Star Gate

Chapter 192: Fire Heart Ape, Nurturing the Spirit (II)

When everyone left, Yuan Shuo rumbled, “The five organs must be strong, very strong, or you’ll easily die in the backlash! Second, while the supernatural locks are very durable, there are limitations to them. The prerequisite to melding the aura into the five viscera is gauging whether or not the lock can contain the aura!”

“Contain the aura?”

Yuan Shuo said nothing, he simply turned into a massive ape! A long chain was wrapped around him.

“Teacher, is that the supernatural lock?” Li Hao’s eyes shone with light.

“Correct!” responded the fire ape as it turned back into Yuan Shuo. “Or rather, it’s a bridge between the five viscera and the body...” The professor sank into deep thought. “These chains don’t just function as locks. They give me the sense that they lead to all of the secret stashes within the body! The human body is a vault and these chains have it locked away, but also serve as a link.

“We don’t necessarily have to break them... If we do, that means your secret stash is being released.”

Li Hao nodded thoughtfully. “Then, does this mean you’ve ascended, teacher?”

“No!” Yuan Shuo shook his head. “I’ve simply gained more enlightenment and made certain discoveries today. Cultivating the five organs at the same time is as difficult as ascending to the heavens! It is not simply vanquishing tens of thousands after Dominator. I only have one spirit in one of my viscera, so strictly speaking, I have not yet broken through. I’ve just taken one step further in the Dominator level and not yet officially surpassed it.

“In my view, one nurtures the spirit above Dominator. The five viscera summon their respective spirit! Perhaps this stage can be divided into five stages as each organ holds one spirit!”

Summoner of Spirit!

This was the name that Yuan Shuo gave this new cultivation level. Martial masters of this level restrain the spirits in order to nurture them.

“One has fully summoned the spirits when all five viscera contain their own. After the spirits are grown, it is time to access the secret locales of the five viscera. I would like to call that Refiner of Spirit!”

Slayer of Tens, Sunderer of Hundreds, Dominator of Thousands, Summoner of Spirit, Refiner of Spirit!

“Does a Summoner rival a Solar?” asked Li Hao.

“Just barely!” Yuan Shuo explained. “Don’t draw a direct parallel to the supernatural levels, there’s not much meaning in doing that. Only through battle will we know if Summoners can match Solars and if they are of the same level.

“But now that I have a fire heart ape after entering Summoner of Spirit, I feel that I might be able to match the previous Qiao Feilong in terms of pure strength!” [1] Plainly, Yuan Shuo felt that his current situation could be categorized thus; he viewed himself as an initial Summoner. This level focused on nurturing the spirits of the five elements. It would be an incredible feat once he succeeded.

“Teacher, you are truly beyond this world!” Li Hao exhaled. Yuan Shuo had blazed the path and broken through the defined hierarchy of martial dao!

“I’m only mapping it out in a general sense.” Yuan Shuo shook his head. “Many problems still exist, such as how does one meld the five spirits after they are summoned? Surely they’re not meant to be used separately all the time, that lowers their effectiveness.

“Additionally, is it better to nurture spirits one at a time, or summon them into all of the viscera at once? Which is ideal?

“Not everyone can withstand the breaking of this equilibrium. A cultivation level is greeted with universal acclaim when everyone can reach it, not just one person alone. Cultivation levels accessible to only one are not cultivation levels!”

A level that others could not set foot into was not a new cultivation level.

“I absorbed a lot of fire elemental energy to reach this stage, as well as your sword energy. No one else has access to these resources—how long will it take to nurture the five viscera then? A decade? Two? Fifty years?”

He couldn’t imagine how long it’d take to fortify the five viscera so they could withstand the aura if one had to cultivate step by painstaking step.

“Therefore, our breathing methods need to further improve at the Dominator level. It’s not enough to just adjust the body and strengthen the organs!” Yuan Shuo intoned. “The Breathing Method of the Five Styles is no longer sufficient. I felt that it didn't matter after I entered Dominator, but now I debate how to improve the breathing method so it can nurture the five viscera as well. We need to make use of internal force and not the five elements, because only you have sword energy. That’s an external resource!”

Was everyone supposed to stop on the path of cultivation once sword energy was exhausted? Yuan Shuo thought further in this moment—how might he modify the breathing method so that this fundamental knowledge could strengthen the five organs? How would he make it accessible to all cultivators?

It wasn’t that he wanted to teach outsiders, but that his disciple needed to learn, as did future grand disciples. Were they supposed to always rely on Li Hao’s sword energy?

The young man admired his teacher’s desire to improve the Breathing Method of the Five Styles. Truth be told, he’d never considered this as he felt that sword energy was enough for the two of them. His teacher, however, looked to the distance. Yuan Shuo meant to advance the entire field of martial dao!

But was it possible?

Li Hao didn’t raise any objections as he could neither support nor convince his teacher otherwise in courses of action. They were on completely different planes!

