Qian Daoliu's Soul Power slowly condensed within his lower dantian into a perfectly round Dan Bead. This was naturally a Soul Core.
After the Soul Core took shape, Qian Daoliu's most immediate feeling was that the Soul Power within him had become much more abundant, allowing him to sustain battle for longer.
Besides that, Qian Daoliu had a vague feeling that he could condense another Soul Core. However, since he was away from home, this was not the time to do so. He simply suppressed the stirrings in his heart and turned his gaze toward the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
The Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well was remarkably calm, without the slightest movement. Qin Heng was nowhere to be seen either, clearly having submerged himself within it.
Qian Daoliu was somewhat worried. Even he could not remain in contact with the spring water of the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well for long. Would Qin Heng really be all right soaking in it so directly?
At that moment, Qin Heng had fallen into an exceedingly comfortable state.
After entering the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, he immediately circulated the Pure Yang Infinite Skill. As the ice and fire energies entered his body, the supremely hard and pure yang Soul Power within Qin Heng seemed to undergo some wondrous change.
The Pure Yang Infinite Skill had been created by Zhang Sanfeng. Having entered the Dao through martial arts, how could he not understand the principle that solitary yin could not give birth, and solitary yang could not grow?
At the beginning, the Pure Yang Infinite Skill cultivated only supremely hard, pure yang Soul Power. Only by truly understanding yin and yang, and what Taiji was, could one be said to have grasped the true essence of the Pure Yang Infinite Skill and cultivated it to the proficient realm.
Over the years, Qin Heng had never understood the profundities of this technique. His cultivation had remained superficial, and he had never experienced what Yin-Yang Harmony meant. This was also why his Taiji Fist and Taiji Sword had never truly entered the beginner's stage, leaving him only able to imitate the form and flail about blindly.
Now, after consuming the Infernal Delicate Apricot and Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass, then tempering his body through ice and fire, Qin Heng had finally understood!
Taiji arose from Wuji; it was the mechanism of motion and stillness, the mother of yin and yang. In movement lay the division of emptiness and solidity, hardness and softness, opening and closing. In stillness, all returned to a single breath, centered and upright. The key was dynamic balance: neither resisting nor abandoning, neither excessive nor insufficient.
Taiji True Meaning was thus using softness to overcome hardness, allowing yin and yang to aid one another, relaxing and integrating the whole body, using intent rather than force. Taiji Fist was not a slow-motion "softened version of external martial arts," but a system of physical and mental cultivation and adapting to circumstance, centered on relaxation, integration, and harmony.
As his mastery of the technique rose, Qin Heng completely entered a state of forgetting both self and surroundings. The Soul Power cultivated in his dantian also began to gradually divide into yin and yang attributes, just like the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.
Another two days and two nights passed. Just as Qian Daoliu was becoming unable to sit still, the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well finally stirred.
"Splash~" Water sprayed everywhere as Qin Heng leaped out, and Qian Daoliu immediately went forward to meet him.
"Eh? There seems to be something off about this kid!"
After sensing him carefully, Qian Daoliu confirmed that Qin Heng's entire bearing had undergone an enormous change. Compared with before he entered the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well, Qin Heng now seemed noticeably more rounded and harmonious, giving people a very comfortable feeling at first glance.
Could ice-and-fire body tempering cause this sort of change as well?
Qian Daoliu hesitated briefly, but did not dwell on it. As he took out a long robe from his Storage Ring and tossed it to the naked Qin Heng, he asked, "How do you feel?"
"Grandpa Qian, my cultivation has broken through two levels and reached level 29."
Qian Daoliu frowned upon hearing this and turned to Yue Guan. "Yue Guan, why did Xiao Heng's Soul Power only improve by so little?"
Yue Guan quickly explained, "In reply to the Grand Elder, after the Infernal Delicate Apricot and Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass are consumed, their initial refinement does not raise cultivation much. It may even fail to raise cultivation at all."
"The more important effects of these two Immortal Herbs are to strengthen one's foundation and nourish one's essence, making the young master's foundation more solid, granting his body immunity to ice and fire attributes, as well as a certain degree of poison resistance.
"As he continues cultivating, the Infernal Delicate Apricot and Octagonal Mysterious Ice Grass will completely fuse with the young master's body. His cultivation speed and talent will both improve as a result."
"I see. I wrongly blamed you. Yue Guan, Gui Mei, Xiao Heng and I have already refined the Immortal Herbs. You two are next. You may each choose an Immortal Herb to refine, and I will stand guard for you."
"Thank you, Grand Elder!" Yue Guan unhesitatingly chose the Singular Velvet Sky Chrysanthemum he had long desired. As for Gui Mei, he consumed the Nether Dark Flower that Yue Guan had chosen for him.
The Nether Dark Flower and Bright Heaven Grass were Immortal Herbs with completely opposing attributes. Consuming the former could greatly enhance Gui Mei's darkness attribute.
While Yue Guan and Gui Mei refined the Immortal Herbs, Qian Daoliu began pondering a method for condensing Soul Cores. With his cultivation as a level 99 Limit Douluo, having already condensed a Soul Core himself, it was not difficult for him to derive such a method. He quickly made progress, but he still lacked a test subject.
It would be nice if someone could help test it and see whether the Soul Core condensation method I developed was viable.
Thinking of this, Qian Daoliu deliberately muttered beside Qin Heng, "After consuming the Primordial Immortal Grass, a Soul Core similar to one only a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast would condense appeared within my body. This thing has greatly increased the abundance of my Soul Power. I have also worked out a method for condensing it, but it is not yet perfect. I need someone to test it before it can be spread. I simply do not know what level of cultivation would be suitable for the test."
The next second, Qin Heng's inner voice sounded beside Qian Daoliu's ear: [After consuming the Primordial Immortal Grass and condensing a Soul Core in my previous life, I had similar thoughts. At first, I sought out the elders of Spirit Hall. By then, I was already a level 99 Limit Douluo. Under my protection, the elders all condensed their Soul Cores smoothly.
Later, even without me there, some elders successfully condensed Soul Cores on their own. This showed that it was practically certain for Titled Douluo to condense Soul Cores, with no real danger involved.
Soul Douluo had a certain chance of condensing Soul Cores, especially Soul Douluo who had been stuck at level 89 for many years. As long as they could condense a Soul Core, they could immediately break through to level 90 and become Titled Douluo.
As for those below Soul Douluo, none of the Soul Masters in my experiments could successfully condense a Soul Core. Presumably, their accumulation was insufficient. In this life, once I reach level 70, I will personally break that record and condense a Soul Core at the Soul Saint level!]
After hearing Qin Heng's words, Qian Daoliu was stunned for a moment. Then several Qian Family descendants from the Angel Legion, who had been stuck at level 89 for years, surfaced in his mind.
Do not ask why Qian Daoliu thought only of Qian Family descendants within the Angel Legion. He had stepped down from the position of Supreme Pontiff so many years ago; how could he have the interest to learn about Soul Masters below Titled Douluo within Spirit Hall?
Suddenly, Qian Daoliu's eyes lit up. He remembered someone: Ye Renxin, the head of the Nine-Heart Begonia Ye Clan. If he remembered correctly, that old man had been stuck as a level 89 Soul Douluo for thirty years and likely did not have many years left to live.
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