Cultivating with Bragging System-Chapter 679 - 326 Come on! My Merit!_1

There are so many resentful spirits hidden in this place. If I could transcend them all, the merit gained would be an astronomical figure!

Wang Xiu's gaze flickered as a plan began to form in his mind.

It was unknown how many ages this world had existed. Based on what Wang Xiu had encountered so far, it had a history of at least tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of years. Throughout this long time, the beings that died here were unable to reincarnate, so their spirits all accumulated in this place.

Their numbers must be terrifying. If I could transcend them all, the converted merit would be enough to create a living, true Buddha.

Of course, the sheer number of spirits was overwhelming. Even for the most eminent monks of the Buddhist Sects, working tirelessly day and night, the time required to purify all the lingering souls here was unimaginably long. It would be impossible to finish in less than several thousand years. Furthermore, given the strangeness of this land, it was unlikely that many from even the most prosperous Buddhist holy lands of the Nine Heavens and Ten Earths could venture as deep as Wang Xiu had. The ancient experts controlled by the deathly energy alone were enough of a headache.

Even if they managed to arrive, they would likely suffer a backlash from the horrifying number of resentful spirits before the transcendence could even begin. Even a Quasi-Emperor Supreme would not dare to enter lightly.

The Three Lives Stone stands by the Yellow Springs, settling the karma of all living beings! It inherently has the power to cleanse past and present lives, to resolve all love and hatred. It should be remarkably effective for purifying lingering souls and resentful thoughts. If I could refine it, the efficiency of transcendence could increase a hundredfold!

Given the Xuan Qi of the Three Lives Stone, even if its main body were here, my current cultivation level would make it difficult to refine, let alone wield its immense power, even if I used every trick I have. But this is just a fragment. If I use the Ming Emperor's Prison Scripture to summon the Ming Emperor's Dharma Body and imprint it, it just might be possible!

A supreme treasure comparable to a Quasi-Emperor Armament, plus endless merit! If I don't seize an opportunity like this, I'd be unworthy of being a cultivator!

Wang Xiu's eyes shone with a wondrous light. Without hesitation, he sat down cross-legged and activated the Ming Emperor's Prison Scripture. Mana surged within him as countless runes emerged, coalescing into the Dharma Body of the Ming Emperor. The figure was majestic and solemn, as if a deity had personally descended.

He slowly raised his hand. The enormous Dharma Body of the Ming Emperor mirrored the action, its palm covering the Three Lives Stele.

BUZZ! BUZZ!

The Three Lives Stone reacted instantly, its entire surface glowing as ancient runes lit up. Then, a dense swarm of ancient, tadpole-like characters floated out, forming a scripture in midair.

Is this... a cultivation technique?

Wang Xiu's Divine Sense swept over it, and the profound meaning of the text instantly appeared in his mind. However, the scripture was incomplete. It was disordered and fragmented, making it difficult to discern its true nature.

Wang Xiu quietly memorized what he could. He then continued to circulate his Mana, channeling endless streams of runes into the Three Lives Stele. The Ming Emperor's Prison Scripture was a unique technique. Here, it was like a fish in water, allowing its every mystery to be displayed to the fullest extent. Strange lights continuously emerged from the Three Lives Stone. A radiant mist rose above the lake, swirling like colorful clouds and creating a scene like a fairytale, a world apart from the ghostly domain it had been just moments before.

「Three years later.」

"Retrieve!" Wang Xiu's eyes snapped open. A powerful aura exploded from his body, spreading in all directions and causing the lake water to boil and churn violently.

In the center of the lake, the Three Lives Stele, which stood over a thousand feet tall, radiated golden light as it rose from the ground, creating immense waves. It then rapidly shrank, transforming into a stone tablet a few inches in size, which came to rest in Wang Xiu's palm.

