“I see,” Zhang Ling muttered in a delighted tone. “This treasure is called the Soul Refining Diagram; it's actually used to train a cultivator's spiritual soul.” He hadn't expected this ancient painting to have such an effect.
At this moment, the image on the ancient painting reverted to the scene he saw when he first encountered it: a landscape of mountains shrouded in mist. However, when his divine sense entered, Zhang Ling saw more than just one scene, but rather several.
The first scene he saw was the mountain landscape, the second was a deep valley and secluded pool under the moonlight, and the third was a Gobi desert swept by endless sandstorms.
Only the fourth scene, which he had just experienced, was different. The fourth scene was originally a scene of various illusions, but now it seemed to have solidified. It had transformed into a vast expanse of white space, with the figure of a cultivator sitting cross-legged in the center.
This person's appearance was exactly the same as his own; it was still an illusionary figure. However, when his divine sense intruded, it did not attack him.
Zhang Ling's divine sense passed through several layers of scenes in an instant, feeling very magical. He also noticed that as long as his consciousness lingered slightly, it would remain in a particular scene.
Clearly, the Soul Refining Diagram was divided into several layers, and the scenes he had passed through before were all similar to trial checkpoints. Moreover, according to the information about this treasure, he could actively challenge this newly appeared illusionary person.
As soon as this thought arose in Zhang Ling's mind, his divine sense was instantly pulled into the newly appeared fourth scene.
Situated in the vast white space, the illusionary person opposite him suddenly stood up, looking at him coldly, and erupting with an astonishing aura, as if about to engage in a great battle.
Zhang Ling's expression turned grave. This aura was more of a manifestation of spiritual pressure, making him feel more sensitive. The newly appeared illusionary person was slightly stronger than the previous one.
He shouted 'Give up the challenge' in his mind and simultaneously withdrew his divine sense. Instantly, the illusionary person in the fourth painting sat down again, motionless.
“It seems that this treasure's method of training the divine sense is to constantly challenge oneself,” Zhang Ling chuckled.
The previous illusionary person was just his own divine sense power in battle, and he was likely to be defeated. The newly emerged illusionary person was even stronger than the previous one, and he feared he had little chance of winning.
He carefully sensed that this newly born illusionary person gave him about ten percent more pressure than the previous one.
It seemed like not much of an increase, but presumably, it was still exactly the same as himself, and the methods used in battle were also the same as his. Fighting himself, and only using divine sense power, was much more difficult.
This Soul Refining Diagram is definitely a unique treasure.
However, the bronze ancient lamp in his hand seemed to perfectly counter this treasure, allowing his divine sense to be enhanced by more than double. He feared he could easily win even if he challenged a few more illusionary people.
Zhang Ling thought about it and did not do so. Since the purpose of the Soul Refining Diagram was to train a cultivator's spiritual soul, using clever methods would definitely have no effect.
At the same time, in addition to the introduction of this diagram, there was another piece of information in his mind, which contained a secret technique and a pill formula.
The secret technique was a secret method called “Treasure Spirit Art”.
After carefully studying it several times, he discovered that this was a treasure refining technique, but it was different from ordinary refining of magical treasures and magical instruments, and it was not the refining method of ancient treasures, but rather the art of artifact spirits.
The so-called artifact spirit art is a profound treasure refining technique. Simply put, it is a method of fusing artifact spirits. Basically, every refiner knows this treasure refining technique, but very few cultivators can truly master it.
As for what an artifact spirit is, there is actually no fixed answer. It is said that it is the autonomous consciousness born after a treasure becomes spiritual.
This consciousness is very weak, but it can greatly enhance the power of the treasure. Self-defense and self-attack are characteristics of spiritual treasures.
And spiritual treasures refer to treasures that are higher level than magical treasures and ancient treasures. When magical treasures are condensed to a certain extent, they have the opportunity to give birth to spiritual consciousness and be promoted to spiritual treasures, thereby greatly increasing their power.
It is said that there are also differences between spiritual treasures, but this is beyond his understanding.
