Cultivation: I Can Steal Lifespan from Spirit Beasts

Chapter 144: The Change in the Yin Spirit Abode

A Foundation Establishment cultivator.

In the Eastern Sage Sect, such an existence was second only to the Sect Leader and the six Head Chamber Elders. Those with profound cultivation could even hold the position of an ordinary Elder.

Even in the Heavenly Gate Sect, Foundation Establishment cultivators were the undisputed backbone of the organization.

Although Wang Ba still bore the identity of a heterodox cultivator, his new realm was enough to garner recognition from the sect’s main body.

From this moment on, he had finally shed the status of a bottom-tier cultivator.

He was still a minor character in the grand scheme of the cultivation world, but at least he was a character now.

However, before he could even rejoice, disaster struck.

He felt an intangible, fierce gale blowing from all directions, threatening to scatter his very essence in an instant.

He hurriedly sank his consciousness into his body.

Opening his eyes, he found his soul had returned to his physical shell.

With a thought, a sensation like a 360-degree eye opening appeared between his eyebrows. The entire cultivation chamber was revealed to his ‘sight’ down to the finest detail.

This was Divine Sense.

Previously, his perception had been limited to his own body and its immediate vicinity. Now, it could reflect an area of about ten feet around him.

Limited by the formation constraints of the cultivation chamber, his Divine Sense could not penetrate the walls, but Wang Ba didn’t mind. He was more concerned with the strange sensation on his forehead.

He casually conjured a water mirror.

His skin, clear and lustrous as jade, emitted a faint glow in the reflection. But on his brow sat a strikingly vivid red lotus mark!

The mark was alive. It twisted and struggled against his skin, attempting to spread outward like a parasite.

Wang Ba was shocked.

He touched his brow, but his finger felt only smooth skin. The lotus did not react to his touch.

“What is going on?”

Having experienced many trials, Wang Ba had cultivated a calm disposition. Though startled, he did not panic.

He gently channeled Water-attribute Qi into his finger and carefully applied it to the mark.

To his disappointment, the lotus continued its incessant twisting, completely unaffected.

After several failed attempts, he confirmed that Qi was useless against it.

“Wait… I remember the texts from the Incense Path mentioning that condensing the Yin Spirit Abode involves a Yin Spirit Seal entering the Spiritual Platform.”

“Could this be the Yin Spirit Seal?”

The only thing this lotus mark could be related to was the Yin Spirit Great Dream Scripture.

“I speculated before that I could only improve this technique after Foundation Establishment. Let me check.”

Wang Ba summoned his Lifespan Panel.

He was stunned to find that his lifespan reserves had shrunk dramatically.

Over the past few years, due to Bai Yu’s frequent visits, Wang Ba hadn’t dared to cultivate Low Grade Spirit Poultry too openly. Still, he had accumulated nearly 100,000 years.

A few years ago, breaking through to the thirteenth layer of the Physique Strengthening Scripture had cost over 30,000 years.

He should have had over 70,000 years remaining.

But now, he had less than 10,000.

“Is it because my life tier underwent a transformation?”

Wang Ba wasn’t entirely clear on the reason, but the change didn’t bother him much. As long as he had a safe environment, he could rely on his Spirit Poultry to live until the end of time.

His gaze quickly moved down the panel, landing on a phrase that filled him with joy.

[Consumable Item: Yin Spirit Great Dream Scripture Second Layer. Based on comprehensive aptitude and Root Bone, conversion requires 278.7 years.]

“Only 278.7 years?”

Wang Ba was taken aback. The first layer had required over a hundred years. The texts stated that mastering the second layer would take at least a thousand years of cultivation.

Logically, the cost should have been much higher.

But saving lifespan was always a good thing. He selected the item immediately.

[Current Lifespan -278.7 years]

In the water mirror, Wang Ba saw the vivid red lotus mark on his brow instantly twist into a tight ball!

The shape shifted rapidly, condensing into a mysterious red figure. Its face was indistinct, and it sat in a profound cross-legged posture.

Wang Ba recognized it instantly—it was the ‘Yin Spirit’ he visualized day and night!

So, the mark was indeed related to the scripture.

