Primordial World Qi Refining Art
For the first month after his Martial Soul Awakening, Nan Feng entered the space inside the pagoda every night.
The world inside the pagoda was pitch-black. The only light came from a faint cyan glow filtering through the crack at its base.
Nan Feng sat cross-legged before the crack and sank his consciousness into his dantian using the method Old Huai had taught him. The meridians in his six-year-old body were thin and soft, and the paths his Soul Power traveled were like freshly dug little ditches, unable to hold too great a flow.
He could only proceed bit by bit, letting his Soul Power seep into the meridian walls and stretch open the blocked passages.
The process was dull enough to drive a person mad.
In his previous life, Nan Feng had dealt in antiques and once spent three months cleaning a piece of Han-dynasty lacquerware. Every day, he worked at it with a fine-bristled brush for two hours, neither too fast nor too hard. Too fast, and he would damage the lacquer; too hard, and he would leave scratches. After three months, vermilion patterns emerged from the black crust of mud.
What he was doing now was much the same. Soul Power had replaced the brush, and meridians had replaced the lacquerware, but the work was more than a hundred times greater.
Every night, Old Huai leaned halfway out of the crack to watch him cultivate. The old man did not like to talk, but occasionally offered a few pointers.
"You're moving through those two hand three yin meridians too quickly. If your Soul Power rushes too far, the meridian walls will crack."
"The belt meridian in your abdomen runs horizontally. Don't push Soul Power into it; let it soak in and seep through on its own."
"Your breathing's wrong. Breathe all the way in when your Soul Power reaches the hand lesser yin heart meridian, and breathe all the way out when it reaches the hand greater yang small intestine meridian. Your breathing is a complete mess."
Nan Feng said nothing. He corrected himself again and again, sending his Soul Power through once more after each correction, then correcting himself again.
The patience he had developed restoring antiques in his previous life came in handy now. He could correct every problem Old Huai pointed out within three attempts.
On the seventh day, Old Huai stopped finding fault and sat dozing at the edge of the crack instead.
A month later, Nan Feng's Soul Power rose from level eight to level nine.
His progress was slow, but he was in no hurry. Old Huai had said that the slower he went, the steadier he would be; the more solid his foundation, the wider the road ahead.
When he read "Douluo Continent" in his previous life, Yu Xiaogang's theory had said that Innate Soul Power determined the speed of growth, and level eight counted as above-average talent.
But Nan Feng knew that his growth could not be judged by level alone. Gravity Field worked on him twenty-four hours a day, and his meridians grew tougher and his bones denser every night.
Those things did not show up in his Soul Power Level. When the time came to absorb a Soul Ring beyond the limit, this would be his greatest trump card.
One evening in the second month after his awakening, Nan Feng entered the space inside the pagoda as usual.
Old Huai was not dozing in the crack as he usually did. He sat outside it, half his body exposed to the air. This was the first time he had sat all the way out.
"Come here, kid." Old Huai patted the empty space beside him.
Nan Feng moved his consciousness over and sat down beside Old Huai. There was something peculiar about the old man's presence. Nan Feng could smell nothing, but he could feel an immense pressure, as though a mountain had been compressed to the size of a fist. It was the overflow of the Primordial World spirit treasure's source, though Nan Feng only learned that later.
He simply felt at ease sitting beside Old Huai, as he had sitting by the forge in the smithy as a child.
"Your Soul Power has reached level nine, and it's been almost two months since your awakening." Old Huai rested his hands on his knees, those gaunt hands looking especially aged in the cyan light. "There's something I need to make clear to you today. I didn't tell you before because the time wasn't right. Now that your foundation is steady, you can know."
Nan Feng nodded.
"This pagoda's full name is the Nine Nether Heaven Suppression Pagoda. It's a suppression and sealing spirit treasure left over from the Primordial World era." Old Huai's voice was even, but he weighed down every word.
"It doesn't matter if you don't know what the Primordial World era was. Just remember this: the Primordial World is the source of everything. Whether it's this world's Divine Realm or Spirit Hall, all power sprang from the Primordial World after it shattered.
"Earth is the largest fragment of the shattered Primordial Wilderness World. Your soul came from Earth, so it carries the presence of the Primordial World's source."
Old Huai pointed at the cluster of swirling golden specks deep within Nan Feng's soul.
"Those golden specks in your soul are the Primordial World Imprint. There isn't another like it under heaven. This pagoda has followed you through two lifetimes, and in neither did you succeed in cultivating it. Why? The time wasn't right, and you couldn't hold out yourself. If you can't hold out in this life, the pagoda will shatter and your soul will scatter. You won't even have a chance to reincarnate."
Nan Feng fell silent for a while. "How did I die in my last two lives?"
"In your last life, you were cut down as soon as you came into contact with the pagoda, before you'd even awakened. In the life before that, you awakened, but someone set their sights on you when you cultivated to the second floor. In the end, the pagoda shattered and you died." Old Huai narrowed his eyes.
"You don't need to concern yourself with the people who set their sights on you for now. Knowing won't do you any good. You only need to know one thing: in this life, you must hide yourself more deeply than in the last two.
"Gravity Field helps you conceal your Soul Power fluctuations. But every time you open another floor of the pagoda, some of the Primordial World spirit treasure's source will be released. Your physique will change, and so will your Soul Power fluctuations. When the time comes, you'll have to find your own way to hide them."
