Volume 4, Chapter 132 – Sudden Change (1)

Bai Xiang had a portion of Returning-to-Origin Purple Qi in her hands, and she had also obtained the relevant memories of Wang Xiu and the others, so she knew what this thing specifically did.

But just how good the effect was, and whether a “heaven-fated one” who already possessed purple qi would show a different cultivation efficiency after being infused with new purple qi, were things Bai Xiang felt she needed to witness with her own eyes and compare for herself.

That was why she had Liu Yong circulate qi first.

Naturally, Liu Yong did not understand the key point in all this. A little nervous, he sat down upright and began cultivating the Shenming Qi-Refining Art in front of Bai Xiang.

He had already joined the dojo for several weeks. Like most of the outer disciples, after familiarizing himself with the rules and daily schedule of the dojo, he had quickly been given this “foundational method.”

The widely taught version of the Shenming Qi-Refining Art required one to use vibration-tones to stimulate the organs inside the body, so as to “vibrate the Inner Body-scape and condense Origin Qi.” Thus, once cultivation began, Liu Yong’s chest started rising and falling in large motions at an extremely slow pace, and the sound of his breathing also became very rough. If one did not listen closely, it even resembled the surging and rolling of river waves.

“That’s enough.”

Before Liu Yong had even completed one full circulation, he heard Bai Xiang’s instruction from above.

He was more or less at the point of almost refining qi.

Bai Xiang now had a rough estimate of his progress in cultivation.

In other words, he had already extracted the embryonic form of qi-force from his Heart-aspect Body-scape, but he was still a little short of truly condensing the first strand of qi-force.

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This progress was not slow at all. One had to remember that Liu Yong and the others had only joined the dojo recently. They had probably spent less than a week actually cultivating the foundational method. In a matter of days, most disciples likely had not even managed to grasp the basics of the Vibration Art, much less find the correct method like Liu Yong and produce this kind of wave-like vibration-tone.

“Look into my eyes and tell me how you found this vibration-tone technique,” Bai Xiang said, asking Liu Yong for more details.

“Th-this…” Liu Yong stared into Bai Xiang’s eyes. His thoughts fell into the golden star vortex and became deeply muddled, and he unconsciously spoke the truth. “I just happened to fumble my way into it…”

“How did you just happen to do it? Tell me the process.”

“After I got the method, Zhu Sheng, Zhang Donglai, and I got together to study the Vibration Art.” Liu Yong’s eyes were unfocused as he spoke. “But the vibration-tone we produced never met the requirements for cultivation. It was always either too weak or too strong.”

“And then?”

“And then I just tried it… At first I felt the force was too light, but that numb, itchy feeling was actually pretty comfortable, so I kept increasing the force bit by bit on that basis, and in the end I successfully produced the vibration-tone.”

So this was what was called heavenly fate and fortune?

Bai Xiang shook her head inwardly.

If the other disciples heard these words, who knew how many of them would envy Liu Yong to death.

According to the dojo’s own investigations, if no outsider guided them, for example by listening to a lecture from her as Dao Lord, or by having her second uncle Bai Lianzhou, who also served as a transmission elder, guide them through it, then outer disciples would need at least more than a month to master the Vibration Art and trigger the vibration-tone.

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Cultivating alone was very difficult, because everyone’s physique and Body-scape were different. Although the Shenming Qi-Refining Art had already greatly reduced the difficulty by using vibration-tones to help them find the inner-flow route most suited to themselves, even so, being able to reach the entry level within a few days could still be called astonishingly fast progress.

After asking Liu Yong a few more questions and confirming that there was nothing abnormal about his condition, Bai Xiang had him continue circulating his art and qi. She herself secretly took out the Returning-to-Origin Immortal Gourd and released all the Returning-to-Origin Purple Qi that had been poured into it.

According to Young Master Shao’s own words in Wang Xiu’s memories, the real difficulty in handling purple qi mainly lay in the stages of extraction and transport. The final infusion, however, was not difficult, because “heaven-fated ones” had a powerful attraction toward ownerless purple qi. One only had to release the purple qi nearby, and it would be drawn into the “heaven-fated one” on its own.

The situation now was exactly like that. Bai Xiang watched with her own eyes as the violet-gold mist she had released flowed into the sea of clouds and grew extremely faint in color. Sitting below, Liu Yong was working his vibration-tone and happened to be breathing in and out with great force, so he took the opportunity to inhale that mist into his body. After some time, a violet-gold pillar of qi unexpectedly rose above his head, just like the first vision Bai Xiang had once seen.

