No demons in all realms

Chapter 32 Cultivation

Ye Jing's use of the word "teaching" was not just empty talk.

The next morning, she knocked on Su Yang's door, holding the wooden box in her hand, and placed it on the table.

"Open this first," she said.

Su Yang sat on the edge of the bed, facing her. "I can't open it. I've tried everything I can think of for over ten years, but I just can't open it."

"That's because you're using the wrong method." Ye Jing pushed the box in front of him. "This is a spatial artifact, not an ordinary box. You need to use your divine sense to open it."

Su Yang paused for a moment, then said, "Um... I don't have divine sense."

His meridians are now completely severed, and he has no spiritual power. All that remains in his body is righteous energy. Divine consciousness is something that only cultivators possess, and he does not have it.

"Actually, you do have it," Ye Jing said. "Everyone has their own spiritual consciousness, just to varying degrees. Although your righteous energy isn't spiritual power, it can nourish your soul. Try it: close your eyes, focus your attention on the space between your eyebrows, and feel it with your heart."

Su Yang did as she said, closing his eyes and focusing his attention on the space between his eyebrows.

At first, he felt nothing, only complete darkness. After about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, he suddenly felt a slight throbbing in the space between his eyebrows, as if something was gently pulsating inside.

"You felt it?" Ye Jing asked.

Su Yang nodded.

"That's your divine sense. It's weak, but it's enough. Now use your divine sense to touch that box."

Su Yang tried to guide his faint divine sense toward the box. At first, his divine sense was like a thin thread, swaying back and forth, and he couldn't reach the box no matter what he did.

He tried several times, and the threads of his divine sense became thicker and more stable, finally touching the surface of the box.

There was an invisible barrier on the box, like a wall, blocking his consciousness.

Su Yang tried to push the wall with all his might, but he couldn't budge it.

"Use your righteous energy," Ye Jing said. "Your spiritual sense is too weak; you can't push it away by force. Righteous energy is your root; twist it together with your spiritual sense, and use it as a key."

Su Yang took a deep breath and slowly guided the righteous energy in his body to his brow. The moment the righteous energy and his divine sense met, he felt an unprecedented power surge out of his body, like a red-hot iron cone, fiercely stabbing into the wall.

Su Yang's consciousness surged into the box like a flood bursting its banks.

He "saw" what was inside the box, not with his eyes, but with his divine sense.

The feeling was wonderful, like a light suddenly turning on in a dark room. It wasn't particularly bright, but it was enough for him to see everything around him.

Inside the box was a space, about ten feet square. In one corner were some things: a pile of spirit stones, emitting a faint glow; several pieces of clothing, neatly folded; and some bottles and jars, the contents of which were unknown.

But what attracted Su Yang's attention the most was something in the very center of the space.

A fan, entirely black and red, floated silently in the very center of the space, neither to the left nor to the right, as if it had been waiting for him there for a long time.

Su Yang's consciousness touched the fan.

In that instant, a terrifying aura burst forth from the fan, like a ferocious beast that had been sleeping for ten thousand years suddenly opening its eyes.

The malevolent aura was so intense that it almost materialized, rushing down from his consciousness along the righteous energy, into his body, and rampaging through his meridians.

Su Yang groaned and leaned back, almost falling off the bed.

Ye Jing reacted quickly and caught him. She placed her hand on Su Yang's chest, and her True Immortal Realm spiritual power surged out, forcefully suppressing the murderous aura.

"Such a powerful killing intent!" Ye Jing frowned, looking at the wooden box. "Where did this fan come from?"

After catching his breath, Su Yang used his divine sense to "look" at the fan in the box again. This time he was prepared; instead of touching it directly with his divine sense, he circled the fan and observed it carefully.

The fan ribs are black, and I don't know what material they are made of; they look like metal or wood. The fan surface is dark red, like dried blood.

There were some patterns painted on the fan, which he couldn't see very clearly, but he could sense that those patterns were not ordinary patterns, but some kind of ancient formation.

"I remember now," Su Yang suddenly said.

"What are you thinking about?"

Su Yang paused for a moment, then used his divine sense to carefully "look" at the fan again.

At the end of the fan ribs are two small characters engraved. The characters are small, but they are engraved very deeply, as if they were carved on with a knife stroke by stroke.

"A thousand pounds." Su Yang read out those two words.

Ye Jing's eyes widened suddenly.

"The Thousand-Pound Fan?" Her voice changed. "Are you sure?"

Su Yang nodded.

Ye Jing stood up, took a few steps around the room, then sat back down, her expression changing repeatedly.

"The Thousand-Pound Fan." She repeated it, as if to make sure she hadn't misheard. "It was the weapon of a powerful being from ancient times. Legend has it that this being single-handedly fought against the heavenly tribulation. With a single swing of the fan, the force of a thousand pounds could even fan back the heavenly lightning."

Su Yang used his divine sense to probe the fan again, this time cautiously touching only the surface. The malevolent energy surged out again, but with Ye Jing's spiritual power suppressing it, he wasn't uncomfortable this time. Instead, he could sense the direction and flow of the malevolent energy.

He sensed twelve layers of restrictions on the fan, each layer acting like a lock, locking away the fan's true power. He could only touch the outermost layer at the moment.

"There are twelve restrictions on this fan," Su Yang said.

Ye Jing nodded. "Most of the weapons of ancient powerful beings have restrictions. The more restrictions there are, the higher the grade of the weapon. The twelve restrictions on the Thousand-Pound Fan... if I'm not mistaken, just the first restriction alone would make this fan at least a top-grade immortal artifact."

Su Yang paused for a moment.

