Chapter 18: Clear Springs and Gentle Breeze

“Even talismans? Truly a fat sheep!”

When the black-clothed burly man saw Fang Qing activate a talisman, delight appeared on his face as he drove his flying shuttle ever closer.

“Water Arrow Technique!”

Fang Qing raised a hand, and several water arrows shot out, only to be easily blocked by the burly man. “Hahaha… such feeble true power, reduced to this? Don’t tell me you entered the Dao using some low, third-tier mixed qi?”

He had originally been somewhat cautious, but now he relaxed considerably. With a wide sweep of his hand, black smoke transformed into a gigantic palm that reached out to seize Fang Qing.

At that moment, a pale golden talisman surfaced in Fang Qing’s hand and was abruptly activated.

Rip!

Golden light flashed through the void, gathering into a single golden blade—it was a Golden Blade Talisman!

However, unlike those on Jade Island, this golden blade was not only longer and more slender, its surface even bore archaic patterns, resembling the Blade of Heavenly Punishment as it cleaved down violently!

Puff!

The pitch-black giant hand was cut apart on the spot.

The blade-light did not slow in the slightest, sweeping past the black-clothed burly man’s neck.

Before he could say a word, his head fell to the ground.

‘As expected… in this world, metal and fire manifest the Dao openly. The offensive power of metal-attributed talismans increases dramatically…’

‘Wait—so even talismans of the Qi Refining path are affected in the World of Ancient Shu?’

Fang Qing drove the Green-Leaf Flying Vessel, grabbed the corpse and the flying shuttle in one motion, and swiftly departed.

Not long after, several more streaks of escaping light arrived, circling briefly before giving chase in Fang Qing’s direction.

Unfortunately for them, these cultivators were fated to return empty-handed.

……

Jade Island.

“Wretched place, what a damned wretched place!”

Fang Qing cursed loudly. If he had not happened to have a metal-attributed talisman for protection, he would have died to bandit cultivators this time.

“In the future I must carry more metal- and fire-attributed talismans. Over in Ancient Shu, they’re the most cost-effective… Luckily I ran fast. If those cultivators dared to chase me all the way here, I’d actually admire them.”

After all, Jade Island was territory of the Azure Sea Sect. No one dared to rob or kill Azure Sea Sect disciples on the island.

He took a few breaths, then began rummaging through the cultivator’s corpse, looting it.

“This person… is truly poor!”

Moments later, the gloom on Fang Qing’s face deepened.

The result of the looting was terrible. The bandit cultivator was extremely poor—aside from a flying shuttle, there were no other artifacts on him.

There were no cultivation manuals either, only a single bottle of pills.

When he pulled out the stopper, a strong stench of blood rushed out.

Using his half-baked pill-refining knowledge to roughly appraise them, Fang Qing confirmed that these pills were suitable for early-stage Qi Refining cultivators to enhance true power, but they had been refined using demonic methods, mixed with the vital blood of an unknown number of living people.

Such blood pills were something he naturally wanted no part of. He could only put them away for now, to see if there might be a chance to sell them later.

“That bandit cultivator had accomplices. I’ll hide for a couple of days first, then go to Ancient Shu to break through.”

Although Fang Qing already had a cultivation method and a strand of true qi, they belonged to the Qi Ingestion Path. Breaking through on Jade Island might cause unknown trouble.

Thus, he chose to play it safe and go to Ancient Shu to advance.

During this waiting period, he could familiarize himself with the cultivation method and read some miscellaneous texts.

Fang Qing first took out Observing Black Ridge, this Ji Water cultivation method, and read it carefully from beginning to end.

With the foundation he had built in the Azure Sea Sect, along with the cultivation knowledge from several miscellaneous books he had purchased, he no longer needed to beg others for instruction—he could understand it on his own.

“So the Qi Ingestion Path divides the first strand of true qi into nine tiers and thirty-six grades, with many deeper implications… Qi Ingestion cultivators find it difficult to change their path, and the first strand of true qi is extraordinarily important, directly determining future achievements.”

“Low third-tier true qi leaves one with no hope of a Dao foundation for life, and even ordinary combat suffers greatly.”

“Mid third-tier true qi still offers hope of forging a Dao foundation… and only true qi of the seventh tier or above can one day charge toward the Purple Palace!”

Earthspring Tempered True Qi was merely fifth-tier, mid-grade. It represented hope for a Dao foundation, while the Purple Palace was basically out of the question—

Unless one were exceptionally lucky and found a heaven-and-earth spiritual item capable of purifying the Dao foundation.

“Truly a world as tightly woven as a net… but it doesn’t matter to me. I can freely dissolve and convert cultivation methods anyway.”

“I’ll just use Ji Water for now. One day when I’m done playing around, I’ll directly cultivate Great Sun Purple Qi! Ninth-tier, top-grade—wouldn’t that be the ultimate foundation?”

Lost in pleasant thoughts, Fang Qing casually opened a copy of Plum Blossom Divination.

After a short while, he set the divination book down, his expression solemn.

Who was he? Where was he? What was he supposed to do?

As a cultivator who had undergone one round of marrow cleansing through the Book of Changes, Fang Qing had originally believed himself to be a genius among mortals.

But reading Plum Blossom Divination gave him the experience of returning to university and failing advanced mathematics.

The facts proved that no matter how hard one was forced, if one couldn’t do mathematics, one simply couldn’t do it!

Divination was exactly the same!

Without truly extraordinary talent, even entry was difficult!

“Hard to enter, hard to divine… almost useless at low levels. No wonder hardly anyone cultivates this.”

“If not for my Dao-Birth Pearl’s ‘As If Within the Calculation’, I wouldn’t want to cultivate divination arts either…”

……

Several days later.

