Chapter 269: Qi Refining Tenth Level

Day after day, Liu Xiao blew the flute, and the light and shadow emerging from the drum and flute gradually grew larger—initially shapeless, like a constantly shifting bubble; after half a month, the bubble had swollen to the size of a child's head and took on a faint pale yellow hue.

Liu Xiao continued playing the "Nourishing Soul" melody; each time he played, hundreds of birds perched on branches and countless beasts gathered to watch, while the light and shadow within the drum and flute grew day by day.

After one month, the light and shadow had grown to over two chi in length.

After two months, it reached three chi in length and split into two tightly connected parts—one large, one small.

After three months, it stretched to three and a half chi; the two parts further divided—the small part sprouted two minor branches, the large part sprouted five.

After four months, it reached four chi in length; each branch became clearer—the small part now resembled a skull with pointed ears, while the large part developed limbs and a tail.

After five months, the light and shadow grew distinctly clear: it was unmistakably the spectral shadow of the dead spirit leopard, its physical corpse still hanging beneath the tree trunk, now dried out.

After six months, every part of the spirit leopard—its eyes, nose, ears, mouth, claws, tail—had fully differentiated, and its surface now bore streaks of brown markings.

After six months of arduous cultivation, Liu Xiao finally succeeded in nourishing the soul.

He had played the "Nourishing Soul" melody hundreds of times! Even the most beautiful melody, played daily, could make one sick to the stomach; what Liu Xiao was most delighted about now was not the formation of the spirit leopard's soul, but that he could finally switch to a new tune.

The spirit leopard's shadow was faint, small in size, and still needed greater clarity; to make it capable of combat, he would need to play the third melody—"Strengthening Soul."

But this was a long-term endeavor, and the melody's efficacy was closely tied to one's cultivation level; at Liu Xiao's current stage, even the best performance of "Strengthening Soul" would yield only minimal improvement to the spirit leopard's shadow, so he would now need to devote most of his time to raising his cultivation.

He took out spirit stones from his space bag and, following the Xuanyuan Scripture, absorbed spiritual energy, transformed it into true qi, and pressed against his acupoints.

Within this small realm under the tree spirit's canopy, Liu Xiao's cultivation routine was highly regular:

Each morning, he played "Strengthening Soul" once, aiding the spirit leopard's shadow's growth. This melody was vigorous and majestic, no longer as calm and soothing as the previous one—so the birds no longer came, the beasts no longer gathered; instead, the tree spirit responded more noticeably, its branches trembling and swaying without wind.

From morning until evening, he held spirit stones and cultivated his meridians, striving to unblock each acupoint, steadily advancing toward Qi Refining ninth level.

At dusk, he played "Strengthening Soul" again, then ate the food the tree spirit offered—mostly birds, snakes, rodents, and various fruits; sometimes he received things that made his skin crawl, like wriggling centipedes or plump beetles.

The tree spirit occasionally brought him living things imbued with spiritual energy to feed him.

His favorite was an unknown red berry, packed with abundant spiritual energy—a handful of ten or so berries equaled half a spirit stone; unfortunately, Liu Xiao searched every inch of the tree spirit's two mu of land but never found where these berries grew.

There was also a fat, thumb-sized worm—repulsive to look at, but delicious to eat; every bite of its juicy flesh rivaled the spirit wine Dan Gui from the Su family; if he could eat it regularly, he wouldn't need spirit stones to cultivate.

Unfortunately, he couldn't eat these berries or worms every day—truly regrettable.

The reason he could focus so deeply on cultivation, besides wanting to escape as soon as possible, was another important factor: the unopened acupoints along the Hand Taiyang Meridian had become unexpectedly easy to open, as if they had been previously "loosened." Liu Xiao suspected it might be due to the tree spirit's branches having once probed inside to suck his true qi and blood.

The Xiaohai point was unblocked in just six days, followed by Jianzhen in seven, Naoshu in five, Tianzong in six, Bingfeng in five; Quyuan, being a major point, took nine days—but still far faster than before.

Then came Jianwaiyu, Jianzhongyu,

Tianchuang, Tianrong, Quanliao, until the final point: Tinggong.

Liu Xiao had planned to spend a month loosening Tinggong, but it took only nine days—the entire Hand Taiyang Meridian was fully unblocked.

From Xiaohai to Tinggong, thirteen acupoints along the majority of the meridian were all unblocked in less than three months—truly unbelievable, twice as fast as on Qianzhu Ridge.

Thus, he officially entered Qi Refining ninth level.

After staying in the mountains so long, days blurred together, and there was no one to ask; he could only roughly estimate he had passed twenty-six years of age.

Qi Refining ninth level at twenty-six—quite impressive!

Pushing aside distractions, he pressed on: the ninth level of Xuanyuan Scripture cultivated the Foot Hand Shaoyin Meridian, from Yongquan to Yufu, requiring the unblocking of twenty-seven acupoints. This meridian had more points, especially many major ones—Yongquan, Dazhong, Zhubin, Siman, Shangqu, Tonggu, Youmen, Shenfeng, Lingxu, Shencang, Yufu—all contained true qi pools; under normal cultivation speed and with sufficient spirit stones, unblocking it would take at least two to two and a half years.

But like the previous meridian, the Foot Hand Shaoyin Meridian too seemed to have been loosened by the tree spirit's branches, making cultivation unusually easy.

Yongquan took seven days, Rangu and Taixi five each, Dazhong eight, Shuiquan, Zhaohai, Fuzhi, Jiaoxin all just four days, Zhubin seven; the following Yin Gu, Henggu, Dahé, Qixue were even more astonishing—each took only three days!

When Liu Xiao unblocked Siman, half the meridian was complete—in only two months!

As his cultivation surged forward, the spirit leopard's shadow also grew larger, fuller, clearer, and more agile—now reaching the size of a young leopard.

He continued diligently, breaking through one acupoint after another: Zhongzhu, Shangqu, Shiguan, Yindu.

Two more months passed; he unblocked the final point, Yufu, and successfully broke through to Qi Refining tenth level!

Qi Refining tenth level of Xuanyuan Scripture was the hardest stage, cultivating the Foot Taiyang Meridian—sixty-seven acupoints! Normally, it took three to five years to fully unblock this meridian, but Liu Xiao now found it no longer difficult, for this meridian too had been loosened.

Jingming, Zanzhu, Meichong, Qucha, Wuchu, Chengguang, Tongtian, Lueque—all eight points unblocked in one month, so fast he woke up smiling in his sleep.

But this golden period ended abruptly: the spirit stones were exhausted, and the bamboo-green wine that once filled half his storage space was gone.

For a time, Liu Xiao's cultivation stalled.

He felt frustrated. But after a brief moment of frustration, he accepted reality.

He summoned the spirit leopard's shadow from the drum and flute and carefully assessed it. Of course, it could not compare to the giant serpent shadow of the Badong cultivator, but it had already taken clear shape.

A shadow over five chi long, vividly expressive, with fur coloring identical to the original body—truly astonishing.

The shadow indeed advanced with cultivation; now that he had reached Qi Refining tenth level, the spirit leopard's shadow had risen another notch from its state at eighth and ninth levels.

After studying it for a long while, Liu Xiao made up his mind: he would cultivate the shadow for three more months, then attempt escape!

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