Chapter 214 - 212: Spirit Platform

Between the valleys, the ball of flame consistently kept its distance.

Although no figure could be seen, its powerful Qi Mechanism was like a brilliant lamp in the dead of night, utterly dazzling.

The Demon Sect Disciple had been pursuing the Conscious Fish for over half an hour. Seeing the valley behind him recede further and further into the distance, he couldn't help but feel a little uneasy.

After all, he was alone. If he ran into real trouble, there would be no one to back him up.

But just then, the cluster of flame ahead of him suddenly made a sharp turn and fled in a different direction—back toward the valley where the Array had been set up.

He continued to follow it for a moment longer until the ball of flame suddenly vanished. Just as the Demon Sect Disciple was wondering what was going on, a figure shot out from the spot where the flame had disappeared.

He was tall, with a cold, stern face, and his Vermilion and Purple Attire marked him as a member of the Tai Xu Dao Sect. The disciple immediately grew wary, suspecting this was Chen Qingyang, who had been controlling the Conscious Fish.

"Who from the Tai Xu Sect are you? Were you sent by Xuanwei Master?"

He wanted to determine the man's origins. As far as he knew, no one like this should have appeared within the borders of the Yong Kingdom.

Chen Qingyang saw no need to answer. The Five Elements Sword floated in his palm, its sharp Sword Qi stirring up wave after wave of glowing halos. It was suffused with the color of Danxia, brilliant to behold.

"It's you!"

Though he had only caught a glimpse of him before, he had seared Chen Qingyang into his memory—especially the flash of brilliance that had erupted when he used this very Sword Formula to kill his junior brother.

Chen Qingyang remained silent, but the True Essence within him surged restlessly. His Dantian Spiritual Sea and all Three Acupoints opened, channeling everything into the Five Elements Sword.

The man was horrified. He knew he was no match for him and instantly decided to flee.

But how could his physical body outpace a Flying Sword? The blade, carrying a five-colored radiance, shot toward him with overwhelming force. Seeing no path of retreat, he used Magic Techniques and Magical Treasures to try and block it.

At this moment, Chen Qingyang's Cultivation was at the very peak of the Essence Condensation Third Realm. Combined with his practice of the Five Elements Sword and the Danxia Sword Manual, his Sword Qi was unrivaled.

No matter what Magical Treasures the man used to defend himself, the Sword Qi drove straight through, erupting in an instant and annihilating his Divine Soul.

He stole another 3,286 Immortal Seedling points.

After killing the man, he quickly left the area. He sent his Conscious Fish back toward the valley with the Array, then concealed his presence fifty li away.

One Essence Condensation Sixth Realm and four Essence Condensation Fifth Realm cultivators were working together, unleashing the full power of the Six Paths Blood Refining Array. With all their focus on the task, the bloody light within the Array intensified.

Chen Qingyang sent his Conscious Fish through the barrier again. The Daoist Sect members were in grave danger. Senior Brother Li, in particular, had turned pale once more in the face of the Array's might, even after taking an Elixir. Of the original eight Tai Xu Sect disciples, one had already fallen, unable to get back up.

'He's probably not going to make it.'

With the power of the Array, given enough time, these five Demon Sect members could refine all seven of them into blood. It wasn't that Chen Qingyang felt he had to save them; it was just that cultivators of the Essence Condensation Fifth Realm, trapped in an Array no less… it would be a real shame not to take such valuable Immortal Seedlings.

'I should focus on increasing my Cultivation first.'

Leaving his Conscious Fish there, Chen Qingyang took out a handful of Spirit Stones from his robes and spread them in his palm. He saved a few Immortal Seedling points and poured the rest into the Danxia Nurturing Truth Sword Manual.

His Cultivation had been stuck at this realm for far too long. Today, he would finally break through.

Qi Mechanisms stirred in three places—the Earth Root, Mingtang Hall, and Jiang Palace. Whether it was Yin Fiend, True Fire, or Essence, they all passed through the Dantian, merged into one, and grew stronger upon entering the Spiritual Sea. Then, the energy coursed through his Seven Meridians and Eight Vessels, circulating according to the method of the Danxia Nurturing Truth Sword Manual.

