Jiang Ming had his own pride in the achievements and cultivation methods of his past life.
Great Freedom Sword Scripture!
In the morning, roam the North Sea; by evening, reach Cangwu. Feed on morning dew and dine on rosy clouds. In leisure, watch waves rise and clouds vanish; a thousand ages of spring and autumn were but a dream.
When the heart was free, one was forever free!
Roaming Heaven and Earth.
Though only a few lines, they were the fundamental tenets of the Great Freedom Sword Scripture.
This was the supreme sword-Dao immortal scripture Jiang Ming had cultivated in his previous life. It was not the Sword-Control Demon-Subduing Sword Art he had initially cultivated at Shushan.
Later, while cultivating on the mountain, Jiang Ming had a dream. He dreamed of a white-bearded old man who taught him the Great Freedom Sword Scripture.
Back when Jiang Ming was on Earth, he had seen a claim that Laozi's Shushan Dao was part of ancient Chinese culture, referring to the story of the Daoist thinker Laozi cultivating at Shushan.
Therefore, Jiang Ming now guessed that this sword art had an extraordinary origin. The inheritance of Shushan sword immortals itself had always been mysterious.
Jiang Ming's Great Freedom Sword Scripture focused on refining a Life-Bound Sword.
Unlike ordinary Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, and Golden Core cultivation, the Dao it expounded was One Sword Breaks All Techniques.
Immortal cultivators came in many kinds. Most drew talismans, refined pills, and forged magical artifacts, requiring vast amounts of time and effort, long-term practice, perseverance, day after day and year after year.
Naturally, they also required an abundance of cultivation resources.
Jiang Ming's Great Freedom Sword Scripture emphasized using heavenly treasures to nurture a single Life-Bound Sword.
After he had fallen into demonic cultivation with a single thought, he had used his Life-Bound Sword to slaughter all the elite disciples of the Shushan Sword Sect.
The Life-Bound Sword was usually nurtured within the dantian. When used, it could transform into tiny particles and appear in his hand—or anywhere else—in an instant, moving entirely according to his will.
In the world of Shrouding the Heavens, the dantian seemed to be called the Sea of Bitterness. It was the starting point of another profound cultivation method, one intended to unlock the source of the human body's inner universe, develop the gates of that universe, and treat the human body itself as a universe.
Jiang Ming valued it greatly. Moreover, he knew that this was the cultivation system created by the Desolate Heavenly Emperor, so of course he had to cultivate it.
The cultivation system of Shrouding the Heavens could completely complement his previous life's cultivation system.
That way, in the future, he could choose another artifact as his sole "vessel." He remembered that the Dao Scripture contained such a record.
He already had a sword for offense.
Then he would refine a powerful defensive artifact.
Ye Fan had chosen a Cauldron.
Jiang Ming decided to take inspiration from the Primordial Wilderness.
The Taiji Diagram of Supreme Pure Laozi.
The Chaos Bell of Eastern Emperor Taiyi.
The Innate Five-Colored Flags.
The Heavens' Auspicious Cloud.
Oh, and the Twelve-Petaled Lotus Throne.
The Twelve-Petaled Golden Merit Lotus, Twelve-Petaled Red Lotus of Karmic Fire, Twelve-Petaled Black Lotus of World Destruction, and Twelve-Petaled White Lotus of World Purification.
They all sounded incredibly badass.
In a flash of inspiration, Jiang Ming thought of lotuses.
Originally, he had wanted to refine the Taiji Diagram.
Among the Emperor Armaments of the Shrouding the Heavens world, there simply was no Taiji Diagram.
Instead, the Azure Lotus was the treasure of the Demon Race's Azure Emperor. It blossomed into two stalks and bore three leaves, representing that Dao gave birth to one, one gave birth to two, two gave birth to three, and three gave birth to all things.
This Azure Emperor Armament was similar to He Xiangu's magical artifact, especially after it later came into the hands of the Demon Emperor's descendant, Yan Ruyu.
As for the lotus-shaped artifact he wanted to refine, he would choose the "lotus"!
There was no rush now. The first thing he needed to refine was his Life-Bound Sword.
