Chapter 258 – Birth of The Divine Sense
Since there was no sun or moon in this isolated world, it was difficult to tell just how much time had passed. Many times, Yang Kai had to simply guess how long it had been by his instincts.
After spending about half a month in the white mist field, Yang Kai successfully broke through to the Separation and Reunion Boundary Ninth Stage!
This was not just the results of his dedicated cultivation, but also due to him absorbing more than eighty Blood Beads. These Blood Beads were all acquired when he had killed Chi Xue.
Most of them were from Monster Beasts, but among them there were five which had been condensed from the essence of True Element Boundary disciples, each one containing vast amounts of pure energy.
After absorbing such a huge amount of energy, and then spending half a month in focused cultivation, it was only natural that Yang Kai’s realm had been promoted. While consolidating his Ninth Stage cultivation, he also laid a stable foundation for his nearing breakthrough to the True Element Boundary.
For this past half-month, Yang Kai had also been slowly adapted to the pain in his mind, eventually even being able to ignore it altogether. Although the pain itself still existed, it was no longer able to make any impact on him.
With the repeated destruction and repair, Yang Kai’s Divine Sense slowly became stronger, and the range of his perception expanded many times.
Experiencing this process for half a month, Yang Kai eventually began looking for a way out.
In any case, cultivating his Divine Sense did not need him to do anything in particular. As long as he remained within this white mist bank, his Soul would receive damage, and the Soul Warming Lotus would automatically restore it. Both staying put or moving around resulted in the same outcome.
After exploring his surroundings for several days, Yang Kai was still trapped within the white mist bank, unable to find where he came in, nor another way out.
The situation was beginning to look grim, and Yang Kai started to feel slightly anxious. Even after he used his Flaming Yang Wings to fly up, he could not find a way out of this strange place.
One day, as Yang Kai was exploring around, he suddenly became aware of some changes in the white mist around him. These changes were very subtle, and if he had not been checking carefully, he simply would not have noticed. He even discovered that this slight change was also thanks to his perception being significantly enhanced. If it was him from half a month ago, he certainly would have missed it.
Afterwards, Yang Kai began to thoroughly investigate this phenomenon.
After a long time, Yang Kai eventually determined that the mist surrounding him was actually slowly drifting towards a fixed position. Although he did not know why this was happening, after searching around here for so long, now that he had finally discovered something out of the ordinary, he was naturally eager to check it out.
Walking along the direction the white mist was flowing, as he moved forward, the pace at which the mist flowed became faster and faster, faintly beginning to feel like a light breeze, as if there was something which was absorbing the white mist in front of him.
Yang Kai silently raised his vigilance, pushing his Movement Skill lightly as he slowly approached the source of the anomaly.
A few breaths of time later, Yang Kai began to hear a subtle humming sound coming from in front of him, like the sound of wind flowing into a hole in the wall.
Focusing his senses forward in an attempt to amplify his perception to the limit, Yang Kai slowly closed the distance between the source of the sound and himself.
A short time later, Yang Kai stood in place, frowning slightly as he stared at a strangely shaped stone standing not far from his position, the surrounding white mist clearly flowing towards a small opening on its surface.
The hole in this stone was like its mouth, constantly inhaling the white mist.
Not sensing any danger, Yang Kai gradually relaxed, his demeanor slowly transitioning from vigilance to curiosity. Upon taking a closer look, Yang Kai was surprised to find that the stone itself was hollow, and that while the white mist was flowing into it from the hole at its top, another small hole at its bottom was where the humming sound came from; it was very peculiar.
Circling around the stone in interest, Yang Kai found that this stone was anything but ordinary.
The stone showed some traces of being attacked previously, however these were only light scratches, with no indication of it being cracked or chipped in any way.
These traces had clearly been left on the stone when someone had attacked it, and in order to come here, one would need at least a True Element Boundary cultivation, but a True Element Boundary cultivator’s attack had actually only been able to scratch the stone’s surface. Obviously, this stone was not just some common rock.
