Jing Qian poured sixty-five years of painstaking cultivation into a single strand of sword energy, and it truly burst forth with the might of a fourth-rank Star-Seizer strike.
The Qiongqi received the blow head-on. On its right shoulder, a sword marked the length of a man's palm, cut three inches deep into its flesh.
Though the wound could not end the beast's life, it marked a true transformation in Jing Qian's power.
When his fundamental sword qi was strong enough to wound a fourth-rank Star-Seizer being, then the sword energy he divided and wielded in ordinary combat naturally reached the level of a fifth-rank Earth Fiend.
At last, in day-to-day battles, his sword energy could bridge the chasm in strength between himself and the other Spiritual Construct Disciples.
And if he unleashed his fundamental sword energy in full, even the head chef of Kitchen Lord Hall might not be beyond his reach!
The only one he still had no chance against was the heir of the Ying Clan.
Satisfied, Jing Qian faced the once-unreachable Star-Seizer power and joyfully allowed himself to die ten times in succession, each time releasing a fundamental sword strike.
Ten times he reveled, and ten wounds he carved, until a gash a full foot deep was left upon the Qiongqi's body, one that refused to heal.
To wield sword energy of such terrifying might while still in the eighth-rank Dragon-Elephant realm, this was an experience beyond compare.
At last, he withdrew from the Fate Stele's space, returning once more to the Longevity Fish Pool.
Within his sea of consciousness, the Qingping Sword Casket radiated with dazzling green light, carrying an aura of completeness and perfection.
The blessings of two Heavenly Life Patterns had granted him two supreme new divine abilities.
From Bian Yuan Weiyang came a movement-based ability: Sword Qi into Light, an immense enhancement to speed.
This divine ability surpassed Sword Qi Thunder Sound by a whole tier, simple in function, but incomparably powerful.
With its blessing, Jing Qian's Qingping Sword Qi underwent a critical transformation, evolving into Qingping Sword Light.
So-called "sword light" meant speed at the very limit of light itself. Against enemies at the Star-Seizer realm or below, unless they possessed acceleration arts, it was utterly unavoidable. They could only endure it head-on.
In other words, Jing Qian's sword had now become inescapable, each strike certain to land.
This was a new level in the way of the sword. Even in the Pure Yang Ruins, most disciples only achieved sword light after reaching the fifth rank.
Only the rarest prodigies could comprehend Sword Qi into Light while still at the sixth rank, and they were always hailed as the pride of their generation.
But for Jing Qian, to achieve sword light while still at the Dragon-Elephant realm, this was to make the impossible possible. His strength had grown beyond measure.
And on top of this, the divine power bestowed by Sumeru, his second Heavenly Life Pattern, was no less mighty.
This new ability was called Silent Ashes, embodying the annihilation of space, the stillness of all things. It infused his sword light with a trace of dimensional ruin.
Such an irresistible spatial force pushed the upper limit of his Qingping Sword Light to an entirely new realm.
The true reason his sword light could pierce Star-Seizer's defenses was precisely this Silent Ashes divine power.
Even a Star-Seizer being could not withstand the power of shattered space.
With the Sword Casket perfected, Jing Qian's combat strength underwent a fundamental transformation. For the first time, he glimpsed the possibility of true victory.
And still, forty-seven years remained before the century of accelerated time within the Fish Pool came to an end.
Having secured his foundation and completed the essential cultivation stages, the remainder of this time was his true sprint toward the summit.
"College entrance exam countdown: forty-seven years!"
Jing Qian would now spare nothing to elevate his power to the utmost.
Thus, his fourth great lesson was born.
...
Thanks to the perfection of his two Spiritual Constructs, the space of Jing Qian's Life Measure expanded as never before.
Now, most of his Life Patterns were carried by three great Spiritual Constructs, leaving his own personal Life Measure consumption at only three taels and two qian.
With the new bargain struck with the Longevity Fish Pool, he gained another one tael, two qian, and the advancement of the Longevity Life Pattern contributed an additional one qian.
His Life Measure limit had now reached eleven taels and two qian.
This meant he could still melt down and forge Life Patterns equivalent to eight full taels, more proof of the immense depth of his foundation.
When selecting Life Patterns earlier, he had focused on those essential for condensing a Dharma Manifestation and those with materials already in hand.
