188: Soul power, spring size

Half an hour later.

Xie Weilou walked alone on the main street; as for Lin Qinghuang, she had already left the city.

Zhao Family City had changed drastically, with the Zhao Family's demise shocking many cultivators, who rushed to explore the Zhao Family grounds, only to find a ruin with not much else.

At an open-air wine stall.

“Fellow Daoist Fan!”

A surprised voice rang out.

Xie Weilou looked over and saw Huang Sheng, who was drinking alone. He stepped forward, cupped his hands, and said, “Greetings, Fellow Daoist Huang.”

Huang Sheng immediately said, “Fellow Daoist Fan, please, sit down quickly.”

Xie Weilou sat down beside him and said in surprise, “Fan thought the drinking party was over tonight, but I didn't expect Fellow Daoist Huang to be drinking alone here.”

Huang Sheng gave a bitter smile: “I just arrived in Zhao Family City and made a few good friends, but in the blink of an eye, I saw the corpse of one of them. My heart felt heavy, so I specially came back to have a few more drinks.”

Ke Jiu shared an inn room with him but mysteriously disappeared. He specifically came out to look for him, only to find a corpse, which made him feel inexplicably uncomfortable.

When stepping onto the path of cultivation, elders would always say that the Grand Dao is ruthless, and those around you could die at any time, so you need to be mentally prepared.

But his cultivation was only at the Xuanhuang Realm, so talking about the so-called Grand Dao was too far-fetched. Seeing a newly befriended friend die tragically, he just felt very uncomfortable.

“Alas! A big event happened in Zhao Family City tonight; quite a few people died.”

Xie Weilou sighed softly.

Huang Sheng poured Xie Weilou a cup of wine and lamented, “The Zhao Family has been wiped out; that place has turned into a ruin. However, I think this is the Zhao Family's own doing. The Zhao Family members, presiding over a city, committed all sorts of evil. This time, they must have provoked a ruthless character.”

“Who says otherwise?”

Xie Weilou raised his cup and took a sip.

Huang Sheng said, “Huang is a disciple of the Tai Xuan Sect in Xuan Province. I forgot to ask earlier, but may I know which sect Fellow Daoist Fan is from?”

Xie Weilou smiled bitterly and said, “To be honest, Fan is just a rogue cultivator, without sect or faction. Stepping onto the path of cultivation was purely by chance.”

Upon hearing this, Huang Sheng immediately said, “For us cultivators, if we don't have a sect, resources are limited, making it difficult to progress further. If Fellow Daoist Fan has time, you can visit Xuan Province. I can introduce you then, and you should be able to join my Tai Xuan Sect.”

Xie Weilou cupped his hands and said, “Thank you, Fellow Daoist Huang. I will definitely visit Xuan Province when I have time.”

“No problem, no problem.”

A smile also appeared on Huang Sheng's face.

After a few drinks.

Xie Weilou stood up and said, “Fellow Daoist Huang, the Hengyuan Sect is behind this Zhao Family. With their demise this time, the Hengyuan Sect will definitely not let it rest. Fan should also leave.”

Huang Sheng stood up and said, “Thank you for the reminder, Fellow Daoist Fan. I will not stay here long either and will leave soon.”

“Farewell!”

Xie Weilou nodded slightly, then turned and left.

He did not return to the inn but left the city directly.

——

Outside the city.

Thirty li away, in a cave.

Xie Weilou set up many Restriction, then sat down cross-legged. He took out Mend the Sky Defect and muttered to himself, “No time to lose, I'll refine Mend the Sky Defect first to enhance my soul power.”

He acted as he spoke; the Nirvana Sutra circulated, and the power of Mend the Sky Defect was frantically drawn out, continuously pouring into his body. Most of this power directly surged into his brain, rapidly nourishing his soul.

At this moment, he only felt a coolness in his soul, as if some impurities were being washed away by clear water, an indescribable comfort.

As the power of Mend the Sky Defect continuously entered his body, his soul power actually began to expand gradually.

The soul is the most mysterious and complex part of a living being. The soul power of ordinary beings is not too strong and is extremely fragile; once the soul is damaged, it is very difficult to heal.

Generally speaking, a cultivator's soul power initially is only the size of a spring, which some call a Divine Spring.

The size of the Divine Spring is not fixed; it varies among different cultivators, and as cultivation increases, it can gradually improve and expand.

The seven major realms known to Great Xia cultivators, Xuanhuang, Chains, Territory Expansion Realm, Dao Repository, Profound Manifestation, and Dragon Transformation, the first six realms primarily focus on body refining.

While Divine Court is the process of refining the divine soul; only by stepping into the Divine Court Realm can one further cultivate divine soul power.

Under normal circumstances, the soul can only passively improve with the breakthrough of realms, and the soul power of ordinary cultivators is generally not too strong.

Of course, there are also some cultivators, such as soul cultivators, who primarily cultivate soul power from the very beginning, employing strange methods completely different from ordinary cultivators.

Xie Weilou's soul power was perhaps larger than that of ordinary cultivators due to his soul transmigration, possibly twice the size of ordinary cultivators at the same level; his Divine Spring was twice that of others.

At this moment, under the nourishment of Mend the Sky Defect, his Divine Spring was expanding.

...

Xie Weilou frantically circulated the Nirvana Sutra, and the power of Mend the Sky Defect was rapidly refined. The profound power enveloped him, like a silkworm cocoon.

Two days later.

The power of Mend the Sky Defect was completely refined.

Xie Weilou opened his eyes, a sharp gleam flashing. At this moment, his soul power had increased by about five times, and his Divine Spring had expanded to ten times the size of an ordinary cultivator's, filled with dense soul power.

The increase in soul power also made his sense of smell, hearing, touch, and sight more acute. He could clearly hear the faint sounds made by small insects in the mountains.

His soul power erupted, instantly penetrating the walls and capturing numerous animals in the forest, covering an area of a thousand meters.

“A detection range of a thousand meters, that's not bad.”

Xie Weilou thought to himself.

The cultivation system of this world is different from a normal cultivation system. The first six realms primarily focus on body refining; without reaching the Divine Court Realm, the range the soul can detect will not be very large.

Powerful Divine Court Realm existences like Imperial Preceptor Yuan Tianxiang and Zhou Xuantian, who cultivate divine soul power, can cover the entire Heavenly Revelation City with their divine souls in an instant.

He retracted his aura.

Xie Weilou opened his storage ring. The next second, his expression froze. All the spiritual medicines, spiritual herbs, and elixirs collected from the Zhao Family's treasury had completely disappeared.

“Hmm?”

Xie Weilou's face darkened. He immediately stared into the storage ring. The bronze egg inside was emitting a bronze glow, and a bronze rune had appeared on it, as if this egg was responsible for everything.

He quickly took out the bronze egg.

Then he took out the storage rings of Zhao Shan and the other two. The items inside their storage rings were still there, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

He took out a spiritual herb and brought it close to the bronze egg.

Buzz!

The bronze egg emitted a suction force, and the spiritual herb instantly disappeared.

“A Devouring Beast?”

Xie Weilou found it a bit strange. He took out another elixir, and it was also swallowed.

If it keeps swallowing, will it hatch?

...

Xie Weilou did not continue to try and decisively poured all the items from the three men's storage rings into his own storage ring.

Then he threw the bronze egg into one of the empty storage rings.

After doing all this, Xie Weilou got up and left the cave...