Cultivation towards immortality, starting from being a fisherman
Chapter 261 - Chapter 261 Chapter 168 Damn Charm

Chapter 261: Chapter 168 Damn Charm! Chapter 261: Chapter 168 Damn Charm! Holy City, beneath an ancient Great Cathedral, in a spacious underground space.

As the headquarters of the Shepherds, an organization not long established but with ample funding that countless people sought to join for various reasons.

Bishop Jon was in his office, leafing through ancient tomes provided to him by his superiors.

He hoped to find the true inheritance left by the Holy City within these tomes.

Unfortunately, he had come up empty-handed during this time.

If not for the Holy Mark in the palm of his hand, which clearly told him everything was not a dream,

he might have believed he had lost touch with reality and mistook the angels in his dreams for truth.

Knock knock!

“Come in.”

At the sound of knocking, Bishop Jon responded without lifting his head.

Instantly, the wooden door adorned with various runes slowly opened, and a priest dressed in a black robe with red line patterns walked in with a steadfast gaze.

After saluting Bishop Jon, he placed a thick stack of documents on the bishop’s desk.

To adhere to tradition and prevent leaks, and also to accommodate some staff members not well-versed in information technology,

the Shepherd department mostly used paper documents.

“Bishop, this is the investigation report on one thousand two hundred and fifty abnormal incidents reported by various churches this week.”

“Of those, one thousand two hundred and forty-nine were judged to be caused by the patients themselves.”

“Hmm?”

After nodding slightly, Bishop Jon suddenly exclaimed,

“And what about the remaining one?”

“A local church’s priest accepted a bribe and fabricated evidence.”

Anger flashed in the eyes of the priest in black,

“We’ve taken him to the dungeon.”

“Strip him of his grace and transfer him to the corresponding department for processing.”

Bishop Jon said this, sensing the priest in black’s discontent and reluctance.

However… nowadays, the Holy Lord Sect could only be considered the largest faction within the Western Church.

It was no longer like a thousand years ago when their word was law.

Moreover, they still hadn’t found their own Transcendent Inheritance, and often they had to follow the old ways.

He waved his hand, signaling the loyal priest in black to leave.

Bishop Jon sighed and glanced at the stack of documents.

After the establishment of the Shepherds, apart from collecting their blood in wait for the angels’ descent,

it wasn’t that they did nothing else.

At the very least, Bishop Jon’s old line of work, the investigation of abnormal events, had to continue.

And as supernatural incidents began to occur around the world and cause a sensation on the internet,

Bishop Jon noticed that cases of people in the Europa region claiming to be possessed by demons or threatened by them in dreams were also increasing dramatically!

About this, Bishop Jon, with his rich experience in exorcism, naturally understood.

In an age where the supernatural was not apparent, there would still be patients who, after watching related movies or reading books, would have a mental breakdown and believe they were possessed by demons.

Let alone now, when the existence of the supernatural had been verified.

But so far,

Bishop Jon had not encountered a single genuine case of demonic invasion.

“The recent increase in incidents is somewhat abnormal; there must be quite a few orchestrated by major intelligence agencies.”

“Bribed or threatened priests and nuns are likely not in short supply during this time.”

“Damn it!”

Bishop Jon thought of his own powerlessness, and uncontrollably ruffled his already greying hair.

He then lost the will to look through the stack of documents, stood up, and went through a secret door behind the wall, entering the hidden underground passage.

In this passage, he could observe through one-way glass the training of Shepherd candidates taking place in various underground spaces.

Upon realizing the true existence of supernatural forces,

the Holy City, with its vast repository of mystical knowledge, naturally could not remain idle.

Even knowing that there were agents of other powers within these underground rooms, they had no choice.

In these rooms,

priests and nuns were training according to different methods of cultivation.

Some, after performing complicated rituals, sat cross-legged visualizing angels.

Others would stare continuously at candles or inscriptions and statues representing angels after long periods of fasting while chanting silently.

There were even those who had restarted the practice of the Holy Spirit Sect’s methods, which had been ordered to cease hundreds of years ago.

Compared to other cultivation schools, those of the Holy Spirit Sect were child’s play.

This was a school of cultivation that dealt with undead and devils from Hell and seemed as if performed by wicked wizards.

The ancient records of the Holy City revealed,

that it was with the power of several saints of this sect that the Holy City had managed to preserve its vitality through several great upheavals, securing concessions from the other side.

Only… hundreds of years ago, the last saint of the Holy Spirit Sect had an accident during the summoning of an ancient being and left a will before dying, prompting the then-sovereign to announce the prohibition of this method.

From then on, this method of cultivation was shelved, only to be dusted off and revisited now.

There was no choice, for the transcendent documents left by the Holy City showed,

this method was the most mystical and, being relatively recent, was documented in the most detail.

Not only did it include how to communicate with the undead, summon ancient beings, and their respective chants and methods,

but it also preserved the cultivation experiences and reflections of several saints.

If even this turned out to be false… wouldn’t that mean the hundreds of priests and even bishops who practiced this method hundreds of years ago… had all been lying!

If it had been before, Bishop Jon would definitely have agreed with the sovereign that yes, that’s exactly what they did.

Because it was a result of combined influences of interests and public sentiment at the time, and it was not incomprehensible.

But now, even if it is forbidden power, Bishop Jon hoped there truly was someone who could master it!

That’s what he thought.

Suddenly, Bishop Jon’s figure halted slightly.

