ROAR
SCREECH
The fierce roar of a tiger and the long cry of a dragon echoed together!
Li Ye's blood surged through his entire body. At that moment, the dragon and tiger bloodlines within him resonated in harmony, stirring his energy and forming tangible black flood dragon and ferocious tiger phantoms around him.
The yin and yang forces gentle and forceful unfolded in succession, gradually blending and flowing at his will.
Behind him, as his blood and qi soared, the dragon and tiger phantoms entwined, seemingly clashing yet complementing each other yin and yang in conflict and harmony.
Water and fire, opposites in nature, are now fused into a singular unified will.
The swirling dragon and tiger coiled together, forming a Taiji-like diagram that continuously drew in spiritual energy from the surroundings.
Even the array-generated elemental attacks were mostly neutralized or shattered, reverting into pure spiritual essence, which then rained down and tempered Li Ye's body pushing the limits of his blood and qi.
Gradually, that unified yin-yang intent was fully realized.
The tiger and dragon phantoms dove back into his body.
Li Ye's skin took on a crystalline sheen, laced with patterns reminiscent of dragon scales and tiger stripes that constantly shifted and flowed.
His blood and qi condensed like a great pill, refined and elevated, allowing him to rapidly absorb the medicinal power and ambient spiritual energy. It even sparked the latent vitality within him, pushing his body-forging cultivation to new heights.
This state lasted only five breaths.
Then, the harmonious dragon-tiger resonance abruptly dispersed. His blood and qi flow returned to normal.
As his energy gradually settled and his strengthened body fed back a sense of power, Li Ye naturally broke into a satisfied smile.
"My physique is truly extraordinary!"
"Ever since I refined the Dragon Carp and Tiger Demon blood two years ago and laid the foundation for my Myriad Beast Body, my progress has been lightning-fast especially with the insights gained from a true Golden core expert's experiences."
"In just two years, not only have I cultivated a solid grasp of the Dragon-Tiger intent, but I can now summon that yin-yang harmony at will. My body-refinement cultivation is nearing the peak of Foundation Establishment's mid-stage. Within a year or two, I might even attempt a breakthrough!"
"My physical cultivation is advancing so fast, yet my spiritual cultivation is lagging… If only I had a truly suitable top-tier technique to match. What's the point of choosing the body-refining path if there's no proper method to support it?"
Li Ye shook his head with a sigh, feeling a little regretful that his talent for body refinement was so exceptional.
At this point, it was practically set in stone his physical cultivation was outpacing his spiritual cultivation by a wide margin!
"Still… the Void Realm Tree's feedback is just shy of completion. Maybe in the next day or two, I'll achieve a second refinement of spiritual essence and reach Tongtian Level Two…"
"Once that happens, my cultivation efficiency will skyrocket again!"
As he pondered this, Li Ye stepped into a hot spring pool beside the palace, casually removing his robes and sinking into the warm water.
Before long, four maidservants appeared, each wearing nothing more than thin silk robes. Their faces flushed perhaps from the steam, perhaps for another reason.
They quietly approached and began to gently wash and massage his body from either side.
........
Feeling refreshed and clear-headed, Li Ye stepped out of the palace with a light gait and made his way to the Void Realm Tree.
With practiced ease, he flicked a strand of spiritual power toward the Qingluo Silvergrass (Wood Spirit) to greet it. The spiritual projection, now far more solid and partially overlapping with the actual plant, swayed joyfully in response.
Silvery-blue spiritual light coiled around Li Ye in return, instantly lightening his spiritual power and seemingly enhancing his sensitivity to spiritual energy for a short time.
[You have received feedback from Tier-3 spiritual plant Qingluo Silvergrass (Wood Spirit). Insight deepened. Spiritual essence solidification +0.1%...]
The regular Qingluo Grass had never given Li Ye any spiritual essence feedback, let alone helped him solidify it.
But the Qingluo Silvergrass was different.
Though equally small and normally incapable of giving such feedback, the specific one that had birthed a wood spirit occasionally drew close to him on its own, offering trace amounts of spiritual essence solidification over time.
Still, relying on just one such plant for feedback was painfully slow.
Even after all these years, Li Ye hadn't yet fully revealed its corresponding attribute entry, and it would likely take more time.
But as the Void Realm Tree swayed gently, today was finally the day when his long-held wish would come true.
Approaching the tree, the fruits of a year's effort had finally ripened.
Instinctively, Li Ye reached out and placed his hand against its trunk, his eyes filled with anticipation.
As expected, that familiar connection surged through him. His consciousness blurred as he sank into the perception of the tree itself. Information began to flood across his vision like a system interface:
[The Tier-4 spiritual plant linked with you, Jianmu Subspecies: Void Realm Tree Sapling, has grown. Insight deepened. Spiritual essence solidification +0.1%...]
[You tended the Tier-4 spiritual plant using a blood refinement method, completing one ring of annual growth. Experience +1000...]
[...]
[Tier-4 plant Void Realm Tree Sapling has added one growth ring. You've gained Void Realm Essence ×2...]
[...]
[Void Realm Essence second refinement: 100%. Converting to the corresponding trait...]
[Your skill Cultivation has acquired the trait enhancement: Tongtian – Level Two!]
[Tongtian (Level 2): "Tongtian" signifies harmony with the heavens. Your sensitivity to the world has deepened, and your spiritual root aptitude has increased by two grades. Plants personally cultivated by you now have a slight chance of undergoing a fundamental tier advancement.]
.....
In an instant, Li Ye's body trembled. Once again, he was drawn into the tree's perspective, experiencing its growth from seedling to its current state.
Through the eyes of a tree, he perceived the heavens and earth, resonated with the flow of spiritual energy, pulled the void into itself, and became a self-contained world.
Amid this process, something within both his soul and body was suddenly elevated.
What had begun as mere empathetic perception of the tree's journey was now manifesting within him. His sensitivity to spiritual energy and control over his spiritual power skyrocketed.
Snapping out of the trance, Li Ye felt as though even the world itself looked different. The change was even more profound than when he had advanced from a low-grade to a mid-grade spiritual root.
Unconsciously, faint traces of wood-attribute spiritual energy had begun drifting toward him of their own accord, trying to merge with his body and spiritual power offering themselves up, eager to become a part of him.
Li Ye rubbed his face, momentarily overwhelmed with joy and disbelief.
As a cultivator who had clawed his way up from a low-grade spiritual root, he had once been deeply grateful just to be able to absorb a decent amount of spiritual energy.
But now, for it to come to him on its own even just a little was a completely new experience!
"The change from mid-grade to high-grade spiritual root is far more drastic than I imagined…"
"Each level of spiritual root brings a qualitatively different cultivation experience!"
Still adjusting to the abundance of spiritual energy flowing around him, Li Ye muttered in a daze.
With this new aptitude, whereas in the past he could only refine four or so droplets of liquid spiritual power in a year with the help of pills, he now might be able to form six to eight!
His entire cultivation speed would now increase dramatically.
He might even reach Foundation Establishment Perfection before the age of a hundred and earn the chance to attempt Golden Core!
And if this was what a high-grade spiritual root felt like, Li Ye could barely imagine what kind of spiritual response a cultivator with an Earth-grade or even Heaven-grade root would receive...
Just how effortless would cultivation feel then?
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