?57: Chapter 57 Taibai Fiend Qi 57: Chapter 57 Taibai Fiend Qi In An Jing’s body, the activated Spirit Root faintly resonated with the Sword Fiend’s Spirit Qi, voraciously devouring those purified Five Metals Evil Qi, transforming them for his own use.

    Due to the reinforcement of the Mysterious Primordial Qi from the ‘Residual Echo,’ after such a grand circulation through the Spirit Root, An Jing’s control over the Sword Fiend and Gold Fiend had strengthened, becoming more nimble.

    At the moment when the silvery-gray Evil Qi poured into his dantian, he began to manipulate the Evil Qi and the Spirit Qi of the Spirit Jade in his body under the guidance of Subdue Evil, condensing and weaving them into a ‘Forbidden Seed.’

    Extremely minute Spirit Qi and Evil Qi were extracted and interwoven into an exceedingly complex and fine structure within the dantian, a structure that contained the foundational structures for all the prohibitions of the future Taibai Divine Ban.

    It wasn’t systematic, resembling a toolkit, that when necessary, An Jing could activate the relevant structures to form prohibitions, creating a talismanic formation-like structure within his body.

    Forbidden Seed.

    This was the Taibai Forbidden Seed.

    A complex, silver-gray Forbidden Seed with octahedral facets was now situated at the center of An Jing’s dantian, where strands of power began to diffuse, spreading through the flow of his blood, the frequency of his breathing, and the spread of his thoughts, in turn affecting his whole body.

    “It’s actually so effective!”

    An Jing marveled as he felt that the meridians throughout his body had been fortified slightly from the inside out, making his Inner Breath flow more smoothly and his stamina greater.

    This was only the Forbidden Seed, and if he truly refined it, he couldn’t even imagine how much his body would be fortified!

    “This is the beginning of the Spirit Root lineage, ‘Spirit Awakening,’ also known as ‘Entering the Dao’ or ‘Nourishing the Veins,’ but it all refers to one thing.”

    The Sword Spirit softly said, “With suitable cultivation methods, movements, and mental states, supplemented by high-purity Spirit Qi stimulation, the originally dormant power gradually transforms into Essence Qi.”

    “In Martial Arts, this is known as ‘Inner Breath.’ The first step on the path of cultivation.”

    “An Jing, you’re already a Martial Artist with Inner Breath, embarking on Spirit Awakening should give you a different perception.”

    “Indeed.”

    An Jing slowly opened his eyes, gazing at his own hands, feeling an even finer control over the ‘Inner Breath.’

    Not only that, he slightly raised his eyebrows in surprise: “The Inner Breath has grown a bit stronger—some part of the Innate Vital Qi within me…

    has been unearthed?”

    While in Hanging Fate Manor, An Jing enjoyed top-level treatment, comparable to the core disciples of large martial academies and even the Grand Martial Arts Academy, frequently eating demon beast meat, and his body was abundant with innate qi.

    His breakthrough to Inner Breath was directly as vast as a river, which spoke volumes about his profound foundation.

    Yet, the Inner Breath as Vast as River had not fully tapped into all of An Jing’s accumulations, which still awaited his gradual cultivation and development.

    However, this Spirit Awakening allowed An Jing to further transform the Innate Qi in his body, excavating his potential at a faster pace, advancing his Inner Breath from a small river toward the state of a great river and vast river.

    Moreover, his Soul and Spirit had also become more stable—his Divine Sea space had grown slightly larger, with sparkling light points flickering and revolving around a broken sword!

    It was not only because of the echo but also because, after the breakthrough in Inner Breath, he had been given a second chance for growth!

    The Dao of Qi Refining nurtured the Soul and Spirit better than Martial Arts.

    “Indeed.”

    And the Sword Spirit seemed to have anticipated this: “Martial Arts is originally a branch of Qi Refining; even if it has grown independently and become strong, the source is the same.”

    “Essence Qi and Inner Breath, as two aspects of one body, their cultivation methods complement each other, and can mutually enhance one another.”

    “The Fate Pattern of Martial Arts, assisted by the Spirit Root, in this manner, An Jing, your pace of transforming potential through various heavenly and earthly treasures is twice that of ordinary cultivators—back in the days of the Dao of Qi Refining, there were occasionally cultivators who awakened their Fate Pattern, and they mostly progressed rapidly, apparently for this reason.”

    At this point, the Sword Spirit frankly stated: “But since this is the case, why doesn’t Embracing the Void combine Martial Arts and Qi Refining?

    I considered the possible hidden troubles behind this, and that’s why I taught you the Taibai Luminous Godly Ban, which doesn’t rely on external elements, nor does it require real ‘Qi Refining.’ Even if there are any hidden dangers, we can simply choose not to cultivate.”

    “For me, who urgently needs to enhance my strength now, this is very suitable.”

