Chapter 62 Cultivating Qi

  "Disciple, listen to him and quickly advance to the Refining Qi stage. Then I'll start teaching you the method of Nine Revolutions Soul Cauldron. With your soul strength, reaching the first revolution should be easy. At that time, use the Soul Cauldron to refine pills, and low-grade medicinal pills can be made in one go. Then, with the remaining time, focus on cultivating the 'Burning Heaven Technique' and 'Spirit Wood Skill'. Perhaps you'll also be able to refine a few medicinal pills with life energy!" Xiang Tian said.

  "Great!" Zhang Chengyi's mood became excited as soon as he heard that he was about to learn the mysterious technique of "Nine Turns Soul Cauldron", this technique would determine how his future life would be.

  As he spoke, he sat down on the ground, focusing his mind and practicing both the "Xuānmén Tǔnà Jì" (Mysterious Gate Breathing Technique) and the "Mìzōng Dà Shǒuyìn" (Esoteric Sect Great Hand Seal), slowly entering a meditative state.

  A week later, Zhang Cheng felt that his cultivation, which had been stagnant for a long time, was finally showing some signs of movement. The barrier also seemed to be loosening up slightly.

  With the experience of the previous breakthrough, Zhang Cheng knew that he had already reached the qualification for breaking through the Qi Refining stage and only lacked a catalyst to successfully break through.

  So he wasn't in a hurry either, continuing to accumulate true energy inside his body, first increasing its quantity.

  It is often said that quantitative change leads to qualitative change. Zhang Cheng's actions were for this very purpose, and he had done the same thing before when he reached this point, and it was always successful.

  Time flies second by second, Zhang Cheng's heart sank a bit because his true energy had reached a certain level, but this barrier still only loosened and showed no signs of breaking through. This made him, who had been smooth sailing all the way, feel somewhat unadapted.

  "Master, why haven't you broken through yet? According to my past experience, you should have broken through by now." Zhang Cheng asked in confusion.

  "Don't be impatient, your past experiences were not wrong, but they are not suitable here. There is a huge difference between martial artists and cultivators, first of all, the energy inside their bodies is different. For example, the energy inside a martial artist's body is true qi, or acquired true qi, while the energy inside a cultivator's body during the foundation building stage is innate true qi."

  "The congenital true energy and the acquired true energy, although only one word apart, have a fundamental difference. Therefore, to break through the Qi Refining stage, you must first convert all the acquired true energy in your body into congenital true energy. Then, the Heavenly Spirit is opened, causing your own body to connect with the heavens and earth, forming a large cycle. This is what truly breaking through the Qi Refining stage means, which is also what you call the Congenital Realm. In fact, from the 9th rank of cultivation breaking through to the Qi Refining stage is just the first barrier in the path of cultivation. With your talent, you should be able to break through quickly, so don't worry." Xiang Tian explained.

  "Oh!" Zhang Cheng responded, then continued to ask: "Master, you just said that advancing from martial artist to energy training is the first barrier in the path of cultivation. Does that mean there are many more barriers ahead?"

  "This is natural, the cultivation itself goes against heaven, and it will naturally be hindered by heaven and earth, it's impossible to have a smooth journey. As for obstacles, there aren't too many, just right, while we have time, I'll tell you about them."

  Xiang Tian continued, "From Wu Zhe advancing to Lian Qi period is the first barrier, which is what you are currently experiencing. The next barrier is Zhu Ji period, where the body's innate true energy will transform into a higher-level true yuan after being promoted from Lian Qi late stage to Zhu Ji period. However, with the help of Zhu Ji Dan, this barrier can be ignored."

  "The next barrier after that is the Golden Elixir stage, where the Golden Elixir is the collection of all energies. The True Yuan in the body will transform into Spiritual Energy, which is also one of the most difficult stages in cultivation, second only to the Heavenly Tribulation. This barrier has no shortcuts and can only be broken through by oneself; no one else can help you."

  "Moreover, the Golden Core stage is also a watershed. Once you cross it, you can be considered to have truly entered the ranks of cultivators who refine their truth. And after reaching the Golden Core, you will be able to truly use Spirit-grade treasures against enemies. Moreover, after breaking through the Golden Core, your lifespan will also increase significantly, lasting up to 500 years."

