Chapter 93 I'm Now A Middle-Tier Saint!
In the meantime Yuan Ji could feel that the spiritual boundary of his soul sea was now expanding. There was an intense surge of pure spiritual force that was now being exuded from within him and it was filling his surroundings with multiple warm spiritual glows.
This was an indication that his current realm level had improved to the next small boundary!
He was not the only one experiencing it.
Xue Qianxue was also exuding a warm spiritual glow and it was an indication that she was now an upper tier seventh realm level!
"Ji Yuan, I am a great saintess now…" Xue Qianxue was so delighted that she was giggling softly. "Thank you everyone. I really didn't really expect this at all."
At this moment, Yuan Ji was unable to hear her. He was in deep meditation in his soul sea now.
The Lightning Tribulation that he had just experienced was now replenishing his dry soul sea which was the size of a small lake. After a while his soul sea had become a crystal clear lake and it was now boiling furiously.
The water in the lake was actually spiritual force that was condensed into liquid form. When cultivators cultivated, they drew upon the spiritual force in the air to condense it into liquid spiritual force which form the soul sea of the cultivator's inner cultivation sea.
Every time a cultivator has a major realm change, the soul sea will be completely used up to expand upon the spiritual boundary of the soul sea. When the spiritual boundary has expanded, so will the size of the soul sea be expanded as well.
When Yuan Ji was at the sixth realm level, his soul sea was a small reservoir. When he had become a seventh realm saint after his breakthrough, his small reservoir had become a big lake. Such a big empty lake would require him a lot of time to cultivate the spiritual force to fill his soul sea. If he was rich enough to afford tons of profound pills and high grade spirit stones then it would be a lot easier for him.
Right now Yuan Ji could feel that his soul sea was now expanding and he was now a middle-tier saint.
He was quite astonished that he was actually a middle-tier saint now; it is because it is not unusual for saint level cultivators to remain an initial saint for decades and even centuries without any breakthrough.
One must know that each cultivation realm has an initial, middle and upper stage. Each stage has a half-step, mortal, earth, heaven and peak stage.
Yuan Ji had only just reached the initial mortal stage, having just solidifying his soul sea not long ago. The waters in his lake were only half-full and not even at its brim. Only when he had reached the peak stage will the waters in his lake be overflowing and he can then hope for the next breakthrough. However this process may take many, many years of cultivation.
But for Yuan Ji, his Lightning Tribulation had come too early and even though the spiritual sea of his soul sea was actually not ready to elevate him for any breakthrough.
Because he had overcome the Lightning Tribulation, the profound power of the Lightning Tribulation was now expanding his spiritual boundary for him.
Although there are seven realm levels and each realm have three grades but the reality is that the seventh realm level actually have only two; the initial and the middle. It is because the middle grade is the limit of cultivation for the cultivators. If they wish to advance then they have to first overcome the Lightning Tribulation and borrow the profound power of the Lightning Tribulation to attain to the upper sacred saint level.
Therefore Yuan Ji had borrowed the profound power of the Lightning Tribulation and had elevated himself.
And because Yuan Ji had already taken his Lightning Tribulation, his spiritual boundary will not be restricted to the middle peak saint level and in the future, he can breakthrough to the upper saint level without a need to face the Lightning Tribulation again.
But he was soon muttering to himself and to Xiang Li as he stared at his empty soul sea, "I am back to a half-step again. To be precise, a middle half-step saint...useless saint with 1% of my spiritual sea intact." He had used up 99% of his soul sea to fight the Lightning Tribulation.
"When I had completed my breakthrough from the sixth realm level to the seventh realm, I still got 30% of soul sea intact. It is enough for me to kill any fourth realm cultivators and with luck, even a sixth realm cultivator."
"With my duel in a month's time, how am I supposed to fight the Old Master if I am not in my peak condition? I need myself to be in the peak condition because of my disparity with the Old Master. I don't want Hua Wuwu and Hua Baiyue to be his slaves. Alas…"
Xiang Li giggled shyly, "You can try to dual cultivate with Maiden Qianxue every day. It may help. After all, her Sacred Maiden Profound Art makes her the best dual cultivation partner."
