead.

As he activated the Cordyceps sinensis, which was both his natal Gu and spiritual root, the spiritual energy in the spiritual chamber fluctuated again, gathering into a trickle that flowed into his forehead.

The sheer pleasure of absorbing spiritual energy made Fang Shu sigh again.

Compared to now, during his refinement period, even if he used the Moon-Absorbing Breathing Technique, and the moonlight was perfect, and he was holding a spirit stone, the efficiency of his breathing back then was at most one-tenth of what it is now.

In other words, his efficiency in absorbing and exhaling spiritual energy has increased tenfold compared to before!
Fang Shu was amazed: "Is this the wonder of spiritual roots? Even a pseudo-spiritual root has such extraordinary effects."

The difference between having it and not having it is far too great.

What surprised him even more was that, with a thought, strands of silk threads shot out from his forehead and spread wildly into his body and out of his body.

In the blink of an eye, he turned into a piece of hairy tofu again.

But unlike before, these threads are now under his control, and every time they spread across the land, he vaguely feels that his divine sense can also spread along with them.

This discovery left Fang Shu feeling bewildered, wondering if he was simply deluding himself due to excessive excitement.

After breaking through to the Qi Refining stage, the range of divine sense of a fourth-tribulation immortal typically stabilizes at a radius of ten zhang. However, the spiritual chamber is only three zhang wide and long, which is sufficient to completely cover the divine sense of Fang Shu.

After some thought, he shut down the spirit chamber's array and opened a small opening for communication with the outside world.

It manipulates the mycelium, patiently allowing it to spread out, reaching over ten zhang away.

Soon, a scene that surprised Fang Shu appeared, and it wasn't just ten feet away.

Eleven zhang, twelve zhang, thirteen zhang... thirty zhang! Fifty zhang! One hundred zhang!

When his mycelium expands to a hundred feet, as long as the mycelium doesn't decay, his divine sense can smoothly spread out and reach beyond a hundred feet!

Fang Shu sat alone in the spirit room, staring blankly in the direction where his divine sense was spreading, and for a moment he was somewhat dazed.

A divine sense spanning a hundred feet is something only a late-stage Qi Refining immortal, a Sixth Tribulation Qi Refining Spirit Immortal, can possess. And to exceed a hundred feet, one must be a Qi Refining immortal who has cultivated a secret technique for divine sense.

Now, with the help of the spiritual root mycelium, Fang Shu has reached such a level even though he has just entered the Qi Refining stage.

Even though his divine sense would be limited by the mycelium, and the mycelium was fragile, and spreading the mycelium would also consume his true energy... this method was still incredibly profound. In just an instant, a variety of wonderful uses popped into Fang Shu's mind.

After regaining his senses, he immediately withdrew his divine sense inch by inch, destroyed the released mycelium, and then tightly closed the spiritual chamber, raising the array to isolate the inside from the outside.

These mycelia are not his flesh and blood, but rather something more like hair and nails. Since they are part of his body and not important, they can be discarded at any time.

This would prevent passersby from noticing his unusual behavior and thus exposing his spiritual talent.

With his heart surging with emotion, Fang Shu immediately began to examine the mycelium growing from his own spiritual root more carefully.

He quickly discovered that, in addition to its wonderful use of attaching to divine consciousness, the mycelium also had the function of transmitting true energy and spiritual energy.

Specifically, it can both guide the true energy of the bundle out and draw in the spiritual energy at the end, just like the roots of a plant, except that a lot of energy will be lost along the way.

On a whim, Fang Shu took out a Refining Essence Gu Worm, let the mycelium wrap around it, and then invade the Gu Worm's body.

Soon, he discovered that because of the connection of mycelium, he and the Gu worm seemed to have become one.

Even after the mycelium is severed, it can still survive by relying on the flesh and blood inside the Gu worm, and can reconnect with its original body at any time.

When he kept the hyphae broken and focused his divine sense on the Gu worm's body, with the help of the hyphae, his divine sense could still freely enter and exit the Gu worm's body. He could see the Gu worm as if it were inside his own flesh and blood.

This situation once again made Fang Shu's gaze shift.

It should be understood that although consciousness is a mysterious thing, it is very easy to be blocked or obstructed without the support of secret methods, especially in the flesh and blood, where it is like being in mud.

Now, with the help of mycelium, he can easily see through living things.

In this way, he can first invade the Gu worm's body with mycelium when he is refining and using Gu in the future.

This way, whether you're refining or using Gu, you'll achieve twice the result with half the effort!
Surprised, Fang Shu calmed himself and continued to ponder the wondrous uses of spiritual roots in the spiritual chamber.

As it turned out, he also discovered another effect of the mycelium on himself.

That is, when the hyphae spread throughout his body, they acted like nerve plexuses, giving him control over every part of his flesh, both inside and outside his body.

Or to be more precise, these hyphae are actually nerve roots that spread from his brain, which is why they can carry his divine consciousness and true energy.

Based on this principle, Fang Shu figured that if his fingers or arms were cut off, he could probably reattach them easily, like lotus roots, and the function of his fingers would not be affected in the slightest.

He couldn't help but think to himself, "In that case, wouldn't I have the same talent as someone who can regenerate severed limbs, only a little weaker?"

It should be understood that reconnecting severed limbs and transplanting organs are both easy and difficult tasks, even for immortals.

Because while reconnected limbs, organs, flesh, and bones are easy to remodel, the severed nerve pathways within them are extremely difficult to repair.

Now that Fang Shu can freely control the nerves in his body, it will undoubtedly be extremely convenient for him to reattach severed limbs or transplant organs in the future.

For a moment, he felt a surge of excitement, even wanting to cut off a finger and try it out on the spot.

Fortunately, he managed to suppress the impulse again.

This idea is too foolish; after all, if you're going to cut something, you should cut off the toes first.

[Spiritual possession], [Parasitism], [Self-repair]

After figuring out the three wonderful uses of mycelium, Fang Shu couldn't help but mutter to himself:

"This thing should perhaps not be called mycelium, but rather 'divine silk'."

With such divine silk by his side, even if his spiritual root is only a pseudo-spiritual root, its wondrous uses may not be inferior to those of a true spiritual root.

After a period of joy...

Fang Shu's attention shifted, and after much deliberation, he suddenly focused his mind on the Daoist talisman in his mind.

There were many characters appearing on the Taoist talisman, but Fang Shu was not there to look at them at this moment.

The Daoist talisman was an extraordinary object, existing both in his mind and connected to his skull, seemingly both real and unreal, forming a unique and mysterious entity.

Although this thing is nominally under Fang Shu's complete control, Fang Shu has never actively refined it, nor did he have the means to do so before.

Now, a thought crossed his mind: "I have already refined my Qi and possess the Divine Silk. If I were to treat it like a Gu worm and use the Divine Silk to erode and manipulate it, what would happen?"

Upon realizing this, he felt an irrepressible urge to try it out.

(End of this chapter)