My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

The lingering emotions didn’t disturb Wang Ping for long. He quickly collected himself and waved to Hu Qianqian. After she left, he once again used his Primordial Spirit to survey the battlefield, which stretched for hundreds of miles below the mountain.

Suddenly, he sensed a Primordial Spirit Consciousness that was both strange and familiar.

It was Chang Jing.

The moment Wang Ping sensed Chang Jing’s Primordial Spirit, Chang Jing sensed him as well. In the next instant, Wang Ping felt a scorching presence manifest within his own Primordial Spirit, threatening to ignite the Spiritual Qi at any moment.

"Heh heh."

Wang Ping chuckled aloud. ’Encountering something like this during such a dull time is a pleasant surprise.’ An idea took shape in his mind. Beneath the clouds, hundreds of All-Purpose Talismans materialized out of thin air. They formed numerous arrays, neutralizing all the surrounding Spiritual Qi into Wood Spirit Qi, thereby snuffing out the Fire Spirit Qi generated by Chang Jing’s Primordial Spirit.

"Oho, are they about to make a move?" Wu Quan appeared beside Wang Ping, gazing at Chang Jing’s Primordial Spirit projection before True Yang Mountain.

"He has cultivated his Three Yang True Inheritance to the Late Stage of the Third Realm. He can use his Primordial Spirit Body to roam the world and cast magic. He’s certainly worthy of his title as the Sect Leader of the True Yang Sect." Zhi Gong Daoist shot Wu Quan a disdainful glance. The two of them had been at odds from the start, most likely due to internal strife within the Earth Cave Sect.

"If we end up fighting them later, you can leave that one to me." As Huaimo Taoist of the Yuqing Sect spoke, his body became ethereal and illusory, exuding a pleasant, celestial aura. He had received the true inheritance of the Yuqing Sect; the cosmos within his body had already condensed into a Great Golden Core.

Afterward, Hu Yin, Mountain Guard, Tongming Wanderer, and Ganxing also appeared one by one at Wang Ping’s side.

Likewise, the six figures who had appeared before materialized once more around Chang Jing’s Primordial Spirit. The two groups faced each other from a hundred miles apart. Then, Chang Jing’s Primordial Spirit performed the standard Taoist fist-and-palm salute.

Wang Ping naturally rose and returned the salute.

Then, both sides departed.

After this brief interlude, Wang Ping’s human side immediately became more active, and he fully awakened from the apathetic state caused by merging with the Heaven-Reaching Talisman.

He took one more look at the battlefield below, where battle cries shook the heavens, then turned and returned to the temporary hut he had built from vines. The others had already departed even faster than him.

The hut’s furnishings were simple. There was a cloud bed woven from vines, with a clean meditation cushion on top. In the middle of the room sat a simple tea table holding a set of celadon teacups. Beside the tea table was a stove. When Wang Ping had free time in the afternoons, he liked to pass the time by brewing tea alone.

After entering the hut, Wang Ping first activated the simple array surrounding it to conceal his aura. He then activated the Wood Spirit Array inside. Once everything was sealed off, he walked to the cloud bed and sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion.

"Are you ready?" Wang Ping asked, taking out the Purgatory Banner.

"Of course. If there are any problems, I will use the Purgatory Banner’s power to forcibly imprison that Lizard Demon’s soul." Nether Water’s tone was somewhat dejected, perhaps because of Tongyu Taoist’s decision to reforge his physical body.

Wang Ping nodded and opened the wooden box containing the Lizard Demon’s Demon Core. Inside was a bead that resembled a Luminous Pearl. It was a vibrant green and emitted its own green halo, beautiful to behold. But its beauty was deadly. The instant the lid was opened, even with his Third Realm Primordial Spirit Cultivation, Wang Ping could feel an invisible toxin eroding his spiritual essence.

Had it been an ordinary Second Realm Cultivator, they would have likely needed to set up several protective arrays just to handle this Fake Pill.

Nether Water sensed the Fake Pill’s aura and said, "This bead is actually quite similar to Nether Qi. If you can merge it with the Purgatory Banner, you might get some unexpected results."

"How do I merge them?"

"I don’t know either. You could try the same method you used to upgrade the Purgatory Banner before."

Wang Ping’s gaze fell upon the Fake Pill again. "This thing can be refined with True Essence?" he asked doubtfully.

Nether Water replied nonchalantly, "Just give it a try. With your cultivation level, forcibly refining a Fake Pill shouldn’t be that difficult."

The Fake Pill cultivated by the Demon Race was similar to the Spirit Veins Wang Ping cultivated in his own body. However, the Demon Race condensed their Fake Pills from the power of their bloodline, whereas Wang Ping relied on cultivating Qi day and night.

Seeing Wang Ping’s hesitation, Nether Water added, "The Purgatory Banner was created by the Taiyin Sect to refine all things. It can absorb not only this Fake Pill but also most other substances you can think of. The only prerequisite is that your cultivation level is high enough."

"You should have said so earlier."

Wang Ping was instantly relieved. He carefully checked the arrays inside and outside the hut one more time. After confirming there were no issues, he drove the True Essence from his Qi Sea to refine the Fake Pill before him, just as he had refined the Blood Pill.

It was a resounding success!

It was easier than Wang Ping had imagined. In one go, he gathered thirty percent of the Wood Spirit True Essence from his Qi Sea. As the refining formation created by this True Essence engulfed the Fake Pill, a layer of fine, blood-colored patterns appeared on its surface—likely the bloodline imprint of the Demon Race. The imprints resisted for no more than two breaths before shattering.

A little over ten breaths later, the Fake Pill transformed into a mass of dark green energy. It intertwined with Wang Ping’s Wood Spirit True Essence, madly devouring the spiritual essence within it, before breaking into writhing clumps of energy.

Wang Ping was unafraid of its potent poison. He even observed it with great interest for a short while before beckoning the Purgatory Banner over to touch the energy substance formed from the Fake Pill.

When the Purgatory Banner touched the energy, its surface became covered in dense, blood-colored patterns, just like before. These patterns absorbed all of the energy, but unlike with the Blood Pill, it couldn’t be digested in an instant. Instead, the energy was forced to flow back and forth between the blood-colored patterns, and with each pass, the Purgatory Banner would digest a little more of it.

"It will probably take a full day to finish digesting it," Nether Water reminded him.

"That long?"

"This is almost the entirety of a Demon Race member’s bloodline. The Purgatory Banner is an inanimate object, so its digestion is slow."

"But what about you?"

"It only takes a day precisely because I’m here. Otherwise, you’d be waiting at least half a year!"

"..."

Wang Ping paused for a moment, then asked, "In that case, does this mean we don’t need to merge his soul and consciousness anymore?"

Nether Water formed a spell with her hands and sensed the Purgatory Banner for a moment. "Send me a sliver of your True Essence consciousness," she said. "I’ll give it a try."

Wang Ping nodded. He then used a Spiritual Creature he had captured earlier as a medium to inject a wisp of True Essence into Nether Water, who immediately activated the Purgatory Banner’s ability.

Several breaths passed before Wang Ping sensed the aura of the spiritual toxin.

"It doesn’t seem to be working very well, huh?"

"Right. It’s not smooth at all, and I can only bring out less than twenty percent of its power. A Demon Race’s soul and consciousness is a special product, formed only after withstanding the trials of the Celestial Dao. It’s far more powerful than the bloodline power within the Fake Pill. If you use the right method, you could even use its soul and consciousness to condense an entirely new Fake Pill."

"I was being too simplistic!"

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