Condensing True Qi

First, the Seven Sons of Zhang came knocking—minus the seventh one, who was dead.

Now it was Miao Liwu's people.

This time, they even knew his room number.

What if he happened to be making love in his room? Wouldn't he be caught red-handed?

The outside world was far too dangerous.

"No, I need to run for it!"

The feeling of being watched was unbearable.

You did not wait until dawn, leaving the inn that very night.

You returned to your little courtyard in Black Dragon Forest.

You intended to head deeper into Black Dragon Forest, into a true no-man's land.

You stored everything from the little courtyard in your spatial storage.

On the way back, you had also purchased enormous quantities of daily necessities and materials for refining Qi and Blood Pills.

They were enough to cover your needs for twenty or thirty years.

This time, as you ventured deep into Black Dragon Forest, you intended to switch to the Desolate Heaven Saber Technique.

It was a Sect Foundation Cultivation Method that could be cultivated all the way to the Divine Organs Realm. You had no reason not to cultivate it.

More importantly, it was time to begin cultivating the Ninefold Condensation Profound Art.

While switching to the Desolate Heaven Saber Technique, you could also re-condense the true qi of the Skin Tempering Realm.

You did not know whether you could condense it nine times.

Miao Liwu had only condensed his true qi six or seven times, yet he had already been invincible among those of the same rank.

You felt that if you could steel your heart and condense it nine times, you would probably be able to go head-to-head with opponents several major realms above you.

You were filled with anticipation.

This time, unless you exhausted your supplies until the mountains were stripped bare and the rivers ran dry, you would not come out even if beaten to death.

You advanced deeper into Black Dragon Forest.

After walking for more than ten days, the trees around you had become species you had never seen before.

All around stood towering trees more than ten zhang tall.

Birdsong, insect cries, and the roars of all kinds of beasts occasionally echoed through the forest.

From time to time, unknown birds and beasts came to harass you, but all were cleaved in two with a single stroke of your blade.

After walking for nearly another month, poisonous miasma began appearing in the hot, humid jungle.

This miasma caused ordinary people to suffer fevers, headaches, diarrhea, and other symptoms. In severe cases, it could even be fatal.

But as a Bone Tempering Martial Artist, you were thick-skinned and tough-fleshed, suffering no discomfort whatsoever.

You could even stand in the miasma and take an epic breath straight into your lungs.

You continued onward.

Another month passed.

That day, you encountered an enormous gorilla.

When it stood upright, it was nearly one zhang tall.

The huge muscles on its body bulged high, making it look quite terrifying.

When it saw you, it let out a furious roar and charged at you with thunderous steps.

You had already killed quite a few fierce birds and savage beasts along the way.

Though this gorilla was unusually huge, you no longer found it strange.

Clang—

The Minghong Blade split the gorilla in half from head to toe.

Its enormous body crashed through a large swath of trees before finally coming to a stop.

After surveying the surrounding area, you decided to settle here.

Not far from here was a broad river, making water easily accessible.

The terrain in this area was also flat, making it highly suitable for building a house.

You spent twenty days building the house.

Then, using massive boulders and tall trees, you built a wall nearly two zhang high and reconstructed your little courtyard.

A wall of that scale was comparable to a city wall.

It could effectively keep out the nearby beasts and let you focus more fully on cultivation.

You also began raising pigs, dogs, chickens, ducks, and other livestock in the courtyard again.

During the construction, dozens more giant gorillas came. They were probably here for revenge.

After you killed more than forty of those gorillas as well, the few that remained never came back.

You also cleared out the beast packs around the area.

The nearby savage beasts came to understand the might of you, this terrifying upright ape.

They fled this area one after another.

You successfully claimed this territory.

Once everything had been settled, you swallowed a handful of Qi and Blood Pills and began cultivating.

You first switched to the Desolate Heaven Saber Technique.

Switching cultivation was equivalent to cultivating anew from the Skin Tempering Realm to the Bone Tempering Middle Stage.

However, your Bone Tempering Middle Stage cultivation in the Dragon's Roar Saber Art would not be affected.

And since you were already at the Bone Tempering Middle Stage, cultivating again would be much faster.

You cultivated for more than a year.

Year Forty.

You cultivated the Desolate Heaven Saber Technique to the Skin Refinement Peak.

Every slash you made carried an ancient, boundless aura, like the gaze of an archaic demon god.

The true qi within your body was solid and heavy, without the slightest trace of instability.

You were certain that your current self could kill the former you, who cultivated the Dragon's Roar Saber Art and stood at the Bone Tempering Middle Stage, with a single slash.

"Sect Foundation Cultivation Methods really have something to them!"

Even you were deeply shocked.

