Earth was heavy by nature, and it also concealed turbid qi. Everywhere the Clearheart Mirror's light reached was filled with gloomy, filthy qi. It took him the time of a cup of tea before he found six hidden Apertures amid the roiling murk.
At this point, Jiang Xuan had realized that in the first realm of cultivation, Spirit Pivot Aperture Opening, not only was nourishing Apertures difficult, but locating the hidden Apertures was no easy task either.
"Good thing I have the Clearheart Mirror..."
After a sigh, Jiang Xuan resumed his cultivation.
Having learned from the morning's lesson, Jiang Xuan no longer recklessly drew upon his spleen's essence. He opened only two Apertures. The moment he sensed even the slightest depletion in his spleen-earth qi, he immediately guided a thread of refined Earth Origin Qi, following the principle that earth gave birth to metal, to temper his metal-aspected lungs.
By this point in his circulation, his Spell Power and the Clearheart Mirror had already settled upon both lungs.
The lungs belonged to metal. The instant his Spell Power fused with the lungs' essence, the originally heavy and condensed force suddenly became peerlessly sharp, like a keen sword drawn from its sheath.
Through the Clearheart Mirror's inward illumination, Jiang Xuan also grasped the characteristics of the lung Apertures—spleen-earth was obscured by turbid qi, making its form hard to discern; the lung Apertures, however, drifted without fixed course, like floating catkins in the wind.
They were not merely faintly visible and faintly hidden, but changed in the blink of an eye, never stopping for a single moment.
Fortunately, after becoming a Clear-Heart Sword Disciple, he had not only obtained the heaven-defying passive ability of the Clearheart Mirror, but his Divine Soul had also been greatly enhanced. With the two complementing each other, though it took some effort, he still found all eight of the lung's Apertures.
"The heart and lungs are connected. The lungs are second only to the heart among the five organs. Having eight Apertures is only natural."
"Huff... breathe..."
With each exhalation and inhalation, he opened another three Apertures within his lungs.
At this point, the total number of Apertures he had opened during the evening lesson was five.
Added to the morning lesson, he had opened twelve Apertures that day.
"If I count the previous ones too, that makes nineteen... I've opened a lot of Apertures, but the consumption is truly enormous."
The Five-Organ Essence was the foundation of the human body. Though he had been exceedingly careful in this cultivation session, guiding everything through the meridians and causing no damage whatsoever to his organs, the loss of origin qi still brought an uncontrollable sense of weakness over his body.
Without some great tonic to replenish my qi and blood, today is my first time cultivating this method, and my condition is at its peak. My cultivation efficiency is already at its highest. But with only one night of rest, there is absolutely no way I can make up for the deficiency in my five organs.
In that case, tomorrow's cultivation efficiency will be at most seventy percent, and the day after, it will fall to fifty percent. If I truly keep cultivating like this without regard for the consequences, within three days, I'll be depleted like the Hollow Young Master from the legends—a gust of wind could knock me over.
Only then did Jiang Xuan understand why the sect did not teach a technique like the One Qi Sword Art, which could both fight and cultivate, but instead taught the Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption Method.
Though the latter cultivated slowly, it was steady as the four corners of the earth, with none of the risk of qi deviation or damage to one's foundation.
The One Qi Sword Art might be miraculous, but leaving aside its harsh requirement for insight into the sword path, that one point alone made it unsuitable for students who had only just entered the immortal gate.
It was too dangerous—whether it was the danger of using Sword Qi to stimulate the internal organs and expose the five-organ Apertures, or the danger of drawing heavily upon the Five-Organ Essence and damaging one's own foundation.
"Fortunately, after becoming a Clear-Heart Sword Disciple, the first risk is practically nonexistent for me. As for the second, I already have a solution."
With that thought, Jiang Xuan turned his gaze forward.
The instant he concluded his cultivation, Nan Zhi had already walked over slowly and placed a bottle of pills and several dishes of spirit-meal pastries into his hands.
"This is from my young master."
"Please thank your young master for me."
