Meng Zhang's Soul state naturally couldn't consume food like his physical body. He only made the motion of swallowing the fruit, but in reality, he infused the fruit into his Soul and slowly digested it using Soul power. The Divine Ability Fruit was not meant for physical consumption but to be absorbed through the Soul.
While digesting the Divine Ability Fruit, more information about it started to resurface in Meng Zhang's mind. The Divine Ability Fruit had an extremely potent stimulating effect on the Soul, inducing a strong Soul mutation that granted the consumer innate Divine Abilities. However, if the cultivator's Soul was not strong or resilient enough, consuming the fruit might not result in the birth of Divine Abilities and could even severely damage the Soul, leading to possible death.
Furthermore, even if a cultivator with bad luck consumed the fruit, they might end up with no Divine Ability. As a transmigrator, Meng Zhang's Soul was originally much more resilient and powerful than an ordinary cultivator's. Having spent so much time in the Trial Ground, his Soul had been strengthened multiple times. He believed that his Soul could withstand the stimulation of the Divine Ability Fruit.
As for luck, Meng Zhang had no control over it. However, he didn't believe himself to be that unlucky. Waves of intense pain swept through Meng Zhang's Soul. At one moment, it was scorching hot, as if his Soul was about to be burnt to ashes. At another moment, it was bone-chillingly cold, as if his Soul was about to freeze and shatter. Finally, it felt like his Soul was being torn apart, pulled and ripped by an inexplicable force.
Enduring several unbearable tortures that an ordinary person couldn't withstand, Meng Zhang managed to hold on. After what seemed like a long time, he felt the pain gradually subsiding, and his Soul returned to normal. However, before Meng Zhang could examine his Soul, the time he was allowed to stay had expired, and the Trial Ground rejected him.
After the Divine Soul returned to his body, Meng Zhang didn't immediately expel the yin qi from his physical body. Instead, he urgently checked his Soul. However, he was interrupted by a sudden intense pain in his physical body, especially in his eyes, which stung severely. It took a while for his physical body to return to normal.
Closing his eyes and carefully sensing, after a long time, Meng Zhang opened his eyes with a pleased expression. The power of the Divine Ability Fruit was truly incredible. Not only did it stimulate his Soul and create Soul mutations, but the intense Soul mutation also caused a physical mutation.
After refining the Divine Ability Fruit, Meng Zhang gained two Divine Abilities. One was Mind Reading, allowing him to discern people's hearts and distinguish between good and evil. For cultivators whose cultivation base was lower than his, their deepest secrets and thoughts would be hard to hide from him when they appeared in front of him. For cultivators with similar cultivation bases, their surface thoughts and intentions, both good and evil, would be known to him. Even if someone with a higher cultivation base, he couldn't read their specific thoughts, but he could judge whether they harbored malicious intent.
Of course, if someone possessed certain secret techniques to conceal their thoughts, they could evade Mind Reading's probing.
The other Divine Ability was Deception Breaking Eye, allowing Meng Zhang to see through all falsehoods and discern the truth directly. However, for falsehoods with an excessively high level of cultivation, he couldn't see through them at the moment.
These two Divine Abilities were Meng Zhang's innate Divine Abilities, requiring no cultivation and could be freely used. Moreover, as Meng Zhang's Cultivation Base improved in the future, these two innate Divine Abilities would naturally also enhance.
Meng Zhang wanted to try out the power of these two Divine Abilities but had no suitable opportunities. Using Mind Reading on fellow sect members to delve into their innermost secrets didn't sit well with him. He felt it was inappropriate to do so among the same sect. He needed to set boundaries and guidelines for using this Divine Ability. This was his self-restraint and moral stance.
When daytime arrived, after expelling the yin qi from his physical body, Meng Zhang followed his usual routine of recording all the knowledge he gained in the Trial Ground and stored it in the Hidden Scripture Pavilion.
During this period, Meng Zhang engaged in a fierce killing spree in the Trial Ground and obtained significant gains. Besides the various comprehensive knowledge, there were several high-level cultivation techniques such as "Clearwater True Art," "Thousand Chances Atlas," "Vigorous Vajra Art," and "One Origin Formation Chart," among others. There were also numerous other useful secret arts.
Meng Zhang was pleased; through his desperate efforts in the Trial Ground, he acquired many inheritances from Taiyi Sect's prime, enriching the sect's foundation.
By now, except for that canyon, Meng Zhang had almost cleared out all the other places in the Trial Ground. Even if he entered the Trial Ground again, he probably wouldn't gain much, as the monsters wouldn't respawn like in a game.
Based on his experiences from multiple entries into the Trial Ground, he believed that the number of Ghosts here was fixed, and there would be no replenishment after he eliminated them.
Regarding that canyon, Meng Zhang remained cautious. If he didn't have absolute certainty, he wouldn't rashly take risks.
Meng Zhang felt that he had already obtained the majority of the inheritances from this Trial Ground. Until he found a solution to the canyon, he wouldn't enter the Trial Ground again.
In the days that followed, Meng Zhang no longer entered the Trial Ground at night. After diligent cultivation during the day, he didn't relax at night either. He needed to fully digest and absorb the various knowledge he obtained from the Trial Ground.
However, the busy and fulfilling days were interrupted by unavoidable administrative tasks. Tian Zhen arrived at his cultivation place to remind him that it was time for the annual procurement.
Sweetwater Oasis was just a small oasis, and its population was limited. With the increase in mortal population over the years, the oasis could no longer sustain itself with the food it produced alone.
For Taiyi Sect, a larger mortal population in their territory meant more potential disciples with spiritual roots. Therefore, Taiyi Sect naturally wanted to help resolve the problems faced by the mortals under their rule.
In the harsh environment of the Endless Sea of Sand, a purely mortal merchant caravan wouldn't survive, and there were no trade transactions between mortal oases either. Even the exchanges of goods between different mortal oases had to rely on the efforts of cultivators.
The amount of storage space provided by the storage bag used by low-level cultivators like Meng Zhang was roughly equivalent to one cubic meter in his previous life. This space was enough to store daily necessities for cultivators but not enough for transporting large quantities of food and other supplies.
In the Cultivation World, there were larger storage bags with greater storage space, but they were expensive and not cost-effective. In the local market, the price of a regular storage bag didn't exceed fifty low-grade spirit stones, and there would be discounts for bulk purchases. On the other hand, a tenfold storage bag cost over a thousand low-grade spirit stones and was often out of stock.
For a poor sect like Taiyi Sect, they couldn't afford to spend so many spirit stones on storage bags.
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