Chapter 99: Gathering Qi

  “I really never expected it to be this extravagant.”

  Even the Sword Spirit felt his heart surge with excitement. He said, “Even disciples of major sects, having inherited true teachings, would never use jade-cleaving steel as the entire foundation for the 《Radiant White Spirit Divine Restriction》. The cost-effectiveness is too low, and such high-grade materials could easily harm the disciple, which would be counterproductive.

  “But you have the Seven Fiends Fate, and in this realm jade-cleaving steel is so cheap. It would be a real waste not to give it a try.”

  At that moment, the Sword Spirit’s tone grew solemn. “Close your eyes. I shall teach you the method of Gathering Qi.”

  “The Qi Refining Dao: first refine yourself, then refine Heaven and Earth.”

  After An Jing closed his eyes, the Sword Spirit went straight to the heart of the matter, stating the core precept of the qi refining method: “Vital essence is tangible; when gathered to the extreme, it disperses. Gathering is life; dispersal is death.”

  “The life of a person is the convergence of vital essence.”

  “Hence, to refine qi, you must first refine yourself. To refine yourself, begin with vital essence.”

  When a cultivator underwent 【Spirit Awakening】 and nurtured a thread of innate fetal-breathing vital essence, they needed a suitable cultivation method to strengthen the body from within. By continuously expanding that innate vital essence until it saturated every part of the body, one would complete the entry-level phase of cultivation.

  At that stage, when vital essence was perfectly rounded and overflowing, the flesh would exhibit various Divine Marvels—for instance, immunity to heat and cold, the strength to pull five bulls backward, the ability to subsist without normal food, and blood essence that billowed like mist. Once those marvels manifested, one could then gather the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth externally, thereby beginning the next stage: 【Qi Refining】.

  The reason one had to wait for vital essence to swell like surging tides, overflow completely, and produce Divine Marvels before beginning Qi Refining was that an ordinary mortal body was too fragile to accommodate the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth at the outset. Hence, vital essence had to strengthen the body first.

  If vital essence was not abundant enough to protect the body inside and out, recklessly drawing in spiritual energy would be like gulping boiling water. As for Baleful Qi, that would be akin to drinking aqua regia—a guaranteed path to destruction.

  Only after vital essence permeated every fiber of the flesh, becoming fully abundant and giving rise to Divine Marvels, could one safely introduce spiritual energy into the body.

  Otherwise, even if just a small area of flesh remained unfortified by vital essence, spiritual energy would burn through it like an oil-fueled fme popping a balloon, destroying the body.

  Cultivation was thus fraught with peril. Accordingly, in the Martial Path, 【Spirit Awakening】 and 【Qi Refining】 corresponded to the Acquired and Innate stages, also described as Internal Energy and Internal Fortification.

  In the initial phase of 【Qi Refining】, one used their vital essence to smelt the spiritual energy of Heaven and Earth into a freely wielded “spiritual power.”

  That power was extraordinarily wondrous. Depending on the cultivation technique, it possessed innumerable subtle applications, capable of manifesting a thousand methods and commanding ten thousand mystical arts. At that juncture, one would no longer be mundane.

  In the final stage of 【Qi Refining】, one refined a unique stream of spiritual power, merged it with perfected innate vital essence, and employed profound methods to condense it into the Various Sha energies of the Profound Truth. Thus, one established a 【Dao Foundation】, fully transforming their fundamental nature and attaining an Immortal Path Spiritual Body—hence it was also called the 【Immortal Foundation】.

  Most qi refining cultivation methods followed this general process.

  However, the 《Radiant White Spirit Divine Restriction》—this specific body-refining cultivation technique—was different.

  It took a unique approach: aligning the body’s apertures with Dao-based restrictions and regarding the physical form as a Heaven-and-Earth spiritual entity. By sealing the flesh within these restrictions, one could refine it directly. Thus, there was no need for perfectly harmonized vital essence, permitting the direct absorption of Five Metals Baleful Qi.

  As long as one ter supplemented vital essence cultivation, one could become a true qi refiner at any time.

  But that was only feasible in theory. In practice, it was nearly impossible.

  Without perfectly abundant vital essence to modify and fortify one’s constitution, any contact with Baleful Qi would be fatal, causing the flesh and bones to dissolve instantly.

  Unless teachers or elders used protective mystical arts, and one took Sha Fusion Pills for support, there were no exceptions.

  Yet if one had access to such resources, why not simply practice a more orthodox qi refining method?

