Lingxu's cultivation was relatively smooth. He absorbed the water spiritual power day and night, for three weeks in total. During this time, he would take a few hours each day to rest at night. After all, it's still too weird to sleep during the day for him.
Fortunately there is barely any consumption of spiritual water below the sea, at least Lingxu felt that compared to his absorption, it was less. If he were to move around all the time, he would have to take breaks during the day or go deeper to avoid the sun light, but as long as he only cultivates, there is barely any difference.
After all, he doesn't have to absorb the spiritual power, he is using it to mutate his spectral body with the combination of the nine ghost transformation art. As long as he does it, his spectral form will slowly change and give birth to the form of a water ghost.
Whether he keeps the spiritual power isn't important at this stage. If he were to cultivate a spiritual art, he could keep this body for refinement, then change between refining spiritual power and absorbing it for his ghost art.
The three weeks were a long time for him, but he was slowly used to doing one thing without much change. Not to mention cultivation, he had the honour of being a mascot for three whole months before he awakened his inheritance.
Thinking of this, he looked into his own body. It was see through but deep inside, he saw something no one else could see. There was a little cat laying down, yawning now and then, sleeping while also cultivating and absorbing a bit of the spiritual power.
This little cat could enter his soul the whole time, it just preferred being outside. But, since he started going into the water, it was very reluctant, so it chose to stay in the soul and wait there.
After all, they have a deep connection, so doing something like this is no issue.
'It's like an extra natal weapon, no… it's much better than a natal weapon! When I reach the Origin Light stage, I will definitely get a useful natal weapon which is either able to attack, defend and support movement at the same time, or is auxiliary and can be used daily.
I'm no butcher so I don't need to sharpen my weapon day and night for one fight. So many resources wasted just to have an attacking weapon which can barely defend and is a secondary escape weapon… I really don't know what those people who aren't weapon cultivators love about swords. There are so many weapons to decide from, but they chose the sword.
For sure it's a flexible weapon for battle, but it's neither good for a battle of attrition nor for a fast win, it's not as sneaky as poison nor is it as flexible as spells. It's really just a weapon made popular by the fact that swords cultivator have a good reputation.
Alas, their popularity isn't deserved at all. Aren't other weapon cultivators just as good? Those who fight with flying daggers can kill you quickly or fight several enemies at once, bows have the greatest range among all weapons. Although the cost is also the highest, since all arrows must be at least of the same major realm as the weapon, every arrow has the strength of a full-on attack.
Well, I should try to be more open minded. After all, my ideas come from my past life, if I don't believe in evil, maybe one day I really have to fight a bow cultivator because they aren't that rare…
Ah, why are all weapons so useless! They are all specialised in fighting! How can an honest, kind and righteous person like me have the will to fight all the time!' he said.
Looking at the little cat that was purring in his soul, he just chuckled, ignoring this history… and also ignoring his goal of joining the earth devil palace, the strongest secret organisation that is hated the most in the whole world for their ruthless assassinations and the ability to create chaos.
…
This night, Lingxu was sure he would be able to transform. He sat down in his spectral form on the ground ten metres below the water surface. His soul was calm and he absorbed the yin energy and water energy at the same time.
Time past until even the last speck of his spectral body had a hint of dark water blue, distinct from the ghastly blue before. He felt as if his body suddenly gained a lot of weight, but his movement wasn't hindered at all. He felt even more free in this water.
Smiling like a fool, he quickly calmed down and performed the reverse formula. Slowly, the dark blue receded into a sphere that hovered deep inside his soul, hovering in the space where the cat was taking its nap.
He used the technique of becoming a ghost and removing the spell again and again, until his mind was exhausted. Only then did he become a spectre, go to the surface and fly back to his little hut at the corner of the beach.
It was a huge stone with others aligned together, forming a small hill. He entered in spectral form, passed through it and came to the centre of the stone, which was a hollow dark space with barely any light from outside shining in.
This was a hiding place he found casually when he was jumping around.
He sat in his place, becoming a human again. There were a few fruits and berries. He sighed looking at them "I should have learned better how to make fire, now I am stuck with eating food like this."
Having eaten barely anything in the residence, he was now adaptable and would be fine with such a poor palate. Still, he swore in his heart 'I can't ever treat myself so badly… my weak body is even weaker, what a joke, just from how pale I am, people will directly connect me to either a lustful young man or a demon cultivator.'
After eating, he already prepared to leave. There was nothing else requiring him to stay, after all, he didn't have baggage nor did he have to leave anyone behind. He just walked here to eat the last portion of food, so he would be able to stay full for a longer time. Once he entered the spectral body, the food he ate will become nutrients for his movement, a secondary energy that is of a lower quality than spiritual power, but at this point, he accepted any kind of energy.
He left the little house and walked towards the shore. It was already day so he swam into the water as a human body, swimming into the distance, where the ground below had long disappeared.
All this time, he had never swam out so much, now he was sure the depth was more than thirty metres, but he walked further. Fortunately his eyes were enhanced with his cultivation, so he was able to see better.
Although they are just different levels of darkness, being able to differentiate is already good.
'It feels like I'm a blind person judging colours by their degree of greyness…'