Chapter 209: Qi Refining Stage, Ninth Level
In the dream, the years flowed past. Cultivation without the aid of pills was purer than he had imagined.
Within the dream, he could not summon his flying sword, and naturally could not deploy the Spirit-Gathering Sword Formation. Yet, to his surprise, he could still summon the sword spirit.
Little Xian perched upon her shoulder, drawing in and exhaling spiritual energy alongside her, and her cultivation advanced a fraction faster.
In the dream world, a mere half-year passed, and Song Yan had already pushed his cultivation to the very limit of the eighth level of Qi Refining.
However, without the assistance of a Breakthrough Pill, breaching this bottleneck proved a trying ordeal that stretched on for many days.
That day, clouds swept through the valley.
Song Yan’s robes billowed gently, drifting with the wind.
The spiritual energy that filled his eighth-level Qi Refining cultivation flowed ceaselessly through his meridians, following the circulation paths of the Qi Condensation Chapter.
Threads of sword qi surged anew within his Town-Dao Sword Manor, yet the manor was now brimming with sword qi, and his cultivation no longer grew.
It was as though he had encountered an invisible, formless barrier, confining his cultivation within this small pond.
Yet day after day, blow upon blow against the barrier finally caused a hairline crack to appear.
The spiritual energy and sword qi within his body flowed like two rivers, ceaselessly beating against the barrier.
They lacked the overwhelming, explosive force of a pill’s power, yet still could wear stone away drop by drop.
In a single instant.
“Boom!”
A silent reverberation—and the bottleneck finally shattered!
The ninth level of Qi Refining!
The searing pain of simultaneously breaking through in both his Dantian’s qi sea and his Town-Dao Sword Manor nearly shattered his teeth.
In the agony, a flash of inspiration came. He gradually drew the sword qi within his Town-Dao Sword Manor to envelop his spiritual energy, guiding it through the eight extraordinary meridians.
The searing pain eased somewhat, as expected.
His aura, which had suddenly weakened, gradually stabilized. Then the imposing aura befitting the ninth level of Qi Refining swelled powerfully.
Spiritual energy surged through his limbs and bones; sword qi hummed within the Town-Dao Sword Manor.
Song Yan exhaled a turbid breath and slowly circulated his spiritual energy, following the circulation paths of the ninth level of Qi Refining to consolidate his realm.
But before he could complete even a few cycles, the raincoat-clad elder rose to his feet.
“You are dreadfully slow.”
The raincoat-clad elder’s fishing rod trembled lightly, and ripples suddenly spread across the pool.
The ripples were calm at first, but in an instant they transformed into a churning vortex. Song Yan felt the rocky ground tremble beneath his feet. Before he could react, the pool erupted with a thunderous roar.
An ink-black dragon burst from the water!
“Ahhh…”
Antlers like a deer’s, head like a camel’s, eyes like a rabbit’s, neck like a serpent’s, belly like a clam’s, scales like a fish’s, claws like an eagle’s, paws like a tiger’s, ears like an ox’s.
Song Yan stared at the ink dragon in stunned silence, his heart surging with shock and awe. “A dragon…”
In this immortal cultivation world, even qilin existed. It stood to reason that the legendary “dragon” was real as well.
Yet knowing and truly seeing were two entirely different things.
And now, right before his eyes, there was a dragon!
The dragon’s body twisted like spilled ink, its head rearing back as it let out a long, resonant cry. The soundwaves shook the clouds and mist throughout the valley, scattering them outward.
“That will do. Stop dawdling.”
With a sweep of his sleeve, the raincoat-clad elder sent the ink dragon diving downward.
The heavens and earth plunged into sudden darkness.
The last image imprinted upon his pupils was Wu Mountain Valley fading away, like ink washed clean by clear water.
Cold surged over him.
Song Yan opened his eyes. He was still in that secluded valley of Wu Mountain.
The vitality surrounding him had vanished. Only the great waterfall still roared in the distance.
Judging by the sky, it was still the hour of the tiger.
Such divine powers were truly wondrous.
Feeling the very real ninth-level Qi Refining cultivation within him, Song Yan felt a pang of regret. Had he brought Xiao He and Xiao Ju along earlier…
The raincoat-clad elder urged, “Hurry, hurry.”
Song Yan hastened forward and placed the jade seal into the small recess once more.
Clack.
A soft sound rang out, and the jade seal seemed to be crushed by some invisible force, dissolving into wisps of pale green spiritual light.
The light drifted through the air, then fell at Song Yan’s feet. Sparkling motes gathered and formed a circular, intricate pattern.
The raincoat-clad elder called out in reminder, “Once you enter the sect, remember to refine it first.”
Refine it? Refine what?
He had no chance to ask.
The pattern suddenly blazed with light, and Song Yan, enveloped in spiritual radiance, could no longer see the surrounding scenery.
In a single instant, as the flowing light faded, he vanished as well.
“…”
The raincoat-clad elder stood alone in the cold wind, gazing down upon the mountains.
Just moments after the jade seal had shattered, he had faintly sensed that some shackle binding him between heaven and earth had been destroyed.
