Chapter 13: Golden Primordial Energy
"What a pity, what a pity! Truly a shame!"
Seeing the atmosphere inside the carriage grow somewhat somber, Deng Baiyi shook her head, sighed exaggeratedly with a hint of showing off, and patted a thick stack of talismans: "It's a shame that the Qi Talismans I've painstakingly inscribed haven't had a chance to be used! If a fight had broken out just now, I guarantee they would have been sent scattering in terror!"
Xie Xuanyi couldn't help but let out a snort of laughter, "Just with these few talismans, it doesn't seem like enough."
Deng Baiyi blinked her eyes, straightened her posture, and resumed her attentive pose as a student disciple.
"A Qi Refining Master's 'Qi Talismans' may well be effective against ordinary people, the common uneducated folk," she said.
"But against desperate fugitives... they are not so useful."
Xie Xuanyi said calmly, "People who have staked their lives will not back down. Think about it carefully, if it really came to blows and they charged at you despite your talismans, reaching you, what would you do?"
Deng Baiyi was momentarily stunned.
Indeed, the aura-laden talismans could, once thrown, unleash massive power, enough to sever the limbs of ordinary folk.
But the adversaries were not alone, and she had yet to reach the "Foundation Establishment Realm" where she could meld the Qi into her body.
Being cut, being killed, anything was possible!
As this idea dawned on her, cold sweat began to seep down her back.
In the eyes of commoners, the seemingly exalted Qi Refining Masters were, after all, made of flesh and blood, and would bleed and die when slashed by swords!
Xie Xuanyi enunciated his words, "Ants can kill an elephant; this is true not just for Qi Refiners but also for those who have reached even higher realms of cultivation. The Dachu Royal Family's cavalry has trampled many powerful Great Practitioners to death. Deng Baiyi, remember, if one day in the future you stand atop the summit, do not place yourself in a desperate situation too readily."
Deng Baiyi looked dazedly at the young man in front of her, somewhat entranced.
A moment later, she pursed her lips and cautiously asked, "It is said that Sword Immortals can traverse mountains and rivers with their sword control, so how could the Dachu Royal Family's cavalry... kill such beings?"
"No matter how formidable the Sword Immortals of this world are, there comes a day when their toes touch the ground."
Xie Xuanyi laughed and shook his head, "When the Flying Sword falls to the ground, the great formations lock in, followed by the cavalry charge. The Dachu Royal Family's Dragon-locking Formation can sever all Primordial Energy in a domain. If the one locked inside exhausts their internal energy, who would win or lose that battle? Even if they are continually bolstered by a stream of Qi, a Sword Immortal is still human, and human effort eventually runs out. Even if we took ten thousand steps back and they really did use the cavalry to charge at a Great Practitioner, behind the cavalry, there are bound to be individuals of exceptional strength present. In a battle of equals, even the slightest imbalance in breath can determine the outcome, and most of the time, these few hundred lives of the cavalry are just fodder for the Sword Immortal to kill, with the one behind the scenes only hoping that these lives can pile up enough to tip the balance of life and death."
Deng Baiyi listened so intensely that she was transported to the scene, unknowingly gripping the talismans in her hand tightly, wrinkling them.
"You have good talent for cultivation."
Xie Xuanyi brought back the topic, speaking softly, "Keep these talismans safe, and make sure to draw several more when you can."
He paused for a moment.
He sighed, his expression grave, and said, "If you truly desire to put these talismans to a fight, perhaps your wish will come true before long."
Deng Baiyi uttered a confused 'oh', and then dutifully delved into her talisman drawing endeavor.
However, her Heart Lake remained restless for a long time.
Suddenly, Deng Baiyi felt that everything as of now seemed like an illusory dream.
She had actually begun her cultivation practice!
Her world suddenly expanded beyond Northern County; a grand and vast gateway had been pushed open.
Beyond that door lay a boundless, majestic world.
Upon reflection, it was actually rather ironic...
The person who opened that door for her, she still didn't even know his name to this day.
...
...
After saying those words, Xie Xuanyi appeared to be resting with his eyes closed against the window, but his Heart Lake was also not at peace.
The higher a Cultivator's Divine Soul Realm, the more accurate their intuition.
After leaving Yuzhu Town,
The unease in his heart grew even stronger.
The drowning in the North Sea, the awakening in Northern County, the loss of his Lifebound Flying Sword... it was hard for him to believe that all these events were simply coincidental.
During the days he spent with Deng Baiyi, Xie Xuanyi had come to one certainty.
