12: Spirit Awakening Technique

Spirit Enlightenment First Layer! It's done!

He suppressed the excitement in his heart and immediately immersed his consciousness deep into his Sea of Consciousness.

The Legacy scroll of the “Moon Lake Spirit Stream Art” indeed became clearer and brighter with his Realm Breakthrough.

In the core area of the Spirit Enlightenment chapter, besides the construction methods for the six pulse gates, several new clusters of runes, flowing with watery light, quietly lit up at the edges!

[Water Mirror Technique]: Condenses water into a mirror, reflecting one's surroundings. It can observe the flow of one's own spiritual energy and also glimpse the faint glow of others' Spiritual Roots (requires close proximity, and the target must be unprepared or their cultivation far lower than the caster). This technique contains a trace of lesser yin's profoundness, and the mirror's light is cool.

[Nourishing Rain Technique]: Draws water spirit Qi to nourish plants and living beings, capable of slightly accelerating growth or healing minor damage to ordinary plants. The water vapor contains the moisturizing power of lesser yin, with vitality contained within.

[Qi Concealment Technique]: Like a stream flowing into a deep pool, it converges one's spiritual energy fluctuations and blends into the environment. The power of lesser yin is primarily for concealment, especially adept at hiding within water vapor and shadows.

[Water Condensation Arrow (Basic)]: Gathers water vapor into an arrow, launching it with penetrative power determined by spiritual energy strength. The arrow, when formed, carries a trace of lesser yin coldness, which can slightly delay the target.

Four minor techniques! Li Qinghe's heart beat a little faster.

Water Mirror Technique! This was exactly what he needed most right now! Not only could it allow him to introspect, but it could also detect whether others possessed Spiritual Roots! He immediately immersed his thoughts into the Water Mirror Technique's incantation.

As night deepened, Li Qinghe quietly snuck home and slipped into his small room.

He sat cross-legged on the cold earthen bed, forming an extremely simple hand seal with his fingertips, his mind calm.

The warm Qi vortex in his Dantian Qi Sea subtly fluctuated, and a wisp of extremely faint spiritual energy, carrying a cool watery mist, quietly gathered at his fingertips along his Meridians.

“Condense!” he silently chanted.

The air in front of his fingertips seemed to be disturbed by an invisible force. Traces of thin water vapor, almost imperceptible to the naked eye, rapidly converged, instantly solidifying into a palm-sized, cicada-wing-thin, light blue water mirror.

The mirror surface was not perfectly smooth; instead, it rippled with subtle waves, emitting a faint, cool light, a manifestation of lesser yin's power.

Li Qinghe held his breath and slowly moved the water mirror towards himself.

His blurry face was reflected in the mirror, but what attracted him more was the strange sight flowing deep within the water mirror.

Inside the outline of his body in the mirror, a slender yet resilient “root,” emitting a gentle, watery blue light, extended downwards from the Baihui acupoint on his head, passed through the Qi Ming Pulse Gate between his eyebrows, and reached directly to his Dantian Qi Sea!

That “root” was solid and translucent, exuding vibrant vitality. Its length... he focused intently, comparing it to the markings on the Legacy diagram.

Nine and a half inches!

Close to ten inches! Only a hair's breadth away from a Heaven-Grade Spiritual Root (eleven to twelve inches)! What astonishing Aptitude this was!

In those legendary great Sects, he would probably be a talent fought over!

Ecstasy, like an electric current, instantly surged through his entire body. Li Qinghe forcibly suppressed it, preventing himself from crying out.

With this Water Mirror Technique, many things would become more convenient.

In the following days, he was even more cautious in hiding his changes.

During the day, he was still the diligent boy who followed his father to the fields and his master into the mountains.

Stronger? That came from working hard.

Body sturdier? That was from eating more meat!

Skin better? Less exposure to wind and sun, of course!

He cleverly used the Qi Concealment Technique to perfectly hide his faint yet extraordinarily unusual spiritual energy fluctuations.

Time slipped by amidst fulfilling labor and secret Cultivation.

The deep autumn mountains were ablaze with color, and it was also the season for wild beasts to fatten up and store energy for winter.

