Chương 169: Spirit transformation layer

Long Feng merely smiled at that. Truthfully, he hadn't known how laughable his idea of distracting the yin soldier with just his meagre strength was untill the yin soldier almost killed him with just a portion of his strength. It was like a mantis trying to stall a chariot. That was naturally unrealistic. The difference between them was something Long Feng couldn't make up for, even if he burned up his entire life source and cultivation.

Though, it couldn't be denied that his plan was almost flawless and it would have succeeded if he was facing a weaker yin soldier. Sighing lightly, he put that thought aside.

"Where are we?" His mind had mostly calmed down and he was now able to think properly. He realized that the ghost energy which was virtually everywhere in the yin ghosts forest was actually nowhere to be seen. A wild thought emerged in his mind. Could they have left the Yin ghosts forest? He immediately shook his head, rejecting that thought. It just didn't seem so simple to leave this place, even with a master like old Gu with them.

"Don't worry, we are in a relatively safe cave. I sealed off the ghost energy of the area and concealed it properly." Old Gu obviously couldn't guess what was on Long Feng's mind as he replied.

"Oh!" Long Feng nodded. They were obviously still in the depths of the forest.

"How long was I unconscious for?" He asked curiously. Based on his calculations, it shouldn't be more than three days.

"Two days." Old Gu replied, then his expression became solemn.

"I've been scouting around while you were unconscious, and I felt that the situation in the forest is about to change. It is very possible that the masters of the four regions have reached the center of the forest because all the yin soldiers have all been heading towards the center." Normally, he wouldn't do something like scouting with his strength. But he was feeling bored with nothing to do, and moreover, it wouldn't hurt to gather some information about the general situation here.

"The seniors of the four regions have arrived?" Long Feng asked in surprise. As he saw old Gu nod his head, he felt excitement bubbling in his heart. At last, the masters of the four dynasties have arrived! This was the best news he had heard in a long time. He couldn't wait to leave this goddamned forest. In fact, everyone who was in still alive in this forest would feel the same way, after all, it definitely wasn't a warm experience at all to live in this place.

"My guess is that they have already began to confront the yin generals and the yin monarchs. Therefore, we must rush towards the forest center quickly before the masters retreat out of the forest. If that happens, then we can only sit still and wait for our deaths." Old Gu continued with a solemn tone. Long Feng understood the gravity of the situation as he nodded.

"I should be able to move and I won't have any problems if I don't rashly try to circulate my inner energy" he examined himself as he spoke. The truth was that even moving would prove to be challenging to the current him, but at least he should be able to endure. Old Gu also nodded.

"We can't waste more time. You can rest for two more hours before we set out. We are still quite a distance from the center and we will need a day or two to arrive." Of course, these two hours were also for him to prepare himself for any unexpected situation and also to give the others enough time to recover properly to their peak states.

"Thank you, old Gu" Long Feng nodded gratefully. He really couldn't imagine what would become of him and the other three had old Gu not interfered. At the very least, he and Yan jian would have their life sources drained while Li Yue'er and Hua Liuli would face a fate worse than death. Old Gu smiled faintly as he walked out of the cave.

"Hu!" Long Feng breathed out as he calmed down.

"Brother Long Feng, you should get some rest. It seems like the road ahead is still rough" Yan jian laughed bitterly. With his strength, he would probably be among the earliest ones to lose their lives if things became dangerous.

"Don't worry. Everything will be fine" Long Feng replied calmly. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The trio also left the cave, leaving him to slowly heal his injuries silently. Two hours later, five figures appeared outside a well hidden cave. Leading this group of five was a grey haired old man with a weak vitality, but if one looked into his sharp eyes, they would see a powerful light hidden within.

"Alright!" old Gu looked around with a calm expression.

"It's time to leave." As he spoke, he waved his hand. Five streams of light appeared and shot into the bodies of Long Feng and the others. Long yuan had been persuaded by Long Feng to return to the origin spirit palace.

"This is a concealment formation I personally created. With me as the core, it perfectly conceals all of us together. Even deities will find it hard to sense our presence. Moreover, I can use it to locate you all in a certain radius in case we get separated. It also has some healing power and can heal you if you are injured." He explained. Long Feng could sense the presence of the complex formation within his body, but due to the state of his soul world, he was unable to use his soul power to examine it.

He was in a very awkward situation as both his dantian and soul world were in bad states. His dantian was recovering quickly though, and it wouldn't take long for him to be able to use his inner energy again. As for his soul world, it was recovering very slowly. If he allowed it to recover naturally, it would take about three months to half a year to recover. That was a very long time to him and he wouldn't be able to bear it.

"Let's go." Old Gu's voice interrupted his thoughts. He sighed softly and limped after the others. Yan jian also came to his side to support him a little. After a long while, Long Feng walked over to old Gu's side.

