My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

The first time Wang Ping heard of the "Wood Spirit Origin" was in the final introduction on the light-screen panel for the upper half of the fourth volume of the *Taiyan Talisman*. He later made a point to search the records of the Daoist Scripture Hall, but he found no relevant entries.

It looked like a piece of green amber, radiating a faint, pale-green halo.

When Wang Ping’s Primordial Spirit probed it, he saw a vast world. Most of it was empty and silent, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was another manifestation of Wood Spirit Qi.

It was solidified Wood Spirit Qi, and it was incredibly hard.

Observing it with the Spiritual Vision Technique revealed that its energy particle structure was identical to that of Wood Spirit Qi. The only difference was that its density was tens of thousands of times greater. Furthermore, it contained layer upon layer of Wood Spirit Veins that were autonomously absorbing Wood Spirit Qi to further increase its strength.

The layered Spirit Veins seemed to be simultaneously active and dead. More accurately, they appeared to be shackled by some kind of force.

"They aren’t Spirit Veins. They’re a manifestation of energy—the manifestation of the Wood Spirit. They just look like they’re formed from countless overlapping Wood Spirit Veins."

This was Yu Lian’s observation. She had been watching from the side when Wang Ping took out the Wood Spirit Origin.

Wang Ping replied, "If we take the name literally, does that mean it’s the source of the Wood Spirit? It reminds me of the fire spirits of True Yang Mountain!"

Back when he led the army to attack True Yang Mountain, Wang Ping had learned part of the truth about the ’fire spirits’. It now seemed that the ’Wood Spirit’ was much the same, just manifested differently.

"You mean cultivating the *Taiyan Talisman* is like the *Three Yang True Inheritance*? Does it also require fusing with enough fire spirits?" Curiosity tinged Yu Lian’s voice.

"I’m afraid it’s not just the *Taiyan Talisman*. All Five Profound Sects probably operate this way. The only difference is how it manifests, based on the unique characteristics of the five elements."

"So, you believe the Cosmos originated from the primordial Five Elements Yin and Yang?"

Wang Ping shook his head. A belief like that was crucial for a Cultivator. He couldn’t jump to a conclusion so early in his journey. If he was wrong, his future cultivation would stagnate.

Cultivation was a journey of exploration, not a quest to verify a predetermined answer. This was true even for the Xiao Shan Lord, and for all the True Monarchs. Otherwise, they would have long been soaring through the Cosmos instead of being cooped up in this tiny star system.

"What are you going to do now?"

Yu Lian asked.

Wang Ping reached out and took the Wood Spirit Origin from the wooden box.

The instant he touched the Wood Spirit Origin, he felt his internal Spirit Vein Consciousness begin to stir. Tiny, dense buds of flesh sprouted uncontrollably from the skin of the fingers holding the artifact, trying to entwine themselves around it, only to be repelled.

At that moment, the memories from his fusion with the pagoda tree resurfaced in his mind. Since he had already fully integrated them, these memories were now his own, which made recalling them a strange experience.

This time, however, the reawakened memories were far more complex. But just like before, they were mostly fragments: some of a prosperous and peaceful civilization, others of ruins decimated by an immense power. This onslaught of images caused every facet of his human emotion to rise to the surface.

As before, the memories converged on a beautiful forest where he saw a great tree stretching up into the Cosmos. What was different this time was that he could feel the tree’s consciousness communicating with him. It was the voice of a benevolent old man, teaching him many Secret Techniques Wang Ping had never heard of. Yet, when he tried to grasp their details, he couldn’t recall what they were.

It was like a dream, but one that felt incredibly real and impossibly long.

The ’dream’ came on fast and vanished even faster. Wang Ping then felt the Spirit Veins in the fingers of his right hand collapsing, while Yu Lian’s voice echoed frantically in his mind, "Are you awake? Wake up!"

When her shouting had no effect, she swung her tail and slapped it across Wang Ping’s face.

SMACK!

Wang Ping blocked the blow, his consciousness finally snapping back to reality. He decisively abandoned his collapsing right hand, formed a Spell with his left, and commanded the Wood Spirit Qi to wrap around the Wood Spirit Origin and return it to the box.

"What just happened to you?"

"It awakened the memories of the pagoda tree’s consciousness. How long was I out?" Wang Ping asked as his right hand began to repair itself.

"Just over ten breaths!"

"But it felt like hundreds of thousands of years. It almost seized control of my consciousness!" Wang Ping took a deep breath. He didn’t mean he had actually experienced all that time. It was like a dream, where you subjectively know only an instant has passed, but in recalling it, the dream feels immensely long.

Yu Lian tilted her head, meeting Wang Ping’s gaze. "How do you feel now?" she asked.

"I’m fine. Really."

Wang Ping reached out and stroked Yu Lian’s head, his gaze falling back to the Wood Spirit Origin in the box. ’Just holding it caused all that,’ he thought, ’but the light-screen panel said to put it in my mouth.’

’However, I missed a step. I was supposed to use the Heaven-Reaching Talisman to connect with the heavens, the earth, and the Cosmos beforehand.’

Wang Ping pondered this for a long time and finally decided to trust the instructions on the light-screen panel.

"When I start cultivating again, connect your Primordial Spirit to mine. Help me suppress the Spirit Vein Consciousness inside my body," Wang Ping instructed Yu Lian.

"Okay, you can count on me!"

Yu Lian replied, her voice full of assurance.

Wang Ping immediately calmed his mind and soon entered a state of deep meditation.

「One day later.」

Wang Ping once again activated the Heaven-Reaching Talisman to observe the heavens, the earth, and the Cosmos. He again saw the great ’net’ that spanned the world. But when he tried to sense the Wood Spirit Origin in the box, he found nothing!

’It’s gone?’

Wang Ping was startled, but on second thought, that seemed impossible.

The reason was that he was using the Heaven-Reaching Talisman to sense the Wood Spirit Origin. But to the Talisman’s perception, the Wood Spirit Origin was indistinct from the Wood Spirit Qi that filled the world, like trying to sense the air with one’s Primordial Spirit.

When Wang Ping used his own Primordial Spirit to sense the Wood Spirit Origin, however, he found it immediately. After a moment’s hesitation, he commanded the Wood Spirit Qi to lift it up and decisively placed it in his mouth.

Yu Lian, watching from the side, was dumbfounded. A thought surfaced in her Spiritual Sea Consciousness: ’Is that thing good to eat?’

But what Wang Ping felt was something else entirely. His Spiritual Body and Primordial Spirit Consciousness instantly broke free from the surveillance of the Cosmos. In the world as seen through the Heaven-Reaching Talisman, the aura of his Spiritual Body and Primordial Spirit Consciousness simply merged into the fabric of all creation.

As the Wood Spirit Origin began to react with the Spirit Veins inside his body, the Heaven-Reaching Talisman immediately interfaced with it, using the vast power of heaven and earth to facilitate the fusion.

It was in that instant that Wang Ping saw the five kinds of energy that filled the world intertwining and repelling each other, forming an incalculable number of energy particles that constructed every living thing.

’This is the Five Elements Energy Source!’

He had actually completed the fourth step of the upper half of the fourth volume of the *Taiyan Talisman* and had already entered the fifth step: shaping the Wood Spirit. If he succeeded, he could immediately enter the realm of ’Nothingness’.

His cultivation was now being driven by the Wood Spirit Origin. It connected to the Heaven-Reaching Talisman, using it as a medium to absorb the Wood Spirit from the Five Elements Energy and assimilate his physical body and Primordial Spirit Consciousness.

The process was remarkably similar to his initial Qi Cultivation!