Now that the Foundation Establishment Pill had finally found its rightful owner, Song Changsheng was able to enjoy a few peaceful days. He practiced his spear techniques, studied spells, and tempered his body it was quite a leisurely and satisfying routine.
One morning, after completing his daily cultivation, Song Changsheng headed to the Hall of Contributions.
Over the years, he'd accumulated quite several battle trophies from his many encounters low-grade pills, spirit herbs, and magical artifacts all piling up over time. Today was the perfect chance to clear them out and make some room.
He exchanged the bulk of these low-tier items for over two thousand contribution points and then converted all those points into Five Elemental Essences.
The Five Elemental Essence was a by-product produced when cultivators absorbed spiritual energy. For instance, a cultivator with wood, fire, and water spiritual roots would only need those three elemental energies for cultivation. However, spiritual veins naturally release non-attributed spiritual energy.
When this energy was absorbed into the body, it would be converted into the necessary five-element spiritual forces. Since the cultivator only needed wood, fire, and water, the remaining metal and earth energies would be circulated through the meridians and expelled.
The expelled metal and earth energies became the Five Elemental Essence, which could be used to nourish magical artifacts. Since the amount produced was very low, demand always far exceeded supply.
The reason Song Changsheng exchanged for this batch was to nourish his magical artifacts.
He had no shortage of them. Among his collection of second-tier artifacts were the Yin-Yang Soul-Slaying Gourd, Tiangang Shield, Water-Cleaving Spear, and the Xuantian Battle Armor.
Among them, the Soul-Slaying Gourd and the Water-Cleaving Spear had already begun to exhibit spiritual glow signs of evolving toward true spiritual artifacts. However, nourishing them through his cultivation was far too slow; it might take a lifetime without ever reaching the transformation.
Thus, he needed a large amount of Five Elemental Essence. Even the Lu Wu Bell required massive quantities of it to advance. Nearly all his contribution points had been spent on this.
But the results were noticeable. The Soul-Slaying Gourd was now quite close to full transformation.
With the clutter dealt with, he made his way to the Scripture Pavilion.
The clan's Scripture Pavilion had three floors. The first floor stored first-tier cultivation methods, spells, anecdotes, and cultivation insights. Back in the day, Song Changsheng had spent countless hours immersed in its content.
The second floor held second-tier cultivation techniques, secret clan records, and specialized arts. It had far fewer texts than the first floor, but its collection still surpassed most sects in Lingzhou. Even Song Changsheng had only scratched the surface of its knowledge.
But today, neither of those floors was his target.
His destination was the third floor the most mysterious and important level of the pavilion.
Currently, only three people in the entire clan had unrestricted access to this floor: the Clan Leader Song Xianming, the Grand Elder Song Xianyun, and Song Changsheng himself, the Young Clan Leader.
He took out his jade token and activated the restriction seal.
For the first time, Song Changsheng stepped into the third floor of the Scripture Pavilion.
Compared to the two floors below, this level was sparse and quiet. Only a few white jade bookshelves stood silently in the room. But any one of the jade slips on these shelves if it ever made its way into the wider world would be enough to set off a bloody storm across Lingzhou, drawing countless cultivators in pursuit.
That's because these jade slips either contained third-tier cultivation techniques, insights from Purple Mansion cultivators, or rare secret arts and divine abilities each of them worth fighting to the death over by Foundation Establishment cultivators.
As his fingers glided across the warm, smooth shelves, Song Changsheng saw many treasures: third-tier formation arts, third-tier artifact crafting methods, third-tier mental cultivation techniques...
His eyes drifted across the names one by one until he suddenly paused.
There they were "Inscribing Formations with the Body" and "Spiritual Qi Conversion Technique".
These were the very techniques and insights he had submitted to the clan after reaching Foundation Establishment. Alongside them, he had also offered his carefully refined cultivation method and personal cultivation notes.
In return, the clan had rewarded him generously with contribution points and granted him free access to the Scripture Pavilion a privilege that had saved him a great deal of future cost.
Now seeing his works placed among the sacred tomes of the third floor, Song Changsheng felt a deep sense of pride, along with a touch of emotion.
As the saying goes: "The predecessors plant the tree, and the successors enjoy the shade."
These jade slips on the third floor were the great trees planted by the wise ancestors of the clan. For the longest time, he had been one of those basking in the shade of those trees.
Now, at last, he had planted two of his own for the benefit of future generations.
It was a passing of the torch, a continuation of legacy and vitality.
Running his fingers lightly over the jade slips, Song Changsheng stepped to the next white jade bookshelf.
And there, he finally found the object of his visit
A black jade slip, the only one of its kind in the entire Scripture Pavilion, stood out like a crane among chickens.
Song Changsheng stared at the black jade slip, his eyes gradually growing fervent because inscribed within it was a Minor Divine Ability, the core legacy passed down from the clan's ancestor, Song Taiyi!
It was thanks to mastering one of these Minor Divine Abilities that Song Xianming had once defeated Chang Wudao with swift and decisive force.
While cultivating a Minor Divine Ability was exceptionally difficult for a Foundation Establishment cultivator, with Song Changsheng's talent and comprehension, as long as he was willing to invest the time, there was a strong chance he could succeed.
If he could pull it off, he would gain a formidable trump card!
He picked up the jade slip and pressed it against his forehead. Instantly, a torrent of information surged into his sea of consciousness not just words, but also diagrams and moving images.
The jade slip recorded three Minor Divine Abilities, all created by Ancestor Song Taiyi:
Celestial River Water,
Xun Wind Finger,
and Mountain-Flipping Seal.
Minor Divine Abilities weren't restricted by a cultivator's spiritual root attributes only their comprehension ability mattered. That meant Song Changsheng was eligible to train in all three.
He knew that Song Xianming had cultivated the Xun Wind Finger, the most lethal of the three in terms of offensive power.
Celestial River Water was a wide-area attack spell, best suited for dealing with groups of enemies.
Mountain-Flipping Seal was somewhere in between, offering both offense and a suppressive effect.
There was no clear "best" among the three each had its strengths. After careful deliberation, Song Changsheng ultimately chose the Mountain-Flipping Seal.
Though the other two were tempting, his energy and focus were limited. Just being able to master one would be a blessing from the heavens. The other two could wait until he advanced to the Purple Mansion stage.
After leaving the Scripture Pavilion, Song Changsheng immediately announced he was entering seclusion to comprehend the divine ability.
Days turned to nights, spring gave way to autumn, and in the blink of an eye, half a year had passed, yet he had made little progress.
One day, an Enforcement Disciple suddenly came to his door, saying that someone claiming to be a friend of Song Changsheng had arrived, requesting an urgent meeting.
"Did the visitor give a name?" Song Changsheng asked the clan member who had come to report.
The young man replied respectfully, "He's quite young. He said his name is Zhu Yiqun, and claimed to be your friend."
"Oh, so that guy finally showed up. Where is he now?" Song Changsheng raised an eyebrow, a pleased expression appearing on his face.
"The mountain guards weren't sure if he was telling the truth, so they didn't let him in. He's still waiting at the foot of the mountain. Shall I go bring him up for you?"
Song Changsheng waved his hand. "No need to trouble yourself I'll go meet him myself."
With that, Song Changsheng stepped outside and summoned his Soul-Slaying Gourd, flying down the mountain.
At the foot of the mountain, sitting atop a large bluestone, was Zhu Yiqun, dressed in luxurious robes. The moment Song Changsheng saw him, he exclaimed in delight,
"Brother Zhu, you've reached Foundation Establishment?"
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