“You have very good foundations as you’ve been strengthening the five viscera this entire time. It won’t be apparent at your current level, but once you set foot into Dominator, you’ll save a lot of time compared to other people and may be able to immediately summon your spirits!” Yuan Shuo sighed with emotion. “You might surpass me one day... The speed in which I nurture my other four viscera may not match yours.”

“Teacher, you can also absorb sword energy to swiftly develop them!”

Yuan Shuo smiled and tossed the little sword to Li Hao. “Tell me what you sense!”

Li Hao quickly operated the Breathing Method of the Five Styles when he caught it. “Is it almost empty?” he asked with resignationt

The sword seemed to be running out!

“I absorbed a little more than planned over the past couple of days because my heart couldn’t take it,” Yuan Shuo coughed drily. “I didn’t dare claim the last drops of energy because we don’t have time to seek out the other stone doors. We might have use for it at Rift Canyon, so I saved a little in case of dire need.”

It really was almost entirely depleted! Li Hao had used a great deal of the refill from the stone door, Yuan Shuo had absorbed a good amount to summon his spirit, so it was fast on its way to fully empty.

Very well then! Li Hao quite understood why his teacher wanted to modify the Breathing Method of the Five Styles. If he didn’t and there were no more stone doors to be found, were they supposed to stop cultivating after sword energy was exhausted?

Yuan Shuo said nothing else; he was actually a little embarrassed. He’d had to draw on the sword to save his life. Sword energy could always be replenished, but Li Hao would be in great trouble if his teacher died.

The professor then went over some of the problems, troubles, and potential situations he’d run into throughout the course of nurturing his spirits. He might be the only one with such experience. It was hard to say if Dominators in other regions had also set foot into this level. If there were, they wouldn’t walk the same path.

......

Master and disciple conversed for roughly half an hour. The two walked out of the house after a while; they were greeted by the sight of others in conversation. It was mostly Wang Ming doing the talking as he was a young man of more words and questions galore.

“Teacher, have you ascended to Vanquisher of Thousands?” Wang Ming asked excitedly when he saw the two emerge.

“......” What Vanquisher of Thousands! Yuan Shuo shook his head.

The young supernatural drooped slightly. No? What a pity! He was at least Yuan Shuo’s honorary disciple. If the professor really had broken through, the young man would be able to make use of this relationship and give himself a strong patron, no?

Liu Long cast a few glances at Yuan Shuo and didn’t ask anything. He’d vaguely understood that it might have to do with the next step when Yuan Shuo told him to nurture the five viscera as soon as they met. The director had been feeling quite lost after entering Dominator. What should he do next? How could he improve?

There was a lot to do after reaching Dominator, such as strengthening his aura and internal force. The roads had just unrolled in front of him, but they were also attainable given sufficient time. There would come a day in which his internal force and aura could not be stronger.

What then? There was no path!

Today, Yuan Shuo provided a hint.

“Do we move out today, Elder Yuan?” Liu Long didn’t mention anything at hand. “Director Hao and the others traveled to Rift Canyon a long time ago. It will take us at least a day to make the trip and we might run into trouble along the way. We’ll have to proceed on foot when we’re close to the canyon. We’re setting out a bit late, so we might not make it in time.”

They were almost out of time and still needed to rest after they arrived. He was concerned that Yuan Shuo wouldn’t be able to move at the moment. Closed door cultivation of many days was a significant drain on resources.

“Let’s set out! All we need is some food!” Yuan Shuo chuckled. “Hao Lianchuan is probably beside himself with anxiety and cursing all of us!”

The agreed upon time was yesterday. The others might be there, but he wasn’t. The director had to be cursing up a storm!

Liu Long also chuckled, this was highly likely.

......

At the same time, Rift Canyon.

Hao Lianchuan was indeed swearing inside a tent. He was supremely irritated. “Find a way to get a message to Silver City, what is Yuan Shuo doing??”

The professor didn’t seem to have set out yet! It was already the 26th and Silver City was approximately one thousand kilometers away. The roads weren’t easy to take and not everyone in that group could fly. They might have to cover the last bit on foot, were they trying to make it down to the wire?

But it would consume a lot of resources for martial masters to walk here, wouldn’t that just be reading trouble for himself?

Hao Lianchuan didn’t understand it. Was Yuan Shuo throwing his weight around so much that he’d forgotten martial masters could not fly? Did he think his Birdshot technique could cover a thousand kilometers?”

“Don’t be in a rush, Director Hou,” said a middle-aged woman beside him. “There’s no need to be in a rush now. The other factions won’t dare start the expedition without Yuan Shuo. He’s the leading expert in this field, after all...”

Hao Lianchuan cursed inwardly instead of responding. That was easy to say! The key thing was that the 28th was the most suitable day for explorations; it was why the Night Watchers had chosen this date. They might have to wait a month if they missed this day, and who knew what would happen during this time?

1. Indeed, Yuan Shuo is contradicting himself from moments ago where he says he has not broken through. I’m not sure what to make of this, maybe we get more clarity later. ?