Chapter 739: The Difference Between Arts

One month later.

A soft exhale echoed from within the cave dwelling as Qin Sang awoke from meditation. Joy lit up his eyes as he gazed at his dantian.

His efforts had paid off. After a month of secluded cultivation, his cultivation had finally stabilized, and he could now move on to the next stage of his training.

With that thought, Qin Sang’s expression turned unusually solemn. It was time to test whether the cultivation art created by Senior Qingzhu would truly work.

He did not rush back into meditation. Instead, he made several preparations before summoning his two spiritual insects.

Among them, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly had undergone noticeable changes in form since before, while the fat silkworm remained in a deep slumber within its cocoon.

After devouring lightning on Redleaf Island, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly had slumbered for five full years before it awakened. Many spiritual insects did not remain dormant that long during their fourth metamorphosis.

Upon awakening, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly lived up to expectations and gained the ability to command lightning.

Its form had also transformed. Its wings in particular now seemed to constantly shimmer with currents of lightning. When they flapped, arcs of electricity flickered, and the two massive Sky Eye patterns on its wings glowed even more brilliantly and vividly, as if they were about to burst forth.

It had seemingly become a Sky-Eyed Lightning Butterfly.

However, the newly acquired lightning-commanding supernatural ability was not stronger than its original one.

Supernatural abilities of spiritual insects were usually singular, but their power often exceeded their base cultivation. Some rare supernatural insects could even transcend an entire stage.

For instance, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly’s concealment ability was strong enough that even Core Formation cultivators could not see through it.

Now, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly could unleash lightning attacks and also perform Lightning Evasion. Both were formidable, but the strength of its lightning and the speed of its evasion were still within the bounds of its current stage.

These abilities only added to its overall combat strength.

At present, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly had reached the late stage of its second metamorphosis. Originally, it would have had no choice but to flee from late-stage Foundation Building cultivators. Now, it could at least hold its ground in a fight.

This alone pleased Qin Sang greatly. Now that the butterfly had the ability to protect itself, he no longer needed to be quite so cautious when summoning it in the future.

Moreover, Qin Sang had high hopes for the butterfly’s future.

The ability to command lightning was exceptionally rare even among immortal cultivators. Only those from powerful and well-established sects might possess such inheritances. Lightning was the most yang and most forceful of all worldly energies, making it something countless cultivators dreamed of wielding.

Qin Sang still remembered the Soul-Devouring Array of Three Calamities he had faced when he stole the Nine-Illusion Heavenly Orchid from the forbidden grounds of Yuanzhao Sect.

That array had been modeled after the tribulations faced when forming a Spiritual Infant.

It was said that the heavenly tribulations of the Spiritual Infant Realm included not only lightning, but also fire and wind tribulations. The might of these calamities was truly terrifying, and countless cultivators had perished beneath them.

The Sky-Eyed Butterfly was his life-bound insect gu and could assist him in overcoming tribulations. Now that it possessed a lightning-commanding ability, it would surely prove helpful when that time came.

Of course, it was still far too early to think about that. He had not even found a path to the Spiritual Infant Realm yet, let alone considered surviving tribulations.

Qin Sang chuckled at himself for getting ahead of things.

The only disappointing news was that despite its five-year slumber, the Sky-Eyed Butterfly’s cultivation had not improved at all.

It seemed that the white mist and lightning it had devoured had been completely consumed during its mutation.

Originally, there had been a chance for the butterfly to break through its third metamorphosis before Seven-Kill Hall opened. But due to the time consumed by its mutation, it was now almost impossible to reach the peak of its second metamorphosis and break through within the remaining five years.

This meant that during this expedition into Seven-Kill Hall, he likely would not be able to rely on the butterfly’s strength.

Perhaps this was the price of gaining one thing and losing another.

Qin Sang fed the butterfly a few pills, then turned his attention to the fat silkworm.

Its metamorphosis this time had gone surprisingly smoothly. Qin Sang had merely tested feeding it a few drops of Crimson Fire Gilded Gold, and it had immediately begun spinning a cocoon and entered its metamorphosis.