  The reason the 《Radiant White Spirit Divine Restriction》 had lofty ambitions, produced extraordinary effects, and yet remained so extreme was that it was designed to help established Sword Immortals remedy physical shortcomings. Most prospective users had long since surpassed the Dao Foundation and Purple Mansion stages, hovering around or beyond the Golden Core realm. Naturally, Baleful Qi corrosion mattered little to them.

  Under normal circumstances, disciples should study an entry-level cultivation method that was safer, consumed fewer resources, and merely progressed at a slower pace.

  But An Jing was different.

  As An Jing sat cross-legged atop the Liuli Ptform, gripping a piece of jade-cleaving steel, the razor-sharp Baleful Qi within it—capable of slicing through ordinary flesh—could not harm him in the slightest.

  “You practicing this method is truly a match made in Heaven,” he said with a sigh. Fuxie guided An Jing to form a seal with his hands, positioning them above and below the piece of jade-cleaving steel at his dantian and Energy Sea, then breathing in a special rhythm. “The 《Radiant White Spirit Divine Restriction》 has grand ambitions, comprising one hundred and eight Divine Restrictions of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha.

  “Among them, there are eighteen restrictions for 【Spirit Awakening】 and 【Qi Refining】, eighteen for Foundation Establishment and Purple Mansion, and thirty-six for the Undying Golden Essence, corresponding to the count of Earthly Sha.

  “Following that are the thirty-six Heavenly Gang Grand Restrictions, which are even more profound and elusive. Once fully mastered, the one hundred and eight Divine Restrictions of Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha merge into one, resulting in the great Divine Ability called ‘Taibai Undying.’

  “You currently have six and a half liang of jade-cleaving steel—more than enough to complete the nine restrictions of 【Spirit Awakening】. You would even have some left to trade for other materials.

  “But there is no way you can absorb it all that quickly. If you manage to complete even one restriction before going back to the Huaixu Realm, that will suffice.”

  “It feels a bit hot…”

  Visualizing the Serene Sword Technique, An Jing adjusted his mind and spirit to an optimal state. Soon enough, he perceived the spiritual energy emanating from the Liuli Ptform beneath him.

  That spiritual energy stemmed from the bck market’s spiritual spring earth veins. Thread by thread, it traveled through his legs and torso, running along his spine to the Baihui acupoint, then completed a cycle before coursing through the rest of his body.

  As spiritual energy surged into his body, the piece of jade-cleaving steel in An Jing’s hands began to buzz, growing hot—that was the heat he felt.

  The incomparably pure Five Metal Baleful Qi inside the jade-cleaving steel began to flow into An Jing’s body alongside the incoming spiritual energy.

  It proceeded smoothly.

  The Sword Spirit observed this and nodded. For an ordinary person, the Five Metal Baleful Qi in jade-cleaving steel could easily slice open a qi refiner’s palm. Merely coating a bde with a thin yer of it would suffice to forge a sword that could cut through metal and jade alike.

  Yet An Jing drew it into his body and felt only some heat, clear evidence that his Seven Fiends Fate was genuine.

  Tiny strands of that energy seeped into his body through his palms at a slow pace, like water dripping from an old, faulty faucet.

  However, once An Jing activated the cultivation technique of the 《Radiant White Spirit Divine Restriction》, the restriction seed within his dantian exerted a pull that instantly multiplied the absorption rate of Baleful Qi and spiritual energy several dozen times.

  It was as though he had turned the faucet fully open, letting a steady stream flow into An Jing’s body.

  A sensation like a raging fever washed over him, as if every drop of his blood was overheated, yet he could not sweat. An Jing’s body trembled slightly; even with his sturdy constitution, abruptly absorbing such a dense influx of spiritual energy was overwhelming.

  Wherever these waves of spiritual energy passed, his flesh, organs, and bones took slight damage. Yet they quickly regenerated, taking in portions of the Five Metal Baleful Qi to rebuild themselves and then hungrily absorbing even more.

  Like a parched field thirsting for rain, An Jing’s body ceaselessly drank in the high-concentration Baleful Qi at an astonishing rate, rapidly becoming tougher and stronger.

  (End of Chapter)

  *Acquired, "Postnatal", sometimes even transliterated as "Houtian." Although post- is supposed to be after pre-natal by logic, well, it doesn't work that way in China. Why? Because a person in this realm (generalizing across multiple novels now) is rgely bound by the limitations of the "post-birth" world, whereas someone at the Innate, or "Prenatal", or sometimes "Xiantian" realm refined themselves into something purer, more 'original' (先, Xiān) just like at birth.