Qi Sea Brimming

Yang Wenqing suppressed the joy in his heart. Feeling the rate at which his Qi Sea absorbed spiritual energy, his consciousness flashed through the Golden Core World, and he quickly made up his mind.

This cultivator's skeleton gathered spiritual energy even faster than the spirit-gathering formation in the bureau's training room. Its drawback was that the gathered spiritual energy was quite crude, but Yang Wenqing had the Golden Core World and could completely ignore that flaw. With it, he would not need to practice his forms to draw spiritual energy into his body for cultivation.

This might shorten the two years he had originally planned to just a few months—perhaps even a single month.

"Wenqing, cultivation cannot be rushed!" Li Ming warned. He had noticed the light in Yang Wenqing's eyes. He had seen that look far too many times and knew exactly what Yang Wenqing was thinking.

"Yes, Wenqing. You're still young." Zhou Kun also tried to persuade him. "If you use it for cultivation without being careful, it could damage your spiritual meridians. If things go badly, you might completely lose the chance to advance to the Qi Refining Stage."

"How much is this thing worth?" Yang Wenqing asked.

"I don't know, but probably not much." Li Ming replied, "It is completely useless to most low-level cultivators. Once they reach the Qi Refining Stage, they will no longer use it. Its greatest use is probably being bought back by some research institute for strange experiments."

After saying that, he paused, stared at Yang Wenqing, and added, "You should know that spirit-gathering formations suitable for our stage are very complicated. Our spiritual meridians are too fragile. Even children from wealthy families generally do not cultivate through spirit gathering at this stage."

Yang Wenqing fell silent for several seconds. Meeting Li Ming's gaze, he said, "Thank you for the reminder, Brother Ming. I just want to try it. Before selling it, let me cultivate with it for a while. How about it?"

Li Ming and Zhou Kun exchanged glances. Both of them wanted to refuse. It was not because they feared Yang Wenqing would keep it for himself, but because they feared he would overdo his cultivation and permanently damage his spiritual meridians.

"I can't give you an answer. I'll tell the captain and have him speak with you."

Li Ming gave his answer, then continued, "For now, put it away. We need to destroy these buildings and clear away those corpses."

"No problem!" Yang Wenqing nodded. He wrapped the section of spine in a clean piece of oilcloth and placed it inside his tactical backpack.

Afterward, the three of them dragged the monster corpses scattered around the clearing into a single pile.

The fur, claws, bones, and flesh containing traces of spiritual energy from these monsters all had some value to the City Defense Bureau or certain merchant guilds. Specialized militia would later come to process and register them in greater detail.

Li Ming pulled a pale yellow talisman from the inner layer of his talisman folder. Once activated, it immediately formed a breeze carrying a fresh scent. Centered on the pile of corpses, the breeze spread outward and disrupted and dispersed the thick smell of blood.

Then, Yang Wenqing's group of three continued south.

Perhaps because of the wolf demon tribe, the monsters and spirits in the surrounding area had either been absorbed or driven away. During the following sweep, they encountered only some insignificant wild beasts and scattered spirits, which were effortless to deal with.

At around three in the afternoon, they reached the boundary of the designated area and left markers before returning to camp by the same route.

By the time they returned, the setting sun had dyed the horizon red. The other squad members were also returning one after another, and the camp was clearly busier than it had been yesterday.

Yang Wenqing had just set down his gear at the camp when Captain Xiao Liang walked over.

"Li Ming has already told me." Xiao Liang got straight to the point and looked at Yang Wenqing. "Are you sure you want to take this risk?"

"Captain, I understand the risks involved." Yang Wenqing's tone was sincere. "I'll be extremely careful. The moment I feel any discomfort in my spiritual meridians, I'll stop. I know my limits. I won't gamble with my future."

Xiao Liang stared at Yang Wenqing for several seconds. Yang Wenqing's gaze was clear and resolute.

"Fine. Since you insist, do as you said. Remember, don't push yourself beyond your limits."

"Thank you, Captain!"

Gratitude appeared on Yang Wenqing's face.

However, although Xiao Liang agreed on the surface, he secretly decided that over the next two days, he would use this field assignment to keep a closer eye on Yang Wenqing's condition. If anything seemed wrong, he would immediately intervene by force.

Not long after Xiao Liang left, Ye Yong came running over to call Yang Wenqing to dinner.

After dinner, the camp gradually quieted down. Most of the team members seized the time to rest and recover the strength and energy they had spent during the day. Only the patrolling militia walked back and forth along the fence.

In a relatively secluded corner, Yang Wenqing first practiced the martial forms of the Qi-Drawing Art three times as usual, adjusting himself to peak condition before sitting cross-legged and taking out the spine wrapped in oilcloth.