The Dao Book held many excellent Life Patterns, but for lack of resources, he had left them aside.
Now his larger cultivation framework was set. His most important Spiritual Constructs were perfected. His existing Life Patterns were sufficient for the condensation of a Dharma Manifestation.
And yet, his capacity for Life Measure remained hugely abundant.
Thus, the time had come: the forging of new Life Patterns would now serve as the blood and flesh to fill out the skeleton of his cultivation.
According to his plan, the fourth lesson of his century of cultivation was to use the Longevity Fish Pool to melt and forge three new Life Patterns.
These three patterns would bring about the next true leap in his combat strength.
Among all categories of Life Patterns, there existed one most peculiar.
It belonged neither to Mountain-Sea, nor to Divine-Ghost, nor to Living-Being, nor to Spirit-Treasure. Instead, it formed an entirely separate class, Patterns of Primordial Qi.
As the name implies, these patterns were solely meant to aid cultivators in gathering Yuan Qi and condensing Life Essence.
Their function was extremely singular, and once forged, they granted no divine powers apart from strengthening one's mana.
What's more, low-ranked Primordial Qi patterns offered very little growth in mana, making them poor in cost-effectiveness.
Thus, lower third-rank cultivators always pressed for Life Measure and rarely considered forging such patterns.
It was not unwillingness, but simple reality: high-ranked ones were too costly, low-ranked ones were hardly worth it.
Most of the time, such patterns were a luxury only mid-third-rank cultivators might forge.
But for true prodigies, those with heaven-defying talent, if they could forge a high-grade Primordial Qi pattern while still in the lower ranks, or be born with one awakened innately, then the benefits for combat strength, Dharma Manifestation condensation, and Fire Fiend fusion were immense.
Jing Qian, blessed with Life-Casting Opportunities, did not need to worry about the quality of his Life Patterns. He had long planned to forge one of these Primordial Qi patterns.
The problem lay in the materials: each required rare, exotic strands of Primordial Qi.
In backwater regions like Hunzhou, even finding a single wisp was near impossible.
But here, within the Longevity Fish Pool, the opportunity was heaven-sent.
The Yuan Qi here was endless, and more importantly, it contained every variety of exotic Primordial Qi known in the present world.
For Jing Qian, it was the perfect place to forge such patterns.
...
In the Dao Book of the Nether Cycle of Yanfu, three lower-rank Primordial Qi patterns were recorded:
Life Pattern: Yin Qi
Rank: White Fang
"When Yin Qi is born, it is like charcoal embers."
Effect: increases Life Essence by one.
Life Pattern: Ghost Qi
Rank: Azure Wing
"Like a ghost-lantern lighting pine pollen."
Effect: increases Life Essence by three.
Life Pattern: Nether Qi
Rank: Blue Blood
"The Netherworld cannot be questioned endure through the years."
Effect: increases Life Essence by nine, and boosts recovery speed by 10%.
All three were notoriously poor in cost-effectiveness. Any other cultivator would never waste their Life Measure on them, preferring to wait for higher realms and stronger patterns.
But Jing Qian cared nothing for such details.
He didn't even bother to choose; he simply forged all three!
After all, a treasure ground like the Longevity Fish Pool, outside of Zhuo Ling Cave-Heaven, could not be found anywhere.
If he had to rely only on himself to gather the Primordial Qi needed to reforge them to their limits, he might as well jump into the sea and start scooping by hand.
Thus began his fourth great lesson.
He lay within the Longevity Fish Pool, swallowing three rare kinds of Primordial Qi in great gulps.
Meanwhile, his accumulated Life-Casting Opportunities dropped at a frightening speed.
...
Jing Qian was not the only one forging Primordial Qi patterns here.
All the other Spiritual Construct Disciples and even the heir of the Ying Clan were attempting to refine high-grade Primordial Qi patterns.
This was an old tradition among top-lineages.
After all, who could resist harvesting rare Primordial Qi for free from the Fish Pool?
Yet even combined, the other seven disciples did not extract as much as Jing Qian alone.
He devoured over a thousand wisps of exotic Primordial Qi, his gains staggering.
Three years passed in a blink.
Jing Qian successfully forged all three Primordial Qi patterns and reforged them to the peak of Violet-Eyed rank.
At this stage, each pattern added twenty-seven Life Essence and boosted recovery speed by 30%.
