Cultivation

After returning from the Martial Arts Hall, Chen Xiaojun sat cross-legged, focused his mind, calmed his spirit and regulated his breathing, regulated his breathing and calmed his spirit, and circulated his soul power. He slowly inhaled through his nose, then gently exhaled through his mouth. His inhalations were long and continuous, his exhalations faint and slight, forming a marvelous cycle.

Chen Xiaojun sank into the Upright Sword Qi Technique his grandfather had taught him: "Secretly, continuously, regulate the breath; one hard, one soft, refined within the cauldron; close the eyes and observe the heart, guarding the true life; clarity, stillness, and non-action are the root; leave the soul nest, descend to Huiyin, travel the great dragon, and qi surges through the body from top to bottom; meet the yang crown, pierce the heavenly brow, pass the throat lock, descend the layered tower into the middle origin; qi strengthens yang, fortifies the viscera, drives out evil qi, and the true nature and intent become clear and bright... (PS: I made this up myself, don't flame me.)"

"This 'one hard, one soft' refers to soul power and spirit. The 'cauldron' is the physical body and physique. 'True life' should be the martial soul. 'Clarity, stillness, and non-action are the root' should be talking about temperament, about keeping one's intent on one's original heart."

"The 'soul nest' is the Lower Dantian. The great dragon is the spine. Huiyin and the yang crown are the yin orifice, the 'sea bottom' Huiyin Point, and the yang orifice, the 'Spirit Platform' Baihui Point. The heavenly brow is the Upper Soul Nest, the Upper Dantian. The middle origin is the 'Middle Soul Nest,' the Middle Dantian. The viscera generally refer to the five viscera and six bowels."

"This involves what Daoists call the 'Three Gates and Nine Orifices.' It's basically much the same as the 'Ren and Du Meridians' from my previous life. Original Soul Power set out from the Lower Soul Nest, passed through the openings created during awakening, circulated through the meridians and organs, drew Spirit Qi of heaven and earth in through the yin and yang orifices, then combined with the five viscera and six bowels, the spine, and the head before finally returning to the Lower Soul Nest. It left one refreshed and clear-headed.

"This is still the initial-stage circulation route, the Small Circulatory Cycle. After breaking through to Soul King in the future, I'll circulate the Great Circulatory Cycle. This meditation technique uses soul power as the main body and coordinates it with breathing to nourish the body and spirit. It really deserves to be called a top-tier meditation technique.

"Grandfather said that generally speaking, other meditation techniques, such as the Common Meditation Technique—mm, that's literally its name, a low-level meditation technique—are the most basic meditation techniques on the continent. Every force has them, and this is what the lowest-level schools teach.

"The Common Meditation Technique directly absorbs Spirit Qi of heaven and earth, or soul power, through the limbs, where it is absorbed by the Original Soul Power flowing out from the Lower Soul Nest.

"Because the meridian circulation is simple, and because it absorbs from the four limbs in four directions, the cultivation speed isn't too slow. It's just a bit rough.

"Intermediate-level meditation techniques are a little more complicated and involve some finer meridians on the main channels leading from the limbs to the soul nest.

"Low- and intermediate-level meditation techniques have very limited ability to nurture the meridians, and their purification is insufficient as well. On top of that, in battle they mainly use the limbs to release soul power, so they can't release and absorb soul power at the same time. Their soul power endurance is poor.

"Starting with advanced meditation techniques, they no longer simply absorb through the limbs, but involve other meridians. They can release and absorb soul power at the same time, but they still amount to simple soul power transportation.

"Only top-tier meditation techniques use other acupoints. Not only is the total amount of soul power large and the quality high, but each also has its own different functions. They are all secret inheritances that are not passed on to outsiders.

"The Chen Clan's technique involves the viscera and combines with breathing, so it has some nourishing effect on both the physique and the spirit.

"It absorbs through the upper and lower yin and yang orifices. The total amount of Spirit Qi of heaven and earth it takes in per unit of time is slightly worse than some top-tier meditation techniques that emphasize speed and efficiency, but it is stable and peaceful. Of course, it is better than some meditation techniques for martial souls such as turtle-type martial souls.

"A large number of meridian nodes are located around acupoints. Or rather, places where large numbers of meridian nodes gather are acupoints.

"With so many nodes mixed together, you don't know which node is the actual acupoint. That's why the people of Douluo Continent all have hidden acupoints and need to sense them themselves, including their own soul nests. A soul nest is the most special kind of acupoint."

