Chapter 196: Heavenly Stem, Nine Breaths Serving Qi!

Every past Pope was buried within the Holy Land, and the burial objects were naturally there as well; thus, Lu Yuan did not have to wait long before he obtained the so-called bronze fragment.

Although restarting the burial place of past Popes was a tremendous offense, in order to send away the plague god that was Lu Yuan as quickly as possible, Saint Peter could not care about so much, and immediately and quietly opened the burial coffin of Keleimang Yishi, taking out the third mysterious burial relic and sending it before Lu Yuan.

The so-called bronze fragment was actually a rather incomplete bronze plate, engraved with a large amount of text, which seemed to record something.

Because Lu Yuan had previously browsed through the classics in the Golden Court Scripture Hall, he confirmed at a glance that everything engraved on it was ancient Shenzhou script along with an incomplete array diagram; using this type of script to write a book meant the bronze plate was at least from the early Middle Ages or even the end of the Ancient Era, five or six thousand years ago.

Having remained largely intact after such a long passage of time, the material of the bronze plate was clearly extraordinary; after careful study, Lu Yuan confirmed that this bronze plate should be called the "Incense Offering God Strategy," and the content recorded on it was an array diagram called the Ascending God Array.

And the so-called baptism ceremony was clearly an improved, evolved version of this array diagram; it was unknown how that Pope called Keleimang Yishi had managed it.

Because they were all ancient characters, even with half-guessing and half-reading, Lu Yuan still did not recognize many of the characters, but what could be determined was that this bronze plate, or rather the "Incense Offering God Strategy," should be a complete method of God Immortal Dao cultivation, and there was more than just this one plate!

Therefore, after Lu Yuan finished identifying the content on the bronze strategy, he immediately summoned Saint Peter:

"How many more such ancient artifacts suspected to be from the Middle Ages or Ancient Era, passed down from Shenzhou, does your Holy See have?"

Saint Peter pondered for a moment and replied:

"If Your Excellency the Immortal is speaking of cultural relics from Shenzhou in the recent ancient era, the Holy See and even the Shenluo populace have collected some, but those from the Middle Ages or even the Ancient Era are extremely rare; I have almost never seen a few."

Lu Yuan's brows furrowed slightly:

"This bronze plate should not be the only one; where did that Keleimang Yishi obtain it from?"

Saint Peter said with difficulty:

"Keleimang Yishi passed away nearly five hundred years ago; the classics record that this bronze plate was presented by a Shenluo merchant, and its origin can no longer be verified."

Lu Yuan did not appear disappointed; he put the bronze strategy into his Pot Heaven Bag, then stood up and said:

"Fine, take me to the place where your Holy See stores classics; I want to consult your history regarding the Middle Ages and before."

Saint Peter naturally could not refuse, and immediately led Lu Yuan personally to leave the Sanctuary, arriving at the Library Hall on the highest floor of Shengpiduo Dajiaotang.

The Library Hall had an old priest and several young priests on guard; they were clearly greatly astonished by Lu Yuan's arrival, but with the Pope's personal order, they dared not express direct doubt and could only move out the most ancient and precious portion of the Holy See's classics according to Lu Yuan's request for him to consult.

And as he searched and consulted, Lu Yuan soon discovered that the history of the entire Shenluo seemed to only be traceable to the early Middle Ages at most, with very few records regarding the Ancient Era.

Even in the Holy See's doctrine, the records of the Lord of Heaven descending and spreading the gospel to the world were also in the early Middle Ages, clearly more than three thousand years later than the earliest history of Shenzhou.

Lu Yuan believed that this was perhaps not a gap in history, but that civilization only appeared on this land after the Ancient Era; perhaps the Shenluo People were even descendants of some tribes from the Ancient Era of Shenzhou who were defeated and migrated here, then gradually evolved and formed!

After several days of research, his findings were limited to this, and he found no other traces regarding the bronze strategy.

Feeling slightly regretful, Lu Yuan did not force it, and immediately decided to take the bronze strategy and some important recorded materials back to study slowly.

Upon hearing the news, Saint Peter almost wept with joy; although the recorded materials Lu Yuan took away were extremely important, they basically all had backups, and in his view, being able to send away such a plague god was worth it even at a greater cost.

Just like that.

On a morning ten days after staying in the Holy See's Holy Land, Lu Yuan flew into the blue sky under the respectful and urgent farewell of Saint Peter and a group of high-ranking officials, embarking on the return journey.

As for Saint Peter, he also spared him and did not take his life.

It was not that he was soft-hearted; on one hand, Saint Peter was very sensible and had been cooperative from beginning to end, and Lu Yuan still needed to observe the situation of this person after breaking through via the baptism ceremony as material.

On the other hand, Shenluo was currently still the world's number one power, and he would need to search the whole world for the secret of the missing Ancient Qi Practitioners after his cultivation reached the limit of Heaven and Earth; at that time, he might need to borrow the power of the Shenluo Holy See.

In short, keeping Saint Peter was still useful.

And so.

