The Direction of Cultivation

By the time Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei had been dragged into a game of hide-and-seek,

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei was still cultivating.

He alternated between Dou Qi and Magic Power. Though tired, he was truly fascinated by the feeling of his strength growing.

He continued until it was almost time for their appointment, then stopped cultivating and entered the Shared Space once more.

Shen San Qi Fei was already there.

"Hasn't he arrived yet?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei was naturally referring to Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei.

"He came, but had to leave again because something came up."

Shen San Qi Fei replied.

"But he left a wisp of spiritual power here, so we can contact him through it."

He pointed at a nearly transparent strand floating nearby.

"That's convenient. How did you discover this method?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei examined the strand.

If Shen San Qi Fei hadn't pointed it out, he would barely have been able to see it.

"It's too much trouble to explain in words. Let's just share memories."

Shen San Qi Fei held out his hand.

"Sure."

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei took it.

He knew himself well enough: he'd definitely be too lazy to explain it out loud.

A familiar sensation came over him, and a stream of memories flooded his mind.

In short, Shen San Qi Fei had discovered that they entered the Shared Space as spiritual entities.

Their ability to share also depended on contact between spiritual entities.

So he'd wondered whether sharing would still work if they used just a wisp of spiritual power.

Then he and Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei had tested it.

It worked.

But perhaps because a wisp of spiritual power couldn't represent their entire selves, the sharing wasn't complete.

Only a little information was shared.

The more spiritual power they used, the more complete the sharing became.

They hadn't determined exactly how much was needed to fully activate the ability.

They simply had nothing else they could share.

According to Shen San Qi Fei and Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei's tests,

the first time different Qi Feis shared, their powers stacked. After that, each new share replaced the previous set of shared powers.

By the end, all they were sharing was the same stretch of memories from different perspectives.

They could manage that with just a little more spiritual power, so there was no way to test it.

Besides all that, Coiling Dragon Qi Fei also saw the results of the sharing between Shen San Qi Fei and Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei.

On Shen San Qi Fei's side, the three of them had combined their aptitudes, and he'd gained both spiritual power and Internal Qi cultivation.

But Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei's results were ridiculous.

Eight attributes and a Dual Physical Jewel—he was practically a protagonist from some old web novel, a total Long Aotian.

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei couldn't help envying him.

He wondered when he'd be able to use his Life Bead.

After viewing the memories, he let go.

He was just about to comment on how ridiculous Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei's gains were when the other man's expression suddenly changed.

"Wait, I'll step out for a moment."

With that, Shen San Qi Fei disappeared.

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei was left standing there alone, completely bewildered.

Five minutes later, Shen San Qi Fei returned.

"I just went out and broke through to Qi Solidification. What's going on with you?"

He seemed so surprised that he'd forgotten they'd already shared memories.

"Huh?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei was just as surprised.

Hadn't he just broken through? Why had he broken through again?

"It should be because you're cultivating Magic Power."

Perhaps his spiritual cultivation had helped him calm down. Shen San Qi Fei was already beginning to analyze what had happened.

"But you saw my magical cultivation. It doesn't even count as first level here..."

As Coiling Dragon Qi Fei spoke, he suddenly realized what it meant.

In the God Three World, spiritual power and Internal Qi were two entirely separate paths.

For most people in that world, the difficulty of breaking through to Qi Solidification lay in connecting with their spiritual power.

But in the Coiling Dragon World, Magic Power came from using spiritual power to refine the elements of the world.

In other words, it was naturally closely linked to spiritual power.

So after this Magic Power was shared, it bridged Internal Qi and spiritual power.

Shen San Qi Fei had then broken through naturally.

"Looks like you figured it out too."

Shen San Qi Fei said.

"Did we come to the same conclusion?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei asked.

Shen San Qi Fei didn't answer. Instead, he slapped Coiling Dragon Qi Fei on the shoulder.

The next moment, memories surged into him. As expected, they'd reached exactly the same conclusion.

At the same time, another force flowed into him.

It was probably the growth Shen San Qi Fei had gained from breaking through on his own with the help of Magic Power, rather than the Magic Power that had already been converted into Internal Qi.

The amounts of the two forces were completely different when shared.

"Too bad it can't be converted a second time."

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei said regretfully.

"Isn't that normal? Magic Power ultimately comes from you. It's not something I cultivated myself."

