Currently, the fat whale golden core was leisurely bobbing up and down inside the Spirit Lake. Similar to Senior White Two’s patternless golden core, Song Shuhang’s original Spirit Lake did not have a Lake Soul.
In other words, theoretically speaking, his original dantian would not have any way of producing a Life Wheel.
On the contrary, there were many Lake Souls in his small dantians…
“Are you sure you’re already at the Sixth Stage?” The puppet maiden adjusted her posture and leaned forward—since Song Shuhang had returned, her speech could go back to being smooth.
She’d left her energy-saving mode since her ‘financial backer’ was back. Even if she wasn’t going to be getting a new core yet, she believed that she would at least be able to get some spirit stones for her operations.
Song Shuhang nodded, and said, “Yes, I’m sure I’m already at the Sixth Stage.”
“Let me take a look.” The puppet maiden reached out to Song Shuhang—when it came to Song Shuhang’s ascension speed, she had already become numb to it, and didn’t even want to complain or rant anymore.
Song Shuhang cooperated with her, extending his small hand toward the puppet maiden. At times, he found it rather inconvenient being in such a young body—for example, he felt that his hands were too short at this moment.
The mental energy of the puppet maiden toured around in Song Shuhang’s body.
After a while, she left silently.
Song Shuhang asked expectantly, “So, if there isn’t a Lake Soul, can a Life Wheel be born?”
“Im-Probable” The puppet maiden re-entered the energy-saving mode.
She suddenly found that she didn’t want to talk much.
“Then this Big Dipper is not very useful for my original dantian.” Song Shuhang squeezed his chin, and said, “However, it should be useful for my seven small Spirit Lakes.”
Soft Feather asked, “Senior Song, are you planning on condensing seven Life Wheels?”
“I’m definitely not going to do something that troublesome, just condensing the seven small golden cores already caused me to have to go through so many twists and turns.” Then, Song Shuhang looked at the puppet maiden again. “But Fairy, how does the progression of an ordinary Sixth Stage True Monarch usually go?”
Song Shuhang didn’t know anything about the process of going from the Sixth Stage to the Seventh Stage. This was by no means strange, since, after all, it was only a month ago when he had crammed knowledge on how to go from the Fifth Stage to the Sixth Stage.
“Energy-Inadequate-Shutting-Down-Dingdingdingdang~” After a little jingle played, the puppet maiden’s shining pupils dimmed.
Shut down?
“Fairy, you also have such a function?” Song Shuhang stretched out his hand, and poked the puppet maiden.
The puppet maiden who had shut down remained completely motionless, and did not respond.
Soft Feather said, “Senior Song, you need to give the fairy maiden some spirit stones.”
Song Shuhang’s small hands trembled slightly. “I’ve been rather short on funds lately.”
Soft Feather said, “Then, I’ll lend Senior Song some.”
“There’s no need to be in such a hurry.” Song Shuhang smiled slightly, and turned his gaze towards the outside. “Our spirit stones are flying just outside.”
“Oh, the Celestials.” Soft Feather understood.
Song Shuhang said, “If I’m unable to capture enough Celestials, it won’t be too late to borrow some spirit stones from you.”
In addition, he still had to find a way to get two more cores from Senior White Two.
It would be great if he could get his hands on a few more [Pseudo Big Eyed Planet’s Hearts].
Song Shuhang’s own Combined Magical Treasure needed a core, and the puppet maiden also needed one.
Originally, Senior White Two had promised to give him a heart, but he ended up installing that one into the ‘little sun’ back in the Black Dragon World—as a result, Song Shuhang had a certain amount of control over the little sun.
How can I get two more cores from Senior White Two? Song Shuhang thought to himself. As it was difficult to find things that interested Senior White Two, it was no simple task to get more of those hearts from him.
For example, he needed to find other things like the Thirty-Three Divine Beasts’ Combined Magical Treasure, meaning that the object should be at least be of the Eighth Stage, and it had to be interesting and unique.
After Song Shuhang thought for a long time, he came to a conclusion—he might as well sell himself into slavery at this point.
Treasures at or above the Eighth Stage that were interesting and unique? How many of those even existed in the universe?
“The shutdown jingle of the puppet maiden sounded pretty good,” Soft Feather said. “Senior Song, should we give her some spirit stones so that we can power her on just for her to power off again? And then we can repeat that again and again!”
“…” Song Shuhang.
Good idea!
However, it would be best to leave that as an idea for now.
“When I’m able to face off against the puppet maiden, we can try it out then,” Song Shuhang suggested. “Otherwise, I’m afraid that our small and weak bodies would end up getting destroyed by the fairy.”
Soft Feather chuckled. “Senior Song, you’re thinking too much. Our relationship with the fairy isn’t that bad, so the harm we’ll be subject to will definitely be within what we can tolerate.”
This was one of the biggest differences between Soft Feather and Thrice Reckless. She was ready to bravely endure the consequences of her death-seeking actions each time.
“Let me remind you two.” Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword finally couldn’t stand it anymore, and had to speak. “Although the puppet maiden has shut down, her consciousness is still there. Although she can’t speak or move, she should be able to see and hear what you’re saying.”
Soft Feather remarked, “Well then, Senior Song, since the puppet maiden has already heard us, we should try it out!”
Song Shuhang was suddenly tempted—since the puppet maiden already knew, then why not take advantage of her moment of powerlessness to try out Soft Feather’s bold idea?
Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword said, “Ahem, let me orient you on the process of progressing from the Sixth Stage to the Seventh Stage.”
Song Shuhang now had a ‘resurrection item’ available, so it felt that it had to do something to suppress Song Shuhang’s urge to seek death.
It didn’t like seeing Song Shuuhang die so often.
As Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword had forcefully changed the subject, Song Shuhang and Soft Feather gave up on pulling through with their bold idea.
Song Shuhang first stored the puppet maiden in the magical bracelet, and then sat beside Soft Feather to begin listening to Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword’s lecture.
Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword said, “I will only give you a simple and brief rundown. The process of ascending from the Sixth Stage to the Seventh Stage is very complex, so I’ll explain it in several steps.”
Moreover, it wasn’t very clear on the specifics of the process of ascending from the Sixth Stage to the Seventh Stage, either. This was because when its sword spirit had been born, Scarlet Heaven had already been quickly approaching the Ninth Stage Realm.
Some of the knowledge of ascending from the Sixth Stage to the Seventh Stage was learned by Scarlet Heaven Sword later on.
“There are four main steps in the process of the ascension from the Sixth Stage to the Seventh Stage.” Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword floated in the air, and used its sword tip as a pen to write and draw in the air with spiritual power.
Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword said, “The first small realm is the realm Song Shuhang is at currently. This is where the golden core transforms into the Spirit Lake, that is, the entry-level of the Sixth Stage Realm. Spirit Lakes vary in depth depending on the number of dragon patterns one had, while the Golden Core Composition goes on to condense the Lake Soul. This Lake Soul then produces ‘weapon yuan’ which can be used to enhance magical treasures.”
“Right, I almost forgot, I still have that means of making money!” Song Shuhang said.
He, Song Shuhang, had seven small Spirit Lakes and one big Spirit Lake.
A large number of his Spirit Lakes were in an idle state, so couldn’t he make use of them to nourish other people’s magical treasures and make money?
Song Shuhang took out his phone, opened the memo, and recorded this means of making money.
Song Shuhang asked curiously, “By the way, is the puppet maiden a magical treasure?”
Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword replied without much thought. “It should be regarded as a magical treasure. After all, puppets are also a kind of treasure. Wait, what are you thinking of doing?”
Song Shuhang said, “I’m going to try something.”
Afterward, he took out the puppet maiden again, and with a thought, he transferred her to the first small Spirit Lake, the ‘Tyrannical Saber Spirit Lake’.
The Lake Soul condensed by the Forever Impregnable Holy City Composition wrapped up the puppet maiden, and then the ‘weapon yuan’ inside the Spirit Lake merged into the puppet maiden’s body, enhancing and strengthening her.
“It’s actually possible.” Song Shuhang laughed.
“…” Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword.
The ‘puppet-type magical treasures’ it was talking about were those battle puppets lacking consciousness, not the special puppet with their own consciousness like the puppet maiden. Scarlet Heaven Sword couldn’t imagine what changes would happen to the puppet maiden after being placed inside a ‘Spirit Lake’ for nourishment.
It could only hope that there wouldn’t be any mutations that would happen to her.
Song Shuhang asked, “By the way, Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword. Do you need enhancements? I have some more room for you.”
Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword said disdainfully, “Stop with the nonsense. I’m an Immortal’s divine weapon, how can your Sixth Stage Spirit Lake strengthen me?”
“That makes sense.” Song Shuhang nodded, and said, “For Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword, this is still more practical.”
After saying that, he used the ❮Saber-Nurturing Technique❯.
“Oh~ A child can indeed be taught~” Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword was satisfied.
Soft Feather squeezed her chin as a question emerged in her mind—since the puppet maiden was also a magical treasure, was a materialized inner demon also a magical treasure?
“Alright, let me continue discussing the subject,” Scarlet Heaven Sword continued. “Next is the second small realm of Sixth Stage True Monarchs. This small realm is defined by the ‘Life Wheel Atop the Lake’ which uses the Lake Soul as a foundation. The stronger the Lake Soul is, and the larger and deeper the Spirit Lake is, the shorter the time needed to condense the Life Wheel, and the higher its strength. This is why it’s better to have more dragon patterns and a complex Golden Core Composition. In addition, in the process of condensing the Life Wheel, both the life-bound magical treasure and the Big Dipper can increase the power of the Life Wheel and shorten the time needed to condense it by several times.
“That is also why it’s better to forge the life-bound magical treasure before the Fifth Stage in the world of cultivation. By forging the life-bound magical treasure in the Fourth Stage, and then spending the Fifth Stage Realm to nourish it, the life-bound magical treasure will be able to exert the maximum effect when its user condenses their Life Wheel at the Sixth Stage.
“The role of the Big Dipper is similar to that of a life-bound magical treasure. Therefore, high-end Life Wheels consist of the three-in-one combination of Lake Soul + life-bound magical treasure + Big Dipper, while the average ones only consist of the combination of Lake Soul + life-bound magical treasure. And then there are the low-end ones which only consist of the Lake Soul.”
Soft Feather remarked, “Differences in wealth and quality translate into a difference in class.”
Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword said, “A very heart-rending but also very proper summary. Among the four needs of the path of cultivation, namely wealth, companions, techniques, and land, wealth is especially important.”
Song Shuhang remarked, “But if you’re lucky enough, you can do whatever you want.”
…Such as Senior White.
Senior Scarlet Heaven Sword said, “You don’t have even half a spirit stone on you, so shut up.”
“!!!” Song Shuhang.
