The Soul Nurturing Method

The Orange King’s eyes were solely fixed on the chicken legs.

Lately, food had been hard to come by, and it savored every bite.

It completely ignored the troublesome mustard stone in Su Qing’s hand, until Su Qing placed the smooth, round pebble right under its eyelid.

It sensed a certain disdain for its peer, and scoffed dismissively, “What a worthless thing, it’s not even as good as a single hair of mine. You keep it yourself.”

It swatted the cleanly gnawed bone aside, stretched lazily, and said, as if inadvertently, “Didn’t I give you the key? A perfectly good divine beast, and you don’t order it around, insisting on picking up some broken pebbles.”

It seemed that the key could not only open the Orange King’s internal space to retrieve items, but also store things within it.
Su Qing mused, “Can anything be placed inside?”

“Of course!” The Orange King grumbled. “Putting a small world inside is no problem at all.”

Su Qing was momentarily speechless. She knew the Orange King was looking for praise, so she stroked its head and praised, “Good cat, good cat.”

That being said, she still had no intention of casually taking things.

After all, the Orange King was guarding the Sword School’s assets.

If she put her own things inside, would they be considered hers, or offerings to the Sword School? When the time came to account for them, she wouldn’t be able to explain herself even with eight mouths.

Moreover, this key wasn’t hers alone; the Orange King’s four paws likely corresponded to four keys.

However, this point was also a good means of dealing with enemies for her to ponder.

Of course, the Orange King’s body was heavily burdened, so she wouldn’t use it unless it was critical.

Su Qing kept the highest-grade mustard stone, and ten others, selling the rest to an artifact shop as materials for crafting storage-type magical artifacts.

After deducting costs and processing fees, Su Qing still earned an additional fifty thousand spirit stones.

The speed at which she amassed wealth caused her emotions to fluctuate for a moment.

The fingernail-sized mustard stone, after appraisal, was determined to be Tier 3 top-grade.

Its internal space stretched for thousands of li, already possessing the conditions for planting.

However, not a single blade of grass grew within, and spiritual energy was sparse.

Transforming it into a cheat-like portable space was impossible, but transplanting a low-tier spiritual vein into it for nurturing, and growing some easy-to-cultivate spiritual plants, was feasible.

The farming gene etched in Su Qing’s bloodline burned brightly for a moment, then extinguished after she thought about the price of a low-tier spiritual vein.

For the remaining time, she began to practice swordsmanship.

All suitable Tier 3 sword techniques in Limitless Pavilion were exchanged by her.

She was not a sword dao genius and could not yet create her own sword techniques.

All she could do was draw on the strengths of many masters, first comprehending them, then finding her own style.

And regarding divine sense training, she had not stopped.

The cultivation technique titled “Blind” unexpectedly suited her current situation.

After reading it three times, she decided to try the method described within.

This method was “Blind,” and its path to enlightenment was naturally the path of blindness.

Its core philosophy was to perceive all things with the mind, abandoning reliance on the physical body, to achieve clarity without sight, a mind like a bright mirror.

To lose sight, to lose sight.

The first step was to first abandon both eyes.

Although it didn’t mean self-mutilation, it required actively sealing one’s eyes, breaking dependence on vision.

The first thirty days constituted the first step, which was extremely simple: seal one’s eyes and carefully differentiate other perceptions.

Thinking this, Su Qing took a long strip of black cloth, wrapped it around her eyes, and tied it at the back of her head.

This cloth was taken from a low-tier magical artifact, the Profound Shadow Cloth.

Aside from its other uses, its light-blocking property was excellent.

Covering her eyes was like covering the sun, and Su Qing’s vision immediately transformed into night.

This feeling was different from her actively closing her eyes.

One always felt there was still room for maneuver, while the other had a sense of compulsion.

Su Qing tentatively released her divine sense to swirl around.

Losing sight seemed to make all her other senses sharper, but more so, there was a sense of unease, a feeling of not being accustomed to it.

Tang Yueling commented, “It is often asked why Buddhist disciples love to practice silent meditation. Three years without uttering a word or sound, seeking clarity of mind, undisturbed by external things. Clearly, they have mouths, yet live like mutes. Why are you also learning from these bald donkeys, practicing some closed-eye meditation?”

