So, being able to converse with Jiang Qiu every day now was a joyous, almost extravagant, pleasure. She was gaining more than just an understanding of the Path of Cultivation; she was also sensing the underlying care in his words.
A sense of dependence was slowly born from this. Before she knew it, her mind had become submerged, like a block of solid ice soaking in warm water, slowly, slowly melting away.
‘It’s just that, sometimes, these conversations make my heart race and my blood boil. It seems I’m gradually developing some strange feelings about this primitive state of cultivating in human form.’
‘Yes, in the past, I never thought there was anything wrong with not wearing so-called clothes woven from vines. I’m a fox, after all. My fluffy white fur can cover plenty. Even after transforming into a human, it was just a body without the obvious white fur. What was the big deal?’
But, for the sake of cultivation, she had to be in physical contact with Jiang Qiu’s body. When the youth’s pair of well-defined hands pressed against her smooth spine, a slight shiver ran down her back as if she’d been shocked. Fearing she might disturb him, she could only clench her fists, purse her lips, and let her cheeks burn.
‘I’m not sure why I feel this way. Could it be that as I’ve grown more familiar with Jiang Qiu, I’ve started to grasp certain unique emotions?’
Ever since establishing that unique connection with Jiang Qiu through her second self, many of his emotional traits had been subtly transferring to her.
‘Actions and behaviors I never thought twice about before now make me feel shy. But I can’t refuse. It’s good for me, and it’s a rare chance for close contact with him… How should I put it? It’s a bit thrilling and I feel resistant, but I also really like it.’
‘Every time I think about these things, my thoughts get more and more muddled. It’s wonderful to be able to stay with him, but this human form comes with so many instinctive reactions from god-knows-where. It’s so strange.’
Jiang Qiu, however, was unaware of all this. He only felt that the Nine-tailed Fox before him was becoming more and more human. Before, she had been completely impassive, but now she had the instinctive reactions of a shy human maiden, which he found quite cute.
The Nine-tailed Fox of the past, while completely obedient to him, had a rather cold personality. She did exactly as she was told without a trace of resistance, as if their relationship was merely one of a command given to a machine.
But now, the Nine-tailed Fox seemed to have more of her own thoughts. She would show a hint of potential resistance, and even if it was minuscule, it made things much more interesting.
Besides, the Nine-tailed Fox was already at the Perfect Transformation Realm; she could suppress that Golden Eagle Ancestor with a casual wave of her hand. He, on the other hand, was only just above the Spirit Control Realm, barely managing to be a Great Dominator. The huge gap in their Realms added a little thrill of its own.
Of course, the priority was still cultivation and forming her third self.
So, Jiang Qiu continued, “All Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm should be differentiated by attribute. Take water and fire, for example. As long as it has an attribute, a Secret Technique will produce a corresponding effect. Some people condense Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm in their hands, transforming it into flames.
Others can command rivers with a single thought, using the Water Element as a sharp sword to cleave mountains. These are all specialized properties that arise once Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm has an attribute. Cultivation is only easy once you have an attribute.
So, I think for your third self, you should try to condense Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm into an attribute. For instance, the Vast Water Spirit Charm. It’s the second attributed Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm I’ve mastered, and its effects are excellent.”
As he spoke, Jiang Qiu began to transmit the Cultivation Technique. A continuous stream of Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm flowed from his body into the Nine-tailed Fox’s. She let out a soft moan, subconsciously arching her back and pushing her chest forward. She could clearly feel a massive amount of essence entering her body from behind, scorching and turbulent.
This was the legacy of the Vast Water Spirit Charm from the [Primordial] world cluster, which also represented Jiang Qiu’s own understanding of the Dao. Mixed within it were numerous Secret Techniques, all of which would be highly beneficial to the Nine-tailed Fox.
Of course, this was all pre-established knowledge. The Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm of this world, however, was inherently without attributes. The most difficult part would be converting this world’s Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm into an attributed one.
