Chapter 175: The Three Trials of the Yin Spirit

Under Zhang Jian's instruction, the Red Lotus envoys of each commandery began to contract their forces, dispersing their core members to various regions.

Only a portion of purely secular Daoists remained to guard the temples and shrines.

This was to counter the court's purge.

……

Having experienced the first court assembly, Zhang Jian easily took up the duties of the "Heavenly Emperor's Secretary."

Within the Wen Ti Institute, Zhang Jian was surrounded by a layer of intense spiritual light.

The spiritual mechanisms of heaven and earth seemed to have opened several springs, pouring into his body, with spiritual power circulating deep within his hundreds of apertures—this was far more convenient than relying solely on elixirs and heavenly treasures for cultivation.

The golden core deep within his dantian gradually grew plump and rounded, with rings of spiritual light appearing around it.

Within it, numerous talisman-like illusory forms took shape—these were techniques Zhang Jian had comprehended from the ultimate principles of heaven and earth, condensed into form; though many techniques were not yet fully formed, they possessed immense potential.

Tremendous power!

The deepening of these techniques requires him to continue accumulating insights into heaven and earth, condensing them into form.

Compared to these unformed or newly formed techniques, several golden core-level techniques within his body had already been fully cultivated to perfection, including the Nine Heavens Wind-Riding Thunder-Control Method, the Azure Void Wind-Traversal Technique, the Sage Virtue Sword-Cleansing Art, and the Soul-Purification Dharma Chant.

The profound mysteries of the one hundred and eight main stars corresponding to the "Dispersal Form" in the Chaos Star Art had also been fully comprehended by him.

Indeed, the Chaos Star Art is vast and profound; given Zhang Jian's current level of comprehension, it took him considerable time to fully grasp the profound mysteries of all one hundred and eight star charts.

In fact, it also includes numerous combinations of sword techniques—paired, tripled, and various other combinations.

The calculations required for this sword technique are unimaginably numerous.

Only with his formidable spiritual sense and extraordinary comprehension could he complete the contemplation within a year.

Had it been another golden core cultivator, without decades or even a century of persistence, they might not even complete the contemplation of the first form.

Of course, its power need not be elaborated!

Afterwards, the second realm, the Four Symbols, is actually a formidable technique of the Yin Spirit stage.

This is the direction Zhang Jian needs to focus on next.

Benefiting from remote listening to lectures in the Tongshan Transmission Hall, Zhang Jian made extraordinary progress in rune recognition; he felt that even Yin Spirit-level techniques should be comprehensible and cultivable.

Yin Spirit techniques require Yin Spirit essence.

To break through to the Yin Spirit realm, a golden core cultivator must first have their golden core qi fully rounded, then endure three special tribulations in succession, allowing the soul to merge with the golden core and give birth to the Yin Spirit.

These three tribulations are respectively: the Heavenly Demon Entanglement in the Heart Demon Tribulation,

the Yin Fire Tribulation and Evil Wind Disaster in the Wind-Fire Tribulation.

Yin Fire and Evil Wind are intangible disasters blowing from the dark void—formed naturally by the laws of heaven and earth in response to the birth of the Yin Spirit, just as a newborn must face the external environment of the natural world.

However, the Wind-Fire Tribulation is more arduous and easily harms the fragile Yin Spirit.

Zhang Jian had actually already come into contact with the Yin Spirit of a Yin Spirit Venerable.

Specifically, it was the Yin Spirit of the Insect God.

He also clearly understood part of the Yin Spirit's essence: it bears a trace of heavenly and earthly law's power, possessing a portion of divinity.

This trace of divinity, as well as his own cultivation's golden core techniques and dantian spiritual power, bestows it upon him.

A golden core cultivator must rely on the perfection of their techniques, with at least one technique broken through to the Yin Spirit level, to drive the transformation of the golden core into a Yin Spirit.

Engraving that Yin Spirit-level technique into the golden core may trigger the breaking of the core and the emergence of the spirit.

