Strategist Ji's Mixed Joy and Sorrow

"Yet this time, Strategist Ji had also encountered an immense stroke of fortune. The paper book he obtained had been shaken apart when the Storage Pouch exploded, stripping away its layer of immortal protection, so its contents became easy to read. The immortal art recorded within should have belonged to some immortal sect that cultivated poison. Their art used poison to enter the Dao: after sensing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and drawing it into the body, one would prepare a special secret formula, using juices refined from various poisonous herbs as a medicinal catalyst, then absorb them into the body. While continuing to absorb spiritual power from the outside world, one would use spiritual force to drive the spiritual energy to refine those juices. Once the spiritual energy had grown stronger, it would be stored within the body, strengthening the sinews, meridians, and internal organs, finally completing the initial stage of Qi Condensation and entering the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm. This was no orthodox cultivation method. Unlike Daoist, Buddhist, or Confucian immortal cultivators, who advanced step by step and built their foundations steadily, it borrowed the power of poisonous herbs to forcibly cleanse the meridians and marrow, strengthening the body and widening the meridians before even reaching the first layer. It was truly a method that walked the edge of the sword."

Besides possessing immense fortune, Strategist Ji was also an exceptionally ruthless man. First, he did not even know whether he possessed spiritual roots, yet he dared to try. Sensing spiritual energy was especially difficult for those who had cultivated worldly internal arts; they could not distinguish between the spiritual energy of heaven and earth and the inner power they cultivated themselves. If he had lacked spiritual roots and mistaken his inner power for the spiritual energy he sensed, then continued refining those poisonous herb juices into his body, he would have died immediately. Second, this cultivation art happened to match his physical attributes. Otherwise, success would have been exceedingly difficult. He possessed Four-Attribute Mystic Spiritual Roots, with wood being his strongest attribute, and this art happened to be a wood-element entry cultivation method. The two complemented each other perfectly.

After obtaining the book, he was naturally delighted and intended to cultivate it. But this immortal art used poison to enter the Dao, and the opening pages recorded the method for preparing the secret formula. A minor entry-level recipe like this naturally would not require any particularly difficult-to-find herbs. Otherwise, if one needed heavenly treasures and earthly wonders merely to get started, that immortal sect would have perished long ago. But that was from an immortal sect's perspective. The several herbs required by the formula were exceedingly rare in the mortal world. Still, for the Immortal-Seeking Lineage, who traveled through deep mountains and primeval forests year-round, they were not too difficult to find. Thus, Strategist Ji quickly found most of the herbs. Yet he still could not find the final two, and those two were vital ingredients used to balance the medicinal effects. Otherwise, when absorbing the formula, the poisonous power of the herbs could not be neutralized, causing anyone who absorbed the juice's energy unbearable pain." Having said this, the old man looked at Li Yan again.

Li Yan remained silently speechless. He now understood why cultivation had been so painful—it was because the herbs meant to balance the medicinal effects had been missing.

"After another two years of searching, Strategist Ji finally found one more herb, but the last one remained impossible to find. At that moment, his ruthless nature showed itself without reservation. While still missing one herb, and without even confirming whether he possessed spiritual roots, he began cultivating by drawing the medicine into his body. Yet there was destiny in the unseen. The cultivation art and his spiritual roots matched perfectly. Though the process was agonizing, after seven times seven, forty-nine days of cultivation, he actually succeeded in stepping into the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm.

However, he did not know that this entry-level formula from an immortal sect, though low-grade beyond measure, had been refined and explored through tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of years of relentless hammering and tempering. It had long since been streamlined to the utmost. Every herb had its particular purpose; one could not dismiss an ingredient simply because it was not a main herb but merely an auxiliary one. By cultivating so forcibly, he had indeed advanced to the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, but he had already planted the seeds of disaster. Without one herb to harmonize the medicinal effects, those effects could not be completely refined. Quite a bit remained in his body, and over time, toxic fire slowly began to breed.

At first, there were not many outward signs or symptoms. But as Strategist Ji's cultivation steadily rose, several years later, that unrefined medicinal power lingering in his body slowly grew stronger and began forming fire poison. Its initial symptoms were just like what you felt some time ago: irritability, oppression in the chest, and extreme agitation within the body. But by then, he had already cultivated to the second layer, so he could still suppress it. He thought that as his cultivation improved, the spiritual power within his body would eventually be able to eliminate the fire poison. So he cultivated while searching for ways to clear his heart and calm his spirit.