Normally, all the acupoints in his body would open, absorbing all the Spiritual Qi from the stones in his hand. The energy would then follow his internal Qi, undergoing Refinement with each Circulation.

But this time, the Spirit Stones in his hand remained completely unchanged. Instead, a trickle of Cyan Sword Qi seeped out from his Dantian and Spiritual Sea, beginning to flow through his body.

It was coming from the Cyan Nether Sword Embryo.

Even this tiny amount contained immense power. Before it had even completed a few Circulations, Chen Qingyang's Dantian Meridians were already filled. Then, all the Qi Mechanisms began to gather at his Jiang Palace Acupoint.

Its Qi Vortex spun furiously, outputting more Essence, which settled below the Mingtang Hall, above the Tanzhong point, and right between his lungs. Combined with the other Qi Mechanisms arriving from all directions, it began to form a unique Qi Vortex…

This was the Spirit Platform, the fourth of the Nine Acupoints of Ascension.

Breaking through was a lengthy process; the body's evolution took time. Chen Qingyang suddenly felt that the Cyan Nether Sword Embryo was drastically remodeling his body and the Sword Qi within it.

His Danxia Sword Qi was becoming sharper and more indestructible. Even his fused Five Elements Sword had taken on a cyan tint.

'So the benefits of the Sword Embryo are this great,' Chen Qingyang thought. He even felt that under its influence, someone with absolutely no talent could become exceptionally gifted.

This was truly a great fortune. The fact that its full power hadn't manifested yet wasn't the Sword Embryo's fault; it was because he himself was still in a stage of growth.

In the time that followed, the Circulation of Heaven continued, and the raw aura of the Cyan Nether Sword Embryo flowed out slowly. Perhaps thanks to its assistance, Chen Qingyang didn't take too long. Soon, the Qi Vortex at his Spirit Platform was formed, and he officially entered the Four Acupoints stage.

The Spirit Platform acupoint was not a physical point but an ethereal one, a mystical nexus between the physical body and the Divine Soul. Through Introspection, Chen Qingyang saw that it had formed a crystal-clear lotus platform about an inch wide inside his body. It pulsed with white light, a new Qi Vortex generating from its center.

This was the so-called "Stabilizing Needle." Whether one was seeking Enlightenment or fighting others, as long as the Spirit Platform was stable, one's mind would remain undisturbed and their Dao Heart would grow ever firmer.

The higher one's Cultivation, the greater the use of the Spirit Platform.

For instance, when Chen Qingyang had been struck by that Demon Sect's Talisman Skill, he had felt quite nauseous. That was because his Spirit Platform had been unstable, making him susceptible to its influence.

If he had been in the Essence Condensation Four Realms at the time, he would have been completely unaffected. He even recalled a lecture by Master Jing Yuan, who had once said, "Without a clear Spirit Platform, how can one achieve a Dao Tier?" emphasizing the Spirit Platform's importance.

With his Cultivation advanced another step, when Chen Qingyang released his Qi Mechanism, it was more restrained. His entire being seemed to have gained an ethereal quality, indistinct and ephemeral, as if he had achieved the Unity of Heaven and Man.

His eyes remained resolute, his features still sharp and defined, but when his expression was calm, there was a new gentleness, a hint of softness. The Vermilion and Purple Robe he wore seemed to possess even more Immortal Qi.

With the Nine Acupoints of Ascension, opening each new acupoint brought significant changes. This was why every step up in Cultivation represented a massive gulf in power.

Using the Dharma Gate of the Great Soul Scripture, Chen Qingyang did his best to adjust his Qi Mechanism, revealing only the Earth Root Yin Fiend, just like a cultivator in the Essence Condensation First Realm.

When he opened his eyes again, the sky was bright, the sun high overhead.

He was sitting on a cliff, surrounded by several old pines, with a bottomless abyss below his feet.

He looked again at the small golden text before his eyes.

[Danxia Nurturing Truth Sword Manual: (1/34000)]

[Available Immortal Seedling: 7075]

'Going from the third to the fourth acupoint, the cap increased by ten thousand, not eight thousand. Perhaps with the next step in Cultivation, the required Immortal Seedling cap will increase again. It just goes to show that every step forward in Cultivation gets harder.'