If a golden core cultivator condenses a technique surpassing their current stage—of Yin Spirit level—it will inevitably provoke heavenly backlash, first bringing down the Heavenly Demon Tribulation.

Having researched its essence, Zhang Jian naturally knows how to respond.

Usually at this stage, golden core cultivators temper their Dao-heart specifically, or practice various techniques to suppress heavenly demons, or enhance their soul and Dao-heart techniques, to counter the formless extraterritorial heavenly demons.

Or they refine various demon-subduing magical treasures.

But Zhang Jian does not need to go through such trouble.

Possessing the mighty righteous spirit, heavenly demons cannot invade.

……

What Zhang Jian needs to do next is to elevate the Chaos Star Art or the Four Symbols State Tripod to Yin Spirit-level techniques.

Theoretically, the more Yin Spirit-level techniques elevated, the more intensely the heavenly laws engraved upon the golden core become, and the faster the Yin Spirit will grow.

But in fact, even without the aid of Yin Spirit-level techniques, Zhang Jian can achieve this level.

By observing various classics, he can comprehend the ultimate principles of heaven and earth and glimpse part of their profound mysteries.

However, what he must do is to systematize and organize them.

……

Time quietly passed; aside from completing the compilation of the "Great Qian Compendium," Zhang Jian either spent his time with Qi Yuhua, living a mundane life, or secluded himself in the South Study of the Wen Ti Institute, wandering among the six studies, contemplating the profound mysteries of the classics.

This period was fulfilling for Zhang Jian.

Although most of the books in the South Study contained little substantive content, the accumulation of small gains meant much for Zhang Jian's understanding of heaven and earth's profound mysteries.

Of course, the focus remained in the Sect's Transmission Hall.

After mastering the study of runes, his progress speed noticeably increased.

However, just as Zhang Jian was oblivious to outside affairs, the court of the Great Qian Dynasty was already in turmoil.

The locust plague, which began to spread in early summer, continued to erupt.

The two elders sent by the Dongshen Observatory to drive the beast herds into the northern territories fell silent afterward.

Soon after, news arrived that two Yin Spirit elders of the Dongshen Observatory had perished, prompting a major move by the observatory.

Hearing that numerous "Dong-character generation" elders of the Dongshen Observatory had appeared, they all marched northward, returning with many cultivators' heads.

Not lacking in strong ones!

But this bloody suppression instead exposed some problems of the Dongshen Observatory.

After losing the Dongshen Old Ancestor who held the fort, the Dongshen Observatory was indeed like a group of dragons without a leader!

……

Inside the Literary Arts Institute, Zhang Jian was now surrounded by a dense aura of Dao.

He put down the Jade Saint's Manual in his hand.

This Jade Saint's Manual was not an elementary reader widely circulated in the Great Qian, but a scroll left by Daoists of the Divine Clarity Observatory on Phoenix Nest Mountain, originally used to suppress the mountain spirit of Phoenix Spirit Mountain.

This scroll was personally written by the great Confucian sage, the Jade Saint!

After the Phoenix Spirit escaped its confinement, this scroll fell into Zhang Jian's hands and had even served as a trump card in the Dragon Palace gambling duel!

But it had never been used!

After Zhang Jian made use of it, he benefited greatly, especially in the application of the Righteous Vital Energy, which opened a great door for him.

At this moment, as he lifted his brush to write, he saw the Righteous Vital Fire blazing fiercely.

The void condensed the characters, as ink and brush were poured into this script.

"Heaven and Earth possess righteous energy, mixed and bestowed upon all forms!"

Merely a few characters, as if seeing the boundless righteous vital energy of Heaven and Earth resonating and transforming into a rushing river that surged into the cross, possessing the power to suppress Heaven and Earth's demons and evil.

After the ten characters were completed, Zhang Jian did not continue writing.

But at this moment, in the Southern Study, a graceful figure appeared, gazing at those ten characters that seemed to emit light, his eyes brightened.

He could not help but exclaim: "Zhang Xiuzhu, why have you stopped writing?!"