Chapter 6: Refining Qi in the Nine Heavens
Xiao Chen struck with lightning speed and killed Zhang Jian and Xu Qiang, severely injuring Liu Ping, whose life or death was unknown, finally venting his anger.
In the cafeteria, there were heated discussions, all of which were shocked by Xiao Chen's cultivation, and some even speculated that Xiao Chen's future would be doomed.
However, Xiao Chen was completely indifferent to the gossip of the crowd. After killing Zhang Jian, Xiao Chen only felt that his whole body had become lighter, and the lingering resentment in his heart had finally dissipated. From now on, Xiao Chen would only be himself.
Xiao Chen took the tray, brought back food, and returned to the house to eat a big meal. The first time killing someone had some impact on Xiao Chen, who had crossed over from a law-abiding society.
When eating, he always felt the scene of killing people lingering in his mind, feeling nauseous, but Xiao Chen restrained himself. He wanted to become stronger and needed energy, so he had to eat. The road ahead would be even more difficult, and he would definitely kill again. He couldn't let nausea stop him from eating just because he killed someone. He had to learn to overcome it and adapt to this world.
After finishing his meal, Xiao Chen sorted out his thoughts and thought about the series of events that had happened today. If it were the old him, he would have definitely been left with a bad taste in his mouth today, but things were different now because he had the cultivation base of Practicing Qi for Five Ranks of Heaven, so he didn't need to suffer!
And avenged the enemies of Zhang Jian, allowing Xiao Chen to fulfill his wish and dispel the last bit of resentment from his past life, giving him a sense of liberation and freedom throughout his body.
Although this was Xiao Chen's first time killing someone after crossing over, he felt that the person deserved to be killed and his heart was at peace. The revulsion he felt after killing for the first time was also gradually overcome.
Zhang Jian and others are arrogant and domineering every day, relying on the strong to bully the weak, and even killed the original owner of this body. People like them should die. Xiao Chen killed them, not regretting at all, but feeling extremely refreshing.
After recalling the past, Xiao Chen's mood gradually calmed down. He felt that he had gradually adapted to this world where strength was respected, and understood the cruelty of the world, only by becoming stronger himself could he eliminate all the unhappiness.
As for Zhang Jian's death, Xiao Chen felt a slight bit of trouble, after all, it was a public killing. Although the named disciples were the lowest and most humble in the Yunjian Sword Sect, being publicly beheaded would still lead to repercussions from the sect, but Xiao Chen wasn't worried, it wasn't a big deal.
When the time comes, as long as you show enough strength, the Yúnjiàn Sword Sect will not punish a promising disciple for two unpromising and lowly registered disciples.
Thinking of this, Xiao Chen also felt at ease and didn't take Zhang Jian's death to heart. His emotions gradually returned to normal.
"Doesn't it feel great?" The voice of Ye Liu Xing echoed in Xiao Chen's mind.
Xiao Chen heard this and nodded repeatedly: "Awesome! I swear, I want to be a strong man, I never want to be bullied by others again!"
"Now that you're satisfied, you should understand the importance of strength, so don't get excited and take a rest. You still have eight days left, and for now, you haven't even entered the Concentration Mirror, with the Reaper's blade hanging over your neck!" Ye Liu Xing reminded him.
Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen's excitement was instantly extinguished, and he listened to Ye Liu Xing's orders, beginning to rest.
On the second day, as soon as it dawned, Xiao Chen finished washing up and began to cultivate the True Primordial Qi. As the True Primordial Qi circulated, the pure morning air was absorbed by Xiao Chen, purified, transformed into true energy, and stored in his dantian.
It's also unclear whether it was due to possessing the Starlight Battle Body, or Xiao Chen's decade-long confusion, accumulation and sudden breakthrough, or perhaps the foundation-building technique that Ye Liu Xing taught Xiao Chen was too good, maybe all three reasons contributed.
In short, Xiao Chen absorbed the heaven and earth's original energy at an extremely fast speed, and his purification of true energy was also extremely fast. His realm rapidly ascended, and in about an hour or so, Xiao Chen would be able to break through a layer of the heavenly boundary.
By the time it was late at night, Xiao Chen finally felt that he could no longer break through the boundary. The true energy in his dantian had reached a perfect state and could not be stored any further, and the heavenly and earthly yuanqi could also no longer be absorbed.
