The Grand Elder was stunned speechless by Ye Shaohua’s display.
“This mental strength…”
This world was one of cultivation, and the concept of mental attacks didn’t exist here yet. Everyone cultivated golden cores and nascent souls, but mental power was undeniably part of one’s overall strength.
He looked at Ye Shaohua with a hint of curiosity.
Ever since her water spirit root had been destroyed, she had rarely shown herself in the family.
“What a pity about your spirit root…” The Grand Elder gazed at Ye Shaohua. If her spirit root were still intact, at least her cultivation realm wouldn’t be a concern. “Alright, I’ll handle the matter with the Liu family. But what are your plans next? Are you planning to leave?”
He fell silent for a moment, his brows furrowed deeply as he studied Ye Shaohua’s calm, indifferent face, a trace of worry creeping in.
He had never heard of a destroyed spirit root being restored.
And even if it could be healed, the process would undoubtedly be anything but simple.
Ye Shaohua looked remarkably resolute, and the Grand Elder observed her with a mixture of surprise and bewilderment.
“Mm, I’m going out to explore,” Ye Shaohua said slowly, her tone unhurried. “There’s nothing I need in the city.”
“If you’re set on leaving, I won’t stop you.” The Grand Elder’s expression softened somewhat. He suddenly realized that this junior of his was quite different from what he had imagined…
If the old Ye Shaohua had given him a sense of serenity, the one before him now radiated sharpness and edge.
He had just caught a glimpse of pride in her eyes.
Not the arrogant, conceited kind, but the quiet, commanding aura that came from being in a position of power for a long time.
“Thank you, Grand Elder.” Upon hearing his agreement, Ye Shaohua let out a breath of relief and offered him a smile.
The original owner had been crushed by the loss of her spirit root, her eyes dim and lifeless. Now, free of that dejection, there was a hint of laziness about her. Her long lashes drooped, veiling the sharpness in her gaze, lending her an air of gentle tenderness instead.
The Grand Elder merely smiled in response.
He watched as she bowed to him and turned to leave.
He hesitated, his lips pressed together, clearly struggling with something. “Wait, Shaohua.”
Ye Shaohua paused at his call, then turned back to look at him in surprise.
Having already called out to her, the Grand Elder didn’t overthink it. He retreated to an inner chamber and brought out an ancient, timeworn manuscript.
“Originally, I didn’t want anyone in the family to know about this. But now that you possess such formidable mental strength, perhaps it’s fate,” the Grand Elder said, lowering his head and letting out a sigh as he looked at the old book. “Shaohua, whether you have a spirit root or not doesn’t truly matter. In the cultivation world, there is a class of people who hold an extraordinary status! Do you know about the weapons used in our world?”
Of course, Ye Shaohua knew this from her memories.
Currently, the Ye family used the most common type of magical tools, while the Grand Elder himself possessed a treasure tool, which was a grade higher.
It was because of this that the Ye family’s standing in the city rivaled even the Xuan Yuan family.
Magical tools were already rare among ordinary folks, as forging them required a cultivator at the Golden Core stage and precious materials like cold iron for the weapon’s composition.
In the cultivation world, any Golden Core cultivator could forge magical tools. With a bit of luck and good materials, crafting a treasure tool wasn’t entirely out of the question either.
However, spirit tools—the next level up—were far harder to come by, let alone immortal tools or divine artifacts that stood above them.
The three great sects each possessed an immortal tool, which was precisely what allowed them to command authority over other cultivators.
In this world, a superior weapon could render a Golden Core cultivator undefeated even against a Nascent Soul cultivator.
A Golden Core cultivator wielding an immortal tool might even have a chance to slay a Nascent Soul cultivator!
Another crucial function of immortal tools was to assist cultivators through their tribulations. When powerful cultivators advanced to the Golden Core or Nascent Soul stages, they had to face lightning tribulations. The stronger the cultivator, the more ferocious the tribulation.
This was a deadly trial every cultivator had to endure. On average, only about forty out of every hundred cultivators could safely survive the lightning tribulation.
But with an immortal tool, the odds of surviving soared to ninety percent.
That was why the major sects had so many high-level cultivators.
However, the total number of immortal tools publicly known across the entire cultivation world amounted to fewer than ten.
So while such terrifying cross-realm killers did exist, they were few and far between.
Of course, if you weren’t strong enough but happened upon an immortal tool by chance, it was best not to flaunt it. After all, those ancient old monsters who had lived for millennia would all covet an immortal tool to withstand their final lightning tribulation.
As for divine artifacts, they existed only in legend.
There were hardly any tales of divine artifacts in the cultivation world.
“That’s right, divine artifacts are said to belong only to the divine realm,” the Grand Elder said, his face actually lighting up with an unusual glow as he spoke of these things. “The immortal tools of the three great sects were all left behind by predecessors who ascended over a million years ago. Shaohua, do you know where the other immortal tools in the cultivation world originated?”
Hearing these words, Ye Shaohua looked up in surprise. She glanced at the ancient manuscript in the Grand Elder’s hand and suddenly pieced it together: “Could it be… that our Ye family once forged weapons?”
The Grand Elder shot her an astonished look.
“Exactly,” he said, drawing a deep breath, his expression turning solemn. “Twenty thousand years ago, our Ye family was the foremost weapon-forging clan on the continent. Our clan had over ten thousand disciples and possessed more than thirty immortal tools! That was our family’s most glorious era. Even the mightiest sect wouldn’t dare offend us lightly, because no one dared to provoke a weapon smith. Weapon smiths may not have much, but they have plenty of allies.”
Ye Shaohua naturally understood this—it was no different from alchemists in a fantasy world.
“Our ancestor was just one step away from forging a divine artifact, but was ambushed by demonic cultivators and died from grievous wounds. In that battle, the Ye family suffered devastating losses. And to make matters worse, the three great sects took advantage of the chaos and seized several of our immortal tools. As for the rest, they were destroyed in the war.” The Grand Elder’s voice trembled as he spoke.
Ye Shaohua drew in a sharp breath as well.
Just one step away from forging a divine artifact?
Just what kind of ancient monster was that ancestor of the Ye family?
Weapon forging had long since declined in the current cultivation world. Anyone who could craft a spirit tool would be treated as an honored guest by the major sects.
Forging low-level magical tools required no special skill, but to create high-level spirit tools, immortal tools, or divine artifacts, one had to inscribe arrays onto the weapons. Therefore, the most crucial element of weapon forging was not the material, but the arrays themselves.
The more complex the inscribed array, the more terrifying the weapon.
But deducing arrays was an incredibly complex task, requiring immense mental power to calculate and arrange them. Back in the day, when the Ye family’s ancestor was still at the Qi Refining stage, his mental strength had already reached the Nascent Soul level. By the time he reached the Tribulation Transcendence stage, his mental power was comparable to that of an immortal.
Thinking of this, the Grand Elder’s eyes burned with intensity as he looked at Ye Shaohua.
And now, Ye Shaohua—who had previously only been at the Qi Refining stage—had already attained a mental strength matching that of a Golden Core cultivator!
