Entering the Qi Refining Realm

Entering the Qi Refining Realm

At the Cai residence, the bodies within the manor had yet to be collected.

Lin Le arrived at the courtyard where Cai Chengxuan's corpse lay.

As though it had sensed the presence of a living person, Cai Chengxuan's corpse actually began to move eerily, seemingly trying to pounce on Lin Le.

As expected, he became a ghost, Lin Le thought.

From Cai Xiuyong's words, he had learned that Cai Chengxuan seemed to have been deliberately cultivated into this state, intended to be raised into a special vicious ghost.

Thus, Lin Le had been certain that Cai Chengxuan, who had died in extreme agony, would most likely become a ghost.

Yet from the look of things, he was more like a zombie.

But that did not matter. As long as he could be delivered from suffering, it was fine.

Lin Le began to chant the Sutra for Rebirth.

Cai Chengxuan's corpse shuddered as if struck by lightning, then stopped moving. Only after Lin Le had recited it twice did gray qi seep out from Cai Chengxuan's body and get absorbed by him.

Lin Le then recited the Sutra for Rebirth once for Cai Xiuyong's corpse, but there was no gray qi—only three points of Earthly Dao merit.

After reciting it once for every corpse, Lin Le's Earthly Dao merit reached 25 points.

As expected of a demonic cultivator. Even the people he chose all had the potential to become ghosts.

Lin Le looked at the condensed Human Dao lotus seed and thought to himself.

He casually found a place to sit and used his Inner Vision Divine Ability to examine his Inner Scenery.

The three drops of Soul Strengthening Dew obtained respectively from Cai Xiuyong controlling the two ghosts and from Cai Chengxuan were consumed.

Lin Le felt a swelling sensation in his head and immediately entered meditation.

One breath to enter meditation, one breath to listen to thunder, one breath to see thunder, and with another breath, thunderfire descended upon his body.

Pain like his flesh being torn apart surged through him. Lin Le silently endured it, while the swelling sensation receded at a rapid pace.

As that swelling sensation faded, the pain also grew weaker and weaker.

His soul gradually began to feel smooth and complete.

When Lin Le awakened, it was already dawn.

He had actually meditated for more than two hours, far surpassing his previous record.

It seems my soul refinement is nearing completion as well.

Lin Le sensed the liveliness in his Numinous Palace, which seemed ready to leap out at any moment.

I wonder whether soul refinement has a limit too.

Lin Le recalled the Thunderfire Soul Refining Diagram, but found no mention of that. After the Fourth Zen came direct meditation and the transition to Inner Vision.

Should I ask Qingli? Lin Le thought. He could tell that Qingli possessed a systematic inheritance.

Thinking so, Lin Le asked her.

"A limit to soul refinement? There isn't one." Qingli shook her head after hearing the question. "Soul refinement, when all is said and done, is merely a genius taking the road of the future and cultivating it in the present."

"Whether it is body refinement or Qi Guiding, in the end, one must cultivate the divine soul. Soul refinement merely does so in advance and speeds it up."

"That is why most top experts cultivate both the Heavenly Gate and either Huangting or the Spiritual Platform."

"What about cultivating all three?" Lin Le asked curiously.

"That generally doesn't happen. After all, everyone's aptitude differs. Constitutions that give equal weight to Huangting and the Spiritual Platform are exceedingly rare." Qingli glanced at Lin Le. "You aren't thinking of cultivating all three, are you? That consumes a tremendous amount of resources."

"I'll try it first." Lin Le neither confirmed nor denied it. "When I can no longer keep it up, I'll abandon one path."

"As long as you have your own plans." Qingli nodded. "Where are you going next?"

"I'll cultivate in seclusion for two or three days first, enter the Qi Refining Realm, then pick off the wealthy men in town one by one," Lin Le said.

"Oh, don't forget to buy me food." Qingli then opened her mouth, and a mouthful of qi flew out of Lin Le's body and landed in her mouth. "I've removed your restriction."

"You're not afraid I'll sell you out now?" Lin Le patted his chest and laughed.

"Hmph, at worst, I'll just eat you when the time comes." The White Snake raised her head and said arrogantly, "With your little bit of cultivation, you surely won't escape from my grasp."

"Yes, yes, Great Cultivator Qingli." Lin Le turned away. "I'll have food delivered over. Remember to eat on time."

