Within the space of the Fate Stele, the sword energy unleashed by Jing Qian shattered the Qingping Sword Casket, releasing its most fundamental sword essence.
This was his trump card, his ultimate hidden technique, something he would never lightly use in the mortal world.
Yet even such sword energy, when faced with the Qiongqi, was scattered with a single breath, unable to pierce its defenses.
The beast merely exhaled a puff of black smoke, and Jing Qian was blown to death on the spot.
But he did not grow discouraged. Reviving, he once again charged at the great fiend.
This was, after all, a necessary step in his cultivation. Precisely because of the Qiongqi's presence, his deaths came swiftly, allowing him to accumulate Life-Casting Opportunities at an ever-increasing pace!
The opportunities he unearthed here would be enough to sustain his progress for many years to come.
...
The first year within the tributary of time was devoted entirely to reforging his Life Patterns.
Day after day, Jing Qian honed his mana and delved into secret arts, his days filled with ceaseless cultivation.
But true breakthroughs depended not on external practice, but on the advancement of his Life Patterns.
The Ghost Wall and Soul-Weaving patterns lacked no resources and were directly reforged to the limits of the Violet-Eyed tier, ready to be elevated at any moment through Knowledge of Heaven's Mandate.
At this point, only the Tidal Surge pattern had yet to reach its limit.
The Longevity Life Pattern endured hundreds of reforgings before finally undergoing another qualitative transformation. Its span surpassed six hours per day, successfully ascending to the Blue-Blood grade.
From here, all he needed was to continue reforging his Longevity pattern, step by step, until it reached the Violet-Eyed rank. Then he would at last attain true everlasting life and unending sight.
A hundred years of cultivation is more than enough to reach this step!
With the first stage of his training complete, his attention gradually shifted to other pursuits.
...
His second great lesson was to fully master the Art of Yuan-Absorption, increasing the depth of his mana reserves.
Ever since obtaining the Dao Book of the Nether Cycle of Yanfu, Jing Qian had devoted nearly all of his energy to melting down Life Patterns and forging Spiritual Constructs, leaving no time for other practices.
Now, freed from the constraints of time, he could finally settle down and properly study the many secret arts recorded within the Dao Book.
Among Jing Qian's myriad Life Patterns were those of Mountain-Sea, Spirit-Treasure, and Divine-Ghost categories.
Before he had the Dao Book, he possessed no inheritance of Yuan-Absorbing Arts that matched his Life Patterns.
Even after acquiring it, his cultivation days had been too short, his hands too full to make time for such training.
As a result, compared to other Spiritual Construct Bearers, his foundation was hollow and unsteady, like a gaudy pavilion that might collapse at a push.
The Dao Book, however, contained complete Yuan-Absorption inheritances corresponding to every type of Life Pattern.
Each time Jing Qian mastered one, his accumulation of Life Essence increased at a noticeable pace.
But this was painstaking work, requiring immense patience. It could not be rushed.
Within his external Second-Rank Longevity Fish Pool, surging Yuan Qi abounded, the richest he had ever seen.
Yet, to draw in large quantities of that energy, he had only two "straws."
One was the Lotus-Seeding Art, aligned with the Tidal Surge pattern; the other was the Inscription Art, aligned with the Soul-Weaving pattern.
Of these, the Inscription Art was not passive; it required his active effort to perform, making it a lesser method among Yuan-Absorption techniques.
In the days ahead, Jing Qian needed to cultivate a high-grade Yuan-Absorbing Art for each of his Life Patterns. Once that was achieved, he would be able to draw in vast amounts of external Yuan Qi, transforming it into abundant Life Essence.
With the full might of his Worldly Insight, he unraveled one secret art after another, absorbing them into his being.
And so, in the quiet passage of time, his cultivation steadily advanced.
...
In his third year of cultivation, Jing Qian achieved a breakthrough; he comprehended the profound secret art known as the Sixfold Qi Pattern.
This technique allowed six of his Life Patterns to absorb Yuan Qi and condense it into Life Essence. It was the pinnacle among Yuan-Absorption Arts.
