Lin Yiqing formed an intricate hand seal and immediately began cultivating the newly reworked Taiyin Scripture. Gray-white essence began circulating through his meridians.
The original Lesser Red Sun Scripture had become extremely unsuitable for him as soon as he fused with the Greater Yin Qi.
A Red Sun Technique that cultivated a fiery attribute couldn't fully unleash the power of his yin-cold essence. The two were fundamentally at odds.
He struggled mightily even with the first meridian. Whenever he tried to open one, he often ended up consuming his own essence.
Fortunately, the Mysterious Light Orb had helped him revise the technique.
In his dantian, a vast ocean of cold qi surrounded a slowly turning mass of gray-white energy. It looked as dazzling as the starry cosmos.
The vortex in his dantian, fused with the Greater Yin Qi, sensed the flow of Greater Yin essence and began releasing streams of powerful gray-white energy, driving Lin Yiqing's cultivation higher and higher.
Early Earth Origin Realm, mid-stage, all the way to Late Earth Origin Realm! Only then did Lin Yiqing manage to forcefully suppress it. Sacred objects were bound to have their own mysteries.
At the same time, under the force of this powerful essence, every meridian that needed to be opened for cultivating the Taiyin Scripture was forcibly unblocked.
At the nodes between all fifty-five meridians, small vortices slowly began to form. The essence flowing between heaven and earth seemed to spot meat and pounced on them like a pack of starving wolves.
"Good grief, Late Earth Origin Realm, with all fifty-five meridians open. This Greater Yin Qi really is miraculous."
Lin Yiqing sucked in a breath, his face alight with delight. The Greater Yin Qi had brought him far too many surprises.
For now, the improvements to his cultivation and constitution were only the first signs. It might bring Lin Yiqing even greater benefits in the future.
But then his expression turned strange. This really was just like the protagonist's halo in the novels he'd read.
The protagonist devoured divine treasures, flames, ice, thunder, and all sorts of other things, then rapidly advanced in cultivation, crushed anyone who opposed him, married a Saintess or princess, and set foot on the path to becoming a powerhouse.
"Plus, they've got something else in common: they all start out weak and get driven away. What a tired old cliché."
Lin Yiqing grumbled inwardly, though he had to admit, having it happen to him felt pretty great.
At the same time, it strengthened his resolve to become the strongest. With so many divine treasures backing him, if he still couldn't reach the peak of the martial path, he'd have wasted his whole trip to this world.
For several days straight, Lin Yiqing focused on tempering his Greater Yin essence. He Jun and his brother could no longer threaten him, and if the Lin Family refused to mend its ways, they shouldn't blame him for disregarding their shared clan ties.
"Spirit Refining Chapter."
Lin Yiqing looked at the book in front of him, unable to hide his excitement.
It was the mental cultivation manual he'd found in that cave mansion, and the key to opening the door to becoming a Talisman Master.
Lin Yiqing opened the book and read it carefully. As expected, it was a manual for cultivating spiritual power. It wasn't particularly profound, but it was still an extraordinary treasure.
"Spirit Refining Chapter: Visualize a brilliant sun in the void behind your head and keep tempering your spiritual power. Cultivate to the highest levels, and a single thought can move mountains and rivers."
Put simply, talisman arts were another way of wielding essence.
But this method relied on spiritual power as its driving force. With a single thought, a powerful Talisman Master could make mountains collapse and rivers run dry. It was also a supreme path.
Lin Yiqing had exceptional talent. The book was extremely obscure, but he grasped it quickly.
Setting the Spirit Refining Chapter aside, Lin Yiqing slowly closed his eyes. He sat with the five points of his body facing heaven, his mind free of distractions, his spirit turned inward. Gradually, his consciousness gathered as he visualized the blazing sun behind his head.
"Calm your mind and steady your breath. Let your spirit rest in peace. Cleanse your heart and clear your thoughts; let your heart be pure and your bearing respectful."
The obscure mantra flowed through Lin Yiqing's mind. After sitting quietly for a while, a ripple stirred in his consciousness. In a daze, wisps of spiritual power seeped out from his mind and spread.
As his spiritual power expanded, Lin Yiqing clearly saw the inside of the cave, then watched his awareness rapidly reach outward in every direction.
When he broke through to the Earth Origin Realm, he'd already realized that his spiritual power was extremely strong. He could sense things several hundred meters away, about ten times farther than an ordinary person.
Now that he had cultivated spiritual power, its range expanded again. He could faintly sense that it encompassed everything within a thousand meters of the cave.
Compared with essence, spiritual power was more intangible, yet it truly existed.
Lin Yiqing knew that true powerhouses were never weak in spiritual power. Only strength in every aspect was true strength.
To break through to the supreme Ancestor Realm, one had to cultivate both essence and spiritual power to their utmost limits before even attempting it.
The formless spiritual power gathered in greater and greater quantities, instantly forming an ocean in Lin Yiqing's mind. His immense inborn spiritual power finally revealed itself.
The formless yet powerful spiritual force roared and surged through Lin Yiqing's mind, then rushed toward the Baihui Acupoint atop his head.
BOOM!
An invisible thunderclap rang out. The Baihui Acupoint opened into a formless space, and all his spiritual power surged inside.
"The Mud Pill Palace has opened!"
Sensing what had happened, Lin Yiqing naturally knew that he had opened the Mud Pill Palace atop his head.
He couldn't help feeling delighted. He had finally reached the most important step in cultivating spiritual power.
The head had nine palaces corresponding to the nine heavens. The palace in the middle was called the Mud Pill, also known as the Yellow Court, Kunlun, or Heavenly Valley. It had many names.
The Mud Pill Palace was the palace of the upper dantian, located at the center of the nine palaces. The four palaces closest to it were called the four cardinal directions, while the areas farther away, along its outer edges, were called the four corners.
Daoists had many names for the Mud Pill Palace, including Heavenly Brain, Yellow Court, Kunlun, and Heavenly Valley. There were dozens in all.
Zhang Jingyue's Commentary on the Leijing stated: "The human brain is the sea of marrow. It is called the upper dantian, where the Supreme Unity Emperor resides."
The so-called "Supreme Unity" was the ancestral palace of the whole body, occupying the highest and most exalted position. It was the gathering place of all yang and the capital where the myriad spirits assembled.
The Ten Books on Cultivation stated: "The Heavenly Brain is the source of the whole body, the gathering place of the hundred spirits. Its Way accords with the Great Mystery, so it is called the Mud Pill."
Just as Lin Yiqing opened the Mud Pill Palace, a figure paced back and forth in front of the Lin Family's main hall, like an ant on a hot pan.
Lin Yun looked hesitant and distracted, with huge dark circles beneath his eyes. Clearly, Lin Yiqing's departure had been weighing heavily on him lately.
Ever since he heard that Lin Yiqing had beaten up Lin Hong and his brother before storming off, and then secretly learned that the Second Master of the Lin Family had sent people to capture him, he had been living in constant anxiety.
He was worried that if Lin Yiqing revealed what they'd obtained from the Relic Mansion, then with his fifth-level Body Tempering Realm cultivation, he would never be able to hold on to it. He might even be killed for the treasure.
The opportunity they'd found in the cave mansion was immense, but he couldn't bear the thought of handing it over to the clan. He had no way to resolve the dilemma, and no words could describe the torment of it.
"Cousin Yiqing, don't blame me for this!"
Lin Yun paced in front of the door for a while. Then, his face filled with anguish, he gritted his teeth and rushed into the Lin Family's main hall.
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