After several days of long-distance flight, Lu Yuan crossed ten thousand miles and returned to Tianjing.

Both the high-level national leaders and his subordinates came to pay their respects at the first opportunity, reporting the results of the negotiations with the three nations.

With the compensation from the three nations, the New Nation's finances would suddenly become incomparably wealthy, and the country would soon welcome a period of high-speed development.

Lu Yuan encouraged Zuo Guanglie and the others for their negotiation results, and immediately after carefully reviewing the materials and mastering the content recorded on the bronze strategy by comparing it with the ancient script, he arranged for Chen Zhantang and other disciples to collect various materials in a very short time, preparing to set up the baptism ceremony.

He had originally wanted to set up the original Ascending God Array, but he had never even heard of many of the materials recorded on it and had no way to collect them, so he had to start by trying the baptism ceremony that the Holy See had stumbled upon.

The location for the trial setup was not in Qinian Hall; he specifically chose a temple near Tianjing that used to have flourishing incense, and after sealing it off, he used the Incense Hall with a Buddha statue presiding over it as the experimental site and began the setup.

The baptism ceremony was simplified quite a bit compared to the content recorded on the bronze strategy; in the eyes of a late-stage Refining Essence into Qi cultivator like him, it was not considered very difficult, so after only two or three failures, he successfully set up this ceremony in the Incense Hall.

And it was indeed as he had thought.

The moment the baptism ceremony was successfully set up and he injected Dharma Power to activate it, tiny specks of light emerged from the Buddha statue in the Incense Hall that had been worshipped by ten thousand people, drifting into the range of the array patterns like fireflies, and gathering more and more.

Clearly, this was the countless Incense Power entrusted upon the Buddha statue being refined by this baptism ceremony; if someone entered the array to resist the myriad distracting thoughts and use this power to cleanse their body and mind, they could obtain progress in their cultivation, whether it be Martial Arts, Daoist Arts, or Qi Refining and Immortal cultivation.

Of course, Lu Yuan's Sprout Sensing Technique intuitively felt that if he also used this method to improve his cultivation, the result would likely be more harm than good. After all, the 【Guiding Technique】 was Earth Immortal Dao, and the cultivation method was seeking within, while God Immortal Dao cultivation was mainly seeking without, with incense and faith being the main cultivation resources; if he used the baptism ceremony to improve, he would instead be destroying his own cultivation foundation.

After confirming this point, Lu Yuan completely abandoned the plan to use this method for self-improvement and completely sealed it away.

At the same time, he also arranged for disciples of the Heavenly Master Mansion to visit various provinces to collect all ancient books and classics recording the history and legends of the Ancient Era, and even Ancient Qi Practitioners, to prepare for the future.

And on this day after arranging all of this.

In Qinian Hall, Lu Yuan did not seclude himself for quiet cultivation as he usually did, but instead communicated with the Heavenly Book with great anticipation and received feedback:

【Supernatural Power Master】: Lu Yuan

【Mastered Arts】: -

Ingestion (Earth: 31%); - Guidance (Earth: 29%); - Invisibility (Earth: 7%); -

Staff Sending (Earth: 8%); - Medicine (Earth: 23%); - Earth Travel (Earth: 10%); -

Generating Light (Earth: 11%); - Sword Technique (Earth: 9%); - Boiling Stones (Earth: 17%); -

Pot Heaven (Earth: 3%); - Great Strength (Earth: 2%); - Sprout Sensing (Earth: 7%); -

Wind Control (Earth: 7%); - Obstacle Clothing (Earth: 3%); - Dream Grafting (Earth: 1%); -

Body Immobilization (Earth: 3%); - Nightmare Prayer (Earth: 3%); - False Form (Earth: 1%): -

Cloning (Earth: 1%); - Soul Absorption (Earth: 1%)

【Luck Power】: 100,008 units

At this very moment, his Luck Power had already broken through the one hundred thousand mark!

"Finally gathered enough to light up Nine Breaths Serving Qi; it wasn't easy, truly not easy."

Even though Lu Yuan had already stepped to the pinnacle of this world, at this very moment he was still incomparably excited and felt inexplicable emotions.

From the moment he first obtained the Guiding Technique and stepped onto the path of Immortal cultivation, he had already set this Supernatural Power as his goal, constantly striving to accumulate Luck Power for this purpose.

Now, more than three years had passed since he officially began Immortal cultivation, and after experiencing all sorts of things, he had finally gathered this massive amount of Qi Luck!

Without hesitation.

After Lu Yuan calmed his mood slightly, he immediately moved his mind and communicated with the Heavenly Book:

"Light up, Nine Breaths Serving Qi!"

Boom!

Following a thunderous vibration.

As if a Meteor were striking the Earth, a roar like the collapse of Heaven and the destruction of the Earth suddenly erupted in his mind; the Heavenly Book bloomed with an unprecedented, vast radiance, and at the same time, a surging, profound, and miraculous aura emerged crazily, like a river bursting its banks.

