Chapter 5

Sunlight shone into the courtyard, where lush branches extended, forming beams of light. Within these beams, tiny specks of light danced, making the entire courtyard appear incredibly transparent.

Muchen sat cross-legged on a stone chair, one hand supporting his face, the other playing with the rough, dark black jade slip his mother had given him. He had ultimately chosen this "Great Pagoda Sutra," also to fulfill the promise he had made to his father.

However, even Muchen's father, Mufeng, was not quite clear about the rank of this "Great Pagoda Sutra." He only vaguely mentioned that this thing seemed to be extremely powerful. As for why it was so powerful, his reason was that his mother was very, very powerful...

Very, very powerful?

Muchen blinked his eyes. Mufeng had built the vast Mu Domain in the Northern Spirit Realm from scratch, becoming a well-known strong figure in the Northern Spirit Realm. That was quite an achievement. If even he said someone was very powerful, then how powerful must his mother be?

"If Mother is so powerful, how could she fall for Father?" Muchen grinned. It seemed that when his father was young, he must have had a beautiful encounter with his mother. That should be a good story.

Muchen sorted out his chaotic thoughts and then focused his gaze on the dark black jade slip in his hand. In ten days, he would face Liu Yang, who was also at the initial stage of the Spirit Movement Realm and possessed a Human-grade Spirit Vein. Although he had encountered people with even stronger Spirit Veins in the Spirit Path, the Spirit Path was somewhat peculiar.

The Spirit Path, in fact, was a vast trial ground created by the "Five Great Academies." Every three years, the Spirit Path would open, and the selection of participants was quite unique. It was not chosen by humans but detected by a divine artifact called the "Judgment Mirror." This detection was varied, but those selected by this divine artifact were mostly people with exceptional talent. Generally speaking, as long as one could successfully complete the trials of the Spirit Path, they could smoothly enter the "Five Great Academies" for cultivation.

The Spirit Path was formed by a unique plane. In that plane, no one could use any energy. This meant that in the Spirit Path, whether it was spiritual energy or other energies like martial qi or primordial energy from other planes, none could be used.

The selected participants entering the Spirit Path would face various life-and-death dangers and harsh trials. Without the ability to use spiritual energy, they could only rely on their physical strength, keen senses, and intelligence to overcome various dangers. This method of forcing people into a life-or-death situation was indeed a good way to temper one's will.

When entering the Spirit Path, the participants were told that to pursue supreme power, one must have an unshakable will. Only by mastering this will could one become a true strong person.

Over the millennia, most of the top strong figures from the "Five Great Academies" had once participated in the trials of the Spirit Path. This showed how important the trials of the Spirit Path were, which was the main reason why so many geniuses were eager to participate.

"The Five Great Academies..."

Muchen's hand clenched slightly. He had to go there, not only to fulfill his promise but also because only by coming out of the "Five Great Academies" would he have the qualifications to stand in the outside world.

Muchen knew little about the outside world, but occasionally he could learn some things from Mufeng. The world he was in, the Great Thousand World, was vast and boundless, with countless races standing tall. The Northern Spirit Realm was like a grain of sand in the ocean, insignificant. The Great Thousand World was connected to countless planes, but those planes were only considered lower planes because this world seemed to be of a higher level. The Great Thousand World was the center of those countless planes.

Although they were called lower planes, those who could come to the Great Thousand World from the lower planes almost all possessed extraordinary talent. They were the top strong figures in their respective planes, otherwise, they could not break through the constraints of the planes.

Muchen once overheard some information about the powerful figures from the lower planes during a high-level meeting at the Northern Spirit Academy. The most famous among them were two people, whose names he did not know, only their titles.

Emperor Flame.

Ancestor Martial.

These were very powerful titles. Although they came from the lower planes, according to Muchen's guess, they were probably true supreme beings even in the Great Thousand World. Ancestor Martial once caused a huge upheaval in the Great Thousand World. It was said that he single-handedly charged into the Ice Spirit Clan, a massive entity in the Great Thousand World, and the Ice Spirit Clan's full strength could not stop the man holding a lightning staff. That battle was earth-shattering, and when the news spread, the Great Thousand World was shaken. It was rumored that he did this to save the person he loved.

Compared to the flamboyant Emperor Flame, Ancestor Martial was relatively low-key, but it was said that he had once gone to the Fire Spirit Clan. The Fire Spirit Clan even summoned their ancient ancestor, who had lived for tens of thousands of years, but even he could not gain the upper hand against Emperor Flame, who then left gracefully. This left the entire Fire Spirit Clan stunned.

These top strong figures from the lower planes, even after coming to the Great Thousand World, still maintained their dominance and showed their power.

The outside world was truly a place of endless wonders, stirring the heart.

However, Muchen also understood that he was not yet at that level. But he believed that as long as he was given enough time, he could achieve it.

Muchen looked at the dark black jade slip in his hand, and a smile appeared on his young face. So, let's start with this...