“Hmph…”
“Zhong Min, you old dog. Fortunately, you kept your word.”
He murmured to himself, then glanced back at the place where Song Yan had disappeared. “Sword cultivators, sword cultivators…”
“Cultivate to the very end, and they all have that same stubborn temperament.”
He shook his head, then transformed into a streak of blue-purple light and vanished beyond the horizon.
…
In a blink, Song Yan found himself standing before an enormous mountain gate.
He looked behind him. There was nothing but a vast sea of clouds and the sheer cliff of a heavenly chasm.
A scattering of fine jade-green light drifted from somewhere unknown, slowly coalescing before him.
It reformed into a small jade seal.
“Hm?”
It could actually restore itself?
After a moment’s recollection, it seemed the refinement the raincoat-clad elder had spoken of was to refine this very object?
New to this place, Song Yan dared not act rashly. He decided to follow the old man’s instructions and refine the object first.
His sword qi and divine sense sank into it together, refining it.
When the refinement was complete, he learned its true name.
“The Supreme Void Sword Nurturing Text.”
This object had three uses.
First, it served as a disciple token of the Sword Sect, recording the holder’s identity information.
However, with the Sword Sect now abandoned and its halls empty, such identity information seemed rather superfluous.
Second, it was used to open the protective formation, allowing disciples to return within the sect’s gates.
Yet according to the description, one needed at least Foundation Establishment cultivation to open it. He wondered why he could use it at the ninth level of Qi Refining.
The thought was somewhat staggering. In that bygone era, even inner disciples had to reach Foundation Establishment before they could descend the mountain—for otherwise they could never return.
Perhaps, back then, Foundation Establishment had been but a minor threshold.
The third use intrigued Song Yan greatly.
Within the jade seal lay an exceedingly brief foundational cultivation technique of the Sword Sect, bearing the same name as the seal itself—the Supreme Void Sword Nurturing Text.
The technique’s primary effect was to assist items such as sword boxes and sword gourds in nurturing one’s bonded flying sword.
Secondly, it allowed sword qi to accumulate within the jade seal. Once sufficient sword qi had been stored, the portable teleportation formation within the seal could send the sword cultivator back to the Sword Sect.
This was remarkable indeed.
In the future, should he ever need to extricate himself from various troubles, he could use this object to return to the Sword Sect.
“…”
Song Yan fell into contemplation.
“If Sword Sect disciples possessed such a treasure, why were they all slaughtered, bringing about the sect’s destruction…”
Was the enemy truly so powerful that they could not even use this jade seal before perishing, their Dao extinguished?
He shook his head, drew a deep breath, put away the jade seal, and ascended toward the mountain gate.
Standing outside the mountain gate, he recalled the ink-wash illusion he had once witnessed within the Yin-Yang Pearl.
Song Yan’s emotions at this moment were undeniably complex.
To finally stand within the true Sword Sect brought him an irrepressible surge of joy and excitement.
Yet the sect was utterly silent, and with that silence came a lingering melancholy—for he knew its halls were long since abandoned.
Such a tangle of emotions churned within him, a bittersweet mix.
The stone steps beneath his feet were cold. Step by step, he climbed the mountain. To the left of the gate stood a massive stele of black jade.
Upon it, two characters had been carved with a flying sword, their edges sharp and radiant.
“Sword Sect.”
…
The vast Sword Sect held none but Song Yan.
Utter silence.
Beneath the distant sky, mountains encircled the peaks, their slopes verdant and green. Where clouds and mist wound themselves, the faint outline of a grand palace complex could be discerned.
Upon the cold mountain to the northeast lay an enormous, clear pool.
A paradise on earth.
Yet, as Song Yan strolled through the mountain gate, he came to a halt before a bamboo-lined path.
Something had blocked his way.
He stepped forward, but his vision suddenly shifted—and he found himself emerging from the other side.
“A maze formation? Or perhaps a trapping formation.”
To layer the effects of both a maze and a trapping formation upon this narrow bamboo path—the one who set this formation possessed truly heaven-defying mastery.
Song Yan summoned his flying sword and held it before the formation to test it.
A translucent golden barrier slowly materialized over the bamboo path. Upon closer inspection, it was a protective formation woven from countless fine threads of sword qi.
“As expected, there is still a protective formation.”
He cautiously extended a finger to touch it. The barrier rippled immediately, and a gentle yet irresistible force repelled his hand.
Though Song Yan felt a deep sense of regret, he had long anticipated this.
The letter left by the Sect Master within the Yin-Yang Pearl had stated that upon reaching Core Formation, he could enter the inner sect and inherit the Dao legacy.
Song Yan made a rough attempt. The formation separating the inner and outer sects seemed to require only Foundation Establishment cultivation to enter with a disciple jade seal.
Now that he had broken through to the ninth level of Qi Refining, he was but a single step from Foundation Establishment.
“Once I have established my foundation, I can simply return with this disciple jade seal.”
Song Yan lowered his head in mild regret, gazing at the humming Yin-Yang Pearl in his hand, and let out a sigh.
The moment he had stepped through the mountain gate, the Yin-Yang Pearl had flown from his robes of its own accord. Black and white swirled frantically, and intricate patterns never before seen surfaced upon the bead.