The Sixfold Qi Pattern drew upon diverse forces of heaven and earth:
It refined the Azure Dragon's eastern qi into the Heaven Pattern,
Gathered the turbid qi of the earth veins into the Asura Pattern,
Condensed mortal obsessions into the Human Pattern,
Formed the chill of the netherworld into the Hungry Ghost Pattern,
Forged the embers of thunder and fire into the Beast Pattern,
And shaped the metallic qi of punishment and slaughter into the Hell Pattern.
Ordinarily, this was an immensely difficult secret art to master. Cultivators were required to traverse thousands of miles into deadly terrains, harvesting each type of qi one by one before they could ever hope to complete it.
But the Longevity Fish Pool was of such an exalted rank that it contained everything he needed. No matter the type of qi, all could be summoned at will.
Even so, Jing Qian spent another full year before finally mastering the technique.
...
His first attempt was to inscribe the Human Pattern upon the Tushita Furnace.
The moment the mark took hold, the furnace manifested an aura akin to the very forge of humanity.
Jing Qian was startled to find that this unique Spirit-Treasure Life Pattern had undergone a remarkable change.
It had opened a direct conduit to external Yuan Qi, freely drawing it in and condensing it into Life Essence.
And because the Tushita Furnace was of such high rank, as long as Yuan Qi remained abundant, it could produce four Azure-Wing Life Essence each day.
By comparison, his Tidal Surge Life Pattern after ascending to the Dragon-Elephant rank relied on the Lotus-Seeding Art and required three days to yield a single Azure-Wing Life Essence.
The difference in efficiency was twelvefold.
And this was only the beginning.
Another year passed, and Jing Qian successfully inscribed the Hell Pattern upon the Ghost Pattern.
Although this Spirit-Treasure had not yet advanced to Heavenly Life Pattern, under the secret art's blessing, it could still produce one Azure-Wing Life Essence daily.
Two more years went by, and the Sixfold Qi Pattern advanced further. The Asura Pattern was imprinted upon the Qingping Sword's End.
With Heavenly Life Pattern activating the absorption technique, Qingping's End produced ten Azure-Wing Life Essence per day, far surpassing any lower-ranked Life Pattern.
As Jing Qian grew more proficient with the Sixfold Qi Pattern, his efficiency soared.
In the following year, he succeeded twice more: first inscribing the Beast Pattern upon Flesh-Nurturing Sprout, then the Hungry Ghost Pattern upon Ghost Wall.
Both Violet-Eyed Life Patterns began producing one Azure-Wing Life Essence per day.
At this point, five of his Life Patterns had been empowered, allowing him to harvest a total of seventeen Life Essence each day.
The final, most important Heaven Pattern, he reserved for Sumeru, his foundational Heavenly Life Pattern.
This supreme Mountain-Sea Life Pattern was the root of his cultivation, the core from which he had opened his personal cave-heaven. Its essence was unmatched, its potential profound. Once blessed with the Yuan-Absorption technique, it was certain to yield him extraordinary returns.
Yet imprinting the Heaven Pattern upon Sumeru proved an arduous trial.
Even with five prior successes, it still took eight full years. The grueling process nearly shattered Jing Qian's Dao Heart, leaving him at times uncertain whether he could succeed at all.
But when Sumeru finally began to absorb Yuan Qi, the outpouring of Life Essence vindicated every hardship.
That single Life Pattern alone produced eighteen Azure-Wing Life Essence per day, nearly double the output of Qingping's End.
The magnitude was staggering.
Under its influence, Sumeru even condensed a third spatial beacon.
Having invested over a decade, Jing Qian at last completed the Sixfold Qi Pattern. His daily passive income of Life Essence soared to thirty-five, a figure exceeding even his maximum mana reserves.
Each day, surplus Life Essence overflowed.
Aside from the daily cost of reforging Longevity, there was little in this temporal illusion that consumed his power.
Thus, he poured all excess mana into the Qingping Sword Casket, steadily enhancing its fundamental sword energy.
