Chapter 13: Taking Inventory of One's Assets

Cheng Buzheng did not give up on sensing the points of light in the air. The longer he persisted, the stronger his connection to them became.

Half an hour later, he finally pulled a red point of light into his body. Following the "Crimson Fire Art" technique provided by his sect, he circulated it through his meridians. As the technique operated, he found himself only half a cycle away from successfully refining the light point into his dantian.

Suddenly, his focus wavered. The circulation failed, and the light point immediately dissipated within his meridians.

Cheng Buzheng did not give up; he knew that his advancement to the first level of Qi Refinement was meant to happen today.

He exhaled softly, closed his eyes, and calmed his mind and breath. Sensing the multicolored points of light in the air, he once again pulled a red point of light into his body. Having succeeded once before, this time was much easier.

With great caution, Cheng Buzheng operated the Crimson Fire Art. The light point moved through his meridians along the cycle, passing through the extraordinary meridians. The light point was refined bit by bit, and the process became increasingly smooth and effortless.

However, he did not allow himself even a moment of negligence. Last time, it was a lapse in mental focus that caused the circulation to fail, resulting in his failure at the final hurdle. Even though the process felt quite easy now, he knew that as long as the refinement was not complete, he could not afford a single moment of carelessness.

As the cycle neared completion, he reached the final critical step. Throughout the entire process, not a single error occurred, and a complete cycle was successfully navigated.

The red light point was thoroughly refined, leaving a strand of crimson spiritual energy drifting within the space of his dantian.

In an instant, the spiritual power within his sea of consciousness automatically separated a strand of equal size, letting it descend into the center of the dantian space.

Immediately, the crimson spiritual strand, which had been drifting freely and unrestrained within the dantian, suddenly felt violated. It transformed into a streak of red light and shot straight toward the center of the dantian, prepared to drive the intruder out of its territory.

A strand of crimson spiritual energy and a strand of divine sense became violently entangled.

At the center of the dantian, the two spiraled around each other.

Cheng Buzheng knew that the final, crucial struggle was about to arrive!

He projected his will into the dantian space, commanding the entire area. Under his absolute control, the two colliding forces gradually formed a pale red vortex.

The tiny vortex accelerated continuously, spinning wildly, as the fusion of their essences began to manifest. Strands of red mana, possessing a heavy texture, hovered beneath the vortex.

The sun rose and the moon set; black turned to white.

In the blink of an eye, nine days had passed. Cheng Buzheng, sitting cross-legged on his bed, remained motionless, yet a world-shaking transformation was occurring within his body.

The moment that strand of red mana appeared, his mind felt as if it had been returned to a mother's embrace, as if he were being conceived once more, causing the surrounding spiritual energy to surge frantically.

Cheng Buzheng sat on the bed with his eyes slightly closed, a smile as pure as an infant's on his face.

From a distance, his body appeared unchanged, but upon closer inspection, one would see his entire body trembling slightly, as black spots were being squeezed out by the continuous vibrations of his flesh.

A faint, foul odor began to spread through the room.

As time passed, the black spots completely covered his body, making him look as if he were wrapped in a layer of sludge. The scent progressed from a faint stench to an overwhelming, nauseating miasma.

Yet, even now, the smile on Cheng Buzheng's face remained as innocent as ever, as if he could not smell the stench at all.

After a full nine days, the changes within his body finally slowed to a halt.

Suddenly, Cheng Buzheng frowned as he caught a pungent, foul odor. He opened his dark, bright eyes and saw the source of the stench: black impurities, like sludge, were tightly clinging to his entire body.

He glanced at them but made no move, appearing completely unbothered. He then closed his eyes again to sense the changes within his body.

Having studied the "Encyclopedia of Cultivation" thoroughly, he knew that at the moment of advancing to the first level of Qi Refinement, spiritual power automatically evolves into divine sense.

He immediately sensed whether his divine sense matched the records—that a first-level Qi Refinement divine sense could cover an area of one zhang in diameter.

Within the space of his sea of consciousness, there was a vast, seemingly boundless grey world. In the center of this world sat a white sphere emitting a three-colored light.

The moment he saw the three-colored sphere, one couldn't help but feel it was the center and the sole entity of this realm.

Cheng Buzheng settled his consciousness into the white sphere to sense his divine sense.

Before long, the thin grey clouds within the sea of consciousness moved en masse, extending into reality.

At this moment, Cheng Buzheng's divine sense covered a one-zhang radius. Within this range, he was a god; everything seemed to be under his control. Nothing within this radius could hide from his divine eyes; everything was as clear as day.

However, beyond one zhang, he could only probe in a single direction. Beyond ten zhang, there was only pitch darkness, and he could no longer investigate.

After extensive experimentation, he found that regardless of the direction, the furthest limit was ten zhang, while the limit for his 720-degree, dead-angle-free coverage was a maximum of one zhang. No matter how he tested it, the result was the same.

Once he was familiar with this, he checked the other changes in his body.

Within the white dantian space, the extremely thin, heavy-textured red clouds were hovering beneath a pale red vortex the size of a grain of rice.

He used his mind to control that heavy cloud, constantly changing its shape—one moment into an almost imperceptible miniature crimson sword, the next into a crimson small knife.

After manipulating the mana for a long time, Cheng Buzheng opened his dark, bright eyes, stood up, and stretched his limbs to adapt to his new physical state after breaking through the mortal realm.

He clenched his hands firmly, and with a slight exertion, his bones and muscles let out a series of cracks, sounding like a continuous string of firecrackers.

Suddenly, Cheng Buzheng felt that with a single light punch, he could absolutely pierce through Tie Niu. This was no illusion; the immense strength provided by his body gave him unparalleled confidence.

After adjusting to his new strength, he walked to the wooden bucket, which was already filled with fresh water.

After washing himself, Cheng Buzheng's originally sallow skin had become exceptionally fair and delicate, like white mutton-fat jade. He emitted a faint, milky scent, much like a newborn infant.

At this moment, he looked like a handsome, elegant youth, no longer bearing the appearance of a rustic village boy.

Looking at his reflection in the water and feeling the bone-deep transformation of his body, Cheng Buzheng fell into deep thought.

"Is this what a cultivator is? I must walk firmly upon this path of immortality. Even if the road ahead leads through eighteen levels of hell, nothing shall stop my steps until my life and Dao are extinguished!"

He clenched his fists tightly, staring at his reflection, and murmured to himself.

The look of determination on his face grew even more pronounced.