Shen San Qi Fei consoled him.

Their Clone Cultivation was already progressing fast enough. They didn't need to fuss over this little bit.

"But that means we can decide on our future cultivation paths now."

As he spoke, Shen San Qi Fei touched the spiritual power Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei had left behind.

A few minutes later, Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei appeared in the room.

"What's up?"

He asked.

"We need to discuss our plans for the future."

Since Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei was currently suppressing his cultivation, Shen San Qi Fei had to explain it verbally.

"Go ahead."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei said.

"Over on Coiling Dragon Qi Fei's side, his Magic Power depends on his spiritual power."

Shen San Qi Fei explained.

"So if I improve my spiritual power, I'll raise the upper limit of his magic level. He'll just need to refine Magic Power himself to raise his level."

"And the magic levels he cultivates himself can be shared."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei's face brightened as soon as he heard this.

That meant their cultivation would progress even faster than they'd expected.

"So I'll focus on magic cultivation from now on and practice Dou Qi on the side."

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei spoke up.

He would mainly cultivate Dou Qi to improve his control, so he wouldn't expose his strength.

"And I'll focus on cultivating spiritual power and practice martial arts on the side."

Shen San Qi Fei added.

"I'll keep going until I'm on the verge of awakening my Mental Talent, when I can no longer make rapid progress."

At that stage, his spiritual power would have more or less reached its limit.

The only way to improve would be to refine it through one's state of mind, comprehension, and the like.

That all came down to chance and couldn't really be treated as a regular cultivation method.

"I'm starting to feel left out."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei looked back and forth between the two of them, his eyes full of resentment.

In the Heavenly Jewel Change World, spirit was treated as a separate attribute, not part of one's cultivation.

That made it quite difficult to improve.

In other words, those two were going to focus on cultivating spiritual power, while he'd be stuck diligently cultivating Heavenly Power.

"You can cultivate spiritual skills and combat techniques."

Shen San Qi Fei said.

"Both our worlds are lacking in that sort of thing, but yours is different."

In the Heavenly Jewel Change World, Will Jewels could imprint skills from Heavenly Beasts of the corresponding attributes.

Although spirit was one of the Four Holy Attributes and there weren't as many spirit-type Heavenly Beasts as there were ordinary ones, there was no shortage of them either.

(The other three were Holy, Time, and Primordial Evil.)

Once Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei had imprinted some skills and figured out how they worked,

perhaps they could be turned into techniques that every Qi Fei could use directly.

"In that respect, your role is even more important than ours."

"I figure the only things that work across all the worlds are physical fitness and spiritual power. You're giving everyone a means of protecting themselves."

Was magic powerful in the Coiling Dragon World?

Extremely.

Saint Realm magic started at city-destroying levels, and Wind-style magic even included spells that could tear open the space between planes.

That kind of power would be impressive in most worlds.

The problem was that the others had neither Magic Power nor access to the elements of the world.

No matter how powerful those spells were, they'd be useless.

Spiritual power and physical fitness were what would help the Qi Feis in the other worlds survive the early stages.

"I know you're mostly just trying to talk me into it, but I'm still convinced."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei said.

Even sharing the power they had now would be enough to keep them alive in the early stages.

If their current power couldn't solve a problem, the spiritual techniques he came up with probably wouldn't help much either.

"Besides spiritual techniques, I'll focus on combat experience. By the way, what weapons should we choose?"

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei asked.

"Right now, we have some foundation with the bow, the halberd, and the sword."

Shen San Qi Fei took stock of their current abilities.

The first two came from him, from Archery and Charioteering among the Six Arts of the Gentleman.

The last came from Coiling Dragon Qi Fei: it was a legacy of the Cadmus Family.

"Let's set aside the bow and sword for now. Your halberd techniques clearly aren't meant for ordinary combat, are they?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei pointed out a problem.

Shen San Qi Fei had learned the halberd while practicing Charioteering.

But in the God Three World, thanks to Old Master Kong, Charioteering wasn't the same as driving a carriage in an ordinary world.

Simply put, he controlled a chariot pulled by three oxen and two horses with one hand, while holding a halberd more than three or four meters long in the other.

He used the chariot's momentum to send people flying.

That clearly wasn't something you could use in an ordinary fight, was it?

"Why not? Are you worried we won't find a battlefield with enough room to build up speed?"

