Spiritualist

"No… That's not possible…"

Both of them started saying the same thing at almost the same time.

Rong Jiexuan and Rong Yiyao were both equally stunned. They both went into a daze as they locked their eyes on a Spirit Body standing not too far away from them.

They were fairly mentally prepared for this. They had already witnessed how Rong Kaixuan's Spirit Power was so special and powerful that it could amass this amount of Spirit Power of the sky and earth around himself.

In their minds, Rong Kaixuan definitely had the gift to become a Spirit Gatherer.

No matter how optimistic they were about Rong Kaixuan's ability, they never expected a young man like him to be able to evoke a Spirit Body.

As they now looked at the Spirit Body standing inches away from them, the two of them still found it difficult to believe.

Rong Kaixuan scratched his head a little. He hadn't put in all of his efforts into this one.

Perhaps it was because he had evoked a Spirit Body before, so this time he only used up about one-third of the energy within the little round ball.

Yet, this little round ball had a completely different power from the Qi flow that he had before he absorbed the Spirit Power of the sky and earth.

Once that one-third of the power had flowed out of his body in accordance with his will, it behaved like it hadn't eaten in three days and three nights. It greedily swallowed up the Spirit Power of the sky and earth.

In just a moment, the amount of energy it had amassed was sufficient to gather into a Spirit Body.

So, a Spirit Body that looked just like Rong Kaixuan appeared.

Rong Kaixuan's eyelids also twitched. He didn't expect that releasing just one-third of the force within the little round ball would be sufficient enough to successfully evoke a Spirit Body.

Back when he had evoked a Spirit Body for the first time, it had taken all the mysterious strength that was inside him to do so. At that time, he had also felt that the first Spirit Body was very weak. Now, just one-third of the power within the little ball had created a Spirit Body that was no less… No, this Spirit Body was definitely way more powerful than the first one he created.

The Spirit Body in front of him was exuding a ferocious sort of air. Rong Kaixuan had not felt this air from the first Spirit Body.

He knew that he had somehow conjured up the first Spirit Body, but this one in front of him was different. He had evoked this one according to the instructions inside the manual.

The difference in the level of power that these two Spirit Bodies had was extremely great.

After a very long time, Rong Jiexuan finally took a very deep breath. He gently said, "Very good, excellent."

Rong Yiyao's eyelid twitched as he looked at Rong Kaixuan with an expression that was difficult to read. He nodded and said, "Elder Jiexuan, he's worthy to become your disciple."

Rong Jiexuan gently shook his head and replied, "No he can't. My cultivation is in Spirit Spellcasting, so I might not be able to help him with Spirit Gathering."

Rong Yiyao was stunned by this answer. He smiled bitterly and said, "But Elder Jiexuan, I can't think of anyone else who could possibly guide him."

Rong Jiexuan smiled faintly and replied, "It's true that there's nobody who can help him. He will have to study on his own."

Rong Yiyao was surprised. He wondered why this elder was behaving so strangely.

Rong Jiexuan had no time to be bothered with him. He went into the bamboo house and took out another manual, which was about the same size as the first one, and handed it to Rong Kaixuan. "Kaixuan, this book contains some information on spiritualists that I've recorded whenever I was bored. You can read through it and get a better understanding of spiritualists."

Rong Kaixuan nodded and took the book. He opened the manual. It was also blank.

Now that he knew how to read these sorts of manuals, he made the Spirit Power between his eyebrows flow out and into the book.

By this time, he had already understood that the round little ball of strange energy that he had was more precious than the ordinary flow of Spirit Power. Unless absolutely necessary, he wasn't going to simply use the energy in the round little ball.

After watching Rong Kaixuan do that to the book, Rong Jiexuan and Rong Yiyao exchanged glances.

They were both deeply surprised. It was unbelievable that Rong Kaixuan still had Spirit Power left in him even after evoking a Spirit Body.

Rong Kaixuan quietly read the book. After a long time, he finally closed it. There was now a bright sparkle of joy in his eyes.

Spiritualists were able to cultivate just like martial arts practitioners. They could also be described as a higher order of cultivators.

What they were cultivating was not true Qi. They cultivated Spirit Power.

This Spirit Power was to be taken from the Spirit Power of the sky and earth and gathered to become their own form of energy. With this sort of Spirit Power, they were able to do many things that most ordinary martial arts practitioners were unable to even imagine.

Martial arts practitioners were split into the phases of Martial Artist, Martial Arts Teacher, Martial Arts Gifted Fighter, and Martial Arts Grandmaster. Similarly, spiritualists were also split into the phases of Spiritualist, Spiritualist Mentor, Spiritualist Gifted Fighter, and Spiritualist Grandmaster.

Both martial arts practitioners and spiritualists stages were split into four stages: Elementary Stage, Middle Stage, Advanced Stage, and Peak Stage.

The difference between each stage wasn't as great as the difference between phases, but it was still an important way of measuring how powerful each cultivator was in battle.

Being able to absorb the Spirit Power of the sky and earth and turn it into one's own Spirit Power was equivalent to a martial arts practitioner being able to gather the first wisp of true Qi. So, Rong Kaixuan was now considered an Elementary Stage Spiritualist.

Of course, since he had also managed to gather and refine true Qi, he was also an Elementary Stage Martial Artist.

The difference between martial arts practitioners and spiritualists was that spiritualists were also split into Spirit Spellcasters and Spirit Gatherers.

Most spiritualists were Spirit Spellcasters. They were able to solidify Spirit Power and use special techniques to release their Spirit Power into all sorts of spells and defeat their enemies.

