The so-called Three Beasts Fatebinding Law was, according to the tall cultivator's memories, a method that guided a practitioner in linking to a Life Furnace, igniting its fire to temper body and soul, and thus stepping onto the path of Fatebinding.
This law was widespread throughout Hunzhou. Seven or eight out of every ten rogue cultivators relied on it to awaken their first Life Pattern and begin cultivation.
Compared with the profound secret arts of the great Fate Islands, it lacked certain unique wonders. Yet the Three Beasts Law required only three of the cheapest, most basic materials infused with Life Essence to serve as anchors. With these, anyone who had gathered a White Fang Life Essence could attempt Fatebinding.
It was the lowest barrier, the cheapest cost, and truly the salvation of rogue cultivators.
And for Jing Qian, in his current state, it was the most suitable path of entry.
By absorbing the tall cultivator's memories, he grasped the law with ease, as though he had studied and practiced it for years.
He turned his gaze to the Stele of Fate, where clear inscriptions now shone:
[Host: Jing Qian]
[Lifespan: 1 / 84 years]
[Life Essence: 0.67] (White Fang)
[Life Pattern: None]
With the souls of the tall and short cultivators serving as his rations, his Life Essence was growing at a speed beyond imagination.
Through the miraculous filtering and refining powers of the Stele's space, the efficiency and purity of his Life Essence reached their peak.
Even in the tall cultivator's knowledge, there was nothing that could compare. At best, the strongest nurturing techniques he knew could help a mortal child accumulate a complete White Fang Life Essence by the age of thirteen or fourteen.
But now, Jing Qian's first Life Essence was already more than halfway condensed.
If he pushed himself and relied on the Stele's aid, at most two more hours would see it complete.
Such speed, if revealed to the world, would overturn everything cultivators thought they knew.
Just as he was about to throw himself fully into this cultivation, a sudden disturbance in the outside world drew his attention.
Jing Qian shifted his senses outward and discovered that beneath him, Qingzhuzi's aura was violently disordered, her whole body trembling uncontrollably.
Thanks to the nourishment of Life Essence, Jing Qian's physique had already improved within a short span. His bones and strength had grown stronger, enough that he easily propped up his small body, slipped free of the brocade blanket, and climbed along Qingzhuzi's spine to her neck, carefully observing her state.
At this moment, his very survival depended almost entirely on Qingzhuzi. He could not afford to ignore her sudden change.
At this critical juncture, he no longer concealed himself. For the first time since his transmigration, Jing Qian opened his mouth to speak:
"Qingzhuzi, what's wrong? Do you need help?"
He knew that with Qingzhuzi's intelligence and cultivation, she was more than capable of understanding and responding to his words.
With the knowledge gained from the tall cultivator's memories, Jing Qian's understanding of Qingzhuzi had deepened greatly.
This Soul-Weaving Demon Spider was of an extremely rare bloodline. Moreover, having been refined by his grandmother into a life-bound beast and nurtured alongside her cultivation for years, it had been raised exceptionally well.
The faint blue hue of its silk alone revealed that this spider had already reached the peak of the Azure Wing rank and was on the verge of advancing into the Blue Blood stage.
In this vast world, where all manner of monsters and spirits roamed freely, those with extraordinary bloodlines were often born with innate Life Patterns. They, too, could absorb ambient essence, accumulate Life Essences, and advance.
And the supernatural materials produced from such monsters, especially those bearing Life Patterns, were the very core resources that human cultivators needed to refine their Life Patterns.
Thus, the struggle between humans and monsters treating one another as resources for cultivation was an eternal theme of the cultivation world.
The ranking of monsters corresponded directly to the quality of their Life Essences: White Fang, Azure Wing, Blue Blood, Violet Eye, and Golden Root.
By that measure, Qingzhuzi's strength was at the very peak of Azure Wing, only a step away from Blue Blood.
In cultivation terms, her power was almost equal to that of a Dragon-Elephant cultivator who had successfully formed a dharmic manifestation. Her intelligence, too, was no less than that of an ordinary human.
Hearing Jing Qian's words, Qingzhuzi struggled and released a surge of spell power toward him.
In an instant, Jing Qian's consciousness was pulled into an illusion.
There, from the perspective of his grandmother, Jing Sushì, he relived the battle against Fu Ying and Ao Li.
The clash of high-level cultivators was decided in mere moments, life and death in the blink of an eye. The fall of two Dragon-Elephant experts left Jing Qian with a visceral sense of the cruelty of the cultivation world.
At the same time, he immediately understood the reason for Qingzhuzi's current state.
When a cultivator died, the bond of the life-contract would inevitably recoil back on the beast, severely wounding its soul and damaging its body.
At the moment Jing Sushì perished, Qingzhuzi had suffered devastating backlash, her soul gravely injured.
For most monsters, the soul was their greatest weakness compared to their hardy bodies, and Qingzhuzi was no exception.
Her soul wounds were beyond self-repair. Without precious medicinal treasures to treat her, her cultivation and lifespan would slowly wither away until death claimed her.
Yet here, upon this endless sea, where could Jing Qian find such medicines?
He watched helplessly as Qingzhuzi writhed in pain, powerless to intervene. Without her protection, he would do nothing but sink into the depths and become food for the fish.
Worse still, through her lingering spell power, he felt the chilling truth that an enemy was closing in, carrying his grandmother's corpse, and hot on their trail.
Reality struck Jing Qian's heart like thunder. A sharp, overwhelming sense of crisis made his hair stand on end.
At this point, both he and Qingzhuzi were balanced on the edge of death.
Jing Qian forced himself to speak again:
"Qingzhuzi, if I complete a White Fang Life Essence and gather the Three Beasts, can you protect me as I bind my fate and enter the Dao?"
At his words, even grievously wounded, Qingzhuzi turned her massive head to look at him carefully.
Eight emerald, jewel-like eyes fixed on him, staring so intently that Jing Qian felt a cold shiver run across his body.
Then, the spider opened its enormous maw and spat out two pieces of flesh, still coated in viscous digestive fluids.
Jing Qian looked closely; it was a thick, short right hand and a thin, long right hand, the remains of the two cultivators Qingzhuzi had devoured earlier.
Next, she plucked a glowing thread of her azure silk and dropped it before him.
These three items, each infused with Life Essence, formed exactly the three sacrificial beasts needed for his Fatebinding!
His request had been answered in an instant.
Jing Qian hesitated no further. He gave a solemn nod, lay flat upon the spider's back, and sank once more into the Stele of Fate's inner space.
This time, under the crushing weight of a life-and-death crisis, he would not leave until he had forged a complete Life Essence.