When Qian Feng, after three hours, was finally fully recovered and in top condition, he stood up and surveyed the room, instantly spotting the portal that had appeared there at some point in his recovery.
Not noticing any other changes, Qian Feng shivered as he accidentally looked at the monstrosity's corpse, before reaffirming himself and entering the portal, prepared for a battle.
"Not bad. No, not bad at all."
A peculiar voice ecoed out in the void Qian Feng was in while being transported to the next room, audible even through the ever-reaching blackness of the space. An instant later, Qian Feng was spat out into another room, identical to the previous, but replacing the monstrosity was a young man dressed in dark blue robes with black patterns. He spoke again.
"I don't know your name, but that's not important. Boy, how would you like to be my disciple?"
"..."
"Oh, don't give me that. We can have the formalities and all the other stuff after. I just saw that you're not half bad, and wouldn't mind the chance the pass on my way to a midway competent cultivator."
Qian Feng was shocked. There were so many things wrong with what was going on, he didn't even know what to say.
"Oh, what is it? Spit it out," seeing Qian Feng not say anything after his command and instead looking wildly around the room, he continued. "Speak."
With that one word, the previously ordinary young man transformed into an ancient, unfathomable god, his robes and hair fluttering, stirred up by the ferocious aura released all of a sudden.
Instead of the mortal that used to stand before him, Qian Feng was now in the presence of a god who had the very universe at his beck and call. A martial legend. Someone who Qian Feng was honored simply to set sight on.
The great pressure, gentle yet overbearing, broke Qian Feng out of his state of shock and he responded rapidly, prostrating himself on the floor.
"Master."
"Well, that's more like it," the previous aura receded as if it had never been there. "Well, let's get started with all the fancy stuff, then. A promise is a promise, after all.
My name is Luo Chengxin, former Martial Overlord and now spirit of the Ancient Cosmos Pearl. I'm sure you have many questions."
"Yes, master. My name is Qian Feng, and I am still a Martial King. Question, master. What is the Ancient Cosmos Pearl, truly?"
"Hah, you're a curious one. Getting right to the interesting stuff, are we, then?
Well, this is actually a treasure that I created at the peak of my cultivation, in pursuit of a way to break through to the Martial Legend realm. Unfortunately, that failed, but the treasure remains, with all its uses intact. It does have numerous seals upon it, and you will only be able to use new features after you've broken those seals by meeting the requirements. The tests to see if you've met those requirements are in Cosmos Advancement.
You just passed the first test, which required you to enter one of the rooms and defeat whatever was inside it. The easiest was the Simple room, while the most difficult was the one you entered, Legacy. Through your clearing of that test, I have made sure that you are qualified to own this treasure and unlock the rest of the features. There's more stuff about this treasure, of course, but I'll tell you when it's relevant.
As for what you and I do now, well, I'm not much of a teacher, but with your cultivation, I'm sure I can help you out quite a bit. So, why don't you show me your Martial Spirit and cultivation technique?"
Qian Feng, having learned a lot about the previously mysterious Ancient Cosmos Pearl, was naturally surprised. To think that the strange treasure he had picked up by chance would actually be the life's work of a Martial Overlord? Anyways, it was not the time nor place to sit down and mull over everthing he had just learned.
"Master, I actually have three affinities and martial spirits," unlike what he did with the Iron Fox, Qian Feng fully revealed all of his cards - this master, was, after all, not someone forced upon him and instead an actual, bonafide cultivation expert and his true teacher(not that he didn't trust the Iron Fox, just that their relationship wasn't one with unconditional trust and respect). "I have the Force affinity, with the Empyrean Might Titan, the Earth affinity, with the Universal Tortoise, and the Life affinity, with the Truejade Qilin." After saying the name of each martial spirit, he brought them out and materialized them to show his master.
Stunned into silence, Qian Feng's master just observed his pupil's revelations. His eyes first moved to the Truejade Qilin, who just stood there, emitting a calm and comforting aura, simply radiatig warmth and life force. It, compared to the other, more ferocious members of its kind, was gentle in nature and benevolent in practice, making it a perfect fit for the Life affinity - like an embodiment of it.
The next martial spirit that caught his master's eye was the Empyrean Might Titan. Compared to the Truejade Qilin, the Empyrean Might Titan was huge, towering over the young man that was his master, with a bloodthirsty and ruthless aura. An air of indomitable, overwhelming power emanated from it, and its steel-like muscles bulged from underneath its firm skin. This martial spirit was one geared for battle. Even if he had solely the Empyrean Might Titan, Qian Feng would be near invincible in his level, regardless of his cultivation technique.
The final martial spirit that the young man set eyes on was the Universal Tortoise, who was large enough to carry a person on its back. It had black, ancient scaled skin and a rigid shell that seemed to carry a great weight upon it. The Universal Tortoise gave off an air of solidity and impregnability, of armor that could never be pierced and will that could never be crushed. Undoubtedly, nothing remotely near the Universal Tortoise's power level could even dent its shell.
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After a moment, Luo Chengxin finally spoke.
"Martial spirits are the root of a cultivator's power; they determine the effects of cultivation and reinforce every part of a cultivator's body just through their existence. A martial spirit is what determines a warrior's path and what shapes their destiny. Without a strong martial spirit, all combat capability is hollow; useful only against lesser opponents. You may not see the effects very well right now, but I assure you, when you progress, you will find your martial spirits affecting you more and more. Thier temperament, their attributes, their thought processes will all beging to meld with yours and change the base of your personality to that of the martial spirit's.
