Chapter 112 – The External Incarnation
"Whew…"
Gu Mo exhaled a long breath, signaling the end of his daily cultivation. At the same time, he had also completed the transition to a new cultivation method—a process that had taken him three months.
He had re-cultivated the Qingmu Sutra from the first layer of Qi Refinement all the way up to the seventh. The entire process was smooth and unobstructed. After all, Gu Mo was re-cultivating a Qi Refinement-level technique while possessing the strength of the Foundation Establishment stage—naturally, the progress was astonishingly fast.
Normally, when a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment stage switches to a new technique, they must use the new technique to refine spiritual energy into its liquid form and re-walk the path of Foundation Establishment. Although the process skips the step of condensing spiritual consciousness, it still requires caution and careful handling.
However, while Gu Mo possessed all the abilities of someone in the Foundation Establishment stage, his cultivation realm remained at Qi Refinement. Therefore, he only needed to cultivate the new technique up to the Qi Refinement level.
Or rather, even if Gu Mo wanted to condense liquid spiritual energy again, it would only cost him another portion of second-grade Solar Essence.
Now that the transition to the new technique was complete, Gu Mo could clearly feel the changes it brought. First and foremost was the change in his spiritual energy's attributes. The Qingmu Sutra was a wood-element cultivation method, so the spiritual energy it produced naturally leaned toward the wood attribute.
Wood-element spiritual energy was a perfect match for a spiritual planter. In particular, it dramatically improved the efficiency of growth-acceleration techniques for spirit plants—several times higher than before.
Gu Mo's original spiritual energy stemmed from Solar Essence, already carrying a solar aura that had a naturally beneficial effect on spirit plants. Now, with wood attributes added on top of the solar qualities, the energy could be considered a supreme tonic for spiritual flora.
This change in spiritual energy attributes also resulted in a massive upgrade to the wood-element Minor Rejuvenation Technique—an almost epic-level enhancement.
Naturally, other attribute-based spiritual farming spells did not weaken due to the attribute shift. In fact, they also saw a slight boost in effectiveness, though nothing as dramatic as the wood-element techniques.
This was the kind of comprehensive improvement that came from cultivating a higher-tier technique.
And if it's a full-spectrum enhancement, then there was more to it. After transitioning to the Qingmu Sutra, Gu Mo's physique and spiritual energy reserves were further strengthened.
The more profound the technique, the more meridians it required to open for circulating spiritual energy. The more meridians were opened, the more spiritual energy could be stored within them. Additionally, more extensive meridian development also meant a more refined tempering of the body by spiritual energy, further enhancing physical strength.
That's why cultivators of advanced techniques always had deeper foundations than those using ordinary methods.
Gu Mo already had a physical body and spiritual energy foundation twelve times stronger than others of his level. Now, with the boost from a superior technique, his foundation had grown even further—so much so that it was hard to quantify.
His situation was quite unusual: although his realm was still at the seventh level of Qi Refinement, he possessed the liquid spiritual energy of Foundation Establishment, the physique and spiritual consciousness of a mid-stage Foundation Establishment cultivator. Comparing him to a normal Qi Refinement cultivator simply made no sense anymore.
High-tier cultivation methods often came with a unique additional effect. For example, Yuan Niya's Heartfire Technique allowed her to ignite a heartfire to gain immense combat strength. The Qingmu Sutra had its own special effect—it extended lifespan.
Longevity was a widely recognized trait of those who cultivated wood-element techniques. The Qingmu Sutra, in particular, was known for its significant life-extending benefits.
While increased longevity didn't directly boost combat strength, it had major implications. Consider defenders like Wei Yuan and the others stationed at resource outposts. They were only sent out because their lifespans were nearing their end. Had they practiced a wood-element technique, they might have had time for one final breakthrough attempt.
After all, if one could break through their current bottleneck, an entirely new world would await.
In the end, the goal of all mortal cultivators was nothing more than longevity. But in the pursuit of immortality, one had to fight and struggle over opportunities, leading to the emergence of countless offensive techniques.
Offensive techniques didn't extend life directly—but if you could seize enough opportunities and treasures, you could rapidly raise your cultivation. A higher realm meant longer life.
Gu Mo, however, had the best of both worlds—he could cultivate the Qingmu Sutra for longevity while using plants to protect his path.
After fully experiencing the benefits of his new cultivation method, Gu Mo got up and stepped out of his artifact hut.
