The 'Clear' Attribute

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Ja Sun's clone and Ah Yin had returned once he understood the Yin Yang Well and was rewarded the Yin-Yang Gathering Formation from the trait in his real body. This whole week of cultivation in the spring made Ah Yin reach the bottleneck of rank 64 that she now strived to overcome. As a person's cultivation increases, they will face more and more bottlenecks that are far sturdier than before.

But the more Ah Yin stayed near the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well, the greater her resolve to make this property 'theirs' one day. Even Ja Sun's support in cultivation failed comparatively against the increase of cultivation for her near this blessed land.

A week of simple cultivation had already allowed her to reach the peak of rank 64. Anywhere else, this would be considered pure fantasy.

Now, aside from Tang Yuehua, no one faced a specific bottleneck of the Spirit Rank.

*Flap*

Ja Sun looked as the Clear Phoenix flew and returned to Yuehua's side. She would let her martial soul out often. Surrounded by yellowed trees, the black-feathered Griffin with glassy golden eyes looked around with idle boredom and then jogged on its four limbs around the camp.

"I'm tired," Oscar groaned, his body battered and bruised. But nobody was any better. Witnessing Ja Sun's sheer madness as he killed Ground Devil with a charred body made Bibi Dong realize that she should add pain tolerance in her training and for that, she simply had to stop Ah Yin from healing anyone. Now everyone faced the pain that came as a consequence of their actions and mistakes in the sparring and it promoted quicker growth.

It was the third day of the third week. Ja Sun and Ah Yin would still shift and try to enter the location of the blessed land but the time for Ah Yin had gotten significantly shorter. Still, each second mattered.

There still wasn't any sign of the owner of the Blessed Land returning. It was clear from the benefits that whatever the reason that the owner left was surely of great importance because Ah Yin and Ja Sun had the same thought— they wouldn't want to leave this location, not without protecting it enough at least.

Currently, in the group, everyone was resting. Tired and injured, and bruised, they continued to lie on the cold ground when Jun'er triggered a conversation.

"Teacher, can I ask you something? Actually, I had this thought for a long time."

Curious, Bibi Dong nodded.

"We decided to join the team because of Ah Yin. Honestly, I was still apprehensive," Jun'er sat up with a grunt, "But you're not like other members of the Spirit Hall. Most of them either happens to be abusive or arrogant, or the combination of the two. When you become the Supreme Pontiff, do you think you will solve this issue?"

Jun'er's team included Oscar, Feng Long, and Zhao Wuji. They happened to be quite talented, too. However, they were young and all of them faced quite a bit of problem when they joined the Spirit Hall before leaving it finally.

Her inquiry garnered interest. This question wasn't asked out of lingering resentment but pure curiosity regarding their leader's thoughts and state of mind.

"Hmm, isn't it already solved?" Bibi Dong smiled.

"What?" Jun'er's lips twitched.

"What you asked me doesn't only affect the Spirit Hall but the continent as a whole. Just like in Spirit Hall, you also faced troubles against the arrogant side of the Strength Clan, too. How should I put this..." Bibi Dong narrowed her eyes, "Consider a world without Spirit Hall for a second. Now, there is no organization that keeps a check on rogue spirit masters and the various clans and sects are most often based on the family lineage itself. Now consider what would happen if an extremely talented commoner arose? We have a few extreme examples here. Me, Ka-ul, Ah Yin, right? What would I or they do in a world without Spirit Hall?"

She let every one ponder for a few seconds.

"I will go first," Bibi Dong smiled, "In a world without spirit hall, there will obviously be a constant struggle against the Spirit Masters grown within the prestigious clans and those from smaller villages and towns. Even more arrogant spirit masters who do not care for their humane nature will start growing unlawful and acts of rape, murder, and massacre will be a sight even more common than it is now.

In a world so trying, I will grow as a killer. Using my poison. It will start by protecting myself against, say, lustful beings but then this world of killing will be a norm for me. I wasn't always a trained and taught speaker with the mind of politics so I would be even more demonic. Slowly, with fortune, I will rise the ranks and in the end, will be used as a figure piece by the spirit masters of the ordinary faction against the prestigious one. This may put me in the list of Heaven Dou Empire as a threat. They will send forces and unwittingly, I would also have to face the strength of an Empire.

Meanwhile, now, I am allowed to spend time with all of you. I don't have murderous urges. And while I try to grow and reach higher, in an unfortunate accident, I will be content with what I have before leaving or dying eventually."

Jun'er and others were quiet. Bibi Dong looked at Ah Yin as she sighed softly and began.

"I have had my fair share of encounters with men, groups of them, actually. So I can say that in a world even more unlawful, I will not be as kind-hearted as I am now."

Ja Sun snorted internally. Kind-hearted, my ass!

