Qian Chen rode the clouds each day to collect qi. Though he took care to conceal his movements, he was eventually noticed by watchful eyes. Around the hour of the Rat each night, an azure cloud would rise from that small courtyard, only to descend again after the hour of the Tiger. The clerk from the cloth shop had stolen a few glimpses whenever he came to deliver Daoist robes, but Qian Chen paid it no mind.
The reason he had not relocated was that while breaking through Sensing, he had by chance detected a faint vein of Earth Baleful Yin Qi deep beneath the desolate courtyard.
This yin vein was buried more than eighty chi underground, and its baleful qi was rather thin—inherently unfit for cultivation, though its rare degree of purity was quite remarkable.
Because the baleful qi lay so deeply hidden and was so slight in quantity, it had managed to escape the notice of cultivators in this remote county. Qian Chen himself had lived there for days without sensing it; only when his spiritual sense grew extraordinarily sharp during his breakthrough into Sensing did he finally detect it.
On second thought, it made sense. Remote as this small county was, a compound of this size was still a considerable piece of property. If nothing were amiss, who would abandon it so easily? When he had gone to order his robes earlier, he had heard the shop clerk mention rumors that the place was haunted. Presumably, during times like the Awakening of Insects, the Ghost Festival, or the Lower Primordial Festival, the baleful qi was stirred by seasonal celestial shifts and vented up to the surface.
Gang-sha qi were forms of world primordial qi of an extremely violent nature. Cultivators themselves did not dare absorb them lightly, let alone ordinary mortals.
The strange phenomena accompanying the rising baleful qi had likely terrified the previous owners. Moreover, whenever the baleful qi surged, those living in the compound would inevitably fall gravely ill, and the frail might even drop dead suddenly.
Over time, rumors spread, until no one dared live there and the property fell into ruin.
Yet the baleful qi was simply too weak. Pure as it might be, it remained difficult to put to use. Even if Qian Chen refined it into his Seven Baleful Banner, it would not add enough baleful qi to turn it into an Eight Baleful Banner, and he would only squander its rare purity. Having thought of no good way to use it, he simply left it alone and continued to focus on collecting and refining qi.
His cultivation progressed steadily day by day. He gathered more than enough of the Pure Qi of the Nine Heavens each day, his internal qi had long been refined into true qi, and his cultivation attainment was several times richer than before. Furthermore, he had largely completed the ritual refinement of the magical implements he had previously lacked the time to finish. Though his cultivation was still modest by the standards of the Central Lands, relying on these heterodox implements gave Qian Chen full confidence in taking on low-tier Core Formation cultivators of the side paths and heterodox sects.
Even so, this only meant bullying heterodox cultivators of the lower three grades—grades seven, eight, and nine. Facing a grade-six side-path Core Formation cultivator would already test his limits.
And should he provoke a true transmission disciple of the Daoist orthodoxy who possessed a Core Formation of the upper three grades, Qian Chen would have no hope of withstanding them and could only flee.
Though he did not know what grade of core Miaokong had formed, the man possessed the power to wipe out Louguan Dao, a sect of the true Daoist transmission; his combat strength was by no means beneath a grade-one or grade-two Primordial Core of the Daoist orthodoxy. Against that, Qian Chen's current cultivation would be nothing more than walking to his own slaughter.
Furthermore, Miaokong's guide privileges allowed him to track Qian Chen's official missions. They had not crossed paths earlier only because trial missions were protected by the Lord of Reincarnation and lay beyond a guide's jurisdiction. If every guide could intervene, what kind of trial mission would it be? In an ironic twist, this tracking privilege had originally been a perk for those entering the Reincarnation Lands via a Reincarnation Guide—with a guide's assistance, the first three missions carried little risk, ensuring the safety of second-generation Reincarnators.
At least thirty percent of the exorbitant cost of a Reincarnation Guide was due to this very feature.
Yet for Qian Chen, what was meant to be a Reincarnation benefit had become a fatal calamity.
In other words, by the time of his next official mission, there was a high probability he would run into Miaokong. If within a year he could not produce a trump card on the level of Core Formation to counter Miaokong, his journey as a Reincarnator would come to an abrupt end.
Focusing solely on his cultivation over these days was somewhat dull and monotonous, but watching his cultivation attainment grow each day brought him genuine joy.
Yet progressing step by step, bright though his long-term prospects were, would never be enough to survive the catastrophe awaiting him in a year.
Returning on his cloud this day, Qian Chen sensed that the heat of his true qi was gradually reaching rounded maturity. The period of explosive progress that followed his breakthrough past Sensing had passed; from here on, further advancement would require slow, painstaking polishing, and could not be rushed.
He thought to himself, 'Earlier, I was completely absorbed in my cultivation attainment and had no time for distractions. About a month has passed now, and this growth cannot be forced. There is no way it will let me contend with a formidable enemy like Miaokong in a single year... Even if there were a shortcut for my cultivation to surge forward overnight, I wouldn't dare try it. Cultivation is no joke.'
