Chapter 3

The next day, as the first rays of the rising sun appeared, Zhu Ganglie woke up early and thoroughly cleaned the ancestral hall inside and out. Then he stood guard outside the hall.

Few people came here, unless it was for disciples who were punished to face the wall or for major ceremonies and rituals.

So Zhu Ganglie could listen in peace to the elder’s explanation of cultivation techniques.

“Whoosh!”

Just as Zhu Ganglie was about to start eavesdropping, several cries of immortal birds suddenly came from outside, and he couldn’t help but step out of the room.

He saw a giant eagle with golden wings and iron-like talons flying in the air, flapping its wings toward the Zhen Gang Hall on Zhen Gang Peak.

On the back of this giant eagle stood a young man in a white Taoist robe, carrying a bronze longsword, with star-like eyes and a radiant demeanor, gazing at the Zhen Gang Hall atop the peak.

“Is it the demonic beast, the Golden-Winged Iron-Clawed Eagle?”

“It’s the eldest brother!”

“The eldest brother has tamed the Golden-Winged Iron-Clawed Eagle!”

Seeing the giant eagle, all the disciples of Zhen Gang Sect were in an uproar. This was a major demonic beast that had been causing havoc in Chilong Province, and it had actually been tamed by the eldest brother.

In an instant, all the disciples looked at the young man on the giant eagle with admiration and praise.

“The eldest brother, Linghu Yilang, has really tamed this demonic beast!”

Seeing the giant eagle and the young man on it, Zhu Ganglie was extremely shocked. In his shock, he felt a deep envy. If only he could be like the eldest brother, soaring through the heavens.

The eldest brother, Linghu Yilang, was a prodigy, having cultivated for twenty years and already reached the level of Manifestation after passing through the stages of Concentration and Out-of-Body. He had also condensed the power of the Gourd Sword Technique.

“Several days ago, the eldest brother left the mountain to tame the Golden-Winged Iron-Clawed Eagle, which was wreaking havoc in Chilong Province. I didn’t expect him to succeed.”

“With the help of this demonic beast, the eldest brother will surely win the competition in a year, bringing victory to Zhen Gang Sect.”

Zhu Ganglie, filled with envy, couldn’t help but praise.

While Zhu Ganglie was looking up in admiration, many disciples quickly flew toward the Zhen Gang Hall.

These disciples had condensed spiritual energy and could activate the magical robes on their bodies to fly, or use the sword talismans in their hands to unleash the Gourd Sword Qi.

So they were all elite disciples of Zhen Gang Sect.

Seeing these flying people, Zhu Ganglie was even more envious, wishing he could be one of them.

“The eldest brother has tamed the Golden-Winged Iron-Clawed Eagle and returned. The sect’s attention will definitely be focused on him, so I can go to the lava cave to cultivate.”

Thinking of this, Zhu Ganglie was overjoyed and immediately ran to the ancient forest on the back mountain.

“Immortal lady, I’m back.”

As soon as he entered the cave, Zhu Ganglie looked at the extremely beautiful and mysterious figure and greeted her respectfully.

However, this immortal lady paid no attention to Zhu Ganglie.

This made Zhu Ganglie slightly discouraged, but thinking of cultivation, he cast aside all distractions and focused on his practice.

There was no sunlight in the cave, so he didn’t have to worry about being scorched by the sun’s heat.

He then sat cross-legged and began to circulate his energy, his soul slowly leaving his body and hovering above his head. He carefully absorbed the essence of heaven and earth to nourish and strengthen his soul.

During the day, Zhu Ganglie did not dare to practice the Taiyin Qi Cultivation Technique, as he knew from his past life that the moon’s light was a reflection of the sun’s rays.

The Taiyin power he absorbed was merely a weakened form of the sun’s power.

His current soul was weak, and if he absorbed the sun’s power, he would surely die.

After absorbing the essence of heaven and earth for half a day, Zhu Ganglie retracted his soul, stood up, and adjusted his physical body to prevent blood stasis and damage to his body.

After practicing the secular martial art, the Mighty Ox Strength, which Zhen Gang Sect taught to the miscellaneous disciples, Zhu Ganglie felt his blood and qi flow much more smoothly.

Then Zhu Ganglie continued to cultivate. Only by strengthening his soul and condensing spiritual energy could he practice magic and become a true cultivator.

At night, Zhu Ganglie began to practice the Taiyin Qi Cultivation Technique. The intense moon essence in the world fused into Zhu Ganglie’s soul, making his soul increasingly powerful and his soul force increasingly strong.

