Chapter 4: Refining

Zhu’er and Ke’er had mostly finished venting their emotions and finally turned their attention back to Su Tang. Su Tang had been pretending to be unconscious and was feeling quite bored. Additionally, Ke’er’s movements were very gentle and considerate, which caused him to unconsciously fall into a deep sleep.

In his dream, he saw a series of strange images.

A sturdy and heavy door made of alloy was pushed open, and a figure slowly walked inside.

The inside of the door and the outside were two completely different worlds.

Inside the room, a strong man around thirty years old sat at a long table, silently enjoying his meal. His expression was very calm. On the candle holder, a dozen silver-white candles emitted flickering light, making the atmosphere here feel warm.

Outside the room, however, there were broken corpses everywhere. Blood flowed slowly between the bodies; clearly, they had not been dead for long.

The man continued to taste the food indifferently. The uninvited guest who had just entered did not speak or move, but simply stood there quietly, watching the other person.

After an unknown amount of time, the man suddenly smiled. He grabbed a napkin to wipe his mouth, then leaned back in his chair in a lazy posture. “Do you know? Evolving self-awareness is not entirely a good thing. You can think for yourself like a Human, but you also inherited some Human flaws. For example, you developed emotions of joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness. For another example, you possessed curiosity.”

The uninvited guest still did not speak, standing motionless.

“The fact that you did not immediately perform a mechanical killing action proves my judgment was correct. You are willing to listen to this nonsense because you are enjoying the joy of victory and want to know what I, a loser, have to say. Yes… you have already learned how to enjoy yourself…” the man smiled and said, “But, you underestimated our determination.”

At that moment, arcs of electricity suddenly shot out from the ground, racing wildly across the floor.

“Electronic signals have completely failed. It is no longer possible for you to transmit your self-awareness back to the base via pulses. Then, everything within a radius of dozens of kilometers will be torn apart into basic particles, including you, and including me.” A mocking look appeared in the man’s eyes.

The uninvited guest’s body moved, and red light suddenly radiated from its eyes. At that moment, the floor cracked open, and a white semi-circular screen of light rose from the ground, expanding at an unimaginable speed. In the first second, the screen of light just managed to swallow the entire room, and in the next second, the screen of light had rushed thousands of meters into the sky, shredding floating clouds to pieces.

The expanding screen of light contained an incomparable destructive power that sought to tear the entire world open. The earth heaved violently, and the air within dozens of kilometers surged crazily like ocean waves.

The world seemed unable to bear it any longer, but the screen of light suddenly began to collapse toward its core. In the blink of an eye, it condensed into a pitch-black vortex. When the last vibrating ray of light was sucked into the vortex, the vortex rapidly dissolved and then disappeared without a trace.

Su Tang felt his vision blur and found himself in a boundless Starry Sky. Then, a slightly hoarse voice reached him.

“This Spirit Refining Method consists of eighty-one chapters in total and can open eighty-one Spirit Apertures. Once the cultivation is complete, even the gods and demons of the heavens will have to respect you.”

“Old Ancestor, can the art of Spirit Refining grant longevity?” A voice like a great bell rang out, making Su Tang feel dizzy.

“As long as the Spirit Apertures do not perish, the body will not be destroyed. Longevity is easy. Are you willing to learn?”

“I am willing to learn, I am willing to learn! Thank you for your cultivation, Old Ancestor!”

Su Tang looked in the direction the voice came from, and his eyes couldn’t help but go blank. There was an unimaginably huge ancient tree there. Even from such a distance, he strained to look up but still could not see the top of the canopy. The layers upon layers of dense leaves were so large that any single leaf could serve as a blanket for Su Tang.

In front of the ancient tree, an old man sat cross-legged in the void. His size was similar to Su Tang’s.

If the ancient tree were compared to a mountain, the old man would be like an insignificant ant. But strangely, the bell-like voice came from the ancient tree, and judging by the tone, it was extremely respectful toward the old man.

Just then, the old man moved his hands, and strange golden runes appeared out of thin air, striking the huge branches of the ancient tree one after another, making countless leaves tremble.

After a moment, the ancient tree suddenly burst into laughter. “The Spirit Refining Method is far too simple! In just over a hundred breaths, I have already opened two Spirit Apertures. Old Ancestor, it won’t be long before my cultivation is complete!”

“Cultivation complete? That is easier said than done… Hehe, you will know in time.” The old man sighed, and then his expression became solemn. “You must remember that the art of Spirit Refining seizes the creation of heaven and earth and invades the Spiritual Essence of all things. This Great Dao… will surely not tolerate you! Demons have the fire of calamity, and gods have their twilight. After the Spirit Apertures are opened, you will face a tribulation. If you endure it, becoming a saint is within reach; if you cannot, everything will end!”

“Old Ancestor, do not try to scare me.” The ancient tree laughed. “This place is a mass of chaos, existing outside the Three Realms and independent of the Five Elements. Heaven does not collect it and Earth does not manage it, so where could a tribulation come from?”

