Thousand Soulspirit Art

Boom!

A misty white light exploded from Bai Hu's head and an intense spiritual pressure was emitted from him. He had just cultivated the second level of the Thousand Soulspirit Art to completion.

He obtained this art from a mysterious vendor just 4 months ago, along with a plethora of elemental spirit stones.

Just as he'd suspected, this art cultivates the divine sense and strengthens it. The qi refinement portion makes his divine sense 1 percent stronger, and a total of 10 percent. As one cultivates this technique, their divine sense will become much stronger than their peers, allowing for much better stealth, detection, and control over treasures. It even has some basic techniques that are based on utilizing the divine sense.

There was only one thing that puzzled Bai Hu. The art goes up to the Core Formation realm like any Black ranked cultivation art, but throughout the book, it refers to the divine sense as 'spiritual sense' instead, and over half the book was blank. He set it aside for now as he was probably too weak to probe the secrets of the art.

Stretching, he stood up and punched the air in front of him. Multicolored lights shone faintly as the air rippled and a few small cracks appeared on the wall just 2 meters in front of him. The undulations of this display of power was clearly at the sixth level of qi refinement, but it was comparable to a cultivator at the eighth level in terms of raw power.

Leaving the abode, Bai Hu was just about to see if he could hitch a ride from a senior with a flying tool when in the distance, he saw a familiar figure flying towards him.

With pupils constricted when the wine soaked figure atop a massive all too familiar gourd stood just a few feet away from him.

"Master!"

He bowed respectfully as anyone would to their master. Zhong Xian took a step on the air and reappeared right in front of Bai Hu, giving him a fright.

"Not bad, I was gone for 6 months and you advanced 6 levels, just as I asked for"

An item on Zhong Xian's back caught Bai Hu's eyes. It was a pole-like object wrapped in cloth, obstructing his view.

His master chuckled and waved his hand. The cloth unraveled as if invisible hands were doing the work to reveal a spear that emitted faint spiritual light. It had a black spearhead that shone with vicious light, and a similarly dark handle. Gold designs encrusted the handle and if one looked closely, they could see that the handle and the blade had faint red lines on them, similar to veins. A red gemstone encased in a gold material connected the blade to the handle.

"This is..."

"Hehehe, I went on a trip and just so happened to gain the favor of a Nascent Soul cultivator. I managed to procure some interesting materials and asked him to refine a treasure for you"

He handed the spear to Bai Hu, who eagerly took it and began admiring the work.

"The blade is made by a mysterious meteorite I had found. Its toughness is out of this world and even the Nascent Soul senior said it was hard to melt. The shaft is made by a Black Unbroken Bamboo and the whole thing was refined with Copper Essence and a bit of Tempered Gold. Finally, that gemstone you see there is a Heart Gem"

Bai Hu's heart jumped when he heard that this is a top grade magic treasure that is comparable to a low grade true treasure. Even a Foundation cultivator might only have a few low grade magic treasures and he directly obtained one of the highest caliber that is made by a plethora of precious materials.

"Drip a drop of your blood essence onto the spear to bind it to yourself. Nurture it with your qi until it becomes a bound treasure and then you can refine it yourself to bring it to the level of a True Treasure"

Bai Hu took out a dagger that he keeps on him at all times and made a small cut on the tip of his finger. A bright drop of blood emerged and he let it fall onto the spear.

Whoosh!

The spear shone with even greater brilliance and Bai Hu felt a greater connection with the spear.

"Lets go, the competition will soon begin"

Zhong Xian took Bai Hu atop his flying treasure and they zipped away in a streak of bright light.

The competition will be held on Brightsky Peak, one of the tallest peaks in the Spirit Sect. There was already a large crowd there waiting around a circular platform. An elder stood silently at the center of the platform as still as a Buddhist statue.

Zhong Xian pointed at another elder giving out jade slips, "Go there to register in the competition"

Bai Hu did as he was told and went on line. After a few minutes, it was his turn. The elder gave him a quick glance and handed him a jade slip with the number 314. The format of the competition was 1 on 1 battles, each given 5 incense sticks worth of time. If no winner can be decided, then both participants will be eliminated. In the end, the top 10 will fight to determine the exact placements.

More and more people started showing up and soon there were over 1000 people, all cultivators in the outer court, waiting for the competition to start.

When the sun hit its zenith in the sky, the elder on the platform suddenly opened his eyes.

"Silence!"

A wave of qi carried his voice far and wide, allowing the people in the back to hear him clearly. Everyone shut up instantly and paid great attention to what the elder was going to say next.

"As some of you may know, I am Elder Gong. I will be the one who oversees this years Outer Court Competition"

A few people took a small step back in fear. Elder Gong is renowned to be quite strict and will not tolerate any rule breaking. He began stating the prizes.

"There are a total of 1208 participants for this year. First place will get direct entry into the inner court along with a Foundation Establishing Pill, 3 mid grade elemental spirit stones of their choosing, and a high grade magic treasure. Second and third will each get half a Foundation Establishing Pill, 2 mid grade elemental spirit stones of their choosing, and a mid grade magic treasure. Fourth and fifth will get a mid grade elemental spirit stones of their choosing and a qi fruit, along with a low grade magic treasure"

"Sixth place to twenty fifth place will get 100 low grade spirit stones. Twenty sixth to one hundred will get 50 low grade spirit stones. Finally, one hundred first place to five hundred will get 10 low grade spirit stones"

A great many people began salivating when they heard the prizes. A few wanted to aim for a place between one hundred first place to five hundred as that is equivalent to 10 years of arduous work for most.

Bai Hu used his spiritual eyes, a technique in the Thousand Soulspirit Art that allows him to glean the cultivation of others as long as they are not too strong, and saw that he had the lowest cultivation base around here.

Many were at the seventh level at the minimum and there were others who were at the eighth level. He counted over 10 people at the ninth and tenth level in his vicinity and could only imagine how many were participating in this competition.

"Hey! Little Bai!"

Bai Hu turned and saw Long Sun walking towards him. Using his spiritual eyes, he could see that his friend had recently broken through to the eighth level as his aura was a bit unstable.

"I remember telling you to stop calling me that"

"Well I think you should act your age. You should've turned 14 not long ago right?"

"Yes, a month ago"

"Sorry I wasn't there, I was in seclusion trying to break through to the eighth level"

"I see that, well there's no need for you to be sorry, I don't really celebrate birthdays"

What Bai Hu said was true, even when he was a mortal, he saw little point in making a fuss over his age. He didn't understand why people celebrate another step towards death and would often hold large parties.

"By the way, what level are you now? I sense that you've gotten stronger but can't tell exactly how"

He smiled, "I broke through to the sixth level recently"

"Really? Then again, your aptitude must be top notch. You might be able to serve as a slightly better cannon fodder"

"Humph! Don't expect me to go easy on you. If you run away crying then it's not my fault. By the way, what number did you get?"

Long Sun showed his jade slip and on it was the number 675. Bai Hu showed his number and learned that Elder Gong will be calling out a pair of random numbers and those called will then fight. Each person will fight once before anyone fights twice, a fair system Bai Hu thought.