Practicing the Purple Glow Art

Li Yu silently prayed, Grandmaster Taiyi, your disciple will be borrowing your star coins today. From now on, I will burn plenty of incense for you every year on the anniversary of your death.

After clicking to pay, Li Yu hungrily devoured Xue Feng's insights into the Purple Glow Art.

The core of the Purple Glow Art lay in absorbing great sun ascendant purple qi-the gentle purple qi radiated by the sun. This was the pale violet glow that suffused the heavens as the sun rose or sank beneath the earth. Though supremely yang in nature, it was neither scorching nor fierce, and fostered vitality, cleansed impurities, nourished the spirit, and tempered the body.

For precisely this reason, the Purple Glow Art could only be practiced in the mornings and evenings.

Outside those hours, there was only great sun purple qi, violent and searing. With a Qi Refinement cultivator's constitution, trouble would strike the instant it entered the body. At best, it would burn the entire body; at worst, it would cause the flesh to rot.

At this point, Li Yu felt that his 9.9 star coins had been well spent. Had he started practicing without understanding the details, he probably would have died sitting on the spot in his current condition.

Just then, a faint rosy glow appeared outside the window.

The sun had risen.

Li Yu hesitated, but ultimately did not begin practicing the Purple Glow Art immediately. He intended to understand the technique inside and out first. After all, he had already obtained a heaven-defying opportunity in the form of the tablet. As long as he proceeded cautiously from here, his future would be limitless.

Having made up his mind, Li Yu shut the entrance to his cave abode and spent a full day watching all of Xue Feng's videos. Comparing them against the written instructions Ji Ganlin had given him, he committed every key aspect of the technique to heart.

Dusk fell.

Li Yu sat upright on a rock in front of his cave abode. Gazing at the boundless violet glow spreading across the sky, he took a deep breath and began absorbing his first wisp of great sun ascendant purple qi.

Since it was the Galaxy Alliance's simplest body-tempering technique, Li Yu quickly mastered the basics.

A gentle, mild current of warmth began circulating around his entire body. After making three circuits, it seemed to develop a will of its own, slipping through his pores and seeping toward the more severely injured parts of his body.

Under the influence of this gentle warmth, the true essence in Li Yu's dantian, which had run wild and needed medicinal suppression, actually stopped raging and came under the control of his spiritual sense once more.

With his true essence no longer wreaking havoc, repairing his physical injuries became much easier.

For cultivators who failed at Foundation Establishment, the best way to survive was to cripple their own cultivation. Most who failed died after their cultivation went berserk: their true essence spiraled out of control, leaving them unable to channel and contain the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, until their bodies burst.

The reason Li Yu's cultivation had fallen to the sixth level of Qi Refinement was that he had destroyed half his true essence upon noticing signs of failure.

As the Purple Glow Art circulated, the twelve primary meridians in Li Yu's body, previously blocked or severed, began clearing and reconnecting.

Time passed, and the violet glow on the horizon faded away as the sun set.

Li Yu immediately stopped practicing the Purple Glow Art.

Pff!

He suddenly spat out a large mouthful of blood, splattering the rock with a pitch-black stain.

Yet at the sight, Li Yu burst out laughing.

This was stagnant blood that had clogged his meridians, dissolved by the Purple Glow Art and expelled from his body.

"Heaven never seals off every path. Everything is getting better!" Li Yu murmured to himself.

After just his first session practicing the Purple Glow Art, his injuries had gone from virtually incurable to showing a glimmer of life.

As long as he persisted in practicing, he would soon recover completely.

And once he recovered, having already attempted Foundation Establishment once, his chances of succeeding the next time would be greater.

Moreover, he could follow the Galaxy Alliance's cultivation system and master the two stages of "Whirling Illumination" and "Illumination" before Foundation Establishment. That would allow him to establish a perfect foundation.

He thought again of the "immortal path foundation establishment" Xue Feng had mentioned.

He wondered what grade of heavenly treasure would be worthy of it.

As far as Li Yu knew, the Five Lotus Sect's most precious spiritual treasures were its five Creation Divine Lotuses. Supposedly, the founding ancestor had brought them out of the Celestial Emperor's temporary palace, and they contained the supreme power of creation.

The sect's name had come from them as well.

Still, even if someone beat him to death, Li Yu would never dare dream of obtaining a Creation Divine Lotus.

The Five Lotus Sect did, however, have an entire range of products derived from the Creation Divine Lotuses. Cultivated over generation after generation, the divine lotuses' seeds produced varieties with different uses in cultivation, and these had become the backbone of the sect's industry.

Here on Hanging Moon Peak, they cultivated a variety called the Moonlight Pure-Heart Lotus.

It had been developed over successive generations from the seed of one of the Creation Divine Lotuses. The Pure-Heart Pills refined from its seeds helped prevent cultivation deviation; soup made from its roots could clear the mind; and its leaves, dried using a special method, could serve as a special kind of talisman paper.

The original division of labor among the Five Lotus Sect's twenty-eight peaks had been intended to cultivate different varieties of lotus.

Disciples of the Five Lotus Sect who ventured into the outside world were often called "lotus-raising cultivators."

Li Yu thought that, since the Moonlight Pure-Heart Lotus could ultimately trace its origins back to a Creation Divine Lotus, perhaps an ancient seed might still retain a thread of the mighty power of creation. If he found one, it might serve as a substitute for attempting "immortal path foundation establishment."

However, such things were still rather distant prospects for him.

His most pressing task was to recover from his injuries first.

Just then, a streak of golden light flew over. It was a message talisman.

Li Yu swept out his sleeve and caught it.

It had been sent by Yin Ya, and contained only three words: [Captured him alive.]

After reading it, Li Yu frowned.

When he had asked Yin Ya to deal with Wang Xiang, he had never said to leave him alive.

Li Yu had spent fourteen years in Hanging Moon Peak's outer sect, climbing over other disciples step by step, patiently waiting and cultivating connections before securing the position of senior brother. His cunning and methods were both exceptional. Yin Ya's actions instantly set his mind racing through all manner of possible schemes.

But very soon, Li Yu chuckled despite himself.

To him now, the shallow pool that was Hanging Moon Peak's outer sect no longer mattered in the slightest.

Whatever plots or schemes Yin Ya had in mind, he could simply steer clear of him.

At that thought, Li Yu burned the message without sending Yin Ya a reply.

At least in name, the Five Lotus Sect still forbade disciples from killing one another. Li Yu never kept written evidence of this sort.

There was, however, one thing Li Yu still needed to do.

It was something he had promised Yin Ya.

Three days later, after using the Purple Glow Art to clear all twelve of his severely injured meridians, Li Yu had a rosy complexion and long, steady breathing.

"Oh? You're looking well, Senior Brother Li." Yin Ya, who had brought gifts with him, was slightly surprised to see Li Yu's condition.

He did not suspect that Li Yu was merely putting on a brave face. After all, anyone who wanted to survive a failed Foundation Establishment attempt would surely have paid a price. Besides, Li Yu had previously begged him to take action, already exposing the severity of his injuries.

The full extent of them.

Judging by his appearance now, his injuries must genuinely have improved.

Could the Yiyang Li clan have stepped in to help him?

At this thought, jealousy and resentment welled up in Yin Ya. His aptitude far surpassed that of everyone else in the outer sect, but because he was born a commoner with no backing, his cultivation progress had always lagged half a step behind aristocratic scions like Li Yu.

That was precisely why he had lost to Li Yu in their original contest for the position of outer sect senior brother.

Once I cultivate my way into the higher realms, I'll make sure to give these aristocratic cultivation clans a thorough reckoning! Yin Ya thought.