Molting the Mortal Coil

Despite the setback, Sage was still determined to take control of this massive treasure grove. The Emerald Holly bushes were crawling with those green spiders. Sage wasn’t sure what they were, but he was planning on taking a few to identify and experiment with, he’d become far too complacent on this journey. Especially in regards to his use of the Insect Immortal Index. He was too focused on running away and not taking enough care to increase his strength. Everything in this grove is surely worth a fortune, and with wealth I can increase my strength rapidly.

Focused on the task at hand, Sage didn’t want to waste time and risk someone else stumbling upon this land of treasures. With the Silverbees far less useful here, Sage switched to his sling. He didn’t want to head in close and get swarmed so he went with his only ranged weapon, the sling made of spider silk launching those heavy metal bullets into those emerald bodies. No longer in a rush to look for treasure he could easily pick out the spiders in the bushes. They were nearly invisible to normal people, but as a Qi Condensation cultivator from the Lang Clan he could easily distinguish their eight legged bodies. Despite being Spirit Insects, the majority of the spiders were only rank 1, just like the majority of his silverbees. As such, Sage could easily stun them unconscious with a single throw. Knocking one, he’d then rush forward and trap it in an Insect Cage. One by one, capturing them. Clearing a whole bush, he’d pull out the Feather Spade and use it to harvest the whole Emerald Holly Bush in one go.

The Storage Ring seemed to keep plants in stasis, no growth yet no harm either, so as long as he could take out all the Spirit Insects that could resist being captured he could take the whole rest of the plant. After taking a couple of the bushes he stopped to build a few planters. Using the wood from the destroyed shelves and filling it with dirt from this special grove he figured it would be easier to transplant the Emerald Holly this way. He wasn’t really sure, but it would be easier to transport and sell the bushes if they didn’t have roots and dirt splashing everywhere.

After a few days, Sage had nearly cleared out half the grove of Emerald Holly and captured hundreds of the green spiders. He actually had to stop collecting the Holly bushes, as his Storage Ring was nearly half full of them, and instead started to just harvest their leaves and berries. Once he had a dozen sacks of those he finally continued onwards, having cleared the dense outer ring of Emerald Holly a while ago, walking towards a small crevice on the ground. He’d spotted it a few days earlier but didn’t explore it in order to clear a larger safe zone for himself and collect more profits. The crevice was narrow, only about five feet at the widest point but narrowing to either end. Within the crevice it dropped sharply, creating a narrow tunnel that dropped straight down. It was almost like an eye had opened up and then been stabbed clear. Am I going to climb down into some monster’s head?

Bees, like all insects, could reproduce amazingly fast. In the week he’d taken harvesting the Emerald Holly and the green spiders, the Hive had already recovered half the losses it had sustained. Sadly, it also reduced the amount of stored Moon Honey quite a bit to sustain that rapid reproduction rate. Being quite experienced with Cave exploration, Sage lit a torch and tossed it down into the crevice. Watching it drop, he saw it hit a wall a hundred feet down and bounce around a corner. Good, seems it’s not just an endless drop or a deathtrap.

Sending down a few dozen Silverbees to explore, Sage waited for them to check things out and return safely before he called out the Silverbee Queen and hopped into her Internal Space. With a few bees flying out front like a vanguard, the Queen descended down into the depths of that narrow crevice. Given the bee was only the size of an outstretched hand, the five foot widen crevice was actually quite large. Reaching the first turn, Sage paid special attention. Unexpectedly, the tunnel started to level out, slowly changing from a vertical shaft to a flat tunnel. The torch was sitting on the rock floor as the Silverbee Queen flew past. The bees up ahead still seemed perfectly safe, so Sage continued the flight.

After traveling down the level tunnel for about a hundred yards, the tunnel suddenly opened up to a cavern. Only about the size of a large bedroom, Sage withdrew from the Silverbee Queen and returned her to his internal space. The individual silverbees flew about the room, exploring. Sage’s gaze was drawn to the only obvious feature of the room. Floating in mid-air, a few feet off the ground, was a large brown seed. It looked to be the same size as a fist and was emitting an emerald green light. Sage watched as the light dimmed and brightened with a pulsing rhythm like a beating heart. Amazed, Sage quickly remembered one of the treasures he’d read about: The Seed of Life.