Compared to their White Fang level, the effects had multiplied dozens of times, while the Life Measure cost had risen by only three qian, making their value unmistakable.
He could not wait to see what power they would reveal once raised to the Heavenly Life Pattern rank.
By this point, every compulsory task in his cultivation plan was fulfilled.
He had practically covered all the training a Dragon-Elephant cultivator of the Yanfu Path could ever complete.
Compared to when he first entered Zhuo Ling Cave-Heaven, his strength had grown beyond reason.
...
Status Report - Jing Qian
Lifespan: 71 years
Life Measure: 6 taels 8 qian / 11 taels 2 qian
Life Essence: 128 × 5.1 (Azure Wing)
Spiritual Constructs: Qingping Sword Casket, Revolving Heavenly Son Seal, Xili Divine Seal
Heavenly Life Patterns: Sumeru, Qingping's End, Bian Yuan Weiyang, Hell Scroll (21 Ghosts)
Missing Heavenly Life Patterns: Worldly Insight, Tushita Furnace
Life Patterns: Flesh-Nurturing Sprout (Violet), Tidal Surge (half-Violet), Soul-Weaving (Violet), Ghost Seal (Violet), Ghost Wall (Violet), Yin Qi (Violet), Ghost Qi (Violet), Nether Qi (Violet), Longevity (Blue - 6 hours 3 quarters)
Mana surging, Life Patterns perfected, Spiritual Constructs completed, his killing power was absolute.
His hands itched for combat; he could hardly restrain himself from entering the next Dharma Contest.
At last, Jing Qian understood what the old fisherman had told the Ying heir:
For a Dragon-Elephant cultivator, there wasn't enough training to fill a hundred years.
Though Jing Qian's curriculum had been vast and complex, he had still managed to complete it all within sixty-eight years.
With forty-four years left, the pace of his growth inevitably slowed.
But he had already prepared for this, and had even planned out the remaining years.
With the Sumeru Dao Stele to anchor him, he would not run out of roads ahead.
...
Thus began his fifth great lesson: Polishing the Jade.
Over the remaining forty-four years, he would pursue perfection, smoothing over the haste and imbalance born from rapid growth, cultivating steadily and without flaw, ensuring his accumulation continued unhindered.
The name said it all: like patiently carving rough stone until flawless jade emerged.
First Polishing: Accumulate Life Essence to the utmost, pouring it continually into the Qingping Sword Casket, ever-increasing the power of his sword light. In seventy-two years, his reserves and recovery speed had grown dozens of times; in Pure Yang Ruins, even sixth-rank cultivators might not equal his mana stores. After forty more years of accumulation, even he could not imagine the level his sword light would reach.
Second Polishing: Relentlessly reforge the Longevity pattern, striving for further advancement until it breaches the key threshold of lifespan increase, achieving true immortality. This would allow him to complete the Longevity realm even before condensing his Dharma Manifestation.
Third Polishing: Hone his battle skills by sparring with the Qiongqi's manifestation, using only his Qingping Sword Light, never his fundamental sword qi. This would tame his wild, surging strength, refining control so that his power would not be wasted through crudeness.
Fourth Polishing: Continue studying the Dao Book's exquisite secret arts, not for necessity but to enrich his arsenal, an elective course rather than a compulsory one. Strength upon strength, blossom upon blossom.
Fifth Polishing: Compress lifespan expenditures to the limit, fully utilizing the forty-four years, relying on the Longevity pattern's extension of life to forge yet another Heavenly Life Pattern.
Relying on the divine power of Stealing Heaven's Time, Jing Qian had borrowed a full century of cultivation. His great lessons were complete, and he was confident that within the next forty-four years, he would step into true immortality.
Excess lifespan, once so precious, now mattered far less to him. It was perfectly suited to fuel the Knowledge of Heaven's Mandate.
This would be his final and most crucial opportunity to elevate his strength.
Thus began the "Five Polishes of Jade." With the flow of years, his accumulation thickened little by little.
Forging Life Patterns and Spiritual Constructs might be bold and dramatic, bringing sudden surges of strength, but that was not the true rhythm of cultivation.
The real essence of longevity lay in this slow, steady accumulation like a stream flowing without end.
...
