Pure Yang Art, Eleventh Layer

True qi washed through his body.

The injuries he had sustained were recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye under the impact of the vast true qi.

Once the true qi had settled and returned to his dantian,

Shen Changqing discovered

that the less serious injuries had already healed seven or eight parts out of ten.

Even the more severe injuries had been stripped of all the cold, yin energy clinging to them. Though some damage remained, it no longer posed much of a problem.

"Ninth layer of the Pure Yang Art—I've officially broken through to the peak of the Meridian Unblocking Realm!"

Shen Changqing focused his mind inward. The true qi within his dantian was surging, nearly reaching the point of qualitative transformation.

Seeing this,

he was quite satisfied.

"Only—"

"The advancement from the eighth to the ninth layer of the Pure Yang Art consumed five Slaughter Points. The remaining Slaughter Points won't be enough to raise it much further."

Shen Changqing pondered silently.

Without a doubt,

the cost of bringing the Pure Yang Art to completion was greater than the cost of completing the Thirteen Guardians Body-Hardening Art, because this martial art was inherently more powerful.

If martial arts were divided into ranks,

the Thirteen Guardians Body-Hardening Art could only be considered a foundational martial art.

The Pure Yang Art,

on the other hand, was an advanced martial art, a whole level above the former.

"Once I slay the demonic evil here and return to the capital, I'll officially become a Demon Exorcist. A Yellow-tier Demon Exorcist is qualified to enter the second floor of the Library Pavilion, where there must be records of even more powerful martial arts."

"But judging from the current situation, saving my Slaughter Points until I return and study higher-level martial arts before using them might not be the best choice."

Shen Changqing stood where he was, lost in thought.

According to the panel, he had ten Slaughter Points left.

Based on the expenditure of his current two martial arts, he could roughly infer that advancing martial arts of a higher level would certainly consume more as well.

Even if the cost increased by only one Slaughter Point per level,

at most, he would only be able to raise a high-level martial art to around the third layer.

A martial art,

regardless of how profound it was,

might not necessarily be stronger than a lower-tier martial art before it had truly reached a high level.

In other words,

the third layer of the Pure Yang Art could never defeat the fifteenth layer of the Thirteen Guardians Body-Hardening Art.

Therefore,

rather than save his Slaughter Points to study new martial arts, he might as well walk one road all the way into the dark. Perhaps he would reap an unexpected harvest.

"Besides, if my strength rises while I'm still carrying out Yellow-tier Demon Exorcist missions, my safety will undoubtedly improve considerably.

Now that Zhao Fang and the others were colluding with demonic evils, there might well be some powerful figure behind them.

In that case, strengthening myself would offer greater security!"

Having thought this through, Shen Changqing immediately made his decision.

His mind settled on the panel.

After breaking through to the ninth layer, the Pure Yang Art was still in a state where it could be improved.

"Upgrade!"

Shen Changqing silently recited in his heart.

At once,

his dantian seemed to churn like an overturned sea. It was as if a blazing sun had risen within him, and an incomparably powerful scorching force swept through his entire body in an instant. At the same time, his qi and blood gradually weakened.

At that moment,

Shen Changqing's skin faintly reddened, as though something were about to burst through the shell of his body.

Immediately afterward,

the Thirteen Guardians Body-Hardening Art erupted.

His qi and blood shook.

A gleam flickered across his flesh.

No matter how the scorching force battered him, it was forcibly suppressed.

Again and again,

the scorching force finally settled down. It began circulating normally through his body before ultimately returning to his dantian and becoming still.

"Phew!"

Once the Pure Yang true qi had calmed, Shen Changqing let out a long breath.

That simple exhalation vaguely created a burst of air that tore through the air, sending the dead leaves on the ground flying.

After calming his mind,

he began examining the changes in himself.

"The Pure Yang Art has broken through to the tenth layer. The Pure Yang true qi seems to be undergoing some sort of transformation. Its temperature is far higher than before. If my body hadn't been strong enough, the advancement might not have failed, but I would very likely have been injured by it.

"Besides that, my qi and blood have weakened somewhat—"

Shen Changqing frowned.

He had originally thought that as long as he had Slaughter Points, he could improve without limit.

But now it seemed

that some martial arts could not be raised recklessly.

When a martial art advanced, one's physique also had to keep pace. Otherwise, the body simply could not contain so much true qi.

Not only that,

but when the Pure Yang Art improved, his qi and blood weakened as well.

Clearly, true qi did not appear out of thin air. It was transformed from qi and blood into true qi.

This was somewhat different from when the Thirteen Guardians Body-Hardening Art advanced.

But now,

his qi and blood had weakened to an obvious degree.

Of course,

the fifteenth layer of the Thirteen Guardians Body-Hardening Art had made Shen Changqing's physique astonishingly powerful. Even the tenth layer of the Pure Yang Art had not caused much of an impact.

Moreover—

he was still far from reaching his limit.

At this time,

five Slaughter Points had already been consumed.

Just as he had anticipated, breaking past the limits of the Pure Yang Art cost somewhat more than the Thirteen Guardians Body-Hardening Art. The latter required three points per layer, while the former required five.

Fortunately,

he still had five Slaughter Points left, exactly enough to advance another layer.

As the thought fell,

his Slaughter Points were completely emptied.

Immediately afterward, his qi and blood began to decline at a frenzied speed.

As his qi and blood weakened, the Pure Yang Art within his dantian likewise increased at a speed visible to the naked eye.

As one waned and the other waxed,

Shen Changqing fell into a weakened state, yet his body seemed filled with surging power.

The next instant,

the Pure Yang Art's transformation was fully complete.

Then, as if out of control, it rampaged through his body, breaking open meridians and acupoints one after another—

Rumble rumble!!

His flesh shook violently.

It was as though some ancient ferocious beast were wreaking havoc within him.

Yet no matter how it crashed about and raged, it could never break free of the restraints of his body.

Gradually,

the force of the impacts weakened.

The meridians within his body had also been opened by the earlier collisions, though he had no idea how many.

When the Pure Yang true qi returned to his dantian,

if one could inspect Shen Changqing's body with the naked eye, they would find faint glimmers of light flickering within those opened meridians and acupoints, gradually linking together.

The instant those connections took shape,

an invisible membrane was born with them.

The moment that membrane emerged, Shen Changqing gained an epiphany.

Gang qi!

"Innate Gang Qi!"

He softly uttered those words, as though a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

At the peak of body tempering, true qi was born naturally, allowing one to enter the Meridian Unblocking Realm.

The Meridian Unblocking Realm centered on nurturing true qi and opening meridians.

Once enough meridians had been opened to complete a full grand circulation, gang qi would naturally form within a martial artist's body.

This gang qi

was also known as inner gang.

A martial artist who reached this step had officially crossed from the Meridian Unblocking Realm into the Innate Realm.

PS: I forgot who mentioned Jiang Feng in the chapter comments, and it threw me off. It's Jiang Zuo. The current steward of the Yellow Division Demon Exorcist Court is Jiang Zuo, not Jiang Feng!! I've already corrected all the mistakes (;′?????`)