Nine-Turn Origin Art

Everyone left the stronghold tower and returned to their respective posts.

All the injured were arranged to stay at the old site, while those who had not been attacked temporarily moved to Vermilion Ridge.

Feng Xu went to the Blood Pool to visit Kunmu.

Among all the survivors, Kunmu was the most severely injured. Even with the Blood Pool replenishing his vitality and blood, he remained unconscious.

Baleful Qi enveloped Kunmu's entire body, having already seeped deep into his bones and marrow.

Baleful Qi could tear apart the flesh and disrupt the mind.

Once Baleful Qi entangled someone, it was extremely difficult to remove. In mild cases, one had to sacrifice cultivation to preserve one's life; in severe cases, one could mutate, lose one's sanity, and become a mindless wreck.

Before Houtu transformed into reincarnation, aside from the World-Cleansing White Lotus slowly purifying Baleful Qi, every other method could only suppress it, not eliminate it.

But the tribe's injured were about to suffer erosion from Baleful Qi. They had to find a way to deal with it.

"If there really is no other way, I can only take a risk."

There was a cultivation method that could not dissolve Baleful Qi, yet could resolve the current crisis. However, it was extremely risky. A single mistake could seriously damage the foundation of one's cultivation.

That was the Nine-Turn Origin Art, a technique that cultivated using Baleful Qi.

This technique was Pangu's Body Tempering method, inherited by the Witches.

It refined Baleful Qi into the body, using its tearing properties to continuously strengthen oneself through cycles of destruction and restoration.

It was an extremely radical method. Even among the Witches, not everyone could successfully cultivate it.

After Yuanshi Tianzun studied the Nine-Turn Origin Art, he incorporated his own insights and improved it into the Eight-Nine Mystical Art.

When Feng Xu had wandered through the Purple Cloud Palace in his dreams, he had deduced the Nine-Turn Origin Art from the Eight-Nine Mystical Art.

Now that he had the foundation of the Eight-Nine Mystical Art, cultivating the Nine-Turn Origin Art would not be too difficult.

"I can only try it first. If it works, I can absorb the Baleful Qi from others."

Feng Xu had already reached Perfected Mid-Stage Earth Immortal, surpassing Feng Sui and the others in cultivation. He simply did not normally show it.

He had now cultivated to the fifth turn of the fleshly body, tempering skin and flesh, and the fourth turn of the Primordial Spirit, transforming it into a Yang Spirit.

Of course, he had still opened the heavenly cycles ahead of time, so his actual cultivation in both was one realm lower.

The Eight-Nine Mystical Art cultivated from within outward, while the Nine-Turn Origin Art cultivated from without inward.

Feng Xu dispersed his Primordial Spirit throughout every part of his body. This was the most dangerous step.

There was a common misconception in the Primordial World: the Witches only cultivated the body and not the Primordial Spirit.

That was both true and false.

The Witches indeed did not cultivate the Primordial Spirit, but neither did they cultivate only the fleshly body.

As the pure body cultivators of the Primordial World, they fused their souls into their bodies. While tempering their bodies, they also tempered their souls.

Compared with the Mystic Sect's Primordial Spirit cultivation, each had its own advantages and disadvantages.

The Mystic Sect's Primordial Spirit could keep the mind clear and the spiritual platform lucid. Even if the fleshly body was destroyed, the Primordial Spirit could escape, effectively granting an extra health bar.

But the Primordial Spirit was connected to consciousness and was even more fragile than the fleshly body. Once damaged, one might directly lose all combat ability and be left at the mercy of others.

The Witches' method tempered soul and body together, overwhelmingly surpassing the Mystic Sect's method in terms of raw attributes.

It also lacked the Primordial Spirit's weakness.

In battle, the fleshly body could protect the soul, and the soul could reshape the fleshly body. Even if the body and Primordial Spirit in a certain area were destroyed at the same time, one would not immediately lose the ability to resist.

If they encountered an opponent without powerful soul attacks or the ability to utterly destroy their body, they could not be killed.

However, there were countless great powers in the Primordial World, and attacks capable of destroying both body and soul were everywhere.

For example, Xingtian's head and the portion of his soul within it had both been destroyed, which was why there had always been nothing above his neck.

In terms of cultivation methods alone, the Nine-Turn Origin Art was an attribute monster, while the Mystic Sect's Primordial Spirit was a mechanics monster.

But in practical terms, the Witches inherited Pangu's bloodline. The strength of their bodies and souls was far beyond that of ordinary people.

Especially the Twelve Ancestral Witches—unless one possessed a Primordial Treasure, it was difficult to harm their foundation.

To cultivate the Nine-Turn Origin Art, Feng Xu needed to merge his Primordial Spirit into his fleshly body. Because his Primordial Spirit had already taken form, this was the most dangerous step.

Feng Xu carefully circulated the Nine-Turn Origin Art and slowly fused his Primordial Spirit into his body. Half merged into every part of his body, while the other half remained within his spiritual platform.