Through the introduction in that paper entry-level book, he learned that only after cultivating to the third layer of the Qi Condensation Realm could his divine sense leave his body, allowing him to read the contents of jade slips and jade books. Thus, for the time being, he could not open the jade book or jade slip, and had no idea whether they contained a solution. So he resorted to the simplest methods: going to icy wastelands, immersing himself in music, and so on. In this way, he actually forced himself to cultivate to the third layer of the Qi Condensation Realm. Once his divine sense could leave his body, he eagerly used it to read the jade book and jade slip. Naturally, he could not open the jade book. But when he opened the jade slip, he first learned that it and the paper book formed a complete cultivation art. He was overjoyed, thinking he would surely find a solution within. Yet the final result left him utterly horrified.

The front of the jade slip recorded the Qi Condensation incantations for layers four through ten of the immortal art. The back truly focused on explaining the formula's benefits and drawbacks. Its benefit was that by drawing this medicinal liquid into the body and combining it with the proper entry cultivation method, one's body would become far tougher than that of cultivators at the same level from other sects. This advantage would become increasingly apparent in later cultivation, greatly enhancing one's combat strength in spell battles. Moreover, this cultivation method was far faster than orthodox immortal arts; the difference in time could not be spoken of in the same breath. Its drawback was that if one used an improper formula and cultivated by force, fire poison would arise within the body. This fire poison would continuously be nourished and grow alongside the spiritual power inside the body. Eventually, one's own magical power would no longer be able to suppress it. Upon reaching the peak of the third layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, the fire poison would multiply at a mad rate, giving the cultivator no further chance at all. It would erupt immediately, causing the cultivator's blood and qi to flow in reverse and their body to explode in death. But if one wished to stop cultivating and remain below the peak of the third layer, that too was wishful thinking. The fire poison bred and strengthened itself every day. One had to continuously cultivate and raise one's realm in order to suppress it; otherwise, one would only die sooner. It was a vicious cycle—knowing death lay ahead, yet still having to step into it one pace at a time. Upon seeing this, Strategist Ji cursed loudly enough to tear his throat apart, nearly letting the toxic fire assault his heart.

In the cultivation world, especially among sects that had endured for thousands or tens of thousands of years, what sect did not have protective measures for its own cultivation arts? Even the lowest-level entry cultivation arts would have some targeted safeguards. That was why these matters were not explained in the paper book. They feared that if the book accidentally fell into the outside world, someone might obtain and cultivate it. By deliberately omitting certain details, once such a person discovered the truth in the later stages, it would already be too late. The path awaiting them would basically be nothing but a miserable death.

This outcome left him both shocked and enraged, so he began searching everywhere for a solution. Until one day, he encountered a senior in the Foundation Establishment Realm. By coincidence, that cultivator was also from the Immortal-Seeking Lineage. At the time, if that Foundation Establishment cultivator had been willing to expend a great deal of his own true essence, he could have helped Strategist Ji sort through and eliminate the fire poison in his body. But the cultivation world followed the law of the jungle. The strong devoured the weak, and killing over the slightest displeasure was commonplace. When cultivators encountered those of lower cultivation than themselves, or solitary cultivators, murder and treasure-snatching were almost routine. That he survived this encounter already counted as good fortune. First, his realm was too low for the Foundation Establishment cultivator to care about; what treasures could a rookie who had only just entered the immortal path possibly possess? Second, the cultivator spared his life out of consideration for the fact that they both came from the Immortal-Seeking Lineage.

Having finally found a senior expert he could speak to, how could Strategist Ji let such a chance at survival slip away? He begged bitterly. Naturally, the man would not circulate his power to treat his poison, but in the end, out of consideration for their shared lineage, he still pointed out a path to survival. He told him that if he could cultivate to the fourth layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, he might be able to remove the fire poison from his body. But the odds were not high. After all, the cultivation art itself clearly stated that at most, when one reached the peak of the third layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, the fire poison would erupt in full force, causing blood and qi to surge backward and bringing death. How could there still be time for him to continue cultivating?

