Chapter 156: The Birth of a Spiritual Weapon

Inside the spirit grotto, atop the white jade lotus, vital energy surged through a hundred meridians as Jiang Chen meditated in silence. Behind him, a mist-shrouded flood dragon drifted, likewise exhaling and inhaling spiritual essence.

At a certain moment, a pinpoint of bright light blossomed, and a brand-new acupoint was opened within Jiang Chen's body.

"Fifty-five acupoints. Not bad."

Opening his eyes and sensing the changes within himself, a faint smile appeared on Jiang Chen's face.

Throughout this period, he had been quietly refining himself. As Taoyao recovered, the efficiency of the spirit grotto in precipitating spiritual energy instantly doubled. This made his cultivation environment increasingly exceptional, and even the Weapon Pool benefited, its essence continuously elevating.

"Seventy-otwo acupoints mark the great accomplishment of Qi Refining; that realm is not far from me now."

A breath of white air was exhaled, resembling an arrow of energy that remained unbroken for three feet. Jiang Chen smoothed out the agitation of his inner genuine qi.

"Both the Qi Condensation Technique and the Qi Sword Technique are spells that require time to settle and genuine qi to support. Only when a cultivator's genuine qi is sufficiently profound can their true marvelous properties be revealed."

"In the early stages of Qi Refining, these two spells had a negligible effect on me, falling far short of the Qi Thread Technique. But now, their wondrous aspects have truly begun to manifest."

With a shift of his thoughts, Jiang Chen gently traced his fingertips, and the Formless Genuine Qi emerged. A chilling, bleak aura instantly permeated the air. If an outsider were present at this moment, nine times out of ten they would assume Jiang Chen was practicing sword qi.

"Outsiders all rumor that I excel in flying sword techniques, but only I know that I am no sword cultivator. True sword cultivators cultivate genuine qi that is extremely fierce and murderous sword qi, which grants bonuses to all kinds of sword formulas. This is also the foundation of a sword cultivator's formidable combat power."

"Of course, the fierceness of sword qi acts not only outwardly but also inwardly. Precisely because of this, many sword cultivators do not live long lives, and the difficulty of forging a Dao foundation is even greater for them."

"Yet now, with the dual enhancement of the Qi Condensation Technique and the Qi Sword Technique, my Formless Genuine Qi can actually simulate a fraction of the might of sword qi. Although it is still not pure enough, ordinary people truly would not be able to tell the difference."

Genuine qi flowed at his fingertips, transforming into white light that coiled around his fingers as Jiang Chen carefully experienced its changes.

During this period, apart from accumulating genuine qi, his spell practice had not lagged behind. Although the Qi Condensation Technique still lacked some refinement and remained at the minor accomplishment stage, the Qi Sword Technique had already reached great accomplishment.

The essence of spell practice lies in the circulation and transformation of genuine qi. Having cultivated his soul to the ultimate limit of the first tier, Jiang Chen felt that his comprehension of spells had become increasingly effortless. Many changes that ordinary people found difficult to understand or control could be achieved by him with ease.

"The practice of the Qi Condensation Technique is a gradual, grinding process; reaching great accomplishment will still take some time."

A thought arose, and Jiang Chen flicked his finger.

The next instant, the genuine qi left his hand, piercing through the air like sword light, displaying ultimate sharpness before finally fading into nothingness.

It was precisely at this moment that an unusual movement within his storage bag caught Jiang Chen's attention.

"Has it finally awakened?"

Realizing something, Jiang Chen hurriedly opened his storage bag.

The next instant, the figure of the Dragon-Fishing Rod appeared within the spirit grotto. At this moment, its rod body, resembling yellow bamboo, had streaks of dragon shadows swimming across it, bursting forth with dragon might and appearing utterly extraordinary.

The moment it appeared, the spiritual energy throughout the entire grotto went wild, pouring endlessly into its body, allowing it to undergo a further transformation.

Seeing this scene, Jiang Chen furrowed his brows slightly, yet he did not move to stop it, merely quietly putting away the mist-dragon skin.

Back then, after he used the Dragon-Fishing Rod to catch the mist dragon—a pure-blooded flood dragon—the rod seemed to have received some kind of stimulus and fell into a dormant state. Now that it had awakened, it was in all probability reaching the critical moment of its transformation.

Thus, roughly the time it takes to brew a cup of tea later, the dragon might dissipated, all the dragon shadows were reined in, and an ethereal spiritual light was born within the interior of the Dragon-Fishing Rod.

At this moment, Jiang Chen, who had been carefully sensing the changes in the Dragon-Fishing Rod all along, suddenly felt a pressure upon his mind and heart, as if some heavy object were pressing down on his chest. However, as the power of his soul erupted, this discomfort quickly vanished.