He spent all his remaining Immortal Seedling points on his Cultivation. In a moment, he went from having just entered the realm to having a solid foundation for his Spirit Platform. Naturally, his strength increased severalfold.

Feeling the immense power within him, Chen Qingyang's mind began to churn with ideas again. 'I have to find a way to screw these guys over. An opportunity like this doesn't come around every day.'

Of course, the best way would be to destroy the Array and lure out the few from the Tai Xu Sect. They had been in a hopeless situation, but if he freed them, they would surely fight the Demon Sect. For every person who died, their Immortal Seedling would be his for the taking.

After observing for a while longer with his Conscious Fish, he quickly discarded this plan.

The Array was incredibly sturdy, and the person controlling it had an unusually high Cultivation. There was no way he could shake it, and trying would most likely put him in a vulnerable position.

Even if the Conscious Fish could enter the barrier, it definitely couldn't bring anything out. In the end, if he wanted to make a move, he would have to focus on the people themselves.

The Conscious Fish stirred up a gust of wind, rolling up all the corpses it could from the ground and heading toward the spot where the men were meditating in the valley.

At this moment, although Situ's hands were pressed against the Inscriptionless Stele, his mind was elsewhere.

'We sent out seven people, and there's been no word from any of them. That shouldn't happen. It really shouldn't. No matter what, they know to send a message.'

'But… for all of them to have run into trouble seems unlikely, too.'

Even he couldn't figure out how two such people could have suddenly appeared in the Yong Kingdom, capable of fighting seven opponents of the same realm.

Suddenly, he sensed a disturbance in the Qi Mechanism. When he looked up, a few things were falling from the sky. He wanted to give chase, but his body was bound to the Inscriptionless Stele. The strange Qi Mechanism quickly fled, and the falling objects crashed in front of him, a mangled mess of flesh and blood.

They were two corpses. Their faces were unrecognizable, but Situ saw their clothes clearly. They belonged to two of his junior brothers.

'Then… are the other five alright?'

The question had barely formed in his mind before he confirmed the grim answer himself. He had personally arranged the seven into two teams, and the two corpses before him had not originally been in the same one.

Panic sprouted in his heart. He figured a large number of people from the Tai Xu Sect must have arrived.

As his expression changed, a flash of fire erupted before his eyes, stabbing straight into his body. A sharp pain lanced through his mind as flames began to burn within him.

But an Essence Condensation Fifth Realm cultivator was an Essence Condensation Fifth Realm cultivator, after all. In that split second, a wave of cold Qi surged up from his Earth Root Yin Fiend, instantly forcing the flames back.

The backlash was so strong that even Chen Qingyang, over ten li away, was forced back with a jolt.

'So strong!'

But that one exchange wasn't enough to gauge how much strength his opponent had left to deal with him. The Five Elements Sword transformed into a Flying Sword and shot forward again at extreme speed.

Once again, he had seized the perfect moment, catching Situ off guard.

"Hah!"

Situ gave a short shout.

His left hand remained on the stele while a burst of Profound Qi erupted from his right, instantly knocking the sword back. Fortunately, Chen Qingyang had held back, or he would have been severely injured by that blow.

'Again!'

The instant Situ knocked the sword back, the Conscious Fish struck again, stabbing viciously toward his Mud Ball Palace.

This time, the damage was greater. Situ's face flushed red, and he began to pant, a few trickles of blood seeping out with his saliva.

A message appeared in Chen Qingyang's mind: 1,452 Immortal Seedling points stolen.

'So he really is trapped by the Array. He's incredibly slow and can only defend, not retaliate.'

Just as Chen Qingyang was about to strike again, he saw the bloody light in the valley stir. It surged together like a great wave, locked onto the Conscious Fish's Qi Mechanism, and lunged forward.

It must be Senior Brother Liang controlling the Array. Chen Qingyang knew how formidable he was and decisively fled. The bloody light didn't pursue, retreating in an instant.

At the same time, the entire valley trembled. From beneath the thick, bloody light, a golden glow seemed about to break through!