Volume 4, Chapter 137 – Advancing the Method on the Journey (Two-in-One)

Seeing that the disciples in the square had all been dismissed, He Xian had originally planned to sneak down the mountain for some fun today. But the moment he turned his head, he caught sight of Zhu Canghai and Monk Zhuye still standing there, their eyes fixed on the direction the flying vessel had departed.

“She’s gone. Stop staring already!”

He could not help frowning.

How had these people ended up developing feelings while helping guard the place for someone else?

Though He Xian had to admit that Bai Xiang treated them quite well. Even after taking their true spirits, she had not treated them like servants, and had still shown them a certain degree of respect. But he had always been used to a carefree life, and the moment he got any breathing room, all he could think about was enjoying himself.

There was one more thing he did not want to bring up: the pressure Bai Xiang gave him was simply too great. When she was around, he did not even dare sneak down the mountain to have fun, afraid that the moment he turned around, he would meet those golden eyes.

And now that Bai Xiang had left, he naturally wanted to relax a little.

“Amitabha.” Monk Zhuye intoned a Buddhist invocation, then turned to look at Zhu Canghai and He Xian. “Have either of you considered converting to the new Path of Qi methods in the future as well?”

Why had he suddenly brought that up?

This time, even Zhu Canghai was somewhat baffled. He exchanged a look with He Xian, then turned a puzzled gaze toward Monk Zhuye.

“After all, I am a remnant disciple of the Spirit-Command Sect,” Monk Zhuye said with a smile. “I wonder whether you have heard that what the Spirit-Command Sect relied on to seek out the remains of ancient demons was precisely its inherited root method—Spirit-Command Aura-Gazing.”

“And what is that supposed to prove?”

Zhu Canghai frowned, then added in explanation, “It’s not that I have no thoughts in that direction. It’s just that the Venerable Master specifically left the three of us behind, clearly so that someone would remain to watch over and protect this place while she is away.”

What he meant was that it was not that he did not want to convert to the Path of Qi. But at his level, the Three Flowers realm, changing methods would consume a great deal of time. If enemies from elsewhere attacked during that gap… well, if something happened because of that, it would be hard to explain.

“I am only offering a reminder,” Monk Zhuye said, pressing his palms together and bowing slightly to the two men.

“I urge the two benefactors to make your decision early.”

This was far too strange.

Even after watching that dark-skinned bald monk walk away into the distance, the two of them still could not understand why he had given that warning.

It was not that they rejected the idea that one day they too might convert to the Path of Qi. But some matters had priorities, and right now, defense was clearly the more important task.

Monk Zhuye was a clever man. He should not have been unable to see that. So why had he spoken those words now, urging them to adopt the new method immediately?

There had to be some hidden reason behind it.

After thinking for a moment, He Xian narrowed his eyes and leaned close to his brother, whispering, “I’ve noticed a strange phenomenon lately. It seems that quite a few disciples here have broken through their realms…”

…

Meanwhile, aboard the Silver-Shuttle Vessel, Bai Xiang was seated by the window, calmly browsing information on the Venerable Net. Beside her, her orthodox little tagalong, Bai Zhuqing, was busy making the bed.

Most of the luggage—changes of clothes, shoes, socks, and the like—had already been put away. Everyone had rehearsed boarding the vessel before departure, and their rooms had long since been assigned.

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Bai Zhuqing simply felt uncomfortable that the bedsheets here looked exactly the same as those in the other rooms, so she insisted on changing them to the peony-and-mandarin-ducks-on-water set she had specially bought. At the moment, she was sticking out her little rear while tucking in the corners of the sheet.

“Qing’er.”

Bai Xiang glanced sideways at her younger sister and said, “Come here.”

“Auntie?”

Bai Zhuqing turned around. Her two little feet in white stockings pattered onto the soft wooden floor, and she came over to sit cross-legged in front of Bai Xiang, looking very obedient.

Bai Xiang had called her over to inspect her cultivation progress.

At the mention of that, Bai Zhuqing’s expression immediately lit up, because recently, even when cultivating alone, she could feel herself advancing at astonishing speed. She was convinced that her “true talent” had finally been awakened.

She was currently at the 9th Layer of Refining Qi. At this rate, in just a few more days, she would be able to condense a False Core.

Faced with her younger sister’s swelling confidence, Bai Xiang did not expose the truth outright.

And that could not be blamed on Bai Zhuqing, because in all of Shenming Sword Dao—indeed, in the whole world—Bai Xiang was probably the only person who understood what was happening.

The principle was actually very simple: Bai Xiang had taken Liu Yong’s Returning-to-Origin Purple Qi, which was equivalent to cutting away a portion of predetermined destiny from the primary order itself. After she came to dominate that destiny, it radiated outward from her and began affecting the entire Path of Qi system in turn. In other words, within the Path of Qi system, she was now playing the very role that the primary order once had. That destiny did not merely affect Bai Xiang herself; through her, it simultaneously blessed every Path of Qi cultivator linked along that chain.

