Chapter 136 - 133: The Transformation of the Stone Tablet

Chapter 136: Chapter 133: The Transformation of the Stone Tablet

"Blacksmith Li, I’m leaving these Woodcutter’s Blades here for you."

Early in the morning, a young man carried over a bundle of Woodcutter’s Blades with rolled edges and placed them in front of Jiang Zuo.

"Alright."

Jiang Zuo nodded and continued to bury his head in his smithing.

After entering the Cultivation Realm, Jiang Zuo wandered for over a year in an area not too far from the Wu Kingdom, eventually becoming a blacksmith under the jurisdiction of Black Mountain’s Xu Family.

He had originally intended to find an uninhabited place to live in seclusion, but the Cultivation Realm was more difficult than he had imagined. Any place with even slightly dense Spiritual Qi had long been occupied.

The uninhabited places he could find had Spiritual Qi that was even weaker than in his Pet Beast Spirit Garden.

In the end, Jiang Zuo decided to throw in his lot with the Xu Family.

The Xu Family was a relatively famous Cultivation Clan within a thousand-mile radius.

The Xu Family occupied Black Mountain, which was rich in Spiritual Qi. Their main industry was growing and selling the Spirit Wood produced on the mountain.

In addition, the Xu Family had also established a small Marketplace near the foot of Black Mountain.

Because the Marketplace had a Spirit-Gathering Array set up by the Xu Family, the Spiritual Qi was far denser than in the wild. With the Xu Family’s authority as a deterrent, public order wasn’t too bad either.

Although the Marketplace wasn’t large, it attracted many Loose Cultivators, creating a bustling scene.

However, the Xu Family’s main income still came from the Spirit Wood produced on Black Mountain.

The Xu Family grew a type of fast-growing Spirit Wood on Black Mountain. This wood could be used to build houses and craft various wooden tools.

For more than a decade after being felled, this Spirit Wood would emit a faint Spiritual Qi. After special treatment by a carpenter, it also had a certain effect of preventing Spiritual Qi from dissipating.

Because it wasn’t expensive, the Xu Family’s Spirit Wood was quite popular.

However, this Spirit Wood was extremely hard. A blade made of ordinary iron could cut down two or three trees at most before its edge would roll, rendering it unusable and forcing a replacement.

Even so, it was impossible for the Xu Family to use Magical Artifacts for logging, so they recruited a large number of mortal blacksmiths to specifically forge these Woodcutter’s Blades.

But these Woodcutter’s Blades, used for felling Spirit Wood, required Hundred-refined Fine Iron. Mortal blacksmiths who could consistently forge Hundred-refined Fine Iron were not easy to come by.

Out of necessity, the Xu Family had no choice but to hire even some blacksmiths whose skills didn’t quite meet their standards.

When Jiang Zuo went to apply, he briefly showed off his skills and was immediately hired by the Xu Family.

As for his origins and background, no one even asked.

’He’s just a mere mortal. What, is he going to overturn the heavens? His background is completely unimportant.’

From then on, Jiang Zuo became a blacksmith under the Xu Family’s jurisdiction.

His main daily task was to reforge these rolled-edge Woodcutter’s Blades into new ones.

Jiang Zuo was well aware of the saying "the bird that sticks its head out gets shot." The amount of work he completed each day was about the same as the other blacksmiths. He spent most of his extra time slacking off, secretly practicing the Divine Body Freedom Technique.

Over the years, Jiang Zuo had increasingly felt the extraordinariness of the Divine Body Freedom Technique. Even if he just silently recited the formula, the Divine Body Freedom Technique could slowly strengthen his Spiritual Power.

In addition, Jiang Zuo would also observe and draw Beast Patterns from time to time.

These actions could all slightly increase his Spiritual Power.

Although the increase was very slow, it was better than doing nothing at all.

Then, another thing Jiang Zuo had to do every day was to secretly open a small gap to his Pet Beast Paradise, allowing the surrounding Spiritual Qi to pour into the garden.

The Spiritual Qi in his location wasn’t particularly dense, but it was still more than double that of the garden. With no better place to go for now, Jiang Zuo could only make do.

