chapter 6 The Spirit Artifact awakens

Upon returning home and barely having set Tashiany on the sofa, Melanion felt the world spin around him. He could no longer hold himself up and with a thud, he collapsed onto the floor, unconscious.
"Weak, too weak."
He didn't know how much time had passed, but suddenly a sigh echoed in his mind, startling Melanion awake.
Looking around, he found himself still lying in front of the sofa, but it was now late outside, indicating he must have been on the ground for several hours.
"It seems I can no longer recklessly use soul control."
He had been unconscious for hours; fortunately, he made it home in time. If he had collapsed on the street, he would likely be lying in a hospital now.
In today's restless society, without enough money, wouldn’t going to the hospital be the death of you?
"It's not that you can't use it recklessly, but rather your cultivation is too shallow." A sudden voice made Melanion's hair stand on end, as the voice seemed to come from within his mind.
"Who... who's speaking?"
As he asked, Melanion carefully scanned his surroundings, half-expecting to turn around and find a ghostly face behind him.
Despite being well-educated and not believing in ghosts and deities, the voice was truly unnerving.
"You don't need to look. I'm in your mind," the voice spoke again.
"In my mind?" Hearing this, Melanion stiffened, a chill running down his spine.
"I will assist you in your cultivation, teaching you a unique path of practice," the voice declared, stunning Melanion.
"What?"
Hearing this, Melanion felt like he was listening to a mythological tale, with even cultivation being mentioned.
He may have dreamed of ascending to the heavens and becoming an omnipotent deity, but dreams are just dreams, unable to connect with reality.
"You have successfully awakened a divine talent; it is right for you to embark on the path of cultivation."
"Cultivation, you don’t mean the kind from novels, do you?" Melanion muttered under his breath.
"That's correct."
"Ah?"
Melanion was baffled by the response.
"And you, what's your story? How did you end up in my mind?"
"I am the Spirit Artifact of the Heaven-Piercing Jade, entrusted by your father to make you stronger," the voice replied.
"Heaven-Piercing Jade? You mean this red jade on my neck?" Melanion looked down at the family heirloom red jade around his neck.
"That's right," the voice in his mind confirmed.
When Melanion was three, his mother left him the red jade and vanished, never to be heard from again, leaving Melanion the orphan in everyone's eyes.
That year, Melanion was sent to an orphanage, where he stayed until adulthood.
He had never seen his father, and his memories of his mother were only from when he was three, now even those were starting to blur.
This red jade was his only remembrance of his mother. After the accident, it underwent such a miraculous change, and to think it was also intricately connected to his father was unbelievable for Melanion.
"You mentioned earlier that I've awakened a divine talent. Is it soul control?" Melanion continued to inquire.
"This is a unique skill of your family—the Art of Soul Seizing, innate and forbidden in the cultivation world."
"Does that mean I can strut around from now on?" Melanion felt a bit proud upon hearing it was a forbidden art.
However, the next words from the Spirit Artifact were a blow, "Without sufficient strength, using the Art of Soul Seizing is suicide. Water can carry a boat but can also capsize it. Fainting is just the beginning. If you don't grow stronger, not only will you faint, but you'll suffer soul fragmentation and eventually cease to exist!"
Chilled to the bone, Melanion realized how close to death he was.
The Art of Soul Seizing was like a double-edged sword; wielded well, it could help you kill, but mishandled, it could lead to your own demise.
"How can I become stronger?"
"I will impart to you a cultivation method. As long as you practice according to the method, your strength will correspondingly increase. Once your abilities match, you will use the Art of Soul Seizing with much more ease."
"So, I can become one of those deities who can fly and escape through the earth?" Melanion's heart warmed to the idea.
"Flying and escaping through the earth? With sufficient strength, even traversing the starry sky is not difficult," the Spirit Artifact responded proudly.
"Then what are we waiting for? Pass on the cultivation method to me right away."
About a minute later, a complete cultivation method appeared in Melanion's mind.
The method was named "Indestructible Heavenly Technique," characterized by the cultivator's physical body strengthening as their cultivation level advanced, which sounded incredibly powerful just by listening to it.
Melanion also received the initial stages of cultivation, which included the Foundation Building Stage, Physical Realm, Unity Realm, and Innate Realm.
A true cultivator, at the very least, should be in the Innate Realm, which meant achieving the most perfect state of the physical body.
Now, not even at the basic Foundation Building Stage, Melanion had a long and arduous journey ahead to become a true terrestrial deity.
After all, which man doesn't want to live a life of gallantry and adventure?
Thus, having received the cultivation method, Melanion began to practice immediately.
At first, he felt nothing, but after about ten minutes, a warm sensation emanated from his lower abdomen. Upon opening his eyes, he saw a misty white fog before him, the spiritual energy that is normally invisible to the naked eye.
An hour later, he successfully entered the Early Foundation Building Stage.
Entering this realm, Melanion's most significant realization was the feeling of power coursing through him, as if he could kill a bull with a single punch.
"Your talent is passable, but you still need to work hard," the voice sounded again.
"When can I enter the Mid Foundation Building Stage?" Melanion asked eagerly.
"Hmph, greed will get you nowhere, and without a solid foundation, you dream of reaching the Mid Foundation Building Stage? You're likely to become delusional and die," the Spirit Artifact doused his excitement with a splash of cold water.
"But you are here, aren't you? How could I become delusional and die?" Melanion brazenly retorted.
"Get lost!"
Through conversation, Melanion learned that the Spirit Artifact's name was Izaiah. Beyond that, he couldn't glean any useful information.
Whenever he asked about matters outside of cultivation, Izaiah avoided the topic, as if deliberately hiding something. But since he was unwilling to speak, there was nothing Melanion could do.
"You better continue to cultivate. I've just awakened and am still very weak; I need to sleep for a while longer." After saying that, Izaiah fell silent, and no matter how much Melanion called, there was no response.