Cultivation : I'm an Ancient Giant Bear-Chapter 367 - 346: Spirit Net

Goodness!

So that’s how it is.

At this moment, Wang Wu glanced into the distance and saw standing on the water’s surface, tens of kilometers away, a two-meter-tall, stout fellow with a red face. Though humanoid, he closely resembled a big carp, especially with those whiskers and hair, even the clothes he wore had a striking resemblance, emphasizing a divine likeness.

But this Yu Ermu was indeed a legitimate Fourth-Grade Fish Demon; most importantly, he carried at least five magical treasures, with a storage pouch tied at his waist, held a fish spear in his hand, and had a peculiar straw hat on his back, standing on lotus leaves with a stalk in his mouth, just short of a fluttering snowflake BGM.

However, aside from this Yu Ermu, there wasn’t even a single River Patrol Demon Soldier in sight, was he a lone commander?

At this time, Yu Ermu took out a Spiritual Essence Gourd, tossed it into the air, spreading from upstream to downstream, casting a golden glow over hundreds of kilometers, estimated to contain at least fifty thousand points of Spiritual Qi.

Yet, there were also a great many fish in the river, perhaps more than a million, who at this moment surged up, scrambling fiercely.

Among them, there were even larger fish, fiercely emerging from the depths, devouring one after another, grabbing not only the Spirit Essence but also eating fish.

For a time, the river surface was a bloody red, yet Yu Ermu seemed not to mind, as if accustomed to the scene, and after scattering the Spirit Essence, he packed away the Spiritual Essence Gourd and headed downstream on lotus leaves.

At this moment, those fierce big fish immediately ceased their carnage and hurriedly caught up.

Quite like the aware repeaters.

On the contrary, the new fish all scattered, some disappearing without a trace, some desperately fled upstream.

Some were swept and driven directly downstream.

Wang Wu also followed behind these repeaters, playing it low-key; he didn’t want to escape, mainly because he discovered a shocking truth.

That is, he seemed to have arrived at the Spirit Mist Zone, but only within the large river; if he were to leap onto the shore now, he would immediately leave the Spirit Mist Zone, and all efforts would be in vain.

This mechanism was truly eerie.

And at this moment, in the river, he couldn’t see a single small fish or shrimp, nor any normal ecological creatures, such as mosquitoes or water insects—everything juvenile was entirely absent.

This was absolutely intentional.

Yu Ermu traveled swiftly on lotus leaves, with a speed approaching one hundred kilometers per hour, with the repeaters desperately pursuing, afraid of being left behind.

But the new fish were somewhat unable to handle it and began falling behind in droves.

Yet some managed to keep up.

Or were scared enough by the repeaters to flee all the way.

Anyway, this looked like a selection process; in just half an hour, about fifty percent were eliminated, but what happened to the fish that lagged, Wang Wu couldn’t see, seemingly, they fell back into the Gray Mist Zone.

And they should remember this magical encounter and participate again in the selection process in the next decade, thus becoming repeaters?

Just like that, they swam for about five hundred kilometers at a stretch, and Yu Ermu finally stopped.

By this time, there were less than three thousand new fish who could keep up, but none of the repeaters were missing, approximately around a thousand.

"Not bad at all!"

Yu Ermu surveyed with satisfaction, gestured towards a spot, and in the next second, a white mist surged in, instantly covering the entire river surface, followed by a peculiar ringing of bells.

At this moment, Wang Wu shivered uncontrollably, feeling a profound sensation akin to the morning understanding the Way and the evening passing without regret.

He couldn’t help but want to say, "I have attained enlightenment."

This bell ringing was so magical, that Wang Wu’s Divine Soul, his Divine Thought, and even the Five Elements Spirit Array all experienced a qualitative leap within this single toll.

He immediately realized the flaws in his Five Elements Spirit Array, understood his Qi and Blood circulation structure, the structure of Spiritual Qi circulation, even the core structure of Spiritual Qi composition, all could be optimized further.

Along with this, he saw many areas for improvement in his Earth Demon Thirty-Six Transformations.

Truly, enlightenment came, flashes of inspiration crossed his mind, he felt he could achieve enlightenment right then and there.

He even had a sudden urge to leap out immediately, find a place to seclude himself and cultivate for a hundred years.

But ultimately, Wang Wu calmed himself down.

At this moment, it was not up to him to decide.

He slowly swayed his tail in the water, silently adjusting the changes in his Qi and Blood, making his Earth Demon Thirty-Six Transformations more realistic and divine-like.

Looking around, many fish also seemed to become suddenly enlightened, as if instantly gaining intelligence, though their foundation was low, their intelligence awakened merely a little, fundamentally unable to grasp the true essence of the bell’s enlightenment, 99% wasted.

In the blink of an eye, the white mist dissipated, and Yu Ermu began to widen his eyes, searching all around, each time finding a big fish with decent intelligence awakening, he would smile contentedly and toss over a small flag like a white feather.

Seeing this, Wang Wu made a slight adjustment, and sure enough, when Yu Ermu’s gaze swept over, he too tossed over a White Feather Banner without a word.

At such a low level, there was no need to hide one’s talents.

In a wink, Yu Ermu threw out over a hundred White Feather Banners, then laughed aloud,

"Listen carefully, this is the West River Navy Camp, where you will train and fight daily. You have ten years; only ten years. Those who pass the selection will become River Patrol Water Demons, gaining identity and status. Those who don’t will be eaten!"

