"It worked!"
Qin Sang's heart stirred. Quickly suppressing his stray thoughts, he focused on completing the hand seals of the cultivation technique.
Upon entering his body, the qingluan vanished without a trace.
It was merely Qin Sang's visualization, using the qingluan as a conduit to guide the astral energy into his body.
At this moment, though Qin Sang could not see it, a faint glow enveloped his body—the astral energy of the heavenly circuit. He had successfully taken the first step.
As the astral essence entered his body, he bypassed the refining step. Driven by the incantation, the astral energy circulated through his entire body. A refreshing coolness washed over him, and his flesh and blood seemed to rejoice.
Just as Qin Sang was immersed in this soothing sensation, a sudden anomaly occurred within his purple palace. An eerie, terrifying force invaded, pouncing directly toward his origin soul.
"The astral fiends have arrived!"
Qin Sang's heart sank, and he focused his attention on the state of his origin soul.
He had immense faith in the jade Buddha, yet he still worried about unexpected mishaps.
This force was peculiar and unprecedented.
Legends of extraterrestrial demons circulated in the cultivation world, said to be extraordinarily horrifying and capable of slaughtering even the foremost cultivators. He was unsure whether this power was related to those extraterrestrial demons.
"Astral fiend" was simply the name bestowed upon it by the great demon who created the technique.
*Whoosh!*
Winds and clouds surged violently within his purple palace. Qin Sang felt waves of sinister chill as the astral fiends brought immense dread, surging madly toward his origin soul.
Yet the instant they made contact, the Buddhist light manifested by the jade Buddha did not even ripple. The astral fiends collided as if against a solid wall, completely shut out by the jade Buddha.
Failing to break through after sustained assaults, the astral fiends slowly dissipated.
As long as they did not invade the origin soul, driving them out was vastly easier—and the origin soul was precisely the most vulnerable spot of every practitioner.
Just as Qin Sang breathed a sigh of relief, waves of tearing pain shot through his body, causing him to knit his brows.
He discovered that once the astral energy of the heavenly circuit began tempering his body, it was no longer so comfortable. His flesh and blood felt as though they were being torn apart and reconstituted over and over, alternating between agonizing pain and exhilarating relief during the tempering process.
Qin Sang circulated the technique with all his might, sensing the changes within his physical body.
When he awoke from his meditative trance, he felt a sticky sensation and discovered a thin layer of sweat coating his skin.
Tempering the body with astral essence strengthened the physique while expelling impurities from within. Although Qin Sang had never cultivated a body-refining technique before, he had consistently reaped benefits whenever his cultivation broke through, so the cleansing effect was not particularly pronounced.
The upside was evident: his cultivation speed would be even faster at the beginning.
With a flash of spiritual light across his body, Qin Sang wiped away the sweat. Feeling completely refreshed, he looked at the starlight dissipating around him and mused inwardly that cultivating this technique did not cause much of a disturbance. He could easily remain on Mount Baogu to cultivate without having to run all over the place in the future.
He turned his inner vision inward to examine the state of his physical body.
Practicing a demon cultivation technique and visualizing a heavenly demon like the qingluan had gone smoothly, but he was inevitably a little uneasy, worried that problems might arise.
Qin Sang inspected himself meticulously and, fortunately, found no abnormalities or dissonance anywhere.
He resumed his meditation, channeling the astral energy until the early morning hours. Only when the morning sun began to rise and he felt its scorching heat did he stop.
A night of bitter cultivation had yielded bountiful gains, leaving Qin Sang thoroughly satisfied.
It was truly worthy of a top-tier cultivation technique. Qin Sang could distinctly feel his physical body undergoing a metamorphosis under the tempering of the astral energy of the heavenly circuit. Reaching the level of the aquiline-nosed man was by no means an idle dream.
"After several years of wandering, multiple battles in the Hall of Seven Kills, and two life-or-death struggles against powerful foes at the peak of the late stage, my comprehension of the killing talisman has deepened by another layer. For now, there is no need to deliberately seek out fights. In any case, there has been no news of the Ten Great Divine Woods, and I will likely face a bottleneck in my technique before long. I might as well cultivate both techniques simultaneously from now on, practicing *Heavenly Demon Form Refining* at night and striving to break through the third tier before the Hall of Seven Kills opens next time. Only by dual cultivating both dharma and body, possessing combat prowess comparable to the peak of the late stage, can I pass the Sword Path..."
