Half a Year to Fuse Pill and Sword, Jiang Third Comprehends Suppressing the Firmament

----Six months later

Jiang Qing, who had been in seclusion for a long time, had just left his cave abode in Yangming Mountain and brought back a large amount of supplies from Ink Cloud Marsh. The Chongming Sect was bustling with activity, but no one in the sect had given him any official duties.

After a brief examination of the former's cultivation and a few words of advice not to rush things, Sect Leader Kang Da sent Third Master Jiang back to his cave abode.

Those who witnessed this scene naturally understood that, for the Chongming Sect, the most important thing was for another Golden Core cultivator to emerge and keep the situation in check.

The fate of countless honors and disgraces rests solely on one person's shoulders; such a situation is far too perilous.

It is said that even though Kang Dabao is only at the initial stage of cultivation, when it comes to fighting skills, among the many advanced cultivators of the Ying Prefecture Fei Household, only a handful such as Fei Ye Shui, Fei Tianqin, Fei Dongwen, and Fei Donggu can be said to be able to win decisively.

Even so, in the eyes of those powerful Golden Core cultivators, Sect Leader Kang Da was still always inferior.

Even when Preceptor Huang Mi almost pressed himself against Kang Dabao's face, the situation had become so urgent, yet the latter still hadn't ordered Jiang Qing to leave seclusion?

Outsiders all understood perfectly, and Jiang Qing himself was even more aware of the situation. Therefore, he did not refuse the arrangement made by the Sect Leader Kang Da, and went straight back into the cave abode. He casually placed the plain brocade box that Lian Xuepu had asked Duan Anle to bring on the table, and his fingertips stroked the fur of the Luminous Sword Ape on his shoulder.

The little beast seemed to know he was about to cultivate, and gently rubbed against his palm before jumping onto a stone bench in the corner of the cave abode, curling up quietly, which made it look even more petite and adorable.

He then took out the last Three Talents Origin-Nourishing Pill, uncorked it, and a refreshing, bittersweet Spiritual Qi wafted out, completely different from the harshness of ordinary pills.

The pill was about the size of a thumb, with fine Three Origins Pill patterns floating on its surface. It was cool to the touch, and the Spiritual Qi it exuded made even Third Master Jiang's eyebrows curve slightly. It was indeed a Higher Vehicle pill.

Attendant Luan said that ordinary late-stage True Cultivator only know that after swallowing a few Three Talents Origin-Nourishing Pill, they will reach perfection, but in the end, Third Master Jiang is far from being "ordinary".

Of the forty-two pills, only one remains. However, Jiang Qing feels that he is still a step away from reaching the Core Formation. He wonders what Attendant Luan would say if he knew about this abnormal situation.

Jiang Qing took out a Second-Tier Supreme-Grade jade futon that he had just been given, sat down cross-legged, and put the pill into his mouth.

With a drool, the pill transformed into a warm, moist spiritual energy that slid down his throat into his Dantian, causing a look of enjoyment to appear on the handsome swordsman's face once again.

Jiang Qing then half-closed her eyelids and focused on regulating her breathing.

Beside him lay a row of sword manuals of various ranks, some righteous and some evil, some incomplete and some incomplete. Most of them were obtained by the Chongming Sect in recent years after its families were destroyed and its members wiped out, so they could not be considered to have any legitimate origin.

Only a few bamboo slips from that period were in good condition, thanks to various fortuitous opportunity and the generous gifts from the esteemed officials, making them particularly eye-catching.

However, among these glittering sword manuals, the one that Jiang Qing obtained from Second Master Ming back then, "Ten Discourses on Qingfuzi's Sword Classic," was still in the center.

I wonder what secrets this sword manual, written by False Core, holds.

Logically speaking, Jiang Qing's current level of cultivation and vision far surpasses that of the young man in black from back then, yet he still loves reading "Ten Discourses on Qingfuzi's Sword Classic" so much.

According to his own account, he "read the classics so many times that the leather thongs broke three times, and each reading brought new insights."

This point was also confirmed by the old bird Fei Tianqin. Back when Jiang Qing and the latter discussed the Dao, Fei Tianqin showed great favor to this classic text originating from the Ming Household. Afterwards, he even sent his close disciples to Jiang Qing to print the sword classic.

This situation is quite rare for someone of Fei Tianqin's status and position.

When Jiang Qing was adjusting his breathing, he seemed to be enveloped in a bush of Sword Qi. As the pill was fully refined, his aura became even sharper, as if it would make the stone chamber turn its head slightly.