Any ordinary stone which suffered a True Element Boundary cultivator’s strike would be instantly turned into dust.
(LZM: And, you know, it’s also inhaling mist and humming.)
Considering for a moment, Yang Kai also decided to launch his own attack, sending out a strong palm strike, but the result was him not even being able to cause the stone to shake slightly.
Though he knew that this stone was certainly some kind of rare treasure, Yang Kai could only look at it. Such a big stone obviously weighed at least several thousand kilograms, possibly even more than that; it was undoubtedly impossible for him to take it away from here.
After letting out a long sigh, Yang Kai slowly squat down, deciding to investigate the small opening at the bottom of the stone.
Underneath the stone’s lower opening, which was constantly releasing the white mist absorbed by the hole above, was a soybean sized well, and within that well was a drop of crystal clear, amber-like liquid.
When he moved closer to this well, Yang Kai caught a whiff of a wondrous fragrance that made his entire spirit feel refreshed. The feeling was even many times stronger compared to when the Soul Warming Lotus repaired the damage to his Soul from the white mist.
[Treasure!] Although Yang Kai did not know exactly what this liquid was, it was definitely a Precious Treasure which could bring great benefits to one’s Soul!
Look at this single drop of liquid, Yang Kai’s eyes filled with desire.
Stretching out a finger, he carefully controlled his Yuan Qi in order to remove this drop of amber liquid from the well.
However, before he could celebrate his success, the surrounding white mist suddenly began to swirl about more than ten times faster than before, flooding into the hole at the top of the stone.
But this time, instead of the white mist flowing out of the lower opening in the stone, it was somehow all completely absorbed, with not a strand of it leaking out.
Yang Kai watched this all occur with great surprise.
Gradually, the soybean-sized well began to fill with a stage watery mist, and at the very bottom a trace of amber liquid began to condense
[Does this mean that the drop of amber liquid I just extracted is actually refined by condensing the surrounding white mist?]
Although this was just a guess, combined with what he had just seen, Yang Kai was almost certain his theory was correct.
Originally, he had wanted to preserve this drop of Precious Treasure, but now that he knew that more of it could be formed later, Yang Kai was no longer so concerned about this.
Pausing for only a moment, Yang Kai quickly threw the drop of amber liquid into his mouth and immediately swallowed it.
Tasting a sweet, nectar like flavour, Yang Kai clearly felt the amber liquid transform into a form of energy and flow into his dantian before completely ignoring his burning hot True Yang Yuan Qi as it traveled along his meridians, all the way up to his head.
Suddenly, Yang Kai felt like his entire body was floating above the clouds, an indescribable feeling washing over him, causing every fiber of his being to rejoice.
(PewPewLaserGun: I’ll take some of whatever he’s smoking!)
His mind suddenly felt many times clearer than it ever had before!
His tactile, visual, and auditory senses at this moment were all amplified greatly.
(PewPewLaserGun: GG smell? No olfactory enhancement for you!)
(Silavin: It’s alright. Yang Kai does not have a scent fetish – Dismay!!)
In the blink of an eye, Yang Kai could suddenly even make out the blades of grass over five hundred meters away.
In this mist covered place, Yang Kai could only see a few tens of meters ahead of himself originally, and even that was only vaguely, but now his vision had been directly enhanced tens of times over!
His hearing and tactile senses had also experienced similarly significant improvement!
Understanding that he had definitely just ingested an incredible thing, Yang Kai was not negligent, quickly sitting cross-legged, calming his emotions, and carefully refining the energy released from the drop of amber liquid.
As he continued to absorb and refine this energy, the benefits it brought him also became stronger. First of all, were the benefits it brought to his own body; Yang Kai could now clearly feel the influx of World Energy entering him from his surroundings, as well as exactly how it flowed and circulated around inside him through his five viscera and six organs.