[Today's Intel (Wild Beast Tracks): Deep in the Old Pine Forest west of Broken Head Cliff, an adult male wild boar (approximately 300 catties) was injured yesterday fighting a Black Bear. Its left hind leg is torn, limiting its movement. It is currently hiding in a thorn thicket in the forest, recuperating, and is irritable and prone to rage.]

An adult wild boar! Three hundred catties! And injured! Li Qinghe's eyes lit up fiercely as he saw the refreshed intel in his mind! This was definitely a huge fortune! But the risk was equally great; an injured wild boar was ten times more dangerous than usual!

And he couldn't expose himself now.

Without hesitation, he immediately found Li Shouxin, who was mending a fish trap in the backyard.

“Master!” Li Qinghe's tone was deliberately urgent.

“I just went to the Old Pine Forest to set some traps, and I think... I think I heard a wild boar howling, a very loud commotion! And a bear's roar! I glimpsed it from afar; it looked like a big wild boar with a lame leg, it burrowed into a thorn bush. It looked scary, I didn't dare to get close!”

“An adult wild boar? And injured?”

Li Shouxin abruptly put down the rattan in his hand, his eyes instantly sharp.

“In the Old Pine Forest west of Broken Head Cliff? Are you sure you saw it clearly?”

“Yes!” Li Qinghe nodded vigorously. “It was very big, all black, dragging one hind leg, bleeding! There were bear claw marks on the nearby trees!”

“Good boy! Brave and meticulous!”

Li Shouxin slapped his thigh, his eyes gleaming.

“An injured big fellow! This is a great catch delivered right to our door! Just its hide and tusks are worth a lot! You did well, don't try to be a hero yourself! Quick, go to the fields and call your father! Bring hoes, machetes, and those thick spearheads I had your father forge last time! I'll go get my gear!”

He limped, but his movements were twice as fast as usual, rushing into the house to rummage for his well-maintained, gleaming hunting fork and a large hardwood bow.

Li Qinghe ran off to his family's fields, where Li Dashan and his three sons were tilling the land.

Li Qinghe, panting, reached the edge of the field and explained the situation.

Li Dashan didn't say a word, dropping his hoe:

“Qingshan, Qinglin, grab your weapons! Follow me! Qingfeng, you're fast, go home and get those spear shafts, and tell your mother to find the thick hemp rope!”

Eldest brother Li Qingshan nodded steadily, immediately going to get the two thick-backed machetes leaning against the field ridge.

Second brother Qinglin, on the other hand, was excited:

“Good heavens! A big wild boar! Fourth Brother, you're amazing! You actually stumbled upon this!”

Soon, Li Shouxin, carrying his hunting fork and bow and arrows, and Li Dashan, with his three sons shouldering hoes, machetes, sharpened long spear shafts, and thick hemp rope, carefully made their way deep into the Old Pine Forest, led by Li Qinghe.

The air was filled with a faint smell of blood and the musky odor of wild beasts.

Pushing aside the dense thorn bushes, they indeed saw a black-maned wild boar, like a small hill, agitatedly rooting at the ground with its tusks. A deep, bone-visible wound on its left hind leg was gaping open and still seeping blood.

Seeing the sudden appearance of the crowd, the wild boar let out an earth-shattering roar, its blood-red eyes fixed on them!

“Scatter! Don't let it charge!”

Li Shouxin, experienced and cunning, let out a low growl, drew his bow, and notched an arrow! A barbed feathered arrow shot towards the wild boar's eye with a “whoosh”! The wild boar sharply turned its head, and the arrow grazed its ear, embedding itself deeply into the tree trunk behind it!

“Roar!”

This arrow completely enraged it!

It lowered its head, tusks pointing forward, and with a powerful thrust of its hind legs, charged straight at Li Dashan, who was standing at the very front, like an out-of-control battering ram, bringing with it aBlood Wind of blood.

“Father!”

Li Qingshan and Li Qinglin roared simultaneously, brandishing their machetes and hoes, trying to block it.

Just then, Li Qinghe moved!