With a thought, Jiang Ming took out the spoils he had stored in his Sea of Bitterness. Not every cultivator's Sea of Bitterness could be used as a storage artifact; most cultivators' Seas of Bitterness were extremely fragile.
Only powerful physiques like the Desolate Ancient Sacred Body and the Heavenly Tyrant Body possessed special Seas of Bitterness that could be used for storage.
First, Jiang Ming took out a thumb-sized piece of Star-Pattern Iron, followed by a soybean-sized piece of Purple Copper—
Twenty-three bottles of Hundred-Grass Liquid.
Magical artifacts: a golden awl, a purple net, a small silver shield, a small bronze hammer, a blood-colored spear, and a Green Wood Sword.
All these magical artifacts were the size of soybeans. They had been refined and were usually nurtured in the Sea of Bitterness, enlarging after being activated.
Spirit herbs: one Jade Snake Orchid and one Purple Sun Grass.
This was everything Jiang Ming possessed. He was truly miserable. During his escape, he had used up all the Hundred-Grass Liquid on him. Even the Flame Grass he had once treasured had been thrown out to lure away savage beasts.
The small shield he had carried was also knocked away by a One-Horned Black Panther while he was fleeing.
So, aside from what he had earned from the system, everything in his Sea of Bitterness was spoils of war.
Right, there was also his original Green Wood Sword.
When this Green Wood Sword had been refined, a thumb-sized fragment of Yimu Heartwood had been fused into it. That was why half of it had survived the lightning capable of killing Life Spring cultivators instead of being blasted into dregs.
Since that was the case, it was time to begin refining his Life-Bound Sword. The strength of the Great Freedom Sword Scripture's method for refining a Life-Bound Sword was that it did not require choosing supreme treasure materials or divine metals from the start.
A Life-Bound Sword could grow from weak to strong, continuously devouring all kinds of heavenly treasures during its development and evolving bit by bit.
Sitting cross-legged on the bed, Jiang Ming closed his eyes and calmed his mind. He circulated the Great Freedom Sword Scripture and began absorbing the essence within his body from nothing. The core principle of Qi Refining Stage cultivation could be described as refining essence into qi.
This step was simply too easy for Jiang Ming. At last, he experienced the strength of the Heavenly Tyrant Body. Within his dantian lay a surging purple ocean.
Whenever he cultivated, majestic purple qi accompanied him, stretching vast and mighty for three thousand li as endless essence swept in.
In just a single breath, he completed the first level of the Qi Refining Stage.
The beginning was the hardest?
It did not seem hard at all.
Jiang Ming did not understand the condition of his Heavenly Tyrant Body and feared damaging its origin, so he quickly picked up a bottle of Hundred-Grass Liquid.
The Hundred-Grass Liquid was stored in a pristine little jade bottle. The moment he opened it, a rich and refreshing fragrance wafted out.
The Shrouding Method explained that the human body's Sea of Bitterness merged with the Wheel of Life, and together they formed the Wheel of the Sea Secret Realm. To release the vast reserves of essence hidden in the Wheel of Life and prevent them from being worn away by Yue, one had to continually tap into the potential of the Sea of Bitterness and open it up.
The Chinese Paladin Method described it as the dantian, located behind the navel and before the kidneys, also known as the Yellow Court. It was the root of the source of life and the source of the body's essence, encompassing major acupoints such as Guanyuan, Qihai, Shenque, and Mingmen. Refining essence into qi was the process of accumulating the body's true essence.
Within Jiang Ming's dantian—more precisely, it could probably also be called his Sea of Bitterness—the dantian was like a sea, and his essence was purple. It truly opened his eyes that a person's dantian could contain such an immense quantity of essence.
According to the Shrouding Method, life essence was actually stored within the Wheel of Life and was constantly worn away by Yue as a person grew.
During this process, Jiang Ming could feel just how vast the potential of the misty purple qi within him was. The purple qi swirled, transforming into Kun Peng one moment, an Immortal Bell the next, then a True Dragon, then an Immortal Phoenix—
Breaking through the first level of Qi Refining took one breath.
The second level of Qi Refining took three breaths.
With a thought, Jiang Ming drank all twenty-odd remaining bottles of Hundred-Grass Liquid in one go.
This was a supplementary spirit liquid similar to the true essence pills of the Immortal Sword World, capable of aiding cultivation.
