Chapter 402: Cultivation of Qi Refinement

"Fire borrows wood to shine. A flickering flame relies on soft wood to reveal its light, thus giving rise to the profound mystery that illuminates all phenomena."

After listening to the detailed explanation from Luo Chang's yin spirit, Wang Ping finally understood that cultivation within the Wuwei Buyi Dao Field differed entirely from the outside world.

"There aren't many factions within the Dao field," Luo Chang explained. "It primarily revolves around Consuming Qi and Nourishing Qi. We belong to the Nourishing Qi lineage, while the sect master's group belongs to the Consuming Qi lineage. However, regardless of the lineage, once a cultivator reaches the second layer, they will attempt to resonate with the five great mysteries established by the Dao Lord to advance further."

Wang Ping raised an eyebrow. "Five great mysteries?"

"That's right."

Luo Chang's yin spirit explained softly, "Jinjiang Smoke, Submerged Valley Field, Glowing Embankment Willow, Divination Staff Coin, and Full Forest Bell. These are the five great mysteries."

"It's similar to the trigram-position cultivation of the outside world. To resonate with these five great mysteries, one must first refine three streams of heaven and earth qi, though the difficulty is somewhat high."

Luo Chang's yin spirit sighed. "Take the Glowing Embankment Willow, for instance. To resonate with this particular mystery, one must simultaneously cultivate a stream of fire qi, earth qi, and wood qi. Since wood generates fire, and fire generates earth, the mutual generation between these elements keeps the cultivation difficulty relatively low."

"The real issue lies with the wood qi and earth qi."

"Wood counters earth. The two are inherently incompatible. Add to that the fact that wood generates fire, and fire generates earth—having a stream of fire qi caught in the middle only amplifies the violent collision of generation and restriction."

"Finding the exact point of balance to allow all three streams of qi to coexist is phenomenally difficult. Over the countless years our Dao field has existed, only a scarce few have ever succeeded."

"In the current generation, the sect master is the only one."

"And that is actually one of the relatively easier ones. Next comes the Full Forest Bell. The remaining mysteries only grow exponentially harder, sometimes requiring the cultivation of two streams of qi that directly counter each other."

"How is anyone supposed to cultivate that?"

Luo Chang's yin spirit was clearly nursing a wealth of grievances. Since Wang Ping had restored his spirituality, he seized the opportunity to vent, pouring out his bitter complaints without pause.

Wang Ping, however, grasped the underlying mechanics. 'I see. So this is what it means to cultivate the Dao?' he mused. 'Instead of seeking the pre-existing trigram positions of heaven and earth, they carve out their own positions. This imitates the Heavenly Honored One's Nine-Word Mantra from ancient times, establishing a Daoist lineage that future generations can follow.'

'Why do I get the feeling that Human Yang Fire would absolutely love this?'

Wang Ping stroked his chin.

Perhaps this was exactly why that Mystic Art Supreme Dao Lord had chosen to cooperate with the fire qi lineage in the first place; the two sides clearly shared some common ground.

However, it was glaringly obvious that the Wuwei Buyi Dao Field's unique cultivation system wasn't entirely reliable. Not only was it incredibly difficult to master, but it likely carried a rather high mortality rate.

Otherwise, the Wuwei Buyi Dao Field wouldn't have fallen into such a state of decline.

"Tell me about your sect master," Wang Ping said. "You mentioned he's already begun resonating with the Glowing Embankment Willow. Does that mean he has successfully cultivated all three streams of qi? Which three, exactly?"

Luo Chang's yin spirit thought for a moment before answering honestly. "The Radiant Universal Illumination Six Harmonies Qi, the Thousand Towering Peaks Demon-Subduing Qi, and the Heavenly Virtue Harmonizing and Adapting Qi."

"What?"

The unexpected names of the streams of heaven and earth qi caught Wang Ping completely off guard, freezing him in place. A moment later, he abruptly shot to his feet, intense shock flashing through his eyes.

'The Heavenly Virtue Harmonizing and Adapting Qi... Earth Yin Wood!?'

Hadn't this stream of qi already been eradicated by the Great Rebellion? Why did it still exist here in the Star Grave Sand Sea?

'No, that isn't right.'

'It actually makes perfect sense for it to be here... because the heaven and earth qi in the Star Grave Sand Sea are merely the remnants left behind after the upheaval of the Immortal Dao. They're nothing more than rotting snake skins and empty cicada shells.'

'They severed all ties with their true bodies long ago. They can't even leave the Star Grave Sand Sea. Strictly speaking, they are little more than paradoxical phantoms. Therefore, when the Great Rebellion annihilated the true entities of these streams of heaven and earth qi, these husks were completely unaffected, allowing them to endure.'