Su Qing said, “Something like that, but I can’t do three years. Just a few days for now.”

She zoned out for a moment. This silent meditation would be quite suitable for Tian Ning to learn.

Tang Yueling circled her with interest, clapping her hands. “Don’t tell me, like this, you look like a blind knight-errant. It’s even more interesting than your usual attire.”

Su Qing then thought of the disadvantages of not seeing.

She couldn’t read Tian Ning’s micro-expressions, couldn’t read her mind anymore.

‘Never mind, since it’s covered, let’s just try it for now.’

Su Qing, with her eyes blindfolded by black cloth, sat cross-legged on a futon in the room.

The four windows were wide open, and refreshing mountain breezes, stirring the green gauze curtains, flowed into the room.

Her breathing was long and calm, seeming to meld with the mountain wind.

Slowly, threads of divine sense overflowed from between her brows, flowed down around her body, bouncing and touching within the dorm, carefully touching the room’s furnishings like countless tentacles: tables, chairs, beds, side tables, screens, chests, and so on.

The lotus sky lantern on the ceiling, the scholar’s four treasures and scattered jade slips of documents on the table, the clothes carelessly draped over the screen, the various treasures on the curio shelf, and Tian Ning’s tall stacks of sword-nourishing paste, a row of sword tassels hanging on the wall… Even tiny specks of fluff floating in the air were clearly visible.

She almost forgot, this was the season when the Golden Willow flower tree bloomed.

All these everyday things, when seen with the eyes, were like drawing on white paper with colored pens.

But perceiving them with divine sense was like drawing with white chalk on black paper, appearing more concise, efficient, and clearly visible.

Interesting.

Her divine sense slowly circled the room a few times.

It even found Tang Yueling’s long-lost jade hairpin under the table, Tian Ning’s missing discount coupon pressed under the carpet, and a small packet of spirit stones she had forgotten she hid ten years ago lying silently under the bed.

Su Qing’s heart stirred slightly. The jade hairpin, discount coupon, and a few broken spirit seeds floated up one after another under the control of her divine sense, flying towards the side table.

However, she still couldn’t control minute weights well.

The jade hairpin and spirit stones consecutively hit the side table with two “thuds,” their fate unknown.

As for the light discount coupon, it directly turned to dust.

Su Qing: ‘…’

She silently averted her face: ‘In any case, it’s best to pretend she never discovered them.’

Foundation Establishment cultivators, when first opening their divine sense, have an initial range of about ten meters.

As they advance to the later stages and their divine sense stabilizes, the scope it can cover also increases, to about fifty to a hundred meters.

Su Qing’s current cultivation was stuck at Foundation Establishment Layer 7.

However, her divine sense could follow the mountain wind out the window, sweeping past clumps of trees and gurgling streams, continuously exploring outwards.

After about two hours, her temples began to throb faintly.

Although there was still a large amount of divine sense available in her Sea of Consciousness, such meticulous perception, unlike the usual crude, expansive sweeps, placed a heavier burden on her physical body.

However, tempering divine sense itself was a form of body tempering.

The theory of destruction and restoration could still be used to expand its boundaries.

Unfortunately, she had no spiritual items for nurturing the soul, so the extent of damage to her soul had to be controlled within the range that divine sense could naturally repair itself.

When the headache grew more intense, and her eyes began to swell, Su Qing slowly retracted her divine sense back into her Sea of Consciousness.

By this time, she was already drenched in sweat, her clothes soaked.

She exhaled, rested her forehead on the side table in front of her, and rested for a full quarter of an hour before feeling somewhat better.

How to describe the sensation of refining divine sense?

Su Qing felt it was no different from listening to English comprehension exercises.

When her eyes were open, a glance at the words and sentences would automatically reveal their meaning.

But once she closed her eyes and used her divine sense to perceive, those familiar words would turn into obscure pronunciations, stickily intertwined, forcing her to listen carefully to each one.

The energy expended in that way was not on the same level as seeing with her eyes.

Everything was about practice makes perfect.

She told herself not to be impatient, to take it slow.

At dinner, she went to the cafeteria as usual.

The Sword School had too many eccentrics.

People in strange clothes, baring their chests, were everywhere.