Ba Commandery, inside a mountain cave.

Fang Qing blocked the cave entrance with a massive rock, pasted a Protective Talisman on it, and sat cross-legged on a stone bed. The incantations of Observing Black Ridge flowed through his heart like a clear spring.

Beside him was a jade bottle containing Earthspring Tempered True Qi.

“Begin.”

Fang Qing picked up the jade bottle, silently circulated the method, and inhaled.

That strand of true qi, like a clear spring from the earth’s veins, instantly transformed into a white ribbon and entered his mouth, vanishing without a trace.

Splash!

The sound of mountain spring water striking green stone suddenly rang out.

Fang Qing felt himself like parched earth, greedily absorbing this strand of true qi.

Each time he silently circulated the incantations, Earthspring Tempered True Qi traveled through his meridians, completing a great circulation and entering the empty dantian…

Before breaking through, to be safe, he had already converted all of his Qi Refining Path black-water true power into Primordial Qi and stored it within the Dao-Birth Pearl.

At this moment, he was no different from a mortal.

As Earthspring Tempered True Qi entered the dantian, it suddenly transformed into a strand of Ji Water true power.

This strand of true power flowed like the shadow of dragons and serpents, faintly manifesting a talisman seed that formed a vortex—this was the origin of true power.

“The first fundamental true power is formed.”

Fang Qing continued circulating the cultivation method. Under the agitation of this true power vortex, endless streams of Ji Water true power surged forth.

Gurgle, gurgle!

Inside the cave, beneath the stone bed where he sat, the ground suddenly cracked open and a fountain burst forth…

At some unknown moment, a low, whistling wind sound arose within the cave…

“This is… an anomaly?!”

“No, it’s an image!”

Fang Qing opened his eyes, felt the transformation of his body under true qi, and looked at the clear spring and gentle breeze within the cave. Thoughts arose in his heart. “Qi Ingestion cultivators carry a certain quality within their true power… I used fifth-tier, mid-grade true qi as my foundation. The Ji Water true power I have now is much stronger than ordinary Qi Refining Path water-attributed power… If one used seventh-tier or higher true qi as the foundation, just how profound would the quality be?”

“From this, Qi Ingestion realm cultivators are likely generally stronger than Qi Refining realm cultivators… Dao Foundation cultivators possess their own Dao foundation—perhaps they’re even stronger than Foundation Establishment cultivators… As for the Purple Palace and Core Formation? The gap would probably be even greater…”

He stood up and casually formed a hand seal.

Whoosh!

A green wind blade appeared—this was the Wind Blade Technique he had long practiced without ever managing to enter.

“Ji Water favors wind, so it greatly aids my cultivation of wind-attributed spells…”

“The qualities of true power seem far more complex than this…”

Fang Qing suddenly stroked his chin.

After advancing to the first layer of Qi Ingestion, he inexplicably gained various subtle insights. His words now carried greater persuasiveness.

‘This… even comes with an innate ability? This kind of power could be called ‘silver tongue’!’

‘Ji Water true power is truly astonishing.’

Fang Qing pondered silently. “Of course, this ability only makes my words more convincing. If the enemy refuses to listen, it’s useless… And as cultivation increases, the persuasiveness naturally grows stronger… If I were to forge a Dao foundation, perhaps I could even persuade ordinary Qi Refining cultivators to commit suicide?”

He formed another hand seal, and Ji Water true power transformed into water arrows.

A sharp wind howl suddenly arose in the cave.

“With the aid of wind, the power of Water Arrow Technique increases by at least thirty percent…”

Crack! Crack!

The water arrows struck the rock wall, sending shattered stones flying, mixed with faint traces of moisture.

Fang Qing walked over to inspect it, only to see that on the cracked rock wall, moist marks appeared, as if it had been eroded by some cold spring.

“So it also has a ‘water erosion’ characteristic?”

“But that’s not the most important part!”

“The moment to witness a miracle has arrived!”

He took a deep breath and connected with the Dao-Birth Pearl!

In an instant, the black-water true power he had previously converted into Primordial Qi surged down, easily transforming into Ji Water true power.

Crackle!

Within Fang Qing’s body, Ji Water true power circulated, manifesting the image of clear springs and gentle breeze. In a single instant, it broke through two barriers in succession, reaching the third layer of Qi Ingestion!

“This strength… If I encountered that bandit cultivator again… uh, the opponent seemed to practice an earth-attributed method… I have nothing to say.”

He muttered a complaint, then dissolved all Ji Water true power and converted it back into black-water true power.

Splash!

In an instant, Fang Qing’s dantian overflowed with black-water true power. Although it lacked the imagery of Ji Water true power, it was surging and boundless, directly reaching the peak of the third layer of Qi Refining!

Not only that—continued conversion of Primordial Qi caused the black-water true power to grow ever more violent, charging toward the fourth-layer meridians of Commentary on the Water Classic.

With such vast true power to assist, that trivial bottleneck shattered almost instantly.

Boom!

In a flash, Fang Qing broke through to the fourth layer of Qi Refining!

Even then, the true power of the fourth layer continued to accumulate until it filled more than half of that realm before gradually coming to a stop.

“Mid-stage Qi Refining—finally achieved!”

Fang Qing smiled and clenched his fist, feeling the black-water true power within his body. “Stacking two cultivation methods together… truly unstoppable. It’s just that the total amount of Primordial Qi is limited. After conversion, one only has three layers while the other reaches four layers—this represents a terrifying disparity in the quality of true power.”

Although Ji Water true power was only at the third layer of Qi Ingestion, Fang Qing inexplicably felt that if they were to fight, excluding external items, his own fourth-layer black-water true power might not necessarily win…