Legendary Natural Treasures. That was the list he’d seen the Seed of Life on. Each of the treasures on the list were so spectacular that nobody knew where to find them or even what they did, the list merely described their appearance and how to harvest them. The book was named ‘Treasure Hunters Guidebook’ so Sage hadn’t found the contents too strange, but now he was wishing for more! In order to harvest the Seed of Life, Sage was supposed to surround it with his qi and maneuver it into a jade box. Thankfully there was all manner of jade containers in the storage ring so he had one suitable. Sage placed the jade box on the ground and summoned forth his qi. Forming his qi around his hands like mittens, he reached forward carefully, trying to capture up the seed between his fingers.

Reaching forward, Sage thought he’d done it perfectly but he had no idea that his qi was far too weak for the job in front of him. The Qi Cultivation art he practiced, the Mantis Heart Manual, is a mid-range art. It’s renowned for its defensive supporting effects, but when it came to actual qi power it was equivalent to the lowest grade cultivation arts. All of its power is focused on dispelling poison, healing injuries, and protecting the internal organs. The Lang Clan disciples become protected from underhanded means so they can focus on their physical skills. A good plan for a clan of foot soldiers, but quite a problem for Sage.

As he reached in to touch the seed, the Qi around his hands was not strong enough to completely envelop the glowing light which spilled out against his body. Cupping his qi covered hands around the Seed of Life he pulled gently on it, wanting to bring it towards the box. His Qi was not strong enough to confine the seed and it ignored his control, but at that time something unusual happened. The Seed of Life flew towards Sage on its own colliding with his forehead before he knew what was going on. Sinking into his body without leaving a mark Sage had no way to stop or slow it down, panic breaking out on his face. Terrified at what was going to happen, he could only send his senses inward. Attempting to observe what was going on, Sage couldn’t find the seed anywhere in his muscles or organs so he looked into his dantian and meridians. Searching through the beehive there was still no sign of the seed.

It was then he felt a sudden surge in his mind, his perception suddenly exploded with vigor.

Having first awakened with his meditation, a cultivator’s senses went through many changes. First learning to sense qi, it would later improve to sense the insides of the body and the meridians. As it grew, the cultivator would then learn to spread it out of their body to form a sort of sixth sense allowing them to sense the presence or motion of qi in an area around them, which was referred to as spiritual sense. They would also eventually grow strong enough to not only sense inside their physical body but also within the spiritual sea. The Spiritual Sea is where the soul lives and the source of the spiritual power that fuel spiritual sense. Just like the dantian is where the qi gathers, the spiritual sea is where spirit power gathers. It’s usually located just behind the forehead between the eyebrows. Physical power from the internal organs, Qi power from the dantian, Spirit power from the spiritual sea.

With the surge in spiritual power, Sage’s senses were drawn to the location of the Seed of Life. He was floating over a raging sea of dark water and in front of him was the Seed of Life, emitting its green light to illuminate the water beneath him. Holding up his hand Sage realized it was transparent and that he wasn’t breathing. Sage was incorporeal and floating in the air like a ghost. Am I dead again? Is this the afterlife?

Suddenly he remembered something… in this world, ghosts and souls looked the same. Could he have entered his spiritual sea and this was his soul? The Seed of Life was hovering there in front of him, illuminating the water beneath him. Thinking of what he’d read of the Spiritual Sea, he wasn’t supposed to be able to sense it until he reached rank four.

Rank three was forming a qi sea and when it was complete the rank four cultivator would then have to access the spiritual sea, combining it with their qi sea and the strength of their physical body as a foundation. Rank five used that foundation and combined the spiritual sea and qi to condense into an inner core to house their soul. A cultivator that has reached rank 5 becomes extremely hard to kill as they can regrow any portion of their body and recover from any wound as long as their core is intact.

The spiritual sea did not grow and expand like the qi sea would, instead it changed states. A dark stormy place that raged in every direction, reflecting the natural human state of chaos. He heard that the goals of cultivation techniques were to calm the weather, settle the roiling seas, or even lighting up the skies. As a person’s emotions raged, the state of the seas matched them.

Sage was looking at the Seed of life, floating above the water. Its green light illuminating the sea beneath it. Everywhere the light touched, the water was changed from roiling black to a calm greenish blue like a tropical paradise. Is this why I can enter the Spiritual Sea? My spirit power has gone up because of its influence?