Chapter 5: Gathering Spirit, Forming Magic

"Huh~" Gu Shanhai exhaled a breath of turbid air, feeling the first strand of mana being transformed within his body.

"It's not very impressive, taking an hour to succeed."

He had some impression of his own aptitude. It wasn't as wretched as that of a protagonist, nor was it as exceptional as Long Aotian's; it was merely ordinary.

Had he not been reborn with experience, he estimated it would've taken three to five days.

"This cultivation technique is indeed remarkable, it's just that the quality is quite ordinary."

The two were not in conflict. A cultivation technique that could be practiced in the End of Dharma era would hold high value anywhere, but that didn't necessarily mean it was formidable.

Much like staple food, eaten every day, it didn't mean it was low-end, but rather that it was essential.

The technique Gu Shanhai held, named the "Yunling Technique", was like this. It emerged from the most fundamental techniques as a sample, able to resonate with the Yunling Grass to form an energy circulation, allowing practice to continue even if the energy environment vanished—that was the real key.

Yunling means to contain spiritual energy.

All the value was concentrated in the resonating energy circulation, which was why he chose this otherwise mediocre technique.

In his eyes, although it was ordinary, if Qingyu Taoist hadn't died and had continued to deduce further, it was truly possible that he could have kick-started a new Immortal Heroic Era during the End of Dharma era. As a foundation, it was already not inferior to those top tier techniques in Gu Shanhai's view.

Even the top tier techniques needed to be built up step by step; they couldn't just appear out of thin air.

Of course, there were techniques that emerged spontaneously. Most of these were pitfalls left by the world; if one were to truly study and practice them, they might be tethered to a certain world for a lifetime.

"Looking at it now, there are still quite a few areas that need improvement. Qingyu Taoist died too early."

Gu Shanhai knew that the efficiency of the Yunling Technique was too low. After all, it was a completely new path. Qingyu Taoist's main focus was actually on the Yunling Grass, which was why even the technique was prefixed with 'Yunling'.

Most of the record was dedicated to the cultivation and care of Spirit Plants.

Gu Shanhai had finished reading it. This book was as thick as a brick, and reading it made him feel dizzy.

It was not in his nature to rush into cultivation without thoroughly understanding it first.

"The current situation is that the Yunling Grass has recovered, thanks to the remnant soul of Qingyu Taoist. Otherwise, it couldn't have survived for so long."

The residual soul of Qingyu Taoist instinctively maintained a resonating cycle by operating the "Yunling Technique". Unfortunately, it wasn't a living person, so the effect wasn't as good as when he was alive, otherwise under normal circumstances the dissipated spiritual energy would have been enough for the magic mirror to nurture, instead of the spiritual energy collapsing.

Under normal circumstances, spiritual energy should fill the entire room.

"The harvest is still considerable. The core Yunling ability is recorded in the book; that's the key. Now, with my reestablishment of resonance and energy circulation with the Yunling Grass, at least future consumption is not a worry. It will be even better once we leave the player's room."

Apart from resonance and circulation, Yunling Grass is also capable of photosynthesis, and even involves energy conversion synthesis to a certain extent, although it's not pronounced and requires Gu Shanhai to refine it further later on.

It did not need soil or water to survive; fundamentally, it was just a variant of Spirit Plant, not a normal plant.

"The magic mirror has recovered from the brink of damage, and the magic robe has been nurtured enough. Just get familiar with the two spells, and then you can enter the beginner instance."

The two spells were not recorded in the book but were learned from the spells attached to the magic mirror and the magic robe; most of the recorded spells were specialized spells like the Dew Spell, Fertile Soil Spell, etc., for nurturing Spirit Plants. At this stage, learning them was useless for him; it wouldn't be too late to study them after he emerged from the beginner instance.

He was penniless at the moment, and even if he wanted to cultivate anything, he had no means to do so.

The two spells were named Spirit Light Skill and Spiritual Clothing Technique by Gu Shanhai himself because they originally did not have any names.

The principles were relatively simple, with the former condensing mana into a flowing light for attack, and the latter covering the body with mana.

To sum it up, it was all about the use of mana.

Because the world he belonged to was in the End of Dharma era of immortal, neither the spells he had on hand nor the magic treasures he owned contained much spiritual energy. They valued cleverness over brute force—how to use the least amount of energy to produce the greatest effect, which is the advantage of the End of Dharma era over those Immortal Demon worlds.

They would love to split a strand of mana into ten to use. Gu Shanhai was in this situation too.

But Gu Shanhai was a bit better off because he had the Yunling Grass. With his current entry-level conditions, a single Yunling Grass was enough for him to "squander".

"It could actually be improved. It would really be a waste to simply use them as attack skills and shields," Gu Shanhai squinted his eyes.

He wasn't a rigid person, or to put it differently, rigid people couldn't have gotten as far as he had.

"Magic treasures are tools on the path of cultivation. Qingyu Taoist's insight into resonance and energy circulation was still limited to Spirit Plants and the cultivation technique. Had he lived longer, he might have seen further."

"Sometimes, resonance isn't limited to these things, and energy circulation can also be constructed by oneself."

Gu Shanhai knew he began to capture a wealth of common sense from the True Spirit he brought from his previous life, which for ordinary people was just common knowledge but for him, it was the ability to integrate Spirit Light Skill and Spiritual Clothing Technique along with the Qingyi magic robe and magic mirror into a new spell.

A passive skill that combined attack and defense, and could also be actively controlled.

Being passive was good, but for Gu Shanhai, being able to control it was even better.

"Barely adequate," Gu Shanhai regarded the idea that emerged in his mind. "Barely adequate" didn't just refer to the spiritual energy produced by the Yunling Grass but also the maximum extent he could currently sustain.

It was not only the spiritual energy and mana limiting him but also himself. He was just an ordinary human. Although he had the magic robe and magic mirror as an intermediary server, it still put a considerable strain on him, especially since his body structure was still that of an ordinary person. Without a doubt, he couldn't fully exploit his previous life's depth of knowledge.

"For now, I'll make do. It's sufficient to handle a beginner instance," Gu Shanhai rested a while longer, then unhesitatingly chose to enter the beginner instance.

[Beginner Instance: Outside Qingshui City]

A line of text emerged on the wall, and then Gu Shanhai suddenly felt a chill at the back of his head, as if someone had headbutted him quite hard.