Transcending the Mortal World, Heart Spirit Perception

Begonia Manor had been far from peaceful these past few days, with personnel changes occurring frequently.

Ning Xiaochuan took the opportunity to seize complete control of Begonia Manor's overall situation, appointing several formerly marginalized people as stewards of the manor.

These people had once been servants subjected to oppression. Now that Ning Xiaochuan had promoted them and given them authority, they immediately became utterly loyal to him.

As for our little Miss Yu Yan, she became Begonia Manor's junior housekeeper, bustling about every day like a little bee that could never stop.

Smack!

Ning Xiaochuan chopped off a one-jin chunk of Blood Toad Wood, held it in his palm, crushed it, and refined it into his body.

Inside the Heart Nourishing Cauldron, blood qi surged and transformed into drops of Blood Toad Wood liquid.

The Demon Sword absorbed the Blood Toad Wood liquid again. Vein-like patterns seemed to grow across the blade, radiating a peculiar current that carried an aura utterly different from Martial Dao Profound Qi.

This aura stimulated the Earth Martial Essence Qi hidden in his blood to break down into Martial Dao Profound Qi, making the Martial Dao Profound Qi within his Martial Dao Star Palace grow increasingly dense.

Meanwhile, Minister Tian stood at a distance, watching Ning Xiaochuan cultivate with a strange gleam in his eyes.

He became ever more curious about this youth. Ning Xiaochuan's cultivation seemed to increase noticeably almost every day.

Over the following days, Ning Xiaochuan spent three hours each day reading Scrolls to deepen his understanding of the Yulan Empire, then cultivated with Blood Toad Wood. His cultivation advanced by leaps and bounds.

On the eighth day, he finally broke through the barrier and reached the Profound Qi Ninth Level.

After reaching the Profound Qi Ninth Level, his blood circulated through seven cycles per minute, like crimson rivers flowing through his body.

Martial Dao Profound Qi moved at astonishing speed. With a light movement of his hand, Profound Qi condensed into an enormous Profound Qi Sword. With one slash, he split the surface of the small lake in two.

The lake water churned, only returning to calm after quite a while.

Suddenly, Ning Xiaochuan felt another subtle sensation in his heart, as though he had grown a pair of eyes on his back. His body shot into the air, and he slashed backward with his sword.

Minister Tian was wrapped in a black robe, even his face concealed within its broad folds, revealing only a pair of gleaming green eyes. Seeing that Ning Xiaochuan had actually discovered him and even struck at him with a sword, he could not help feeling somewhat surprised. But then he gave a sinister laugh. "Not bad."

His body floated upward like a black bird, misty Profound Qi beneath his feet. He looked like an old demon strolling through empty air.

Ning Xiaochuan landed, kicked off the ground, and soared into the air again. Another Profound Qi Sword slashed out. "Profound Qi Sword Five-Hit Combo."

Ning Xiaochuan unleashed five consecutive slashes, each following the last, each stronger than the one before.

The Profound Qi Sword Five-Hit Combo was more than five times stronger than the Profound Qi Sword Three-Hit Combo. The sword qi formed five tiers, each connected to the next.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The five Profound Qi Swords flew to Minister Tian's side, then automatically dispersed into five streams of Heaven and Earth Profound Qi, vanishing into the air.

Ning Xiaochuan knew there was a considerable gap between his cultivation and that of this old monster, so he stopped attacking. "Why haven't you left yet?"

Minister Tian said, "Leave? No, no. Begonia Manor is an asset of the Sword Pavilion Marquis's Mansion. It is quite a good place to hide. Why should I leave?"

Ning Xiaochuan was somewhat speechless. "Then do you intend to hide here for the rest of your life?"

Minister Tian fell silent for a long time and did not answer Ning Xiaochuan's question, because even he did not know how long he would have to hide. "Young man, you are only at the Profound Qi Ninth Level now, aren't you? Have you cultivated Heart Spirit Perception?"

"What is Heart Spirit Perception?" Ning Xiaochuan asked in confusion.

Minister Tian said, "If you had not cultivated Heart Spirit Perception, how could you possibly have discovered me watching you, given your cultivation?"

The confusion remained on Ning Xiaochuan's face.

Minister Tian said, "It seems you truly do not know about Heart Spirit Perception. I have nothing better to do, so I shall explain it to you. The heart is the center of a person's blood, while the Martial Heart Palace is the center of a martial artist's Profound Qi."

"A martial artist's cultivation process is also the process of making the heart stronger. Once the heart becomes powerful enough, it gives rise to intelligence, gains spiritual awareness, understands all things, and knows the workings of creation. Many people call this—the heart spirit."

"Once a martial artist cultivates a heart spirit, even with their eyes closed, they can see everything around them. They can even see things their eyes cannot see, and places their eyes cannot reach."

"Some powerful martial artists can close their eyes and use their heart spirit to see fish swimming in a river a hundred li away. Some can even see what others are thinking in their hearts. Some can even see through the past and foresee the future. Of course, that can only be achieved once one's martial cultivation has reached an extremely high level."

"The perception of the heart spirit is also called 'Heart Awareness,' 'Divine Sense,' 'Spiritual Sense,' or 'Heart Aperture.' When legends speak of someone suddenly opening their Heart Aperture, it means their heart has communed with the divine and given birth to Heart Spirit Perception."

Ning Xiaochuan recalled that his heart was the Seven Aperture God Demon Heart, and one of its apertures was the Heart Aperture.

In other words, he had been born with a Heart Aperture and Heart Spirit Perception.

No wonder he could always vaguely sense something whenever danger approached.

No wonder my cultivation is clearly lower than others', yet I can see through their cultivation. But once their cultivation surpasses mine by too much, I can no longer see through it. My Heart Aperture must not be powerful enough yet.