After this initial rush had passed, a sudden bursting feeling occurred within Yang Kai’s mind; it was difficult to describe, like a tingling sensation. It felt as if an invisible barrier in his mind was itching, making him desperate to scratch it, yet Yang Kai frustratingly could do nothing about it.
One thing was certain; this barrier no doubt existed, and was blocking some part of Yang Kai’s perception.
This situation went on for quite a while until, all of a sudden, this strange barrier shattered.
The itching sensation was instantly replaced by a warm, comfortable feeling, causing Yang Kai to feel like his spirit had just undergone an incredible baptism and sublimation.
At the same time, Yang Kai’s original senses also underwent a complete evolution. It was like his entire range of perception rapidly contracted, then immediately burst and spread outwards.
With himself as the centre, Yang Kai could suddenly perceive his entire surroundings: the white mist which filled the air, all the individual plants, it was like he could see and feel all of it within his mind.
Within a radius two to three kilometers, there was nothing he could not sense.
Yang Kai suddenly opened his eyes, a flash of confusion appearing on his face as he quietly meditated.
After a long time, he began showing a strange smile as his eyes glimmered.
“Old Demon… I think I’ve just developed my Divine Sense…” Yang Kai said softly while in pure disbelief.
“What?” Old Demon replied in shock, “Are you feeling alright, Young Master?”
“No, it’s true, I really believe I’ve managed to cultivate out my Divine Sense.” Yang Kai’s smile gradually grew bigger, slowly explaining the changes he had just experienced.
As Old Demon listened, he became more and more amazed by Yang Kai, for a long time losing his ability to even respond.
“If what you say is true then… you certain have cultivated out your Divine Sense!” Old Demon’s voice was filled with both shock and admiration; being able to “see” everything around you with your eyes closed, if that wasn’t one’s Divine Sense then what else could it possibly be?
Before reaching the Immortal Ascension Boundary, a cultivator mainly relied on their perception to explore their surroundings; however, this kind of perception was somewhat vague and was closer to instinct than actually sensing things. This kind of instinct could also be strengthened by enhancing one’s auditory, visual, and olfactory senses to perceive changes in the surrounding atmosphere, thus allowing one to infer situations further afield than one’s direct environment.
Perception was not omnipotent, and it was actually quite easy for it to be mistaken, but for cultivators below the Immortal Ascension Boundary, it was the only method they had to gather unseen information.
However, once one reached the Immortal Ascension Boundary, everything was different. Once one became an Immortal Ascension cultivator and opened their Knowledge Sea, allowing their Divine Sense to explore their surroundings, everything around them became as clear as if one were looking at it with their own eyes.
Compared to something vague like perception, Divine Sense was undoubtedly more powerful, and this power was not only reflected in a cultivator’s ability to perceive an enemy’s movements, a powerful Divine Sense could also be used to attack others which was extremely difficult to prevent.
[But… reaching the Immortal Ascension Boundary is normally an absolute requirement in order to cultivate out one’s Divine Sense; however, Young Master’s realm is clearly still at the Separation and Reunion Boundary Ninth Stage!]
In between these two cultivation levels was an entire Great Realm plus a major watershed Minor Realm!
Even though he had seen Yang Kai defy common sense countless times already, Old Demon at the moment still found such a development somewhat unacceptable.
“Since Young Master has cultivated out his Divine Sense, have you also opened up your Knowledge Sea?” Asked Old Demon curiously.
“No…” Yang Kai responded, also quite puzzled by this, naturally he had some understanding about the Knowledge Sea and had just now carefully examined himself but he was unable to find any trace of his Knowledge Sea within him.
“How could that be?” Old Demon said, pondering for a moment before asking, “Young Master can you see what’s inside yourself, especially inside your brain? If you can see the Soul Warming Lotus inside yourself then that means you’ve already opened your Knowledge Sea.”
“I can’t see it,” Yang Kai wrinkled his brow greatly. “It seems I can only perceive the situation outside. I can’t sense anything within me.”