'I might as well ease my cultivation progress and linger in the Qi Refining realm for a while longer.'
'After all, legends say ancient cultivators dedicated themselves entirely to Qi Refining, earning the title of ancient Qi Refiners, who climbed through forty-nine layers of Qi Refining straight to the Primal Spirit. It was only after the Taishang Dao Ancestor pioneered the Grand Dao of the Golden Dan that later cultivators shifted to the path of Core Formation. It was considered a golden shortcut, tenfold simpler than attaining the Primal Spirit had been before... A pity the Taishang Dao Ancestor never devised an Origin Infant method; that leaves things feeling slightly incomplete!'
'Nowadays, the infants of the Daoist orthodoxy are for those of dull aptitude and crude fleshly bodies. Upon reaching Core Formation, they are forced to condense an infant vessel out of primordial qi and transfer their soul and spirit sense into it, casting off their unworthy mortal shells. It is essentially a method of switching abodes and forging a cauldron. Certain Daoist luminaries also do this to sever mortal ties and settle karma.'
'While condensing an infant grants superior cultivation aptitude, the drawback is slow physical growth. Many venerable masters who have cultivated for thousands of years and attained the Primal Spirit still look like children because they condensed an infant. It is said the supreme methods of condensing an infant also possess wondrous merits for extending lifespan and averting tribulations... Still, when our Taishang Dao loses a body, we would rather seize the freshly deceased shell of another than bother with that whole affair.'
'It is overseas wandering cultivators, non-human grandmasters, and even the sword cultivators and true transmissions of Lingbao Dao in Biyou Palace who favor such practices.'
Qian Chen's eyes narrowed. As the thought crossed his mind, he recalled the four signature arts of the Three Pure Ones' true transmissions...
Among the lineages of the three Dao Ancestors, Taishang Dao favored alchemy above all; Yuanshi Dao was unmatched in artifact forging, commanding countless magic treasures, while also excelling in spirit talismans; Lingbao Dao was devoted to the sword and equally skilled in formations, hailed as preeminent in sword formations.
These four arts—alchemy, forging, talismans, and formations—were the four orthodox auxiliary paths of cultivation. They held many wondrous cultivation benefits and were far more than mere external methods of self-defense.
After all, the Core Formation path commonly trodden by cultivators today was something the Taishang Dao Ancestor had realized while refining elixirs. Thus, the art of the external elixir was far more ancient than that of the internal core; mastery in alchemy was of immense benefit when forming a core. Meanwhile, the Spell Comprehension realm was said to share deep connections with the art of talismans. At the very least, when disciples of Zhengyi Dao were initiated and received talismans, Spell Comprehension and Foundation Building merged into one, which was undeniably profound.
Other lineages progressed through Foundation Building, Sensing, Qi Refining, and Spell Comprehension.
Their lineage went from Spell Comprehension, to Foundation Building, to Sensing, to Qi Refining.
Disciples of Zhengyi Dao were often able to practice spells before even breaking through Sensing. Because of this, their Daoist cloisters spanned the world, establishing monasteries in all ten directions with countless ordained Daoists, laying a rock-solid foundation for Yuanshi Dao's leadership over the Daoist orthodoxy. Consequently, their initiated disciples outnumbered those of Taishang Dao a hundredfold. Had Louguan Dao maintained a similarly rigorous hierarchy—easy to enter, yet difficult to master—it would never have fallen into such decline, only to have its entire sect wiped out.
Leaving aside how sword cultivators meticulously refined a single natal flying sword, Lingbao Dao's formations were supreme, deeply tied to the path beyond the Primal Spirit. It was said that the Primal Spirits forged through Lingbao Dao possessed staggering inherent might; were it not for the fact that every Primal Spirit of Yuanshi Dao started with at least one magic treasure, with spirit treasures by no means rare, and that Taishang Dao possessed profound heritage and unmatched cultivation attainment, Lingbao Dao's Primal Spirits might well have stood at the apex of the Daoist orthodoxy.
For this reason, whenever disciples of the true transmissions dabbled in puppetry, divination and numerology, stargazing, or mechanics, their elders would often advise against it, encouraging such pursuits only after Core Formation.
Yet Taishang Dao's alchemy, Yuanshi Dao's talisman arts, and Lingbao Dao's swordsmanship were taught from the moment a disciple entered the sect.