Yuan Ji: …
"Ji Yuan, quick!" Xue Qianxue and Ling Feiyue were calling to him as they appeared next to him.
Yuan Ji opened his eyes and looked curiously at them, "What is it?"
Ling Feiyue and Xue Qianxue were pointing at the hundreds of high grade spirit stones that were floating around them.
"We need to absorb the spiritual force in these high grade spirit stones. There is only a small window of time for us to absorb the spiritual force in these spirit stones. Once our new spiritual boundary has solidified, we will no longer be able to use the high grade spiritual stones anymore. Profound pills are useless to us because we have taken too many earlier." Xue Qianxue urged him with a lovely smile.
"Ji Yuan, don't be shy. You can use ours…" Ling Feiyue was smiling shyly to him.
Yuan Ji was frowning. "Do you know how much one high grade spirit stone cost? And how many high grade spirit stone need to be consumed for it to be of use?"
Only high grade spirit stone can be used to replenish a cultivator's soul sea during and after a breakthrough.
A single high grade spirit stone can only replenish 0.3% of Yuan Ji's soul sea. Each additional use will reduce the effectiveness of the replenishment by 1/3. It will require not 300 high grade spirit stones but 30 000 high grade spirit stones to fully replenish Yuan Ji's soul sea!
Yuan Ji sighed heavily as he drawn upon the spiritual force of the high grade spirit stone and draining it completely, turning it into a low grade spirit stone. If he was not draining the high grade spirit stone, a single high grade spirit stone would be enough to provide him with a rich source of spiritual force for cultivation for an entire month. But then no one would do that because this was too wasteful.
Well, maybe not 'no one' because there were two cultivators that were in front of Yuan Ji that would be this wasteful.
Yuan Ji was suddenly startled that Xue Qianxue and Ling Feiyue were throwing literally thousands of high grade spirit stones around them and not the hundreds that he was expecting.
Soon, they had thrown tens of thousands of high grade spirit stones.
Yuan Ji's jaws fell flat onto the ground…
In the next tens of minutes, they were all grabbing tens of spirit stones in their hands as they drained it dry.
Yuan Ji took a look of guilt at them as he fully replenished his soul sea just in the nick of time as his spiritual boundary stabilized. He was now a middle mortal-step saint now, skipping the half-step completely!
Xue Qianxue clapped her hands as she laughed, "Upper mortal-step great saintess!"
"Upper earth-step great saintess!" Ling Feiyue was giggling delightfully.
All in all, they had used over a hundred thousand high grade spirit stones!
As Yuan Ji looked at the drained spirit stones that were scattered around him, there was a tiny tear in his eyes. "So much wealth…wasted…we have just eaten several gold mines…"
He began to mutter silently, "My two consorts are too high maintenance. I can't afford to support them with my puny income…"
But he was soon cursing them silently, "These rich cultivators are all wastrels. They can't even be bothered to cultivate back their profound strength after a small breakthrough. How can they be so lazy? It is only a year or two time of short cultivation..."
Using high grade spiritual stones are only possible for small breakthroughs and not for major realm breakthrough. For realm breakthrough, the high grade spirit stones can only provide only a third of the usual spiritual force and each additional high grade spirit stone will reduce the effectiveness of the replenishment by ½ and there was a cap of 70% of the soul sea.
Therefore even the very rich cultivators will still need to solidify their soul sea with several months of cultivation but it will not be as long as the poor cultivators.
Xue Qianxue gasped out softly, "Sister Yue, your sister here is a little poor now. After all, I am no longer the Sacred Maiden."
Ling Feiyue giggled softly, "Don't worry, you still have me!"
Yuan Ji said sarcastically, "You can depend on me. I am the sect master of the Emperor Hall Sect and I have a rich treasury." A rich treasury of mostly useless things, he purposely neglected to mention it.
Xue Qianxue held onto Yuan Ji's hand, "My lord is so good to me. In the future, my livelihood will depend on you."
"Haha. Sure. Leave everything to me." Yuan Ji laughed bitterly.
"Ji Yuan, why didn't you take out any high grade spirit stones earlier if you are so rich?" Ling Feiyue asked him curiously.