"Now, I shall teach you a Water Race Dao Technique! Wave-Treading!"

As he spoke, Yu Ermu chanted a not-so-complex, not-very-long spell, containing only four syllables in total.

Very easy to remember, even kindergarten kids could pick it up almost perfectly.

Truly absurd.

But when Yu Ermu recited it seriously, it was as if divine power descended upon him, suddenly transforming into a colossal black fish over a hundred meters long. With a mighty slap of its huge tail in the water, boom, towering waves surged, and with that momentum, it soared straight up a thousand meters into the sky.

Even the massive wave it stirred up rose over a hundred meters high; what a spectacle!

"Did you see clearly? Practice like this, and when your wave-treading can leap over a hundred meters, you will have made some progress."

Yu Ermu reverted to his human form, but ignored the other big fish, focusing only on the big fish with the White Feather Banner.

These big fish clearly had more insight, their bodies strong and exceptionally agile. Each of them practiced independently, even on their first try, managing to jump over ten meters high on average.

In contrast, looking at the ordinary big fish, the best among them could only jump over five meters.

After a few more practices, just four or five times, the best performing big fish with the White Feather Banner could easily jump over thirty meters.

Meanwhile, the best ordinary big fish, after practice, could barely reach around ten meters.

The gap was clear at a glance.

Wang Wu, on his end, didn’t make himself too outstanding, continually maintaining a position within the top twenty.

However, he was quite curious about the spell Yu Ermu taught; it was very distinctive. How should I put it? It’s the difference between transliteration and free translation.

In the past, even in the Great Wilderness Sin Prison, to cultivate a Daoist technique, one had to first understand its meaning, digest and comprehend its principles, only then could it be mastered.

This included the Blood Qi Divine Talisman, Ice Divine Talisman, Red Flame Divine Talisman, and so on, which Wang Wu had already mastered.

It was the same.

But now, the spell Yu Ermu taught was like a Daoist technique simulator. Just recite the spell, and you can activate the Spirit Net switch, spiritual energy initiates, and in coordination with the body, forms the Wave-Treading Dao Skill.

Yes, the Spirit Net, this was what Wang Wu discovered during practice.

Upon reciting, or even silently chanting the corresponding spell, varying amounts of spiritual energy would immediately inject into the body, fast and convenient, much like as long as I know the incantation, I don’t need to store spiritual energy, or cultivate a demon pill, spirit pill—it’s like as long as I have a phone, I don’t need a wallet because I can connect to the Internet.

"Damn, so is this magic? Or a magic net!"

Wang Wu couldn’t help but associate with this.

Of course, he wasn’t dumb enough to think the Cultivation Realm had been conquered by the Magic Realm.

He could only say that heroes think alike; when something has its logic to exist, similar things would appear elsewhere.

"This is probably another method the higher-ups of the Cultivation Realm are using to exploit the lower-level beasts."

Wang Wu coldly laughed in his heart, directly seeing through the essence.

Think about it!

The old-style cultivators, or old-style demons, need to first cultivate a spirit root, then advance to a spirit or demon pill, then only can spiritual energy be stored within their bodies, meanwhile enhancing all parts of the body and gaining extended lifespan.

A lifetime, more or less spent in cultivation and preparing for cultivation.

Although slow, although difficult, what they cultivate truly belongs to them.

But the new-style cultivators or new-style demons?

Who needs spirit roots, spirit pills, demon pills? I just need to chant spells, and if the Spirit Net can further be intelligentized, AI-ized, I don’t even need to memorize it hard; just a few trendy spell abbreviations, at most carrying a phone and a power bank, will suffice...

Humans are prone to laziness; demons, too, like to laze around.

Spiritual energy wouldn’t largely deplete inside a cultivator’s body, wouldn’t be used to extend their lifespans. When needed, just train for ten years and they can go to war, fast and versatile, lethal with low costs.

Which immortal wouldn’t like it?

Wouldn’t it be great to keep the extra spiritual energy for oneself?

Squandering spiritual energy on mortals and beasts is simply a waste!

As Wang Wu continued practicing, he felt increasingly so; the spell was like a secret key, and spiritual energy seemed to become encoded signals.

"Boom!"

A spiritual energy injection adjusted Wang Wu’s power instantly, finally concentrating on the lower half of his body. With a slap on the water surface, the fish tail propelled him up directly over twenty meters, about sixty meters high; pretty effective results.

But it really does give one the feeling, am I really this terrifying?

"Great, from now on, you are my White Feather River Patrol Guard! Let’s go, I’ll take you to a wonderful place."

After about half an hour of practice, Yu Ermu shouted, leading all the big fish with white feather ornaments downstream.

These big fish were quite excited, one by one, they even learned to whisper among themselves.

Awakened, after all, is different.

They swam another hundred kilometers in one go, the river ahead made a bend, the channel began to narrow, and many cliffs appeared on both sides where numerous vines grew, connecting left and right, like bridges.

These vines were in full bloom with small white flowers, also bearing many fruits.

Looked really delicious, no, those were Ninth-Grade Spirit Fruits.

But, hundreds of monkeys large and small guarded the cliffs on both sides, screeching at the sight of Yu Ermu from a distance.

"Sons, see the fruits up there? Ninth-Grade Spirit Fruits! Want to eat? If you want some, then jump up!"