Earth Elemental Spiritual Energy

The South is fair, with scenes I once knew well.

He had left in the height of summer, and returned when the spring breeze was at its finest.

Guo Bei County was no longer the same place it had been two years ago.

Zhou Yi still remembered his first sight of the county walls—half-collapsed, with a few listless soldiers at the gate collecting entry taxes.

Now, beneath the newly renovated walls, a long queue of merchants and travelers bustled and jostled.

Two rows of soldiers conducted inspections one by one, while green-robed blade-wielding patrollers kept order, dragging aside anyone who caused trouble so as not to disrupt the flow.

Before Zhou Yi even entered the city, the rich aroma of wine hit him. The entire town felt like a distillery.

He moved slowly with the crowd, and as he passed through the gate, the leader of the blade-wielding patrols lit up with surprise.

"Greetings, Sword Saint." The man was over a decade older than Zhou Yi, yet he bowed deeply, his face a mix of reverence and joy.

"Oh? You're... Senior Brother He of the Golden Saber Sect?"

Zhou Yi recognized him. Before joining the Golden Saber Sect, he had been familiar with several disciples, including He Xu.

He Xu's face flushed red with drink and pride, as if he had received a great honor. He bowed and led the way ahead. "Sword Saint, Lady Chen has been waiting for you at Immortal's Pavilion."

Only after Zhou Yi's figure disappeared did the soldiers, merchants, and commoners at the gate dare to whisper.

Guo Bei Sword Saint—a living legend, the anchor of Guo Bei County.

Immortal's Pavilion.

In two years, it had been demolished and rebuilt twice. From two stories to three, then to five.

Immortal's Brew sold like wildfire, and with the backing of a Sword Saint who shook the world, even those who had mastered distillation dared not speak of it openly.

The first four floors were packed with merchants buying Immortal's Brew.

Chen Jinyu had divided them into four tiers. Only those with fortunes of a hundred thousand strings of cash could set foot on the fourth floor.

The fifth floor, Star Picking Pavilion, was off-limits to outsiders. Only the Wine Fairy lived there.

By the time Zhou Yi ascended, Chen Jinyu had already received word.

Guo Bei County was now an iron fortress. Even a fly that entered was recorded—its gender, time of arrival, purpose, and departure.

"Hmph! I thought... you'd never bother to come back."

Two years had only sharpened Chen Jinyu's noble bearing and authority.

Immortal's Brew controlled the livelihood of the entire county, with downstream industries affecting hundreds of thousands. The wealth it generated was a mountain of gold and a sea of silver—how could it not cultivate an air of nobility?

"I came back to ask for your help."

"A century-old Spirit Medicine? While you were away, I collected quite a few. I'll have Sister Hong fetch them."

Chen Jinyu gestured to the woman in red beside her. The woman nodded, casting a curious glance at Zhou Yi before leaving the room.

From the moment he entered, Zhou Yi had noticed the woman in red. Her martial arts cultivation was formidable, on par with the Mad Monk Yuan Zhi and the Divine Palm Yuan Ji in their prime.

Those two couldn't last a single move against Zhou Yi, but in the martial world, they were already first-rate experts. Men like Fist Suppressing Jingchu, Lingnan Blade King, Great River Dragon King, and Bayu Sword Immortal were heroes renowned across the land.

As for the former Hengshan Sect leader, Thousand Illusions Senluo Sword Mo Wentian, he was already a legendary old monster in the eyes of ordinary martial artists.

This woman, Sister Hong, was barely thirty and had already reached the level of the Mad Monk Yuan Zhi. In time, she might become a hero known far and wide.

But none of that stirred Zhou Yi's interest.

Zhou Yi asked, "Do you know of Western Fire Oil? The black, viscous stuff that once ignited, cannot be extinguished?"

Chen Jinyu thought for a moment, then nodded. "I've heard Western merchants mention it. They call it Fierce Fire Oil."

"That's the one. Spend money to collect it—as much as possible. Enough to burn a mountain."

"What are you going to use it for?"

"To kill enemies."

Zhou Yi offered no further explanation. Demons and monsters were still baseless legends in the eyes of ordinary people.

"Go ahead and buy it up in bulk. I'll be in seclusion for a while. Send the Spirit Medicine to my old meditation chamber."

"But you—" Before Chen Jinyu could finish, Zhou Yi had vanished without a trace.

She stomped her foot in frustration, but there was nothing she could do.

The meditation chamber.

Years ago, Zhou Yi had built it from four slabs of bluestone, with only a single door at the front.

The interior was spartan—just a bookshelf holding martial arts manuals and a meditation cushion.

It was pitch-black, cut off from daylight, and unless someone shouted at the entrance, even sound rarely penetrated.