Xiao Chen knew he had reached a bottleneck, having achieved the Great Perfection of the Ninth Heaven in his Qi cultivation. He could no longer continue to cultivate the True Yuan Technique. Just as he withdrew from his meditative state, Ye Liu Xing's voice echoed in Xiao Chen's mind. Ye Liu Xing exclaimed with joy: "Excellent! You've completed the Great Perfection of Qi Cultivation in less than twelve hours, a true manifestation of your ten years of accumulation and hard work."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Chen hehe smiled, he was extremely excited at the moment, because the Death God's sickle seemed to be a little farther away from his neck, almost disappearing.
"Next, I will teach you the Soul Refining Technique," Ye Liu Xing said: "What is meant by soul refining is to cultivate one's divine soul. The stronger one's divine soul, the more it can fully guide the true energy in the dantian, using it to temper one's bones and muscles, and to harm people with a fierce aura."
"Do you feel a bit stuffy in your lower abdomen now? This is because your spirit, soul and intention are not strong enough to thoroughly guide the true energy out of the lower abdomen, resulting in stagnation in the lower abdomen, becoming a stagnant energy."
"Enter the Concentration Mirror, and a vortex of energy will condense in your Dantian. The function of this vortex is to facilitate the smoother operation of true energy with your mind, allowing you to move freely and effortlessly. At the same time, it can accelerate your absorption of heavenly and earthly primal energies, increase your explosive power, and further temper your physical body. Only by entering the Concentration Mirror can one be considered a true warrior."
Xiao Chen nodded secretly, with Ye Liu Xing's guidance, Xiao Chen felt at ease.
"Now I will impart to you a technique specifically for cultivating and strengthening the divine soul, called the Ninety-Nine Refining Soul Technique."
"The stronger the divine soul, the more heavenly and earthly yuanqi it absorbs, making the cultivation speed also faster. This method has a total of nine layers, and when cultivated to the Great Perfection, the power of the divine soul will be extremely strong, absorbing four or five times more heavenly and earthly yuanqi than ordinary people."
"Shooting Star Sister, with such a powerful technique, what level is it?" asked Xiao Chen in puzzlement.
"The cultivation method is divided into five levels, namely mortal, king, immortal, saint and god. Each level is further divided into three sub-levels: high, middle and low. My Nine-Nine Soul Refining Technique is already considered the highest level among king-level cultivation methods."
Xiao Chen was overjoyed after hearing this, and smoothly received the soul-refining technique that Ye Liu Xing had imparted to him. Under Xiao Chen's extremely strong comprehension, in less than a moment, he grasped the first layer, Nourishing the Soul!
What is meant by "nourishing the soul" is to use one's vast and harmonious energy to nourish one's spiritual essence, strengthening mental power, so that the three aspects of Jing, Qi, and Shen complement each other and progress together.
"Refine the air and rush into the divine, with the divine controlling the air, complementing each other, creating an air vortex, this is the Condensing Spirit Mirror!" Ye Liu Xing said: "You can start cultivating now, your spiritual soul will become stronger, absorbing the heaven and earth's original energy at a faster speed, helping you shape the air vortex, entering the Condensing Spirit Mirror, it won't be a problem."
Now, Xiao Chen is already at the ninth heaven of Qi Refining, a state of great perfection. After listening to Ye Liu Xing's lecture on the essence of meditation, a night passed quickly, and when he woke up in the morning, Xiao Chen only felt that his spiritual power was more full than ever before, his vision was clearer, and his perception of the surroundings was also greatly enhanced.
Even Xiao Chen could feel that on a branch outside his window, a tender bud was slowly growing.
"This is the sign of the Concentrated Spirit Mirror, the spirit and soul are concentrated, sensing the subtleties outside of oneself! Haha……" Xiao Chen excitedly burst into loud laughter, "Ten years! A full ten years! I have finally entered this realm, experiencing its wonders."
"Right, entering the Concentrated Mind Mirror can already introspect, I want to see why the Starlight Battle Body needs so much energy." Xiao Chen thought of this and immediately urged his divine soul to introspect.
As soon as he looked inward, Xiao Chen immediately discovered that his dantian was like a vast universe, boundless and endless. His divine sense entered it, but couldn't even see the entire dantian in its entirety.
