The thing that had been spinning in midair ** suddenly vanished. An incomparably profound thought surged into Zhou Qing's mind, while a strange image appeared in the air.
It was as if she were looking down from ten thousand zhang above. The azure sea stretched boundlessly beneath her, with nine sesame-seed-sized black dots scattered amid the vast ocean. Those black dots formed a strange pattern Zhou Qing had never seen before. Her viewpoint gradually descended from the sky, and only then did Zhou Qing realize that the nine black dots were nine enormous islands rising from the sea. Flocks of red, blue, yellow, and multicolored seabirds wheeled above the islands. Every so often, a sea breeze swept past, driving up waves that crashed against rocks unchanged for billions of years, rocks as hard as refined steel, with a thunderous roar. Crystal-blue seawater, enormous islands, rolling waves, and five-colored seabirds formed a perfect painting. Zhou Qing felt as though she were truly there, as if her whole being had melted into the heaven and earth within the picture. Joy welled up from the depths of her heart.
The image suddenly changed. Huge fish swam back and forth, lobsters as large as buckets crawled about, translucent jellyfish expanded and contracted, bizarre seaweed drifted in the currents, and forests upon forests of seven-colored coral appeared before Zhou Qing's eyes. She knew the image had shifted to the seabed. Amid a coral forest spanning at least tens of thousands of qing stood an enormous palace, its entire body radiating a gentle milky-white glow. Its interior was hazy and impossible to see clearly. "Crystal Palace!" Zhou Qing's first thought was of the legendary dwelling place of the Dragon Gods of the Four Seas.
The image abruptly vanished without a trace. The ** appeared from the void and slowly descended to the ground, returning to its original colors, without the slightest eye-catching feature. Zhou Qing awoke from the image as though from a dream, utterly baffled, like a ten-foot-tall monk unable to reach his own head. This series of changes had truly surpassed the limits of her imagination.
Zhou Qing carefully contemplated the profound thought the ** had passed to her and discovered that it was actually a cultivation method. She was overjoyed. Her true body's cultivation had always progressed slowly due to the lack of profound cultivation techniques and spiritual pills to nourish it. Only after she had stolen a set of Shu Mountain sword cultivation arts had her progress picked up slightly, allowing her to reach the Qi Induction Stage - Mid Phase.
Although Zhou Qing's understanding of formations could not be called that of a grandmaster, she had achieved modest success. The Refining Compendium was a living, breathing encyclopedia of formations.
However, when it came to cultivating herself, Zhou Qing was a complete novice without any formulas to consult. The formula that old Daoist Ling Yun had taught her was merely a second-rate, ordinary commodity. Yet one could guess with their fingers that this cultivation method from the ** was certainly no ordinary thing.
Though Zhou Qing was a novice in the path of cultivation, she still knew roughly a thing or two.
Buddhism primarily cultivated the self, dividing the body into three channels and seven chakras. Daoism focused on refining the Primordial Spirit. Each had its strengths. Some cultivated only the Primordial Spirit, some only the physical body, while others cultivated both, with differing points of emphasis. The techniques derived from them were as countless as the sands of the Ganges, too numerous to count.
Yet in general, they all followed the body's Eight Extraordinary Meridians and Twelve Regular Meridians, drawing in the various spiritual energies and wandering energies between heaven and earth to temper the flesh and replenish the Primordial Spirit.
Some relied on tools, such as sword cultivators, while others absorbed energy entirely through the physical body, such as through meditation and qi cultivation.
The energies absorbed also differed completely. The demonic path mainly absorbed death qi, Baleful Intent, and the pure yin qi beneath the earth. Daoists absorbed spiritual qi, also known as immortal qi. Some sects cultivated with the power of the Five Elements, such as the Five Elements Sect; others cultivated with the yang energy of the Sun's True Fire, such as the Pure Yang Sect. The energies used by Buddhist cultivators, demons, witchcraft, and curse arts likewise differed from one another.
Of course, the path of cultivation was nothing more than a path of remaking oneself and evolving without end. Buddha, Dao, demon, and monster all shared common ground. In pursuit of overwhelming power, there had never been few throughout history who cultivated both Buddhism and Daoism, demons and monsters, or even Daoism and demonic arts, mixing and matching their practices. But the danger multiplied as well. There were plenty who suffered qi deviation, were blown into powder, or had both body and spirit extinguished.
The cultivation method Zhou Qing had obtained was exceptionally strange. It completely discarded the concepts of the body's three channels and seven chakras, Eight Extraordinary Meridians, and Twelve Regular Meridians. Instead, it divided the body into Eight Extremes and Nine Apertures. The wandering energy it invoked was something Zhou Qing had never seen or heard of. Zhou Qing muttered inwardly, What kind of cultivation method is this? Why is it so bizarre? Could it be an ancient Demon Race cultivation method? But this is clearly a Buddhist **, isn't it? It was already strange enough for a Buddhist ** to bear ancient Demon Race writing. Now it has produced the Crystal Palace and a cultivation method like this. Should I cultivate it or not? Zhou Qing could not make up her mind.
Forget it. I'm an expert now, and the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber's power has recovered as well. I can use it to refine a magic treasure, a Flying Sword. By then, even if I'm not invincible beneath heaven, becoming an unparalleled expert will be unavoidable. It's just that my own cultivation is still a little lacking. Still, I can't cultivate such a bizarre method. What if I end up neither human nor demon? That would be bad.
Having made up her mind, Zhou Qing decided to study it first. After all, safety came first no matter when it was. Take! Zhou Qing drew the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber that had fallen to the ground into her second primordial spirit and wrapped it with divine sense. Now that the Blood-Devouring Divine Saber's power had recovered, more importantly, the faint consciousness born from its millennia-long struggle against the Seven Treasures Mystical Tree Staff had completely vanished. It was the perfect time for Zhou Qing to refine it into her own magic treasure.
Once a magic treasure developed its own consciousness, it became difficult to control. No matter how miraculous such a treasure was, it would be utterly useless against an enemy. Think about it—an uncontrollable magic treasure was worse than having none at all! Especially with stronger magic treasures, the consciousness they developed was more powerful, making them even harder for their owners to control. Thus, whenever a magic treasure showed even the slightest spirituality, its owner would erase it. A magic treasure that developed a complete consciousness had never appeared even once.
As soon as Zhou Qing entered the living room, she saw Liao Xiaojin helping Little Fox massage her acupoints and circulate her blood. She could not help asking curiously, "What are you doing? What happened? Could Little Fox's injuries from that day still not be healed? That makes no sense! I clearly checked her."
"Master! Why did you have to learn that monk's technique when there was nothing wrong? Little Fox was knocked unconscious by your Six-Character True Words. My ears are nearly deaf, and even Junior Sister was injured. She's over there circulating her energy." Liao Xiaojin spoke irritably.
"When did I learn the Six-Character True Words?" Zhou Qing was utterly confused, then suddenly remembered that the ** had made that sort of sound just now. "Oh! So that's what happened. It's no problem! Master has recovered her cultivation now. Could such a trivial matter possibly stump me?"
Zhou Qing raised her hand, and a strand of True Essence condensed into spiritual qi, gathering together before piercing through the air and entering Little Fox's body. Little Fox twitched and slowly woke. Yet Zhou Qing's attention turned to Zhou Chen, who was cultivating nearby.
Looking at Zhou Chen, whose entire body was shrouded in white mist, Zhou Qing examined her with divine sense and found that the white mist was a completely different kind of energy from the spiritual qi she absorbed with the Soaring Sword Qi Art. So this must be the demon qi demons absorb through cultivation!
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