Chapter 896: First Steps in Spiritual Refinement

After a long while, Ling Feng's face revealed a look of astonishment as he stared at the Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation. "Senior, this..."

"These are my insights into spiritual consciousness cultivation. With these, you can avoid many detours. Once you cultivate the

Soul Splitting Art

to around the fifth level, you should be able to attempt condensing your own Spiritual Consciousness Domain. Let me tell you with full responsibility—the power of a Spiritual Consciousness Domain can absolutely rival sword force!"

"Many thanks, Senior!" Ling Feng's face lit up with joy. This time, he had struck gold—not only obtaining the Soul Splitting Art but also gaining the Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation's insights into the path of spiritual refinement. These were the insights of a great emperor!

It could be said without exaggeration that even the direct disciples of sacred lands likely didn't receive treatment as privileged as Ling Feng's.

"I'm doing this to save myself trouble, so you won't keep coming back to disturb me. I'd like to live a few more years!"

Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation stroked his beard lightly and said indifferently, "Kid, try cultivating the first level of the

Soul Splitting Art

I just taught you. Let's see how effective your first attempt will be, given your profound soul essence source."

"

Uh..

." Ling Feng was momentarily stunned. "But Senior, I'm only at the Transformation Realm."

"What about the Transformation Realm? If you were a cultivator primarily focused on spiritual refinement, you could have started refining spiritual consciousness even at the Qi Formation Realm." Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation snorted lightly. "Just give it a try. If your progress satisfies me, I might even teach you a spiritual consciousness attack technique!"

"Alright!"

Delighted, Ling Feng quickly agreed. "Then this junior will give it a try. If there's anything amiss during cultivation, I hope Senior can point it out."

"Naturally." Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation nodded. Ling Feng was his only successor. If he didn't guide Ling Feng, who else could he possibly guide?

The next moment, Ling Feng took a deep breath and began searching through the memories imparted by the Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation for the contents of the

Soul Splitting Art.

Soon, he was deeply engrossed in its profound mysteries.

After half an hour, once his energy, qi, and spirit had recovered to their peak, Ling Feng finally began cultivating according to the first level of the Soul Splitting Art.

The first step was to sense the soul, condense, then split. Attempting soul-splitting before the soul was sufficiently condensed would only bring harm, not benefit.

"Condense!"

Gritting his teeth, Ling Feng sensed a buzzing tremor in his sea of mind, an unprecedented sensation washing over him.

Is this the feeling of spiritual consciousness cultivation?

The moment Ling Feng's focus slipped, a sharp pain stabbed through his mind, jolting him back to full concentration. He quickly redirected his thoughts and began channeling his spiritual consciousness in accordance with the

Soul Splitting Art

core method.

"Condense!"

"Condense, damn it!"

Ling Feng clenched his fists. This sensation was entirely different from circulating true qi in his body. Despite his extraordinary comprehension, his first attempt at the

Soul Splitting Art

made his spiritual consciousness feel like rootless duckweed. It was difficult to grasp, let alone compress and condense.

Before long, Ling Feng was panting heavily, his forehead drenched in sweat. Yet, he refused to give up. After catching his breath, he started cultivating again.

"If you keep brute-forcing it like this, you'll exhaust yourself to death before successfully condensing your spiritual consciousness." Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation frowned disapprovingly. "If not for your exceptionally strong soul essence source, your reckless actions just now would have left you unconscious for at least three days and nights!"

"Senior, what exactly am I doing wrong?" Ling Feng looked at the Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation in confusion.

"You've been focusing on how to concentrate, but have you truly concentrated?" Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation narrowed his eyes slightly as he spoke calmly.

"I've been focusing on..."

Suddenly, Ling Feng seemed to grasp something. Taking another deep breath, he guided his spiritual consciousness power according to the

Soul Splitting Art'

s core method.

This time, everything flowed smoothly—none of the exhaustion from before, only an unusual sense of comfort.

"Condense!"

Bit by bit, Ling Feng gradually found his rhythm, proceeding methodically.

Snap!

About an incense stick's worth of time later, Ling Feng suddenly felt the spiritual consciousness he had painstakingly condensed shatter. This attempt had ultimately failed.

"Kid, it seems I overestimated you. You still haven't grasped the essence!"

Ling Feng took a deep breath but didn't respond to the Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation.

Another incense stick's time passed, and Ling Feng failed again.

"Kid, are you even listening to me? Again!"

Ling Feng nodded, steeling himself once more without a trace of discouragement.

In truth, Ling Feng's progress could already be called monstrous. From initially struggling to even sense his spiritual consciousness power to nearly condensing it into form—all within just an hour or two.

He had only tried three times. How could he possibly succeed already?

Even the Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation himself had taken a full three months to master the first level of the Soul Splitting Art during his first attempt. His harshness toward Ling Feng was only to test the limits of the young man's potential.

Fourth attempt—failure!

The Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation cursed, "Are you an idiot?"

Fifth attempt—still failure!

The Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation sneered. "Just give up on spiritual refinement."

Sixth attempt...

"Kid, you—

Hm?

"

Just as the Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation was about to berate Ling Feng again, he suddenly noticed—Ling Feng had succeeded!

Instantly, the Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation's pupils contracted sharply.

Six attempts!

He had only tried six times!

A moment ago, the Tianbai Emperor had been scolding him harshly. Now, he was utterly dumbfounded. Back in his day, even after six attempts at condensing spiritual consciousness, he still hadn't managed to get a proper grasp on it.

Is this kid a monster?

Or has he been pretending to be a novice while secretly already experienced in spiritual refinement?

Otherwise, how could he succeed on just his sixth try?

A deep sense of loss welled up in the Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation. The achievement he had once taken great pride in was completely crushed by Ling Feng, leaving not even a trace behind.

"

Hah!

Senior, I think I succeeded! I've successfully condensed my spiritual consciousness! So this is what it feels like! I understand now, I finally understand!"

Ling Feng was ecstatic. After condensing his spiritual consciousness, the next step was to perform the first split—dividing the successfully condensed spiritual consciousness in two.

Unlike ordinary division, this was a proportional replication. Once the soul split succeeded, his spiritual consciousness power would instantly double!

To put it in perspective, if a typical qi-refining cultivator advanced from the first level to the ninth level of the Spiritual Element Realm, their spiritual consciousness power would, at most, increase tenfold. But Ling Feng's

Soul Splitting Art

could amplify it by over a thousand times!

This was the fundamental difference between spiritual refinement cultivators and qi-refining cultivators—neither path was inherently superior, but the attack methods of spiritual refinement cultivators could be described as utterly unpredictable.

Take, for example, the Tianheng Technique of the Tiance Clan. In a sense, it belonged to the path of spiritual refinement. Even though Tuoba Yan's cultivation wasn't exceptionally high, if caught off guard by the Tianheng illusion technique, even a king-tier expert could easily be toppled.

"Senior, thank you for your guidance. That's why I succeeded so quickly!"

Ling Feng looked excitedly at the Tianbai Emperor's spiritual manifestation, grinning. "So mastering spiritual consciousness condensation is this simple! I really was too slow. With Senior's level, you must have succeeded in condensing spiritual consciousness within three attempts, right?"