Chapter 124: The Sealing of Ying Zheng Is Lifted

Lu Bu stood up and vacated the cushion.

Ying Zheng prepared himself briefly before sitting down upon it.

The moment he took his seat, he entered a meditative state immediately! It was even faster than Lu Bu had been.

Barely five minutes later...

A humming sound, emanating from the depths of space, resonated once more throughout the room!

Song Qi’s eyes brightened! He knew this was the telltale sound of world essence being integrated into a skill!

And indeed!

The next moment...

[Congratulations! Your summoned spirit, Ying Zheng, has comprehended the rule-tier skill—"Standardizing Rail Gauges"!]

[Congratulations! Your summoned spirit, Ying Zheng, has comprehended the rule-tier skill—"Standardizing Written Scripts"!]

[Congratulations! Your summoned spirit, Ying Zheng, has comprehended the rule-tier skill—"Sweeping Across the Six Kingdoms"!]

[Congratulations! Your summoned spirit, Ying Zheng, has autonomously broken through his seal. Current seal release level: 50%!]

[Ding! Your summoned spirit has unlocked his companion holy relic—The Holy Imperial Jade Seal (50%)!]

A series of system notifications rang in Song Qi’s ears like heavenly music.

"As expected!"

"This is the proper way to use the meditation cushion!"

"Three rule-tier skills, and if I’m not mistaken, the Imperial Jade Seal should contain world essence as well."

He opened the information panel...

Summoned Spirit: Holy Ying Zheng
Level: 40
Quality: Holy Spirit
Strength: 1000
Physique: 1500
Agility: 1500
Spirit: 8000
......

Apart from the first three skills being upgraded to rule-tier, their descriptions remained largely unchanged. However, the effect of the Imperial Jade Seal left Song Qi quite astonished!

[Holy Imperial Jade Seal (Infused with Essence): Companion holy relic. Increases the holder's base spirit attribute by 100% and doubles the number of Terracotta Warriors summoned!]

"Ying Zheng’s summoning of Terracotta Warriors is determined by his base attribute values."

"Now that his base attributes have doubled, the quantity and quality of the Terracotta Warriors should naturally double as well."

"And then the Imperial Jade Seal doubles them again!?"

"That means..." Song Qi calculated silently in his mind. "My goodness! Ying Zheng can now summon 32 Terracotta Warriors at once, all with 4000 points in every attribute?!"

"Terracotta Warriors whose comprehensive attribute values are even higher than those of the Mythic-tier Lu Bu!?"

"And as he grows, the number and quality of these warriors will become even more exaggerated!"

He gasped in awe, imagining a future where Ying Zheng would lift his hand, and an army of a hundred thousand would appear in perfect unison!

Moreover, each and every one of those warriors would possess heaven-defyingly powerful stats!

"In the late stages, Ying Zheng alone will be a terrifyingly massive army!"

"He is truly worthy of being a Holy Spirit-tier summon! While he may lag behind the Origin-tier, once fully grown, he is slightly stronger than the Mythic-tier."

Ying Zheng exhaled, smiled, and bowed to Song Qi. "Many thanks, Master. I have benefited greatly from this."

"As long as it’s useful, that’s all that matters!" Song Qi was overjoyed.

The increase in strength for Lu Bu and Ying Zheng was effectively an increase in his own strength. Since they had mastered rule-tier skills, it was essentially the same as him mastering them himself.

Song Qi then turned his gaze toward Di Xin.

Di Xin shrugged and sat down on the cushion with an indifferent air. However, to Song Qi’s disappointment, a full hour passed... and Di Xin failed to stir any world essence. This was because all of his skills were already rule-tier! Furthermore, they were all high-priority skills that had already been saturated with world essence.

Song Qi had known from the start that there was a high probability of this outcome, but he had harbored a faint hope that Di Xin might be able to take a step further into a different realm.

As it turned out... the reality was cruel. An hour had been wasted, and nothing was gained.

"There are a few hours left, so it’s my turn now." Song Qi sat back down on the cushion. Though he was already thrilled with the improvements in Lu Bu and Ying Zheng’s strength, he would certainly welcome further progress if possible.

"I’ll have to trouble the two of you to explain it to me." Song Qi looked at Lu Bu and Ying Zheng. They had just successfully tapped into the world essence, so they should be able to provide some guidance.

Upon hearing this, Lu Bu immediately stepped forward, eager to help. "Master, I can clarify things for you."

"Excellent. You may begin." Song Qi sat up straight.

"First, Master, you must construct the model of the skill you wish to upgrade."

He nodded, activated [Soul Link], and used his transcendent power to replicate the model in its entirety. "Construction complete."

"Very good. The next step, Master, is to directly perceive the world essence, draw out a portion of it, and inject it into the model." Fearing Song Qi might not understand, Lu Bu added, "It doesn't matter where you draw it from, but you must stabilize the model so the essence doesn't escape. That was the reason I spent half an hour on it earlier."

"Alright, Master. My explanation is finished. You may begin."

Song Qi shook his head helplessly. "Wait? That’s it?"

"Indeed," Lu Bu said as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

"Are you listening to yourself?" Song Qi asked, feeling bewildered. If I knew how to draw out the world essence, would I need anyone to teach me? I would have finished it myself already!

However... perhaps he couldn't blame Lu Bu. As a military general, verbal expression was not his strength. He turned to Ying Zheng with a sigh. "Perhaps... I should trouble you instead..."

"Very well, Master." Ying Zheng smiled and stepped forward. "General Lu Bu was correct, but he omitted one step: the process and method of sensing the world essence!"

"Yes! Exactly, that’s what I mean." Song Qi nodded with satisfaction. As expected, Ying Zheng was much better suited for tasks involving explanation.

"So, Master, you simply need to channel your spiritual power to sense where the world essence resides."

"Mm-hmm!" Song Qi continued to nod.

...A minute passed...

Song Qi waited, but heard nothing further. He couldn't help but ask, "And then?"

"And then?" Ying Zheng looked puzzled. "Then... then you can simply draw the world essence into your skill model."

Song Qi was shocked again. "No, why do both of you keep skipping the most important part? How do I sense the world essence? That is the most critical question!"

"How do you sense the world essence?" Ying Zheng and Lu Bu exchanged glances, their eyes filled with deep confusion.

Seeing this, Song Qi realized what was happening and asked curiously, "Tell me, how did you two sense the world essence? Did you forget so quickly?"

"That... it’s not that we forgot," Lu Bu replied with some hesitation. "We just... sat down, and we sensed it..."

Song Qi: "?"