Nan Feng nodded. He recalled a detail from a novel he had read in his previous life. "Does each floor of the pagoda have a different power?"
Old Huai's eyebrows twitched. He had not expected Nan Feng to ask that.
"You know?"
"No. I guessed."
Old Huai stared at him for two breaths, then smiled. The smile was like a crack splitting open in old tree bark, revealing the hard wood beneath.
"All right. You're smarter than you were in your last two lives, kid. I'll tell you: the pagoda has nine floors, and each one seals a different power."
"The first floor is Mountain Suppression, the root of the power of suppression. Your Tower Suppression skill was derived from this floor's power."
"The second floor is Devouring. It absorbs spiritual power and converts it into pagoda energy. When you hunt Soul Beasts in the future, this floor will save you a lot of effort."
"The third floor is Creation, the power of transformation and generation. It can evolve your Martial Soul and help you fuse Soul Bones."
"The fourth floor is Return to Origin, the power of restoration. Whether the pagoda's body cracks or your meridians break, this floor can repair them."
Old Huai paused.
"The fifth floor is Space-Time. It controls the flow of time in the pagoda spirit space. Right now, it's 1.2 to 1. Once you reach level 60 and open the fifth floor, it can be raised to 10 to 1. One day in the pagoda, ten days outside."
"The sixth floor is Return to the Void, the power of annihilation. It can crush any kind of energy."
"The seventh floor is Samsara, suppression and rebirth on the level of the soul. It can pull a person back from death."
"The eighth floor is Purification. It dispels all negative conditions."
"The ninth floor is World Creation, the power of the Primordial World's source. We'll talk about it when you reach that floor."
Nan Feng committed every floor to memory.
The Creation floor could evolve Martial Souls, the Return to Origin floor could repair the pagoda's body and meridians, and the Space-Time floor controlled the flow of time.
The Samsara floor could pull a person back from death, and the Purification floor dispelled negative conditions. Every floor corresponded to a path.
"One more thing." Old Huai's voice turned serious. "When your Soul Power reaches level ten, you must go hunt for your First Soul Ring. If you don't, your Soul Power will be stuck at level ten forever, unable to rise even a bit. But the higher the age of the Soul Ring you hunt, the heavier the burden on the pagoda to suppress it. For the First Soul Ring, the limit for a normal Soul Master is a little over four hundred years.
"You have Gravity Field protecting your body and the Primordial World spirit treasure's source supporting you, so you can aim higher. How high is for you to weigh. The pagoda's first floor, Mountain Suppression, will help you suppress the Soul Ring's backlash when the time comes, but if it can't..."
Old Huai did not finish. Nan Feng knew what came next.
"How many years can I aim for with my First Soul Ring?"
Old Huai looked at him, a speck of cyan light reflected in his cloudy eyes. "Your body density is currently 1.3 times that of an ordinary Soul Master, your meridians are 1.5 times as wide, and your Soul Power is twice as pure. For your First Soul Ring, you should be able to suppress anything under a thousand years. Above a thousand years, it depends on whether you can endure the three days when the Soul Ring enters your body."
Nan Feng remembered those words.
"I'll teach you a meditation method that works better than any Soul Power cultivation method in this world. It's called the Primordial World Qi Refining Art, a cultivation method used by the human race in the Primordial World era. From now on, practice it for two hours every morning and evening. Don't slack off."
Old Huai extended his right index finger and tapped Nan Feng between the eyebrows.
A stream of warm air poured in through the spot between his eyebrows, reaching deep into his soul and flowing throughout his body along his consciousness.
Nan Feng felt the routes along which his Soul Power circulated being reorganized. The cycle he had originally needed to maintain deliberately became instinctive, and the resistance fell by nearly half.
"This cultivation art will stay with you. The higher your Soul Power, the more pronounced its effects will be." Old Huai withdrew his finger and yawned. "Don't come looking for me again before your Soul Power reaches level ten. Practice on your own. Come back when you reach level ten and need to hunt a Soul Ring. I'll help you choose a target."
Old Huai retreated into the crack. The cyan light dimmed a shade, and the space inside the pagoda fell quiet again.
Nan Feng sat where he was for a long time, going over every word Old Huai had said in his mind. The Primordial World Imprint, the nine-story pagoda, the Primordial World Qi Refining Art, absorption beyond the limit, Gravity Field, and the iron rule of Soul Power levels. All these things, pieced together, formed the road he had to walk.
By the time he opened his eyes, dawn had already broken. The quilt had been kicked down to his feet, and the gray-white light of a winter morning filtered through the paper window.
From the direction of the smithy came the sounds of Old Chen lighting the fire. The bellows fanned the charcoal into a blaze, and flames leaped upward.
Nan Feng got dressed and walked into the smithy. Old Chen was crouched in front of the forge, moving charcoal with tongs. He glanced up at Nan Feng and shifted to one side.
Nan Feng crouched beside Old Chen to warm himself by the fire. Heat from the charcoal washed over his face, warm and cozy.
He looked down at the palm of his right hand. The faint cyan glow deep within its lines was almost invisible in the light of the forge, but he knew it was there.
Level ten. He was only one level away.
Once he reached level ten, he would have to face his first Soul Beast.