There was another method: delay the time it took to progress from the initial stage of the third layer to its peak as much as possible. If, during that period, he could capture a junior cultivator who practiced the same cultivation art, he could forcibly absorb that cultivator's spiritual power and use it to launch a sudden all-out charge into the fourth layer of the Qi Condensation Realm. If he succeeded, he might clear the fire poison from his body. If he failed, both of them would die together.

This method had conditions. First, the cultivation arts practiced by the two people had to be identical, so there would be no conflict between their techniques. Second, the chosen cultivator had to be at the peak of the first layer, and could only, indeed had to, be at that level. If the chosen cultivator's power was too high, then with his mere third-layer cultivation, absorbing it would basically cause an immediate backlash. Forget charging into the fourth layer—he would likely explode and die on the spot. But if the chosen cultivator's power was too low, the spiritual power in their body would be insufficient to let him break through to the fourth layer, making the effort equally futile.

Afterward, the Foundation Establishment cultivator said no more and imparted to Strategist Ji the method for absorbing another person's spiritual power.

Though this art of absorbing another's spiritual power was not some secret technique in the cultivation world, very few people used it. First, regardless of whether it succeeded, the unfortunate low-level cultivator being drained would inevitably lose all vital essence and die on the spot, meeting an incomparably miserable end. At the same time, absorbing another person's spiritual power for one's own use was not something that could succeed casually, and the chance of success was not high. First, the attributes of the cultivation arts had to match. Otherwise, if one's own spiritual power differed in attribute from the absorbed spiritual power, the repulsion between them could directly kill the person. Second, this method of increasing cultivation was greatly outweighed by its costs. Even if the cultivation arts were the same, the spiritual powers of different people still had to be assimilated in the end. This required long periods of secluded refinement—at least several years, or as many as decades or centuries, depending on how much spiritual power had been absorbed. During that period, no spiritual power could be used at all. Otherwise, the two streams of spiritual power would fall into chaos, causing cultivation deviation. With that amount of time, one might as well cultivate steadily on one's own. Third, this practice was despised by the cultivation world. Though it had not reached the point where everyone shouted for their death, if such a person was truly encountered, most cultivators would join together to attack them. Therefore, unless one had been driven to the absolute end of the road, this art would almost never be used. It was basically as useless as chicken ribs.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator also told Strategist Ji plainly that whether reaching the fourth layer could remove the fire poison from his body was merely his own speculation. But even so, Strategist Ji fell to his knees and repeatedly offered his deepest thanks. In the end, that Foundation Establishment senior even gave him three packets of Clearheart Powder. This medicine was a low-grade medicinal powder among pills and elixirs, without much effect. Those who had only just begun cultivating found it difficult to enter meditation and were easily irritated and restless; this powder was meant to help such low-level cultivators quickly clear their hearts, calm their spirits, embrace their vital essence, and guard the One. But to Strategist Ji, it was desperately needed. With it, he could greatly prolong the time he was able to suppress the fire poison.

After receiving the Foundation Establishment cultivator's guidance, Strategist Ji began racking his brains over how to find a suitable candidate. Naturally, the best source would be the sect or clan that possessed this immortal art. He could find an opportunity to sneak in, locate someone at the peak of the first layer of the Qi Condensation Realm, subdue them, take them away, and then absorb their spiritual power.

But he absolutely did not dare do such a thing. First, he did not have the courage. Even if he did, with his insignificant cultivation, he would probably be blasted until not even dregs remained the moment he reached their territory, before he could even pass through their sect-protecting formation.

As a member of the long-established Immortal-Seeking Lineage, Strategist Ji knew that if an immortal sect or clan discovered someone like him secretly cultivating its immortal art, there was basically only one outcome awaiting that person: immediate extermination. Secretly cultivating another sect's or clan's immortal art without permission was a great taboo in the cultivation world.

Furthermore, he had found this immortal art beside a pile of dry bones. The stronger a cultivator was, the longer their bones would remain after death. He had no idea how many years that pile of bones had endured. Perhaps that sect or clan had long since vanished into the river of history. Where was he supposed to find it? Thus, Strategist Ji's chance of survival was vanishingly slim."