Amphora of the Seven Sages

Chapter 20: Amphora of the Seven Sages

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The sea of consciousness?

This was another of those terms with which Ethan was quite familiar.

Often, in the Xianxia novels he read in his previous world, he encountered this term.

As far as he remembered, the sea of consciousness was a spiritual place within a person's mind.

In the novels he had read, this place reflected a person's talent and could only be accessed once a certain level of cultivation was reached.

Ethan had never paid much attention to these concepts while reading.

He read solely for pleasure, and seeing certain concepts repeated across different novels he had read, he began to ignore them and focused more on the plot itself and the actions of the MC.

He was one of those people who followed multiple novels simultaneously, so he tended to remember only the interesting, funny, etc., points of the novels he read.

He had reached the point where he had started ignoring even the characters' names because they were often similar, and he ended up confusing various characters.

He only remembered their actions or what had happened to them, so his understanding of the sea of consciousness was very limited.

So, after thinking for a moment, he said:

"So, this is my sea of consciousness? But how did I enter, and more importantly, is it normal for you to be in here too?"

Ethan for a moment thought that the luminous thing that hit him might be this being, but then recalling that the being had said it was trapped in this place, the pieces didn't add up.

The creature's voice resounded once more, and it said:

"No, it's not normal for either of us to be here," it said in a somewhat displeased tone.

"Originally, a being can enter their own sea of consciousness if they reach a high level of cultivation, and it's usually not possible to store creatures or objects.

But this situation is a bit particular. See that object floating above you? That's the cause of all this."

'Object?' Ethan, not understanding what it meant, tilted his head upward to look, and only then did he notice it.

'What the heck is that?'

Like the sun, visible high in the sky during the afternoon, a strange luminous object was currently floating very high in Ethan's sea of consciousness.

Ethan was astonished not only by the presence of this object but also by its size.

At this moment, it seemed very small, but considering how high it was currently, one could get an idea of how large it should be to still be visible from below.

'A cauldron?'

Ethan thought this whole situation was starting to get out of hand. First, he was hit by a ball of white light, then somehow ended up in his sea of consciousness, an impossible feat for his current level of cultivation, and finally, inside his sea of consciousness, there was a gigantic sealed creature and a strange massive cauldron-shaped object suspended high in the sky?

'I must definitely be dreaming,' he told himself, trying to calm down.

"What you see is the Amphora of the Seven Sages," said the creature.

'Amphora of the seven sages? what a strange name, and I'm pretty sure it's a cauldron,' Ethan thought.

The being, ignoring Ethan's thoughts, continued its explanation.

"It's a unique artifact that allows one to enhance their spiritual power.

Due to certain circumstances, I have been trapped in this artifact for several centuries now.

Now that it has chosen you as its owner, I have naturally been brought into your sea of consciousness," it said with a hoarse and resentful voice.

'An artifact capable of enhancing a person's spiritual power?'

It was known that spiritual power was very important for a cultivator.

If a person had very high spiritual power, they were less likely to succumb to mental attacks from other cultivators or even spirits of some artifact.

Spiritual power directly strengthened a person's soul, allowing the cultivator to progress in their cultivation more easily over time.

Infact, at a certain point in one's cultivation path, one had to cultivate and refine their spiritual power to strengthen their soul and prepare it to enter what is currently the highest stage of cultivation, the Body-Soul Integration stage.

"Wait, you said the cauldron chose me? Does that mean it's alive?"

"In a sense, it is. Artifacts of this level, over time, gain their own will."

"I see," he said, lost in thought for a moment.

Honestly, Ethan understood little of this situation, and he sincerely did not want to have anything to do with this entity or this strange artifact.

Although the idea of possessing such an object was enticing, it was also true that he did not have the strength to own and protect this object.

He was sure that if the world learned of an artifact capable of enhancing one's spiritual power, he would be in danger.

As a great man once said: with great power comes great responsibility.

Ethan was not sure if it was worth having this artifact.

From how the white creature made it sound, this object was invaluable and gave its owner great power.

He wasn't entirely sure how powerful this artifact could be, but the fact that it could enhance a person's spiritual power was already significant.

Ethan believed that perhaps with this artifact, he could finally enter the realm of body refinement.

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FRANK_LEE_JUNIOR:

I apologize for my absence in the past few days.

From this chapter onwards, I will need to accelerate some things and establish some foundations to support the plot for the upcoming chapters, foundations that I noticed still lacked a lot of work, so I had to stop and work on them for a while.

I should be able to resume uploading at least one chapter a day, and hopefully, no new problems will arise in the near future.

I want this novel to do well, and I want to dedicate all the time I can to it, so I am rechecking some aspects of the power system of this novel to avoid making a mess later on.