"Is that so?" Wei Zhao said, half-believing, half-doubting, and more than a little disappointed. After a moment's thought, he went on, "In that case, why don't you practice with me? Just like before—you use primordial-spirit devouring on me."

"No. Absolutely not!" The Nine Infants' nine heads shook so violently they clacked against one another like a rattle-drum, nearly coming to blows among themselves.

"Why not?" Wei Zhao frowned.

"Why not? Why are you so damn crafty! This is primordial-spirit devouring we're talking about. If I really did practice with you, you'd take the chance to do me in—I can see it plain as day. You're just playing me for a fool, you little brat. You're clearly a vicious piece of work, yet you insist on pretending to be some helpless weakling to lure me in..." The Nine Infants gave a rueful laugh, still shaken.

Wei Zhao hadn't even known primordial-spirit devouring before, and it had already suffered a heavy loss. Now that Wei Zhao had grasped the essentials of the technique, it was as if a tiger had been given wings. If it dared face him in another primordial-spirit duel, Wei Zhao would seize the moment to swallow it whole—at the very least, that was certainly what it would do in his place. The crux was that this time it would have no chance to retreat at will as it had before.

"Didn't I tell you before that I was formidable? You chose not to believe me—whose fault is that?" Wei Zhao said, speechless.

"Uh... well, regardless, if you want to test it, go find someone else. A gentleman does not stand beneath a tottering wall—I'm not doing anything that dangerous." As it spoke, the Nine Infants deliberately pointed at the Water Lily, which was hiding off to the side pretending to be invisible—a ready-made test subject.

"No, no, no! My primordial spirit is far too weak—I couldn't withstand a single blow. Even if you tested on me, you wouldn't get any results..." The Water Lily was on the verge of tears from fright.

Wei Zhao glanced at it and said, "Forget it, then."

The Water Lily heaved a great sigh of relief. Thank goodness this creature was still decent enough—it had just narrowly escaped with its life.

"Since you don't want to practice primordial-spirit devouring with me, let's talk about something else. Just now you seemed to say you were charging toward the Profound Ascension stage—how does a primordial spirit like you cultivate, anyway?" Wei Zhao asked instead.

This was what concerned Wei Zhao most. He himself had no real experience of advancing a primordial spirit; at present he was firmly stuck at the peak of Foundation Establishment and could not move forward. He had entertained many possibilities before, but not one could be truly confirmed. The key question was whether he simply had not grasped the method and the knack, or whether this was simply the natural limit of primordial projection.

If it was the latter, Wei Zhao could of course do nothing about it. But if it was the former, then at least he could think of other ways—perhaps there was a chance to climb another level. The Star-Ink Charcoal had indeed been exhausted by him, but his jade pendant space had just taken in an enormous root of Spirit-Consciousness Grass.

"How to cultivate?" The Nine Infants was rather taken aback. Puzzled, it said, "There are only two ways for us primordial spirits to cultivate, aren't there? Either way, it all revolves around consciousness. Either you make the capacity greater, or you make the intensity stronger. Beyond that, how else could one cultivate?"

Two directions: quantity and quality. Of course, the two were not opposed to each other. Apart from certain exceedingly rare opportunities, a normal primordial spirit's advancement came about through quantitative change inducing qualitative change—this was the common law.

Capacity? Intensity? Though it was the first time Wei Zhao had heard anyone put it that way, it was not hard to grasp—especially since the primordial-spirit duel he had just fought with the Nine Infants was the most direct embodiment of those two words. The Nine Infants possessed a consciousness capacity far beyond his, while he possessed a consciousness intensity far beyond the other's.

Greater consciousness capacity, stronger consciousness intensity, quantitative change culminating in qualitative change—for a primordial spirit, this was the most substantial kind of breakthrough.

"What I mean is, by what method exactly do you make your consciousness capacity greater, and by what method do you make your consciousness intensity stronger?" Wei Zhao pressed further.

"One clever way, one not-so-clever way. Which would you like to hear?" The Nine Infants said, deliberately whetting his appetite.

"The clever one first," Wei Zhao said.

"The cleverest and also the simplest method is the very primordial-spirit devouring you just learned. Admittedly, it leaves certain aftereffects—if you don't devour cleanly, the target's lingering will can affect your own mind. But so long as you yourself are strong enough, none of that is a problem." The Nine Infants chuckled.

Clearly, this was how it had always cultivated: when humans came in, it devoured the primordial spirits of the human offerings; when no humans were about, it devoured the primordial spirits of other spirit beasts. Simple and effective.

But that was only true for it. Lingering obsessions were nothing to be taken lightly for any primordial spirit—at best they brought constant torment, at worst they led to qi deviation. Yet the Nine Infants had not the slightest scruple in this regard, because it had nine heads—the equivalent of nine semi-independent primordial spirits. So long as it allotted one head solely to dealing with them, no amount of residual obsession mattered.

"And the not-so-clever way?" Wei Zhao continued.

"That one's more troublesome. Unless I had absolutely no other choice, I wouldn't willingly use such a stupid method." The Nine Infants paused, and only under Wei Zhao's urging gaze did it go on: "The stupid method is to temper your consciousness with Spirit-Consciousness Grass. It leaves no aftereffects, but the process is agonizing—every round of tempering is like being tortured in hell. The faster you improve, the more painful the process. I don't care to experience that flavor again."

"So that's why you're so indifferent to the Spirit-Consciousness Grass, is it?" Wei Zhao laughed at that. No one would treat a treasure as important as Spirit-Consciousness Grass lightly—least of all a primordial spirit like the Nine Infants. He had assumed it was the Nine Infants' very lifeblood, but from what the Nine Infants said, he had clearly been mistaken. The Spirit-Consciousness Grass was merely one of the Nine Infants' options—and a thoroughly unwelcome one at that. No wonder that apart from its initial outburst of fury, it had never mentioned the stuff again.

"By the way, where exactly did you hide that enormous root of Spirit-Consciousness Grass?" the Nine Infants could not help asking out of curiosity.

"Want to go in and take a look?" Wei Zhao said offhandedly.

The Nine Infants froze. It glanced at the Water Lily, which was beside itself, shaking its head in sheer horror, and knew there was surely nothing simple about that place—if it really went in, it might well never come out. It gave an awkward laugh. "Never mind, then. My curiosity has its limits."

Wei Zhao did not mind in the least. Instead he asked, "By the way, where did you learn this primordial-spirit devouring?"

The principle behind primordial-spirit devouring looked simple enough, but every step held no small number of tricks—especially the crucial consciousness assimilation. In words it amounted to only a few short phrases, yet without the Nine Infants' guidance, no matter how great Wei Zhao's comprehension, he could have groped at it alone for a hundred years to no avail.