It seemed there were many treasures within the inner sect.
Without warning, his thoughts turned to the raincoat-clad elder.
In the old man’s words, he had called this bead a “Linking Bead.”
“Linking Bead…”
It sounded very much like a piece of some larger whole.
“If this is merely a part of some treasure, could its power truly be so formidable?”
Song Yan could scarcely imagine the true power of the complete artifact.
“What could it be?”
A Daoist robe? Unlikely…
A sword sheath? That does not quite fit either…
Song Yan amused himself with idle speculation.
As he did so, he began systematically searching through the outer sect buildings, scouring every area he could reach.
Alas, it was evident that the outer sect’s predecessors had never anticipated that a future disciple would ransack the place for treasures, for they had left nothing behind.
There were only some long-expired Fasting Pills and a few pills Song Yan could not even identify.
Most jade vials were empty. The bamboo slips on the bookshelves in the living quarters had long since weathered away, and there were no jade slips.
Just as he was about to give up, he actually discovered a small wooden cottage on the mountain.
Beside a small waterfall, it was unclear which immortal ancestor had once dwelled there.
The cottage was naturally uninhabited, but within it he found several books on alchemy, a few small bottles, and a rather oddly shaped cauldron of questionable aesthetics.
At first, Song Yan treated them like rare treasures.
Turned out they were merely ordinary spirit-refining pills and a beginner’s text on alchemy.
The book appeared to have been read only through its early chapters, for beyond a certain annotation, there were no further signs of use.
“Alchemy and other such lesser paths—I, Si Xiangqing, shall not bother learning them!”
It seemed this “Si Xiangqing” ancestor had initially wished to learn alchemy but abandoned the endeavor midway.
And yet…
Upon seeing the handwriting in the beginner’s text, Song Yan’s eyes widened.
This handwriting.
How was it so familiar?!
He took the rubbing of the Thousand Pill Formulas from his Cosmos Bag and reviewed the section on sword qi alchemy once more.
As expected, the elegant yet sharp annotation handwriting was identical to the text before him.
“This Si Xiangqing ancestor… is that senior sister?”
What a coincidence.
Who would have thought that the “sword cultivator senior sister” mentioned in the Thousand Pill Formulas was a disciple of the Sword Sect?
His gaze suddenly fell upon the unsightly cauldron.
Song Yan had little interest in the thing. With his ability to refine pills using sword qi, he had no need for a fire-based cauldron.
Yet beneath the cauldron, a jade slip bearing a message lay concealed.
His divine sense probed within. The handwriting was lively and spirited.
“Greetings, junior brother or sister I have never met!”
“I am about to depart on a long journey, and suddenly remembered this alchemy cottage, so I came back for a look.”
“Although my alchemy was rather poor in the past, I have become much more adept at refining pills with sword qi.”
“That fool Chen Yi insisted that sword qi alchemy requires a specially forged cauldron. He clearly underestimated my mastery of the Sword Dao.”
“He specially designed and forged a sword qi cauldron for this very purpose and gave it to me.”
“I appreciate the gesture, but this thing is truly too ugly.”
“I modeled a new one after it and forged an Azure Phoenix Pearl-Holding Sword Furnace. It looks quite beautiful. As for this old one… heh heh.”
“I shall leave it for whoever is fated to find it.”
“Unknown outer sect junior brother or sister, if you happen upon this place and have an interest in the Dao of Alchemy, please take it and use it.”
“—The prodigious sword immortal, Si Xiangqing.”
Reading the jade slip’s message, Song Yan could not help but laugh and shake his head as he looked at the rejected “ugly furnace.”
“…”
Song Yan picked it up and examined it closely. Truth be told, it was rather unsightly.
The body was covered in intricate patterns, and the toad on the lid glared with bulging cheeks—hardly a thing of beauty.
Since it had been forged by Senior Chen Yi specifically for sword qi alchemy, it should prove useful.
Song Yan set it steadily on the ground, sat cross-legged, and sent a wisp of sword qi into it from his fingertip.
The cauldron suddenly emitted a burst of sound, like a relic unused for years needing to be warmed up.
Then the toad on the lid slowly rose, and between it and the base, a circular sword qi field appeared.
The toad perched upon it, and fine threads of sword qi flowed in and out of its mouth.
Maintaining the furnace’s operation.
“Oh?”
Song Yan was surprised.
For sword cultivators, sword dao alchemy was far superior to fire-based alchemy. However, there was one problem.
When changes were required in the sword qi field, they demanded immense mental focus and mastery of the Sword Dao.
Moreover, due to the dissipation of energy, sword cultivators had to continuously and slowly infuse sword qi, which placed considerable strain upon the alchemical process.
Yet this cauldron could automatically capture the sword qi that dissipated from the field, greatly reducing the adjustments the cultivator needed to make.
Furthermore, several standard transformations of the sword qi field could be performed by the cauldron itself.
The sword cultivator needed only to make minor adjustments, vastly reducing the strain of alchemy.
Song Yan quietly marveled. This Senior Brother Chen Yi seemed far more than he let on…