Out-of-Body Cultivation

Aunt Yun and A Bao's return delighted him, and they seemed very fond of the clean space he had inadvertently created earlier.

They felt especially comfortable inside it, and seemed to gain more from listening to Wang Qi recite the sutra.

Wang Qi was curious about their condition, but ultimately knew too little about the dead. Aunt Yun and A Bao never communicated with him, either, so he could only observe them slowly and draw his own conclusions.

Many mountain spirits were drawn over during this recitation as well. They, too, loved that clean space, running and wandering merrily through it like little sprites.

The evil spirits, however, could not do the same. They did not dare enter the clean area at all, merely prowling around its edges and testing it... That was just as well. It kept them from disturbing the benevolent spirits listening to the sutra.

These benevolent spirits generally did not listen for very long. After he finished the main text of the Heart Sutra, they would all disperse somewhere between the ninth and twenty-seventh repetitions of its mantra.

Wang Qi was primarily reciting the mantra for Aunt Yun and A Bao, however, so he still had to complete all one hundred and eight repetitions.

But this time, as he recited, he actually sensed faint traces of some subtle fluctuations radiating from his body... This was probably how the Heart Sutra's effects manifested.

But wouldn't that mean it was all going to waste?

Only after thinking it over did he realize that his previous recitations had been wasted. Since he was reciting for Aunt Yun and A Bao, he naturally needed a clear target.

Thus, after completing the one hundred and eight repetitions, he offered another heartfelt wish: "May Aunt Yun and A Bao find peace after death and enjoy serenity..."

As he finished his final blessing-or rather, guided by his wish-he sensed more than half of the peculiar fluctuations around him immediately converge on Aunt Yun and A Bao...

He did not know exactly how this worked, but judging by Aunt Yun and A Bao's reactions, it ought to be a good thing...

Wisps of gray, gloomy energy drifted out of them, while their own forms slowly began to regain some color from their grayish-white state.

Watching that gloomy energy drift away, Wang Qi wondered, Was that death qi or resentment qi?

It no longer mattered. He only needed to know that these things were bad for the spirits of the dead.

A little while later, after the Heart Sutra's wish power had spent its effect, Wang Qi could already sense that they were completely different from before.

Aunt Yun looked at Wang Qi and waved, while A Bao reluctantly tried to edge closer to him, only to be dragged away again by Aunt Yun...

Wang Qi understood. The spirits of the dead adversely affected the living, so although Aunt Yun and A Bao came to see him, they deliberately kept their distance... They even blocked other evil spirits from approaching him.

Just like this time: Aunt Yun seemed furious as she looked at the evil spirits nearby that did not dare approach. She actually pulled a long whip out of nowhere and lashed it out...

Crack!

A sharp report rang out.

The evil spirits covered their heads and scurried away like rats, fleeing just like that.

Wang Qi stared blankly at Aunt Yun, who had suddenly become so dashing and formidable. He did not mind that the evil spirits he had meant to keep for practice had been driven away. He merely found himself wondering how Wang Dashan had managed to win Aunt Yun over back then.

Considering Wang Dashan's body-hardening martial arts, honed to the very pinnacle... The more he thought about it, the more terrifying it became.

That made sense, too. How could an ordinary, delicate woman possibly withstand a rough fellow like that?

Still, Wang Qi now had something of a discerning eye. Although Aunt Yun handled her whip proficiently, her movements actually lacked refinement. She must have been the sort of wandering heroine who had only just ventured into the martial world...

His imagination immediately began spinning a million-word tale of a young heroine newly entering the martial world, encountering a veteran soldier, and embarking on a saga of love, hatred, debts, and vengeance...

And so, spinning "filler" exhausted his brain. Before long, he felt tired, and his consciousness fell back into his body.

Another wave of the lingering sensations from leaving his body washed over him.

This time, he went with the flow, guiding those intensely hot currents through his organs and into his dantian... Another wonderfully refreshing sensation followed.

Those fierce currents once again gathered into true yang qi and lay dormant, while a small portion became internal qi that settled in his dantian.

Wang Qi felt that his internal organs might also be strengthened in the process.

He also noticed that qi cultivation became much more efficient after leaving his body. He felt he should adjust his usual cultivation schedule, practicing fewer spells and more martial techniques so that he could conserve his mental power for out-of-body cultivation at night.

It was a pity, though. That meant he would not be able to master his three newly learned spells very quickly.

He rose and looked at the accumulated snow outside, discovering that it had snowed again during the night.

The weather was growing colder and colder. He glanced at the sky, which had yet to brighten, tidied up his campsite, and took his essential equipment with him to the recruit camp.

If he went now, he should arrive just in time to cadge some breakfast.

On the way, he found time to practice his newly learned spells, though he did not dare overdo it as he had before.

But when he began silently reciting the incantation for the Clothing-Cleansing Spell, he unexpectedly discovered that he was surprisingly adept at using his mental power for it. Several details that had remained unclear had suddenly become clear overnight.

What had he done last night?

His memories of being outside his body surfaced, and he naturally recalled his inadvertent experiment: casting the Clothing-Cleansing Spell with true yang qi, only to create an entire clean space...

He suddenly realized that these spells should actually be practiced while outside his body... No, he should try every kind of cultivation in that state!

His enthusiasm surged at once.

Unfortunately, he still had to fall asleep before he could leave his body... During the day, he could only practice external martial arts.

During the day, he resumed practicing his adoptive father's Mighty Stele-Splitting Palm.

This was a powerful technique for killing and smashing through defenses. Naturally, it also required him to keep drawing out his latent potential and undergo all manner of physical conditioning.

Wang Qi practiced earnestly, without using even a trace of inner force, so as to improve the effects of his training.

He also built quite a few pieces of "exercise equipment" in the woods based on his memories... This was good, too. As a former fitness enthusiast, he could no longer resist the urge to start pumping iron!

But there were no chunks of iron, so he would have to make do with wood.

This time, as though sixteen years of pent-up desire had been released all at once, he trained the entire day, stopping only when his whole body was sore, swollen, and drained of strength.

He was rather speechless at his own body. With such excellent endurance, even training himself to his limits and then breaking past them had become harder... Sure enough, iron weights were still best.

With these impractical thoughts running through his mind, he leaped straight into the mountain stream to wash himself... While he was at it, he caught two large fish swimming in the stream and brought them ashore.

He lit a fire and roasted the fish.

At the same time, he murmured the incantation for the Water-Repelling Spell...

The next moment, the cold dampness in his clothes dispersed, and his sodden garments became dry in an instant... Of course, they still felt as though they had been dried in the shade.

He followed it with a Clothing-Cleansing Spell... Hmm, it only removed a few stains that the clean water had failed to wash away. That shade-dried feeling remained unchanged.

Wang Qi scratched his head, then realization dawned. His internal qi surged and rose to the surface of his body, transforming into force that penetrated his clothes... The warm internal qi cultivated through lesser yang qi became inner force with a pure yang attribute. After steaming through all his clothes, it immediately released the fresh fragrance of laundry dried in the sun.

Only then was Wang Qi satisfied.

Clothing, food, shelter, and travel-he had finally brought the first three up to his own minimum standards... As for "travel," there was probably nothing he could do about that in this era.