Five Types of Astral Qi, a Great Leap in Strength

On the other side.

With the aid of the Clear Wind Astral Qi, Lin Qing moved swiftly and quickly, leaving the abandoned street behind and arriving at an inn in a bustling part of the city, called Fuchun Inn.

Lin Qing chose a superior room, sat cross-legged on the bed, and slowly exhaled a breath of fresh air, his mind completely calmed down.

He first reviewed the battle in his mind, a habit he had developed over a long period of time.

"The Gang Qi formed by the Unity Heaven Art does indeed have the strength to rival True Qi, but it still has certain disadvantages."

"This manifests in two ways: firstly, the intensity is insufficient; secondly, it cannot be released outside the body and cannot form Qi Domain."

"The first problem can be solved. I'm only at the beginner level of the Unity Heaven Art. As I integrate more and more forces, the strength of my Gang Qi will also increase. If a hundred forces aren't enough, perhaps two hundred, three hundred, or even five hundred forces will be enough for my Gang Qi to go head-to-head with True Essence Qi," Lin Qing thought to himself.

This is the power of the Unity Heaven Art: the strength of the Gang Qi is directly linked to the amount of fused energy, resulting in an extremely high growth potential.

"Secondly, the Unity Heaven Art to flexibly change the attributes of Gang Qi based on actual circumstances is my greatest advantage."

"Furthermore, my physical strength far surpasses that of ordinary True Essence Realm Martial Artist, which is my second major advantage."

"Now I can be certain that I possess the strength to kill True Essence Realm Martial Artist." Lin Qing was extremely confident.

He was somewhat apprehensive beforehand because there was a huge gap between True Essence and True Astral Force, and crossing that gap to fight across realms was no easy task.

But now, he was completely at ease. If he could kill Ao Xiong, he could kill other True Essence Martial Artist.

"Ao Xiong's death will surely shake the Prefectural City, and the Soul-Calming Office will definitely conduct a thorough investigation. It's hard to guarantee that they won't trace it back to me. It would be best to find evidence to confirm that Ao Xiong was an undercover agent of the Soul-Calming Office. That way, even if someone traces it back to me as the one who killed Ao Xiong, the Soul-Calming Office will not punish me."

Lin Qing pondered for a moment, then suddenly absorbed Ao Xiong's soul. He felt that he should start with Ao Xiong's memories.

In a short while, memories of Ao Xiong's life transformed into numerous scattered fragments, flashing before his eyes like a revolving lantern.

After Lin Qing finished digesting the information, he indeed obtained a lot of valuable information. He could find seven or eight pieces of evidence that proved Ao Xiong was a spy for the Yinyuan Sect.

"Ao Xiong owns several residences in the Prefectural City, one of which is near me. Under the bed in his bedroom is a wooden box containing secret letters between him and Deng Qianyu of the Yinyuan Sect Yuan Sect. I need to find a way to get my hands on it so that if the Soul-Calming Office finds out about me in the future, I can use this to get away with it," Lin Qing pondered.

At this moment, a large amount of information appeared before him, all of which were Ao Xiong's martial arts skills throughout his life.

Lin Qing immediately noticed Ao Xiong's True Essence Realm martial art, called Firecloud Flame-Splitting Palm. Practicing this skill allows one to enter the True Essence Realm upon first learning it, transforming the body's Gang Qi into True Qi.

This True Qi is like magma; when it hits an enemy, it can cling to their body, causing continuous damage. It is also inextinguishable by water, like a maggot attached to a bone, extremely difficult to extinguish. The victim's body will gradually be burned to ashes, causing unbearable pain.

The Qi Domain generated by this True Qi energy also has this characteristic, resembling a sea of lava and fire. Enemies who are placed in it will be bound and unable to move, and will be burned to ashes.

Lin Qing had personally experienced how powerful this martial art was, but he hesitated when it came to whether or not to copy it.

Because if he were to use this martial art to reach the True Essence Realm, it would conflict with the Unity Heaven Art future.

By Unity Heaven Art with a thousand kinds of energy, one will automatically step into the True Essence Realm.