"Since comprehending the Sword Intent, my Soul Power has grown steadily and is nearing perfection. Breaking through to the Xiantian realm will flood my body with Heaven and Earth Qi. Even with the Origin's repair, I need to regulate my blood and Qi, just in case."

As Zhou Yi's Essence, Qi, and Spirit approached their peak, his understanding of the Xiantian realm grew ever clearer.

To break through to Innate, Essence, Qi, and Spirit are all indispensable.

Mo Wentian of the Hengshan Sect had comprehended the Thousand Illusions Sword Intent, and his Soul Power had long been perfected.

Yet, old and frail, his Essence and Qi had already regressed. Forcing a breakthrough would only cause the Innate Qi to burst through his meridians and shatter his bones.

Unless, at the very end of his Lifespan, he gambled on a last-ditch effort—there was still a one-in-a-thousand chance to extend his life by decades.

An Innate Grandmaster lives to one hundred and fifty years.

Zhou Yi, however, had no such worries. He was in his prime, his Essence and Qi full and without leakage, and with his Origin repairing his body, he had at least a ninety percent chance of breaking through to Innate.

By this logic, if one wanted to become a Grandmaster in martial arts, they needed to perfect their Essence, Qi, and Spirit before the age of thirty. After that, it became far more difficult.

"Calculating it this way, even with my cheat, my cultivation speed is only a few years faster than the historical Innate Grandmasters?"

Zhou Yi sat cross-legged in the Stone Chamber, silently reciting Daoist scriptures over and over, calming his mind and waiting for the right moment.

Reciting.

Contemplating.

Comprehending.

Day after day passed.

When hungry, he replenished himself with Origin—solving both hunger and nourishing and strengthening his internal organs.

The century-old Spirit Medicines Chen Jinyu had sent, over a hundred stalks in total, along with a single thousand-year ginseng, were all absorbed by the Gateway to Myriad Wonders, transforming into a full six hundred points of Origin.

If sold, these herbs would be worth at least a hundred thousand taels of silver.

The saying "poverty for scholars, wealth for warriors" was perfectly demonstrated.

Zhou Yi had taught Chen Jinyu the method of distilling liquor and challenged the world, earning the title of the Guo Bei Sword Saint.

In two and a half years, the profits from liquor brewing provided Zhou Yi with over a thousand points of Origin, saving him at least a year and a half.

The Stone Chamber was lonely.

Zhou Yi's blood energy had been adjusted to its peak. Sitting there, he was like a blazing inferno.

His spirit had grown to its limit.

Essence, Qi, and Spirit were perfected.

With a thought, Zhou Yi thrust the Purple Lightning Sword into the ground outside the Stone Chamber.

"Everyone, stay ten zhang away. Anyone who disobeys dies!"

Footsteps sounded outside the Stone Chamber, then faded into the distance.

Upon hearing the report, Chen Jinyu directly ordered several hundred blade-wielding men to form a circle ten zhang out, forbidding anyone from approaching.

Now, back to Zhou Yi.

His Soul Power surged out of his body, sensing the omnipresent spiritual energy between heaven and earth.

Green, red, yellow, white, and black—representing Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water—the five-colored spiritual energy appeared in his Soul Power's perception.

Zhou Yi controlled his soul and tried each one, only to find he could only mobilize the Earth Elemental Spiritual Energy. The other four—Metal, Wood, Water, and Fire—were extremely sluggish.

It wasn't that he couldn't refine them at all, but they were more than ten times harder than Earth spiritual energy!

"Could it be that my Earth Spiritual Root talent is at work?"

Zhou Yi abandoned the other energies and focused entirely on mobilizing the Earth Spiritual Root, drawing it into his bones, meridians, and body, constantly tempering himself.

Spiritual energy entered his body.

Foreign matter invaded, constantly tearing and fusing.

Zhou Yi's meridians, long nourished and strengthened by Origin, barely managed to withstand it.

Origin was consumed continuously.

Wherever the Earth spiritual energy fused, Origin turned into silver threads, instantly repairing his body.

Destruction on one side, repair on the other.

This process of spiritual energy washing the marrow and refining the meridians lasted nine full days, until finally, every part of his body had adapted to the Earth spiritual energy.

His body had grown accustomed to the fusion of Earth spiritual energy. Not only did it no longer reject it, but it actively began absorbing the spiritual energy from the world.

In Zhou Yi's Soul Power perception, after the Earth spiritual energy within several zhang around him was completely drained, the outside energy seeped in to replenish it—but the speed was not fast.

A full quarter-hour later, the Earth spiritual energy had only just returned to its previous concentration.

"No wonder cultivators fight tooth and nail for places rich in spiritual energy. With the same talent, the density of spiritual energy directly determines the speed of cultivation!"