Second Time

Chapter 26 - Spiritual Manifestation

The Spiritual Manifestation Realm was truly fearsome.

A cultivator in the Spiritual Manifestation Realm could separate their Spirit from their body, allowing them to act autonomously. The cultivator could command the separated Spirit with a thought, allowing them to fight with total synergy and develop certain combination attacks. The Spirit could even make use of magic treasures and artifacts.

For someone with a grade seven or higher Spirit that had achieved sapience, the oppression was increased to another level. Rather than the Spirit essentially being another weapon, it was truly another combatant.

Compared to Core Formation and Nascent Soul creation, Spiritual Manifestation was many times more difficult. Even after achieving it, cultivators would usually need to spend at least a year regularly practising until they could manifest their Spirit for any notable length of time.

Fortunately, Shao Yue had manifested her Spirit at least a hundred thousand times and was thoroughly familiar with it, almost more than anything else.

Only the initial step would prove challenging in any way. She had to form a link between the Spirit and her body, giving the Spirit an anchor in the world.

The exact method of forming a link varied from Spirit to Spirit. One had to achieve Absolute Resonance to be able to understand what their Spirit required. Essentially, the cultivator had to inscribe an array onto their Core that they would learn from their Spirit.

For array masters, the array would make no sense. It followed none of the laws of the Dao of Arrays. Even Heavenly Realm experts couldn't receive any insights regarding the arrays, leading many people to decide that it wasn't truly an array at all and merely resembled one.

Shao Yue sat down in the isolation room and cleared her mind. Even if Cai Fei wanted to come ask her something, Cai Fei knew better than to disturb Shao Yue in there. Shao Yue wouldn't have to worry about any distractions unless a meteor crashed into their courtyard.

Shao Yue submerged her consciousness into her own body. Her image appeared in a black void with a giant blue sphere floating in the air, rotating slowly. Hu'er's human form appeared shortly after. The two shared a glance, then nodded.

Shao Yue and Hu'er's images overlapped and became one. They pointed towards the sphere with their right index finger. A beam of light shot out and struck the surface, leaving behind a shallow engraving as they moved it around.

Slowly, they drew countless lines and strange shapes onto the sphere, careful to not make any mistake. If they messed up, Shao Yue would need to disperse the outer layer of her Core and cultivate it again.

The painstaking process took three days and three nights without any breaks.

Shao Yue emerged, drenched in sweat.

After the first day, Cai Fei had stopped cooking new food for Shao Yue. Instead, a tray of fruits and bread sat on the floor in front of Shao Yue's usual alchemy spot. She sat down and started to eat.

A woman wearing loose, oversized white robes appeared next to Shao Yue. She had a body worth starting wars over, but a childish temperament. Long brown hair spilled down her back, two pointed ears poking out of the top of her head. Her golden eyes were slit like a fox's.

She stared at Shao Yue while on her hands and knees, her seven tails waving back and forth in excitement. "Can I go greet your disciple?"

Her every word was thick with seduction regardless of what she was actually talking about. She normally spoke childishly, forming a disconnect between her tone and words. Shao Yue had long understood it to be some natural trait and was totally immune.