As he opened the door, what greeted his eyes was a radiant golden field of sunflowers—one hundred of them, neatly planted across the spiritual field.
Of the hundred sunflowers, thirty were second-grade, while the remaining seventy were first-grade. The number of second-grade sunflowers was steadily increasing, and Gu Mo's ultimate goal was fifty second-grade specimens.
Why not upgrade all 100 to second-grade? The answer lay in the field's carrying capacity. Gu Mo also needed to reserve space for second-grade Peashooters and second-grade Wall-nuts.
As for Potato Mines, their resource consumption was negligible since they only needed to be planted in the spiritual field while still first-grade seeds. After upgrading, they no longer required field space. Cherry Bombs, on the other hand, never needed to be planted in the field to begin with.
"Time to get back to cultivation."
After admiring the fruits of his labor, Gu Mo returned to his hut. He knew very well that there was less than a year left before the Jade Dew Fruit would ripen—once that happened, this period of calm would be shattered.
So while he still had this rare window of peace, Gu Mo needed to grow as much as possible.
This time, he intended to begin comprehending the half-completed divine ability he had obtained. Holding the inheritance stone, Gu Mo infused it with his spiritual consciousness, and a torrent of information surged into his mind. The sudden influx left him dizzy and disoriented for quite a while.
When he finally recovered, Gu Mo's expression turned grim.
He had long known that cultivating a divine ability would be difficult—often requiring harsh preconditions. He was mentally prepared to meet any requirements necessary to train in this incarnation technique.
But when he learned the conditions for cultivating this divine ability called External Incarnation, Gu Mo was completely dumbfounded.
The requirements had little to do with the cultivator themselves. Instead, it demanded a heavenly material or treasure infused with "primordial force." Only such a resource could be used to forge the flawless avatar needed for this divine technique.
And what was a flawless avatar? One with no flaws whatsoever—indistinguishable from a real cultivator. It could cultivate, cast spells, and act on its own.
An avatar capable of independent cultivation was essentially an extra life for the cultivator. If the original body were to perish, the avatar could take its place, carrying on the same level of cultivation.
Of course, Gu Mo only had half of the External Incarnation technique. The avatars it produced were not entirely flawless—powerful experts might still see through them.
But such experts would need to be Nascent Soul stage or higher. And such figures hadn't appeared in this part of the cultivation world for a very long time.
So even this incomplete divine ability was already more than enough for Gu Mo.
The only thing currently hindering Gu Mo from cultivating this External Avatar technique was the need for heavenly materials infused with the Power of Origin. But where could such rare treasures be found?
The Power of Origin—just the name sounded lofty and profound. Any natural treasure imbued with this kind of power was clearly not something one could obtain easily.
"Wait a second!"
A sudden thought struck Gu Mo—inside his dantian, he had six drops of that mysterious, liquid spiritual energy. Those six drops contained an indescribable force… Could this be the very Power of Origin he was seeking?
With that thought, Gu Mo took out one drop of the liquid spirit energy and activated the External Avatar technique to test it out, to see if the technique would respond.
"It really is the Power of Origin."
Feeling the resonance from the technique, Gu Mo's eyes filled with disbelief. The most difficult hurdle in cultivating the External Avatar had been resolved—just like that.
He had six drops of this liquid spiritual energy, so in theory, he could form six avatars. Of course, with only a partial version of the technique, he could only manifest one at a time. But having five in reserve meant that even if one avatar was destroyed, he could swiftly replace it.
Now that all the necessary conditions were met, Gu Mo didn't hesitate. He immediately began fully devoting himself to mastering the External Avatar technique.
---
Three months later.
Gu Mo held a single drop of the liquid spiritual energy in his hand—one of the six drops he had stored. Then he squeezed out a drop of his own blood and merged it with the liquid spirit energy. With that, the preparation for forging the avatar was complete.
Taking a deep breath, Gu Mo began to activate the External Avatar technique he had only recently grasped. Instantly, the spiritual power within his body surged like a flood, pouring into the drop of merged energy in his hand.
Right before his eyes, the entire development of an embryo began to unfold. The fused liquid energy, under the power of the technique, transformed into an embryo. With continuous spiritual energy infusions, it grew rapidly—and within a few short hours, a brand-new Gu Mo emerged.
"It really is an exact replica."
Gu Mo looked at the figure before him as if gazing into a mirror. This avatar didn't just share his appearance—it even exuded the exact same aura. It was no exaggeration to say that if he and the avatar stood side by side, no outsider would be able to tell them apart.