The fact that you have two is both a curse and a boon - the domineering nature of the martial spirits within you will hold even greater sway upon your consciousness, but the sheer battle power of these spirits will more than make up for that. Should you survive and live through the struggles the martial spirits will put you through, you will be invincible.
But this is harder than it sounds - the constant conflict between the differing natures of your martial spirits will add to your difficulty. I can help with this, but I'll need to know your cultivation techniques and martial skills first."
This information was completely new to him - although his state of mind had undoubtedly changed, Qian Feng had attributed that entirely to the changes of rebirth in a completely world. But now it seemed as if his martial spirits weren't helping either. Knowing fully well just how dangerous this could be for him, Qian Feng didn't hesitate at all to show his cultivation techniques to his master, only to realize that he had no efficient way of describing his cultivation technique.
"Master, how can I tell you my cultivation techniques? Is there any way that will allow me to instantly show you?"
"Hah, it seems you don't yet know how to transmit techniques, then. Well, that's simple. Just like how the space inside the pearl gave you skills by placing them into your brain, it's easy for you to do the same. So, follow my lead.
First, visualize the skill you want to transmit. Try to remember and keep in mind as much as you possibly can, since you can only transmit what you're thinking.
Next, turn your inner sense outwards, into the Spirit Sense, and sense my soul.
After that's done, create a connection of Qi between your soul and mine. Then, push the technique through that connection. I'll fully unveil my soul, so you'll be able to see it directly."
It was good, albeit somewhat disappointing, to learn that the outer sense that Qian Feng had developed during the trial was something not unknown to others, and was called the Spirit Sense. He had never, though, attempted to sense the souls of others, and wasn't sure just how to do so. Hopefully it would come to him naturally.
Activating his Spirit Sense again(this took a while since Qian Feng hadn't practiced the skill much since the Duelist Nomad assessment), Qian Feng focused upon his master.
He didn't know for sure what the soul looked like under Spirit Sense, but it was rather obvious when he closely examined his master. It looked like a deep blue sphere, and despite Luo Chengxin's current unassuming appearance, radiated power and majesty that Qian Feng couldn't even begin to fathom. The next step was to form a connection of Qi between his soul and his master's, which was certainly significantly more difficult than the previous step.
It was simple, though, when he managed to use his Spirit Sense to look both inwards and outwards at the same time, revealing his significantly weaker soul in direct contrast to his master's. Compared to the deep blue sphere, Qian Feng's soul was more akin to a wisp of light-blue light, with occasional flickers of magenta. What that meant, Qian Feng had no idea, but he had no interest in asking his master. They had just met, after all, and it could be something related to his reincarnation, which was a secret Qian Feng had no interest in sharing with anyone.
Once the connection was established, Qian Feng visualized his Infinite Force technique, which was the most straightforward, though domineering, of the three. Luo Chengxin's description on this part of the process wasn't very clear, but the imagery of pushing it through served Qian Feng well, and soon his master was mulling over and examining the technique. Finally, he exclaimed in surprise:
"This method is simply extraordinary! To think a student of mine would be in possession of such a heavenly technique. Even the best cultivation technique in my possession couldn't come close to matching up to this Infinite Force technique! Well, if all your cultivation techniques are of the same caliber, then it would seem I have to resort to other methods to strengthen your foundation. Thankfully, the fact that you just barely defeated the Primal Amalgamation even with these cultivation techniques and your cultivation base means that your foundation is weak for a Martial Overlord's standards. It may be exceptional to others, but to me, it's riddled with holes that I simply cannot wait to patch up. Do the same thing with your other two techniques and any other strengthening techniques you practice, so I can get a good picture of where you need progress."
A lot of questions and examination followed that, but finally, Qian Feng's master got a good idea of the boy's current state. "Well, you've certainly done well with what you've been given, but there's still a limit to what those techniques can do for you at their level. Right now, I'm going to ask you to completely drop the Tian Mountain Technique and the Overbearing General Tactic. They're good for your level, but I most certainly have better.
How about this? I don't like guiding young ones too much, and instead far prefer that they work on their own, with only the foundation of their results provided by me. So, I'll give you a plan for your future training up until the fifth stage, the Martial Saint stage. At that point, I'll have to change your training up a bit. But let's not worry about that now.
First off, there are three body tempering techniques that you need to practice at least to Completion, with Mastery being ideal. These will provide the foundation for your future growth.
After you've finished that at around the beginning of the Martial Emperor stage or so, we'll focus upon your senses. Thus, you'll practice the Divine Awareness Method until Proficiency. You'll keep practicing that, but after you reach Proficiency, you'll switch focus to the soul. It's incredibly important to keep this strong and there are various techniques and abilities you'll need to have if you want to go far.
By the time you move up to this level, you'll already be nearing the peak of the Martial Emperor stage, and at that level, it's not very important. So, you'll have plenty of time and very little pressure to practice this Cosmos Existence Compendium. This is essentially a compendium of everything you need to know about the soul, including how to strengthen it, its uses, useful abilities, and everything else. So, practice that and absorb the material in that until I deem your progress satisfactory, and then we'll be good until the Martial Sage stage. Of course, by then, you should be ready to break through. So, I'll give you the techniques, and then you can go to explore the new features of the Ancient Cosmos Pearl that you unlocked and practice."
The moment the connection was established and the techniques were gently placed into Qina Feng's mind, he was shoved violently out into the lobby of the Ancient Cosmos Pearl, feeling very hopeful for the future.