Free Web NovelChapter 96: Chapter 92: Great Divine Abilities—Knowing the Celestial Mandate
The Holy Blood Sect’s collection of texts was vast and profound.
It also contained detailed notes on every type of Anomalous Spirit Root.
Two of the notebooks even mentioned a "tenth type of spirit root."
However, the descriptions were vague, and Du Youqian could only remain skeptical about this so-called "tenth spirit root."
He had, however, already obtained a Wind Spirit Root.
By studying the notes, he gained a deeper understanding of his Fire-Wind Dual Spirit Roots, and his future cultivation plans became much clearer.
The greatest advantage of the Fire-Wind Dual Spirit Roots was not its cultivation speed.
Rather... there was a certain Spiritual Object that could drastically increase the Core Formation success rate for a Cultivator with Fire-Wind Dual Spirit Roots.
According to one notebook, if a Cultivator possessed Upper Grade Fire-Wind Dual Spirit Roots, then paired it with that Spiritual Object and the Core Formation Secret Technique available for trade within the Holy Blood Sect, the success rate for Core Formation would be astonishingly high. It could exceed sixty percent, nearly matching the results of a Celestial Spirit Root.
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Du Youqian stood up in his secluded cultivation chamber, stretched a bit, and familiarized himself with the changes in his body.
He also took the opportunity to sense his own lifespan.
Breaking through from the Sixth to the Seventh Layer of Qi Cultivation—that is, from the Middle Stage to the Late Stage—had given his remaining lifespan a significant boost.
It had increased by five years.
His life expectancy had now reached 126 years. freёwebnovel.com
"Knowing the Celestial Mandate," the Great Divine Ability he had obtained on his deathbed in his previous life.
After a year and a half of exploration, Du Youqian had finally figured out its general effects.
Du Youqian had so far discovered two aspects of the Great Divine Ability, "Knowing the Celestial Mandate."
On one hand, it was a precognition of his own destiny, allowing him to clearly know his remaining lifespan and sense when major events related to him were about to occur.
On the other hand, it provided a huge bonus to the Divination Art.
To be precise, it was a "rank" bonus.
For example, with Du Youqian’s current novice-level Divination Art, he shouldn’t have been able to divine the movements of a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.
He couldn’t even divine things that were closely related to him.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t have failed to discover Helan Ruojin’s methods until the very last moment of their battle.
Before the battle, he had performed Divination countless times. Even when he tried to divine ’Does Helan Ruojin have any hidden tricks?’ the results would vacillate between yes and no.
It was completely inaccurate.
In this life, however, Du Youqian had tried divining Xi Mengran many times over the past year, and every result had been remarkably accurate.
He had also tried to divine Xi Mengran’s master, that Holy Blood Sect Elder at Foundation Establishment Perfection. Although he hadn’t had a chance to verify the results yet, he imagined some of them must be true.
These two abilities were both quite useful to Du Youqian.
Especially the ability to sense his remaining lifespan.
It allowed him to more precisely "spend his life force" when using explosive-type Secret Techniques.
He could burn his life away until the very end, or burn it until he had exactly one month left.
And the enhancement that "Knowing the Celestial Mandate" provided to his Divination was also crucial.
The Divination Art was notoriously easy to learn but difficult to master, making it a useless skill for most Cultivators.
Du Youqian had learned the Divination Art mostly for fun, never expecting it to play a significant role.
But with the boost from "Knowing the Celestial Mandate," the Divination Art could seemingly become his most powerful tool.
’For example, it’s nearly impossible to break through to the Nascent Soul realm in this Land of the Dead Spirit, but I could try to break through in the outside world.’
Although Momenan had been isolated from the world for several thousand years.
’But as it happens, I know of a certain elder who seems to control a passage in and out of Momenan.’
’But regarding the last piece of Elder Liu Hua’s Jade Scroll Fragment, the one concerning that passage, I only have one clue: it might be related to the Shengxuan Sect.’
And if he went to the Shengxuan Sect and couldn’t find it, the trail would go completely cold.
But now with the "Knowing the Celestial Mandate" Great Divine Ability, the situation was different.
’If I train my Divination Art to Tier Two or even higher, then with the high-rank bonus from this Great Divine Ability, it probably wouldn’t be too hard to divine the location of that final fragment.’
’With two fragments already in my possession, I might even be able to combine their information to directly divine the location of Elder Liu Hua’s grotto-heaven.’
’Or for another example, when I face Core Formation but lack the specific Core Formation Spiritual Object that’s most suitable for my Fire-Wind Spirit Root... perhaps I could use Divination to learn how to obtain that Spiritual Object. I might even be able to determine the time and place that would slightly increase my chances of success.’
’See? The Divination Art plus "Knowing the Celestial Mandate"... the possibilities are endless.’
’Just three end-of-life evaluations of C Level or higher were enough to get me such a heaven-defying Divine Ability.’
’What about three B Level or higher evaluations?’
’Or even A Level?’
’Three times is a threshold, so what about six times, or nine?’
’What kind of Divine Abilities could I obtain?’
Du Youqian was filled with ever-growing anticipation.
’Originally, I thought that breaking through to the Nascent Soul realm within ten reincarnations was an impossibly difficult task. Something I could only try my best at, but with little real hope of success.’
’But if I can keep getting good end-of-life ratings and continue to acquire such heaven-defying Divine Abilities, then the Nascent Soul realm might not be so unattainable after all.’
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Leaving his place of seclusion, Du Youqian came to the courtyard.
This was a corner of Xi Mengran’s grotto-heaven. Flowers bloomed year-round in the lush courtyard, which was tended to by a few servants assigned to Miscellaneous Tasks.
The moment Du Youqian appeared, several servants at the Qi Cultivation Layer materialized. They didn’t close in, but they subtly surrounded him from all sides, their gazes predatory.
If Du Youqian tried to leave, they would block him.
This small courtyard was the full extent of the area where Du Youqian could move freely.
These people were all former Outer Disciples of the Holy Blood Sect. They had luckily survived many battles and schemes, but after reaching the age limit for the Outer Sect, they failed to qualify as Inner Disciples or Sect Stewards and were not permitted to leave the Sect.
With nowhere else to go and in order to survive, they had no choice but to seek shelter under the wing of an Inner Disciple, becoming their servants.
Their Cultivation was mostly at the Middle and Early Stages of Qi Cultivation.
Most of the time, they had no interaction with Du Youqian.
But sometimes, a few of the Junior Cultivators among them, perhaps out of jealousy for Du Youqian’s good looks or for his opportunity to dual cultivate with Xi Mengran, would make sarcastic remarks.
Du Youqian didn’t get angry. In his mind, he had already sentenced those few to death and was simply waiting for the right moment to carry it out.
’So, why bother arguing with dead men?’
After admiring the flowers in the courtyard for a while, Du Youqian plucked a few leaves and began his Divination.
Thanks to the enhancement from the "Knowing the Celestial Mandate" Great Divine Ability, his Divination Art was progressing rapidly.
It had already reached the level of Tier One Middle Grade.
He could now bypass conventional restrictions and wasn’t bound by specific tools; he could use anything at hand to perform Divination.
He could use copper coins, leaves, flower petals, or even leftover tea leaves to perform a fairly accurate divination.
Especially when it came to matters concerning himself, his divinations were exceptionally accurate.
After finishing the Divination, Du Youqian looked at the leaves and shook his head.
’It’s not time to act yet.’
He looked up, his gaze sweeping over the few servants in the Qi Cultivation Layer. He was smiling, and there was no deliberate release of killing intent in his eyes, but anyone caught in his sights couldn’t help but shudder.