  "Next is the Embryonic Breathing period, where the Golden Elixir transforms into the Embryo, which is also a qualitative change. When breaking through, it will be accompanied by the appearance of heart demons. However, if there is no Embryo Elixir to block the heart demons, then nine out of ten people will not be able to break through, so this is also a relatively big barrier."

  "In the end, it is the heavenly tribulation that one must face when breaking through to the Great Completion stage. The heavenly tribulation is a power of heavenly punishment and can be said to be the greatest obstacle in the path of cultivating truth. Unlike breaking through the Golden Elixir stage, if one fails to form the Golden Elixir, they will simply remain in the Foundation Building stage, and their life will not be greatly threatened. However, failing to pass the heavenly tribulation will result in death, which is why cultivators turn pale when discussing it."

  "Oh, I see," Zhang Cheng said, actually, he already knew all this, but now that the foundation was about to be established and his body would become lighter, he couldn't help but feel a bit tense. Then he asked: "Master, is there any way to get through this heavenly tribulation?"

  "Of course, otherwise, how would I have survived back then?" Xiang Tian continued to say: "The heavenly tribulation is strong, but we also have our own magical treasures, as long as we prepare sufficiently powerful magical treasures, passing the tribulation will be a piece of cake. Moreover, with the support of Dan Dao Zong behind you, they will more or less provide some powerful artifacts to help you pass the tribulation, and they will also dispatch many high-ranking experts to protect you from harm, unlike me, who survived the heavenly tribulation only to be secretly plotted against, ending up in this state."

  "Master, I still remember what you said before. When you were crossing the tribulation, you didn't use any magic treasures. What's going on?" Zhang Cheng asked.

  "Haha, this is the benefit of having a strong physique. As for me, I wasn't talented back then, and before getting the Nine Revolutions Soul Cauldron, whether it was cultivation or alchemy, nothing worked out. So, I desperately strengthened my physique to achieve the goal of increasing my strength. Later on, after obtaining the Nine Revolutions Soul Cauldron's cultivation method, my cultivation speed gradually improved."

  However, I had a taste of the sweetness of having a strong physique, so I didn't plan to give up. Then, I specially exchanged some elixirs for the cultivation method of refining my body, and continued to cultivate until I crossed the tribulation without interruption. Additionally, with the help of some physique-enhancing elixirs, my body was finally able to reach a level where it could withstand the heavenly tribulation head-on.

  "However, after crossing over, my body also suffered a not-so-light injury, which allowed that scoundrel to slip away. So, in the future, even if your physical strength reaches mine at that time and you can withstand the heavenly tribulation with brute force, it's still best not to do so. If something unexpected happens, it won't be good." Xiang Tian replied.

  "Uh, I remember." Zhang said with his mouth, but he didn't take Tian's words to heart because he simply didn't have the idea of using his body to resist the heavenly tribulation. Why wouldn't he use the treasure if he had it? Was he saving it for having children?

  So, as for what he said last time, it has nothing much to do with me.

  "Alright, you continue practicing, according to my estimation, in a few more days, you should be able to break through." Xiang Tian said.

  "Hmm!" Zhang Cheng responded with a grunt, then continued his cultivation.

  After a conversation with Xiang Tian, Zhang Cheng's somewhat annoyed heart calmed down a bit, so he took out the First Seal of Unmoving Ming Wang again. After a short while, his mood finally completely calmed down.

  However, in order to prevent the previous incident from happening again, he did not only use the Vajra Seal to increase his cultivation speed, but instead alternated between using it and the Akasha Seal, with quite good results.

  Three days passed again, and Zhang Cheng suddenly felt that the true energy in his body had changed, with a part of it undergoing a qualitative change, becoming stronger than before.

  Zhang Cheng knew that this must be the Pre-Heaven True Qi that Xiang Tian had mentioned before.

  Later, this group of innate true energy seemed to turn into a fierce beast, starting to erode the acquired true energy, and soon grew to a certain extent.

  When the last wisp of postnatal true energy was completely absorbed by the prenatal true energy, Zhang Cheng suddenly felt that the true energy in his body was rushing towards his Tianling, and then he heard a crisp sound, as if an air bubble burst with a "pop" sound.

  Right after that, he felt his heavenly spirit suddenly open up, connecting with the heavens and earth, a mighty power pouring into his body, as if the circulation of the heavens and his own body had become one.

  "Is this the Qi training period?" At this moment, Zhang Cheng felt that his whole body was connected to the heaven and earth, without looking directly, everything around him was clear at a glance, this feeling was really cool.