Qin Sang resolved to walk this path. *Heavenly Demon Form Refining* provided him with the foundation to carve out a new approach.
"However, breaking through the bottlenecks won't be easy either. Astral essence body infusion..."
Qin Sang recalled the technique's description. An astral essence body infusion required a location exceptionally abundant in both the astral energy of the heavenly circuit and spiritual energy, and the ideal place was Heaven-Pointing Peak.
Reaching Heaven-Pointing Peak was obviously impossible right now, so he could only look for a similar, unique place in the Canglang Sea.
"The bottleneck for the second tier doesn't have such high requirements... That's it!"
Qin Sang suddenly remembered an item. Quickly rummaging through his Qianjun Ring, he finally retrieved a bundle of silken thread.
Though it appeared tangled, Qin Sang gave it a gentle shake, and it unfurled into a large net hovering in the air. It was none other than the Star Spirit Net given to him by Granny Jing.
Back then, this Star Spirit Net had helped him swiftly capture Star Element Stones and claim first place on Heaven-Pointing Peak. Now, it could prove useful once again!
"The astral energy of the heavenly circuit guided into my body cannot be completely absorbed, and letting the starlight dissipate is a waste. With the Star Spirit Net, I can trap it and reuse it, which is far more efficient than drawing in new energy. That will accelerate my cultivation speed even further. Moreover, by using the Star Spirit Net to gather sufficient astral energy of the heavenly circuit, it will be enough to complete the first astral essence body infusion and break through to the technique's second tier..."
The more Qin Sang thought about it, the brighter his eyes grew.
He had never imagined that a magic tool lying dormant in his Qianjun Ring for decades would play such an astounding role in his cultivation.
Of course, without the jade Buddha, all of this would be mere fantasy.
Any demon beast cultivating this technique would be exhausted just refining the astral fiends; how could they ever dream of recycling energy? Only he dared to be so utterly unscrupulous.
"The bottleneck for the third tier requires countless times more astral energy of the heavenly circuit than the second tier, exceeding the limits of the Star Spirit Net. However, the technique also provides an alternative method: taking spirit medicines that strengthen the physical body. It requires a combination of three spirit medicines, all of which are completely unheard of, so I'll have to ask around once I return. As for the fourth tier, the requirements are even more stringent: one must first comprehend the Heavenly Demon Dharma Idol before breaking through. There are no shortcuts, and it likely isn't any easier than Nascent Soul formation. At my current realm, it is too ethereal, and I haven't the slightest clue..."
Throughout the day, Qin Sang consolidated his cultivation and tapped into his potential, deepening his comprehension of the technique by another layer.
When deep night fell, he brought out the Star Spirit Net, draped it around his body, and began cultivating.
During the cultivation process, starlight swirled around him. The astral glow that would have otherwise dissipated was caught upon touching the Star Spirit Net and channeled back into his body.
Repeating this cycle again and again, his cultivation speed was indeed much faster than the night before!
Qin Sang opened his eyes, his face full of pleasant surprise. This technique suited him very well, but unfortunately, it was created by demon cultivators; he could only obtain the benefits of body refining, making it an incomplete path for him.
Otherwise, when the *Origin Soul Sword-Nurturing Chapter* reached a dead end, he could have entirely switched over to *Heavenly Demon Form Refining*.
Having just gotten started, Qin Sang was thoroughly enthralled and chose to stay on the island.
For ten consecutive days, he cultivated by night and reflected on his deficiencies by day, thoroughly grasping the true essence of the technique before finally leaving the deserted island and flying back to Tianxing Island.
He wanted to break through to the second tier as soon as possible, at which point he could cultivate the Heavenly Demon Transformation.
The Heavenly Demon Transformation was the most important divine ability of the first three tiers, possessing supreme combat power.
Qin Sang was not yet certain whether he could master it in a human body, but he was filled with anticipation.
Chapter 805