As time passed, the figure’s face began to develop vague contours. Just as Wang Ba thought he would finally see its true visage, the red figure transformed into a stream of light and plunged into his forehead.

Crash!

His Yin Spirit Abode shattered!

It exploded into fragments of vivid red light.

Countless drops of Yin Spirit power carried these fragments, rapidly merging and restructuring them. Gradually, they formed a temple.

The temple was vast and boundless, just like the previous abode. One could see the floor and the roof, but the distance within was immeasurable.

Fragments gathered on the only high platform in the temple, condensing into the rudimentary form of a statue…

“Has the second layer not been mastered yet?”

Wang Ba was surprised. This was the first time a lifespan-fueled breakthrough had been so slow.

Suddenly, a sound erupted from outside the temple—a sound that seemed to come from beyond the highest heavens, piercing directly into his soul.

It was a thunderclap right by his ear!

“Hmph!”

The sound echoed, shattering his soul instantly!

Wang Ba didn’t even have time to feel pain before he was reduced to a wisp of a remnant soul.

However, he was still in the state of lifespan consumption.

Everything seemed to be on fast-forward.

Wang Ba’s remnant soul re-condensed at visible speed, reforming into a whole.

But the lingering echo of that cold snort shattered him again.

Like a fragile piece of paper, his soul was torn apart.

But the lifespan consumption continued…

Tearing apart, reassembling, strengthening.

Over and over.

Gradually, whether because the power in the sound weakened or Wang Ba’s soul grew resilient, the damage decreased.

Until… there was no more damage.

Swish!

Wang Ba snapped his eyes open. They were bloodshot. His body curled up involuntarily, his face pale as he gasped for breath.

It took a long time to recover enough to lean against the wall.

The room was exactly as it had been before he started. It was as if the cataclysm in the Yin Spirit Abode had been a dream.

But the residual trace of extreme pain in his soul told him otherwise.

That battle had truly occurred in his Spiritual Platform.

No—strictly speaking, the owner of that cold snort might have simply expressed a bit of dissatisfaction.

But that single sound had traversed countless miles, crossed the barrier between the Yin Spirit Abode and his physical body, and killed his soul thousands of times.

Thanks to the lifespan burning, Wang Ba’s soul had not grown stronger, but it had become incredibly resilient through thousands of cycles of death and rebirth.

The cost? His remaining 9,000 years of lifespan were now less than 3,000.

“Lifespan actually has such an effect…”

Wang Ba was both shocked and fearful. If his lifespan had run out earlier, that inexplicable snort would have erased him from existence.

“Who was that? Why did that sound appear the moment I was about to master the second layer?”

“What kind of existence has such power in a mere sound?”

Wang Ba’s mind swirled with questions, but he had no answers. He only knew that the Yin Spirit Great Dream Scripture, obtained from Old Man Sun, held terrifying secrets.

He checked his Yin Spirit Abode again.

The statue in the temple was complete. It sat cross-legged, a faint facial outline visible.

It was the Yin Spirit.

He waited, but the cold snort did not return.

Although still uneasy, Wang Ba knew that if such a being wanted him dead, he couldn’t resist anyway.

He recalled the cultivation method for the second layer. It was similar to the first—visualizing the Yin Spirit—but the power cultivated was significantly higher in quality.

The key lay in the application method: the Divine Dream Method.

The technique corresponding to the second layer was “Dream Creation.” It could generate illusions and implant thoughts within a target’s soul.

He checked the Lifespan Panel. The technique required 759.1 years to master.

Wang Ba looked at his dwindling lifespan—less than 3,000 years—and decided to wait.

He had achieved Foundation Establishment. Staying here wasting Spirit Stones was foolish. Better to return to the chicken farm and replenish his lifespan first.

He stood up, noticing the two Foundation Establishment Pills and various other medicines he had dropped during his agony.

Since his breakthrough had been a smooth “Heavenly Dao Foundation Establishment,” these items were unused. He collected them for Bu Chan.

He casually checked his other bags.

When he looked into one of the Spirit Beast Bags, he froze.

Inside, a Top Grade First-Order male Green Water Spirit Turtle hung its head.

Its body was alive.

But to Wang Ba’s Divine Sense, its soul had been annihilated. It was an empty shell.

Earlier, the “Substitute Death” ability had activated once.