Four years slipped by. After thirteen hundred reforgings of the Longevity Pattern, Jing Qian finally reached full mastery at the Violet-Eyed rank.
From this moment on, he could extend his lifespan by one full day each day, precisely offsetting his previous consumption.
So long as he avoided excessive losses of lifespan, he was now unaging and undying, eternal through the ages.
This critical transformation filled him with confidence.
But simply reaching Violet-Eyed was still not enough.
His Revolving Heavenly Son Seal and Qingping Sword Casket together cost him five hours of lifespan per day. The gap was still considerable.
And that wasn't counting the additional burden a new Spiritual Construct at the Longevity realm would bring.
Thus, reforging the Longevity Pattern remained a long-term, unending task.
Three more years passed before the Longevity Pattern finally broke through to a production of five hours per day. At that point, his lifespan began to grow for the first time in history.
Each day, instead of shrinking, his remaining years increased. And as the pattern continued to be reforged, this rate of increase only grew faster.
So it was that Jing Qian, almost casually, achieved the proof of true immortality.
By the ninety-second year, the Longevity Pattern had advanced to four days and five hours per day. In other words, for each year that passed, his lifespan grew by three.
Twenty years remained in the Fish Pool. Each of the Five Polishes yielded great results, too many to recount in detail.
By the hundredth year, a casual flick of Jing Qian's Qingping Sword Light sliced a single hair from the Qiongqi's tiger tail.
By the hundred and seventh year, his Longevity Pattern reached seven days and five hours per day. With each year, his lifespan now grew by six.
His remaining lifespan had surpassed one hundred and sixty years.
The growth of his lifespan was beyond even his own imagination. A single Heavenly Life Pattern was no longer enough to contain him.
By the hundred and ninth year, the Longevity Pattern reached eight days and five hours per day. It utterly overturned his worldview.
His understanding of lifespan, of immortality, and of cultivation itself was transformed, forcing him to craft an entirely new plan.
...
On the day his remaining lifespan broke past one hundred and eighty years, Jing Qian activated the Knowledge of Heaven's Mandate without hesitation.
He placed the Yin Qi Life Pattern upon the Sumeru Dao Stele. Under its crushing weight, the pattern shattered into pieces.
From the fragments rose a silver-gray mist, enveloping his spirit.
Within the fog stretched endless fragments of broken space-time, without beginning or end. From within surged infinite truths of the Dao, condensing into runes that shot into the destroyed Yin Qi Pattern.
A brand-new Heavenly Life Pattern was born:
Life Pattern: Primordial Qi · Yin
Rank: Heavenly Mandate
Essence: "The Sea of Primordial Qi, the axis of origins, the source of Yin."
The moment it formed, Jing Qian's sea of consciousness transformed. The Yin Qi Pattern became a unique eye of Yuan Qi, bubbling forth with pure Yin energy.
This Yin Qi did not come from the outside world; it connected directly to the Sea of Primordial Qi, birthing it from the source itself.
This sea was ranked even higher than the Sea of Living Spirit Fate, the root of all Yuan Qi, immensely valuable for his future cultivation.
With this Primordial Qi · Yin, Jing Qian himself became a humanoid spiritual vein, a living Yuan Qi core.
From now on, even if he entered a barren wasteland devoid of Yuan Qi, he could replenish the world around him, bringing about a small-scale revival of spiritual energy.
The torrential Yin Qi surged through his body, instantly filling his mana reserves. Then it began to overflow toward the Longevity Fish Pool.
That would not do.
It was fine for Jing Qian to freeload from others, but to let his own produced Yuan Qi be taken for free? Unthinkable!
At that moment, the Sumeru Heavenly Life Pattern shuddered and linked with the new Primordial Qi.
Within the Void Realm, a Yuan Qi core appeared. Jing Qian's self-generated Yin Qi flowed into it.
The Void Realm itself was tiny, but with this endless infusion, its Yuan Qi concentration soon surpassed that of Hunzhou and continued climbing rapidly.
His little cave-heaven had completed a crucial upgrade: from borrowing Yuan Qi through Shadow Furnaces to full self-sufficiency. It was practically an ascension on the spot.
And as the realm ascended, so too did the Life Furnace within.
The Void Furnace advanced to the seventh rank, becoming a Blue-Level Furnace.
From now on, when he stepped into the Furnace Hall, he would no longer be the weakest.