Because he only opened a small gap, the rate at which the surrounding Spiritual Qi was lost wasn’t fast.

Furthermore, the people nearby were all mortal blacksmiths like Jiang Zuo, and he didn’t keep the gap open all day, so no one noticed anything amiss.

By evening, Jiang Zuo had nearly finished dealing with the rolled-edge Woodcutter’s Blades in his hands. He said goodbye to the other blacksmiths and returned to his wooden cabin.

The blacksmiths all worked at the foot of Black Mountain, and their living quarters were also nearby.

Besides the blacksmiths, there were also loggers in the area.

The loggers were more numerous, but there were only twenty to thirty of them.

Adding in the other miscellaneous workers, the total number was only around sixty to seventy people.

The terrain at the foot of Black Mountain was open, and with so few people, basically everyone had their own small wooden cabin.

After Jiang Zuo entered his wooden cabin, four small gray mice came scampering out, SQUEAK SQUEAK SQUEAK, and circled around him.

These were Gray Rock Rats he was secretly raising. Despite their small size, their claws were very sharp, and they were skilled at digging tunnels. Even if they encountered rock, they could dig through it with a bit of extra time.

It wasn’t convenient for Jiang Zuo to raise anything else here, so these Gray Rock Rats were perfect.

Gray Rock Rats were not easily discovered, and Jiang Zuo could also use them to gather information.

As for Great Black, Xiaoqing, and the flock of Seated Mountain Eagles inside the Pet Beast Spirit Garden, he didn’t need to worry too much about them either.

After the Pet Beast Spirit Garden was upgraded to a Miniature World Prototype, Jiang Zuo had much more room to maneuver.

He had Great Black and Xiaoqing dig a large lake inside.

He planted aquatic plants in the lake, placed the Longevity Jade inside, and then added a large quantity of various fish eggs.

Without him needing to provide extra food, Great Black and the Seated Mountain Eagles no longer had to worry about their meals.

What Jiang Zuo needed to worry about now were the Cultivation methods for Great Black and the Seated Mountain Eagles.

Jiang Zuo had originally planned to find Cultivation methods for them after arriving in the Cultivation Realm.

He figured that finding some ordinary Cultivation methods wouldn’t be too difficult.

But after some investigation, Jiang Zuo realized this idea was completely wrong.

The Cultivation methods of Spirit Beasts and Cultivators were fundamentally different.

If a Spirit Beast wanted to cultivate, it could basically only rely on a Breathing Technique.

But for most Spirit Beasts, their Breathing Technique came from their bloodline inheritance.

Take Xiaoqing, for example; it possessed a unique Breathing Technique for Cultivation that belonged to its species.

Therefore, in the Cultivation Realm, a Spirit Beast’s value was largely determined by its bloodline.

Spirit Beasts like Great Black and the Seated Mountain Eagles, which had advanced from Mortal Beasts, were rare in the Cultivation Realm, but no one would deliberately cultivate them.

This was because their bloodlines were too ordinary, and they basically had no hope of advancing further.

As for a universal Breathing Technique for Spirit Beasts, no such thing existed in the Cultivation Realm.

There weren’t even many named Breathing Techniques for Spirit Beasts in the Cultivation Realm. The few that existed were all held by a handful of major sects and were not circulated in the outside world at all.

In other words, it was impossible for Great Black and the Seated Mountain Eagles to find a suitable Breathing Technique.

They could only keep trying on their own and figure out how to cultivate by themselves.

Jiang Zuo couldn’t help them either.

Spirit Beasts, like Demon Beasts, followed a Magic Skill of cultivating an Inner Core, which was completely different from a Cultivator’s method of Cultivation.

However, there was still some hope for Great Black. After all, it had a trace of Xiaoqing’s bloodline in its body. By learning Xiaoqing’s Breathing Technique, it might be able to learn a Cultivation method suitable for itself.

As for the Seated Mountain Eagles, Jiang Zuo was truly at a complete loss.

...

In the blink of an eye, Jiang Zuo had spent three years at the foot of Black Mountain.