Next came the formal beginning of cultivation.

Feng Xu guided a portion of the Baleful Qi from Kunmu's body into his own and began the first turn, tempering skin and flesh.

Once he gradually became proficient with the first turn's heavenly cycle, he continued absorbing the Baleful Qi within Kunmu.

Perhaps because there was not much Baleful Qi, the process was not as painful as he had imagined.

Overall, it felt similar to having COVID in his previous life, except it came with far sharper stabbing pain.

Kunmu's expression gradually relaxed, though fine sweat still densely covered his forehead.

Feng Xu continued increasing the intensity, absorbing every bit of Baleful Qi he could. As for the portion that had seeped deep into Kunmu's bones and marrow, he truly could not draw it out.

Huff—

Feng Xu stopped cultivating and let out a long breath.

Yet Kunmu's condition was still far from encouraging.

It would not pose a major problem in the short term, but the Baleful Qi would continue to affect Kunmu over time and grow stronger as Kunmu became stronger.

After sensing that there was nothing wrong with himself, Feng Xu engraved the Nine-Turn Origin Art onto Kunmu's body in the form of a Battle Mark.

The Battle Mark's effects were slow and gentle, so there was no need to worry about Kunmu's ability to endure it.

"You can count this as a blessing in disguise. But from now on, you must often calm your mind and guard your nature, lest it affect your sanity."

Feng Xu looked at Kunmu and muttered to himself before leaving the Blood Pool.

He absorbed the Baleful Qi from the tribespeople at the old site one by one.

These people were not injured as severely, and the Baleful Qi had not yet seeped into their bones and marrow.

Feng Xu then went to the place where the corpses were collectively burned and absorbed all the lingering Baleful Qi.

Suddenly, Feng Xu felt the world spin around him, and his consciousness began to blur.

Because Feng Xu had retained only half his Primordial Spirit, the strength of his body and Primordial Spirit had become unbalanced. On top of that, the Baleful Qi suddenly erupted after coming into contact with the mana in his body, pushing him to the brink of losing control.

Taishang's radiant star, ever responsive to change.

Drive out evil and bind phantoms, preserve life and protect the body.

Wisdom bright and pure, heart and mind peaceful.

May the three souls endure forever, and the seven spirits suffer no decline.

Feng Xu sat in meditation, silently reciting the Mind-Cleansing Spirit Incantation to suppress the Baleful Qi within his body while beginning Primordial Spirit cultivation.

Once his condition temporarily eased, he immediately hurried to the Vermilion Ridge warehouse.

After greeting the warehouse manager, he headed straight to the innermost area, opened the locked iron door, and entered the Earth-Vein Spirit Pool to cultivate.

While suppressing the Baleful Qi in his body, Feng Xu considered a solution.

Baleful Qi clashed with mana. Forcefully suppressing it was simply not feasible.

Baleful Qi could not be expelled, but he could not possibly disperse all his mana either. Wouldn't all his efforts over the years go to waste?

Was there a way to temporarily keep the two apart?

Feng Xu suddenly thought of Taishang's Golden Core cultivation method.

Perhaps he could condense the Baleful Qi into a Baleful Core.

But before that, he needed to raise the strength of his Primordial Spirit.

Feng Xu stopped Body Tempering and focused solely on cultivating his Primordial Spirit.

With the Spirit Pool's enhancement, the faster speed of rebuilding after dispersing his cultivation, and the additional boost from Merit, his Primordial Spirit fully recovered in merely seven days.

Next, he used the power of Merit to suppress the Baleful Qi and condense it into a Baleful Core.

Then, using the way of Taishang contained within Taiji Fist to harmonize them, he finally maintained a balance between Baleful Qi and mana.

Feng Xu also used this opportunity to break through his bottleneck and reach Late Earth Immortal.

However, while the Baleful Core in his body posed no immediate concern, it remained a hidden danger in the long run.

"Once it reaches its limit, should I shatter the core and form an infant, like in the novels?"

Feng Xu was merely thinking at random. The things in novels had no concrete methods, so it was best not to attempt them.

His body was stable for now. The Baleful Core would only lose control and erupt once it grew strong enough, and that would not happen anytime soon. He still had time to search for a solution.

"The World-Cleansing White Lotus in the Merit Mall requires one million Merit Points. I have saved for so many years, but most of it went into refining my natal Dharma Treasure. Now I only have two hundred thousand left."

His natal Dharma Treasure had yet to be refined, yet more than half his Merit had already been spent.

Feng Xu returned to the warehouse, where the manager was anxiously waiting above.

Seeing that Feng Xu was unharmed, he told him to go to the stronghold tower, where Feng Sui was waiting for him.

"What happened?"

Feng Xu looked at the manager, Feng Zheng, and asked.

"Those Poison Bees never left. It seems they have settled nearby. They come almost every day, making everyone too afraid to go outside. The whole tribe is in a panic."