To some extent, Zhu Ganglie could faintly feel that he could practice the first level of the Gourd Sword Technique and condense spiritual energy.

“Your soul force is very strong and has already reached the level where you can condense spiritual energy. However, you should not rush to condense spiritual energy.

You still need to absorb the essence of heaven and earth to strengthen your soul. This is the foundation. The deeper the foundation, the greater your future achievements will be.”

When Zhu Ganglie retracted his soul, the clear and melodious voice from deep in the cave sounded again.

“Thank you, immortal lady, for your guidance. I will cultivate diligently and lay a solid foundation.”

Hearing the immortal lady’s words, Zhu Ganglie was startled and immediately became alert.

If it weren’t for the immortal lady’s reminder, he might have rushed to condense spiritual energy, and he might have become a cultivator, but he would have found it difficult to achieve great success.

After expressing his gratitude, Zhu Ganglie didn’t dare to stay there any longer. He had been cultivating all day and needed to return to check, so as not to be discovered.

Upon returning to the ancestral hall, Zhu Ganglie found that the entire sect was discussing the eldest brother Linghu Yilang’s taming of the Golden-Winged Iron-Clawed Eagle. Even the newly admitted disciples were enthusiastically discussing the matter.

This made Zhu Ganglie feel relieved. It seemed he had overthought it.

The impact of this event would allow him to cultivate in peace for some time.

So during this period, Zhu Ganglie spent his days at the ancestral hall and went to the lava cave at night to practice the Taiyin Qi Cultivation Technique, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth and the moon, strengthening his soul.

After a month of cultivation, by the tenth day, Zhu Ganglie’s soul was already strong enough to condense spiritual energy.

However, to strengthen his foundation and soul, Zhu Ganglie delayed for twenty more days, making his soul incredibly strong, with soul force surging and overwhelming, several times stronger than that of ordinary cultivators.

Even those with extraordinary talent could not match his current soul force.

“Immortal lady, can I condense spiritual energy now?”

Although he was confident in his strong soul force, Zhu Ganglie was still not entirely at ease. After all, all his knowledge of cultivation came from eavesdropping and the occasional words of the immortal lady in the cave. It was better to be cautious.

“Your soul force is already twice as strong as that of ordinary people. With your continuous practice of the Taiyin Qi Cultivation Technique day and night, your soul force is now nine times stronger than that of ordinary out-of-body cultivators. Your foundation is solid, and you can condense spiritual energy.”

Although the immortal lady in the cave rarely spoke, she always provided detailed explanations whenever it came to cultivation, making Zhu Ganglie understand thoroughly.

“Thank you, immortal lady, for your guidance. I will now condense spiritual energy.”

Zhu Ganglie was delighted. He had long wanted to condense spiritual energy but had been holding back to lay a solid foundation.

Now he could finally condense spiritual energy.

After receiving the immortal lady’s confirmation, Zhu Ganglie immediately let his soul leave his body, hovering about three feet above his head, emitting a powerful soul force.

At this moment, Zhu Ganglie had no distractions, and he used his mind to control his soul force to slowly envelop the essence of heaven and earth.

At this point, his strong soul and powerful soul force finally took effect. Once the essence was enveloped by the soul force, it could not break through the soul force’s barrier and escape, but had to slowly merge with the soul force.

If the soul force were weak, it could not envelop much essence, and at most, it could only merge with a small amount of thin essence, making it difficult to successfully condense spiritual energy.

Even if it were successfully condensed, the spiritual energy would be very weak and unable to exert much power.

As the soul force and essence came into contact and merged, Zhu Ganglie slowly released more soul force to compress and condense the essence and soul force into a granular form of spiritual energy.

In the condensation of the soul, the soul force and essence slowly merged into a tiny, extremely thin, grain-sized ball of spiritual energy.

When this ball of spiritual energy formed, Zhu Ganglie did not dare to relax. He had to infuse more soul force to make the ball of spiritual energy truly form.

If he relaxed or if his soul force was insufficient, the newly formed spiritual energy would dissipate, and even that part of the soul force would dissipate with the essence of heaven and earth, causing a significant reduction in the cultivator’s soul force.

Therefore, ordinary cultivators could only attempt this three times at most, or they would damage their soul.

Fortunately, Zhu Ganglie’s soul force was powerful and vast. A large amount of soul force rushed into the spiritual energy, continuously compressing and condensing it. The entire ball of spiritual energy hummed and finally formed, becoming a pea-sized ball of spiritual energy.