Jiang Zuo had raised several batches of Gray Rock Rats, and now the foot of Black Mountain was riddled with their burrows.

Through these Gray Rock Rats, Jiang Zuo learned many of the little secrets of the people at the foot of Black Mountain without ever leaving his home.

However, Jiang Zuo’s greatest gain was something else entirely!

Six months ago, the refining progress of the Mysterious Stele reached 30%.

After that, Jiang Zuo suddenly felt as if he was about to have a breakthrough in his Spiritual Power.

Six months later.

After finishing his smithing for the day, Jiang Zuo returned to his wooden cabin and silently recited the Divine Body Freedom Technique as usual.

Then, the feeling of being just one step away from a breakthrough grew stronger and stronger.

Finally!

BOOM!

Jiang Zuo felt something shatter in his mind. A feeling of relief, like breaking out of a cage, instantly surged up from the bottom of his heart and swept through his entire body.

Jiang Zuo was not completely ignorant about this.

He had opened his Sea of Consciousness and given birth to his Divine Sense!

Under normal circumstances, even the most talented Cultivator would have to at least break through to the Dao Foundation stage to have a chance of opening their Sea of Consciousness.

Jiang Zuo hadn’t even awakened his Spirit Root, yet he had already successfully opened his Sea of Consciousness!

With this, Jiang Zuo could begin practicing the first level of the Divine Body Freedom Technique’s Visualization Technique!

Not only that. At the instant he opened his Sea of Consciousness, the Mysterious Stele lying quietly in his storage bag trembled slightly and vanished from within.

Then, Jiang Zuo saw that a stele had appeared above his newly opened, and still rather small, Sea of Consciousness.

As the stele entered his Sea of Consciousness, Jiang Zuo felt his Divine Sense suddenly skyrocket!

Originally, after opening his Sea of Consciousness, his Divine Sense could only cover a three-meter radius and was very weak.

But after the stele appeared, Jiang Zuo’s Divine Sense could suddenly cover a distance of more than twenty meters.

As long as he wished, he could use his Divine Sense to perceive everything within this range.

Jiang Zuo tried it out briefly before retracting his Divine Sense.

’Divine Sense shouldn’t be used recklessly. If there are any sharp-sensed Cultivators nearby, they’ll notice.’

Upon closer inspection, Jiang Zuo felt his understanding of the few tadpole-like characters contained within the Beast Patterns suddenly deepen significantly.

Take the "Rage" Character Formula, for instance. When he used it on the King of Half-Beastmen a few years ago, it was only effective for an instant.

If he were to use it now, it would be effective for at least two or three breaths.

But what surprised Jiang Zuo even more was yet to come.

After the Mysterious Stele circled a few times in his Sea of Consciousness and gradually stabilized, a new Character Formula inexplicably appeared in Jiang Zuo’s mind.

"Condense!"

With a thought, Jiang Zuo let out a soft shout.

Then, the Blood Qi in his body surged out madly, condensing in front of him into a blood-red figure that looked almost identical to him.

"Visualization Projection!"

Immediately after, following the feeling transmitted by the Mysterious Stele, Jiang Zuo used the first-level Visualization Technique from the Freedom Technique to visualize the appearance of the Mysterious Stele on the blood-red figure.

A phantom image of the stele instantly appeared inside the blood-red figure.

Because of this phantom image’s existence, Jiang Zuo was astonished to find that he could control the blood-red figure as if it were his own body.

’What on earth is this ancient stele?’

Jiang Zuo was shaken to his core.

It might have seemed like he learned all this in an instant.

But in reality, these were all techniques he had more or less already grasped.

The condensed blood-red figure actually originated from the Blood Sac of the Blood God Skill.

After learning the Blood Sac method, Jiang Zuo had tried to condense a similar blood-red figure like this, but he had never succeeded.

He hadn’t known the "Condense" Character Formula before, but he did know formulas like "Rage," "Rest," and "Sight." Learning this "Condense" formula was a case of inferring one from another.

As for visualization, it originated from the Divine Body Freedom Technique.

Although Jiang Zuo had only just opened his Sea of Consciousness, he was already long familiar with the Visualization Technique.