Chapter 102: The First Restriction

  “Then let’s talk about it next time.”

  The Sword Spirit spoke in all seriousness, “For now, focus on your cultivation. Your Seven Fiends Fate grants you a high tolerance for Demonic Qi and Camity Qi, so you should be fine during the Qi Refining stage.”

  “Once you shake off the pursuit of the Heavenly Will Demonic Sect and the Heavenly Demons, find a pce to settle down, and then we can figure out a way to resolve the Demonic Qi issue for good.”

  That made sense. Even if there was Demonic Qi in the spiritual veins, one could not simply avoid cultivation—just like how poison can be carcinogenic, but you still have to consider the dose.

  An Jing calmed his mind and continued to rely on the spiritual energy in the spiritual veins, along with the Baleful Qi from the jade-cleaving steel, for his cultivation.

  People from the bck market delivered food and drink to him. Like the canned goods he had previously acquired from that tiny recycling hut, all the bck market supplies were convenient liquid meals. The beverages resembled vegetable-juice-like hydrolyzed nutrients. They met basic human needs, but the taste… left much to be desired.

  They were even inferior to the mutton soup in Danlin Town.

  However, An Jing had just emerged from the famine-stricken northern frontier and a cave. He had once been so hungry that even tree bark seemed delicious. As long as there was food to fill his belly, he was satisfied, and it did not hinder his cultivation.

  In addition, he obtained a few books from the bck market staff, covering the history and news of the Tianyuan Realm. He studied these after finishing his daily cultivation.

  After making all the necessary preparations, An Jing circuted the Serene Sword Technique to purge any stray thoughts. Only then did he compose himself, grasp the jade-cleaving steel, and absorb spiritual energy for cultivation.

  Thanks to the peaceful, safe environment and his natural talent, once An Jing began cultivating, he immersed himself completely in visualization and in circuting the spiritual energy within his body.

  Maniputing the Taibai Restriction Seed to form a “restriction” was quite enjoyable for him. He quickly slipped into a state of total self-forgetfulness and remained there until his energy reached its limit.

  According to the Subduing Evil Sword Spirit’s assessment, although An Jing’s aptitude for Qi Refining was average, his mind-and-spirit cultivation was first-rate. With a good teacher’s guidance, he could have become a sect’s true-inheritance disciple.

  “Aren’t you just such a good teacher?”

  In response, An Jing felt somewhat puzzled, but the Sword Spirit denied it. “I’ve forgotten far too much. Never mind countless specific cultivation techniques—I can’t even remember the name of my old sect or my former companions. I can’t teach you about your perception of Heaven and Earth. How could I be considered a good teacher?”

  “I can point the way for you, and you, in turn, must collect my missing fragments. We will help each other and be one another’s guide.”

  Perhaps the Subduing Evil Sword Spirit truly had once been an Immortal God who “came knocking at the door” in ages past. It always behaved in an unassuming manner, never condescending. Its words were calm and polite, devoid of aloofness.

  Influenced by that attitude, An Jing gradually settled his once-restless heart. He was neither hurried nor impatient, slowly accumuting Taibai Baleful Qi. One by one, the meridians in his body adapted to the infusion and flow of that Baleful Qi, becoming more stable and resilient.

  Time passed swiftly, and before he knew it, a day had gone by.

  This was now the halfway point of An Jing’s second day in the Tianyuan Realm on this visit, leaving him with a day and a half remaining.

  At that moment, An Jing kept a calm and unassuming attitude, guiding the spiritual energy within his body to form a restriction.

  This step was quite challenging. For the restriction to function properly, not only was a smooth, unified flow of qi in a full circuit required, but it also had to pass seamlessly through every vital node. In essence, this added another yer of difficulty to the body’s circution, demanding far more from a cultivator’s stamina and maximum reserves of vital essence.

  However, around noon that day, the spiritual energy in the bck market’s spiritual veins inexplicably rose slightly. An Jing keenly seized the opportunity. In an instant, the spiritual energy coursing through his meridians quickened, surging through every part of his body. After completing a full circuit, it returned to the Taibai Restriction Seed in his dantian, cycling endlessly without beginning or end.

