The Intent Refinement Method

Pan Xuan smiled faintly. "This is the meaning of cultivation. It is not merely sitting in meditation and contemplating, but experiencing the Great Dao through practice. Restoring the earth veins was an excellent session of cultivation."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over every Ancestral Witch. "Rest for today. Tomorrow, we will continue working out the Martial Dao.

"Though the Path of Intent Refinement is difficult, I believe that with your perseverance and wisdom, my elder brothers and sisters, we will surely see it through."

The Twelve Ancestral Witches nodded and returned to their respective cultivation quarters.

Pan Xuan also headed to his meditation chamber, sat cross-legged, and closed his eyes to focus his mind.

Within Pangu Hall, all thirteen gathered.

Several days had passed since their return from the west.

Jieyin and Zhunti's words of gratitude still echoed in their ears, and the sight of life returning to the western lands remained vivid before their eyes.

But Pan Xuan knew that all of that was in the past. What mattered most now was continuing to work out the Martial Dao. The Intent Refinement Method was not yet complete.

In the main hall, the Twelve Ancestral Witches sat cross-legged, their gazes converging on Pan Xuan.

Pan Xuan stood in the center of the hall with his hands behind his back, his expression calm, yet a light flickered in his eyes.

"My elder brothers and sisters, when we restored the earth veins in the west, the Great Dao bestowed boundless merit.

"I gathered all that merit earlier and have not used the slightest bit."

Pan Xuan spoke slowly, his voice steady. "Today, I intend to use this merit as fuel to work out the Martial Dao's Intent Refinement Method."

Di Jiang nodded. "Brother Pan Xuan, go ahead. If you lack merit, we still have some."

Zhu Rong said boisterously, "That's right! Brother Pan Xuan, use as much as you need! We can earn more merit after using it. Don't begrudge it!"

Pan Xuan smiled faintly and said no more. He sat cross-legged and closed his eyes.

Within him, the golden power of merit lay quietly coiled in his dantian like slumbering rivers.

With a thought, Pan Xuan circulated the Righteous Vitality Formula. A vast, upright aura rose from his dantian, slowly drawing out the power of merit.

The instant the power of merit surged forth, golden light blazed around Pan Xuan.

Pure and majestic, that golden light carried an aura of shining in unison with heaven and earth, illuminating the entire Pangu Hall as brightly as day.

Pan Xuan formed hand seals, gathering the power of merit at his fingertips, and began his deductions.

Working out the Martial Dao was not a matter of imagining something out of thin air. Rather, he used merit as his guide, the Great Dao as his mirror, and himself as his foundation to seek, amid the unseen, a path no one had ever walked.

Pan Xuan's soul sank into a wondrous realm.

He could feel the power of merit burning, turning into an invisible force that drove his consciousness to climb higher and farther.

Propelled by that force, his perception grew sharper than ever before, as though he could touch the most fundamental laws of heaven and earth.

Will Refining meant tempering one's will until it could commune with the laws of heaven and earth.

This path had never existed before.

In the Primordial World, Dao cultivators cultivated their primordial spirits, using them to bear the Great Dao;

the Witch Clan had no primordial spirits and could fight only with their bodies and instincts.

What Pan Xuan sought to create was an entirely new path, one that communed with heaven and earth through will rather than the primordial spirit.

The power of merit burned, and Pan Xuan's consciousness delved ever deeper under its impetus.

He could feel an invisible barrier ahead. Beyond that barrier lay the secrets of Will Refining.

But when the power of merit touched that barrier, it dispersed rapidly like droplets falling into a parched desert, unable to break through.

Not enough.

There isn't enough merit.

Pan Xuan's brow furrowed slightly. He could feel that although the merit he had accumulated was immense, the cost of working out the Intent Refinement Method far exceeded his expectations.

That barrier was far too thick and heavy. With his current power of merit, he could not possibly pierce it.

He opened his eyes and looked at the Twelve Ancestral Witches, saying gravely, "There is insufficient merit. Breaking through is difficult. I need more merit."

Hearing this, Di Jiang did not hesitate in the slightest. He raised a hand, drew a beam of golden merit light from within himself, and sent it into Pan Xuan.

It was the merit he had earned restoring the earth veins in the west, which he had kept sealed within him without using any.

"Take it," Di Jiang said, his voice steady and firm.

Zhu Rong followed closely, laughing heartily. "Brother Pan Xuan, you can have mine too!"

A beam of golden merit light surged from his body and sank into Pan Xuan.

Gong Gong nodded. "The Intent Refinement Method is for our sake. Merit spent on you is merit spent on us." His merit light surged forth as well.

Xuan Ming said nothing, simply raising her hand to send out her power of merit. Golden light flowed from her fingertips, pure and cool.

Houtu said softly, "Pan Xuan's younger brother, you are working out the Martial Dao for us. The merit ought to be spent on you." Her merit light was gentle and substantial, as steady as the earth.

Jumang, Rushou, Qiangliang, Xizi, Shebishi, Tianwu-one after another, the Twelve Ancestral Witches drew out all the merit they had earned in the west and sent it into Pan Xuan.

Those streams of merit light converged into a golden torrent that surged through Pan Xuan's body.

Pan Xuan closed his eyes, merging those twelve streams of merit power with his own merit.

Within his dantian, the power of merit gathered into a golden ocean, boundless and vast, pure and flawless.

Enough.

Pan Xuan activated the Righteous Vitality Formula again, using the power of merit as fuel to assault that invisible barrier.

The power of merit burned, turning into streams of wondrous force that drove Pan Xuan's consciousness upward.

Under the assault of the power of merit, cracks began to appear in the barrier.

The cracks grew more numerous and dense, spreading like a spiderweb.

Boom-

With a soundless thunderous crash, the barrier shattered.

Pan Xuan's consciousness broke through the barrier and entered a realm unlike any before.

There, he saw a light.

It was neither the light of the Sun nor starlight, but a light more fundamental and more pure.

Within that light lay the origin of all will between heaven and earth.

Creation and destruction, growth and withering, convergence and dispersal, existence and nothingness.

The instant Pan Xuan's consciousness touched that light, a vast torrent of information poured into his soul.

These were the secrets of Will Refining, not taught by another, but branded directly into his soul by the Great Dao.

Will Refining meant condensing one's own will into a "Manifestation."

A Manifestation was will made manifest, the outward form of the soul.

It was neither a spell nor a divine ability, but the embodiment of a living being's most essential will.

Every living being had a Manifestation of their own.

It was proof of their existence, the bridge through which they communed with heaven and earth.

Yet the vast majority of living beings could never bring forth their Manifestations in their entire lives, because they lacked sufficient will and sufficient methods.

Will Refining was the process of turning a Manifestation from the formless into the tangible, from the hidden into the manifest.

When will was condensed to its utmost limit, it could emerge as a Manifestation.

Once a Manifestation took shape, will had a vessel, allowing it to commune with the laws of heaven and earth and influence reality.

This was not a primordial spirit, yet it surpassed one.

A primordial spirit was formed from the condensation of spiritual light from outside oneself; a Manifestation was one's own will made manifest.

A primordial spirit could be stripped away or suppressed, but a Manifestation was carved into the bones and rooted in the soul. No one could take it away.

Pan Xuan's consciousness slowly withdrew from that realm, and he opened his eyes.

Golden light flowed ceaselessly through his eyes, the lingering radiance of the burned power of merit and a reflection of the secrets of Will Refining he had just comprehended.

"How did it go?" Di Jiang asked.

Pan Xuan drew a deep breath, his voice carrying a trace of excitement he could barely suppress. "I've worked it out. I've found the Intent Refinement Method."