Though top-tier cultivation methods and Sect Foundation Cultivation Methods sounded as though they differed by only one rank,

the gap between them was actually as vast as heaven and earth.

You were beside yourself with excitement, so happy that you rode a pig around the courtyard twice.

This was only the normal result of cultivating to the Skin Refinement Peak. You had not even begun the Ninefold Condensation Profound Art's condensation yet.

You immediately began your first true qi condensation.

It did not go smoothly at first.

You kept trying.

Before true qi condensation succeeded, there was no need for Qi and Blood Pill assistance.

But you had long developed the habit of refining Qi and Blood Pills every day.

Half a year later, although you had yet to complete your first true qi condensation, you had saved more than a thousand Qi and Blood Pills because you had not used any.

You continued cultivating the Ninefold Condensation Profound Art.

Year Forty-One.

The blazing noon sun shone upon the towering trees around you. Their branches and leaves were lush, brimming with life.

You felt the already substantial true qi in your body abruptly contract and diminish, becoming even more condensed.

You completed the first condensation.

The reduced yet more condensed true qi flowed through your body, nourishing every part of you.

Your flesh and bones were tempered anew—one could even say remade—to bear the more condensed true qi.

This was the mystery of the Ninefold Condensation Profound Art.

Compressing true qi was not the hardest part. Transforming the body was the core of the Ninefold Condensation Profound Art.

What delighted you most was that your innate physique and aptitude had also improved somewhat, allowing you to hold true qi of a higher quality.

Though your aptitude had not improved by much, as you continued cultivating the Ninefold Condensation Profound Art, your body would be further transformed and optimized.

Your talent for the Martial Path would only grow better and better!

"This kid is this heaven-defying?! He could even create a cultivation method like this?" you muttered to yourself, questioning life itself.

"What kind of child of destiny is this?!"

After the shock passed, you worked hard to calm your emotions.

After all these years of cultivation, your state of mind had also improved greatly.

Once you calmed down, you continued condensing your true qi.

After swallowing a handful of Qi and Blood Pills, you restored your condensed true qi to its perfect state.

You began the second condensation.

Winter gave way to summer, and who knew how many springs and autumns passed.

You still silently condensed true qi in the little courtyard.

Over these years, you had not even stepped outside the courtyard once.

Eight years later.

In Year Forty-Nine, you completed the seventh true qi condensation.

You surpassed Miao Liwu's number of condensations.

You rested for three days.

Each time you completed a condensation, you would rest for three days.

A bowstring pulled too tight needed to be loosened.

Three days later, you got back to work.

But during this condensation, you encountered a bottleneck.

For two whole months, you made no progress at all.

This was a number of condensations close to the limit. Even Miao Liwu, the creator of this cultivation method, had never reached it.

Left with no other choice, you began reading the insights on condensation that Miao Liwu had given you along with the technique.

You had never read them before, afraid that Miao Liwu's insights would influence your own cultivation.

Only what you comprehended yourself was most suited to you.

Now that you had stumbled and staggered onto your own path, reading Miao Liwu's insights would not affect you. It would only give you new inspiration.

Sure enough, after reading Miao Liwu's insights on condensation, your mind opened considerably.

You officially began the eighth condensation.

The peaches on the peach tree in the courtyard ripened twice, and you ate your fill both times.

In Year Fifty-Two, just as night fell over the dense forest,

the true qi within your body surged like raging waves.

Your true qi became as solid as mercury.

You completed the eighth true qi condensation.

Rolling thunder boomed within the Dantian of your lower abdomen. Your belly was genuinely rumbling like thunder.

You did not know your exact strength now.

But you knew that invincible among those of the same rank was no longer enough to describe you.

Now, even an opponent one realm above you required no more than one slash.

There would absolutely not be a second slash!

If there was a second slash, then the blade was not sharp enough. It had nothing to do with you personally, and you would bear no legal responsibility.

Even against an expert two realms above you, you were confident you could win.

For the first time ever, you rested for five days.

Taking advantage of this five-day mini-holiday, you wandered around the area.

For the past few years, you had cultivated in the little courtyard without leaving, and the surrounding beast packs had gathered in this area to live once more.

Even more than twenty giant gorillas had returned.

You ignored those gorillas and savage beasts.

As long as they did not come disturb your cultivation, they were loving and harmonious good neighbors.

However, the savage beasts of the primeval jungle were wild by nature.

The livestock you raised were often frightened into trembling by the roars of beasts around them.

At first, whenever the rooster crowed in the morning, it would stretch its throat and sing at the top of its lungs.

Now, it only dared let out a soft, hurried cry before immediately running back into its coop, terrified of being heard.

Five days later, you returned to the little courtyard and shut the heavy courtyard gate, two zhang high.

You launched your assault on the ninth condensation!