"But I don't see a life any different than teacher if I truly want to reach the apex. However, things might change if I am interested in someone from a prestigious clan or sect but even that would only be a smaller section of my life. In Spirit Hall, I am assured that political strife will not be for me so I am happy but that cannot be said for some other sect. In the end, I see myself dying in a more ruthless world and with extreme difficulty at that."

"For me," Ja Sun coughed, "I think I would just stay happy as a farmer."

"What?" Bibi Dong ridiculed with a sneer as Ja Sun revealed his thoughts honestly.

"In a world where I can lose anything at any point and to avoid this pain, I will detach myself. I will probably stop caring for those around me and live a natural life. I will have no beautiful wife, so that would save me the trouble from any depraved spirit master, I will live in a smaller and poorer section that would restrain bandits and other demonic spirit masters who strive on mass bloodshed.

And I will think to myself: If my end is death anyway, why would I even want to grow strong and then die when it can be done by the weaker side of the humans, too."

In the end, Ja Sun's words made everybody's expression sour. What Ah Yin and Bibi Dong spoke was a life of struggle but Ja Sun's side was purely... destitute. And they felt worse because they could see Ja Sun's thoughts resonate with them. To avoid pain, stop caring itself.

A simple but difficult notion.

"B-but... this doesn't answer my question," Jun'er mumbled.

"No, it doesn't," Bibi Dong shook of Ja Sun's words with a deep sigh and continued, "But now we have established the possible outcomes in a world without Spirit Hall. I'm sure you guys thought about what would happen with you all, too.

Now, consider why the demonic spirit masters even exist in the first place. It is sometimes because of their martial soul that puts them against humanity or their radical view of life. Out of personal gain, Spirit Hall strives to attract as many rogue spirit masters as possible.

Those who lust after women can earn enough and now go to brothels.

Those who secretly lust after blood are now even more afraid of revealing their thoughts because they are part of something grand.

And those who are still demonic are hunted down."

"But we were in the bounty, too," Jun'er frowned.

"Because we living beings are simply a cover of multitude desires. These desires often hurt the interest of another party. You are right in your anger and frustration, but I advise not only you but everyone else, that aside from the basic empathy, sometimes, look at the world with a view that transcends emotions and stays at the point of benefits.

For whatever reason, you were on the bounty list even if you are morally correct. But your desires hurt others and they will want to hurt you back. So, instead of losing ourselves in this world of hurt, you strive to resolve the issue."

Jun'er grew silent and held her chin with a thumb and an index.

"How?" She inquired.

Bibi Dong chuckled, "Didn't I just say? Look it from the point of benefit. If personally moving against the opposing party will harm you in the long-term, find someone else who wouldn't. Or you compromise and shake hands with the opposing party and let go of your hatred.

There are multiple ways to resolve an issue. You just have to find the best solution for yourself."

"If you were in our place and wrongfully accused, what would you have done?" Jun'er smiled.

"Escape or kill. But you and Oscar proved yourself better than me. You found Ah Yin and resolved this issue more peacefully," Bibi Dong replied with a calm smile and Jun'er nodded, lying back once again. A smile etched on her and Oscar's lips.

"Now, your problem is out of my league," Bibi Dong looked at Ja Sun, referring to his bleak view of life.

"Just saying," He shrugged.

With the air cleared between the group, they began training after the period of rest came to an end.

---

In the third week of training, Ja Sun would often send his clone to test out various methods to enter the Yin Yang Well. Now that he understood a great deal about the formation of the blessed land with the help of the Yin-Yang Gathering Formation, his ability to travel into the well before his clone being burnt to ashes... had increased only slightly.

This well was dangerous to the extreme and even his mental energy would be destroyed within. He tested it. The ability to control the clone would be lowered within the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well. Now, the most orthodox manner to travel inside of the Yin Yang Well was to just dual refine the two herbs that this blessed land created itself— the Infernal Delicate Apricot and the Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass and use the dual opposing properties to counter the properties of the Yin Yang Well.

To be specific, he could refine these two herbs using the Yin Yang Well itself but it was highly likely that then he would be incompatible with the Beautiful Silk Tulip. Sure, using the two fire and ice herbs was great for his body, but to a Spirit Master, in reality, the strength of his Martial Soul happened to be the priority. His mental strength and physical attributes were higher than the advantages of his martial soul because he simply did not have the fortuitous encounter of his martial soul to a greater degree yet.

So, this option was rejected. The other method was gathered from the art of array refining and his various abilities.

He thought of using dozens of clones at once to protect around him like a life-saving coat but then again, water would travel from the gaps and burn and freeze everyone regardless of the situation.

And from the profession of Array, Ja Sun devised a small version of the Yin-Yang Gathering Formation.