If it were a regular Second Tier pill, Jiang Qing would always need half an hour to suppress the drug's volatile power. However, the spiritual power of this Three Talents Origin-Nourishing Pill flowed smoothly like a stream. As it traveled along his meridians, it was even slowly repairing the minor hidden injuries he had sustained from practicing swordsmanship in his early years.

Jiang Qing sighed inwardly: Attendant Luan was right. Such a elixir that greatly reduces poisoning would not cause any harm even if taken continuously. No wonder his senior brother gave him all forty-two of them.

With the last pill half-refined, the Spirit Gathering Formation inside the cave abode suddenly lit up faintly, and the surrounding Spiritual Qi was drawn towards Jiang Qing by an invisible suction force.

He could clearly feel that the spiritual energy pool in his Dantian was filling up at a visible speed, and his cultivation, which was originally at the peak of the Foundation Establishment stage, was showing signs of loosening.

The Luminous Sword Ape seemed to sense something amiss, raised its head to glance at him, and let out a soft cry, but did not go forward to disturb him. Instead, it curled back up, its tail inadvertently brushing lightly against the stone bench.

The few spirit fruit pits that had fallen on the stone surface were swept and rolled slightly, making a soft rustling sound. This startled the Luminous Sword Ape suddenly leaped up and quickly turned around to put them back in place.

The subtle noise reached Jiang Qing's ears, but did not disturb his mind.

At this moment, the spiritual energy within his Dantian surged like a tide, and the medicinal power of the last Three Talents Origin-Nourishing Pill completely dissipated.

The gentle Spiritual Qi flowed along the meridians, and wherever it passed, the hidden injuries left from practicing swordsmanship in his early years melted away like snow meeting the spring sun, and even the meridians throughout his body seemed to be widened.

The Spirit Gathering Formation inside the cave abode suddenly shone brightly, and the originally pale white Spiritual Qi mist gradually turned a light blue color, seeping into his body along with the Sword Qi bushes around him.

Jiang Qing felt as if a pebble had been thrown into the spiritual energy pool in his Dantian. As the ripples spread, the invisible barrier between the Foundation Establishment Peak and the Core Formation seemed to have been connected by a mysterious and subtle relationship.

Don't be fooled by how mysterious and obscure this relationship seems; many fake alchemists never understand it in their entire lives, which is why they choose to follow that path that leads to ruin.

Jiang Qing's ability to grasp this level is already an unexpected gain. Only now can we say that Third Master Jiang is on the verge of achieving the Golden Core Elixir. Once he perfects his Core Thesis, he can try to take another step forward and reach a bright future.

"However, my Core Thesis..."

The handsome swordsman frowned, his beautiful eyebrows furrowing as if a look of worry appeared, causing him to sigh and remain silent.

Third Master Jiang's Core Thesis was difficult to perfect in a short time, but he could not delay his cultivation for even a moment, so he turned his energy back to swordsmanship.

However, after becoming proficient in Sword Essence, he still encountered a bottleneck, and after cultivating for a while, he could hardly make any progress. Feeling a little frustrated, he devoted some of his attention to raising the little beast beside him.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye. Jiang Qing spent his days honing his cultivation in his cave abode, with the Luminous Sword Ape always by his side.

That morning, as he was practicing the "Azure Firmament Swordsmanship" from the "Ten Discourses on Qingfuzi's Sword Classic," he suddenly felt a small beast leap from his shoulder to his front, clumsily mimicking the sword moves in the air with its claws. The pale blue, luminous Spiritual Qi traced delicate arcs with its movements. Although it was completely without any rules, it caused Jiang Qing's swordplay to pause abruptly.

He sheathed his sword and stood there, gazing at the little beast's earnest expression. His fingertips unconsciously caressed the hilt of the sword, and a thought suddenly occurred to him, "Over the years, I have collected more than ten sword manuals. Although they are a mixture of righteous and evil, and incomplete or incomplete, they are not entirely useless."

Previously, he had always felt that these sword manuals were too disparate and difficult to integrate, but just now, seeing the ape use its Spiritual Qi to simulate a sword shape, he suddenly realized that these sword manuals, though seemingly scattered and each possessing its own ingenuity, might actually share a common underlying meaning!

Jiang Qing immediately stopped his playful interactions with Luminous Sword Essence, staring thoughtfully at the Jade Slip hanging in the cave abode.

The vast expanse of scriptures spun in Third Master Jiang's mind like a revolving lantern, gradually making his thoughts clearer.