The true energy of the nine-layered heaven is in the vast elixir field, coiled together to form a ball, occupying a place, but it can't even account for a single strand of the entire elixir field's vast ocean.
"My meridians..." Xiaochen continued to introspect, suddenly discovering that his meridians were also much wider than those of ordinary people. Each meridian was strong and resilient, with a high degree of elasticity, and each one in the body was equivalent to a highway, far wider than the "narrow paths" of ordinary people.
"No wonder the Starlight Body needs a huge amount of energy to advance, this dantian and meridians are ten times, hundred times beyond ordinary people! However, as long as there is enough true energy, the combat power of the Starlight Body is also terrifying. At the same level, others can only muster 500 kilograms with one punch, but I can do 5,000 kilograms! One punch and it's a direct kill!" Xiao Chen thought to himself: "But now I've finally entered the Condensed Spirit Realm."
"You are not yet a master of the Mirror Sword Style." Yet at this moment, Yoru no Nagare's voice rang out.
"Why?" Xiao Chen was puzzled.
"Because you haven't yet condensed your spiritual vortex, for now you've only managed to reach the Spiritual Mirror with your divine soul; only after condensing your spiritual vortex can you be considered to have truly entered the Spiritual Realm."
"It turns out to be like this......" Xiao Chen asked upon hearing this: "Then how can I condense the air swirl?"
"Entering the state of concentration, represents that you have become a true warrior, thus the negative influence of the Starlight Battle Body will also appear. Your cultivation path will be as difficult as ascending to heaven. Every time you advance to a higher realm, you'll need ten times, a hundred times more heavenly and earthly primordial energy than others!"
"Ordinary people can directly charge into the vortex when they reach the ninth heaven, but for you to directly condense the vortex, a massive amount of energy is needed to impact it, otherwise, even with the assistance of the 99 Refining Soul Technique, you would still need eight or nine days to condense the vortex." Ye Liu Xing explained.
Xiao Chen heard this and fell silent...
"But your spiritual power is very strong! Ordinary people who have just entered the realm of concentration can't even feel the subtle changes outside themselves, and they can barely introspect. But you, little guy, can actually sense the growth of new buds on the branches outside the window!" Ye Liu Xing said encouragingly, afraid of discouraging Xiao Chen.
Xiao Chen heard this and also understood the meaning of Ye Liu Xing's words. He said firmly, "I will definitely break the curse that makes Starry Sky War Body an abandoned body!"
"It's okay if you think so, I'll help you." Yè Liúxīng encouraged.
"Huh?" But at this moment, Xiao Chen suddenly let out a surprised cry, and a basic sword technique of the Yunwu Sword Sect appeared in his mind, which was a memory left behind by his previous life.
"Chu Yun Jian Zong basic sword technique, Tun Yun Yan Ri Jian." Xiao Chen's mind was focused, and he immediately remembered the entire sword technique. Now that Xiao Chen had reached the 9th Heaven of Refining Qi, he could fully display this sword technique.
"This sword technique can be cultivated for self-defense." Ye Liu Xing reminded: "My martial arts are too profound, and it's not suitable to teach you. This sword technique is only a basic foundation-building technique in the mortal realm, but it's just right for your current cultivation level."
Xiao Chen was so excited that he jumped out of bed, grabbed the sword he had been given when he first started learning martial arts and rushed to the courtyard. Although Xiao Chen had neglected his martial arts training for ten years, this sword was still well-preserved. The sword's light was dazzling, its edge sharp enough to cut a hair, and with just a flick of his finger, it still emitted a clear and melodious sword hum.
Xiao Chen secretly thought that Yunjian Sect was indeed one of the eight major sects in Nanfan Continent, and it was true that they were wealthy and arrogant. Even the lowest-ranking registered disciples were equipped with treasure-grade weapons.
The art of refining equipment emphasizes the five heavenly vessels, which are the precious vessel, the law vessel, the spirit vessel, the Tao vessel, and the immortal vessel. The heavenly vessels refer to those that merge with heaven and earth, existing only in legend. These five vessels are further divided into three grades and six levels, with the top grade being the highest and the sixth level being the lowest. The sword in Xiao Chen's hand is a precious vessel of the sixth level, without any grade, making it the lowest-level precious vessel.