While both are forms of True Essence, the latter provides a greater boost to combat power than the former.

After all, the Unity Heaven Art is a sixth-tier gold-grade technique, while this Firecloud Flame-Splitting Palm is only a Fourth Tier famous-grade technique.

"If you want to improve your immediate combat strength, you should copy this Firecloud Flame-Splitting Palm. But if you want to reach the upper limit and look to the future, then you should copy a True Gang Realm martial art."

"Of course, there is a second option: do not copy it for now, but wait until you break through to the True Essence before copying the Firecloud Flame-Splitting Palm."

After a moment's thought, Lin Qing decided to replicate Ao Xiong's True Gang Realm method, naming it the Beaconfire Wind-Chasing Sword. It could unleash Beaconfire Astral Qi, possessing both sharpness and fiery characteristics, and was also a Fourth Tier masterpiece.

"As the Office Chief the Netherworld Pacification Bureau and a former patriarch of the Ao Family, Ao Xiong possesses considerable martial arts skills. Both of his training methods are at the Fourth Tier, which is already the ceiling for Martial Artist in the Prefectural City. Unless one encounters a fortuitous event, the highest level of martial arts that people can access and learn is the Fourth Tier."

Lin Qing pondered for a moment, then directly copied this True Astral Force Method and immediately added it to his Equipment Slot.

In an instant, Lin Qing's blood and qi surged, and a tingling, numb pain spread through his muscles and bones. At the same time, his strength and endurance increased.

After a while, Lin Qing felt that his body's qi and blood had been depleted by more than half, so he put an Essence-Replenishing Pills in his mouth. Under the nourishment of the pill, his qi and blood were replenished again.

After about an hour, Lin Qing got up, and the transformation was finally over.

He stood by the bed and stretched his muscles, feeling as if his strength had increased by about 30,000 jin.

He stretched out his palm, and Gang Qi condensed within it. Its color was crimson, mixed with black stripes. It was the Beaconfire Astral Qi, which could sharpen weapons and also had a burning effect.

"It's a pity this place isn't convenient, otherwise I could test the power of this Beaconfire Astral Qi." Lin Qing thought to himself, as the flame in his palm gradually died down.

He then turned his gaze to the knife on the table beside him. When he was walking outside, he had wrapped it in black cloth to prevent anyone from recognizing it.

At that moment, he also glimpsed information about this weapon from Ao Xiong's memories.

This sword, named Heaven's Severance, is one of the Four Great Sabers of the Golden Treasure Pavilion in the Prefectural City. It is a true Divine Weapons, capable of cutting through iron like mud and being indestructible. True Essence Realm would perish if struck in a vital spot by this sword.

"It's a fine knife, but unfortunately it's too unique. I can only keep it hidden until Ao Xiong's undercover identity is exposed." Lin Qing drew the knife, examined it carefully for a while, then sheathed it again. His gaze fell on the panel, which showed that four souls had not yet been fully absorbed.

These four souls originated from the four assassins from before. Lin Qing only absorbed their memories; he did not copy their martial arts.

"Continue, and now absorb these four souls completely as well," Lin Qing thought to himself.

So, for the next few hours, Lin Qing stayed in his room, copying martial arts techniques and improving his strength.

As dusk fell, Lin Qing finally completed his fourth transformation.

"The four True Gang Realm martial arts techniques brought about four transformations in total, increasing my strength by 130,000 jin."

Lin Qing casually threw a punch, and a sonic boom echoed through the air.

These four martial arts techniques also added four types of Gang Qi to him: the Flowing Wind Astral Qi Flowing Wind Sword, which can increase the speed of punches or sword strikes and make the swords sharper; the Rock Qi corresponding to the Black Tortoise Mountain-Quelling Palm Suppressing Bedrock Astral Qi, which enhances his body's defense; the Myriad Illusory Transformations Illusory Astral Qi, which allows his physical appearance to change in countless ways; and the Yellow Mud Palm Yellow Mud Astral Qi, which has extremely strong adhesive properties and can cause his blood and qi to stagnate if it hits an enemy's body.