Next, the two of them would cultivate together, exploring how to transform the Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm into Vast Water Spirit Charm.
As for why he chose the Vast Water Spirit Charm, Jiang Qiu felt that his own mastery of it was quite good. Furthermore, his current Dragon Race body naturally had a high degree of control over water, making it well-suited for transmitting the Vast Water Spirit Charm.
In addition, the Vast Water Spirit Charm was a good match for the Nine-tailed Fox’s body—both were equally supple. Used correctly, it could unleash tremendous power.
Bodily affinity was an important factor that could not be ignored.
Therefore, Jiang Qiu decided that the Nine-tailed Fox’s first elemental self should be a Vast Water Element self. The difficulty, however, was undoubtedly immense. First of all, she had already formed two selves, and the difficulty of forming subsequent ones would skyrocket.
It wasn’t as simple as having one, then having another. It was more like adding a second atop the first. Like building a house of cards, a kilometer-high tower could easily collapse. Therefore, forming more selves was incredibly difficult; the difficulty factor was substantial.
For Jiang Qiu, however, it was manageable. This time, he would personally help the Nine-tailed Fox cultivate and guide her toward enlightenment.
The previous second-level self was something the Nine-tailed Fox had explored on her own. ‘To think of establishing a connection with me… that was a stroke of genius.’ And the crucial part was, it had succeeded.
But this also demonstrated the Nine-tailed Fox’s unique and Unrivaled Talent. Her adaptability—whether to him or to most things—was remarkably high.
Jiang Qiu naturally wanted to leverage her unique traits to develop an even more powerful Cultivation Technique, which he could then use to benefit himself.
Yes, Jiang Qiu needed the Nine-tailed Fox’s unique characteristics to help him cultivate rapidly, break through Realms at an incredible speed, and clear the Dragon Emperor Secret Realm ahead of schedule.
‘For instance, through the connection of her second self, my cultivation progress and hers are practically shared. So, what if all of the Nine-tailed Fox’s other selves were selves with attributes?’
‘That is, if they were Fiery Flame Spirit Charm, Vast Water Spirit Charm, Vast Thunder Spirit Charm, and so on, right from the start… wouldn’t that be like having a continuous power source for myself?’
‘My Dragon Race body in this world has no attributes at all, meaning it can’t reach the same level of constitution as my original body. I’m still missing so many of the Spirit Charms I need to collect.’
‘Yes, back then, I already had four types of Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm: Flame, Vast Water, Nether Darkness, and Gale. But I was still missing the other five. To be honest, it feels like a bit of a shame.’
‘I always have this feeling that I’m destined to gather nine types of Spirit Charm. Besides, cultivating with attributed Spirit Charms is much faster. Since the body is already a match, the conversion efficiency is extremely high.’
Thus, Jiang Qiu planned to use the super-high adaptability of the Nine-tailed Fox’s selves to form different types of Spirit Attributes for him, which would then be shared with his own body.
This was an incredibly bold experiment, on par with when he forged the Path of Fusion with [Snow] from the prototype of the Hundred Ghosts Dao.
Of course, having walked that Path of Fusion before, Jiang Qiu had a certain degree of confidence in this current attempt.
But the specifics would only be known after trying. So, Jiang Qiu took a deep breath and said, “Feel it with your heart. Follow my train of thought and circulate the Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm. See if an opportunity arises to transform it into Vast Water Spirit Charm.”
“Mmm-hng…”
The Nine-tailed Fox nodded, her swan-like neck trembling slightly, her cheeks flushed crimson. She felt as if her soul were lost at the far end of time and space. Heaven and earth were a chaotic void, and she couldn’t sense the so-called Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm.
‘It seemed this world was like this at the very beginning—a stretch of chaos. Only later did the Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm gradually emerge, giving rise to living beings.’
‘But the Heaven and Earth Spirit Charm here hasn’t matured, so it hasn’t developed any attributes…’