Yuan Ji: …
"That is because…erm…I saving it for a rainy day…" He muttered almost incoherently.
All of a sudden a shrieking sound was heard from the heavens above as a profound light appeared above them and quickly pierced the ground in front of them like a brilliant lance.
When the white animus of the brilliant lance had vanished, they would see that it was actually a celestial sword!
Yuan Ji was completely stunned as he probed the celestial sword several times with his divine sense. "It is really a celestial sword and it had dropped for no apparent reason from the heavens."
Xue Qianxue and Ling Feiyue were also startled as they exchanged looks with each other. How was it possible for a celestial sword to drop just like this?
There was only one known celestial sword that was said to exist and that belonged to the Divine Palace Master of the Hundred Flower Divine Palace.
Celestial sword was extremely rare and was a powerful profound weapon with unimagined strength.
Yuan Ji was however glad that this celestial sword had dropped all out of the blue. It was because this celestial sword had just saved him from answering an awkward question.
"Is this a reward for us for overcoming the Lightning Tribulation?" Xue Qianxue asked curiously.
Ling Feiyue smiled weakly, "I don't think so. We are not in a trial."
Yuan Ji muttered, "Maybe it is because we may be the only ones that manage to survive a Purple Lightning Tribulation. Maybe the Old Master of the Hundred Flower Divine Palace got his celestial sword in this way."
"Mmm, maybe…" Ling Feiyue was also confused.
It was because none of them had ever experienced such a strange occurrence before!
Xue Qianxue smiled, "Since it has dropped from the heavens then finder the keeper. Why don't we give it to Ji Yuan? He needs a good sword for his upcoming duel."
"I agree with that." Ling Feiyue smiled.
"Why don't you want the celestial sword?" Yuan Ji asked them with a weak smile. "Everyone wants it."
Xue Qianxue chuckled, "Because you are our lord now! Without your lightning tribulation, I don't even know when I can chance my Lightning Tribulation and I am a little afraid of it if it were to come. But today, I have not only overcome it but have also advanced to a great saintess. I am already very content!"
"Same here!" Ling Feiyue smiled delightfully. "My Silver Lightning Tribulation has been upgraded to a Purple Lightning Tribulation. Moreover I have also a little breakthrough. Ji Yuan, why don't you listen to us and take it?"
Yuan Ji rubbed his chin as he said, "This is too suspicious. Why don't I ask Xiang Li to take a look first?"
Xiang Li had naturally heard him because she was still lingering in his soul sea. She too, had seen the celestial sword when it had landed.
Therefore she had appeared quickly in front of them, "This celestial sword seems to have an owner already. But if you really want this celestial sword then I can remove the owner's profound signature for you."
Xiang Li giggled as she declared proudly, "The only skill I have is wiping profound signatures. No matter how powerful the owner is or the creator of the profound signature is, it is a piece of cake for me. In fact, I can wipe it clean with just a snap of my fingers."
Yuan Ji, Xue Qianxue and Ling Feiyue were all stunned by her. It was because it was not thought possible to remove profound signatures from a divine sword. Moreover divine swords had sentient and could resist the attempt.
Xiang Li of course was not boasting. It was because her daily job in the Lotus Sword Mansion was to wipe clean the profound signatures of the treasures of cultivators and took it for herself. Even divine swords were not spared from her merciless recycling.
Yuan Ji heaved a deep sigh as he looked at the reflection of his divine sword, "Actually I don't want to use any other divine swords even if it is a celestial grade divine sword. The name of this divine sword is Resonate Peak and it is a hundred year pledge that is given to me by Jiajia. Moreover you know that I have a perfect harmony with this divine sword. If I were to use a celestial sword, yes, it will be powerful but I won't be able to handle it as expertly as this divine sword. Therefore this divine sword is good enough for me."
Xiang Li chuckled, "I can not only wipe the profound signature off this celestial sword for your own use but I can also degrade it to enhance your divine sword. However it won't be a full celestial sword but a half-step celestial sword. Do you want to do it?"
Yuan Ji was startled, "You can do something like this? Celestial swords are supposed to be indestructible."
