Chapter 4: The Beginning of Qi Refining, True Qi Detoxifies

The Golden Core Great Dao is the cultivation method of the ancient Qi Refiners, and it has always been said that "once a Golden Core is swallowed into the belly, my fate is determined by me, not by Heaven."

This Daoist art is divided into four great realms: Refining Essence into Qi, Refining Qi into Spirit, Refining Spirit into Void, and Refining Void into Dao, with each great realm further divided into many minor realms.

For example, Refining Essence into Qi has the three realms of Refining Essence, Qi Absorption, and Condensing Origin; Refining Qi into Spirit has the three realms of Condensing Elixir, Purple Mansion, and Transforming Spirit; Refining Spirit into Void has the three realms of Out of Body, Spirit Integration, and Transforming Void, and so on.

The "Essence" in Refining Essence into Qi refers to Spiritual Power, which is an extension of the soul's strength.

To cultivate the Golden Core Great Dao, one must first train the soul to be strong enough to use Spiritual Power to perceive the interior of the body; at the very least, one must be able to achieve internal vision.

Refining Essence into Qi means training Spiritual Power first; once the Spiritual Power is sufficient, one can use it to guide Spiritual Qi into the body, then refine the Spiritual Qi and convert it into what the Daoists call True Qi.

In his previous life, Chen Yusheng was a Mao Shan Heavenly Master, so his Spiritual Power was already extremely strong after crossing over; he had long since reached the level where he could perform internal vision, so he did not need to start from Refining Essence at all and could directly begin Qi Absorption cultivation.

In the room on the third floor, Chen Yusheng sat cross-legged and focused on his cultivation.

As time passed bit by bit, fine beads of sweat began to emerge on his forehead.

Having sufficient Spiritual Power is one thing, but actually succeeding in Qi Absorption is not that easy.

His Spiritual Power could perform internal vision, but it could not reach outside his body, and the Spiritual Qi was all outside; the difficulty of relying on Spiritual Power to pull in Spiritual Qi was immense.

Half an hour passed, and Chen Yusheng was drenched in sweat, yet he had failed to pull in even a single wisp of Spiritual Qi.

"That's not right, the books say that if you can perform internal vision, you can cultivate; that must be correct."

He suppressed his restlessness and carefully recalled the cultivation method of the Golden Core Great Dao.

A dozen minutes later, his eyes lit up as he finally remembered.

"It seems Qi Absorption also requires a breathing technique to go with it! Use the breathing technique to draw the Spiritual Qi into the body, then use Spiritual Power to guide it; that would be much easier."

Chen Yusheng immediately adjusted his rhythm and began to breathe slowly according to the Qi Absorption breathing technique.

Before long, he truly managed to capture a wisp of Spiritual Qi with his Spiritual Power.

Daring not to delay, he hurriedly followed the technique to refine this wisp of Spiritual Qi bit by bit using his Spiritual Power.

Ten minutes later, the Spiritual Qi was completely refined, and a mark of Spiritual Power was added to the refined Spiritual Qi.

The originally violent Spiritual Qi became exceptionally docile after having this mark, and it could be manipulated at will.

Is this what the Daoists call True Qi?

According to the classics, when consuming True Qi, the spiritual mark does not disappear; as long as the mark remains, one's cultivation can recover rapidly, preventing one's cultivation realm from dropping after the True Qi is exhausted.

Having refined the first wisp of True Qi, Chen Yusheng felt a surge of excitement and immediately began refining the second wisp.

Another ten minutes passed, and the second wisp of True Qi was formed, but he frowned.

This cultivation speed was simply too slow.

When he practiced with Origin Qi, he could refine one unit in two or three hours.

One unit of Origin Qi was worth a hundred wisps, but now, cultivating True Qi, it took ten minutes for just one wisp.

By conversion, it would take sixteen hours to refine one unit of True Qi, which was far worse than cultivating Origin Qi.

"Can I use the Spiritual Qi inside the Zombie Crystal to cultivate? That should be much faster, right?"

Chen Yusheng picked up a Zombie Crystal, held it in his hand, and resumed the technique.

But a moment later, he frowned; the Zombie Crystal was outside, and his Spiritual Power could not reach the Spiritual Qi inside the crystal at all.

"What if I try holding the crystal in my mouth?"