Jiang Xuan truly felt grateful for the resources Dong Hao had sent him.
However, thinking that in a few days he would be able to help Dong Hao vent his anger and make him a hefty sum of Spirit Stones, Jiang Xuan accepted the resources without the slightest awkwardness, his expression calm and detached.
Yet his polite, measured, neither servile nor overbearing attitude caused both Nan Zhi and Cheng Xiu to frown.
As a servant, Nan Zhi was very loyal, and she knew that there were some things Dong Hao was not suited to say. That was when she needed to step forward and say words that might offend.
Just like now, what she wanted to see was not Jiang Xuan's courteous thanks, but his bowing his head in gratitude.
More than that, she wanted to tell Jiang Xuan just how precious these resources were, and that not just anyone could beg for such an opportunity.
But when the words reached her lips, she ultimately swallowed them back. Her young master's instructions before she left still rang in her ears: "Jiang Xuan is a Sword Cultivator. Sword Cultivators often have proud bones. There's no need to say anything now. Once he loses the wager in a few days and his pride has been worn smooth, he'll naturally understand."
Those words made Nan Zhi instantly understand that the wager her young master had set was not merely intended to bestow favor upon Jiang Xuan. It was also meant to grind away his untimely pride so that Dong Hao could use him in the future.
Nan Zhi endured in silence, but Cheng Xiu beside her wore a face full of worry.
He understood something of the character of children from Aristocratic Clans. In his view, if Jiang Xuan continued like this, unwilling to lower his posture and unable to provide even a shred of emotional value, he would sooner or later be discarded like worn-out shoes.
Yet, seeing Jiang Xuan's composed expression, as though he had a plan in his heart, Cheng Xiu opened his mouth, but ultimately said nothing.
After accepting the pills, Jiang Xuan calculated his cultivation progress in his heart. I've opened nineteen Apertures. I'm still seventeen short of the thirty-six Apertures required for an Excellent Grade rating.
Seventeen Apertures, with only two days remaining—this meant that starting tomorrow, he would have to open at least nine Apertures each day.
"Time is tight, but it is just enough for me to finish."
The thought had barely settled when he looked up and saw that during the evening lesson of their fifth day after entering the path, another seven Aristocratic Clan disciples in the front rows had successfully opened thirty-six Apertures and entered the ranks of Excellent Grade.
By then, the number of students in the Daoist Academy rated Excellent Grade had increased from eleven to eighteen.
Among those eighteen were not only Dong Hao and Su Lin Yin, whom he knew, but also Zeng Jun, who had once caused him trouble.
So many favored prodigies instantly scattered the faint complacency in Jiang Xuan's heart.
"There are many geniuses in the Divine Firmament Sect. I absolutely cannot become arrogant."
"Moreover, the Daoist Academy I'm in can only be considered middling within the Divine Firmament Sect. The true geniuses are all gathered at Zi Dao Academy."
The Divine Firmament Sect was vast. Its outer sect residences were named according to the twelve earthly branches by direction: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, and Hai.
Each of them had a Daoist Academy.
Although, according to the sect, the twelve outer sects and twelve Daoist Academies held equal status, with no distinction of superiority or inferiority.
Everyone knew this was merely polite talk for appearances' sake.
Zi Dao Academy, ranked first among the twelve earthly branches and situated close to the inner sect's mountain gate, had always been the foremost of the outer sects. Its Daoist Academy was also the strongest.
The direct descendants of the sect's top Aristocratic Clans, as well as Cold Gate prodigies found in the mortal world, were, eight or nine times out of ten, placed in Zi Dao Academy for concentrated training.
Because so many prodigies gathered there, Zi Dao Academy had always borne another name within the outer sect: Daozi Academy.
"The current me is still far too lacking."
After a soft sigh, the evening lesson came to an end.
Seeing this, Jiang Xuan swallowed a pill and used the spirit-meal pastries to dissolve its medicinal power before rising and walking toward Green Bamboo Town.
The moment he entered Green Bamboo Town, Jiang Xuan found it extraordinarily lively. Lanterns and decorations filled the streets, making it even more festive than a holiday.
