Chapter 152 - 151 2nd Origin, 2 Golden Elixirs

The spiritual qi of human cultivators converged at the spiritual platform between their eyebrows.

However, that is not the case for monsters.

The core of their demonic qi gathered below their waist, in their dantian region.

The difference between the two is significant.

According to modern Immortal Learning...

Human cultivation mainly focuses on the soul, with the spiritual qi gathering at the spiritual platform between the eyebrows, which helps to strengthen the spirit.

Monsters on the other hand, mainly focus on the body during cultivation. Their cultivation gathers at the dantian below the abdomen, which helps to strengthen the physical body.

Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, involving a great deal of factors.

Human cultivators do not prioritize physical strength, while monsters struggle to erase their instincts. This is closely related to each party’s different cultivation method.

Observing the seated Su Qiong, Li Jing was somewhat able to discern her internal flow of demonic qi through his Heavenly Eye.

The demonic qi circulating within Su Qiong’s body diluted slightly with each cycle.

The diluted qi was not decreasing in quality or disappearing, but rather was integrated into her body through her respiration, nourishing and enhancing her physical strength.

Human cultivators did not undergo this process.

While spiritual qi did nourish the body, it did not divide and merge into the physical structure.

Observing the circulation of demonic qi in Su Qiong’s body, Li Jing suddenly had a bold thought.

Ordinary human cultivators, even if they could perceive the way demonic qi moved like he did, wouldn’t be able to learn it.

The circulation of spiritual qi in cultivators followed the pre-determined routes of the cultivation techniques they chose.

Different cultivation techniques had different routes.

And the effects of cultivation varied as well.

The only common aspect was that both started and ended at the spiritual platform between the eyebrows, accumulating and growing spiritual qi.

Li Jing, as a human cultivator, was the same.

The spiritual platform between his eyebrows was the source of his power.

What made him different was...

Li Jing did not follow a cultivation technique, he had no routine flow.

Hence, the flow of spiritual power in his body was completely natural.

He did not worry about human cultivation methods.

In this world, people live in an environment rich with heavenly and earthly spiritual energy year-round, adapting to it over the course of evolution. This gives them a qi sense, allowing them to convert the natural heavenly and earthly spiritual energy for their own use.

This was something Li Jing could only envy.

Being a person from another world, in some ways he could be considered a different "species" than the natives of this world, a backward species.

However, he might be able to learn the monster’s cultivation method at present.

He did not have a cultivation method, just like the monsters.

Knowing that monsters used demonic qi to nourish their bodies during cultivation, he could try imitating this method.

Changing the way spiritual qi circulates is not a challenge for him as he had no fixed cultivation route.

Moreover, his "cultivation route" had already been changed once before.

The change was brought about by the Clothing Protection Spirit.

Ever since he mastered the Clothing Protection Spirit, the spiritual power in his body had remained following the flow of the Clothing Protection Spirit.

Having thought of this, Li Jing immediately sat down cross-legged.

To give it a try.

He was free from pressure.

He barely cultivated, and his cultivation level grew through leveling up.

He did not carry any risk of missteps in training that could lead to a cultivator’s deviation, nor was it possible that mistakes could lead to a malfunction.

With his eyes closed and mind focused, Li Jing altered the circulation of spiritual power within his body by will alone.

The process went smoothly.

However, after the circulation of spiritual power changed, the Clothing Protection Spirit, which had been constantly operating, lost its effect and no longer had active defense abilities.

The passive skill of Clothing Protection Spirit displayed on his panel turned gray.

Noticing this, Li Jing released his control over the flow of spiritual power.

With the circulation of spiritual power restored, the Clothing Protection Spirit took effect once again and the display on his panel changed from gray back to white.

Confirming that actively changing the circulation of spiritual power only temporarily affected the Clothing Protection Spirit, Li Jing felt relieved and decided to imitate Su Qiong’s demonic qi circulation method completely.

The process went smoothly as well.

However, the imitated circulation route was merely an empty shell.

There was no dispersion of spiritual power, and no effect of strengthening the body by melding the power into every part of his body.

Shifting his spiritual power convergence point below his waist, to the Dantian region, had left him a bit uncomfortable.

He ended his deliberate control over the circulation route of his Spiritual Power, Li Jing frowned.

Apparently, copying the circulation method won’t work.

Bringing an empty shell over would be pointless.

Changing the point of spiritual power convergence would also affect the power core inside his spiritual platform at the center of his eyebrows.

These two problems must be resolved!

After a quick pondering, Li Jing once again calmed his mind and separated his circulating spiritual power inside his body into two strands.

One strand was allowed to circulate on its own, taking the spiritual platform at the center of his eyebrows as the core.

The other strand, however, followed the circulation route within his physical body with Dantian as the core.

This time, he didn’t feel uncomfortable anymore.

Not only that, a warm and comfortable sensation was produced below his waist.

This sensation excited him significantly.

Looking down at his own Dantian through the Heavenly Eye, he found something vaguely emerging as spiritual power continued to converge into his Dantian.

