One Step, One Kill

Chapter Eight Earth-based Spiritual Arts

After the burning campfire evaporated the moisture inside the wooden hut, Lin Yisheng sat down cross-legged and began cultivating the "Undying Five Elements Body".

After carefully "reviewing" the spiritual knowledge in Yin Chengdao's "memory," Lin Yisheng tried to sense the earth's spiritual energy.

Among the five elements of spiritual energy, earth spiritual energy is the easiest to perceive because the earth is right beneath our feet, so earth spiritual energy is omnipresent.

It was a very strange feeling; my thoughts seemed amplified, spreading in all directions and finally flowing to the earth. The entire earth seemed to come alive; it felt as if every grain of soil was leaping, as if it had emotions, joyfully expressing its affection to Lin Yisheng!

These active earth molecules are probably what spiritual practitioners call "earth spirit energy"!

Isn't it said that sensing spiritual energy is a very difficult hurdle, and that it's hard to sense spiritual energy without talent? Why was I able to sense earth spiritual energy so quickly?

Do I have the talent to become a spiritual practitioner, and an exceptionally outstanding one at that?

But why can I only sense earth elemental energy and not water, fire, wood, or metal elemental energy? This is a forest with thick fog, and there's a fire burning in front of us. We should be able to easily sense the elemental energy of wood, water, and fire!

Could it be that, despite my outstanding talent, I am only of the earth element and therefore can only sense earth spiritual energy?

Wait a minute, something's not right. How come my perception of "earth elemental energy" is so strong? Not only can I penetrate three hundred feet underground, but I can also sense the activity of "earth elemental energy" a thousand feet away.

Could it be that although I have an earth-elemental spiritual constitution, I also have the legendary, one-in-a-million, super-sensitive constitution?

If that's really the case, then I'd be considered a legendary prodigy!

Lin Yisheng chuckled happily. After amusing himself enough, he couldn't help but manipulate the earth elemental energy according to the methods in Yin Chengdao's "memory".

Open your right hand downwards and focus your mind on the earth elemental energy below.

A miracle occurred. It was as if his right hand had acquired a magnetic force that could attract soil molecules. Not only the earth's spiritual energy, but even the soil beneath the ground floated up and gathered towards his right palm.

Before long, a ball of earth the size of a rubber ball gathered under Lin Yisheng's right palm, and a thick earth spirit energy surrounded the ball.

Looking at the ball of earth in his palm with great surprise, and confirming that he was not dreaming, Lin Yisheng then tried to use the earth spirit energy to gather and compress the somewhat scattered ball of earth towards the center.

The earth elemental energy obediently pressed against the earth ball, and the ball, which was the size of a rubber ball, kept shrinking until it was the size of a fist.

Unlike the previous clay ball, although the weight remains the same, it is no longer as soft as soil, but has become as hard as a stone ball.

Nevertheless, Lin Yisheng used his perception to probe the small earthen ball, which had been compressed to the size of a fist, and found that its internal structure was still very loose, with a lot of space between the molecules.

This means that compression can continue.

So Lin Yisheng focused his mind again and continued to use the earth elemental energy to compress the earth ball, which was already the size of a fist.

This time it was a bit difficult.

As if he had overworked his brain, the forceful compression, although it continued to compress the fist-sized ball of earth into the size of a bean, left Lin Yisheng feeling dizzy and mentally exhausted, as if his mental energy had been completely depleted by this compression.

Realizing that he would fall into a coma if he continued like this, Lin Yisheng stopped compressing his energy, sat down on the spot, and began to cultivate his mental strength using the "Spiritual Consciousness Meditation Method" that Yin Chengdao remembered, in an attempt to restore his mental strength.

It must be said that the "spiritual consciousness meditation method" in Yin Chengdao's memory had a miraculous effect. After only half an hour of practice, Lin Yisheng felt his mind return to normal, and not only was the mental energy he had consumed completely restored, but it also increased.

After returning to normal, Lin Yisheng no longer tried to manipulate the earth spirit energy to compress the earth ball, which had become the size of a bean. Instead, he used his perception to observe it.

He discovered that although he used earth elemental energy to compress the ball of earth, which was the size of a rubber ball, into the size of a bean, the properties of the ball of earth did not change. It was still a ball of earth, only the molecular structure inside was arranged more tightly.

Lin Yisheng discovered that he could sense the earth elemental energy, which became an extension of his perception. As long as he probed the earth elemental energy into the inside of the stone, he could clearly see the molecular structure inside the stone, just like probing into a ball of soil.

The molecular structure of the stone looks no different from that of the soil ball; the only difference is probably the arrangement of the molecules.

Could it be that because the arrangement of molecules in a stone is different from that in a soil ball, one is a stone and the other remains soil?

What would happen if we changed the arrangement of the molecules in this soil ball to be the same as the arrangement of the molecules in a stone?

Driven by curiosity, Lin Yisheng tried to activate the earth elemental energy again, carefully altering the molecular arrangement inside the small earth ball in his hand.

With his mind highly focused, Lin Yisheng "saw" that the molecules inside the small soil ball did not all seem to be the same type; a few molecules looked different from the others.

Realizing that these must be impurities seeping into the soil ball, Lin Yisheng immediately tried to use the earth elemental energy to expel these impurities.

The operation was successful. The few impurities were driven to the outer shell of the small soil ball, forming an egg-shaped structure. Inside the shell were soil molecules with the same molecular structure.

Lin Yisheng once again tried to drive the earth elemental energy to change the molecular arrangement inside the small earth ball, causing them to arrange themselves into hexagonal rows and then hook and cross each other.

After Lin Yisheng finished, the small ball of soil in his hand had turned into a stone, a stone he had never seen before, which was exceptionally hard.

More importantly, the outer shell of this thing has also changed, becoming like a metallic shell, and it even shimmers with a luster.

Lin Yisheng quickly realized that the impurities he had driven out with his earth spirit energy and which were now attached to the surface of the small earth ball were probably metallic impurities.

Unexpectedly, in addition to being able to use earth elemental energy to drive soil, I could also drive metal impurities.

Would this be considered as having both Earth and Metal attributes?

After playing for half a day, it was already dark.

Because the Misty Forest is shrouded in fog, the sun is never seen during the day, and the moon is nowhere to be seen at night. Therefore, at night, it is so dark that you can't see your hand in front of your face.

Fortunately, Lin Yisheng had already started a campfire, so he wasn't afraid of the dark.

After searching through his spatial bag for a long time, Lin Yisheng found a blanket made of animal hide. He spread it on the ground and fell asleep immediately.

Although the shock of first escaping and then almost being possessed left Lin Yisheng mentally exhausted, he miraculously didn't suffer from insomnia or nightmares that night and slept very soundly.

When Lin Yisheng woke up the next day, he felt more energetic than ever before. He ate a piece of dried meat, drank a few sips of wine, and then practiced the "Pangu Creation Technique" seriously for an hour. Then, thinking about the earth-type spiritual technique experiment he had done the night before, Lin Yisheng couldn't help but try it again.

Although Lin Yisheng slept soundly last night without any dreams, he unknowingly absorbed all of Yin Chengdao's life's "memories".