After checking over the avatar, Gu Mo proceeded to link his consciousness with it using the External Avatar technique. Only by connecting their consciousnesses could the avatar become truly functional—otherwise, it would be nothing more than an empty shell.
"Hello there!"
The avatar slowly opened its eyes, looked at Gu Mo, and even raised its hand in greeting.
Once their minds were linked, Gu Mo's perception immediately split in two. But this kind of dual vision was easy for him to adapt to, now that he had already formed spiritual awareness.
The avatar, however, was currently just a mortal with no cultivation, and its spiritual root was just as inferior as Gu Mo's own. That part made Gu Mo a little speechless—how could something crafted using the Power of Origin still be so underwhelming?
In truth, with a complete version of the External Avatar technique, it was possible to use someone else's blood during the forging process. For example, using the blood of a peerless genius would allow the avatar to inherit an exceptional spiritual root. Or, using the blood of a powerful beast could create an avatar with an incredibly robust physique.
Unfortunately, Gu Mo's version of the technique was incomplete, missing many key components. At the moment, it could only produce a copy of himself. Still, that was more than enough for Gu Mo.
His whole purpose in creating the avatar was to have someone who could act on his behalf in the outside world. If the avatar were made from someone else's bloodline, that would only complicate matters.
As for the issue of the avatar's inferior spiritual root—it wasn't a major concern. If the original could cultivate to this point by relying on Sun Essence, then the avatar could follow the same path.
Of course, this would mean consuming even more Sun Essence than usual. But Gu Mo currently possessed 100 Sunflowers, so sustaining one avatar was definitely within his means.
Alternatively, Gu Mo could directly transmit his own spiritual energy into the avatar and have it cultivate using liquefied spiritual energy at the Foundation Establishment level. As for whether the avatar could control such energy—there was no issue. After all, the one in control was still Gu Mo himself.
With this approach, there was no way the avatar's cultivation wouldn't soar.
Sure enough, in just one month, Gu Mo had pushed the avatar's cultivation all the way to the peak of the Qi Refining stage—surpassing even his own level. This also allowed him to trial-run the cultivation method ahead of time. That was another benefit of having an avatar: it could practice the techniques first, so when Gu Mo himself cultivated them, it would be far more stable.
Although the avatar's cultivation was now higher than Gu Mo's, its combat power still lagged behind. Gu Mo's own foundation was simply too profound. But compared to an ordinary peak-stage Qi Refining cultivator, the avatar was still vastly superior.
In fact, the avatar's combat ability was already at the level of early Foundation Establishment. That alone spoke volumes—the avatar's physical body had been strengthened to Foundation-level through Gu Mo's own liquefied spiritual energy and his body-forging method. On top of that, with Gu Mo's spiritual energy and direct control, the avatar's battle power at the Foundation Establishment level was completely authentic.
With that, Gu Mo's avatar was officially complete. As for pushing it into the Foundation Establishment stage, he planned to wait until his own cultivation reached the peak of Qi Refining first.
After all, both he and the avatar already possessed the physique, spiritual energy, and spiritual awareness of a Foundation Establishment cultivator even while still in the Qi Refining stage. Under such circumstances, Gu Mo wasn't sure if the breakthrough would be automatic, or if it would require another Foundation Establishment process.
To be safe, Gu Mo decided to let the avatar attempt the breakthrough first. If everything went smoothly, then he would follow.
"Alright, time to make an appearance," Gu Mo muttered, controlling the avatar to exit the spiritual farmland formation. After months of secluded cultivation, he figured it was time to show his face, check on the status of the resource points, and test the avatar in real-world conditions.
"Greetings, True Disciple Gu!"
Seeing him appear, Wei Yuancai quickly approached, not detecting the slightest irregularity in the avatar before him.
"How's the Yulu Fruit harvest this year?" Gu Mo asked. The fruit would ripen in just a few months, so the yield should already be finalized.
"This time, the three Yulu Fruit trees have produced nine fruits in total—the highest yield in recent years," Wei Yuancai replied with a grin. This was a result of their efforts, and he was clearly proud.
Nine Yulu Fruits—even if a few got taken by force, there would still be plenty left.
"Not bad."
Gu Mo nodded. With nine Yulu Fruits, his mission this time was practically complete. As for offering some up to appease potential raiders—clearly not going to happen on his watch.
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