No doubt the miraculous effects of Crimson Fire Gilded Gold had played a role, but it may also have been due to the multiple demonic cores from poisonous beasts he had fed it midway through its second metamorphosis. Over the years, it had absorbed several of them.

Throughout its second metamorphosis, the weakest thing the fat silkworm had devoured was the inner core of a peak Demonic Spirit Realm demonic beast.

No other spiritual insect had enjoyed such fortuitous conditions.

During its second metamorphosis, the silkworm had slumbered for over half a year. This time, too, it had not disappointed Qin Sang. It had fallen asleep three years ago and, to this day, showed no sign of waking.

"Five years is more than enough. I’ve never heard of any spiritual insect slumbering this long during its third metamorphosis. The fat silkworm is able to ward off poison, and after the third metamorphosis, it will gain a new supernatural ability. Those hidden realms and ancient halls are always riddled with poisonous miasma. Within Seven-Kill Hall, the fat silkworm will likely prove more useful than the Sky-Eyed Butterfly."

Qin Sang gently touched the glowing cocoon, sensing the fat silkworm’s aura, then stored both spiritual insects away.

"It’s time to begin. Before I start cultivating, I must fully comprehend the cultivation art..."

He drew in a deep breath and sat cross-legged, calming his mind.

The two killing symbols left behind by Senior Qingzhu surfaced in his mind. What had once seemed obscure and incomprehensible was now, after his breakthrough, gradually beginning to make sense. The fog was lifting, and he could now start to understand and absorb it.

The cave dwelling was silent. Qin Sang sat still as a pine tree, utterly motionless.

Time passed. No one knew how long had gone by.

Qin Sang was completely immersed in the world of cultivation arts, unable to pull himself out. At times he was captivated, at times awed by the genius of Senior Qingzhu, who had truly carved out a new path using the foundation of the original cultivation art.

Compared to the

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

, the art created by Qingzhu was somewhat narrow and obscure, lacking the grandeur of the original, which pointed straight toward the Great Dao.

This limitation was inevitable; it was the result of Qingzhu’s own experiences and insight when crafting the new art.

The one who created

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

must have been an incomparably powerful senior, someone whose cultivation reached the heavens, able to glimpse the end of the Dao with a single glance. They distilled boundless complexity into clarity, and through that, captured the true essence of the Dao of Slaughter.

Every person who cultivated that art could find the path most suited to themselves.

In comparison, Senior Qingzhu was like a firefly beneath a full moon. And yet, within the Core Formation Realm, he had managed to continue the legacy of such a profound art. Even though he had grasped only a portion of its essence, the feat was remarkable.

To call him a genius would not suffice.

The deeper Qin Sang delved, the more admiration he felt for Senior Qingzhu, and the stronger his yearning grew to one day witness that senior’s demeanor with his own eyes.

But soon, his excitement dimmed. Senior Qingzhu had vanished without a trace, and after all these years, no news of him had surfaced. No one even knew whether he was still alive.

Qin Sang quickly gathered his thoughts, cast aside all distractions, and resolved to begin cultivating the art.

During this period, he had gained much insight and realized that the art was indeed viable. With the protection of the Jade Buddha, he could walk the path that Senior Qingzhu had forged.

At the same time, he had come to a clear understanding that this cultivation art did have flaws.

Most likely, cultivating

Primordial Spirit Sword Nourishment

would lead to gaining a new supernatural ability, perhaps a second sword light, or something else entirely.

But Senior Qingzhu’s self-created technique would not grant that. It merely allowed a cultivator to continue advancing without having their path severed. Progress would be clumsy and slow, leaving no energy to focus on anything else.

In fact, Qin Sang suspected there might be other differences as well, but these were things he would only discover by actually cultivating it.

After a brief pause to recover, Qin Sang took a pill and adjusted his state of mind. Only when he had achieved a perfectly calm state did he guard his mind and turn his inner vision toward his primordial spirit.

Within the depths of the silent cave dwelling, Qin Sang’s aura fluctuated continuously. But all fluctuations were masked by the barriers he had set. No one could disturb him.