In only a moment, the spiritual energy between heaven and earth seemed drawn by an invisible force field, rapidly gathering around him. Yang Wenqing immediately guided the converging spiritual energy into his body with all his strength.

His narrow Qi Sea could not refine this forcibly gathered spiritual energy in time before it surged into the spiritual meridians throughout his body.

Therefore, Yang Wenqing directly entered the Golden Core World, refining the spiritual energy with its power before guiding it through a Greater Circulation within his spiritual meridians.

Yet even so, he saw tiny cracks appear in his spiritual meridians. They had formed because the circulation was too fast. Yang Wenqing did not stop. Gritting his teeth, he continued maintaining his cultivation, because at that moment, he could clearly sense his spiritual meridians slowly expanding.

However, as time passed, the burden on his spiritual meridians grew heavier and heavier. Waves of tearing pain spread through his limbs and bones, warning Yang Wenqing that his body was nearing its limit. Yet he did not decisively sever his spiritual connection to the spine until he felt his spiritual meridians were about to give way and affect his foundation.

At that moment, his Qi Sea was already brimming to the point of overflow, far more effective than several days of arduous cultivation. The price was that his spiritual meridians were covered in tiny injuries, along with the burning, stabbing pain they brought.

Yang Wenqing did not dare delay. He immediately calmed his mind and fully circulated the Basic Qi Refining method, drawing upon the overflowing, pure spiritual energy in his Qi Sea to repair his damaged spiritual meridians.

By the time he had roughly repaired the main spiritual meridians, he discovered that night had completely fallen.

He exhaled a breath of stale air and felt the fullness of his Qi Sea, his heart filled with the satisfaction of his gains. Then he noticed that not far away, Captain Xiao Liang was sitting cross-legged beside a supply crate. He appeared to be meditating with his eyes closed, but his position happened to keep the corner where Yang Wenqing had been cultivating within the edge of his vision.

Yang Wenqing immediately understood. The captain had feared that he would overdo his cultivation and had been standing guard for him.

Early the next morning, while the sky was still barely light, an urgent assembly whistle rang through the camp.

All the patrol members quickly dressed and jogged to line up in the center of the camp. Director Wang Ren stood at the front, his expression more solemn than yesterday.

"After yesterday's initial sweep, the threats on the outskirts have largely been cleared." Wang Ren's voice carried throughout the camp. "Today, the six patrol squads will converge and advance deeper into the forest in formation. Our objective is to eliminate every sizeable monster gathering in this area and thoroughly remove all hidden dangers..."

Over the next three days, the clearing operation fully unfolded.

Director Wang Ren personally oversaw the command as the six patrol squads steadily advanced deeper into the forest. Several demon gathering points they encountered were reduced to ruins amid bursts of gunfire. Wang Ren and the six captains did not even get a chance to act.

At five every afternoon, the teams returned on schedule to the forward outpost temporarily established by the militia to rest. At those times, Yang Wenqing would always find a secluded place to cultivate with the spine, while Captain Xiao Liang would invariably happen to be meditating or handling matters nearby.

It was worth mentioning that another gathering point later yielded cultivator remains, but they were merely two ribs that had nearly weathered away.

Three days later, the major threats in Forest No. 13 had basically been eliminated, and long-term monitoring formations and simple outposts had been established at several key locations.

Thus, the main force began returning to Thousand Reef County.

As the end of the year approached, the county town's festive New Year atmosphere grew stronger. But the Public Security Office did not relax its work, especially during the Spring Festival, when more personnel were needed to maintain order.

As a newcomer, Yang Wenqing was assigned continuous duty shifts.

Perhaps because it was the Spring Festival, the captain had still received no word from the buyer interested in purchasing the spine.

Yang Wenqing spent the entire first lunar month on duty, patrolling, and cultivating. Whenever he returned to his dormitory, he would take out the spine and cultivate with the assistance of the Golden Core World.

This continued until one night near the end of the first lunar month, when the chill of winter had yet to fade. As Yang Wenqing finished his cultivation as usual, he suddenly felt something.

He immediately calmed himself and used the Golden Core World to observe the spiritual meridians within his body...

He saw that his Qi Sea, which had long been filled to its utmost limit, had reached a certain critical point. The spiritual meridians throughout his body also conveyed a strange sense of saturation and throbbing, as though some shackle was about to break.

Yang Wenqing abruptly opened his eyes, suppressing the excitement in his heart as he muttered, "Faster than I imagined. With the spiritual energy I've refined in my Qi Sea now, I most likely won't even need the Dragon Ginseng Pill to advance to the Qi Refining Stage!"