After turning the matter over in his mind for a moment, Wang Ping reined in his shock.

He didn't rush to enter the Dao field. After all, the sect master Luo Chang had mentioned—a cultivator suspected to be at the Consuming Qi Third Layer—warranted a great deal of caution.

'Above the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer is the Qi Refinement Third Layer.'

'Unlike Tribulation Transcending, the three layers of Qi Refinement don't represent a heavens-and-earth difference with every single step. At least, the first and second layers don't. A true qualitative leap only occurs upon reaching the third layer.'

After all, Wang Ping had subdued six Qi Refining yin spirits. He would regularly restore the spirituality of two at random to have them preach the Dao to him. Therefore, even though he was merely a Corpse Dissolution Immortal—and strictly speaking, still at the Tribulation Transcending Third Layer—he possessed a profound understanding of the Qi Refining stage's cultivation.

'The Qi Refinement First Layer is identical to the Consuming Qi First Layer.'

'Both revolve around cultivating the specific stream of heaven and earth qi one has acquired. Once a practitioner masters the majority of that qi's phenomena, the stage is considered complete.'

Take Tian Han, for instance.

When he cultivated the Heavenly Yang Water's Hanging River Endlessly Circulating Qi, his primary focus was on the phenomena of "firm and righteous virtue," "easy to advance and hard to retreat," and "capable of venting the severe, killing intent of heaven and earth."

Because he had mastered these specific phenomena, he had been absolutely confident in his unparalleled survivability. Unfortunately for him, Wang Ping had seen through it and used Dao theory to shatter his "endlessly circulating" qi phenomenon.

'This is the fundamental flaw of the Qi Refinement First Layer,' Wang Ping thought. 'The cultivation remains heavily reliant on the heaven and earth qi itself, meaning that Dao theories specifically targeting that qi are incredibly effective.'

Of course, the phenomena derived from heaven and earth qi were vast and varied. According to Tian Han, the Heavenly Yang Water's Hanging River Endlessly Circulating Qi alone encompassed phenomena like "firm and righteous virtue," "endlessly circulating," "heaven-reaching suspended river," and "severe autumn dew." Each phenomenon possessed entirely different weaknesses.

Breaking them required entirely different Dao theories.

The crux of the matter lay in which specific phenomenon the Qi Refining practitioner chose to anchor their Dao foundation to—and this choice wasn't permanent; it could be shifted.

Anchoring the Dao foundation to a specific phenomenon significantly boosted its power, but it simultaneously exposed it as a critical vulnerability for opponents to strike.

Tian Han was the perfect example.

When facing the self-detonation of two Spiritual Treasures and Wang Ping's relentless pressure, Tian Han had anchored his Dao foundation to his "endlessly circulating" phenomenon, granting himself an inexhaustible well of magical power.

Wang Ping had seized that exact opportunity to shatter the "endlessly circulating" phenomenon, severely damaging Tian Han's Dao foundation in the process. This was why, out of all six practitioners, Tian Han was the only one Wang Ping had managed to kill.

In contrast, while Tao Shaobo's physical injuries had appeared far more gruesome, they were merely flesh wounds for a Qi Refining practitioner. As long as his Dao foundation remained intact, he could fully recover over time; his life was never in as much danger as it seemed. Tian Han, who had looked completely unharmed on the surface, was the one who had actually suffered a catastrophic blow.

This was the true underlying dynamic of that intense magical battle.

"An ordinary cultivator completing the Qi Refinement First Layer generally masters three phenomena," Wang Ping recalled from the yin spirits' teachings. "More talented ones might master five. The historical peak is nine."

"Undeniably."

"The more phenomena one masters, the stronger their combat prowess at the Qi Refinement First Layer, which also lays a better foundation for achieving the True Person realm. In ancient times, most Qi Refining practitioners would strive to master all nine."

"But times have changed. The lifespan of Qi Refining practitioners has been stripped away. They are no longer immortal. A mere ten thousand years is simply too short. Unless someone possesses peerless talent and terrifying comprehension, it's virtually impossible to master all nine phenomena. Nowadays, most choose to break through after mastering just two or three. Only the most ambitious will push for five."

Take Mingyou, for instance.

Wang Ping was beginning to understand why that old codger had only reached the three-qi completion stage near the very end of his lifespan. He had likely dumped the vast majority of his time into mastering phenomena.

After all, for someone like Mingyou—or for cultivators like Wang Ping himself who had already forged great deeds—breaking through to the Qi Refinement Second Layer wasn't actually that difficult.

