On the Compound Formula: [Innate Gui Water Sweet Rain Moistening Mystic Qi]
When Wang An returned home that evening, he recalled how Metal Yang Qi had been born that day and compared it with the birth of Clear Yang Qi.
Gradually, he found some patterns in the process.
Compounding, as a way of bringing new heaven and earth qi into being, involved an energy supply, the action of a catalyst, imagery to determine the target, and finally, an aura and atmosphere corresponding to that imagery.
Summing it up, Wang An found that it was like a chemical synthesis formula.
Taking the entire process of Metal Yang Qi's birth as an example, it could be broken down as follows:
Extreme yang + metal-attribute qi + spirit yang + the atmosphere of the entire firing process = Metal Yang Qi
Breaking down the roles played by the various qi in these processes yielded the following formula:
Energy supply + intended target + catalyst + aura and atmosphere corresponding to the imagery = target qi
By the same reasoning, Clear Yang Qi and Living Being Qi had also been born this way.
With this, if Wang An needed heaven and earth qi with certain properties in the future, he could start from this approach.
Although getting the catalyst, aura, and atmosphere right would not be easy, he at least had a direction and would not be like a headless fly.
Using this as a reference, perhaps he could also approach the forging of the Heavenly River Water Dao foundation along these lines.
For example, after combining and refining the mystic qi corresponding to Star Qi, Greater Yin Qi, water qi, and Metal Yang Qi,
he could forge-or compound and sublimate-the four kinds of mystic qi at a time that matched the imagery of Heavenly River Water, when the Milky Way appeared, the Silver River showed faintly, and a soft haze hung in the air.
Why did they need to be sublimated?
Wang An calculated that if they were merely compounded, the four kinds of mystic qi would still be unable to bear extraordinary power.
This meant that after compounding the four kinds of mystic qi, he would need to infuse them with a substance matching the intended imagery of Heavenly River Qi, triggering their ultimate sublimation and giving them a tangible material vessel in which they could exist stably.
It could be the sweet rain and night mist corresponding to Dingwei: the Silver River faintly visible, a soft haze filling the air.
Or it could be the sudden midsummer rain corresponding to Bingwu: the Milky Way pouring down, vigorous, clear, and moist.
Of course, the most crucial thing was actually the arrangement of a feng shui aura that matched the imagery of the Heavenly River.
That was because the birth of something new needed a matching atmosphere to receive it.
Without such imagery to receive it, changes in the outside world could easily alter the nature of the entire Dao foundation, leaving it no longer suited to the extraordinary rule runes constructed within the body.
It was like welcoming a newborn: if the delivery room was filthy, disorderly, and chaotic, the baby born there could very well die young because of those surroundings.
Thus, it became necessary to comprehend a feng shui aura that guided the imagery of the Heavenly River, such as stars, water, and Supreme Yin.
Perhaps, after gathering and refining Star Qi and comprehending its principles, he would know exactly how to guide and arrange a feng shui aura related to the stars.
With that, the method for creating the entire extraordinary Dao would be basically complete.
Although Wang An was extrapolating from the small to the great in speculating about the process of creating an extraordinary Dao foundation,
with his current understanding of heaven and earth qi and the incomplete rule runes in his mind, this would count as creating a vessel that conformed to the principles of Heavenly River Water. Even if the creation failed, he could experiment and make adjustments again.
In the end, Wang An called the entire process of creating the Heavenly River Water Dao foundation a ritual. Through this whole set of rituals, he would bring the external environment to its optimal state and help improve the chances of success.
Just as Wang An was frantically calculating the ritual steps that would suit Heavenly River Water in his mind,
before he knew it, it was already four in the morning, and his mental power had fully recovered.
Now was the perfect time to gather and refine water qi.
Over the past few days, because he had already gathered and refined a strand of Innate Greater Yin Mystic Qi,
Wang An had made slight changes to the small feng shui aura behind the villa, greatly increasing the flow and accumulation speed of water qi.
He also used clear qi to help the water qi accumulate, improving the operating efficiency of the entire small feng shui aura.
Wang An walked out of the gate of his villa. With his current essence, qi, and spirit, he moved as lightly as a feather, treading on grass without bending it, each step covering three or four steps of an ordinary person.
An ordinary person would have to jog to catch up with him.
Now, the entire villa district had undergone new changes because he had constantly modified its feng shui aura.
The flow of water qi had increased sharply, and a hazy mist now filled the entire villa district, so thick that one could not see one's own hand.
The surrounding grass, trees, and flowers were covered in a layer of crystal-clear dew.
With the gathering of water qi, the surrounding vegetation and woods had also grown luxuriantly, so green they seemed ready to drip.
Some had even flowered more than ten days earlier than their normal season.
Wang An strolled deep into the dam area, to an aura node he had arranged.
He sat cross-legged as a breeze passed, the faint, cool wind brushing through his tied-up hair.
Dense, hazy fog shrouded the surroundings. Grass and trees swayed gently, and vividly beautiful flowers of red, white, blue, and purple dotted the scene, making it look like an immortal's sacred land.
He continued gathering and refining the water qi that had accumulated throughout the day up to this point.
From Wang An's perspective, looking this way from all around,
water qi from every direction under heaven converged here at tremendous speed, like vehicles constantly passing along a highway.
Along the routes on which it converged, clear qi guarded both sides, warding off interference from other qi.
Farther away, over the Shawu River and around both banks, the water mist was even denser.
Looking this way from farther out, one could see the surrounding mist slowly gathering toward a node near the villa district, and the water qi was doing the same.
According to Wang An's earlier calculations, by making good use of the existing dam and the river downstream,
this arrangement would allow the entire feng shui aura to accumulate thirty-five wisps of water qi in a day.
Today was the fourth day, and he would finish gathering and refining 108 wisps of water qi.
At six o'clock, the sun gave off a faint glimmer, illuminating the land.
Because Wang An had finished gathering and refining all the water qi near him, the dense fog over the villa district gradually began to disperse, revealing faint outlines of the surrounding buildings.
"The last strand of water qi, done."
However, without getting up, he continued using the Qi Refining skill.
In Wang An's lower dantian, the water qi floated on the surface of the essence-qi lake, now like mist, now like dew.
It began to merge and be refined together continuously, and faint patterns gradually appeared on the water qi, which had taken the shape of a droplet.
The mystic qi manifested, and the principles associated with water qi flowed through it. A piece of information returned to Wang An's mind.
[Innate Gui Water Sweet Rain Moistening Mystic Qi]: Its form is like morning mist and faint dew, like sweet rain nourishing grass and trees, moistening them and revealing a wondrous art.
Wondrous art: mystic qi merges with the body, Gui Water sweet rain washes away dust and moistens the spirit.
When Wang An drove this strand of mystic qi through his entire body, a feeling of ease came over his limbs and bones, his internal organs, and his three dantians.
As the sweet rain moistened his body, his mind, which had constantly been calculating how to design the Heavenly River Water Dao foundation ritual, gradually let go.
He could clearly feel his spirituality being nourished by this strand of mystic qi. His brain, which had been working and in frequent use, felt as though it were being moistened by immortal water and a spirit spring. His spirituality gradually recovered, then continued to rise after it had recovered.
"This is actually a wondrous art that washes away distracting thoughts and dust, raises spirituality, soothes the mind, and cultivates the body and temperament."