Muchen's hands lightly clasped, and his eyes slowly closed. A faint warm light emanated from the dark black jade slip in his palm.

In the darkness, Muchen's mind stirred, and he urged the spiritual energy in his body to flow through his arm meridians, finally pouring it into the jade slip in his hand.

Buzz.

As the spiritual energy poured in, the jade slip immediately emitted a faint buzzing sound. Then the darkness began to tear, as if something was drilling into Muchen's body through his palm.

"Transform the body into a pagoda, prove the great path of the spirit..."

The profound and obscure incantation, like the sound of an ancient bell, quietly echoed in Muchen's mind. He quickly focused his mind and firmly memorized these cultivation incantations.

The sound of the bell gradually faded, and the cultivation incantation contained a lot of information, most of which was beyond Muchen's current reach. So he wisely chose to temporarily accept only the parts he could bear and understand. Even so, the complexity of the incantation still made his head ache. He had never seen such profound and complex incantations.

However, Muchen clearly had extraordinary talent, otherwise, he would not have obtained the qualification for the Spirit Path. He immersed himself in the profundity of the incantation, sensing its subtleties. After a long time, he finally began to urge the spiritual energy to flow through the meridian routes described in the incantation. These meridian routes were quite peculiar, and if one could follow them, they would form a strange tower-like shape within the body.

The spiritual energy quietly flowed through these peculiar meridian routes. This first flow was extremely energy-consuming, but Muchen endured the fatigue and maintained the flow of spiritual energy.

These peculiar meridian routes were very difficult to flow through. Even with Muchen's best efforts, he still failed repeatedly. However, he did not become impatient and remained calm, trying again and again.

This process lasted the entire afternoon. After countless failures, a strand of spiritual energy finally successfully emerged from the last meridian route under Muchen's careful control.

When the spiritual energy emerged from the last meridian, its originally clear color began to change, gradually turning deep black, emitting a profound hue.

At this point, the spiritual energy could be called true spiritual power. Although this strand of deep black spiritual power appeared calm and restrained, Muchen could faintly sense a hidden sharpness and dominance beneath that calm.

Clearly, the spiritual power cultivated through the Great Pagoda Sutra was of very high quality, far surpassing the spiritual power cultivated through ordinary spirit techniques!

The things left by his mother were indeed powerful! Muchen was drenched in sweat but felt a bit excited.

This strand of deep black spiritual power was absorbed into Muchen's dantian, where it quietly settled. As he continued to cultivate, this spiritual power would grow stronger.

Buzz!

At the moment the deep black spiritual power settled in the dantian, Muchen's body suddenly trembled, and he felt a dizziness in his mind. Vaguely, it seemed something deep within his body was resonating. A very peculiar feeling arose in Muchen's heart and then quickly dissipated.

"What happened?"

Muchen quickly regained his senses, feeling some uncertainty. He urgently probed his body but found nothing wrong. The previous feeling seemed like an illusion.

But Muchen, with his firm mind, did not believe it was an illusion.

"Is it because of the Great Pagoda Sutra?"

Muchen's thoughts raced, finally looking at the deep black spiritual power in his dantian. After much contemplation, he found no clues and gradually gave up. The Great Pagoda Sutra was left by his mother, and although he had never met her, he firmly believed that she would never leave him anything harmful!

"Or is it because of this?"

Muchen's mind suddenly stirred. In the depths of his dantian, a black light flashed and finally hovered above the deep black spiritual power.

The black light revealed its true form, which was a thin black paper. There were no words on the black paper, only some extremely vague and peculiar patterns.

The black paper floated quietly in the dantian, allowing the deep black spiritual power to nourish it. It exuded a sense of ancient mystery.

Muchen looked at this mysterious black paper and was somewhat lost in thought. This thing was something he had obtained by chance in the Spirit Path. Since obtaining it, he had not seen it serve any purpose, but he could vaguely sense that this mysterious black paper was not an ordinary thing. However, he did not have the strength to uncover its secrets.

Was the previous mysterious resonance caused by it?

Muchen thought for a moment but slowly shook his head. Although the black paper was mysterious, the previous disturbance was clearly not caused by it...

After much thought, Muchen finally gave up, suppressing the matter. He focused on the deep black spiritual power in his dantian. According to the incantation, the Great Pagoda Sutra should be divided into three stages: Foundation Building, Forming, and Pagoda Transformation.

However, he was clearly not even at the Foundation Building stage yet, only at the initial entry level. To reach the Foundation Building stage, he would need considerable cultivation.

In the courtyard, Muchen's tightly closed eyes slowly opened. He looked at his sweat-drenched body and couldn't help but shake his head. The Great Pagoda Sutra was indeed difficult to cultivate. Just entering the initial stage was already so challenging. He wondered how difficult it would be to reach the Pagoda Transformation stage.

"I wonder how many layers of amplification the spiritual power of the Great Pagoda Sutra can achieve?"

Muchen's heart stirred, feeling curious. Spirit techniques had another important function, which was to amplify and