A Glimmer of Light, Blessing Grass and Trees

Lu Qiyuan's refining materials soon arrived by teleportation.

"Warm Jade Marrow, Sunken Silver Sand, Millennial Cold Iron Essence..." Yin Lin'er inspected the packages, unable to hide her astonishment.

As Lu Feng listened, he couldn't help sighing. "The Marquis of the East Sea's household really spared no expense, especially..."

In his hand was an ink-jade bottle, its surface cold to the touch. Inside, a wisp of blue flame hovered silently!

"Ninth Netherworld Fire!" Lu Feng's voice suddenly turned grave. "This fire is born in the 'Nine Nether Rift,' a forbidden region in the Western Nether Continent. To collect it, you must draw out the killing intent of the earth veins and lure it from its lair. The slightest misstep means your soul will be annihilated and cast into the netherworld for all eternity! Its nature is supremely yin and cold, yet it contains a trace of the true essence of communing with the netherworld. It is an unparalleled tool for tempering treasures and awakening their spiritual nature!"

Chen Qing gazed at the bottle as well. In this age, spirit fires of this caliber had long since become things of legend. The forbidden lands had been destroyed, their lineages severed. Even in ancient records, only their names remained.

"I thought he had some ulterior motive," Lu Feng said, his tone complicated. "But he's even willing to offer up a treasure that protects his clan... Little friend Chen, he must truly have been won over by your bearing."

Yin Lin'er nodded vigorously, her eyes full of admiration.

"Now that most of the study materials have arrived, I should review them first..." Chen Qing didn't dawdle. After looking everything over, he returned to his quiet room and sat cross-legged. With a sweep of his sleeve, the Ninth-grade Green Lotus Platform and the Bronze Wine Goblet floated before him.

Supreme Harmony Qi surged forth, carrying the essence of the newly acquired Qi Nourishing Art and seeping into the cores of the two treasures like a gentle stream.

He used his divine sense as a guide and his vital essence as a whetstone, again and again washing over the vast spiritual nature hidden deep within the treasures.

The process was tedious and long, like water dripping through stone. It demanded total concentration, without the slightest impatience.

And so Chen Qing studied the art of treasure refinement while nurturing his treasures.

In the blink of an eye, the seventh day of this dream-arrival came.

Only two dream-days remained before the affair at the Heavenly Evolution Stage.

Chen Qing paused his work nurturing the treasures. In his Sea of Consciousness, spiritual light drifted and sank, while the Samadhi True Fire Talisman circled him, burning away distracting thoughts.

"Next time I enter the dream, I'll be facing the Empress's predicament head-on! The risks are sky-high, but so are the opportunities!" His mind was clear. "If I can use the Spiritual Bone to obtain even a trace of Star Silence Tribulation Light, it will be an extraordinary opportunity for my real-world body!"

If his dream-body fell, it would merely cut short the story of the Restoration Patriarch, doing no harm to his real-world body.

But if he succeeded... the gains would be beyond measure!

White mist began to gather around him, and the sensation of being pulled away set in.

"When I wake from this dream, I'll have plenty to do. But I need to prepare and lay the groundwork for my dream-body, too. I'll handle both sides at once—and make sure both are solid!"

Chen Qing immediately focused his mind, imprinting several obsessions deep within his dream-body—

"Don't slack off on refining the treasures!"

"Study the newly acquired methods in the Primordial Chaos Qi Scripture and keep working through their implications!"

"Stabilize the realm and temper the spiritual light! Try to comprehend from it how the Immortal Emperor controls the Circumference Star Dou Forbidden!"

Once the imprints settled, the spiritual light in his Niwan Palace blazed brighter. A streak of ink appeared from thin air and rapidly expanded, as if to leave its mark upon the entire world!

This was the dream-continuation wedge!

"The next time I enter the dream, it'll be time for the final battle."

With that thought, Chen Qing's main consciousness stopped resisting.

"Whoosh—"

The white mist surged and swallowed all sensation in an instant.

Misty Gorge Mountain, quiet room.

Chen Qing's eyes snapped open!

"Boom—"

The instant his consciousness returned to his body, far purer and more abundant spiritual energy poured down from his crown! It surged like a river, flowing of its own accord!

"When I entered the dream this time, I absorbed a tremendous amount of spiritual energy while watching the Immortal Emperor ascend. The dream-body's cultivation was pushed to a whole new level, too. So the spiritual energy I received when I woke was especially rich!"

Feeling the abundance of spiritual energy within him, Chen Qing marveled. Then a thought struck him, and he guided the surging energy through a full circuit of his body!

One, two, three...

After a few cycles, the spiritual energy passed through his meridians, and their walls gleamed like jade. Impurities vanished, while a faint radiance shone through! Deep within his bones, sharp cracks rang out, and his marrow cavities filled like vessels with jade marrow, shimmering with precious light!

The tiny hidden injuries left by past cultivation and battles melted like snow, quickly healing!

After nine cycles, the energy finally gathered in his dantian's sea of qi!

"Crash—"

At the center of the sea of qi, the ceaselessly surging Supreme Harmony Qi suddenly rose into towering waves!

The Supreme Harmony Qi roared into waves, devouring the spiritual energy and refining and compressing it until it became a brilliant, solid silver stream, its aura several times denser!

His bones shone with precious light! His qi condensed into a long river! His inner breath completed nine cycles!

He had reached the middle stage of the Second Realm, as naturally as water flowing into a channel!

He'd achieved it more than a year earlier than Chen Qing had expected!

"Just as I thought. There's no need to deliberately draw on the earth veins. The Immortal Emperor's spiritual energy contains the vitality of creation itself, and everything the muscles, bones, and skin need is already in it!"

