(Assisted Guo Wei in slaying Xie Xiaohuan. Received 34,221 Favor Points.)
(Assisted Guo Xiaotian in slaying Xie Xiaohuan. Received 45,221 Favor Points.)
(Received thanks from both Guo Wei and Guo Xiaotian. Acquired one copy of the "Qi Refining Art.")
Chu Lingguang suppressed his excitement.
He stayed at the Martial Arts Hall to have a meal with Guo Wei and the others before returning to Liu Family Gully to reunite with his Second Aunt’s family.
He was visiting home as a Senior Fifth Grade official, and was also the Vice Commander of Wolf Valley Pass. The common folk had no concept of official ranks, but hearing that Chu Lingguang had become a commander, they all felt he had secured a high-ranking position.
Because of this, Liu Family Gully was bustling with excitement for several days before and after Chu Lingguang’s return.
Chu Lingguang received many friends and relatives, and even went to Wine Street for drinks with Hei Hu. The two martial brothers—one now the South City Garrison Commander, a Senior Seventh Grade official, and the other the Vice Commander of Wolf Valley Pass, a Senior Fifth Grade official—were usually separated by a great distance. Having finally gotten a chance to meet, they had much to say to each other.
After a few busy days like this, Chu Lingguang earned a good amount of Favor Points by helping friends and family with various matters. Once everything settled down, he finally had time to understand the effects of the Qi Refining Art.
He checked his status panel.
Favor Points: 85,117
Mixed Element Skill (0-10,000)
Qi Refining Art (0-200,000)
(Remaining Lifespan: 217 years)
With the help of the Great Cang Heart Method, Chu Lingguang had long since mastered all his Mortal Cultivation and Martial Arts to the point of Perfection, with the exception of the Mixed Element Skill.
Seeing that the Qi Refining Art required two hundred thousand points to reach Perfection, Chu Lingguang’s expression grew excited. A number that high meant it was very likely a cultivation skill for breaking through the True Martial Realm.
It might even be the cultivation method for Qi Refining realm experts.
Whenever he thought about his cultivation being stuck at the pinnacle of the True Martial Realm, forced to look toward Yuanchu Mountain and beg them to bestow a technique that could allow a breakthrough, Chu Lingguang, like most people, felt a sense of despair.
Although many people asserted that he would enter Yuanchu Mountain to cultivate, who could say for sure before it actually happened?
Immediately, Chu Lingguang added all of his eighty-five thousand-plus Favor Points to the Qi Refining Art.
At that moment, he didn’t stop to consider whether cultivating the Qi Refining Art would bring him trouble, especially in a world where the path to higher cultivation was blocked by others.
Now that he had the key to open that path, if he didn’t at least try to see what was behind it, what was the point of the Martial Arts Heart he had forged over all these years?
He knew that if Yan Zhen had obtained the Qi Refining Art, he would have cultivated it without the slightest hesitation, even at the risk of being discovered by the people of Yuanchu Mountain.
Everyone wanted to experience the power of a Qi Refining realm expert, and Chu Lingguang was no exception.
The status panel’s information changed.
Favor Points: None
Mixed Element Skill (0-10,000)
Qi Refining Art (85,117-200,000)
(Remaining Lifespan: 580 years)
’My lifespan increased by more than three hundred years?’
Chu Lingguang was aghast.
Such a massive increase in lifespan proved that the Qi Refining Art was definitely the cultivation skill for breaking through the True Martial Realm, as well as the method used by Qi Refining realm experts.
The instant the cultivation value for his Qi Refining Art changed, Chu Lingguang felt the world become incredibly murky. All the power between heaven and earth suddenly lost its sense of familiarity.
It made him feel completely out of place.
He stirred his Dantian Qi Sea, making his Dantian Qi Power surge. Then, he activated his Potential Power, forming a burst of Wind and Wave Power. Finally, a Vortex Power appeared in each of his palms as thirty-nine streams of Qi Vortex Power erupted at once, creating a terrifying maelstrom of force.
Chu Lingguang felt that if he were to throw these two vortexes out right now, he could instantly obliterate two ordinary True Martial Realm experts.
This was his power.
The fourth level of the Mental Realm.
Unity of Heart and Will.
Out of three hundred sixty-three responses, he had only awakened thirty-nine. Even so, in the eyes of many, his cultivation within the True Martial Realm had already reached the absolute pinnacle.
Even Xie Xiaohuan, who had formed a bond with a bizarre entity, was instantly slain by him.
Within the True Martial Realm, almost no one was his match, unless their Mental Realm had also reached the state of Unity of Heart and Will and they had awakened dozens of responses at once.
Otherwise, not a single True Martial Realm expert in the third level of the Mental Realm could be his opponent.
Yet now, this immense power within him felt turbid and foul in his perception, as if it were tainted by the breath of a demon.
The world, just like him, had become a dreadful place.
He felt immersed in a turbid world of cultivation. The power he absorbed into his body seemed to be eroding his will, even devouring his soul and lifespan.
This was a sensation Chu Lingguang had never experienced before.
Chu Lingguang swore he wasn’t hallucinating. Instead, it was a special perception that had naturally formed after the value for his Qi Refining Art surpassed eighty thousand.
It was as if a filter before his eyes had suddenly been removed, allowing him to see the world as it truly was.
’This is... Spiritual Qi.’
Just then, within this new vision of the world, Chu Lingguang detected a pure, gentle, and almost sacred aura. It was an aura he had absorbed before.
At Wolf Valley Pass, beneath the mine.
It was the Spiritual Qi that Lin Shirong had spoken of.
With a thought.
He activated the Qi Refining Art and drew that faint wisp of Spiritual Qi into his abdomen. Instantly, an almost imperceptible power appeared in his Dantian.
This barely detectable power caused the Qi Sea Power, the Consciousness Manipulation Power, and even the phantom of the Han Gao Steed within his Dantian to panic, as if they might collapse at any moment.
Even Chu Lingguang’s Dantian was trembling.
It was as if it couldn’t store this power.
’Could this be Spiritual Power?’
’Is my Dantian currently unable to contain Spiritual Power?’