A Bad Omen (1)

For the next few following days, everyone was busy with their own matters. The adults went along with their daily works. At the same time, the youths that recently awakened their Spiritual Soul tried their best to build a stable foundation.

Everything was going on their usual track, but nobody noticed an aura of death slowly coming close to this nameless village.

After he received the four Foundation Pills as his wage from growing two Foundation Fruits, Yanglin spent all the money he got from this for a few days worth of flour cakes and dried meat. He had the feeling that he would get much better eventually by working on this farm for a while.

His progress grows from handling two plants to three. Although Yanglin is confident that he can take on more than three plants at once, the Reliance System had a different opinion in what he was doing.

<<I know that you're in a hurry to improve your cultivation, but there's no shortcut in this. Just maintain your current progress until your foundation is stabilized.>>

<<You shouldn't risk exposing your secret regarding your twin Spiritual Soul unless you're forced to do so. It won't bring you any benefit at all if someone finds out about this.>>

Said the Reliance System.

Another fruit soon falls off from the tip of the Foundation Grass once it reaches the peak of maturity. Adding this fruit into the box, he'll need another day to fill it to the brim.

In these few days, Yanglin managed to stabilize his foundation much more. If everything went well, he would likely advance into the Early-Layer of Spirit Foundation Stage. And from there onwards, he would be qualified to go further outside of the village and contributes by hunting for Spiritual Beast in the forest.

"Reliance System!" Yanglin called as his soul entered the Realm Vessel right now. This place seems to be livelier with the number of Blood Foundation Pills littered all over this tiny mountain peak within his independent realm.

<<What's wrong?>>

The Reliance System responded to Yanglin's call as its body gradually formed from the soil. The spiritual infant soon separated itself from the earth and proceeded to Yanglin's side.

As it came to his side, the spiritual infant didn't forget to grab a few Blood Foundation Pills on the ground and devours them like candies in front of Yanglin.

"Something seems to be wrong with my Spiritual Siphoning Technique. Look at this." Yanglin said. Opening his hand wide and chanting the mantras that appear in his mind, the spiritual energy around him begins to converge and get absorbed into his body.

But the progress is evidently slower than before. Although the time taken to produce two pills was about the same, the impression the spiritual energy is coming slower than before worries Yanglin.

He was unsure if he practiced the technique wrongly or something was wrong with his body.

<<Oh? Look's like you do have some talent in cultivation.>>

The spiritual infant's response was out of Yanglin's expectation.

'How can absorbing the spiritual energy slower than before look talented in your eyes? Had you gone mad or blind?' Yanglin wanted to throw the words out of his mouth, but he couldn't do so before the process of forming the Foundation Pill was completed.

<<Who told you that faster is better? Don't you realize that your Spiritual Siphoning Technique is working smoother than before?>>

The spiritual infant said and tossed the remaining Blood Foundation Pill in its hand at Yanglin's head.

"What? Really?" Yanglin's concentration was interrupted when the Foundation Pill hit his head. Although he was in his spiritual form right now, the sense of touch and pain still existed here.

Hearing what the spiritual infant told him made Yanglin thought about something else. And at that moment, out of the 24 mantras in the Spiritual Siphoning Technique, Yanglin noticed that more than half of them had lit up.

This means he was halfway to the early-stage mastery.

It was apparent that the stability of the spiritual energy's flow was much better than before. Right now, Yanglin's Spiritual Siphoning Technique is going through a change in quality instead of quantity.

<<Are you going back out there?>>

The Reliance System asked.

"Yes. Since there's nothing much for me to do here, I might as well focus on growing the Foundation Fruits." Yanglin answered.

<<Then... Try out something on the plant when you have the opportunity to do so. Using the Spiritual Siphoning Technique as the base, activate both Realm Vessels separately by the side of the Foundation Grass until a two-colored fruit appears.>>

<<Then, bring that fruit here and meet me again. I'll remind you first... The attempt to grow a two-colored fruit is at least ten times harder than what you're doing so far.>>

The Reliance System said before flicking its fingers. The flick threw Yanglin out from the Realm Vessel and returned to his physical body.

'Harder?'

'By ten times?'

'Shall I try after I filled the box with ten fruits?' Yanglin said to himself and focused on growing two more Foundation Fruits before bringing the box back to the village chief.

...

...

Meanwhile...

"Is there any news regarding the weird sign we received from the ritual a few months ago?" a cultivator draped in a long black robe asked. He was seen standing beside a bloody altar filled with internal organs placed on top of a few platters.

A flag was placed after the altar. The word "Xie" was written on the core of the flag, accompanied by eight different demonic inscriptions accompanying it. The aura of death it was giving out was strong yet foul to people who weren't used to it.

(Xie also means Evil in the Chinese language)

The materials on the altar seem to have their essence gradually seeping away as the other practitioners continue to chant the mantra.

Their shady practice continued for quite some time until the materials dried up. What was left was a bloody orb floating at the core of the flag.

Something seems to be going on within the bloody orb when the black-robed cultivator approaches carefully with a chalice in his hand. The chalice had an aura of death and blood with it, as it was made from putting a femur bone and skull of a spiritual beast together.

**Ding...**

The noise of beads rolled into the chalice followed as the bloody orb vanishes from the flag. All that was left was a chalice with ten demonic medicinal pills.