He's currently a scholar at the Core Formation stage, and his righteous spirit is only so-so. Let alone a top-grade immortal artifact, he might not even be able to control an ordinary spiritual weapon.

"Should we take it or not?" Ye Jing asked him.

Without a second thought, Su Yang said, "Take it."

"Aren't you afraid you won't be able to control it?"

"I'm afraid," Su Yang said, "but it's mine. It's what my parents left me, and I have no reason not to take it."

He reached out, concentrated his divine sense to its strongest level, poured his righteous energy into it, and grabbed the fan.

He pulled the fan out of his spatial storage, and the moment he held it in his hand, Su Yang felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and his whole body trembled violently.

The malevolent energy didn't just rush out of the fan; it poured directly into his body, as if it wanted to devour his very soul.

Ye Jing placed her hand on his back, and spiritual energy flowed in continuously to help him suppress the evil aura.

Su Yang's righteous spirit and Ye Jing's spiritual power converged within Su Yang's body, like two rivers flowing together, fighting against the surging evil energy.

The murderous aura was fierce, but Su Yang's righteous spirit was clearly superior.

Righteousness is not for fighting; it is for cultivating the mind. A person with a righteous mind has a strong sense of righteousness, while a person with an impure mind has a weak sense of righteousness.

Whether Su Yang's heart is righteous or not is not for him to say, but he has read thousands of books, traveled thousands of miles, and taught thousands of students. What he carries in his heart is heavier than any evil spirit.

The murderous aura couldn't break him.

After about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, the malevolent aura gradually subsided, transforming from violent to docile, like a tamed wild beast lying quietly inside the fan.

Su Yang gripped the fan, panting heavily.

Ye Jing also breathed a sigh of relief, withdrew her hand, and looked at the fan in his hand.

It is entirely black and red, simple and unadorned. It doesn't look like a powerful weapon, but rather like an ordinary folding fan, the kind that scholars and gentlemen would use to fan themselves and cool off.

But Ye Jing knew that if this fan were really swung, it could flatten a mountain.

"You plan to use it as your signature weapon?" Ye Jing asked.

Su Yang nodded.

"You have no spiritual root, no spiritual power, and no one knows whether your righteous energy can drive this fan."

"You'll know once you try," Su Yang said.

From that day on, Su Yang began to cultivate, but not in the way he used to. Before, he relied on his spiritual roots, spiritual power, and meridians to cultivate.

Now that his meridians are broken, his spiritual root is ruined, and his spiritual power is scattered, his only reliance is his righteous energy.

Can righteous energy be used as spiritual power?

It works; Su Yang has tried it.

When he infused the Thousand-Pound Fan with his righteous energy, the first restriction on the fan loosened slightly, just a little, but he could feel it.

Although righteous energy is not as domineering as spiritual power, it is purer and more in line with his nature.

"If your meridians are severed, you'll have to find another path," Ye Jing said. "Righteous energy doesn't travel through meridians; it travels through your entire body, through every muscle, every bone, and every drop of blood. Righteous energy is the path of righteous energy."

Su Yang did as she said. He drew his righteous energy from his dantian and no longer tried to channel it through the broken meridians, but instead let it seep into his entire body.

The feeling was strange, like a warm stream flowing through my body, going wherever it wanted without following any fixed route.

A few days later, he felt sore all over, as if he had been beaten up.

On the seventh day, the soreness disappeared, replaced by an indescribable comfort, as if every pore on my body had opened up.

By the end of the first month, Su Yang's righteous energy was already flowing freely throughout his entire body.

His body began to change; his skin became better, his complexion improved, and even his gait became more steady.

Two months later, Su Yang was meditating on a rock on the back mountain of the academy when he suddenly felt something inside his body shatter.

It wasn't actually broken, it was a feeling, like a thin layer of ice being shattered, and the water underneath gushing out.

His righteous spirit suddenly surged.

Su Yang opened his eyes. Of course, it didn't matter whether he opened them or not, since he couldn't see anything anyway. But he definitely felt the difference. His perception range expanded from half a mile to a full mile.

"You've broken through?" Ye Jing's voice came from behind.

Su Yang nodded.

"What level?"

"Nourishment Realm".

Ye Jing paused for a moment, then said, "You've cultivated for two months and progressed from the Qi Transformation Realm to the Yuan Nourishing Realm. It would take most others at least four or five years to reach this level."

"I've said it before, I used to be a genius." Since he started cultivating, Su Yang's personality has gradually improved back to how it was before.

Ye Jing chuckled but did not refute.

After breaking through to the Nourishing Yuan Realm, Su Yang's perception became stronger and stronger. He could not only "see" everything around him, but also "hear" sounds from afar, smell scents from afar, and even sense changes in the weather and wind direction.

One day, as he was walking in the academy, he suddenly realized that he no longer needed a bamboo cane; he hadn't used one in a long time.

He stood there, his bamboo cane resting beside him. He hesitated for a moment, then let go of it and took two steps forward.

His bamboo cane didn't touch the ground; his feet were firmly planted on the ground, without slipping or falling. He took ten steps, twenty steps, fifty steps.

He didn't fall! Su Yang stopped, faced the sky, and took a deep breath. Perhaps he really could go back to the way things were before.

His mind had become so powerful that he could perceive everything within a two-mile radius, where the road was, where the wall was, where the people were, and where the trees were. He knew it all clearly, even more clearly than his eyes could see.

His eyes can only see what is in front of him, but his perception is 360 degrees, encompassing everything in front, behind, left, right, up, and down.

"Little blind man, you don't need your cane anymore?" Ye Jing's voice came from afar.

Su Yang turned around to face her, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"No."