The old man was about to speak when he suddenly realized something. He calculated with his fingers, and his expression became stunned. After a long time, he showed a bitter smile and sighed, “Heaven’s will, Heaven’s will…” After speaking, the old man’s body turned into a streak of light and shot into the river of stars.

“Old Ancestor?” The ancient tree did not expect the old man to leave without warning and hurriedly shouted loudly. But in the next moment, a dazzling screen of light surged from afar. Before the ancient tree could react, it shattered within the screen of light and turned into ash.

The images changed again. Su Tang saw himself. His body was falling through the air, the speed slowed down very, very much. Suddenly, the screen of light broke through the space-time barrier again and flooded into this world. However, it lasted for a very short time, less than one-thousandth of a second, and the energy contained in the screen of light was exhausted. It failed to cause an external effect, but it sent in trillions of basic particles.

For some unknown reason, the surging basic particles were gathering toward Su Tang’s body. This process was too swift. Neither the falling Su Tang, the grinning old man, the struggling Hu Niu, nor the stunned Qian Biao noticed anything.

Huu… Su Tang suddenly sat up from the bed. His heart was beating fast because he had a confused sensation.

Su Tang could feel the determination of the man who went to his death gladly, the steel-like coldness from the deepest part of the uninvited guest, and the despair and unwillingness of the ancient tree on the verge of death.

Moreover, those emotions were very, very strong, as if he had experienced them personally.

It was as if he were them, and they were him!

The room was quiet, and a few candles were burning on the table. Ke’er, who served him, was leaning against the edge of the bed and snoring softly. Perhaps due to exhaustion, she was sleeping deeply, and Su Tang’s getting up did not disturb her.

Su Tang stared blankly for a moment, then reached out and slowly took the Broken Sword he had hidden under the bedding during the chaos earlier. The moment he saw the Broken Sword, a cold voice suddenly rang in his mind: “Fragmented Spirit Tool detected. Refine?”

Su Tang was startled, and the Broken Sword almost slipped from his hand. Then he quickly realized that the speaker was a type of artificial intelligence that had now become a part of him.

Su Tang did not understand how he knew this, but he simply knew.

After hesitating for a while, Su Tang tried to give an answer in his mind: “You may refine it.”

Suddenly, that splitting headache returned, and he clearly felt the strength of his body draining rapidly. At the same time, the Broken Sword in his hand emitted a soft light, as if it were being forged.

Su Tang’s strength became weaker and weaker. Golden stars appeared before his eyes, and his breathing became heavy. He was like a fish about to die of thirst, mouth wide open and chest heaving violently. Finally, he could no longer hold on and slowly collapsed onto the bed.

It wasn’t until the sky turned pale that Su Tang regained consciousness. His first feeling was that his mind seemed to have become infinitely vast.

Where was the Broken Sword? The “stolen goods” could not be seen by others! Su Tang tried to sit up, but as soon as he moved, he collapsed again. He then discovered that every inch of muscle and every inch of bone in his entire body was sore and numb; he couldn’t exert any strength at all.

What had happened? Su Tang narrowed his eyes. Strange runes suddenly appeared in his mind. The runes moved rapidly and finally condensed into a Grand Formation. Most of the runes were grayish, and only two runes on the edge emitted light. One rune’s light was soft, while the other rune only had a light ring and seemed empty inside.

When he focused his attention on the first rune, a piece of information appeared in his mind.

Fragmented Spirit Soul.

Su Tang seemed to realize something. He barely stretched out his hand and took the Mask out from under the bedding.

“Fragmented Spirit Tool detected. Refine?” the cold voice rang out again.

“You may refine it,” Su Tang answered subconsciously. Then he realized that refining a Spirit Tool required physical strength. The first refinement had left him exhausted; how could he withstand a second one?

However, once the program started, it could not be stopped. Su Tang only felt the world spinning, couldn’t catch his breath, and his eyes rolled back. Then he truly fell unconscious.

After an unknown amount of time, Su Tang finally regained his senses. He opened his eyes and saw Ke’er sitting blankly by the bed. He was startled. In his consciousness, he had only been unconscious for a short while, but Ke’er had completely changed. Her originally energetic large eyes were red and swollen, filled with sorrow and despair. Her cheeks had thinned significantly, and her hair was messy, making her look like a little beggar girl.

Seeing Su Tang open his eyes, Ke’er froze. After a long time, she rubbed her eyes hard, closed them tight, then snapped them open. Convinced it wasn’t an illusion, Ke’er suddenly screamed, then stood up and ran out stumblingly, shouting as she ran: “Sister Zhu’er, the young master is awake! Sister Zhu’er…”

Soon, a figure rushed into the room. Her movements were so urgent that even the door curtain was torn off. It was the tall Zhu’er. After making eye contact with Su Tang for a moment, the corners of Zhu’er’s mouth slowly turned down. She backed out of the room, and then cries of mixed grief and joy came from outside.

What the hell?! Su Tang tried to shout, but he couldn’t make a sound. He couldn’t even open his mouth. He tried to turn his head, but his neck was exceptionally stiff and couldn’t move at all. However, through the torn door curtain, he saw a dark object placed in the courtyard outside. It looked like a coffin.