However, the power of each spiritual treasure is very powerful. It is said that the Ten Great Sects have such spiritual treasures, and it is said that Myriad Elephant City also has one. The number of spiritual treasures in the entire Flowing Cloud Sea seems to be only a few, and most of them were passed down from ancient times.
And the artifact spirit is a special spirituality produced by the refiner using clever methods to fuse other spiritual bodies on the treasure. This is the artifact spirit.
Artifact Spirit Art was originally a clever method researched by ancient cultivators after failing to directly refine spiritual treasures from rare materials.
A magical treasure fused with an artifact spirit can greatly increase its power. Although it cannot reach the level of a spiritual treasure, it is much more powerful than ordinary magical treasures.
And the choice of artifact spirit is very diverse. The most common is the spirit of a monster beast, and of course, there are also demonic cultivators who directly use the spirits of other cultivators to refine it. It is said that some natural treasures can also serve as artifact spirits.
However, the most difficult step to integrate the spiritual body into the magical treasure and refine it into an artifact spirit is not choosing the spiritual body to be the artifact spirit, but fusing it into the magical treasure. This step is the most difficult, and the success rate can be said to be one in a hundred.
As for the reasons for the failure, there is no conclusion in the world of cultivation. Some refiners say that the failure is because the choice of the artifact spirit is not compatible with the treasure. But some people don't think so.
Moreover, a magical treasure can only be fused with an artifact spirit once. If it fails, it will never be successful if you want to use other spiritual bodies as artifact spirits to fuse.
Forcibly fusing it will greatly reduce the spirituality of the original treasure, and it may even be scrapped.
Zhang Ling frowned slightly as he checked this Treasure Spirit Art. He didn't know much about artifact spirit art; he only saw it in the classics. Although fusing an artifact spirit would greatly increase the power of the magical treasure, he actually had no consideration in this regard.
Because the greatest function of the Qingbai Two Qi in his natal magic treasure, the Two Instruments Gourd, is to refine magic treasures. The seven flying swords and Heavenly Star Sand placed inside have a high probability of being directly promoted to spiritual treasures as long as they are refined with care for thousands of years.
So the Artifact Spirit Art did not attract him much.
However, there are indeed many high-level cultivators in the world of cultivation who will look for demon spirits and other spiritual bodies to refine artifact spirits to enhance the power of treasures, but few people succeed.
After Zhang Ling became a Golden Core cultivator, he had seen many high-level cultivators, but he had never seen any other cultivator's magic treasures with artifact spirits.
He didn't expect to obtain an Artifact Spirit Art from the Soul Refining Diagram. Zhang Ling touched his chin and smiled to himself. Instead, he noticed the pill formula that had been transmitted into his mind.
After checking it once, his expression became strange. This was a pill formula called “Spirit Enhancing Powder”.
It was not accurate to say that it was a pill formula. Spirit Enhancing Powder was not taken like other pills, but used like sandalwood after being lit. This incense could release a special spiritual energy, which could play the role of calming the mind.
It sounded quite ordinary, but the main material of Spirit Enhancing Powder shocked Zhang Ling greatly. It was actually made from Soul Nourishing Wood.
The introduction above said that this incense was used to assist in cultivating the divine soul with the Nine Yuan Soul Refining Art, which could greatly shorten the cultivation time of this soul refining art.
The Soul Refining Art itself was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and it was difficult to cultivate.
The incomplete Soul Refining Art that he had obtained before only had two levels of cultivation techniques, and it took him nearly a hundred years to complete the cultivation. The Nine Yuan Soul Refining Art had three levels of cultivation techniques, and it also seemed to be incomplete. But it was definitely much more exquisite than the Soul Refining Art that he had cultivated before, and it would be even more difficult to cultivate.
If Spirit Enhancing Powder could be refined and used to assist in cultivation, it would definitely be twice the result with half the effort.
For a time, Zhang Ling fell into contemplation.
And what he thought of was not only this Soul Refining Art. His current cultivation was already in the late stage of the Golden Core, and after concentrating on cultivation for decades, he would have to consider the matter of condensing the Nascent Soul.
