Plundering the Heavens Chapter 242

Spirit power and spirit sense were the two most powerful attributes for cultivators who'd broken through into the Foundation Stage.

Spirit power was the origin of all power; after using Qi to form the foundation, the battle prowess a cultivator can display is far more powerful and activates much faster. It was because of this spirit power that those in the Foundation Stage were were usually strong enough to completely crush those still in the Spirit Stage. No matter how talented a Spirit Stage cultivator might be, there was a difference in the fundamental nature of their Qi. Even the sturdiest stone wouldn't be as sturdy as steel.

As for spirit sense, it was a sixth sense that allowed a cultivator to seek out information and was formed through nurturing the true spirit after forming the foundation. It operated beyond sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, and its effects would become even more pronounced with a willful movement of the mind.

Therefore, in the Foundation Stage, cultivators who wished to increase their strength would typically do so by increasing their tier or through working on their Qi or spirit sense. A person who formed the second tier of their foundation was naturally stronger than they'd been with only one tier. Alternatively, if they had some secret skill to refine their foundation—for example, changing it from blue to red—their spirit power would also greatly increase. Outside of these two methods, the only way to raise their strength would be through increasing their spirit sense.

Methods to increase spirit sense were as vast as an open ocean, as numerous as stars in the night sky. The Melodic Ice Palace was a place that had a unique skill passed down through the generations, incorporating the idea of using sound to nurture spirit, then using spirit to utilize spells. All Spirit Stage disciples within the sect would study music and play instruments to cultivate their spirit, and—once they'd broken through—their spirit sense was usually much more powerful than normal Foundation Stage cultivators at the same level. The Melodic Ice Palace had even more techniques and skills that could nurture a cultivator's spirit sense further after forming the foundation, increasing the power of their soul to utilize it on spells and skills.

Regardless, whether the technique was from the Melodic Ice Palace or somewhere else, all of them were based on the idea of "nurturing". They were slow and careful, viewing spirit sense as a small sprout that needed to be carefully cultivated

to help grow stronger one step at a time. When it came to improving spirit sense, this was common knowledge. Spirit sense appeared only once a foundation was made, and it was far too fragile to be handled roughly; any accidents would result in irreversible consequences.

Fang Xing had unconsciously activated the "Scripture of Revered Sense", however, and had been exposed to such an astonishing method of "nurturing" spirit sense. That chain of nightmares, that tidal wave of despair, the loneliness and the desperation, all were but illusions formed through the process of practicing the Scripture of Revered Sense. It had thrown Fang Xing into realistic nightmares one after another to increase his spirit sense, and although it was a direct and violent method, its results were many times greater than any of the ordinary ones.

Of course, there were dangers as well. Fang Xing was fortunate he'd been able to wake up from his nightmares, or else the damage would have been unimaginable. He'd already realized his powerful headache and the hollow feeling in his body was directly caused by having his spirit sense damaged. Although the Scripture of Revered Sense's method was extremely effective, its improvements were just too sudden—the fact his spirit sense was temporarily damaged was only to be expected. This wasn't too problematic, though; as long as his spirit sense wasn't completely destroyed and he had time to rest, there were plenty of benefits.

Fang Xing downed a few more mouthfuls of spirit wine to rejuvenate his Qi while slowly sitting down and leaning against the ice wall. "The Immortal's Cave back then was so strange, and there was even that old stone turtle bastard who tried to deceive me. It was quite an unpleasant place, and it looks like I got a script that's just as bad. This kind of method is so damn uncomfortable…" Fang Xing muttered to himself.

Although Fang Xing cursed the Scripture of Revered Sense, he still didn't intend to give up on it. These kinds of direct and violent methods of cultivation were actually rather suited to his taste anyway. Something like playing an instrument slowly and calmly... Fang Xing would likely find it more comfortable to just die instead.

As Fang Xing was thinking to himself, he suddenly considered something and took out the fox mask. "Nn, to have this script placed alongside the fox mask, I wonder if there's any connection?" When his spirit sense had completely recovered and the headache felt a little less pressing,

pressing, he swept his spirit sense over the mask, and something immediately felt different. Using his spirit sense, he was able to "see" it differently than he could with his naked eye. It looked as though a faint white shine was covering it within, as though a restrictive formation had sealed away the true identity of this mask.

It seemed it might be possible for Fang Xing to use his spirit sense to see through this restrictive formation, but after managing only a small strand, he was already exhausted and unable to inch farther. A few tries later and he could only sigh and give up on the idea. He understood his assumption was right, but his current spirit sense was just too weak; he wasn't strong enough yet to break through the outer layer of the formation and seek the secrets kept within the mask.

"By the looks of it, your spirit sense has to have a certain level of power to bypass the formation and see what's inside…." Fang Xing pondered this a bit before tossing the fox mask aside, no longer dwelling on the matter.