Shen San Qi Fei asked, puzzled.

"If it's just one chariot, wouldn't it be able to get moving in most places other than dense forests?"

A single chariot could easily fit on the roads in any world.

And if the road was wide enough, it could even turn around on the spot.

"Thinking about it, we really could make the chariot work."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei rubbed his chin as he thought.

"Why are you going along with this too?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei turned to look at him.

"Look at the original story. If Linley had tamed a few level-eight magical beasts before taking revenge, would he have let King of Fenlai escape?"

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei gave Coiling Dragon Qi Fei an example.

"That does sound right."

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei thought it over.

In the original story, when Linley assassinated King of Fenlai, even with a Saint Realm magic scroll protecting him, he had come this close to killing him.

If he'd had a few eighth-rank magical beasts helping him, the outcome would have been completely different.

"But what does that have to do with a War Chariot? Isn't that just having more people on your side?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei asked again.

"If Linley knew how to drive a War Chariot, do you think he'd have been caught?"

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei said with a cold laugh.

He could have run someone over with the War Chariot, then turned and fled the city.

By the time the Radiant Church realized what had happened, he'd be long gone.

"War Chariots are just one way to coordinate."

Shen San Qi Fei explained from the side.

"If we find a more suitable way to coordinate later on, like a Battle Formation or something, we won't need War Chariots."

Of course, by then they probably wouldn't need to rely on other people's strength anyway.

"Besides, there's another advantage to using War Chariots."

Shen San Qi Fei and Coiling Dragon Qi Fei exchanged a look.

The direct eye contact left Coiling Dragon Qi Fei momentarily stunned. He didn't know how to respond.

"Soul Contract."

Shen San Qi Fei sighed and named it.

This magic was formed with the power of the soul, so in theory, it should work for them too.

"A Soul Contract lets the controller communicate with magical beasts directly through their minds, saving us the hardest part."

Namely, how to control the beasts and make them attack according to your wishes.

With the contract, you could simply give them orders in your mind.

Wasn't that much easier than tugging on reins?

"I see."

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei was successfully convinced.

"Actually, I was wondering if we could make a piece of equipment that combined livestock with the power of a War Chariot."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei spoke up from the side.

"You're not thinking of using Physical Jewel Manifestation to make a War Chariot, are you?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei stared at him, dumbfounded.

"Why not? In theory, the size of a Dual Physical Jewel should be enough."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei mused.

"It's not impossible. It's just a little outrageous."

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei muttered.

It was like holding an Unlimited Fighting Tournament.

The most anyone else could do was show up in full armor, but this guy had driven a vehicle right into the ring.

How was anyone supposed to fight him?

"If you have time to research that, you might as well wait and see if a technology-minded Qi Fei shows up. Then you can have him get you a tank."

Shen San Qi Fei put an end to Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei's wild idea.

"A tank would be too big for a Physical Jewel, but we could try a Heavy Motorcycle."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei followed Shen San Qi Fei's train of thought.

True, modern gadgets were a lot more impressive than some mere War Chariot, and they didn't need livestock to help.

Wait, hadn't they started out talking about using animal power to fight their enemies? No, they'd started out discussing cultivation paths.

"Ahem, I think we've gotten a little off track."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei cleared his throat twice.

"Anyway, the weapons I'll focus on from now on are the bow and the Two-handed Greatsword. My secondary weapons will be the War Chariot and the Heavy Halberd."

He returned to the topic they'd long since forgotten.

"I'll handle the Heavy Halberd and the War Chariot. I happen to have the means to train with them here."

Shen San Qi Fei spoke up.

"You're best off training with the bow."

It was the Heavenly Bow Empire's signature skill, and it'd be convenient for him to train with it.

"Then should I train with the Two-handed Greatsword?"

Coiling Dragon Qi Fei asked.

It was a sword technique powered by Dou Qi, so it suited him too.

"No, you can't train with it. Don't forget there's still a mastermind behind the scenes on your end."

Shen San stopped him.

The Two-handed Greatsword would be hard to keep hidden.

The training ground, the noise, the calluses on both hands... all of it would increase the risk of being exposed.

"Exactly. So I'll handle the greatsword too. You two focus on cultivating your spiritual power."

Heavenly Jewel Change Qi Fei said.

That left one of them at range and the other in close combat—a very sensible setup.