From that day on, in Chen Xiaojun's daily cultivation list, his original basic swordsmanship, Sword Drawing Technique, Sword Palm—the preliminary chapter before Sword Finger—and the first three forms of Sword Step all added methods of using soul power. Even morning runs and physical body training were no exception. He also added cultivation of the Upright Sword Qi Technique, Sword Shadow Body, and Sword Eye.

As for the Unparalleled Sword Finger, the later forms of Sword Step, Sword Control Technique, Seven Kill Qi Concealment Technique, and other inheritances, they would only begin to be taught after he became a Soul Elder.

For a time, Chen Xiaojun's body became somewhat sturdier than before, and his combat strength advanced by leaps and bounds. Little Fatty, who sparred with him, experienced the embrace of love one-sidedly and deeply every day, and it got completely out of hand.

Chen Xiaojun not only made wind rise with his Sword Palm and fought with sharp swordsmanship, he also sent the Sword God Pearls attacking from time to time. Even if his martial soul was still in pearl form right now and not yet a divine sword, pearls could still hit people, not to mention pearls carrying sword qi—and there were a lot of them, ten in total.

During this period, Little Fatty's eyes were always gloomy and faint. His family could only comfort him by saying that once his martial soul awakened in a few months and he possessed soul power, things would be fine.

Martial Arts Hall, Ze Ji Study

"Everyone's martial soul has different attributes, and what is correspondingly shown is the difference in the glow of each person's soul power.

"So Soul Masters generally look for attributes that are the same as or close to their own martial souls. As for other attributes, aside from conflicting attributes, it's not that they can't absorb them, but they get half the result for twice the effort, and the effects aren't very good. The soul skills obtained are much weaker than average in power. Conversely, if they match, the power increases greatly.

"Of course, compared with tools and weapons, Beast Martial Souls and plant-type martial souls have one more choice: absorbing soul beasts of the same race as the martial soul, which greatly reduces rejection.

"Soul beast attributes include fire, water, ice, earth, wood, wind, lightning, metal, strength, poison, light, darkness, life, death, nether, shadow, necromancy, sacred, evil, gemstone, purification, starlight, spirit, devouring, and so on.

"Our Seven Kill Sword Martial Soul mainly has metal, water, and spiritual attributes, but it has one advantage: its attribute compatibility is very high. It can absorb soul beasts of almost any attribute. Even absorbing the most opposing Fire Attribute soul beasts is possible, though the effect is still a bit worse compared with other attributes.

"And you, if your ten swords are all different, can absorb almost every attribute.

"According to the research of the seventeenth-generation ancestor Chen Qianhua, martial souls can absorb soul skills of other attributes, and it is not easy for them to change their own attributes. But that only means it is not easy. The times when attributes are most easily changed are when the First Soul Ring and seventh soul ring are bestowed.

"However, your martial soul is special. The divine sword carried by each soul ring is different, or perhaps to each of them, it is their own First Soul Ring. Whether this is possible, and whether you need to add extra attributes, is something you must consider carefully yourself.

"According to function and form, soul skills can be summarized as close-range attacks, long-range attacks, group attacks, speed attacks, flight, defense, control, domains—not martial soul domains—locking, area effects, clones, divine light, control removal, buffs, debuff removal, recovery, Teleport, healing, illusions, spiritual abilities, intangibility, growth, and so on.

"Powerful soul skills all combine multiple functions. You need to build your own martial soul's soul skill system and consider each soul skill from this kind of combination."

Aside from cultivating, Chen Xiaojun went to the Martial Arts Hall every day to listen to his second granduncle, Chen Cong, lecture on Soul Master knowledge and theory. Mm, one-on-one elite education.

During this period, Chen Cong's explanations involved the types of soul beasts, identifying their ages, innate skills, common skills granted after soul beasts died, with an emphasis on rare soul beasts, as well as that book, Chen Clan's Research on Targeted Soul Skills.

It was clearly to build up Chen Xiaojun's knowledge base for choosing the soul skills of his first few rings.

Chen Xiaojun had nearly worn out these books, as well as several others he had found himself, such as Illustrated Handbook of Rare Soul Beasts and On Superior Soul Beasts.

Not only that, he also sought advice from several elders.

Every night, he consumed Mental Power to sense and communicate with the divine sword pearls, nurturing their spirituality. The current Chen Xiaojun had not yet fully opened the Lower Soul Nest and could only activate his martial soul, using soul power to interact with it. He could only use this kind of "clumsy method."

I'm rubbing my hands in anticipation of your Recommendation Tickets and collections, hehehe.