Chapter Thirty-Five: Refining the Five Spirits

When Tang Wei entered the great hall, Xiao Ling finally breathed a sigh of relief, thinking to herself, “Freedom at last. It seems my brother always loses his composure when it comes to anything related to my sister.”

“Eh! Why are you two still here? Zi Xuan, why aren’t you practicing? What are you talking about?” Tang Wei entered and immediately noticed the two standing beside the twins. As soon as they saw her, they stopped talking. She wondered if they’d been gossiping about her, so she purposely asked.

Zi Xuan reacted quickly. Seeing the twins nearby, he immediately found a topic. “Oh! We’re having fun with these two little rascals. Look! They can even blow bubbles with their saliva!”

“What’s so strange about that? They’ve been doing this for ages. You play with them all the time and never noticed? Looks like you don’t pay much attention to them! You go ahead and play; I’m going to look for some interesting travelogues!” Tang Wei didn’t pay much mind, casually said a few words, and headed toward the study.

Zi Xuan quickly called after her, pretending to be unconcerned. “Wait, Weiwei, Xiao Ling has something fun for you! Didn’t you want to try alchemy? Xiao Ling has thought of a way for you!”

“Really? Xiao Ling, what’s the way that lets me practice alchemy right now and is fun to boot?” Tang Wei’s eyes lit up, turning around excitedly to ask Xiao Ling.

“Yes, today I found a treasure in your pile of junk. It suits you perfectly! Why don’t I help you refine it first?” Xiao Ling exaggerated, absolutely obedient to the task Zi Xuan had given her.

“Oh, what’s it for?” Tang Wei was skeptical. If it really was junk, she didn’t want it.

“Nothing much, just a little fire spirit. After you refine it, it can help you with alchemy. If someone bullies you, you can unleash it to burn them,” Zi Xuan chimed in from the side. Tang Wei shot him a doubtful glance, and he quickly stepped aside, making a zipper gesture across his lips to indicate he’d keep quiet.

Xiao Ling hurried to help: “Yes, it’s just a newly formed fire spirit. But to prevent your internal fire energy from growing faster than your other spiritual powers, it’s best to refine the other little spirit bodies at the same time.”

“So that’s all? Then I’ll hurry and try refining them!” Tang Wei inwardly mocked, thinking it was nothing special. The two of them still treated it as a treasure. Oh well, she’d spare them the criticism.

Luckily, she didn’t voice this, or Xiao Ling really might have fainted. Such a supreme treasure, once refined, could help the body automatically absorb spiritual energy, assisting its owner in cultivation. As the owner’s power increased, so would the treasure, eventually forming another continent. When the continent formed by the fire spirit treasure was saturated with fire energy, even a god sovereign would be unable to control it.

The only time such a treasure revealed itself to the world was at the moment of a continent’s birth, when it was at its weakest. Usually, god sovereigns hoping to refine or seal it would wait for this moment, suppress its protective force with powerful cultivators, and succeed, though the newborn continent might collapse as a result. At this stage, the treasure was far beyond what Zi Xuan, Tang Wei, or anyone at their level could handle.

The treasure, upon its birth, could assume countless forms—a little tree, a stone, perhaps in the center of land, or within water, anywhere rich in spiritual energy. It blended in perfectly with its surroundings; most people could never find it. Only if attacked, its protective power would reveal what had been missed. At the slightest disturbance, it would flee instantly. Even god sovereigns, without proper measures, could hardly keep it.

It possessed absolute protective power, nearly impossible to break. That Ziyang managed to gather five freshly born treasures of different elements was unprecedented. Yet Tang Wei didn’t take it seriously. Well, forgive her—Xiao Ling hadn’t told her the truth.

Xiao Ling saw Tang Wei starting to daydream again and quickly nudged her. “Sister, refining them could take a long time, and it’s best to do it all at once. Should you inform Mom and Dad first?” Tang Wei thought for a moment, nodded, and decided to let her parents know, lest they worry if it took too long.

In less than ten minutes, Tang Wei had arranged everything. Xiao Ling began preparing fasting pills to stave off hunger, spirit pills to replenish energy, and set up an array to prevent the little ones from running amok.

Once all was ready, Xiao Ling took out five sealed jade boxes and opened them. Inside, Tang Wei saw a green blade of grass, a red flame, a blue little mermaid, a golden dagger, and a yellow pebble.

For some reason, though she could sense their abundant spiritual energy, Tang Wei felt as if they were just a few listless infants lying in their boxes, lifeless, as if they might perish at any moment.

A wave of sorrow welled up in her heart. She couldn’t help but reach out and touch them. Immediately, she sensed a hint of goodwill from them, and she naturally released feelings of compassion. Instantly, she felt their grievance and eager desire to please her. She joyfully communicated with them.