Yet this wasn't the end!

The silver stream raced through his sea of qi, and an ultimate essence was taking shape at its core! With a single thought, he could use Supreme Harmony Qi as ink and the Dao as his guide to condense his Natal Talisman and step straight into the late stage of the Second Realm!

"Buzz!"

The Samadhi True Fire Talisman in his Sea of Consciousness suddenly lit up!

Golden flames swirled, burning away the restlessness and impatience that had naturally arisen from his soaring cultivation!

Chen Qing's mind tightened, and he came to his senses in an instant!

"My dream-body has deep foundations. It took five years of tempering to condense the embryonic form of a Natal Talisman. My real-world body has broken through again and again thanks to the dream's feedback, but it lacks that accumulation. If I rashly condense a Natal Talisman, I may succeed, but my foundation could become unstable and leave hidden dangers for future cultivation."

If the foundation wasn't firm, the earth would shake.

Knowing when to break through decisively and when to hold fast to one's principles and accumulate strength—both were difficult.

"Besides, the talisman I condensed in the dream was the Mountain-and-Sea Natal Talisman, limited by what I'd accumulated at the time. Now that I've gained new insights, I should unify them first before condensing my Natal Talisman!"

He suppressed the impulse, and his vast inner breath returned to the sea of qi. Its reserves were far more robust than those of others at the same stage, and he was only one step away from the late stage!

"The crisis at Sea Abyss Temple has been temporarily resolved. This is the perfect chance to take some time to consolidate..."

Before the thought had even finished, something strange happened!

A pure glimmer, tiny as a firefly yet heavy as a star's core, descended from his crown!

Unblemished spiritual light!

The spiritual light his dream-body had comprehended during the ascension vision had crossed the divide between illusion and reality and descended into his real-world body!

"Boom!"

The light fell into his Sea of Consciousness, a spark setting the prairie ablaze! Clear radiance shone through his body and spread in every direction!

As soon as it entered his Sea of Consciousness, it was like a spark dropping into boiling oil!

Boom!

Its light blazed brilliantly, even shining out through Chen Qing's body and radiating in all directions!

Dao Rhyme spread like mist!

The thin, dormant spiritual energy of the outside world suddenly boiled! Like a giant dragon awakening, it rushed madly toward the quiet room!

As the spiritual light swept past, strange changes appeared in the plants and trees of the courtyard!

The curled-up shoots suddenly unfurled. Buds formed on withered branches, then burst into bloom in an instant!

The leaves stirred without a breeze, rustling as they bowed slightly toward the quiet room, as though in worship!

In the neighboring room, Fang Da'ao rubbed his eyes and pushed open the door. A breath of pure, vital energy poured straight into his lungs!

His whole body shuddered. His mind had never been clearer, and the points where his fist technique had felt sluggish suddenly opened up!

"The mountain's force enters the bones... So that's how it is!"

In a moment of inspiration, he instinctively took up his stance in the courtyard and threw a punch. The wind of his fist split the air, smooth and effortless! The bottleneck that had troubled him for days broke through as naturally as water flowing into a channel!

He lowered his fist and stood still, staring toward the quiet room, shock and joy filling his eyes!

On the other side, Qu Xiaoyao, who had been fast asleep, suddenly woke.

An arcane spiritual resonance descended from the void and entered between her brows!

The Five Animal Guidance Technique she had secretly memorized raced through her mind: the tiger's fierce pounce, the immortal crane's graceful wingbeats, the old bear's steady tree-shaking strength... The many essences flowed through her heart, and suddenly she understood!

Her small mouth fell open, her eyes shining with wonder. Unable to resist, she practiced the crane-form gestures on her bed, and her movements carried a trace of its spiritual essence!

In an ancient pine, the Golden Silk Monkey had also been roused from its meditation by the dense spiritual energy.

"Chirp?" The monkey took a deep breath, and the confusion vanished from its eyes, leaving them bright with spiritual light!

It looked down at its furry paws, then at the faint light shining through the window lattice of the quiet room. Clumsily getting to its feet, it pressed its paws together and bowed toward the quiet room! Its monkey face held a solemn, reverent expression!

Inside the quiet room!

In Chen Qing's Sea of Consciousness, that glimmer of light hung high above like a stabilizing pillar, casting its clear radiance everywhere! Its glow shone through him, illuminating his entire body!

His flesh, blood, muscles, and bones gave off a faint, almost imperceptible hum beneath the pure light of the Dao Rhyme!

Fine impurities deep in his blood were drawn out and annihilated. The precious light in his bones grew brighter as they underwent profound transformation and elevation! A faint jade-like sheen began to show across his body.

His entire body was undergoing a silent "refinement," from the inside out!

Several miles from Misty Gorge Mountain, Li Wei, a young woman disciple of the Mystic Chess Academy, sat meditating with her eyes closed on the gnarled branch of a thousand-year-old locust tree.

Suddenly!

"Buzz—"

An indescribable tremor pierced her mind!

Her eyes flew open!

The sight before her made her suck in a breath of cold air!

Toward the main peak of the Hidden Star Gate, plants and trees were growing, and ripples of spiritual light shimmered across the land. Half the mountain was brimming with life!

A pure, vital energy swept over her, washing through her soul! The points where her past cultivation had felt sluggish suddenly opened up!

"Qi flows through grass and trees, its grace reaching all things! Could this... be the legendary awakening of a Dao Body?!"

Li Wei was shaken to the core, her lovely face drained of color!

Without another moment's hesitation, she shook the Golden Bell on her wrist and pulled a communication talisman from her robe.

At that moment, she finally understood why her sect placed such importance on Sect Leader Chen!

The second update is coming right away...