By this point, he had lost count of how much power the casket stored. He only knew that with each passing day, his Qingping Sword Qi grew stronger slowly, but inexorably.
And this was merely half of his second great lesson.
Three more Life Patterns still awaited the blessing of the Yuan-Absorption Art.
But just then, his rhythm of cultivation was interrupted.
Within the Void Furnace, a change arose that he could not ignore.
...
Even within the Fish Pool, Jing Qian could sense the existence of the Void Realm.
This personally opened cave-heaven was the very cornerstone of his cultivation. Remarkably, it too was blessed by the temporal acceleration of the Longevity Fish Pool, evolving at a hundredfold speed.
After more than a decade of refinement, the Nine-Linked-Heart Ghosts within the Void Furnace had been completely ground down, stripped of their sharp edges, and reduced to mere playthings in Jing Qian's hands.
With a light tug upon his two Life Patterns, the Tushita Furnace exhaled toward the Hell Scroll, and the Nine-Linked Ghosts were bound into its surface.
In that instant, Jing Qian gained nine sixth-rank great ghosts to empower his body. His strength surged dramatically.
At a flick of his hand, the Hell Scroll unleashed its force, and the nine ghosts scrambled eagerly onto his body, arranging themselves in order along his spine, one per vertebra.
In a single breath, his physical strength exploded.
From the flesh-sprout at his chest, nine new tendrils burst forth.
Unlike ordinary eighth-rank spirits, each sixth-rank ghost augmented his mana by thirty percent.
Together, the nine raised his limit to 5.1 times his original capacity, surpassing by far what any eighth-rank cultivator could ever hope to reach.
For a moment, Jing Qian's heart soared. Years of tedious seclusion and suffocating monotony were swept away.
At once, he refocused his mind and returned to the path of cultivating the Yuan-Absorption Arts.
...
Among Jing Qian's Life Patterns, only Bian Yuan Weiyang, Hell Scroll, and Worldly Insight remained without a Yuan-Absorption technique.
One Spirit-Treasure Pattern and two Divine-Ghost Patterns, all of exceptionally high rank.
Jing Qian had long prepared for this.
He chose yet another supreme secret art, The Qi of the Three Realms, and began its cultivation.
This technique could link three Life Patterns together, transforming them into Heaven, Earth, and Mortal Realms. Once bound, the three realms would mutually reinforce one another, opening vast conduits for Yuan Qi and greatly multiplying the output of Life Essence.
Jing Qian aligned them perfectly:
Bian Yuan Weiyang as the Heaven Realm,
Worldly Insight as the Mortal Realm,
Hell Scroll as the Earth Realm.
The fit was flawless, without the slightest gap.
After ten grueling years, he finally mastered the art.
The three Patterns, united as one, produced thirty-three Azure-Wing Life Essence per day, an astonishing number.
With this, Jing Qian completed the second stage of his training.
The two supreme Yuan-Absorption techniques contained within the Yanfu Cavern's Nether Wheel Dao Book, the Sixfold Qi Pattern and the Qi of the Three Realms, had both been brought to perfection.
Together, they linked nine Life Patterns, allowing Jing Qian to harvest seventy-eight Azure-Wing Life Essence per day, more than double his current mana capacity!
Such terrifying replenishment speed was far beyond what the Dragon-Elephant realm could ever conceive.
Each day, the vast excess of mana he could not consume was poured without limit into the Qingping Sword Casket, strengthening its sword energy.
The sheer amount of power he had invested into the casket already surpassed that of every other Spiritual Construct Disciple in Pure Yang Ruins, reaching an unprecedented state.
And the Qingping Sword Casket was destined to be his true reliance in the battles to come against the other disciples a century later.
From here on, his cultivation time would focus on this sword casket above all else.
...
The third great lesson was to fortify his Spiritual Constructs.
Jing Qian lacked any powerful external "Moons." His only companion, the raccoon-cat Xi Li, was merely a laborer tending the Life Furnace, a good beast of burden, but useless on the battlefield.
The true core of his cultivation lay in his two inexhaustible roots of self-seeking, the Spiritual Constructs.