Spirit Gatherers, on the other hand, were few and far between.

This type of spiritualist could gather the Spirit Power of the sky and earth to evoke Spirit Body Fighters, Spirit Body Spellcasters, and the extremely rare Spirit Body Summoner.

Spirit Body Fighters were the type of Spirit Body that Rong Kaixuan had just successfully evoked. It was as powerful in battle as a martial arts practitioner in the same phase. Spirit Body Spellcasters were Spirit Bodies that were able to cast spells. They were as powerful as a human Spirit Spellcaster at the same phase. Spirit Body Summoners were the craziest of all. They had the same special power as a Spirit Gatherer, so they could continuously evoke Spirit Body Fighters and Spirit Body Spellcasters at the same phase during a battle.

If one managed to evoke a Spirit Body Summoner during a battle, as long as both sides were on par in terms of battling strength, then, most of the time, the Spirit Body Summoner's side was going to win for sure.

Of course, this sort of Spirit Body wasn't evoked whenever anyone wanted to do so. Most of the Spirit Bodies evoked were usually Spirit Body Fighters. It was rare to even evoke a Spirit Body Spellcaster, never mind a Spirit Body Summoner. Besides, these Spirit Bodies did not last forever. After they were created, they would continue to consume the Spirit Power within themselves. After some time, they would completely disappear, even if they didn't engage in a fight.

Human intelligence was enough to fight against the forces of nature.

Spirit Gatherers had managed to come up with a Sealing Talisman that could seal the Spirit Bodies evoked within itself. When they met with danger, they could release these Spirit Bodies sealed inside the talismans. It was sufficient to turn the tables on their enemies.

When he read this part, Rong Kaixuan suddenly wanted to learn the Art of Sealing very badly.

Even after he finished reading the entire book, he still hadn't found any information about the Art of Sealing. This made him feel quite frustrated.

Besides being able to evoke these three types of Spirit Bodies, there was one more even rarer and almost impossible type of Spirit Body that everyone wanted to have.

It was a Special Spirit Body. Unless there was some incredible coincidence among the Spiritual Gatherers, there was almost no way of replicating the circumstances under which a Special Spirit Body could be evoked.

The Special Spirit Body had one advantage over the rest that made it so desirable.

That one advantage was that a Special Spirit Body could last for a long time in the world.

This Special Spirit Body was almost no different from a regular cultivator. Special Spirit Bodies continued cultivating on their own and move up phases. Moreover, because of certain characteristics of Special Spirit Bodies, they were often able to cultivate faster than their owner and became a trump card for their owners.

Rong Jiexuan had recorded a lot of legends about Special Spirit Bodies and was in awe of the phenomenon.

Rong Kaixuan was only a young man who was barely 15 and hadn't seen a lot. Even so, he still sensed how a Special Spirit Body would be extremely valuable to a Spirit Gatherer.

If he had a Special Spirit Body like that, that would be equivalent to gaining a bodyguard that would never betray him. It could even become more powerful than himself.

According to what Rong Jiexuan had recorded, the likelihood of evoking that type of Spirit Body was almost zero. It was possibly easier to see one than to evoke one.

The majority of Spirit Gatherers were able to evoke an entire lifetime of Spirit Bodies and never evoke a Special Spirit Body. That was how rare this sort of Spirit Body was.

Rong Kaixuan slowly passed the manual back to Rong Jiexuan. He said in a low voice, "Thank you so much, Elder Jiexuan."

Rong Jiexuan was pleased and nodded his head. "Kaixuan, now that you have the gifting of a Spirit Gatherer, then you must work hard on it. Don't let this gifting go to waste."

Rong Kaixuan nodded his head vigorously and replied, "Yes, I understand." He paused for a while before carefully asking, "Elder Jiexuan, how should I start working on it?"

Rong Jiexuan pondered the matter for a while before replying, "There are no Spirit Gatherers within the clan, so there's nobody here who can help you cultivate the Art of Spirit Gathering. I think it would be good for you to start learning some spells to protect yourself first. As for the Art of Spirit Gathering, there are some more books on Spirit Gathering inside the Hall of Spiritualists. I'll let you read them in batches. You can train with those on your own."

"Alright." Rong Kaixuan hesitated for a moment before he decided to approach this topic. "Elder Jiexuan, I read in the book just now that every Spirit Gatherer has to learn the Art of Sealing."

"That's right. The Art of Sealing is a special type of spell that every Spirit Gatherer must grasp." Rong Jiexuan burst out laughing and said, "But you've just managed to grasp control of Spirit Power, and it's not very firm yet. Once you're more settled and have completed comprehensive spells, I will pass you the manual on the Art of Sealing."

Rong Kaixuan wanted to say more because he felt a little indignant, but he didn't dare to say anymore. Instead, he profusely thanked the elder.

Rong Jiexuan suddenly had a thought and said, "Yiyao, Kaixuan, the two of you are not to tell anyone about how I tested Kaixuan today. Otherwise… Well, the clan doesn't have rules for nothing."

The two of them felt their hearts instantly tighten. They didn't understand why the elder had given them such instructions, but they both quickly agreed at the same time.

Rong Kaixuan had stepped into the Main House for the first time, but he wasn't a stranger to the clan rules. He knew how severe the consequences were if one broke the rules.

Rong Jiexuan laughed quietly and said, "Yiyao, send Kaixuan out and let him help out around the house for the next 10 days. He can formally enter the Hall of Spiritualists for training after 10 days."

"Got it."

The two of them bowed at the same time and politely made their exit.