The true transmissions' arts of alchemy, forging, talismans, and formations were fundamentally different from those of the heterodox paths, placing great emphasis on drawing connections and achieving broad comprehension. Legend had it that the founding patriarch of Doushuai Palace was originally the Taishang Dao Ancestor's fire-fanning boy. While the Dao Ancestor was refining the Nine-Revolution Golden Dan, the boy gained sudden enlightenment into the Grand Dao. As the golden core underwent nine revolutions within the Taishang furnace, he gathered and refined various grand medicines within his own body as he fanned the flames, completing nine revolutions of his core. On the day the Taishang Dao Ancestor's elixir was finished, the patriarch of Doushuai Palace also completed his ninth revolution, forging a Nine-Revolution Golden Dan and attaining an immortal, imperishable Primal Spirit.
The Taishang Dao Ancestor bestowed that furnace of golden cores upon him, took him as a disciple, and handed him the fan he had used to stoke the flames as a token of the Taishang Dao orthodox transmission.
Of course, these were legends circulated by Doushuai Palace. Qian Chen knew them only because Louguan Dao disciples often joked among themselves that of the three branches of the Taishang transmission, only Dao Venerable Xuandu of the Taiqing Sect and Patriarch Wenshi of Louguan Dao were the true disciples of the Taishang lineage.
Among them, Dao Venerable Xuandu was the final disciple taken after the Taishang had attained the Dao, whereas Patriarch Wenshi had accompanied the Taishang Dao Ancestor long before his enlightenment; hence, Louguan Dao should have stood at the head of the three branches. As for Doushuai Palace, it had merely been founded by the Dao Ancestor's fire-tending boy, and had it not been fortunate enough to inherit the Taishang Dao Ancestor's former heavenly ashram, it would hardly count as a true transmission.
After all, the patriarch of Doushuai Palace had refined elixirs for the Dao Ancestor, yet the Taishang Eight Trigrams Furnace resided in the Taiqing Sect as the heirloom treasure of their orthodox heritage.
Doushuai Palace had received only a fan for fanning the fire... The implications were rather profound.
Even so, whatever Louguan Dao might claim, Dao Venerable Xuandu remained the eldest disciple of the Taishang Dao Ancestor and the senior martial brother of Master Wenshi. Presiding over Bajing Palace in Taiqing Heaven, he stood as the leader of the Daoist orthodoxy. Such idle banter was only ever spoken within Louguan Dao's own walls; in later years, after the sect declined, they hardly dared mock Doushuai Palace at all.
Qian Chen had considered many ways to temporarily bolster his magical power. Naturally, wielding his original body, the Taishang Dao Dust Pearl, would be best. Yet for some reason, whenever Qian Chen's spirit sense left the pearl, he could hardly boss the esteemed grandmaster around. Even though that grandmaster was his true body, it still put on tremendous airs before its own second primal spirit, refusing to budge even if poked twice.
Failing that, if he could obtain a spirit treasure, its inherent might would leave him with little fear of anyone beneath the Primal Spirit realm.
Unfortunately, unless he sold his own true body, seeking to obtain a spirit treasure within a year would strike anyone as pure fantasy. Even though Yuanshi Dao possessed the most magic treasure vaults left behind by past generations and the most spirit treasure opportunities bequeathed by the Yuanshi Dao Ancestor—boasting eight hundred spirit treasures across nine separate ashrams and abodes—there was no reason a minor cultivator who had not even achieved Spell Comprehension would ever be granted one.
Even the chosen tribulation bearers of Yuanshi Dao through the ages only began their blissful, treasure-laden lives after attaining Core Formation.
Next were the four auxiliary Grand Daos of alchemy, forging, talismans, and formations. Leaving aside heaven-defying fortunes like Heavenly Palace True Talismans, magic treasures and spirit treasures, grotto-heaven grand formations, and Nine-Revolution Golden Dans, the only things Qian Chen could currently hope to craft were true talismans and divine registers. True talismans could confer titles upon Daoists; they were talismans crafted only when Zhengyi Dao acted on behalf of the Daoist orthodoxy to bestow honors on Daoists who had rendered great service.
A single true talisman bestowed Core Formation magical power instantly, while Heavenly Palace True Talismans granted from Zhengyi Dao in the heavenly realm could elevate a Master to Primal Spirit magical power, making them immortal on the spot.
Divine registers were even grander edicts by which Zhengyi Dao consecrated ghosts and deities. Nowadays, only the reigning Emperor could command Zhengyi Dao to craft one or two during grand ceremonies of deification.
They were essentially official credentials within the Daoist pantheon of ghosts and deities.
Wondrous as such talismans were, only Zhengyi Dao specialized in them; Qian Chen had no idea how to craft them.
As for the art of formations, it was far too high-level. Never mind that Qian Chen could currently set up a few basic arrays like the Soul-Bewitching Formation or the Five Elements Formation; diving into advanced applications required an appalling amount of resources and cultivation attainment. It was an auxiliary Grand Dao where one could only be considered a beginner upon reaching the Primal Spirit realm.
Calculating back and forth, Qian Chen realized that the signature art of his own lineage—alchemy—held the greatest promise.
Chapter 39