After slightly hesitating, Li Jing put more spiritual power into the copied circulation route.

Once the shift in spiritual power input occurred, the warm sensation from his Dantian became increasingly stronger.

It’s working!

Li Jing was delighted. Maintaining the copied circulation route, he actively accelerated the circulation of spiritual power within it.

Gradually, the spiritual power was no longer just passing through the Dantian region, slowly forming a thin sea of Qi lingered in the Dantian area.

With the emergence of the thinly-spaced sea of Qi, the spiritual power in the replicated circulation route started to dilute gradually and integrated into his body.

Feeling this status, Li Jing was secretly thrilled.

His physical strength was gradually increasing with the infusion of spiritual power.

The door to a new world quietly unfolded before him.

The idea of learning on the spot was feasible!

He could nourish and strengthen his flesh and blood with spiritual power, just like Monster Cultivators did!

However, one thing troubled Li Jing.

Maintaining the duplicated circulation route was based on his mental designation which forcibly changed the path.

If he relaxed a bit, all would revert to its original state.

The young Sea of Qi that had just formed in his Dantian surely could not be maintained then.

Was there any way to completely stabilize this route?

As he pondered, the Linglong Tower, which was being nourished in his spiritual platform, conveyed a sense of "requesting permission".

Requesting permission, a feeling Li Jing was familiar with.

But he couldn’t understand what the Linglong Tower wanted the permission for.

The Linglong Tower, still at the spirit weapon level, couldn’t convey clear emotions, only vague ones.

However, Li Jing roughly appreciated that the Linglong Tower had sensed his thoughts and wanted to lend him a hand.

Without much thought, Li Jing sent a consent signal to the Linglong Tower.

The Linglong Tower then conveyed a joyous emotion and suddenly disappeared from his spiritual platform in his forehead, appeared in the center of Dantian region.

The newly formed Sea of Qi in Li Jing’s Dantian was immediately dissipated by the Linglong Tower.

Li Jing’s face darkened instantly.

Was the Linglong Tower being helpful, or was it making things worse?

Just as he was about to communicate with the Linglong Tower to send it back, as the painstakingly cultivated Sea of Qi had been shattered, he suddenly discovered that the Linglong Tower had replaced the Sea of Qi and had become the core of the spiritual power return flow.

As Linglong Tower became the core, the copied circulation route in Li Jing’s body surprisingly stabilized, and a new, faint Sea of Qi gradually formed inside the tower.

Was that possible?

Li Jing was profoundly astonished.

At this point, a prompt sound suddenly appeared in his ear.

"The spirit weapon Linglong Tower can be set as your Lifebound Magic Instrument, do you wish to set it?"

Receiving the sudden notification, Li Jing was slightly stunned.

Lifebound Magic Instrument?

He was not unfamiliar with these words.

But in this world, there was no such thing as a Lifebound Magic Instrument.

Should he set it?

Li Jing hesitated a bit.

That the panel had prompted this message was clearly related to the Linglong Tower becoming the core of his dantian.

Configuring it would undoubtedly benefit him.

Yet, just because it could be configured didn’t mean it was necessarily a good thing.

Even though the term ’Lifebound Magic Instrument’ wasn’t officially recognized in this world, he had a clear understanding of what it meant.

He hadn’t read all those cultivation novels before journeying to this world for nothing.

Setting the Linglong Tower as his Lifebound Magic Instrument meant establishing a closer connection between him and the tower.

They would prosper together, and suffer together as well.

In return, the Linglong Tower could exhibit greater power in his hands.

After a moment of hesitation, Li Jing made up his mind.

Configure it!

There was no point in hesitating. Gaining anything required some loss. Putting the Linglong Tower as his Lifebound Magic Instrument gave it more power. It was a win-win situation.

He would just be extra careful in the future to prevent the tower from sustaining damage.

More importantly, intuition told him that merely by setting the Linglong Tower as his Lifebound Magic Instrument could he ensure the validity of his spiritual power route.

"Lifebound Magic Instrument configured successfully, instrument nurturing efficiency increased by 100%."

A notification came up, and Li Jing raised an eyebrow in surprise.

Could configuring a Lifebound Magic Instrument double the efficiency of instrument nurturing?

Had he known this earlier, he wouldn’t have hesitated!

As he was feeling pleasantly surprised, a childlike female voice echoed inside his heart.

"I am honored to have your favor, Master. I, Linglong, am at your service."

???

Li Jing.

Was the voice that he heard Linglong, the Spirit Weapon?

Can it talk now!?

Before he could fully grasp the situation, another prompt sounded in his ear.

"Condition met to activate the Second Origin. Proceed with activation?"

Second Origin?

Li Jing was dumbfounded.

This prompt came too quickly.

But it was evident that the Second Origin wasn’t only tied to him setting up the Linglong Tower as his Lifebound Magic Instrument.

Should he activate it?

That was a question that didn’t even need consideration.

The Second Origin... just hearing it sounded amazing!

Activate it!

With Li Jing making the decision, the counterpart of his dantian inside the Linglong Tower that was on the verge of forming suddenly exploded with a "bang," making his vision darken momentarily. He almost fainted from the shock.