Enhancing the Spiritual Construct was the foundation for growth at the grand-cultivator level, the wellspring of skyrocketing combat strength. Naturally, he devoted vast time and effort to it.
Without hesitation, Jing Qian summoned forth the Revolving Heavenly Son Seal. This extraordinary Spiritual Construct had already reached full completion, with all six facets revealed.
Within the Void Furnace, the Toad's Purifying Fire had been fully absorbed by it.
With this flame, the Heavenly Son Pattern had matured decades ahead of schedule, sparing him countless years of bitter effort.
On the two new faces of the Pattern, Jing Qian imprinted the marks of Ghost Wall and Flesh-Nurturing Sprout, gaining an additional two taels and four qian of Life Measure.
His reserves of Life Measure grew ever more abundant. A new round of Life Patterns was already on the horizon, and he had long prepared for their arrival.
At full maturity, the Heavenly Son Pattern could independently produce nine Azure-Wing Life Essence per day, further strengthening his foundation.
To advance it any further would require consuming lifespan and invoking Knowledge of Heaven's Mandate, so Jing Qian set it aside for now.
He then cradled the Qingping Sword Casket in his arms.
This sword-path Spiritual Construct was his true reliance for raising his combat ceiling.
At the Dragon-Elephant realm, his sole means of slaying enemies beyond his level was the casket, binding together all his cultivation and condensing it into a single thread of sword energy, birthing a devastating killing force.
Without the casket, relying only on the Ghost-Driving system, he would struggle even to kill a mere Longevity cultivator.
But in the coming Dharma Contests, if he unleashed the sword's fundamental energy, he could secure at least one victory enough to temper a Spiritual Construct. This gave him, as a Dragon-Elephant cultivator, a great measure of initiative.
At this stage, the Qingping Sword Casket had already linked with:
Hell Scroll, allowing one strike to summon twenty-one sword shadows,
Soul-Weaving, refining the sword into threads and amplifying its power,
Longevity, enabling both life-draining and life-granting, drawing upon lifespan at will, is a top-tier ability balancing slaughter with resource harvest.
Four qian of Life Measure remained unused, enough to link four more Life Patterns. With each success, Jing Qian's combat strength would rise to new heights.
There was still ample time, enough to temper the sword casket to full maturity.
And so, immersed within the Longevity Fish Pool, he devoted himself to refining his sword-path Spiritual Construct. With the aid of Worldly Insight, he simulated and evolved new divine powers.
Three years passed in a flash. His sword energy swelled without limit, its power already beyond measure.
At last, the Flesh-Nurturing Sprout Pattern successfully linked to the casket.
A new divine power, Blood Wither, was born within his sword qi.
From that moment on, each strike of his sword carried a strange power that corroded flesh and blood, vastly increasing its lethality against living beings.
More importantly, striking down enemies now drained not only their lifespan but also their physical vitality.
Not only could he devour life, but also siphon blood and wield a stacked arsenal of powers.
A year later, the Ghost Pattern was likewise bound to the casket.
Though still only at the Violet-Eyed level, it was the very root of the Heavenly Son Pattern.
Its successful linkage meant Jing Qian's two Spiritual Constructs were now firmly interconnected.
Within both the Yanfu Path and the Pure Yang Ruins, cultivators who had fused multiple Spiritual Constructs into one system were rarer than phoenix feathers.
How to balance them was a mystery with no precedent to follow.
By linking his two Spiritual Constructs, Jing Qian unified his entire cultivation into a single framework.
From that moment, the methods of the Yanfu Path and the Pure Yang Ruins completely merged, inseparable.
Regardless of raw power gains, in terms of long-term cultivation, this was an immensely important breakthrough.
At the instant of connection, his cultivation shifted.
A phantom manifested within his sea of consciousness, the Revolving Heavenly Son Sword Manifestation.
It was a formidable dharma image, fusing both Divine-Ghost and Spirit-Treasure attributes.
Yet Jing Qian decisively shattered the phantom, refusing to let it form.
His foundation was not yet solid; his reserves not yet sufficient. Better to wait until his roots grow even deeper before condensing his true dharma image.