According to the knowledge, the Yin-Yang Gathering Formation would extract the two opposing forces of nature, not just ice and fire, and help them achieve balance. But this tome was related to the theory and not the proper application itself. This tome left quite a few examples on what materials could be used to what extent and their effects but that was it. For the entire third week and the first half of the fourth week, he found himself experimenting with the array.

Meanwhile, the group didn't stop progressing, and finally, the lucky break Yuehua had patiently awaited arrived.

*Chirp*

The Clear Phoenix chirped loudly, flying and dodging the winding branches of the forest as it chased a dark green woodpecker with great fervor.

"What's going on?" Everyone followed quickly enough. After all, the speed of the group was quite great when compared to the growing Clear Phoenix.

Chasing, Yuehua looked equally astonished, "She just started chasing after that bird. I'm trying to call her back but she seems adamant about chasing that Spirit Bird."

"She?" Xie Xan questioned.

"Well, Martial Souls don't have gender but I feel a little bad for calling a living being 'it.'" Yuehua explained and Bibi Dong frowned.

"We have looked for a Hardened Pecker before but your Martial Soul denied it. Why is... she chasing after that Spirit Beast?"

"Cause that's a mutation," Ja Sun observed. His eyesight was the greatest because of the Fiery Golden Pupils.

"Do you know what kind?" Hu Lana inquired.

"Nope," Ja Sun smiled, "But good for you, Birdy. You don't have to get your hands dirty after all."

Yuehua pursed her lips and Bibi Dong grunted, "Not the right time."

"Fine."

They chased for a few seconds until the comparatively larger Griffin-type Clear Phoenix caught the Spirit Beast with its sharp talons but without missing a beat, it instantly tore through the significantly hard feathers of the bird that would resemble the bark of a tree.

"What is going on?" Oscar looked at Yuehua's slightly pale countenance and inquired. The Clear Phoenix shook her head and feathers before jumping about and around Yuehua. The arm-sized corpse of the Spirit Beast right in front of them as a yellow spirit ring materialized over the corpse.

"I wish my Martial Soul could hunt for me... life would be so easier," Ja Sun grumbled.

"I didn't want my martial soul to do that for me," Yuehua grew slightly angry at 'herself.' After all, her martial soul was a part of her, too.

"But look at what a clean job she did. Her talons must really be sharp," Liu Erlong mumbled and crouched in front of the corpse before turning and looking back at Yuehua, "So, this must have come as a surprise to you but are you ready for your first spirit ring?"

Yuehua stood stunned for a moment and then looked at the Clear Phoenix standing next to her legs. She could somewhat communicate with her martial soul and this connection was extremely intimate so Yuehua knew that her martial soul wasn't the least bit apologetic for taking a life and deep down, Yuehua wasn't either. She didn't like bloodshed because of all the pain and suffering but this was her selfish dislike. If she truly wanted to do something about it then she would have tried to change the world itself.

Yuehua nodded and slowly sat down in front of the corpse. The dark green feathers dyed red and organs visible made her feel sick in the stomach. However, none of her teammates comforted her and only she could comfort 'herself.'

The Clear Phoenix rubbed her head against Yuehua's lap. The mark of the golden circle on her head glimmered and Yuehua found her internal conflict and restlessness being calmed down slightly. Smiling gratefully, Yuehua patted the head of the Phoenix and whispered, "Continue to look after me."

*Chaa*

She chirped as Yuehua closed her eyes and began absorbing her first spirit ring from a beast almost 300 years old in cultivation.

The group silently waited. Usually, the first spirit ring doesn't take too long to be absorbed and with Yuehua's now slightly trained body and gradually increasing mental fortitude since she continued to toil under the improvement of the Mental Acupuncture Technique till this day, it took less than half an hour before her spirit energy fluctuated and skyrocketed. Years of passively accumulated spirit energy without being able to break through due to her own martial soul being blocked were finally released. Compared to others in her team, it wasn't much. But her spirit energy and rank climbed constantly. The Clear Phoenix to her side gave a dark glimmer and rested on her stomach as she seemed to grow at a pace visible to the naked eyes.

Rank 11...

13...

14...

17...

18...

19.

Rank 19.

And Yuehua felt that she was just shy away from reaching her second bottleneck, too.

All of this was only possible because she hadn't been able to cultivate for 19 years!

In reality, this much of constant breakthrough was low in Bibi Dong's eyes who had raised her expectations somewhat. After all, Ah Yin and Ja Sun were two extreme products of quick cultivation so she hoped for another such prodigy but anyway, she was satisfied.

The fact that Yuehua's martial soul would react to the spirit beast compatible with it was already a great fortune that would allow Yuehua to have a smoother journey in the future.

As Yuehua opened her eyes, her gaze flickered with strangeness and incredulity.

"It's... clear."

"Hmm?" Ja Sun looked at her and Yuehua matched his gaze.

"My attribute is 'Clear.'"