"The Blood Devil Dao's 'Blood Shadow Sword Manual' excels at solidifying the sword's form with spiritual power; the Righteous Path's 'Vast Righteousness Sword Canon' can stabilize the sword intent and prevent it from dissipating; the incomplete 'Shattered Jade Record' contains the secret of 'nurturing the sword with qi'; and there's also the 'Sword Qi Transformation into the Sea' from 'Ten Discourses on Qingfuzi's Sword Classic Sword Qi Transforms into a Sea.' If I could integrate these into one method, it might allow me to advance my swordsmanship to a higher level."

Once the thought was clear, Jiang Qing immediately sat back on the jade futon, and with a wave of his hand, the hundreds of disordered bamboo slips that had been floating in the air returned to their original positions one by one.

Jiang Qing's slender fingertips first touched the bright red bamboo slips of the "Blood Shadow Sword Manual," where, next to the words "Use blood as a guide, condense qi into a sharp edge," Jiang Qing's early annotation, "Excessive impetuosity easily damages the meridians," was still clearly visible;

Touching the "Vast Righteousness Sword Canon" again, a gentle Spiritual Qi seeped into my fingertips, and the seal characters on the pages, "Vast Righteousness and Righteousness, Unwavering Sword Heart," seemed to be slightly warm.

This is the original sword manual given to me by Fei Tianqin, which has an additional chapter on "strengthening the foundation of sword intent" compared to ordinary copies.

"Every single sword manual has its shortcomings. Learning from each other's strengths and compensating for its weaknesses is an age-old truth, but we've been thinking about it too simply in the past."

Jiang Qing sat down cross-legged, and the spiritual energy crystal in his Dantian trembled slightly, as if responding to his thoughts. He first guided the spiritual energy into his meridians according to the method of "Ten Discourses on Qingfuzi's Sword Classic", and then tried to integrate the "Form Condensation Technique" of "Blood Shadow Sword Manual".

At first, the intense spiritual energy touched the meridians of his right arm, causing his old injuries to ache. After all, this was a newly assembled physical body, which was naturally somewhat inferior to the one he had been born with before.

Normally it might not matter, but when it comes to crucial moments, if one wants to achieve a perfect balance, it will test Jiang Qing's self-control. It will not be possible without hard work.

The Luminous Sword Ape noticed his disordered breathing and hurriedly jumped onto the stone table, nuzzling his arm with its forehead, its glassy eyes filled with worry.

Jiang Qing gently patted the little beast's head, his gaze falling on the "Vast Righteousness Sword Canon." He suddenly recalled the passage in the book about "using righteous energy to envelop Evil Qi," and immediately adjusted the trajectory of his spiritual energy circulation:

Using the gentle spiritual power of the "Vast Righteousness Sword Canon" as a "shell" to encase the volatile spiritual power of the "Blood Shadow Sword Manual," and then slowly refining it with the "Qi Cultivation Method" of the "Shattered Jade Record."

This time, the spiritual energy crystal bead in his Dantian spontaneously emitted a faint golden light, traveling along the meridians and gradually calming the restless energy.

The Luminous Sword Ape seemed to understand, but not quite. It jumped onto Jiang Qing's shoulder, its furry paws resting on his wrist as he held the sword.

Strangely, the clear Spiritual Qi within the small beast seeped in through the point of contact, intertwining with Jiang Qing's spiritual power and transforming into a wisp of pale blue energy that slowly flowed toward the longsword in his hand.

A thought struck Jiang Qing: the Spiritual Qi of the Luminous Sword Ape was pure and unadulterated; perhaps it could be used for harmonization?

He simply lifted the restrictions, allowing the little beast's Spiritual Qi to merge into his own spiritual power.

When the pale blue Spiritual Qi met the gentle warmth of the "Vast Righteousness Sword Canon," the sharpness of the "Blood Shadow Sword Manual," and the lingering length of the "Shattered Jade Record," the dozen or so sword manuals on the stone table suddenly emitted a soft sound at the same time.

The Evil Dao sword scripture emitted a dark red glow, while the righteous sword scripture shone with a bright white halo. The characters on the tattered scroll gradually became clearer, and all the light converged into a beam that fell on the longsword in Jiang Qing's hand.

At the same time, a glint flashed in Jiang Qing's eyes, and he formed a hand seal that he had never used before with his fingertips.

This was a new seal he created by temporarily combining the "Sword Heart Seal" of the basic sword scripture and the "Foundation-Fortifying Instruction" of the orthodox sword scripture when he was resonating with the sword scripture. As the spiritual power flowed at his fingertips, the sound of a sword echoed faintly.

He uttered a soft shout, "All laws return to their origin, condense!" The spiritual energy crystal in his Dantian suddenly began to spin rapidly, and the pale golden light transformed into threads that wrapped around the wisp of mixed spiritual Spiritual Qi along the meridians, surging together towards the longsword in his hand.