Xiao Ling, seeing Tang Wei lost in thought while stroking the boxes, didn’t know what she was thinking and hurriedly nudged her, asking, “Sister, why are you daydreaming again? Sit properly, I’m about to lift the seal!”

“Oh, it’s nothing. I just felt they were sad, so I was comforting them!” Tang Wei explained after snapping out of it.

Xiao Ling teased, “Impossible, Sister! You’re overthinking. You’re daydreaming. You haven’t refined them yet, and they’re still sealed. You want to talk to them? Even a spirit body like me has never sensed their presence. You really can’t!”

Tang Wei knocked her own forehead in frustration. “Looks like I really was dreaming! Let’s get started!” She went and sat to wait for Xiao Ling to break the seal.

“Xiao Ling, watch over Weiwei carefully. Don’t let anything go wrong!” Zi Xuan instructed anxiously from outside the array. Tang Wei rolled her eyes at him.

Xiao Ling laughed, “Got it, don’t worry! I’ll keep an eye out!” With that, she began unsealing.

The moment the seal was broken, before Xiao Ling could stabilize them, the five little spirits shot up to Tang Wei’s head, swirling faster and faster above her.

Tang Wei was waiting for Xiao Ling’s instructions when she suddenly felt her spiritual energy draining rapidly from within. Terrified, she cried out, “Xiao Ling, what’s happening? My spiritual energy is vanishing—is this refining?”

“No, no! I don’t know what’s going on! Quickly, try to cut off your spiritual energy flow!” Xiao Ling jumped up in panic.

“I can’t move! I can’t cut off the energy! What do I do, Xiao Ling, think of something!” Tang Wei was so anxious she was nearly in tears.

Zi Xuan, seeing the situation inside, yelled from outside, “Xiao Ling, quickly open the life gate of the array, I’m coming in!” He rushed inside.

Once in, he gathered all his spiritual power and attacked the swirling treasures. With a bang, he was thrown a great distance and fell to the ground, coughing up blood.

Xiao Ling hurried over to help him up. “Brother, sit down and let me try.” Zi Xuan pushed her aside, summoned a sword from the armory, and swung it forcefully at the treasures—only to be bounced back again.

Seeing this, Xiao Ling had no choice but to muster all her spiritual power for an attempt.

Tang Wei felt her energy nearly depleted. Watching Zi Xuan risk his life, a sudden pang struck her heart, and she cried, “Zi Xuan, don’t do this. Think of another way! This won’t work!”

Was she going to die? No! She didn’t want to die. She still had her family, her children. She couldn’t just die like this. She’d survived falling from a cliff; she wouldn’t be drained into a dried corpse now. There must be a way. Think, think! Her mind raced, and she saw Xiao Ling transform into a ball of light, rushing toward her head. She screamed, “Xiao Ling, don’t!”

Suddenly, she felt lighter; her energy stopped draining. Looking up, the five little spirits were gone. But she had no time to care. She stood up and called out, “Xiao Ling, where are you? Come out, don’t scare me!”

Zi Xuan, clutching his chest, limped over to Tang Wei and gently held her shoulder. “Weiwei, don’t worry. Xiao Ling will be fine. She’s just a spirit.”

Tang Wei, tearful, confirmed, “Really?” After Zi Xuan nodded, she asked, “Does your chest hurt? Are you all right?”

“Don’t worry, I’m fine!” Zi Xuan replied. Then, Xiao Ling’s voice came from nearby: “Brother, Sister, are you all right?”

Tang Wei hurried over, grabbed Xiao Ling’s hand, and asked, “Xiao Ling, are you okay? Where did you go just now? You scared us!”

Xiao Ling blushed, head bowed in embarrassment. “When I rushed up, I used too much force, and they dodged away. I ended up on the other side of the space.”

Seeing Tang Wei and Zi Xuan gape in disbelief, Xiao Ling quickly changed the subject. “Sister, are they inside you now? I just realized—it must be that they wanted you to refine them, which is why this happened.”

“I don’t know. Let me check.” Tang Wei quickly examined herself internally and found the five little spirits within her dantian, spinning on their own. She realized she’d been too panicked to notice her body was now automatically absorbing spiritual energy. Fascinated, she sat down to experiment with her new treasures.

Xiao Ling wanted to call Tang Wei over to teach her to use wood energy to heal Zi Xuan, but Zi Xuan stopped her, pulling her aside. “She’s curious now—she’ll want to try it out first. Don’t disturb her. My injury is light. Just give me a few healing pills, and I’ll recover slowly, which will help me get more familiar with managing spiritual energy.”

Nodding, Xiao Ling handed him three healing pills, then went off to amuse the children. After today’s scare, she needed to relax!