Lü Shiwu, Meng Jian, and the others arrived in a flash, then drifted away.
They all hurried toward Bone Chasing Mountain.
Meng Nan remained at Cang Mountain.
His cultivation had regressed, so he took stock of what he could rely on in this life—
"sword case."
"Soul Banner."
"Talisman General Black Armor."
Of all his methods and treasures, these three were the best.
The sword case had once been the most powerful weapon in Qi Refining Meng Nan's hands.
It was no ordinary sword case.
Inside were forty-two flying swords, each one exceptional and worthy of being called top grade.
They were kept within the case and nourished with magical power.
Once released, they could be used alongside the Small Thousand Sword Array. Meng Nan's combat strength among Qi Refining cultivators was considerable; he could even fight an ordinary second- or third-realm Qi Refining cultivator.
But that depended on his own magical power and his mastery of the Small Thousand Sword Array.
Now that Meng Nan's cultivation had fallen, the sword case's power in his hands would be greatly diminished. Unless he returned to Qi Refining, it would be of little use.
Given his current cultivation, it ranked last among the three magical artifacts.
The other two were another matter.
"The Soul Banner currently contains two hundred and forty main souls and three thousand six hundred baleful spirits. With a shake of the banner, it releases the yin souls and baleful spirits within. Ghostly qi billows, Killing Intent surges, and ordinary Qi Refining cultivators have no choice but to keep their distance."
This was a genuine Qi Refining-grade magical artifact, and it required little magical power. A spell and hand seal were enough to activate it.
It could be used right away.
The one drawback was that unless he fully refined it, he couldn't continue to temper it and increase the Soul Banner's power or the strength of its main souls.
But if Meng Nan tried to forcefully refine it with his current cultivation, he would only suffer backlash.
"No need to rush the refining."
"As long as I can use it, that's enough."
Meng Nan turned his attention to the third treasure.
Talisman General Black Armor!
Meng Nan had encountered this method in his third life and acquired it in his seventh. It could fuse a True Essence expert with magical artifacts and armor into a single entity. In accordance with the Five Elements, it could produce five suits of Talisman General Black Armor: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
Each one was formidable.
After nearly a hundred years of tempering by Meng Nan, each of the five suits now possessed near-Qi Refining-grade combat strength.
Working together,
they harmonized the Five Elements.
Their combined strength rose to the Qi Refining level, matching the Soul Banner.
The Soul Banner.
The Talisman General Black Armor.
These were the two Qi Refining-grade magical artifacts Meng Nan possessed in this life.
Combined with the sword case,
even though Meng Nan had only three layers of magical power and had just passed his hundredth year, his cultivation still at the first realm, Ming Qi, his combat strength was impressive—
He could fight fifth- and sixth-layer cultivators!
He could fight second- and third-realm cultivators!
Among Qi Refining cultivators, he was nowhere near the bottom.
"Compared to He Weiyang and the Four Monsters of Mirror Mountain, I'm not weaker."
"But compared to Lü Shiwu and Erlang, I fall short."
Meng Nan studied the jade slips, watching one Qi Refining battle after another. He learned roughly where he stood in this life and where he needed to improve.
He sorted everything out one by one.
Then he set about making targeted improvements.
Before he advanced to Qi Refining in the present, Meng Nan's modest goal was to reach peak Qi Refining in the future timeline and become invincible at that stage!
To become invincible at Qi Refining, he first had to advance to Qi Refining!
In this life,
Meng Nan had obtained a great medicine called the Zhī Lóng Fruit from Xuanwu Mountain in the forty-seventh year of the Immortal Era. With its help, he had successfully broken through in one go.
From his fifth life to his tenth, Meng Nan had learned the exact locations of eight great medicines in total.
From his sixth life through this one, he had refined a different great medicine each time. He had failed in the first five lives, and succeeded only in this one.
"The Zhī Lóng Fruit."
"This great medicine suits me best."
"The forty-seventh year of the Immortal Era."
Of course, Meng Nan didn't want to wait until the forty-seventh year of the Immortal Era to break through.
Besides, advancing with the aid of a great medicine was only a Middle Method, and the magical power he gained afterward was impure.
In the past, Meng Nan hadn't understood what that meant.
But in this life, he had broken through himself and spent ninety-three years cultivating at the Qi Refining stage. Only then did he understand how difficult it was.
"I control a mineral vein and have foreknowledge. I spend over a hundred catties of spirit sand every year, yet my magical power has only just reached the required standard."
What was this "standard"?
Qi Refining cultivators lived for three hundred years. They had to cultivate three hundred years' worth of magical power to reach the peak of Qi Refining and qualify to attempt a breakthrough.
On average, they had to cultivate one year's worth of magical power every year.
That was the "standard"!
And what was "one year's worth of magical power"?
Magical power was wondrous. It transformed into "core essence," round and flawless as a pearl, able to gather and disperse.
One "core essence" was "one year's worth of magical power."
Then, using the core essence of magical power as nodes, one built layer upon layer of Qi Refining networks.
One layer after another.