Wang Xiu's eyes were calm as he played with the Three Lives Stele, which was warm and smooth to the touch like fine jade. Even though it's only a fragment of the true Three Lives Stone, it's no ordinary item! The Ming Emperor's Prison Scripture was surprisingly helpful in refining it, but even so, it still took me three whole years to achieve this initial stage!

To completely refine it would likely require a long period of continuous nourishment and tempering. He considered this for a moment. Then again, this is normal. Even an ordinary Quasi-Emperor Armament requires thousands or tens of thousands of years to successfully forge. The subsequent process of bonding and strengthening it requires the long lifespans of Quasi-Emperor experts to slowly polish. The longer it is tempered, the stronger it becomes. No one has ever heard of a supreme treasure being completely refined in just a few years.

If it were a true Emperor Armament, it would be even more difficult. It's a different matter if you forged it yourself, but for a descendant to refine an Emperor Armament left by an ancestor, the time required is unimaginable. Just preparing to use it for the first time would take several hundred years. As the saying goes, the Heavenly Dao is manifest in all things, and there is a reason for everything's existence. Although high-level cultivators possess long lifespans, it seems that for this very reason, the more powerful one becomes, the longer everything takes. This applies to cultivation, seclusion, Artifact Refining, pill concocting, and comprehending Daoist Magic. At lower Realms, things are measured in years, or at most, decades. But as one's Realm increases, a single, unremarkable session of cultivation can last hundreds of years. To obtain a longer lifespan, one must invest even more time. This is common knowledge in the Cultivation World.

And yet, Wang Xiu had walked a different path. Relying on his golden finger and unique opportunities, the longest cultivation session he could recall was the sixty-year cycle he spent in the Zhulong Space comprehending the Origin of Zhulong. Even then, that was only because time flowed differently within the Zhulong Space. The amount of time he subjectively experienced was not nearly so long.

To this day, Wang Xiu was still not even a hundred years old!

In the Cultivation World, cultivators with ordinary talent might not even have reached Foundation Establishment at this age! Some Nascent Soul Venerables undertake single seclusion sessions that last longer than a century. Yet Wang Xiu had reached his current heights in such a short amount of time. He had grown so accustomed to his own rapid pace that he simply thought this was how cultivation was supposed to be.

It was only today that he felt a glimmer of what it was like to be a "true" cultivator. This experience, of years passing in the blink of an eye, was completely new to him!

Wang Xiu held the miniature Three Lives Stele, feeling the mystical power flowing within it. It felt as if he could close his eyes and see the past and present lives of countless beings.

Ancient cultivators had a cultivation method known as the 'Path of the Red Dust.' It involved concealing oneself in the mortal world, observing the great transformations of ages and the rise and fall of worldly affairs, all to comprehend the Great Dao! This Three Lives Stele would be immensely beneficial for that kind of cultivation...

Wang Xiu's eyes flickered. It was a pity he didn't have access to such a legacy. Otherwise, he would have definitely sent a Divine Soul Incarnation to walk the path of achieving the Dao through the mortal world. Aided by the Three Lives Stele, its achievements would surely be significant.

Shaking his head, he cast these stray thoughts aside. Wang Xiu took a deep breath and looked out at the vast lake before him.

Without the Three Lives Stele, the lake water grew even murkier, turning a deathly, stagnant black. The pervasive deathly aura also grew more subdued than before, giving the bizarre impression that the deathly energy itself had died. It was an exceedingly strange phenomenon.

Without the Three Lives Stele here to suppress it, some truly formidable evil beings will probably spawn from this place in another few thousand or tens of thousands of years!

Wang Xiu clicked his tongue. Without further delay, he circulated his technique, pouring his vast Mana into the Three Lives Stele. Its light instantly intensified as rays imbued with a mystical aura surged from the tablet, spreading out in all directions.

In that instant, the deathly aura shrouding the giant peak began to stir. Within the phantasm of the Yellow Springs, the dense masses of resentful spirits shuddered, then turned their heads in unison to look in his direction.

Come to me, my merit!