No, it was different from that time.

Bai Xiang carefully observed the pillar of qi and discovered that as Liu Yong breathed, its color was becoming richer and more vivid, and its thickness was gradually increasing as well. Liu Yong himself had sunk completely into the process of cultivation, as though he had entered deep sleep, losing all awareness of the outside world.

“You actually intend to teach a heaven-fated one to cultivate?”

Along with these words, a figure in a green dress appeared beside Bai Xiang. It was Zhu Qingluo, the mysterious Immortal Venerable who had followed her back.

“Is there a problem with that?” Bai Xiang said.

“In those myths and legends I’ve read, the Sacred Emperors of ancient times could wield the supernatural all the same.”

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“It’s different!” Zhu Qingluo shook her head. “The Void Tribulation has ravaged the world for who knows how many ages. Even in the history of civilization as people understand it, there are already several periods such as high antiquity and middle antiquity. How can you compare the past to the present?”

“It means nothing.” Bai Xiang did not even look at her. “You’re not about to drag out ‘the primal age’ for me again, are you, and say there were primal humans billions of years ago.”

“All of that is recorded in full detail in the… in the Demon Court’s Rebirth Hall. Do you dare disbelieve it?” Zhu Qingluo narrowed her eyes and warned her, “The human race of the primal age could open and link the orifices and meridians throughout the entire body. Relying on bodily strength alone, they could cross the void and evade calamities. From the perspective of the present main world, that sort of method is naturally supernatural to an absurd degree. But it does not fall under the category of qi cultivation, nor does it involve cultivation of the soul path. How can you treat them as the same?”

“And as for the current dynasty of the main world, the one called Great Yu, go look through its history yourself. See whether, counting from the founding of the dynasty, their emperors did not live shorter lives generation after generation, until they finally gave up cultivation altogether, and now merely have somewhat better physical constitutions than ordinary people.”

Oh?

Bai Xiang showed nothing on her face, but she said, “That should be because the great demon controlling the imperial house is secretly placing restrictions on them.”

“Restrictions on what? Who would dislike a chess piece in their own hand for being too strong?” Zhu Qingluo gave a cold snort and revealed the truth. “Heaven has its decrees, and all living beings must answer calamity. The so-called Dao of cause and effect is nothing more than the law that for every sip there is a peck in return. Sometimes, if you gain something, you must lose something. That is heavenly fate!”

“You mean,” Bai Xiang said, her brows drawing together, “that this is a ‘curse’ deliberately imposed by Heaven, that is, by the primary order?”

A heaven-fated one who cultivated would incur heaven’s jealousy? Their lifespan would then be drastically shortened? And this would continue generation after generation until there was even a risk of clan extinction, with the only way to recover being to stop cultivating?

“And it’s not just they themselves who suffer this. Even the people whose karma becomes intertwined with theirs, the ones who guide them onto this path, will also be struck by calamity.” Zhu Qingluo looked at Bai Xiang in open schadenfreude. “Do you understand now why they are using proxies? This is the first time I’ve ever seen the mastermind actually planning to step onto the board in person!”

Naturally, Zhu Qingluo could see Bai Xiang’s arrangements, and she felt this behavior was simply asking for death.

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Otherwise, why would the Demon Court still keep the Great Yu imperial house around? With the power on that side, even though the Yu Dynasty held the two “Heavenly Dao Divine Pools” of Dynasty and Sword Dao, they still did not count as hard bones to crack for the Demon Court.

This was all just to curry favor with the primary order.

Everyone was merely following the preferences of the primary order and accompanying it in playing a game called tribulation struggle.

So that was how it was.

Bai Xiang could not help glancing at Zhu Qingluo again, thinking to herself that deceiving this woman into coming back really had been the right move.

As for whether it was surprising, she honestly did not find it especially surprising.

In xianxia novel settings, the rulers of dynasties being unable to cultivate, and being suppressed by heaven if they did cultivate, was a classic element in its own right. She had already had the corresponding expectation.

Otherwise, why would she have insisted on taking Liu Yong as a disciple?

Wasn’t it precisely because she intended to use Liu Yong as an experiment first?

By observing the effects of Liu Yong walking the Path of Qi that she had created, she could make corresponding adjustments to her later plans.