At this instant, even though Lu Yuan had been prepared, he only felt that all color, scent, taste, sound, and touch around him—the six senses and five aggregates—had all escaped into a state of emptiness and clarity, feeling as if the Dharma Power in his body had suddenly fallen into madness and vibration, to the point where he could not even feel his own existence!

Immediately following, amidst a chaotic sea of thoughts, the boundless light emitted by the Heavenly Book rapidly condensed, and all the chaotic fog suddenly shattered, as if an extremely brilliant, magnificent, and scorching sun had appeared in his mind.

The moment the sun appeared, it was like thunder striking his mind; every sound seemed to resonate directly in the depths of his consciousness, the violent roaring sound feeling as if it were about to blow his mind apart, and the chanting sounds, like great bells and drums or the very beginning of Heaven and Earth, echoed in his heart, causing Lu Yuan to fall into an indescribable state of emptiness and stillness.

After a long, long time.

Lu Yuan slowly opened his eyes, his gaze filled with shock and disbelief:

"Nine Breaths Serving Qi, a Heavenly Gang Supernatural Power, so it is like this..."

At this very moment, a faintly glowing star had appeared in his mind, circling around the Heavenly Book, vibrating slightly.

Unlike the past when he lit up Earthly Fiend Arts and received the Heavenly Book's empowerment, the thirty-six Heavenly Gang belong to true Supernatural Powers; the massive amount of Qi Luck he consumed to light it up did not grant him a cultivation method for the power, but directly condensed a Seed of Supernatural Power!

Having understood what that Seed of Supernatural Power represented through the Heavenly Book, and feeling excited within, Lu Yuan did not hesitate to trigger the Seed of Supernatural Power with his intent, and then—

Hum!

A grand and invisible ripple radiated from his body; his mental perception felt as if it had suddenly broken through some invisible barrier, clearly sensing that in the void space before him, there seemed to be hidden vast and boundless Original Qi—the feeling was just like someone who had lived in a desert for a long time suddenly appearing beside a vast ocean!

Then.

Hu.

Xi.

After lighting up the Supernatural Power, Lu Yuan understood it without a teacher, his heart filled with inspiration; he used the Nine Breaths Serving Qi Supernatural Power to breathe in a profound and mysterious way, and immediately, the boundless sea of Original Qi hidden in the dark void boiled, and then strands of Original Qi were directly extracted from the void, pouring majestically into his body!

This Original Qi could be regarded as the source energy that constructs the universe of Heaven and Earth, and it could completely replace the Heaven and Earth spiritual essence required for Immortal cultivation, immediately making his body rejoice.

Swish, swish, swish...

It was like a dried-up river channel welcoming a torrential downpour; in just a few breaths, the massive Original Qi poured into his body instantly, the effect comparable to Lu Yuan taking more than ten harmonized Bait Stone Pills at once—the effect was simply unbelievable!

In less than nine breaths, the Original Qi in his body was already full and overflowing, and most of it had been refined; Lu Yuan immediately stopped the Nine Breaths Serving Qi Supernatural Power, his expression appearing exceptionally surprised and shocked:

"What a Nine Breaths Serving Qi, the effect is actually this terrifying..."

【Heavenly Gang - Nine Breaths Serving Qi】:

By breathing and exhaling for nine breaths, one can swallow and spit out the Original Qi of the universe and Heaven and Earth to transform it into True Qi and Dharma Power, and can also disperse it into Original Qi to merge with Heaven and Earth; gathering, it forms a shape, dispersing, it becomes Qi—this is the supreme Qi Refining Supernatural Power of the Daoist school.

In this world, Spiritual Machine is severed, and Lu Yuan's cultivation can only rely on constantly refining his own essence and Qi; normally, if he did not have techniques like Ingestion and stone-boiling to harmonize, he would never have been able to reach his current level.

Yet this Supernatural Power, Nine Breaths Serving Qi, directly ignores the environment of Heaven and Earth, drawing Original Qi similar to Heaven and Earth Spiritual Machine from the dark void across boundaries; it is simply unreasonable, like cheating.

The most critical point is that this Supernatural Power not only draws in Original Qi, but can also refine the Original Qi into his own Dharma Power at an astonishing speed; just from the few breaths he had performed, his cultivation improvement was already comparable to a month of bitter practice!

"A few breaths of practice are comparable to a month of bitter practice; at this rate, wouldn't I be able to complete Refining Essence into Qi in just a few days?"

Lu Yuan felt his own state, his heart surging, his thoughts racing:

"No, that's not right."

"The Heavenly Gang Laws are Immortal Supernatural Powers; even if I, a practitioner of Refining Essence into Qi, master them, there must be limitations to performing them. According to the Heavenly Book, it requires consuming a massive amount of mental energy and Original Qi?"

"That's it. Although my Dharma Power is full and overflowing now, my mental energy is quite exhausted; this is clearly caused by Nine Breaths Serving Qi. After all, although the Dharma Power consumption is great, it does not exceed the recovery effect of this Supernatural Power, but the consumption of mental energy is impossible to compensate for..."