"The crux of the Qi Refinement Second Layer," the yin spirits had explained, "is to redefine the heaven and earth qi. In short, it is to forge a completely unique phenomenon that belongs solely to yourself."

"It is the ultimate sublimation of the Dao foundation."

"Upon reaching the second layer, a Qi Refining practitioner becomes exponentially harder to kill, because their Dao foundation has completely detached from the inherent phenomena of the heaven and earth qi."

"It becomes anchored to their own custom-defined phenomenon."

"This is the true essence of Qi Refining. Ultimately, heaven and earth qi are merely an auxiliary tool to refine and empower oneself. This is where it completely diverges from Consuming Qi."

"Defining a new phenomenon is a great deed in and of itself. However, if a cultivator already possesses a great deed, they can use it to directly interpret the heaven and earth qi. This drastically simplifies the process of defining a phenomenon, yielding twice the result for half the effort... provided, of course, that the great deed was forged by their own hands."

This step was invariably the great watershed of the Qi Refining realm.

"Borrowing the great deeds of higher cultivators—as the direct disciples of True Persons and True Monarchs often do—is technically possible," they had noted. "But doing so only significantly increases the difficulty of breaking through to the True Person realm later on."

Looking across the entirety of the Immortal Gate...

...only one in several dozen Qi Refinement First Layer cultivators ever successfully reached the second layer. And of those, only the ones who broke through using their own great deeds possessed even a sliver of hope to eventually reach the True Person realm.

As for the Qi Refinement Third Layer...

'This step is the true qualitative leap. It requires anchoring oneself in one's primary heaven and earth qi, cultivating two supplementary streams of heaven and earth qi alongside it, and finally using one's great deeds to resonate with a trigram position.'

Limited by their own cultivation bases, none of the yin spirits had been able to explain this step clearly. Wang Ping was left feeling lost in clouds and fog whenever he tried to understand it, so he had been forced to set the matter aside for now.

After all, didn't he still have his "good master," Mingyou? Given enough time, he could just have the old man explain it to him. Besides, Wang Ping might actually need Mingyou's help to survive his impending life tribulation. Judging by the current situation, the old man would definitely need Wang Ping's help to reach the True Person realm eventually. That left an enormous amount of room for future blackmail... ah, negotiation.

"Regardless..."

A Consuming Qi Third Layer cultivator wielding three streams of heaven and earth qi would likely rival a Qi Refinement Third Layer practitioner in power. Not to mention, this person would be fighting on their home turf inside the Dao field.

'If I barge in recklessly, I might never come back out.'

Therefore, before stepping into the Dao field, Wang Ping decided to prepare an escape route. He needed at least one trump card to guarantee he could escape with his life if things went south.

After weighing his options, Wang Ping finally settled on a specific item.

The Mystic Art Immortal-Felling Sand!

Luo Chang, Luo Zhen, and Luo Wei had specifically set traps to hunt Nourishing Qi practitioners for the sole purpose of refining this secret treasure. Supposedly, this item was a closely guarded secret of the "Disaster" Dao lineage.

As such, its quality was divided into three grades: Three-Nines, Six-Nines, and Nine-Nines.

These numbers corresponded directly to the number of Nourishing Qi practitioners sacrificed as refinement materials. The more practitioners used, the greater the treasure's power. The highest, most superior grade required nine.

At this thought, Wang Ping couldn't help but glance at Luo Chang's yin spirit.

'This guy is absolutely ruthless.'

Luo Chang had single-handedly spearheaded the refinement of the Mystic Art Immortal-Felling Sand. The other two, Luo Zhen and Luo Wei, only had a superficial understanding of the secret treasure's mysteries.

Because of this, Luo Chang had harbored a dark contingency plan for their expedition: if they failed to hunt down three Nourishing Qi practitioners, he would simply slaughter his own martial brother and sister to use as materials. That way, the Mystic Art Immortal-Felling Sand would at least reach the "Three-Nines" grade. It was an approach that perfectly embodied the style of the Immortal Gate.

'Too bad for him, I'm the one reaping all the benefits now.'

At this thought, Wang Ping stroked his chin with keen interest. Nourishing Qi practitioner corpses? He had those. In fact, he had quite a lot of them!

Luo Chang and his two martial siblings made three. Xuanyuanzi, who Luo Chang had hunted, made four. On top of that, he had the corpses he'd collected previously: Tao Shaobo, Chu Tianqiu, Tian Han, and Fairy Supo.

That made exactly eight corpses!

For the ninth and final body, Wang Ping generously decided to pay out of pocket, pulling out one of his own spare corpses to make up the numbers. After all, if you rounded up, a Corpse Dissolution Immortal could easily pass for a Nourishing Qi practitioner.