Chapter 96: Abnormal Beast

After finishing the cultivation miscellany, it's the Eight Paths Geography.

This geography book roughly records the terrain overview of the Eight Paths Territory in the Nan Ting Mountain Region, and even includes some peripheral map markings of the Ten Thousand Paths Mountain Range.

Overall, the Eight Paths Territory seems to be only the corner lands at the eight directions of the Ten Thousand Paths within the Nan Ting Mountain Region, not even counting as the central area of the region.

"Indeed, only within the Ten Thousand Paths is the realm where cultivators of the Nan Ting Mountain Region operate; the Eight Paths outside are merely for mortals to dwell."

After Yan Buji received this information, he became quite curious about the interior of the Ten Thousand Paths. According to the map, proportionally the Eight Paths Territory occupies only two‑tenths of the Nan Ting Mountain Region, while the remaining eighty percent is the Ten Thousand Paths about which little is known!

There will surely be a chance to go see it.

The rest is the Hundred Mutant Spectrum that Yan Buji is more curious about.

The moment he opened the book, Yan Buji saw a line of text:

【Accumulation Not Mutant, Mutant Equals Accumulation.】

Hm?

Yan Buji was stunned for a moment, not understanding the meaning of the words.

Immediately, Yan Buji turned to the front page, glanced at the contents, which seemed to record some extremely dangerous creatures of the cultivation world!

"An Abnormal Beast has nine transformations; each transformation equals one realm of a cultivator..."

Yan Buji was puzzled; this seemed unlike the mythic stories he had seen—aren't cultivators supposed to slay demons and monsters?

Looking further down, there is a basic introduction to the Abnormal Beast.

"Abnormal Beast, a creature of mutation. These ferocious beings are mostly born in bizarre shapes, impossible to judge by appearance. An Abnormal Beast is born with a mutation pattern; one pattern equals one transformation. Most Abnormal Beasts lack consciousness, possessing a strong territorial instinct, and under normal circumstances never leave their own territory. Abnormal Beasts can pollute the heaven-and-earth spiritual Qi, causing the spiritual Qi of the land of Existence to transform into Mutated Haze Qi."

"There are nine types of Mutated Haze Qi: red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple, black, white, arranged from low to high and correspond to the strength of Abnormal Beasts. If, within an Abnormal Beast's territory, multiple colors of Mutated Haze Qi appear, it indicates a large number of Abnormal Beasts are present!"

"Mutated Haze Qi cannot be touched directly; one must shield oneself with magical power, otherwise the haze enters the body and, without a means of removal, will assimilate the person in a short time, turning them into an Abnormal Beast!"

"Mutated Tide: The more powerful cultivators present in a region, the more likely that, within a certain period, a sudden surge of Mutated Haze Qi will appear, attracting countless Abnormal Beasts to dwell there; conversely, places where weak mortals gather will not experience a Mutated Tide. When the tide arrives, you either flee or await death."

Hm?!!

Abnormal Beast, Mutated Tide?

Yan Buji's complexion changed; it seemed the cultivation world was more dangerous than he had imagined.

But after reading some basic information on the Hundred Mutant Spectrum, Yan Buji thought these Abnormal Beasts were rather similar to cultivators.

Both require assembling various cultivation methods, and Abnormal Beasts undergo constant degrees of mutation, advancing toward ever greater danger.

If thought of that way, the cultivator's practice of forging Accumulation Devices—a kind of modular artifact—becomes intuitively understandable.

After all, you don't know what bizarre abilities an Abnormal Beast you encounter might possess; to cope with these unpredictable dangers, the artifact in hand cannot remain static, forcing you to master more and more comprehensive artifacts.

But how can ordinary cultivators have so many chances to encounter genuine artifacts?

Thus Accumulation Devices permeate every aspect of a cultivator's practice. By 'accumulating' one continuously assembles the needed abilities into a unique Accumulation Device, exercising imagination, using stored knowledge to test and verify, completing the tuning and installation of an Accumulation Device, thereby being able to confront Abnormal Beasts.

Yan Buji pinched his chin and thought for a long time.

"Indeed, one must join a cultivation faction; even if one becomes a dog for others, one must quickly supplement knowledge of all aspects of the cultivation path. With knowledge, one can obtain the power to respond to change."

At this moment Yan Buji suddenly understood the meaning of that sentence in the Hundred Mutant Spectrum!

Accumulation Not Mutant: it means a cultivator's accumulation is gradual, gaining understanding of various knowledge through one's own study, thereby strengthening oneself; thus 'accumulation' is the accumulation of accumulation, not obtained instantly by some inexplicable mutation.

Mutant Equals Accumulation: it means changes beyond human control occur for unknown reasons, yet such changes also constitute accumulation. It equates to a cultivator defying heaven, repeatedly breaking through realms, advancing toward the highest path.

Although Yan Buji was not sure whether his understanding contained errors, the sentence nevertheless explained the relationship between a cultivator's accumulation and an Abnormal Beast's mutation.

If the greatest enemy of the cultivation world is not other intelligent races distinct from humanity, but these Abnormal Beasts whose mutations are unpredictable, then it shows that humanity's cultivation path must also evolve with the times.

"Perhaps the path of ancient warriors was fixed, unable to deal with these Abnormal Beasts, and thus they were gradually eliminated?"

Yan Buji thought carefully and felt it was not impossible.

With that in mind, why does today's cultivation world not forbid the sale of various basic cultivation methods? There is no principle that a method cannot be freely transmitted; it merely depends on whether you can master it and forge your own path.

Because to confront unguessable mutations, a cultivator's path cannot be fixed; only then can one adapt to change.

But those are later matters; Yan Buji's current biggest headache is that he simply cannot sense spiritual Qi, that troublesome issue.

Not to mention that ancient Martial Dao can only be cultivated up to the Golden Core stage; if his legs were a bit better, he could truly reach the Golden Core.

The key is that he is nothing; perhaps he should find a way for the Patterned Profound Skill to help him again.

Yan Buji took out the purchased Planting Tree Manual and carefully contemplated it.

This basic cultivation method has only one to three layers of path, meaning only cultivators within the third layer of Qi Refinement can learn it; beyond the third layer it is unavailable.

The meridian points written there are not far from what he has seen in the mundane world, but one must use spiritual consciousness to guide heaven-and-earth spiritual Qi into the body to convert it into magical power.

Since he can guide spiritual Qi, Yan Buji no longer needs to labor over how to draw Qi into the body.

The problem is that Yan Buji cannot sense spiritual Qi......

"Shall we try first?"

Yan Buji gave it a try, releasing his spiritual consciousness along the route indicated in the Planting Tree Manual, circulating within his body repeatedly, and gradually he calmed down.

Until a month later!

Yan Buji suddenly opened his eyes and finally felt a most wondrous force entering his meridians, unlike his own blood Qi True Essence, but a power drawn from heaven and earth, the yearning force upon which all living things depend!

"I hope the Patterned Profound Skill can guide it without conflicting with my True Essence."

Yan Buji thought this, and even though the Qi‑drawing was slow and hard to grasp, at least he could guide spiritual Qi; it wasn't as he feared that having True Essence in the body would prevent compatibility with spiritual Qi to form magical power.