One level upon another.
Until one reached the ninth layer of Qi Refining.
Advancing by the Lower Method or Middle Method left one with impure magical power, slowing its growth during Qi Refining. The core essence was flawed, making the Qi Refining networks harder to construct and less effective once complete.
A single misstep made every step after it harder.
Root Bone also played a part. For a Qi Refining cultivator like Meng Nan, whose Root Bone had already hit rock bottom and who had advanced by the Middle Method, cultivation at this stage became even more difficult.
He could barely make an inch of progress.
Without resources, he might not cultivate even a single year's worth of magical power in ten years.
He needed a steady supply of spirit sand and spirit pills, with outside help to sustain him.
But that only made his magical power less pure, and the farther he cultivated, the slower he grew.
Relying on his mining operation, Meng Nan had increased his resources tenfold in this life. Even so, he had only just managed to gain one year's worth of magical power for every year of cultivation.
He couldn't keep that up forever.
"Magical power is hard to cultivate!"
That was the most common lament in the jade slips about cultivation that Meng Nan had left behind.
And the difficulty of Qi Refining wasn't limited to magical power.
There was also "Dao attainment."
"Three hundred years of magical power."
"Fourth-realm Dao attainment."
Meng Nan studied the details and shook his head.
The Lower Method was a dead end.
The Middle Method was another dead end.
No wonder the world was full of cultivators of the Left Path—
Qi Refining, Qi Refining! The more you refined, the more pissed you got!
Rather than live a pathetic life, you might as well give up on magical power and Dao attainment, focus on spells and external objects, and spend your life in carefree freedom.
Three hundred years.
It might be short, but it could still be a glorious life.
This was hardly a bad path or choice for those who practiced Qi Refining by the Lower or Middle Method.
If you wanted to take Qi Refining as your starting point and walk the broad road of immortality—
There was only the Upper Method!
In the jade slips, Meng Nan had learned the key to the Upper Method after advancing to Qi Refining in this life.
"Condense Yuan Reveal Intent."
"Temper Yuan Remove Impurities."
"Yuan Achieved Stabilize Spirit."
The key to breaking through with the Upper Method still lay in True Essence.
The first realm of the True Essence Stage was Sense Imprint. One imprinted the Five Senses, making all one's senses extraordinary. At this point, it was called Super Sensation. One became keenly perceptive, which was also a prerequisite for searching for the "spiritual opportunity."
The second realm was the Three Cavities.
The first stage of this realm was "stealing"; only the second stage was "opening."
Both were perilous.
The second stage was the most dangerous—
Once you opened the Three Cavities, there was no turning back. Fail to advance, and you died.
Zhao Xiaoshuang in Meng Nan's fifth life, along with Meng Nan in his ninth and tenth lives, had all died after opening the Three Cavities and attempting to advance to Qi Refining.
This was the most perilous step, one that had defeated countless heroes.
The first stage was somewhat less dangerous, but it still carried risks.
For example, Meng Nan's fourth life had ended when he lost control while stealing from the Three Cavities and died of Qi Deviation.
Stealing!
It was a vivid way to put it.
At the peak of True Essence, the Five Senses became extraordinary, allowing one to locate the Three Cavities. Then, with the utmost care, one knocked a crack into the entrance of the Three Cavities—just enough to prise it open a sliver. Like a mouse sneaking a taste of something delicious, one greedily sniffed the billions of units of Primal Qi hidden within. But one dared not get greedy. One only nudged the entrance open a crack and drew out three to five units of Primal Qi to temper oneself, returning all one's Primal Qi to its origin and washing away every impurity.
The purer one's Primal Qi, the greater one's chances of finding the spiritual opportunity after truly opening the Three Cavities.
But stealing was no easy task.
Each time, one had to give it one's undivided attention. Each time, one had to resist the temptation to take too much or push ahead too quickly. The slightest greedy impulse could make one overreach and send the Primal Qi into a rampage.
At that point, one either staked everything on a breakthrough,
or struggled to suppress the Primal Qi—but often died of Qi Deviation.
Advance, and you died.
Retreat, and you died.
That was the danger.
And because it was so dangerous, progress was painfully slow.
Ten years, twenty years, thirty years.
There was no way to know just how pure one's Primal Qi had to become, or when the process would finally end.
Long years passed in unrelenting hardship. Even with Super Sensation, one couldn't tell whether the True Essence had reached the utmost purity, or whether it was still growing purer.
It was an ordeal, and a test.
Those who cultivated the Upper Method had to resist temptation, endure the torment, pass trial after trial, and finally open the Three Cavities with unwavering resolve to break through in one stroke.
Yet even those brimming with confidence often failed to master the Upper Method.
There was no set standard.
It was enough to leave anyone at a loss.
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P.S. Here's another recommendation for a new book by a great author.
Title: Global Game: Inheriting a Supergod-Level Civilization at the Start
Author: Yixi Chengdao.
Synopsis: A data-driven interstellar war. The protagonist inherits the legacy of a supergod-level civilization right from the start—a universe within the palm of his hand.
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