My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

Inside and outside the quiet rattan hut, gray halos of light radiated outward from a series of isolation Arrays.

In the hut’s courtyard, Hu Yin personally sat on a rattan chair, acting as a Guardian for the person inside. Wu Quan and Ganxing stood posted on either side of the hut.

But in reality, there was no one in the hut at all.

To the west of Laishan was a wide river that flowed down from Shanwu Road. The Demon Race in the forest called it the Laishan River, for where it crossed into Laishan’s territory, it formed a natural lake in the dense forest, covering several hundred acres.

At that moment, great waves churned unceasingly in the center of the lake. Rich Water Spirit Qi, drawn by the Water Spirit Formation surrounding the lake, rapidly converged toward its heart.

The Array was clearly a temporary one, operated entirely by Second Realm Cultivators, so the Water Spirit Qi it produced was very stable.

Above the churning waves in the center of the lake, Yu Lian’s massive body was coiled, held aloft by Water Spirit Qi so dense it was visible to the naked eye. Her scales pulsed, opening and closing in rhythm. A series of mystical, naturally formed Water Spirit Arrays linked her scales together. The surfaces of these Arrays shimmered with a cyan halo, constantly absorbing the gathered Spiritual Qi to nourish the Spirit Veins within her body.

The Spirit Veins inside her were spreading throughout her body in a neat, orderly fashion. This was the process of her physical body transforming into a Spirit Body. Unlike Wang Ping, she felt no pain during this process; it was an evolution in perfect harmony with nature.

Such were Spiritual Creatures; they weren’t called the favored children of heaven and earth for nothing.

To the left of Yu Lian’s enormous body, Wang Ping had connected his Qi Sea to hers. He was using the vast capacity of his Qi Sea as a Third Realm Cultivator to provide the energy for her evolution.

At the same time, Wang Ping’s Primordial Spirit soothed Yu Lian’s evolving Spirit Veins, even though it was highly unlikely they would awaken to consciousness.

Yu Lian’s soul was currently stable. It was simultaneously absorbing Spiritual Energy from the Inspiration Realm and the energy released by her spreading Spirit Veins. In this state, her soul was visibly condensing into a Primordial Spirit.

Moreover, as her Spirit Veins evolved, her physical body expanded with every opening of her scales. Soon, her true form was about to swell to a length of twenty zhang.

"This feels so magical!"

Yu Lian’s voice rang out in Wang Ping’s Spirit Sea. "Although I felt it once through your emotions when you advanced, experiencing it for myself is completely different."

Her tone was cheerful, lacking the tension Wang Ping had felt during his own advancement.

Wang Ping quickly asked, "There won’t be any problems with this advancement, right?"

Yu Lian replied nonchalantly, "What problems could there be? Just watch. I’ll complete this evolution in a day at most. However, this evolution won’t be complete."

"What do you mean?"

Wang Ping grew a little tense.

Yu Lian answered, "I’m still missing my bloodline’s power. Although the Spiritual Snake Race cultivates internal Spirit Veins, we must also cultivate our bloodline power, especially when advancing to the Third Realm."

Wang Ping frowned. Just as he was about to ask how to obtain this bloodline power, Yu Lian continued, "I’ll probably have to go back and ask my parents about the bloodline power. Perfect timing, since I’ve advanced. I’ll see if I can beat them now!"

"..."

While they were speaking, the illusory image of Yu Lian’s soul hovered above her massive body. Soothed by Wang Ping’s Primordial Spirit, countless mystical Array Maps formed on the illusion’s surface before it absorbed all the converged Spiritual Energy from the surrounding Inspiration Realm in a single gulp.

The next moment, Yu Lian’s once-illusory soul began to rapidly condense, attempting to form the silhouette of a Spirit Snake.

"Quick, quick! Get me more Spiritual Energy! This isn’t enough!"

Yu Lian shouted in the Spirit Sea.