Minister Tian said, "Generally speaking, only those who reach the Worldly Detachment Realm can cultivate the most basic Heart Spirit Perception, and even then, only a very small number can do so. Only upon reaching the Earth Venerable Realm does Heart Spirit Perception fully emerge. Of course, an extremely small number of geniuses and freakish talents can cultivate Heart Spirit Perception even in the Profound Qi Realm. But such people are truly too rare. Not one can be born among ten million martial artists."

The cultivation realms were divided into: the Profound Qi Realm, Divine Body Realm, Worldly Detachment Realm, and Earth Venerable Realm.

Each major realm was further divided into nine minor levels.

The Profound Qi Realm was the foundational realm, and also the realm where the overwhelming majority of martial artists remained.

The Divine Body Realm was also called the Transcendent Realm. Martial artists capable of reaching this realm were all exceptionally remarkable. They had already surpassed mortal flesh and could give birth to all manner of unimaginable divine abilities within their bodies, far beyond what Profound Qi Realm martial artists could compare to.

Worldly Detachment Realm martial artists were rarely seen. They lived reclusively and appeared only rarely, and the vast majority held high positions, their cultivation unfathomably profound.

After becoming transcendent and shedding the mortal world, one could transform into a Great Earth Venerable—namely, the Earth Venerable Realm.

Earth Venerable Realm martial artists were also bestowed by the world with the title of Martial Venerable.

"Transcend the mortal world and become an Earth Venerable"—that was where the saying came from.

Ning Xiaochuan asked curiously, "Then has your cultivation reached the Earth Venerable Realm?"

Minister Tian gave Ning Xiaochuan a look, shook his head, and said, "Not everyone can cultivate to the Earth Venerable Realm. The higher your cultivation becomes, the more you will discover just how difficult it is to reach that realm. Even those princes and marquises with great power and status do not all become Martial Venerables. If that brat Yue Wuyang had not been lucky... do you think he could have reached the Earth Venerable Realm at the age of twenty-six? In truth, anyone who can reach the Earth Venerable Realm before sixty is already a peak genius of the martial path. Hmph!"

Minister Tian bore deep resentment toward Yue Wuyang, mixed with a measure of disdain. With a sweep of his sleeve, he left.

A month had now passed. Although Ning Xiaochuan had reached the Profound Qi Ninth Level, he felt no joy at all, because the leap from the Profound Qi Ninth Level to the Divine Body Realm would be a tremendous bottleneck. Many martial geniuses needed years, even more than a decade, to break through it.

To reach the Divine Body Realm, having enough Profound Qi was not enough. One needed a complete qualitative transformation, allowing the body to shed its mortal flesh and become a Divine Body.

What was a Divine Body?

Ordinary people's bodies were made of flesh, water, sinew, and bone. But Divine Body Realm martial artists elevated their flesh into Divine Blood and Treasure Flesh, their water into Spiritual Spring, and their sinew and bones into Divine Sinew and Divine Bone.

Why did cultivators of the Demon Sect eat human flesh, and specifically the flesh of Divine Body Realm martial artists? It was because the flesh and blood of Divine Body Realm martial artists already rivaled low-grade Mysterious Medicine. By eating their flesh, Demon Sect cultivators could increase their martial cultivation.

Using humans as medicine, using humans as food.

That was why Demon Sect cultivators were so feared!

"To reach the Divine Body Realm, one must activate the Three Hidden Meridians, thereby opening the Innate Treasure Vault hidden within the body—turning decay into wonder, transforming flesh and blood into divine abilities, surpassing mortal flesh, and becoming a Divine Body."

Ning Xiaochuan flipped through "Heaven and Earth Profound Qi." It contained no explanation of the Three Hidden Meridians. It merely stated that every martial artist's hidden bloodlines were different, and the paths they took through the body were different as well. Only after one's cultivation reached a certain level could one sense the routes of the three hidden meridians and activate them.

There were hidden bloodlines inside the human body? Ning Xiaochuan had dissected no fewer than eight hundred human bodies, perhaps even a thousand, yet he had never discovered such a thing.

Perhaps martial artists' bodies were different from ordinary people's, just as martial artists possessed Martial Heart Palaces while ordinary people did not.

Ning Xiaochuan closed "Heaven and Earth Profound Qi," shut his eyes, drew his divine sense inward, and searched for the Three Hidden Meridians described in the book.

After an entire night, apart from the considerable increase in Profound Qi within his body, he had not found the hidden meridians at all. If I want to break into the Divine Body Realm in a short time, it seems I must buy an Intermediate Pill. Only the Medicinal Power of an Intermediate Pill can quickly manifest the Three Hidden Meridians within my body. And Intermediate Pills are only sold in the Imperial City.

Ning Xiaochuan immediately went to Begonia Manor's storeroom and gathered all the money and valuables inside: three large silver ingots, four thousand Silver Coins, and six hundred thousand Copper Coins. They filled a large cart, but in truth amounted to only one million three hundred thousand Small Coin.

"The auction price for an Intermediate Pill starts at one million Small Coin. I wonder whether my money is enough to buy the cheapest Intermediate Pill. Besides, if I buy an Intermediate Pill, Begonia Manor will have no money left to keep operating. Money... no matter where one goes, it is always such a headache."

Ning Xiaochuan drove a large cart of "small change" toward the Imperial City, intending to buy an Intermediate Pill.

To ensure he had enough funds, he had even cut off a branch of Blood Toad Wood weighing roughly fifty jin, wrapped it in a large piece of black cloth, and placed it inside the carriage.

Half an hour later, he drove into the Imperial City.