It was because the holy music he had heard that night reached his ears.

Realizing something, Bishop Jon hurriedly trotted back to his own room.

There, with trembling hands, he took out the stock of blood samples from the low-temperature safe.

And Su Ping, who had finally remembered he hadn’t collected this bishop’s blood sample,

had summoned Big Black and sped through the sea’s depths, and after summoning the Spiritual Rat and casting an invisibility charm on it, had it explore the Holy City.

Seeing that Bishop Jon was so sensible and had immediately taken the hint to prepare the sample,

Su Ping cracked a slight smile, activated the Pot Cave Heaven, and extended an invitation to Bishop Jon.

In the blink of an eye,

Bishop Jon, who had accepted the invitation, appeared in the mist below the array.

In the mist, he could see nothing and hear nothing.

However, he did not panic. Instead, after placing the sample down, he took two steps back and closed his eyes, reciting the passage from the scriptures about not gazing directly, not listening, nor blaspheming the divine…

Bishop Jon felt the darkness before him was the angels’ protection of him!

After all, he was just a mortal, and gazing directly at a divine entity might cause him incurable injuries.

In the mist, Su Ping took out the Bloodline Stone Plate.

With a thought, the samples left by Bishop Jon were opened, and droplets of blood converged into a small rivulet that flowed into the Bloodline Stone Plate.

Then, this time… the Bloodline Stone Plate finally emitted a glow.

Su Ping, watching the glow, felt a surge within him.

Because the Spiritual Body that appeared from the Bloodline Stone Plate showed as a nature-affinity Spiritual Body.

This Spiritual Body, in the Immortal Cultivation World, belonged to the slightly less rare kind.

Within Chi Yuan’s Immortal Sect, there were cultivators with such Spiritual Bodies.

The rumor was that the elder who had solved the large-scale breeding problem of the Empty Rat had an advanced version of this Spiritual Body.

Su Ping did not expect someone of that elder’s caliber to help him work.

Having a low-tier nature-affinity Spiritual Body that could hasten the planting time and improve the efficiency of cultivation was enough.

Especially since the expansion of the Pot Cave Heaven had added two more mountains, leaving plenty of vacant space besides the main buildings.

Bringing back spirit soil and Spirit Water from the Immortal Cultivation World, along with the more ample Spiritual Energy of Pot Cave Heaven,

he could open up several dozen mu of Spirit Fields, guaranteeing self-sufficiency for his Spirit Rice!

And if he was bold enough, to cultivate some Spirit Plants and grow vegetables free of Evil Qi contamination.

These would presumably be quite popular in those large workshops, right?

Those haughty Inner Sect and True Inheritor cultivators, wouldn’t they want, alongside top-grade Spirit Pills, Spirit Rice, and Spiritual Wine, to taste other kinds of food made from Spiritual Objects?

“You have done well; you did not forget your duty,”

Su Ping said slowly, his voice directly resonating in Bishop Jon’s mind with the help of a spell.

At the same time, with a slight motion of his Divine Skill,

a Holy Mark emerged on Bishop Jon’s forehead.

As the Holy Mark appeared,

Su Ping used his Divine Sense to slightly cleanse the numerous blockages inside Bishop Jon’s body and led the surrounding Spiritual Energy to pour into his body through the Holy Mark on his forehead.

He also guided the contents of a Jade Scroll detailing a method of a Side Sect into Bishop Jon’s mind,

making him instinctively start to breathe in accordance with the Jade Scroll’s content, accepting the Spiritual Energy’s transformation of his body and the rapid growth of his Divine Soul that came with the first stimulation.

At this point, Su Ping nodded slightly, satisfied that his effort had not been in vain.

Bishop Jon might have been a bit old, but he at least had a low-grade Spirit Root.

With his assistance, he barely managed to achieve Qi Body Entry.

He now had the qualifications to learn and use that one spell of the non-righteous people.

Only, returning home with no Spiritual Energy would be a problem.

After pondering,

Su Ping took out a ring-shaped hanging ornament Magic Artifact.

With a thought, the Low Grade Magic Artifact’s Spirit Gathering Array was replaced with a Spirit Storage and Slow-release Array.

Though it lost several small functions,

it thus gained the ability to slowly release the stored Spiritual Energy.

It wasn’t high powered, yet it was suitable for use in a spiritless environment like Water Blue Star to satisfy the needs of a Loose Cultivator’s tricks.

He injected the Spirit Energy-filled Low Grade Magic Artifact directly into Bishop Jon’s chest.

Instantly, a ring-shaped Holy Mark also appeared in the center of Bishop Jon’s chest.

After all these preparations,

Su Ping informed him of the serial number of the person with the Spiritual Body that had been found through multiple tests.

Only then did he watch Bishop Jon, who was feeling immensely grateful with his eyes closed, disappear into the mist.

In the underground space, within the bishop’s room,

Bishop Jon felt he had returned.

Only then did he dare to open his eyes and saw the familiar layout of his room.

He did not immediately get up and call for people, instead, he stood up and rubbed his head, which ached from the forcefully infused knowledge.

Slowly, he looked towards the mirror.

And then,

this nearly sixty-year-old bishop was stunned.

In the mirror,

his face was rosy, his skin was white and gleaming.

His eyes were bright, and his entire being… had reverted to how he looked at the age of forty.

Even more than that, he appeared more vibrant and filled with that damned charm than he was at that time!