Whether it was Bai Zhuqing or Xiang Xian, or Li Sheng and Wang Ran, including Xu Shu and the broader lower ranks of disciples, and even the scattered Path of Qi cultivators in other provinces, all of them would soon enter a period of explosive advancement—a “golden cultivation period.”

If someone’s cultivation had originally been low to begin with, say the 1st or 2nd Layer of Refining Qi, then seizing the opportunity to jump several layers at once would not be impossible.

It was just that Bai Zhuqing’s look—secretly delighted inside while trying with all her might to keep the corners of her mouth from turning up—was too funny. So Bai Xiang simply pulled the girl into her arms and lifted her chin with one hand, wanting to see how she would react now.

Bai Zhuqing first froze, then her tender fair face flushed red at once.

She stole a trembling glance at Bai Xiang and found the corners of her sister’s mouth faintly raised, her expression carrying an almost-smile. A bold guess immediately sprang into her heart.

“Th-this… Sis… we’re on the flying vessel right now…”

“Your Senior Brother Guo had the soundproofing of every room specially checked,” Bai Xiang interrupted, flicking her on the nose.

“And with my sensory method, what are you afraid of?”

That bold statement left Bai Zhuqing dizzy.

Why did it feel as if some incredible switch inside Sister Xiang had suddenly been flipped?

Good heavens, what had happened to her dignified Sister Xiang?

[A private cultivation session follows. Afterward, Bai Zhuqing’s cultivation advances dramatically, and Bai Xiang begins checking the results.]

“Don’t just lie there basking in it.”

Bai Xiang pinched her on the firm little rear.

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“This is part of cultivation too.”

“Get up.”

“Check your Inner Body-scape.”

Bai Zhuqing had wanted to savor that special lingering feeling for a while, but she could not withstand Bai Xiang’s authority. So she obediently got up and began examining her Inner Body-scape as instructed.

And the moment she did, she cried out in shock, “I—I actually jumped straight to False Core?!”

Obviously.

Bai Xiang looked at her coolly from the side.

Did you really think I was the kind of person who would drag you into nonsense for no reason?

Since this was a “golden cultivation period,” naturally they had to choose the most efficient cultivation method.

And for the two of them, there was no better method than dual cultivation.

On top of that, they had already discovered earlier that doing more things that were “improper” or “crossing the line” would accelerate their progress. Naturally, Bai Xiang was not about to let the girl spend all her time fussing over the bed. She had pulled her over directly to “cultivate.”

In this round of cultivation, because their soul-abilities had moved through both their bodies in tandem, both of them had improved markedly.

Before cultivation, Bai Xiang’s body-refining progress had been:

All of the surface-level orifice-meridians fully refined through; all three Origin Orifices fully manifested and refined; progress on the remaining hidden orifices at 73/361. Progress on the twelve hidden meridians at 1/12.

After cultivation, her hidden-meridian progress had become 4/12.

Besides the one hidden meridian in her right hand that had originally been fully opened, this time she had additionally opened one meridian in her left arm, one in her left leg, and one in her right leg… three new meridians in total.

Each new meridian had thirty attached orifices. Once the new meridians had all been fully manifested and refined, her orifice progress also surged, rising to 164/361.

It absolutely counted as an enormous improvement.

Many thanks to Wang Xiu and the others for their generous gifts.

The Seven-Meridian Demon Ascension Transformation itself was certainly unusable, but among the orifices known by Wang Xiu and the others, there were quite a few that Bai Xiang had still lacked. Combined with her own prior insights and accumulation, that was how she had managed such a huge leap in a single stroke.

This also meant that the “sensation” accompanying breakthrough had surged three separate times. Every time Bai Xiang remembered that, her face grew a little warm.

Fortunately, she had concealed it by taking the “receptive role.”

That was good.

Judging by Qing’er’s expression, she had not overthought it.

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But…

Watching Bai Zhuqing bubbling over with joy, spitting out a little misty sword-pill from her mouth and splitting it from one into sixteen beams of light to play around herself, Bai Xiang could not help her eyelid twitching in private.

When Bai Zhuqing dual-cultivated with her, she would unconsciously direct her qi and send over that misty orb, using it to nourish and pass qi back and forth between the two of them.

And when that little misty orb burrowed into her body from below the lower abdomen dantian, Bai Xiang could feel it too.

Eight sword-pills had already been difficult enough to endure; if she grit her teeth, she could still stop herself from making a sound. But now, with Bai Zhuqing’s cultivation advancing, the number had actually doubled…

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes, feeling that in the future she would have to take on more of the “service” role herself.

She would have to go on the offensive as defense, and secretly change the situation without anyone noticing.

She definitely could not let the girl discover the truth.

As for Bai Zhuqing… Bai Zhuqing was happily playing with her sword-pills, having the time of her life.