When that time came, he would forge the strongest Manifestation possible, worthy of his terrifying accumulation.
The Ghost Pattern's linkage birthed a new divine power within the casket: Demon-Subduing.
This ability not only amplified sword energy dramatically, but also granted it a devastating advantage against gods and spirits alike, slaying deities, killing ghosts, cutting down immortals, and buddhas without restraint.
At this stage, only two slots remained within the Qingping Sword Casket.
Without question, they were reserved for Sumeru and Bian Yuan Weiyang.
If he succeeded in binding these two Heavenly Life Patterns, the sword casket would perfectly command the might of all three Heavenly Life Patterns, concentrating their strength into a single stroke.
He would forge the strongest foundation in the history of the Pure Yang Ruins.
But linking Heavenly Life Patterns was no easy task. It demanded immense time and patient refinement.
So Jing Qian sank once more to the bottom of the Longevity Fish Pool, beginning a new round of cultivation.
Twenty years passed in a blur, and yet, astonishingly, he accomplished nothing.
...
At the back mountain of the Pure Yang Ruins, before the Sword-Marking Cliff, the elder Shangxi bent down, carefully examining the stone.
That mysterious sword mark, which had appeared without warning, had undergone further changes in just a few short months.
Not only had its depth increased far beyond the level of any lower third-rank cultivator, but strange auras overlapped within it so uncanny that even Shangxi's eyes lit up.
He calculated the time, compared it with the speed of the sword mark's growth, and could more or less guess what had happened: their Spiritual Construct Disciple must have entered the Zhuo Ling Cave-Heaven.
This, of course, was excellent news.
The Zhuo Ling Cave-Heaven was one of the finest cultivation sanctuaries for lower third-rank cultivators within the Yingfutu Realm. To venture within was a tremendous fortune.
It was especially so for Pure Yang Ruins cultivators, who focused on swordsmanship and combat power but tended to be weaker in their foundational methods.
Borrowing the strength of the Cave-Heaven was the best way to close that gap.
Unbidden, Shangxi recalled his own experience when he had been at the Longevity Realm, journeying into Zhuo Ling Cave-Heaven.
That old fisherman's Dharma Contests had been marvelous, allowing Pure Yang disciples to unleash themselves without restraint, fighting with everything they had.
For years afterward, it had remained one of Shangxi's fondest memories, a source of joy whenever he thought of it.
Just as he was lost in reminiscence, a sudden change struck upon the Sword-Marking Cliff.
Zheng!
The sword mark deepened by more than half in an instant, its position on the cliff rising sharply, surpassing more than half of the countless other sword marks to stand at the mid-level tier.
In Shangxi's turbid eyes flashed a gleam of sword intent. In such moments alone, this old, withered man revealed a glimpse of the extraordinary.
...
Within the Longevity Fish Pool, Jing Qian manifested as a little black-and-white fish and twisted his body with visible excitement.
Who wouldn't be? After nearly thirty years of grueling effort, he had at last achieved a supreme accomplishment worth celebrating.
Through endless trials, Sumeru and Bian Yuan Weiyang had finally linked to the Qingping Sword Casket.
From that moment, the Sword Casket's divine powers were completely perfected through its cultivation, reaching full maturity.
The third great lesson was finally completed in triumph!
And within this tributary of time, forty-seven years remained.
There was room for Jing Qian to grow even further.
The divine powers bestowed by the two Heavenly Life Patterns far exceeded his expectations, raising his combat strength to an entirely new level.
Unable to resist the itch in his hands, he willed his consciousness into the space of the Fate Stele once more.
There, facing the great fiend Qiongqi outside the safe zone, he summoned forth the Qingping Sword Casket.
With all seven divine powers awakened and forty years' worth of fundamental sword energy poured into it, he unleashed a devastating strike.
With a single sword, the fourth-rank Star-Seizer beast before him was wounded, its blood spraying into the air.
The sheer power of it sent waves of ecstasy through Jing Qian's mind. His skull buzzed as though he were soaring in rapture.
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