With a turn of thought, Jiang Xuan immediately understood the reason.
"The Su Household is coming."
To ordinary cultivators in the town, this was a heaven-sent opportunity to attach themselves to an immortal sect Aristocratic Clan. Naturally, they would put forth every effort to show themselves off. Jiang Xuan, however, had no interest in it whatsoever.
After returning home, he swept the courtyard once, then burned incense, sprinkled water, refilled the oil... After finishing a Daoist Acolyte's duties, Jiang Xuan still had some strength and focus remaining, so he sat cross-legged in the main hall and began reciting the Three Divine Incantations of Pure Heart, Mouth-Purification, and Body-Purification, word by word.
Naturally, throughout the process, he held Qingli, the bamboo sword, in his arms.
And this act of reciting incantations while holding his sword brought a strange scene upon him.
"Supreme Dais Star, respond to change without cease; drive away evil and bind fiends, preserve life and protect the body..."
"Ring!"
The instant he recited the Heart-Purification Divine Incantation, a sword cry suddenly rang out! The profound incantation actually condensed into an invisible heart sword within his sea of consciousness. Wherever its sword light passed, every distracting thought and disturbance in his heart was severed clean away!
"Hmm?! The Heart-Purification Divine Incantation can fuse with the One Qi Sword Art? Then what about the other divine incantations?"
These thoughts were not distractions. Under Sincerity · Heart, they were Jiang Xuan's contemplation and extension of the sword path—Clear Heart did not mean becoming like withered wood, thinking nothing and wanting nothing. It meant tying all of one's mind and spirit to a single sword.
With thoughts in his heart, he naturally began reciting the Body-Purification Divine Incantation and the Mouth-Purification Divine Incantation. Incantation after incantation deeply fused with the Clear-Heart Sword Disciple's Sword of the Mind, ultimately transforming into a Spell Sword suffused with clear light that floated quietly in his sea of consciousness.
"Clang!"
The next instant, the Clearheart Mirror suddenly flipped over, its mirror light illuminating every inch of his body, inside and out, with absolute clarity.
The Sword of the Mind floating in his sea of consciousness also became a streak of crystalline light. Following the mirror light's guidance, it swung shadow after shadow of swords at the meridians and organs throughout his body!
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
The sword shadows came one after another without end. A moment later, Jiang Xuan felt sweetness rise in his throat and opened his mouth to spit out a mouthful of black blood.
Yet after vomiting that clot of stagnant blood, not only did he feel no discomfort, he instead felt his Divine Soul become clear, his limbs and bones unblocked, and his entire body lighter than ever before.
—Before this, Jiang Xuan had already developed the Mouth-Purification Divine Incantation and Body-Purification Divine Incantation into methods capable of Meridian-Cutting Marrow-Washing and cleansing the turbid qi within himself.
But at the time, because his mastery of the divine incantations was too low, Jiang Xuan's Meridian-Cutting Marrow-Washing progressed slowly. He needed to cultivate persistently for months, even years, before his body could become even slightly clearer.
This was also the norm in Dao cultivation. Whether Daoist priests or Daoist Acolytes, they began by reciting the Three Divine Incantations for at least three years.
But now, the situation was different. Once the divine incantation methods fused with the Sword of the Mind, their efficiency greatly increased.
Sword Cultivators were always sharp and direct. That round of sword shadows just now was actually worth ten days to half a month of his usual hard work.
What delighted him even more was that because the Sword of the Mind had deeply fused with the Three Divine Incantations, producing entirely new insights, the experience points on his panel also began to surge madly.
[You fused the Sword of the Mind with the Heart-Purification Divine Incantation, Mouth-Purification Divine Incantation, and Body-Purification Divine Incantation. Sword of the Mind progress +31] [You gained new insights into the Three Divine Incantations. Three Divine Incantations experience +37] [Clear-Heart Sword Disciple profession experience +21] [Daoist Acolyte profession experience +23] ... [Your Three Divine Incantations have leveled up. Current level: 2/3 (1/300)]