Enlightenment: Beginning as a Disposable Warrior

In this way, perhaps in the future, he could also refine a Flying Sword.

The Pharmacist and Zen Heart both said that a Martial Artist cultivates their own Dao, making them solitary individuals, but the Flying Sword technique, in Su Mu’s view, rather than being a Daoist Cultivation Method, seems more like a Secret Technique.

Controlling a Flying Sword in battle only requires Spiritual Power, and Spiritual Power is not exclusive to Daoist Cultivators; Martial Artists also possess it.

As for nurturing a Flying Sword with Spiritual Qi, it is not impossible to replace it with Attribute Power or even Attribute Gang Qi.

"Most likely feasible... As for the materials for refining the Flying Sword..."

Su Mu murmured, suddenly trembling all over, as the thought of perfect materials for crafting a Flying Sword abruptly surfaced in his mind.

"Red Wood!"

He recalled that the Red Wood, nurtured by the blood of the Fire Sparrow and the Dangling Eye White Tiger, might be used to refine a Flying Sword.

"Since I’m going to refine it, I, Su Mu, will craft a Middle Grade Flying Sword!"

Ambition surged in Su Mu’s heart; after shattering Gongsun Xin’s Flying Sword, Su Mu from the beginning disregarded Lower and Upper Grade Flying Swords.

"Refining a Middle Grade Flying Sword requires Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures, which are best when containing Sharpness Qi, and the Red Wood conveniently fulfills both requirements."

Su Mu’s eyes grew ever brighter; the more he thought about it, the more he realized that it was naturally top-tier material for crafting a Flying Sword, furthermore, the Red Wood was fated to be connected with him.

Immediately, Su Mu made the decision; he carefully stored the ancient text in his Sumeru Ring for safekeeping, then opened the third of a palm-thick ancient text.

Compared to the Sharpness-containing "Sword Pill Miscellaneous Talks," the hefty ancient text exuded a sinister aura, chilling to the touch, giving Su Mu a sensation akin to that of the purple Bone Banner.

Upon close inspection, as expected, bizarrely vivid red engravings adorned the cover with four large characters: Soul Capturing Technique.

Su Mu flipped through it page by page, frowning deeply, yet occasionally revealing a pensive expression. Upon quickly scanning through it once, he discovered this ancient text was also incomplete.

"Why does Gongsun Xin carry nothing but incomplete texts?"

Su Mu couldn’t help but internally remark.

"Soul Capturing Technique," in Su Mu’s view, is ostensibly a general guideline for imprisoning souls, featuring soul restrictions, Soul-Searching Technique, Imprisoned Wandering Souls, crafting Soul Artifacts, etc.

And Gongsun Xin’s text, which Su Mu acquired, only contains the sections on Imprisoned Wandering Souls and crafting Soul Artifacts, even these parts are less than complete.

With a thought, the purple Bone Banner appeared.

"According to the text, the name of this item should be ’Luosen’s Soul Banner.’ The more Wandering Souls imprisoned within it, and the stronger their martial prowess was in life, the stronger its power becomes. Moreover, the souls trapped within will never reincarnate, forever sinking into the banner."

"They are categorized as the Hundred Souls Banner, Thousand Souls Banner, Ten Thousand Souls Banner, Hundred Thousand Souls Banner, Million Souls Venerable Banner, Ten Million Souls Venerable Banner, Billion Souls Venerable Banner, and the supremely evil Ghost God Banner."

Su Mu’s eyes glinted with cold sharpness; from Gongsun Xin’s words in life, he could ascertain this small banner was at the Thousand Souls Banner level.

Crack, crack.

The Thousand Souls Banner crafted by Gongsun Xin crackled in Su Mu’s hand, yet ultimately, he restrained himself from destroying it. Since the item already existed, and it could imprison Wandering Souls, it could conceivably hold Demon Beast souls as well.

Additionally, people he killed in the future, such as those from Taiping Dao, could be captured within it, potentially for use in some necessary situations.

At present, feeling somewhat disgusted, Su Mu put it away. Having perused the two ancient texts, Su Mu’s gaze landed upon the elixirs contained in the three sandalwood boxes.

A flash of inspiration crossed Su Mu’s mind as he opened one sandalwood box, revealing two types of elixirs inside. Two white and one yellow, each rounded and glossy, with a complete Pill Pattern on them.

"Spirit Gathering Pill, Soul Concentration Pill?"

Labels affixed to the sandalwood boxes offered clues; Su Mu, upon a quick scan, had a general guess that Spirit Gathering Pills were mostly used by Daoist Cultivators for cultivation, while Soul Concentration Pills might be for mental restoration.

"Not bad."

After all, these are Grade-Entering Elixirs; even if Su Mu couldn’t use them at the moment, when he leaves the Qingyun Three Counties in the future, he could likely exchange them for other needed items. At the least, these items are far more presentable than Human Pills.

"And these stones are..."

Su Mu’s gaze finally rested on the more than ten peculiar stones, white and jade-like. With a thought, he picked up one less than a palm-size stone. As soon as it touched his hand, a faint white glow flickered, only to subside instantly.

"Such pure Spiritual Qi... Are these stones that contain Spiritual Qi?"

Spirit Stones?

The term suddenly surfaced in Su Mu’s mind; utilizing Fire Sparrow Breathing, he attempted to absorb them. Soon, threads of cool Spiritual Qi flowed into his body, then absorbed by his heart, transforming into Fire Sparrow Force when combined with his Power.

"They are absorbable, just with too low efficiency... It’s still less effective than directly using Fire Sparrow Breathing to connect with Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi."

Su Mu studied them briefly before retrieving them; he understood his absorption efficiency was low due to the differences between Martial Artists and Daoist Cultivation Methods, perhaps Daoist Cultivators have unique methods for absorbing Spirit Stones.

Ultimately, although items intended for Daoist cultivation could be used by him, they were presently challenging to leverage to their true potential.

"There is still lament over the lack of Daoist cultivation methods."

Su Mu felt quite satisfied with these gains, yet a slight regret lingered; he initially speculated that Gongsun Xin might carry Daoist Sect cultivation methods, affording him the chance to glimpse them, then deliberate over whether to pursue both Daoist and Martial Arts.

Now at least there’s a benefit; Su Mu needn’t make any hard choices, as Gongsun Xin carried none of the items he sought.

"First, let’s acquire the Red Wood... then return to Qingshui Town."

...

Canglan East County, Ning’an County.

The Zhou Family, head among the Four Great Clans of Ning’an County, was hosting a grand banquet today, festively decorated.

"Lord Zhao has arrived, all idlers must make way!"