    An Jing nodded slightly; he sensed and discovered that the essence qi transformed from his Spirit Root was identical to the Inner Breath he converted using the “Yin Yang Dynamic Method”: “This essence qi and Inner Breath…”

    “For you, they are the same.”

    Subdue Evil spoke, “The first step in cultivation is the same for both essence qi and Inner Breath, requiring three stages.”

    “Like silk, like a river, like a tide.”

    “Innate Vital Qi is the seed of cultivation, only by strengthening the innate qi can essence qi and Inner Breath be transformed, initiating subsequent cultivation, that is, essence qi like silk—which is difficult to use in combat and only serves to strengthen the body.”

    “Only when you reach the stage where essence qi is vast as a river can the essence qi feedback and Divine Power burst forth.

    Just as you are now, you can easily unleash hundreds or even thousands of pounds of force, and even project Inner Breath outward, forming Air-Cleaving Sword Qi.”

    “It is only when you reach the stage where essence qi is like a tide, filling the body, that you can refine essence into qi.

    Taking the body’s essence qi as the source, you refine the many peculiar Spirit Qi and evil qi between heaven and earth, beginning the true ‘Qi Refining’.”

    Hearing this, An Jing couldn’t help but wonder, “Only after essence qi is like a tide can real Qi Refining begin?

    But didn’t I just refine your Sword Fiend a moment ago?”

    But he quickly realized, somewhat suddenly, “Taibai Luminous Godly Ban requires refined essence steel, encompassing Five Metals Qi… is this skipping the power-up of essence qi and directly beginning Qi Refining?”

    “Yes,” responded the Sword Spirit of Subdue Evil with a smile, “This method of cultivation, by using external objects, directly merges essence qi with the ‘Qi of Heaven and Earth,’ allowing you to skip the stages of essence qi as a river or as a tide and directly begin ‘Qi Refining’.”

    “Because this method was used by ancient Sword Immortals to rapidly supplement their physical strength after achieving successes, it is complex and hard to learn, but it’s not concerned with the cultivator’s original foundation.

    It’s perfectly suited for you with Innate Wisdom, allowing you to immediately form combat power.”

    “Once you cultivate the first wisp of ‘Taibai Fiend Qi,’ you will possess a strength comparable to those Inner Strength martial masters.”

    “However, the cultivation of essence qi is still very important.

    It is the basis of all methods of cultivation; even the Taibai Luminous Godly Ban should ideally start Qi Refining after essence qi is like a tide.

    But now, in our urgent need for combat power, we cannot afford to be meticulous and must rush the process somewhat.”

    “I understand.” An Jing closed his eyes; he sensed the Taibai Forbidden Seed within him again.

    As the foundation of An Jing’s cultivation method, it intertwined with his Spirit Root, slowly releasing strands of essence qi, forming a mesh-like structure within him.

    But the process was slow, after all, building a segment of the mesh took ten days to half a month with just strands of essence qi.

    Gathering even a wisp of Taibai Fiend Qi would require at least several months of arduous cultivation.

    But if aided by external Five Metals Qi… it could catalyze and accelerate the process!

    “This is the ‘Taibai Gold-Swallowing Divine Ban’… truly a gold-swallowing beast!”

    Feeling the strength of the Taibai Luminous Godly Ban, An Jing couldn’t help but smile—cultivating essence qi was a relentless task, and even with his talents, he needed to gradually fine-tune his foundation, strengthen the innate qi, then slowly transform it into essence qi and Inner Breath.

    To perfectly advance to the essence qi like a tide, he would still need about a year of grinding and accumulation.

    But practicing Qi martial arts could double the speed of his base conversion, allowing him to reach Inner Breath like a tide in just half a year; the Taibai Divine Prohibition could even grant him some ‘Inner Strength’ realm combat power in advance!

    The only cost was the extra effort in searching for Five Metals.

    “This is an advanced cultivation method.”

    An Jing couldn’t help but think of his martial path’s ‘Imperial Heaven Method’, and the not yet obtained ‘Houtu Skills’: “Compared to them, Hanging Fate Manor’s methods really do fall short by more than a margin, and my family’s inherited Martial Scripture is even more ordinary.”

    “It may still suffice now, but in the future, it’s unlikely to match the Taibai Luminous Godly Ban.”

    “It feels like I should seek some higher-level Martial Arts methods…” Sёar?h the novёlF~ire.net website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    —just not sure what level Heaven’s Will Cult’s ‘Son of Heaven Method’ truly is…

    I’m progressing smoothly with this series of martial arts practices.

    I’m not hoping for a comparison with the Taibai Luminous Godly Ban, but hopefully, it’s high-level.”

    Caught up in his thoughts, An Jing momentarily set aside his worries for the future.

    But for now, no matter how joyous he was, he could no longer continue with his cultivation.

    Because he was hungry.