Beside him, the black raccoon-cat lay sprawled out by the furnace, belly up, looking as if it had overdosed on catnip, utterly blissful.
Its rank had at last reached the seventh grade, surpassing Jing Qian's current cultivation realm, finally making it a Moon of the Outer Path with some real use.
For Jing Qian, however, the true gain lay in his new Heavenly Life Pattern. Its value was immeasurable.
He had finally cast off reliance on the outside world; in the most extreme of circumstances, he could simply retreat into the Void Realm, where Yuan Qi would still nourish his cultivation.
No lack of lifespan, no lack of Yuan Qi, even if his path lacked hardship, with patience and endurance, he could continue to grow stronger.
This was the true road of "the Dao of Endurance."
This Heavenly Life Pattern changed not just his strength, but his entire foundation and outlook.
A year later, once Jing Qian had completely familiarized himself with the Primordial Qi · Yin, he did not hesitate. He activated the Knowledge of Heaven's Mandate once again.
This time, it was finally the turn of the Ghost Seal to undergo its transformation.
This Life Pattern carried the Revolving Heavenly Son Seal, one of his cultivation's bedrock foundations.
Now he was ready to raise that foundation higher.
The silver-gray mist appeared once more. From the shattered fragments of space-time, countless runes surged forth, breaking apart and reforging the Ghost Seal.
At last, a new Heavenly Life Pattern was born:
Life Pattern: Yanfu Seal
Rank: Heavenly Mandate
Essence: "The Lord of Yanfu, who governs life and death."
Its birth directly transformed the Revolving Heavenly Son Seal. This Spiritual Construct itself was reborn.
Jing Qian felt his sea of consciousness completely shattered, then entirely remade.
His inner world expanded more than tenfold, now wholly supported by the new Spiritual Construct.
Spiritual Construct: Revolving Heavenly Son Seal
Type: Root of Self-Seeking
Rank: Seventh grade
Suppression Requirement: Yanfu Disciple
Lifespan Burden: Three days per day
The Revolving Heavenly Son Seal had elevated the Heavenly Son Seal in every respect.
The six Life Patterns imprinted upon it all received enhancements.
Yet even that was not the most important part.
The newly achieved Revolving Heavenly Son Seal was unexpectedly linked to some mysterious place, granting Jing Qian a unique divine power.
When he activated it, his divine sense leapt beyond the Yingfutu Realm itself.
On Revolving Heavenly Son Seal, the might of the Sumeru Heavenly Life Pattern stirred.
The two powers merged, and he felt as if he had transcended three-dimensional limits, entering the intersection of countless realms and worlds.
Before his eyes spread innumerable paths and directions.
Through the Revolving Heavenly Son Seal and the Sumeru Heavenly Life Pattern, he now possessed the power to connect with other realms.
This trace of divine power was none other than the Void-Fishing ability of a second-rank Reincarnation cultivator.
But Jing Qian was still only in the lower third-rank realm. To him, this was not the hand of the fisherman, but the bait itself, tender, tempting, and helpless.
Suddenly, the Revolving Heavenly Son Seal flickered and linked to some hidden place within the endless void.
Jing Qian's gaze pierced the barriers of space-time and locked eyes with a one-eyed being.
He froze in terror. Within that single eye swirled amusement, hunger, greed, fear, and killing intent.
Across such an unfathomable distance, just one glance nearly crushed him.
His head felt as though it would split apart; his eyes twisted in agony; his soul seemed ready to shatter.
Fortunately, the two Ghost Eyes hidden within his own eyes bore the brunt of it. They disintegrated into ash, returning to the Hell Scroll.
Only then did Jing Qian recover a shred of clarity.
In haste, he severed the link with Revolving Heavenly Son Seal, breaking off contact with that terrifying cyclopean being.
The ordeal left him badly shaken, nearly broken.
From then on, he dared not show off again. He lay quietly at the bottom of the Longevity Fish Pool, obediently returning to seclusion.
Far away, the one-eyed existence that had nearly slain Jing Qian with a single glance scratched his head in annoyance.
Beside him, a bizarre corn-spirit spoke:
"Lord, that was one of your juniors from the homeland who finally managed to connect over. Why did you have to glare so fiercely?"
"You scared the boy half to death. I doubt he'll dare surface again any time soon."
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