Even a half-step celestial sword was more powerful than a full step celestial sword because of the perfect harmony that Yuan Ji had. In fact, it could even be considered as a full step celestial sword in his hands if his own heaven-step divine sword could be upgrade to a half-step celestial sword.
Ling Feiyue and Xue Qianxue were astonished as they blinked their eyes. Xiang Li's ability was too OP!
Yuan Ji laughed heartily, "Then what are you waiting for? Will it take long…"
With a wave of Xiang Li's fingers, the light of the celestial sword had suddenly turned dull and its spiritual animus was all drained into the Resonate Peak.
In just a blink of an eye, the artefact core of the Resonate Peak had become a half-step celestial grade core!
In short, it was now a half-step celestial sword!
Yuan Ji was stunned. He had barely finished speaking and it was all accomplished by Xiang Li with a wave of her fingers. "What are you Xiang Li? You are a freak!"
Xiang Li laughed heartily as she patted her belly, "Delicious sword…"
There was an auspicious light that lit from the heavens as it landed upon Yuan Ji's divine sword. Whenever a celestial sword was created, an auspicious omen could be seen.
Yuan Ji lifted his divine sword high up and said proudly, "Dirty Old Master of the Hundred Flower Divine Palace, this time you are dead." At the same time he muttered silently. "So are you, Little Princess!"
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Nearby, the Abyssal Null Goddess coughed out a bout of golden blood when her link with her celestial sword was severed!
She was in complete disbelief!
They did not even fight over the celestial sword but actually had the profound ability to wipe out the link with her celestial sword!
This was something that was clearly impossible!
Not only did she lose her celestial sword but she had also suffer a severe backlash!
That was not all. Her celestial sword was even destroyed on the spot!
Note: Actually if the Abyssal Null Goddess was near her celestial sword, it would be impossible for Xiang Li destroy it but without the profound might of the owner to safeguard her celestial sword and the distance between owner and the celestial grade divine sword was so vast, Xiang Li in this case was like the ultimate hacker. It was because Xiang Li was unable to affect anything with life force energies on it. This was a restriction to her godly powers.
Her divine sense had suddenly spotted a beautiful spirit entity that was wearing revealing clothing, "This spirit entity is a saint level immortal spirit…why is she with him…"
In the Immortal and Desolate Realms, immortal spirits can often be found inhabiting the immortal profound treasures. These immortal spirits also have their own hierarchy and are ranked mortal, earth, heaven, celestial and saint. Saint level immortal spirits are the rarest and the most powerful.
With a saint level immortal spirit, it is possible to refine the most powerful profound treasures.
"This is clearly impossible…"
"If I have one then I may refine her to return to the Immortal Realm and may even restore to my peak…"
But that was not her main concern now as she touched her neck.
It was because there was a profound collar that had formed around her neck. This was actually a slave collar that could only be seen by her 'master' and the other immortals. This was formed when she had that suffer a backlash caused for invoking the Lightning Tribulation.
And of course there may be some powerful celestial cultivators that had superb divine sense that was on par with an immortal that could see this slave collar but that was only in very extreme cases.
This almost invisible collar was her ultimate humiliation!
She had to seek her 'new master' and be subservient to him or else her soul sea would be damaged and she may even lose her immortal body.
All of a sudden she had an idea, "Since this immortal spirit can remove the link with my celestial sword, maybe she can also remove this slave collar…"
She was actually unsure because she had little experiences dealing with immortal spirits and did not know their exact range of unique abilities.
With a heavy sigh, "I can't allow myself to fall into the hands of this unruly man. With my peerless allure, he will surely defile me and my humiliations will be endless."
All of a sudden she had another idea as she took out a precious scroll, the Spirit Beast Transformation Scroll.
She was smiling bitterly. "In the end, I have to transform myself into a lowly animal to preserve my dignity."
She fingered her burning slave collar before finally putting down the stone that was in her heart. "This is better than being violated by him…"
With melancholy sighs, she stripped herself naked before using the scroll to transform herself into a beautiful silver fox.
This beautiful silver fox had deep golden eyes with purple rings and a long beautiful fur tail that had eight other protruding smaller tails.
"This goddess here will find a way to kill this unruly master! Bai Qianfeng, why are you so down on your luck?"