"Senior, this Junior is curious about your soul cultivation realm. Could you be in the spirit layer?" He asked softly. This question has been on his mind for a while now and he couldn't help but wonder if old Gu was at the spirit layer, the soul realm where one has power equal to the imperial realm. Based on what Long Feng knew, the three soul cultivation realms in the continents were the Heaven layer, the saint layer and the spirit layer.

The heaven and saint layer had no specific power and were mainly used to set up the most basic formations. Only when one attained the spirit layer would one be able to fully utilize the true power of the soul. And the spirit layer was also comparable in strength to the imperial realm. it wasn't a stretch to say that the spirit layered soul was the true beginning of the soul cultivation path. Old Gu smiled at him.

"The soul path is a path filled with infinite mysteries and profoundness. It isn't limited to the spirit layer and definitely isn't weaker than martial power in any way as people think. If anything, it can only be stronger." Long Feng's eyes twinkled as his curiosity was awakened.

"Please enlighten me, senior" he cupped his fist and said respectfully. Old Gu laughed.

"Quite a smart mouth you've got there." He paused in thought for a moment before he continued. Everyone in the group were also paying attention to him as they all listened.

"As I said, the soul path is infinitely complex and isn't in any way inferior to the martial power. Some seniors speculate that in the path to the peak, the heaven, saint and spirit layers of the soul cultivation are only the beginning. In fact, they aren't even the beginning, only a special state of figuring out the soul and learning how to use the power of the soul. In short, these three layers are just meant to temper the embryonic soul.

It is similar to the connate, yin, Yang, spirit and imperial realms of the martial path. It is also speculated that they were also only meant to connect with the dantian and temper the inner energy in preparation for the higher realms." As they heard what old gu said, the four youths couldn't help but gasp in shock. To think that from the connate level to the imperial level were only meant to temper the inner energy! In short, they weren't fully regarded as cultivation realms!

If they weren't hearing this from old gu, then they would have drowned the speaker in spittle within moments. Old Gu had already expected their shocked expressions as he continued.

"Above the imperial level is the deity realm, where one begins to transform the inner energy into true essense. Likewise above the spirit layer, the next layer is the spirit transformation layer, where one begins to transform the soul power into a more powerful spirit power. At this stage, one's spirit power will not lose out in a direct confrontation with a deity's true essense. I am also at this stage." There was a hint of pride in old Gu's voice as he said this while the four youths listened in shock.

After a moment's silence, old Gu continued.

"Once one has fully transformed the soul power into spirit power, the soul world will be completely reconstructed and the Linghun palace will be built in the soul world. That stage is comparable to the martial path's Dao realm. That isn't even close to the end though, just the tip of the iceberg, the very beginning. There are more profound realms out there in the wider world that not even I can imagine." Long Feng and the others had shocked expressions on their faces as old Gu finished speaking.

It was not easy for them to take in this in shocking information and it took a minute or two before they digested it in. They all breathed in deeply and glanced at each other, still feeling incredulous. It looked like they still had a long path ahead of them.

"Senior seems to know more about the martial cultivation realms. Can you enlighten us Juniors?" This time, it was Yan jian who spoke up with a sharp light in his eyes. Old Gu laughed.

"It wouldn't hurt to broaden your visions, after all, growing up in a low ranked continent isn't easy at all." He obviously already knew their origins, probably from one of the others.

"As I mentioned earlier, before one can breakthrough to the deity realm, one has to transform the inner energy into true essense. True essense is a very powerful energy which is far above what inner energy can do. A strand of true essense can destroy the inner energy of five ordinary peak imperial level master before it dissipate. You can tell how vast the difference between them is. At the deity realm, one had to slowly transform more inner energy into true essense while constantly purifying the true essense.

Once ninety percent of the inner energy is transformed, one would have reached the peak of the deity realm. Of course, it depends on the individual. Some who have weaker talent and potential would have only transformed about sixty or seventy percent. It is already rare to see someone reach the peak deity realm with an eighty percent transformed true essense and as for ninety percent, it only appears in chosen talents of heaven once in a long while. Hundred percent is impossible though.

At that stage, the transformed true essense will be used to condense the dao heart." At this point, old Gu paused with a solemn expression.

"Dao heart?" Long Feng and the others muttered as they waited for him to continue.

"The dao heart… is the very core of a martial cultivator. It is the condensation of one's true essense and also the dao which the cultivator focus on. In other words, if you cultivate the fire dao, your dao heart will be a fire dao heart. Of course, it doesn't limit how many dao you can comprehend. In fact, it is a great chance, because once the dao heart is formed, a world baptism will descend from the heaven.

The dao baptism will contain the most profound truths of that particular dao which will be sealed in your very being. These truths will greatly increase your comprehension of that dao and your strength will increase greatly. After that, you can choose to comprehend other dao, but that particular dao with which your dao heart was formed with will always remain the very core of your martial path.

Even if you neglect it and refuse to comprehend it again, your comprehension of it will still slowly increase as you grow stronger."