Chapter 965: Clues
Mi Li sighed and said, “I know that medicine is extremely rare as well. We probably won’t be able to find it. I’ll spend some time on my own, thinking about this matter to see if there are any other ways to recover from my soul’s wounds.”
Zu An felt emotion surge within him when he heard how downcast she was. He blurted out, “Don’t worry, I’ll do my best to help you find it even if it’s hard!” Mi Li had helped him out so much, and they were master and disciple, brother and sister. How could he just watch without doing anything?
“Then I’ll really have to thank you for that.” Mi Li smiled. She clearly didn’t sound too convinced that Zu An could find something like that. After all, such a thing was just way too rare. Not even the emperor himself would necessarily be able to find something like that.
Zu An didn’t say anything when he heard the nonchalant tone in her voice. He just made sure to ingrain the name Milk of Purple Frost firmly in his head.
“Right, you seemed to be confused about how to break through, no?” Mi Li spoke again.
“Yeah, I’ve already been stuck here for a long time…” Zu An told her about his cultivation problems.
Mi Li replied, “Cultivators normally spend a large amount of time slowly accumulating their ki. If they have the effects of formations or ki stones, then the process becomes much faster. You can use the Heaven Devouring Sutra to suck away the cultivations of others and quickly rise up, but I don’t advise that method. It will cause your foundation to become unstable, and it’s better to just slowly build up your cultivation bit by bit yourself.”
Zu An said, confused, “But the Heaven Devouring Sutra is a method on par with the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra. It shouldn’t cause too many problems in theory, right?” It wasn’t the Star Swallowing Art, so why would it have any major flaws?
Mi Li replied, “The universe has yin and yang. All things have pros and cons. The Heaven Devouring Sutra excels in its speed, but because of that speed, it often causes one’s foundation to become unstable. The reason why successive generations of Shang Emperors didn’t have that problem was because they also chose to increase their strength gradually. They had enough time to digest and absorb the cultivation of others.
“However, you carry three great techniques within you, and you’ve had miraculous encounters again and again. Your cultivation speed is just way too fast. You’re so young, and yet you’re already close to the peak of the ninth rank. I fear there aren’t many in history who can compare to you. For example, that emperor of yours would’ve already killed you if he didn’t believe that you had only inherited Old Mi’s cultivation and that you had already destroyed all hopes of advancement beyond your current level.”
Zu An shivered. The only one who knew his true cultivation, apart from Mi Li, was the emperor. The others had their suspicions about his cultivation, but because of his Mirror Mirage and the spice bag Concubine Bai had given him, their guesses were far from the truth.
“Then what do I do now? I can’t just go out there and let myself get beat up, right? With my current cultivation, there’s a limit even if I get beat up every single day, right?” he asked.
Mi Li replied, “You shouldn’t keep relying on the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra to raise your cultivation. That’s nothing more than Old Mi’s short-sighted misconception. In the end, the Phoenix Nirvana Sutra’s boost to your cultivation is merely you breaking through your own limits again and again. The more dangerous the battle, the more injuries you’ll receive, and so the stronger you’ll become once you recover.”
Zu An said self-deprecatingly, “Isn’t that the same as willingly letting yourself get beat up…”
Mi Li was speechless. She completely ignored what he said and continued, “Your trip to Cloudcenter Commandery will probably be full of dangers, so that will be a good chance for you to gain experience. However, if you want to break through to the master rank, it won’t be that easy. That kind of breakthrough often involves the assistance of a tremendous treasure, or some sort of body cleansing through a natural ki paradise. These aren’t things you can seek out just because you want them. When the time is right, I’ll tell you more in detail.”
“Then should I just work on strengthening my current cultivation, to build up my foundation?” Zu An frowned. It wasn’t as if he had never worked on that before, but there was hardly ever any progress. It didn’t seem as if it would do much even if he continued doing it.
“The reason I told you all of that was because I don’t want you to try and break through using the Heaven Devouring Sutra. In your current situation, you’re more suited to tempering your soul. If you also use this chance to condense the ki inside of you, the effects will become even better,” Mi Li replied.
Zu An was stunned and said, “I thought only those at the master rank could temper their souls? Am I not starting a bit too early?”
“Your current cultivation isn’t too far off from other low level master rank cultivators. What you lack is just some soul method. Your experiences were different from others. For other cultivators, their bodies might break down if they tried to refine their souls, but for you, that’s not an issue at all,” Mi Li explained.
Zu An was happy to hear that and asked, “Then how can I temper my soul?”