Her gains from this round had also been tremendous. Before cultivation, she had been at the 9th Layer of Refining Qi, still a short distance from False Core. In terms of body refinement, only the Hidden Field Orifice, one of the three Origin Orifices, had been manifested and refined in a way worth mentioning. Aside from the one meridian in her right hand that had been fully manifested and refined, the rest of her orifice-meridians had all been scattered and unsystematic.

After this round, she had directly condensed a False Core in Refining Qi, while her body-refining progress had completely copied Bai Xiang’s!

It could only be said that the combination of soul-abilities and the big-sister visualization method was terrifying indeed!

Her earlier difficulty in progressing had been like trying to derive a formula from scratch. But once Bai Xiang had helped her set up the structure of that formula, every breakthrough afterward had become a straight downhill rush with no obstacles at all—she could directly synchronize by using Bai Xiang as a reference and copying her!

Of course, for the effect to be this fierce, destiny and fortune were probably also influencing things behind the scenes.

After all, Bai Zhuqing was the person closest to Bai Xiang.

Of the destiny and fortune Bai Xiang had passed down, Bai Zhuqing naturally received the greatest share.

After playing with the sword-pills for a while, Bai Zhuqing settled down and began summarizing her gains.

Most of this took the form of asking Bai Xiang questions—because she had only copied over the progress of cultivation itself. As for why this qi had to circulate that way, and why this portion of blood and qi had to be moved in that way, she still only half understood.

Since her younger sister was being so studious, Bai Xiang naturally had no reason to refuse.

The two talked in detail from the afternoon all the way to deep night. In the middle, they also conducted several more rounds of “cultivation” for comparison, and only then did Bai Zhuqing finally consolidate and master her greatly increased cultivation.

“Below the Immortal Venerable level, you should be able to handle things easily enough now,” Bai Xiang instructed her.

“But if you run into someone who cultivates pool methods, do not get drawn into a prolonged fight. You are to flee immediately.”

“Pool methods” referred to divine pools. Bai Xiang was not sure whether Bai Zhuqing’s qi properties counted as the Path of Qi equivalent of a divine pool, so she did not advise Bai Zhuqing to take the risk of experimenting when alone.

“Rest assured, Auntie,” Bai Zhuqing promised. “Qing’er is by no means a reckless person.”

Then, as though she had thought of something, she asked Bai Xiang, “Auntie, the two of us have now opened four meridians, but I remember you saying earlier that the Heavenly Pillar Meridian is not among them?”

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“That’s right.”

Bai Xiang nodded.

Part of the path she followed in body-refining and gathering the medicine was modeled on the ancient human race and on the Sun-Chasing Scripture. And according to the materials she had studied, the twelve hidden meridians were distributed through the four limbs, with each arm and leg containing three.

If that was the case, then the Heavenly Pillar Meridian, which ran through the great spinal dragon, was clearly extra. It was not counted among the twelve hidden meridians.

“Perhaps it is because the Hidden Spirit Orifice had never appeared in the world,” Bai Xiang voiced her guess. “The Heavenly Pillar Meridian therefore never had the chance to be fully manifested and refined, and so it was never incorporated into the system.”

“But Auntie, you manifested and refined the Hidden Spirit Orifice!” the girl exclaimed excitedly. “Doesn’t that mean we have a chance to cultivate a thirteenth meridian?”

She really thought that was incredible.

It was like the feeling of there being five Heavenly Kings among the Four Heavenly Kings.

Three hundred sixty-one orifices, plus the three Origin Orifices.

Twelve meridians, plus the Heavenly Pillar Meridian.

It was very scientific!

And super cool, too!

Bai Xiang did not refute her.

Because her younger sister was indeed correct.

There had never been an example before of body-refinement reaching complete perfection, and that was probably because the Hidden Spirit Orifice had not emerged and the Heavenly Pillar Meridian had not manifested. As a result, many cultivators throughout history had lost interest in this path, and body cultivators, because of their heavy depletion of lifespan and other reasons, had fallen to the bottom of the hierarchy of esteem.

But that also meant no one would be particularly guarded against this path.

Everyone assumed it was impossible for body-refinement to reach perfection, so they would not place too much importance on the diagrams of the various orifices and meridians.

Although the relevant secret manuals were still treasures, the kind of value people placed on them was not the same as the kind Bai Xiang had previously worried about.

That would make it easier and faster for her to gather the complete diagrams of all the orifices and meridians.

Once those diagrams were complete, and all three hundred plus orifices and all thirteen meridians had been fully manifested and refined, then her Path of Qi realm—the Origin Realm—would be perfected, and she could begin trying to create a new advancement method.

And when that time came…

Bai Xiang narrowed her eyes, and a flash of sharpness briefly passed through them.

So she could not relax.

Glancing at her dazed younger sister with her face full of longing, Bai Xiang grabbed her again, determined to continue researching the orifices on the two of them.