  Each time spiritual energy surged and merged with his vital essence while circuting around the Restriction Seed, streams of restriction runes would emerge and fuse into his body. In this way, after three hundred sixty such cycles, a strand of spiritual energy and vital essence—refined to the utmost purity—flowed together into the Restriction Seed as though Heaven and Earth had aligned.

  In that moment, An Jing felt utterly hollow inside. His body was like a vessel with no water at all, yet it somehow held boundless spiritual wonders beneath the sky. Inside and out, he felt utterly clear, like fwless gss.

  Meanwhile, in his dantian, the mingling of Heaven and Earth’s qi with the human body’s essence was undergoing a profound metamorphosis within the Restriction Seed.

  It felt both very long and very brief at the same time. As An Jing slowly opened his eyes, a bright gleam fshed. One after another, strands of “Taibai Baleful Qi” that he now fully controlled trickled out from the Restriction Seed, transforming into various golden Dao Runes. These merged with his innate vital essence, indelibly branding themselves into the most fundamental parts of his body.

  Buzz!

  At that moment, An Jing felt a flood of brilliant light at his forehead. His body and perspective seemed to soar without limit, yet his true self remained firmly in pce, as unshakable as solid iron.

  Saliva gathered in his mouth. When he swallowed, a refreshing sensation coursed through him, making his body feel light and his mind exceptionally clear. As his teeth clicked together, he actually heard the cng of metal striking metal.

  When the spiritual energy in his body resumed its circuit, faint moon-white spiritual inscriptions—sharp and unyielding—manifested across his frame, sturdy and pure white.

  Standing slowly, he flexed his muscles and bones. An Jing could vaguely hear a clear, resonant hum, as though bdes were crossing in midair.

  The first restriction had formed at st!

  The Radiant White Spirit Divine Restriction, an ancient sect’s secret art, possessed unique qualities. At the Spirit Awakening and Qi Refining level, it contained eighteen restrictions that were not clearly segmented. The very first restriction already granted Qi Refining methods, and completing it meant attaining the pinnacle of Qi Refining.

  Even so, these realms still held significant meaning.

  Each time nine restrictions were condensed, they had to be integrated into one’s Great Circuit. Failure to do so would halt any further progress, but success would yield a minor Divine Ability.

  Moreover, for the entire Radiant White Spirit Divine Restriction, the Heavenly Gang and Earthly Sha totaled one hundred and eight restrictions, which could be used to form the twelve paces of the Great Circuit, each unlocking a minor Divine Ability.

  When those twelve minor Divine Abilities coalesced and returned to their source, they could transform into a major Divine Ability.

  Without sufficient deposits of mystic iron essence or simir minerals to provide Metal Baleful Qi, this cultivation method required searching for vast mineral veins stretching hundreds of miles. Then, at sunrise and sunset—when sun and moon exchanged pces—the practitioner had to merge essence and qi to draw upon the power of metal and stone from the earth veins. One could collect at most two wisps of qi per day, with sixty wisps forming one circuit, and one hundred eight circuits needed for a minor completion.

  “This so-called minor completion doesn’t mean you’ve fully mastered the method. It only refers to forming one minor Divine Ability. Even a cultivator with decent talent would need nearly ten years in a spiritually rich location—without your resources and constitution—to accomplish that.”

  “But with ample resources, it’s a whole different story. Take this jade-cleaving steel, for example. It’s forged by Earth Lung’s agitation of a hundred types of metal, refined and condensed into solid form. Even half a piece, once fully absorbed for its Metal Baleful Qi, equals more than a year of extracting metal-and-stone qi from a mineral vein—enough to condense the first restriction.”

  While listening to the Sword Spirit’s detailed expnation, the spiritual inscriptions on An Jing’s body sted only a few short breaths. This phenomenon would only reappear in the future if he operated his spiritual power at full capacity.

  Even after the inscriptions vanished, his entire aura underwent a transformation, and he now carried a faint sense of piercing crity.

  (End of Chapter)