The girl who had been with him constantly for three whole days had not been befuddled by any Demon Art, and those Deng Family retainers willing to leave Yuzhu Town with him to go to Qing State were all fairly normal people.
The truly suspicious one was the mysterious White Robed Taoist mentioned by Deng Baiyi.
A prophecy had bound her and him together.
Now, to find clues about his Lifebound Flying Sword,
He must go to Lichao City.
Xie Xuanyi was well aware that if there was nothing unusual about the Deng Family, the journey to Lichao City would not be peaceful.
The so-called "call for help" that had just occurred didn't seem to him a coincidence at all.
This is also the reason why he told Deng Baiyi to draw more Qi Talismans, as they could come in handy.
Xie Xuanyi always trusted his intuition.
He felt that the previous "call for help" incident would not end simply because the Deng family's caravan left.
It was obvious.
Since waking up in Yuzhu Town, he had been trapped in a certain scheme.
Deng Baiyi was a pawn, and he was no different.
Xie Xuanyi tried hard to piece together these messy clues, pondering deeply, but to no avail...
He suddenly felt a tinge of regret.
Back in the day, he focused solely on swordsmanship, preferring to spend the rest of his time drinking and sleeping rather than studying any arts beyond the Sword Dao.
At this moment, if he had a slight understanding of the art of Qi Men Dun Jia and could "divine the future," he might have been able to catch a glimpse of fate and would not be so passive.
"Overthinking is useless, in the current situation, I can only take one step at a time."
Xie Xuanyi shook his head, no longer dwelling on these troubles, and instead, concentrated all his mind on cultivation.
Little did he expect that this would be yet another trouble—
Although Primordial Energy quickly gathered, it always failed to enter his body!
In a certain sense... Deng Baiyi, who had just begun Qi Refinement, was cultivating faster than Xie Xuanyi.
There was no change in Xie Xuanyi's expression.
He had a good mentality; if once didn't work, he would try ten times, and if ten didn't work, he would try a hundred times. These past days he had attempted nearly a thousand times to use Primordial Energy to assault his acupoints!
Nearly a thousand attempts to absorb Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, all unsuccessful... this could already be described as "having no talent."
Back in the day, Xie Xuanyi succeeded in opening his acupoint at the first attempt.
But now, nearly a thousand attempts had only just "nourished" one acupoint.
The palm of his hand, the Laogong acupoint.
The moment this acupoint was opened, Xie Xuanyi immediately sensed something unusual.
He calmed his mind and observed this acupoint carefully. After "introspection," he found that the Laogong acupoint was actually emitting a faint light!
The Primordial Energy merged into this acupoint, which was different from the external Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, flowing with a faint golden glow!
"Wait... golden Primordial Energy?"
Xie Xuanyi stared at the golden light in the palm of his hand, and sweat formed on his back.
Cultivators have different levels of realms, and naturally, so does the Primordial Energy.
The normal Primordial Energy that floats freely between Heaven and Earth is invisible and tasteless, without any color or smell. Once forcibly condensed by a cultivator using their Divine Soul, it will appear as a faint white color.
The denser and purer it is, the more the color of Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy will approach silver-white!
And once absorbed into the body, Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy becomes a part of the cultivator's body.
The cultivation of most cultivators can be said to be the cultivation of that "breath"!
Only a Great Practitioner who transcends the Cave Heaven Realm will possess the so-called "golden Primordial Energy"—
Xie Xuanyi suddenly realized a possibility.
It wasn't that his body was unable to merge with the Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy. It was that the naturally occurring Primordial Energy in this world was of too low quality.
This body was very "picky."
All these days, the nearly thousand attempts he made were effective!
Each time, his body was "feeding"!
Only after gathering a thousand attempts worth of Primordial Energy consumption did he barely condense a strand of high-quality Primordial Energy!
This discovery plunged Xie Xuanyi into a deep silence.
"So... I need to condense golden Primordial Energy at every acupoint to advance to the Foundation Establishment Realm?"
He silently watched the glimmer in his palm, small as a grain of rice.
It was absurd, too absurd.
To fill the acupoints with Heaven and Earth Primordial Energy?
It's nothing but a fool's dream!
This method of cultivation, even if a Daluo Golden Immortal were to try, would be utterly impossible!
"To advance to the second realm, I must solve the 'golden Primordial Energy' issue."
Xie Xuanyi took a deep breath and muttered in his heart, "Relying on the normal Primordial Energy that freely floats between Heaven and Earth for the advancement... it's simply impossible."