Since spirit sense was the sixth sense outside of the five ordinary senses, it was able to bypass most ordinary formations as well. Or, to put it more succinctly, all Spirit Stage formations and restrictions didn't have a way of blocking the spirit sense of a Foundation Stage cultivator. There were still some higher level formations that could stop spirit sense from seeking out what was inside, however, but just as there were no absolutes when it came to right and wrong, there also wasn't a single formation that could block off spirit sense entirely. As long as the spirit sense was powerful enough, it would still be able to get through in the end.

"This mask's formation is extremely complicated. Even the Book of Revelation can't seem to identify much of it…."

After sitting for a while, Fang Xing straightened his back against the wall. He wore a curious expression and placed his hand on the ice wall before allowing his spirit sense to slowly seep inside to try to pass through. Within the Court of Enlightenment, there were restrictive formations placed between the caves to prevent the surge of thoughts from disturbing other elites practicing close by, but most of the elites within the Snowy Mountain were in Spirit Stage and the quality of these formations were generally not very high. For this reason, Fang Xing decided to test the

test the difference between an ordinary formation and the one he found on the mask.

Fang Xing's spirit sense swam within the ice walls, and it didn't take long before he was stopped by a restrictive formation. In the end, however, it only took a brief moment of thought for Fang Xing to control his spirit sense and easily infiltrate it, leaving him rather surprised. After studying the Scripture of Revered Sense, not only had his spirit sense increased in power, but its ability to bypass formations seemed to have received some kind of unique advantage as well.

The scenery of the cave next to him was soon imprinted into his mind. It was a stone cave with the exact same layout of his own, but empty. No one was inside, and the chill was considerably weaker without its formation being activated.

"Let's see who my neighbor is…."

This method of somewhat spying had lifted Fang Xing's boredom and filled him with interest. He remembered how there were already three people in seclusion when he entered his own and walked to the other end of the room with excitement. Although he hadn't thought of it much at the time, now he actually wanted to know; who were these gutsy people who dared to enter seclusion at the Court of Enlightenment before even their grandfather Fang?

It was much more difficult for Fang Xing's spirit sense to enter this cave. Not only was there the original formation placed just outside of it, but there was another one inside set up by the room's occupant—whoever it was seemed to be quite the cautious one. Fortunately, the second layer of formation wasn't able to last very long beneath the prying of Fang Xing's spirit sense and it was bypassed as well, allowing everything inside to be seen within Fang Xing's mind.

With a single glance, Fang Xing felt a bit of annoyance and cursed out, "Why is it that golden eggy and that perky butt?"

As it so happened, in the cave next door was none other than the Chu siblings, Prince Chu Huang and Princess Chu Ci. The pair sat facing each other with Chu Ci seated cross-legged atop a lotus platform imprinted with a purple dragon. Beneath the platform was a dark-colored blood essence that boiled and rose up before sinking back into her body. As for Prince Chu Huang, he had one palm pressed against the lotus platform and was sending strand after strand of golden flame inside.

Chu Ci had only been at only been at Spirit Stage tier eight before, but now she was already at Spirit Stage tier nine. The Qi within her was also clearly being improved and becoming much more pure, not too far off from the purity Fang Xing himself had once had in Spirit Stage. From this, it seemed the dragon-printed lotus platform had the ability to boil and extract the Qi from Spirit Stage cultivators to solidify their basis.

'I wonder if I can cause some trouble for them….' Fang Xing began to think all kinds of vile thoughts. He knew there were terrible consequences if someone was disturbed during cultivation practice, and he intentionally wanted to sabotage them.

In the end, however, he couldn't actually do it. Although his spirit sense had been improved, it was still not enough. It was extremely thin and weak after passing through two layers of formations; just seeing inside the cave wasn't an easy task, to say nothing of trying to create some interference. It would be the difference between using your sight to look at someone compared to using that same sight to kill them.

"Nn?" Although Prince Chu Huang was pushing the golden flames into the dragon-printed lotus platform, he suddenly drew back his palm and creased his brows.

Princess Chu Ci opened her eyes with great effort and veins even began to appear on her little face. "Royal Big Brother, is it finished?"

Prince Chu Huang carefully sent out his sense before shaking his head. "I may be just a little tired from continuously putting Qi into this, but it felt like someone was spying on us with spirit sense…." As he spoke, he carefully extended his senses out once more before continuing, "... but it should be my mistake. The five Golden Cores placed a restrictive formation within the walls of this Court of Enlightenment, and we also placed another layer to block off anyone who might want to pry in on the secret blood technique of our royal family. Even someone in late-Foundation Stage would unlikely have the skill to bypass both in order to spy on us. If it was a Golden Core, then it would like clouds over a clear sky, without a trace—it would not be something I could discover."

Although Prince Chu Huang's words were very calm, they took Fang Xing by surprise. "How good is this damned golden turtle egg bastard? My spirit sense is so powerful now even I'm afraid of it, yet it was nearly discovered by him…."

Chapter end