“Through meditation. Relax your entire body and sense the ki of the world. Try to produce a tangible image of your mental strength. Don’t use your eyes and don’t use ki; sense everything around you purely with your mind. Try to touch everything. One day, you’ll be able to use your mental force to move some smaller things. When that happens, you’ll have successfully tapped into this power,” Mi Li explained. “I’ll pass a mnemonic chant which can help you forge your mental force to you. Once you succeed in getting access to this power, I’ll then teach you the method for forging your soul.”
“Thank you, big sis… Master!” Zu An was excited. If his mental force could become tangible, didn’t that mean he could learn to use telekinesis?
As if guessing his intentions, Mi Li warned him, “Right, there’s something else I have to warn you about. Your mental force will still be quite weak at first, so don’t try to touch living things. Otherwise, if that target produces a strong reaction, it’ll easily cause great damage to your mind. In the worst case, you’ll become an idiot.”
Zu An was shocked and asked, “It’s that bad?”
“Of course. Training the mind isn’t something that can be done hastily. Otherwise, your body and soul will easily be destroyed.” Mi Li’s voice gradually grew weaker.
Zu An thought to himself that Mi Li was seriously injured, yet she was still telling him so much. She probably had to exert herself even more. He quickly said, “Right, I just remembered that after cultivating the lower half of the Primordial Origin Sutra, I can heal someone else’s injuries. Can I help you recover your soul this way?”
“Are you trying to take advantage of me?” Mi Li immediately raised her voice.
Zu An was stunned. He then reacted and quickly explained, “That’s not what I was trying to say! My primordial ki can now enter another person’s body and help them recover.”
“There’s no need. It’s useless for me, because I’m a soul body.” Mi Li also realized that her reaction was a bit too strong. She coughed lightly and said, “You should cultivate properly on your own. I need to go back to sleep.” She became quiet again afterward.
Zu An called out to her a few times, but there was no reply from Mi Li. He suddenly felt a bit lonely. He thought, I must find the Milk of Purple Frost for her! His gaze became increasingly resolute. He quickly produced an Embroidered Envoy uniform from his Brilliant Glass Bead. He changed into it, then left his room in the dark.
The Silver Token Xiao Jianren was reading books under an oil lamp’s light. He suddenly went on alert and picked up his blade, pointing it behind him and exclaiming, “Who?!”
He saw someone sitting nearby in the shadows. He narrowed his eyes and quickly made out the other person’s attire. He quickly put away his blade, saying, “I greet Sir Eleven!”
Zu An grunted in response and said, “There’s something I need your help with.” With the Embroidered Envoy’s strict hierarchy, there was no need to speak in a roundabout way.
“Sir, please give me your orders.” Xiao Jianren was happy to hear that. The orders he had received were to bring some men and follow Sang Hong. Back then, he had been a bit nervous, but now that he had a task, the pressure he felt immediately lessened.
“Do you know anything about something called the Milk of Purple Frost?” Zu An looked at him nervously. This person was a living encyclopedia, and there probably weren’t many who knew more than him in the Embroidery House. If even he didn’t know, it would probably become really troublesome.
Xiao Jianren was stunned and asked, “Could it be that some great one’s soul was wounded?” He was rather tactful in the way he asked. He actually wanted to ask if Zu An was injured, but he was scared that he might offend the other party.
Zu An immediately felt happy. It seemed the name of Milk of Purple Frost hadn’t changed. That made things much easier. He replied, “Don’t worry about that. Do you know where it exists?”
Xiao Jianren shook his head. “That’s a divine substance rarely found in the world. If not because Milk of Purple Frost was offered to his majesty in the past, I wouldn’t even know of its existence.”
“His majesty has some?” Zu An frowned. That made things much more difficult. But no matter how difficult it was, he now had a goal. It was better than having no clues at all.
Xiao Jianren had a look of surprise on his face. He almost felt as if Zu An would try to fight for it with the emperor. He quickly said, “His majesty’s soul was seriously injured from his battle against the Fiend Emperor, and it was through the use of the Milk of Purple Frost that he recovered.”
“That’s why his majesty doesn’t have any more either?” Zu An raised his brow. He really wanted to grab the stupid bookworm and beat him up. Why did he always stop after speaking halfway?
As if sensing his ‘killing intent’, Xiao Jianren quickly said, “The one who offered Milk of Purple Frost to his majesty was the last generation Cloudcenter Duke. If this medicine can still be found anywhere in this world, Cloudcenter Commandery will be the best place to start looking.”