A single block of black cloth over her eyes still made her a normal person. Besides, everyone was very busy, and no one found her strange.

With divine sense clearing the way, even if her eyes couldn’t see clearly, it didn’t affect her normal actions.

However, she wondered if it was her imagination, but after blindfolding her eyes, the food seemed to taste better… Especially the fried fish on her plate, which was even more crispy and fragrant, even the bones were fried until golden and delicious.

Master Wang’s culinary skills were truly impeccable; he was indeed the former number one of the Pill School.

It was just that today’s portion was a bit small.

No, Su Qing frowned, sensing something was amiss.

Her divine sense poured out, searching her surroundings.

Sure enough, a fluffy winter melon, shaped like a large loaf of bread, appeared in her Sea of Consciousness.

Who else could this winter melon be but the Orange King? At this moment, it was furtively carrying two fried fish in its mouth, its body rubbing against the very edge of the table, silently preparing to jump down.

She just knew something was wrong.

This fat cat used its Aura Concealment Art, taking advantage of her limited vision, specifically to steal the fried fish from her plate.

Being robbed of food by a cat—what kind of logic was this in the world?

Fighting and wielding weapons were forbidden in the cafeteria.

Su Qing could only try to grab it with her hand, but the Orange King was already on guard.

It “meowed” provocatively, pushing off the table with its feet.

Its fat body traced a smooth arc in the air, deftly dodging her arm.

With a casual sweep of its tail, it actually knocked the chopstick holder on the table to the ground.

This considerable commotion inevitably drew glances from those around.

“How did this fat cat get into the cafeteria? Weren’t they supposed to make it lose weight, and expel it if seen within three meters of the cafeteria?”

“Not only that, it’s carrying fish in its mouth. Who knows where it stole it from.”

Seeing dozens of chopsticks about to scatter on the ground from the chopstick holder, Su Qing, who was already blind, instinctively used her divine sense.

Yes, at this moment, she admitted she was a bit overconfident.

Perhaps the afternoon’s practice had given her courage, or perhaps she was too eager for success.

In any case, by the time she realized these thirty chopsticks, as if enchanted, were rampaging through the cafeteria, it was already too late.

The dozen or so chopsticks flying low merely shattered a few wooden tables, sending wood chips flying and dishes crashing to the ground.

Moreover, the few people at the tables had already swiftly grabbed their bowls and left, causing no casualties. ‘It’s fine, she could pay for it.’
Another ten chopsticks, unfortunately, struck the roof beams, causing cracks in the ceiling, the light fixtures to tilt and fall, and rubble to tumble down with a crash. ‘It’s fine, she could fix it.’

Only, the remaining ten chopsticks flew towards the back kitchen, knocking over various seasoning bottles, shattering them. Even one particularly tricky chopstick flew straight at the spiritual fire above the stove.

The spiritual fire, encountering wood, flared up, instantly soaring high with a sizzling sound, engulfing half of Master Wang, the chef’s, beard, burning it off.

Master Wang let out the most agonizing scream of his life, as if his throat had been seized.

The cook lady, thinking someone was causing trouble, rushed out with her ladle.

Seeing it was Su Qing, she was quite surprised.

The Wine Elder, holding his gourd, cautiously stroked his beard. “What’s wrong, child? Is the food not to your liking today?”
…

“Student Su Qing, today you have openly damaged sect property, assaulted fellow disciples, plotted against elders, acted outrageously, defied sect rules, and caused extremely negative impact. Do you admit your wrongdoing?”

Su Qing nodded mournfully. “I admit my wrongdoing.”

The Hall of Affairs elder’s expression softened slightly. “Considering this is your first offense, and your usual performance is excellent, this time you are only fined thirty days. Go to the isolation room and reflect properly. Alright, go in.”

Su Qing walked into the isolation room with a heavy heart, holding her futon.

Then she sat down with a heavy heart.

And then, she realized something was amiss.

The walls of this isolation room, designed to prevent students’ divine sense from wandering out, were actually made of soul stones.

Not one or two soul stones, but thick walls full of them. This, this, this… what a treasure.

Who would have thought that something for nurturing the soul would appear right before her eyes? It was truly effortless gain.
She couldn’t help but turn back. “Elder, do I really not need to be fined for a few more days? I can handle it.”