"I don't need you to remind me." Qingli muttered, "I'm not a child. By age alone, I could be your grandaunt."

Two days later, at the inn.

Lin Le absorbed the newly produced Concentrated Divine Dew, and the spark of liveliness between his brows suddenly leaped out.

Lin Le's vision abruptly turned pitch-black. Or rather, it could not be called pitch-black, because he could still see a swath of red.

That red formed bones, flesh, muscles, and internal organs.

This was his body.

The thought surfaced in Lin Le's heart, and he believed it without reason.

He carefully observed his body, watching his organs at work.

If I can use Inner Vision whenever I create martial arts, I might save hundreds of merit points, Lin Le could not help thinking.

When he had created the Thirteen Revolutions of Fighting Heaven, the most troublesome part had been coordinating his blood qi with his internal organs. If not for one thought equaling one year, allowing him not to fear death, he would likely have died suddenly within half a year.

After observing for a while, Lin Le stopped and cultivated quietly for another half day.

Once he was certain he had finished regulating himself, Lin Le began his breakthrough.

The first to break through was the Spiritual Platform Secret Realm.

The Spiritual Platform referred to the heart.

And the Dantian within the heart was called the Crimson Palace; the Spiritual Platform Secret Realm was hidden within it.

With a thought from Lin Le, the Blood Pill already located within the Crimson Palace exploded.

Blood qi surged forth and filled the Crimson Palace. There was no need to search—the wandering secret realm had already been found, and the blood qi poured into it in waves.

An ordinary person could only search with that thin blood qi. One careless mistake could injure the heart, causing grave damage to their Vital Energy or even sudden death.

Lin Le did not look at the result. Instead, he detonated the Qi Pill within his Sea of Qi once more.

To cultivate both Huangting and the Spiritual Platform, one had to open them simultaneously from the very beginning. Otherwise, once the secret realm stabilized, it would absorb all qi in the body and transform it into true qi. At that point, neither internal qi nor blood qi would ever be produced again.

A great amount of yang qi poured into the Huangting Secret Realm he had long since located.

This was also the benefit of cultivating the Sea of Qi. One could search for it slowly during daily cultivation. If one day did not work, then two; if two did not work, then three. Sooner or later, even a blind cat would stumble upon a dead mouse.

This was also why those in the Qi Guiding Realm could basically enter the Qi Refining Realm.

The secret realms were fixed in place, and Lin Le's consciousness was pulled into two separate small worlds.

One was a golden-yellow land, roughly one zhang across. At its center stood five red pillars shaped like bones, each five zhang high.

The other was a crimson stone platform, also roughly one zhang across, with thirteen images upon its surface—like dragons, like phoenixes, like apes.

Both continued to expand slowly.

Yet Lin Le turned his Inner Vision upon himself and directed his excess blood qi into the Numinous Palace between his brows.

He could clearly see that wandering point of spiritual light.

The blood qi struck it and fixed that spiritual light in place.

This was also why the Heavenly Gate was usually cultivated alongside another path. Soul refinement did not generate qi, so opening it required borrowing other forms of qi.

With the spiritual light fixed, Lin Le saw another small world.

Misty cloud qi filled an area one zhang across, with flashes of lightning glimmering within.

It too was expanding slowly.

The Spiritual Platform Secret Realm was the first to reach its limit, since Lin Le's accumulation on that path was the deepest.

The Huangting Secret Realm followed.

Lin Le mobilized the remaining blood qi and yang qi, pouring all of them into the Spiritual Platform Secret Realm.

At last, he expanded it to its limit of ten zhang.

The three small worlds stabilized. A point of spiritual light suddenly flew out from the center of each, darting about inside Lin Le's body.

Lin Le tried to control them, only to find that he could not. He could only let them fly as they pleased.

In the end, one crashed into the golden light representing the Golden Light Divine Mantra, one crashed into the remaining blood qi, and the last actually flew into his divine ability Inner Scenery.

It drifted around for a moment, then shot directly toward the Sun Moon Spirit Nectar.

Don't!

Lin Le screamed inwardly. That was his trump card—otherwise, why would he have been reckless enough to seek out Cai Xiuyong and the Mountain Imp?

Was it not because he had relied on the Sun Moon Spirit Nectar's ability to erupt for a brief time and let him escape with his life?

Unfortunately, that point of spiritual light did not heed him at all and had already crashed into the Sun Moon Spirit Nectar.