Zhou Qing Is the Best

Thanks to the unique advantage granted by his magnetic field sensing, Zhou Qing quickly discovered the essence of sensing spiritual energy.

He found that when these disciples cleared their minds and calmed their thoughts, keeping their spirits tranquil, their electromagnetic signals became regular and stable.

At such times, their spiritual roots would open and naturally resonate with spiritual energy. As long as they circulated their cultivation method then and gave a gentle pull, the spiritual energy would follow their spiritual roots into their meridians.

When a person's mind was unsettled, their electromagnetic signals would contain a great deal of noise.

These chaotic signals would interfere with the opening of their spiritual roots.

More than that, the noise would disrupt the spiritual energy around their bodies, making it restless as well.

When restless spiritual energy struck the spiritual roots, it could lead to the tragedy of shaking one's cultivation foundation.

Zhou Qing felt as though his eyes had been opened.

No wonder cultivating immortality required not only refining qi, but also refining the heart. A stable and steadfast Dao heart truly was the foundation of cultivation.

If one's Dao heart fell into disorder, a cultivator would lose the master that commanded qi.

Zhou Qing hungrily sensed the conditions around him, treating them as experience and lessons for blazing his own path.

Suddenly, he sensed intense spiritual energy fluctuations to his right, so he shifted his attention to Wei Xu beside him.

Wei Xu's condition made his heart tighten.

Zhou Qing discovered that the noise in Wei Xu's electromagnetic signals was terrifyingly abundant. Such chaotic signals showed that Wei Xu's heart had already descended into turmoil.

As Wei Xu's electromagnetic signals grew disordered, the spiritual energy around him was affected as well, becoming restless.

Refining qi was like taming a wild beast.

At the beginning, one had to show sufficient patience, follow the beast's nature, and make it lower its guard. Only then could one gradually bring it under restraint.

If a person became frantic from the very start, the beast would naturally be influenced into resisting even more fiercely, ultimately ending with both man and beast perishing together.

Wei Xu was in exactly such a state.

He had begun sensing spiritual energy with an anxious heart, so naturally he found it difficult to succeed. His continued failure only worsened his impatience.

With countless distracting thoughts swirling in his heart and his mind losing its guard, the affected spiritual energy recoiled against him, even shaking his spiritual roots.

Chen Qingxuan sat upon the platform, observing the disciples' conditions, and immediately noticed something wrong with Wei Xu.

This was the greatest purpose of those who lectured within the sect.

Just as he was about to step forward and rouse Wei Xu from his meditative state, he saw Zhou Qing beside Wei Xu suddenly strike Wei Xu's back with his palm.

Startled, Wei Xu abruptly awoke from his chaotic thoughts.

He looked around in confusion, then finally turned to Zhou Qing and asked, "Brother Zhou, what happened to me just now?"

Zhou Qing smiled. "Brother Wei, cultivating immortality is an undertaking of a thousand autumns and ten thousand years, not something accomplished in a day or night. Your mind is in turmoil. Do not force yourself into meditation; you would be better off resting for a while."

Wei Xu frowned. "But..."

Zhou Qing knew what he wanted to say, but this was not the place to say it, so he interrupted, "I know Brother Wei harbors great ambitions and wishes to achieve something. But cultivating immortality is our proper calling. The matter you have been planning has already affected your cultivation. Brother Wei should know how to weigh the choice, shouldn't you?"

Wei Xu shuddered and immediately understood.

His desire to contend for the position of Senior Apprentice had thrown him into confusion and nearly caused him to suffer qi deviation.

He felt both lingering fear and immense gratitude. "It is fortunate that Brother Zhou was here. Otherwise, this little brother would already have been beyond redemption."

Zhou Qing smiled. "Brother Wei flatters me. Even if this little brother had not acted, Uncle Chen would not have stood by and done nothing."

Chen Qingxuan had already arrived beside them.