Under the beam of light, the sword first turned a dark red, and the "power of solidification" of the Evil Dao sword scripture flowed on the sword, as if a blood-red sword shadow was about to break through the blade;

Immediately afterwards, a shimmering white light spread from the hilt of the sword, and the gentle Spiritual Qi of the Righteous Path Sword Scripture enveloped the sword like a barrier, firmly locking in that turbulent energy;

Finally, the pale blue, clear Spiritual Qi flowed along the spine of the sword, slowly being refined by Jiang Qing's thoroughly comprehended "Qi Cultivation Method".

The patterns on the sword gradually became clearer, and the core runes of more than ten sword scriptures were condensed into a semi-transparent cyan-gold sword shadow, which hovered three inches away from the sword.

This sword shadow was completely different from ordinary Sword Qi.

It doesn't flaunt its sharpness, but exudes a profound sense of "keeping its sharpness within." Although it is clearly condensed Spiritual Qi, when it lands on the stone table, it only causes the spiritual fruit pit to tremble slightly, without shaking off a single speck of dust.

At this moment, Jiang Qing finally grasped some of the true meaning of the sword principles taught by Hong Wen of the Heaven-Rending Sword Sect. He tried to control the sword shadow, and with a slight flick of his wrist, the cyan-gold sword shadow moved as if it were his own arm, slashing towards the stone wall in the corner of the cave abode.

Without any earth-shattering sound, only a hair-thin mark was left on the stone wall. But when the sword shadow was withdrawn, the mark suddenly spread. The restrictions on it were as fragile as paper and could not withstand it at all. The entire stone wall shattered from the inside and turned into fine stone chips.

Jiang Qing's all-out effort brought this cave abode dwelling a novel experience that even the original owner Swordless High Cultivator, had never had in his hundreds of years of cultivation. Seeing this, Third Master Third Master Jiang immediately understood:

It turns out that the power of this sword shadow lies entirely in "condensation," which combines the advantages of more than ten sword manuals into one, making its ability to break through defenses far superior to a single sword move.

The Luminous Sword Ape excitedly jumped off the stone table, circling the sword shadow, emitting clear cries. Its furry paws occasionally brushed against the sword shadow, causing ripples to appear, as if it had also gained some progress in this area under the Third Master Jiang.

Jiang Qing smiled at its appearance, then looked down at the long sword in his hand. The runes on the sword were still glowing faintly, and the true meaning of more than ten sword scriptures seemed to flow through his mind.

I used to think that sword manuals were too complicated and difficult to integrate, but the so-called "way of the sword" is not confined to one school, but rather draws on the strengths of various schools to create one's own technique.

Only then did he realize that the saying "the leather bindings of the book broke three times, and it is always new when read" should never be confined to the "Ten Discourses on Qingfuzi's Sword Classic". If it weren't for Luminous Sword Ape's unintentional act today, he might still be trapped in the dead end of "the sword classic is hard to understand" and have been unable to get out for a long time.

Jiang Qing raised his hand and patted the small beast on his shoulder, smiling, "I must thank you, fellow Daoist."

The Luminous Sword Ape seemed to understand but not quite, nuzzling its head against his palm and resting its paws on the hilt of the sword, its interest then drawn to the sharp, azure-gold aura swirling around the blade.

Seeing this, Third Master Jiang was not particularly annoyed, because while he was thanking the little beast, he knew he should be thanking himself.

The actions of the Luminous Sword Ape were merely a prelude. If Jiang Qing had not upheld his pure heart for the sword path for nearly a hundred years, even if he had found thousands of Luminous Sword Apes to accompany him, he would not have been able to comprehend such Swordsmanship.

Jiang Qing hadn't felt so exhilarated in a long time, and he directly gave the Azure Gold Sword Shadow the resounding name "Primordial Unity Suppresses the Firmament," something that even a cautious sect leader would find difficult to do.

It is said that good things rarely come in pairs, but after Jiang Qing's swordsmanship improved this time, his previously chaotic Core Thesis began to become clear.

However, this did not make Third Master Jiang's face even happier. After a few breaths, the joy faded, and instead, a depressed expression appeared. He tried to put this troubled emotion aside and began to focus all his thoughts on the matter of Core Formation.

As for Core Formation Spiritual Objects

Jiang Qing turned her head again to look at the plain brocade box on the low table that had never been opened. She knew what precious item was inside, but there was little joy in her expression.

"I wonder how much trouble my Martial Uncle Lian must be going through because of this. He should try his best to share some of my Senior Brother's burdens."