"These root tendrils are edible too! The taste is a bit like scallion roots—pungent and sharp to the nose, with a fresh fragrance, though they're quite tough."
An Jing was starving. Unable to wait for the meat to finish cooking, he picked out some of the thick root tendrils from the Dangkang boar's back and chewed them.
It had originally been nothing more than an instinctive act born of hunger, but it made his eyes light up.
These root tendrils had a peculiar, rich saltiness. They were a little tough on the teeth, but for a martial artist that was nothing, and they were satisfyingly chewy.
"Roast meat with its own seasoning."
Chewing the root fibers, An Jing controlled the heat.
The Dangkang boar was very fatty; even roasting it over a simple fire made it sizzle and drip oil. He used a knife to scrape away the plant ash and charcoal on the surface. The boar meat inside was purple-gold, and grease kept overflowing from the cracks in the meat, dripping into the fire.
Ignoring the heat, An Jing took a fierce bite. The meat was fine and tender, impossibly rich and delicious.
The root tendrils that grew symbiotically with the Dangkang boar meat had been charred by the fire and looked pitch black, but in truth they tasted salty and fresh. Biting into them filled his mouth with crisp, fragrant char, as if coated in bread crumbs, making the food twice as delicious.
An Jing wolfed it down, quickly finishing a large piece of roasted tenderloin, then impatiently roasted a rib and swallowed it bone and all.
He chewed the bone, and his strong teeth ground and cut all the cartilage and chunks of meat apart. The rich aroma of grease spread out, and he swallowed the mixture of bone and meat. An Jing felt ample nutrients enter his stomach and intestines, where they were rapidly absorbed by his fully strengthened digestive organs.
His organs worked to digest and absorb the nutrients, and a warm current began to surge through his entire body, restoring vitality to his exhausted frame.
An Jing stood up, steam rising from his entire body.
"Hah!"
Color returned to his previously pale cheeks. An Jing breathed deeply, his chest and abdomen heaving in a special rhythm.
Then the young martial artist began to move.
Using the stance work of the "Imperial Heaven Art," he stepped and issued force while practicing fist forms. Spirit and body joined as one, intent and force joined as one, qi and blood joined as one, and from every part of his body he refined out burning threads of "Inner Breath."
Whoosh—buzz—
For a time, as An Jing's chest rose and fell and his fist techniques flowed, sounds like bellows fanning a furnace and heavy objects breaking through the air echoed through the cave.
An Jing stepped and issued force, performing fist and sword techniques in the empty cave as if truly fighting an unseen opponent. His expression was serious, and he executed them with full intensity; fine sweat seeped from his forehead, chest, and back, heat steamed from the crown of his head, and even the air distorted slightly.
And precisely in this completely focused martial practice, the purest possible threads of "Inner Breath" began to emerge within his organs and throughout his meridians!
Inner Breath, essence-qi, Blood Qi, Qi and Blood, Innate Primordial Qi...
Different cultivation methods gave them different names, but in essence they were all talking about the same thing, and what they were meant to do was almost exactly the same.
That was to strengthen it.
Three parts training, seven parts nourishment. If nourishment was insufficient, how could essence-qi arise? Only when muscles and sinews were strong, the body healthy, and there was even an accumulation of "surplus nutrients" could one use cultivation methods to refine "essence-qi."
If it had not been for the demonic beast meat of Suspended Fate Manor, An Jing could never have progressed so quickly. And these two Dangkang boars, which bore the Dangkang bloodline and were close to strange beasts, were rich in nutrients, fully able to replenish the deficit left by An Jing's successive bloody battles.
They could even make up for the damage caused by the Qi-Raising Pill overdrawing his body!
At this moment, An Jing could clearly sense that as the Inner Breath within his body recovered, a burning pain spread through the muscles all over his body, especially around his chest and abdomen.
Those were exactly the spots where the Qi-Raising Pill's medicinal force had been driven to squeeze out Inner Breath.
—Pain, strangely enough, was a good thing.
If it hurt now, it meant there was still a chance to heal it properly. If he waited until these internal and old injuries healed on their own, they would become numb and damaged, and in the future would become hidden injuries and defects inside An Jing's body, extremely difficult to remedy.
So now, sensing the pain, An Jing urged the newly born Inner Breath within his body to heal these injuries.
Between breaths, Inner Breath surged like a river, flowing along his blood vessels and meridians toward those damaged areas.
Threads of heat coiled and flowed, nourishing his organs and meridians.
The damaged areas felt as if they were soaking in burning liquor, but this pain made An Jing feel refreshed. Instinctively, he let out a low shout, strode forward, raised two fingers like a sword, and pointed through the air at the stone wall of the cave.
The Inner Breath rose with the motion, piercing through the stagnated injuries in his chest and abdomen, flowing through his limbs and entire body in an instant, and finally gathering at An Jing's fingertips.
As the sword-finger jabbed out, his arm and hand swelled slightly, veins and tendons bulging, and his fingertips became like red jade.
Bang!!!
An invisible burst of force shot out, piercing the dust in the air. In an instant, a small pit suddenly appeared on the nearby stone wall, and stone shards like powder scattered down with a patter.
In that instant, An Jing gained an insight.
He had just comprehended the first art derived from his own divine ability!
[Divine Ability Art · Condense Qi into Sword]!
"Whew... that feels good!"
After unleashing this sword finger, An Jing let out a long breath. He suddenly felt that the stagnated qi suppressed in his chest and abdomen had been swept away, leaving him feeling incredibly refreshed and thoroughly satisfied.
Although the wound was extremely painful as the Inner Breath swept through it, and a burning numbness and itch appeared afterward, this was precisely a sign of regeneration.
Compared with that intermittent itching and stuffiness, most people would probably rather endure a little pain.
Like a mosquito bite on the sole of the foot that itched terribly—one would truly rather it hurt than itch.
"Not bad."
After watching from beginning to end, the Sword Spirit also offered praise: "Your Destiny Pattern divine ability [Condense Qi into Weapon] did not necessarily have to use Blood Killing Aura; using your Inner Breath and Blood Qi works just as well. At most, it cannot last as long."
"And you actually came up with something original, using Inner Breath to drive out the stagnant, pent-up qi of injury and illness lodged in your old wounds, turning it into a move called 'Injury and Illness Sword Finger'—both a Martial Technique and a healing technique, and perhaps in the future it could become a curse technique."
"Although it can only be mastered by those who possess the 'Condense Qi into Weapon' divine ability, the fact that you alone, from nothing, comprehended a new technique is enough to prove you are a true genius!"
An Jing also raised the right hand with which he had previously channeled Inner Breath and struck that "Injury and Illness Sword Finger," and said in surprise, "This Destiny Pattern divine ability... is much more convenient than I imagined."
Blood seeped from the tips of his index and middle fingers, but it did not hurt, and it carried the rotting smell of old blood.
Looking at his fingers rapidly healing, he sighed with emotion: "At first, I only felt stuffy and uncomfortable, like having a bloated stomach and wanting to burp."
"I didn't expect that even 'illness qi' could actually be forced out by my divine ability and turned into a 'weapon'!"
By now, the internal injury caused by An Jing taking the Qi-Raising Pill had begun to heal, and it would not leave any lingering trouble or hidden injuries.
And in the future, any not-too-severe internal injuries, backlash, stagnated qi, or internal troubles such as pill toxin and Killing Aura would have a hard time troubling An Jing, and could even become a trump card in his battles.
Of course, for some powerful poisons and internal injuries, even the "Condense Qi into Weapon" divine ability could neither transfer nor cure them.
But at the very least, An Jing had a unique means of his own to alleviate them.
Chapter 62