When he saw Zhou Qing suddenly strike Wei Xu's back with his palm, Chen Qingxuan had been greatly alarmed, worried that Zhou Qing's action would worsen Wei Xu's danger.

When first entering qi refinement, spiritual energy backlash was the first great obstacle cultivators faced. It was fraught with danger. Many Rogue Cultivators fell at this hurdle; in mild cases, their spiritual roots were destroyed and they were forever cut off from cultivation, while in severe cases, their lives were even at risk.

Chen Qingxuan had been about to act urgently, stabilizing the spiritual energy around Wei Xu and reducing the possibility of backlash. Yet he discovered that Wei Xu had awakened safely, and no spiritual energy backlash had occurred.

Since there was no danger, he did not hurry to intervene. Instead, he listened from the side to see whether Zhou Qing would offer another insightful opinion.

Hearing the conversation between Zhou Qing and Wei Xu, he could not help but secretly praise him.

This young man had understood the connection between temperament and sensing spiritual energy so quickly. Moreover, he had seized the opportunity to awaken Wei Xu in time, preventing him from walking farther and farther down the dangerous path.

It had to be said that his intuition for cultivation was terrifyingly strong. He truly was worthy of being someone Chen Qingxuan had taken a liking to.

When Zhou Qing proactively brought him into the conversation, Chen Qingxuan finally spoke. He gathered all the other disciples around him and said:

"Many principles cannot be thoroughly understood without experiencing them personally."

"Just now, I taught you the method of sensing spiritual energy, but did not elaborate on the importance of temperament, precisely so that you could experience it for yourselves."

"Cultivation is the simultaneous cultivation of the three treasures: essence, qi, and spirit. Essence is a person's physique, qi is the spiritual energy between heaven and earth, and spirit is one's temperament."

"Among them, spirit is the master of the entire body. We must temper our temperament until it is lucid and steadfast, so that it may fulfill its role as master. In the past, many disciples neglected the tempering of their temperament, allowing qi to overwhelm spirit. Spirit could no longer command qi, and they ultimately suffered qi deviation, ending in misery."

After their cultivation just now, the disciples had already gained some awareness of the matter of temperament. With Chen Qingxuan's guidance, it was as though clouds had parted to reveal the sun.

Chen Qingxuan glanced at Zhou Qing beside him and smiled. "When it comes to the steadfastness and lucidity of temperament, Zhou Qing is the finest among you. If there is anything you do not understand in the future, you may ask him for guidance."

Zhou Qing froze. What did Uncle Chen mean by that? Why did it sound like something had already been decided internally?

The other disciples all looked at Zhou Qing with envy.

Uncle Chen, a Foundation Establishment Realm cultivator, had personally declared that Zhou Qing's temperament ranked first among them. Such an evaluation had never been given before.

One had to know that temperament was not something where one could easily say who was definitely superior unless the gap was enormous. Yet Zhou Qing had received the evaluation of being first, enough to show just how much Uncle Chen favored him.

He had gained the approval of a Foundation Establishment Realm senior the moment he entered the sect, while the others might not even have made the senior remember their names yet.

Why was the gap between people so vast?

Everyone felt both envious and an indescribable sourness.

Zhou Qing would rather not have received this evaluation.

He had now become the center of everyone's attention, which was wholly unsuited to his current situation.

This made him somewhat wary.

But on second thought, there was nothing bad about it.

He had long wanted to establish the persona of someone with extraordinarily high comprehension, whose mouth was full of grand principles, but whose spiritual root talent was poor, leaving his cultivation ceiling low.

Such a persona was harmless to man and beast, and might even be useful to others, thereby avoiding many dangers.

The current situation had not strayed from its course.

It had now been confirmed that he could not draw qi into his body. If he could not demonstrate his value in other areas, Azure Cloud Sect would likely sweep him out the door before long.

Having thought this through, Zhou Qing felt that he had not been conspicuous enough and had not yet displayed sufficient value.

It seemed he would have to keep up his efforts in the future.