"One hundred and eight legal taboos merged into one, and spiritual taboos were derived. The Dragon-Fishing Rod of today is no longer a magic tool, but a spiritual weapon."

Dispelling the discomfort and looking once more at the Dragon-Fishing Rod, Jiang Chen realized the truth.

For a Qi Refining cultivator to advance further means to forge a Dao foundation. The essence of a Dao foundation cultivator undergoes a transformation, giving birth to spiritual power and spiritual perception. Ordinary magic tools no longer hold much use for them; what truly aids them are spiritual weapons that have derived spiritual taboos.

The birth of a spiritual weapon is far more difficult than that of a magic tool. Even for a Dao foundation cultivator, a spiritual weapon possesses extremely high value.

It was also at this moment that its marvelous properties retracted. Having completed its transformation, the Dragon-Fishing Rod returned once more to its previous ordinary appearance, devoid of any extraordinary aura.

Witnessing this, Jiang Chen reached out his palm and grasped the Dragon-Fishing Rod.

"I never expected to acquire a spiritual weapon while still in the minor accomplishment stage of Qi Refining, and furthermore, it possesses eleven spiritual taboos, leaving it only a single step away from a medium-grade spiritual weapon. It seems that catching a pure-blooded flood dragon truly provided a massive boost to the Dragon-Fishing Rod."

"Fortunately, that mist dragon had yet to forge its Dao foundation; otherwise, its feedback to the Dragon-Fishing Rod would surely have been even greater, easily elevating the Dragon-Fishing Rod into a medium-grade spiritual weapon. Of course, had that happened, I probably would have had to steer clear of mist dragons altogether."

Spreading his genuine qi into the Dragon-Fishing Rod to carefully sense its changes, Jiang Chen sighed with deep emotion inwardly.

The transformation of the Dragon-Fishing Rod was actually not all that simple. Under normal circumstances, it would have required him to spend a vast amount of time fishing for various dragon species and accumulating bit by bit for the rod to complete its transformation. Given the current environment, let alone the perils involved, simply searching for those dragon species would have been a troublesome task.

Yet he had unexpectedly encountered a pure-blooded flood dragon, and the most crucial point was that this pure-blooded flood dragon lacked intelligence, acting like a wild beast. This allowed him to leap straight to the heavens in a single bound, sparing him numerous accumulations. Ordinarily, relying solely on a magic-tool-grade Dragon-Fishing Rod, it would be extremely difficult for a cultivator to catch a flood dragon, let alone a pure-blooded one. A string of coincidences had forged the Dragon-Fishing Rod of today.

Spiritual weapons are different from magic tools. They possess thirty-six taboos, with every twelve taboos forming a threshold. A Dragon-Fishing Rod with eleven taboos was already a standout among low-grade spiritual weapons.

"Times dictate fate, and whether in the past life or the present, luck is a very important thing for a person. Many people clearly work extremely hard, yet in the end, they simply lack that tiny bit of luck."

Feeling the profound mysteries of fate and fortune, Jiang Chen shook his head.

It was precisely at this moment that his genuine qi touched the deepest mysteries within the Dragon-Fishing Rod, and a piece of information naturally imprinted itself into his mind.

"After fishing for the moon comes fishing for flood dragons?"

As the intent of the spell entered his mind, Jiang Chen gained an understanding of the Dragon-Fishing Rod's post-transformation abilities.

At the magic tool tier, the Dragon-Fishing Rod possessed the ability to "fish for the moon," simulating the power of lunar radiance to catch various spiritual fish and dragon species. Upon reaching the spiritual weapon tier, the Dragon-Fishing Rod transformed anew, deriving the ability to "fish for flood dragons." The so-called fishing for flood dragons actually worked by stimulating the bloodline power of flood dragons, causing them to grow restless and lose their sanity.

Once the greed within their bloodline overrode their rationality, the flood dragon would take the bait. Compared to fishing for the moon, fishing for flood dragons was undoubtedly far more targeted. Ordinarily, fishing for moon-grade methods would only catch ordinary dragon species, at most flood-snakes, whereas fishing for flood dragons could hook genuine flood dragons.

"Strictly speaking, the Dragon-Fishing Rod of today has truly acquired the aura of fishing for dragons. Unless an ordinary flood-snake possesses extremely high spirituality, it will have virtually no resistance against the Dragon-Fishing Rod now. The only constraint is simply that my own cultivation realm is too weak."

Toying with the Dragon-Fishing Rod in his hand, Jiang Chen carefully savored the profound wonders of the spiritual weapon.