After barely stabilizing his mental state, Li Jing was astonished to find that he had an additional golden core.

This golden core resided within his dantian.

No.

To be more precise, it was within the Linglong Tower.

Through his senses, he could feel that the golden core was one with the Linglong Tower.

Due to the presence of this golden core, the two streams of spiritual power he had separated merged together, connecting his spiritual platform in the center of his eyebrows and his dantian together. They no longer circulated according to the copied route inspired by his friend, but instead formed a unique route.

As the unique route formed, Li Jing clearly felt his body become stronger rapidly and rise to an unspeakable level in the blink of an eye.

At the same time, the total amount of spiritual power within his body also doubled.

This sudden change surprised even Li Jing.

The Second Origin didn’t only bring him a drastic improvement in physical strength but also a twofold increase in his spiritual power.

Even though the quality, strength, and density remained the same, the increase in his total spiritual power opened up more possibilities for him.

After feeling the changes in his body, Li Jing was thrilled yet also felt a hint of remorse.

The unique spiritual power route brought about a twofold increase in his total spiritual power but also neutralized the spirit robe.

In the passive skills section, the spirit robe turned completely grey.

He could still use it, but he would have to knowingly change the circulation route of his spiritual power.

That would be problematic.

The convenience of the spirit robe was that it was a passive skill in constant operation, serving as an automatic defense.

But now, if he had to actively change the spiritual power flow, it would lose its automatic defense function.

Fortunately, he had the boundary breakthrough feature of Trinity, which could integrate the spirit robes with other defensive skills and transform them into new abilities.

Gently clenching his fists, the corners of Li Jing’s mouth curved upwards.

Even though he lost the passive defense of the Spirit Robe, the increase in his physical strength provided a different sensation.

At this point, his physical defense was a bit weaker than the defense provided by the Spirit Robe, but the unique spiritual power route inside him was constantly refining his body, continuously increasing his dormant abilities.

Moreover, his pure physical strength experienced an explosive growth.

By now, probably even a small mountain couldn’t withstand a punch from him.

Though he couldn’t claim that he possessed a physical body as strong as that of a monster yet, the unique spiritual power route was continuously in operation. With time, he would eventually transform into a "human-shaped monster".

Letting out a long sigh, Li Jing looked down at his own dantian.

The Heavenly Eye in the center of his forehead brought him another revelation.

This additional golden core was an Outer Elixir that existed alongside the Linglong Tower.

With this insight in mind, Li Jing softly called out.

"Linglong."

"Master, I am here."

The childlike voice of Linglong echoed in his heart.

Confirming that Linglong had the ability to speak after becoming a Lifebound Spirit weapon, Li Jing’s expression become somewhat strange. He then took out a yin energy crystal that he had originally prepared for the Flying Sword Blue Edge.

"Do you want something to eat?"

"Yes, yes, yes!"

Linglong responded eagerly and appeared by Li Jing’s side of her own accord. She snatched away the yin energy crystal and then spoke in his heart.

"Master, I seem to recall you having another yin energy crystal..."

Li Jing smiled wryly at her statement.

The only reason he changed his mind and provided a yin energy crystal was simply because the Linglong Tower had become his Lifebound Magic Instrument.

A Lifebound Magic Instrument deserved special consideration.

After all, he was now in a relationship of shared weal and woe with the Linglong Tower. Should he not take care of it properly, he would be the one to bear the consequences in the future.

However, feeding all the good stuff to the Linglong Tower wasn’t a reasonable approach either.

No matter what, he still had to leave something for the Flying Sword Blue Edge.

"Stop it. I’m saving the remaining one for Blue Edge."

After uttering these words, Li Jing felt somewhat strange.

Listening to Linglong’s childlike voice, it seemed like Linglong should be a little girl just like Qianyang was for Chen Jing once she materializes.

Did he...

Have a daughter now?

Just as this thought crossed his mind, his friend, who had been sitting still in front of him, all of a sudden shivered and then there was a ’bang’ sound from inside.

Li Jing lifted his gaze at the sound.

Before his eyes, a golden core appeared at the dantian located at her waist.

He looked up to her head.

The original health bar number 4497 had reached 4513

Seeing the change in the health bar value, Li Jing couldn’t help but feel a bit envious.

She just had a meal and the health bar value rose by 16.

She only consumed about half a pound of Rat Demon flesh.

After doing the math, it seemed like her efficiency was even higher than his when he was killing monsters!

The approach of cannibalizing one’s own kind to convert their flesh and blood into nourishment seemed a bit outrageous.

On the other side, after completing her breakthrough, she slowly opened her eyes.

Seeing Li Jing sitting in front of her, she smiled.

"I’ve made my breakthrough. Thank you for guarding me."

In the middle of the conversation, she looked at him with slightly furrowed eyebrows.

"Why do I feel as if you’ve undergone significant changes?"

"It’s an illusion."

Li Jing responded with a cryptic smile, then stood up.

"Since you’ve completed your breakthrough, shall we continue exploring?"