When he had first begun cultivating in his previous life, he would never have dared do this. But he felt that his current physique was terrifyingly strong, and he personally experienced the vastness and power of the Heavenly Tyrant Body.
Boom!
The massive spiritual power of the medicinal liquid entered Jiang Ming's stomach and rapidly rushed toward his limbs and bones. Without an effective method of absorption, the lighter consequence would be crippling himself, while the severe consequence would be exploding to death.
However, the instant Jiang Ming circulated the Great Freedom Sword Scripture, his dantian seemed to transform into a black hole, rapidly drawing away the medicinal power within his body.
In merely seven breaths.
Jiang Ming had already entered the third level of Qi Refining.
Continue!
Jiang Ming's realm had long been sufficient. Even if he advanced quickly through the Qi Refining Stage, it would not leave behind any aftereffects.
As for the cultivation method from his previous life, it was not without weaknesses. Its weakness lay in the physical body, but its offensive power was absolutely top-tier. One Sword Breaks All Techniques was not just empty talk; it had been tested in real combat.
The Shrouding Method was enough to make up for those shortcomings.
In that case, the Shrouding Method and the cultivation method from his previous life could instead be regarded as dual cultivation of method and body.
Five hours later!
Jiang Ming had entered the sixth level of the Qi Refining Stage.
Not only had he refined all the medicinal power of the Hundred-Grass Liquid, he had also directly swallowed the Jade Snake Orchid and Purple Sun Grass.
The Hundred-Year Jade Snake Orchid was a spirit herb that an Old Serpent could only gradually transform and evolve into after absorbing the essence of the sun and Yue day after day for a hundred years. During that process, the Old Serpent would also transform into a Jade-Horned Snake, and a rare companion spirit herb called the Jade Snake Orchid would naturally appear in its habitat.
The Jade Snake Orchid was snow-white and crystalline from top to bottom, only the size of an adult's palm. It resembled a small jade-carved snake, gleaming with flowing radiance as it stood upright. It had ten delicate white-jade leaves. One leaf grew every ten years, and after a hundred years, a white jade orchid flower would bloom at its peak, glowing with shimmering treasure light. Swaying in the wind, specks of radiance would flow over the Jade Snake Orchid, accompanied by wisps of fragrance.
The Purple Sun Grass was only half a foot tall and entirely purple. It liked to grow in scorching, sunlit terrain. Its leaves were round, like tiny purple suns, and its whole body emitted a purple halo. It was nowhere near as precious as the Jade Snake Orchid.
If one Jade Snake Orchid was worth more than seventy bottles of Hundred-Grass Liquid,
then the Purple Sun Grass was only comparable to the medicinal power of more than fifty bottles of Hundred-Grass Liquid.
The Qi Refining Stage had a total of twelve levels.
Reaching the sixth level of Qi Refining was already enough for Jiang Ming to refine his Life-Bound Sword.
He had hidden here at eight in the evening, and it was now only one in the morning. He still had plenty of time.
Inside his body, violet-gold true essence had formed into a shimmering, crystal-clear lake. Its quality was more than three times greater than the true essence he had cultivated at the same realm in his previous life. This was the bonus and benefit brought by his physique.
With a thought, Jiang Ming wrapped the broken sword in true essence and rapidly refined it. During the process, the charred fragments left by the Lightning Bird's lightning were refined away bit by bit, falling to the ground after completely losing their essence.
The broken sword turned green. It no longer seemed to be made of wood, instead gleaming with green radiance and possessing a crystalline, glass-like texture.
He continued refining it. Jiang Ming drew the broken sword into his dantian, where it was submerged in true essence. In just an hour, the broken sword, originally more than a foot long, had become a green glass sphere floating within his dantian.
The whole process was far faster than Jiang Ming's original plan.
This was the benefit brought by his physique.
With another thought from Jiang Ming, the green glass sphere shrank, finally turning into qi too small for the naked eye to see. It fused with his true essence, traveled through his meridians, and appeared in his hand.
Whoosh!
A small green glass sword, half a foot long, appeared in his hand. With a thought from Jiang Ming, the little sword left his palm and hovered around him like a fish in water, darting freely through the air.
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