He immediately rinsed the crystal with mineral water, then put it into his mouth before starting his cultivation again.

A few minutes later, Chen Yusheng opened his eyes abruptly, his face full of surprise.

The crystal held in his mouth seemed to be connected to his body; the pure Spiritual Qi inside drilled into his body along the tip of his tongue, and his Spiritual Power caught it with every attempt.

Using the Zombie Crystal for cultivation was ten times faster than absorbing Spiritual Qi from the air! At this speed, he could refine one unit of True Qi in just over an hour.

Calculating this way, he could break through the Condensing Origin Realm in twelve years of non-stop practice.

If he practiced eight hours a day, he could also succeed in thirty-six years.

Moreover, the lifespan of the Condensing Origin Realm could reach two hundred and fifty years.

This cultivation speed should be considered quite a good talent.

Next, Chen Yusheng settled his mind and focused on his cultivation; after more than an hour, he finally refined the first unit of True Qi in his dantian, equivalent to one hundred wisps of True Qi.

He tried to manipulate the True Qi to circulate through his Meridians, but an accident occurred.

The two remaining units of Origin Qi in his body were actually swallowed directly by the True Qi!

After devouring the Origin Qi, one unit of Origin Qi caused the True Qi to increase by ten wisps.

That is to say, ten wisps of Origin Qi were only worth one wisp of True Qi.

Could the quality of True Qi be ten times stronger than Origin Qi?

With the Origin Qi swallowed, the power suppressing the corpse poison vanished instantly, and the corpse poison immediately rampaged through his Meridians; the familiar, heart-piercing pain struck again.

Chen Yusheng hurriedly mobilized the True Qi and pressed it toward the corpse poison.

But the moment the True Qi touched the corpse poison, he was stunned.

Because the True Qi could not only completely suppress the corpse poison, it could also wrap around the corpse poison and move it through the Meridians, though it consumed some True Qi during the movement.

If it could be moved, it could be forced out!

Chen Yusheng immediately manipulated the True Qi, wrapping it around the corpse poison and guiding it toward the index finger of his right hand.

The corpse poison struggled incessantly, and the True Qi was consumed rapidly, but he gritted his teeth and refused to let up.

Finally, the corpse poison was guided to the tip of his index finger; pitch-black blood beads mixed with corpse poison dripped down one by one, sizzling as they corroded small pits into the ground.

A moment later, the corpse poison that had plagued him for two days was actually completely cleared away just like that.

Chen Yusheng let out a long breath, his whole body felt relaxed, and the cold, gloomy sensation that had been clinging to him was entirely gone.

However, after clearing the corpse poison, more than half of the True Qi in his Meridians had been exhausted.

He sat cross-legged again and began to recover his True Qi.

With the spiritual mark present, the True Qi recovered extremely quickly; in less than half a minute, the consumed True Qi was fully replenished, with a recovery speed more than a hundred times faster than his cultivation speed.

After recovering his True Qi, Chen Yusheng thought about testing the power of his True Qi.

He found a piece of Sangshi skin, then bit his fingertip again and used his True Qi to draw an Exorcism Talisman.

After sensing it, he discovered that the energy dissipation of this Exorcism Talisman could last for about five days?

Furthermore, the exorcism range reached over ten meters, which was far stronger than the Warding Off Evil Talisman drawn with primordial energy.

Afterward, he came to the balcony and struck a Soul-Suppressing Talisman at a Sangshi downstairs; that Sangshi was frozen stiff for ten full minutes before it could move, its power also several times greater than the primordial energy talisman.

After testing the power of his True Qi, Chen Yusheng felt even more reassured.

Next, Chen Yusheng continued to cultivate using the Sangshi crystals.

He discovered that the Spiritual Qi inside one Sangshi crystal was only enough to cultivate a little over one strand of True Qi, and he could absorb one Sangshi crystal in a little over an hour.

Fortunately, he had killed many Sangshi before and had over two hundred and thirty crystals, enough for him to practice steadily for ten days or so.

In the room, Chen Yusheng calmed his mind and practiced breathing exercises; the crystal in his mouth slowly dissolved, and the pure Spiritual Qi continuously transformed into True Qi, accumulating bit by bit in his Meridians.

Outside the window, the apocalypse remained dangerous, but in his heart, he had gained a sense of confidence in controlling his own destiny.