Hearing this, a thought flashed through Wang Ping’s Primordial Spirit Consciousness. He sent a portion of his consciousness back to his Spiritual Body and quickly executed a Spell, using his Primordial Spirit to draw all the Spiritual Energy from a hundred-li radius to converge on their location.

In just a moment, the space around Yu Lian’s illusory form was again filled with dense Spiritual Energy. As she continued to absorb it, Wang Ping once more manifested his Primordial Spirit Consciousness to guide the Spirit Veins inside her body, just as he had done when cultivating his own Spiritual Body.

Once again, the process went incredibly smoothly.

Time slipped by, and a day seemed to pass in the blink of an eye. Yu Lian’s illusory soul now had the embryonic form of a Primordial Spirit; all that remained was for her consciousness to coalesce.

This next stage was even smoother, a perfectly natural culmination. Before Wang Ping could even react, Yu Lian’s consciousness was born within her Primordial Spirit. It then detached from her physical body and flew a lap around the lake.

Yu Lian had been able to let her soul leave her body even before, but now that she had formed a Primordial Spirit, she did so with abandon. When her Primordial Spirit departed, her newly formed Spiritual Body was actually able to maintain its composure using residual consciousness, behaving almost as if nothing had changed.

Wang Ping felt another pang of envy.

"I should be the one envying you," Yu Lian’s thoughts reached him. "You have complete control over your cultivation, while I can only rely on you. If you hadn’t advanced to the Third Realm, it would have taken me at least a thousand years to reach this stage."

Sensing Wang Ping’s thoughts, Yu Lian’s Primordial Spirit Consciousness instantly returned to her body. As she communicated with him in the Spirit Sea, she opened her great maw, filled with enormous, sharp teeth, and inhaled, sucking all the Water Spirit Qi gathered above the lake into her belly. Her Scale Armor then flared open, allowing the excess impurities from her Spirit Veins to seep out.

SLAP!

She slapped her massive tail, instantly kicking up a wave dozens of zhang high. The wave engulfed her, and she used its momentum to dive headfirst into the lake. Wang Ping, however, transformed into a streak of light and dodged the torrent, much to her dissatisfaction.

Watching Yu Lian frolicking in the lake, Wang Ping sent a telepathic message to the Cultivators who had been maintaining the Water Spirit Formation, telling them to leave first. Although they were desperate to stay and observe, they dared not defy his will. After bowing respectfully, they all departed.

SPLASH!

Yu Lian’s huge head broke the surface of the lake. She stared at Wang Ping and asked, "Hiring them must have cost you a fortune, huh?"

Wang Ping chuckled. "One water-element Celestial and Earthly Treasure per person!"

Yu Lian’s eyes widened. She scanned the departing figures with her Primordial Spirit and exclaimed, "Twelve people... that must be over ten million taels of silver!"

"Don’t worry," Wang Ping said. "I can afford it."

"If I’d known, I would have just stayed at the Water Institute! We could have saved all that money!"

"I wouldn’t have felt at ease if you did." Wang Ping changed the subject. "Do you feel any of the pill toxins from the Nine Revolutions Pill?"

"Nothing in particular. There’s just a faint obstruction when my Primordial Spirit absorbs Spiritual Energy. It’s no big deal. The toxins will be gone on their own after another twenty or thirty years of cultivation."

As she spoke, Yu Lian shot out of the water, swallowing some fish and shrimp she’d caught along the way.

The Spirit Vein impurities that had been seeping from her body were now gone without a trace. The mysterious Arrays on her scales pulsed with a cyan halo that intertwined with the sunlight, giving her an ethereal, illusory appearance.

When Wang Ping reached out, Yu Lian shrank her body and affectionately rubbed her head against his fingers. "I’m so powerful now," she said. "A single ’Ocean Summoning’ could submerge more than half of True Yang Mountain, and I can even use that Magic to absorb inspiration from it."

"Oh, and! I can also replace the summoned ocean with acid, though it uses up a lot of Spiritual Power and the range isn’t as large. And then there’s this whole jumble of memories about different types of Magic. One of them is the most powerful... wanna see?"