Chapter 43: The Immortal Path

Early the next morning, when Chen Yuan went downstairs to eat, the inn's lobby was a cacophony of voices, with more than twenty tables filled to capacity.

These people were all drivers and guards from passing merchant caravans who had risen early to eat. Gathered together, they swapped lewd jokes and erupted into bursts of laughter, creating a lively atmosphere.

Chen Yuan scanned the room and casually found a table with an empty seat.

Two burly men were already sitting there, each with a bowl of mutton soup, breaking pieces of white flour flatbread to soak in the broth.

Seeing Chen Yuan sit down, they proactively moved their bowls aside to make room for him.

Chen Yuan smiled and offered his thanks. After a short wait, a waiter brought a bowl of mutton soup and several pieces of flatbread and placed them before him.

The inn was not a restaurant, and since it catered to passing merchant caravans, there were no exquisite delicacies; they only sold mutton soup and white flour flatbread.

Chen Yuan picked up a piece of bread and, mimicking the two men, broke it into pieces and dropped it into the soup. He took a spoonful of the broth, which was mixed with mutton, offal, and bread; the taste was surprisingly good.

His appetite surged, and he ate like a whirlwind. After finishing a bowl of soup in a few gulps, he beckoned the waiter to bring him another bowl of soup and more bread, instructing him to add extra mutton and offal.

As Chen Yuan feasted, the two men chatted amongst themselves, sharing stories of what they had seen and heard on their travels.

"Have you heard? The Liu family fleet traveling the Yongping River ran into trouble a while ago. Everyone is gone, but the ships and cargo remain. They say they were eaten by water demons. Truly terrifying..."

"Don't listen to their nonsense. There are no monsters in this world; they must have been hijacked by water bandits."

"Water bandits only kill people and don't take cargo?"

"I'm not a water bandit, how should I know?"

"Then they were eaten by water demons. I heard that when the Liu family's ships were discovered, rice was still cooking in the pots. It was as if the people on board had simply evaporated..."

"That's too superstitious. Listen, Old Li, you're a big, tough guy, yet every day it's either demons or ghosts. Scaring yourself like that—is it any fun?"

"I don't like the sound of that. We travel for trade, licking blood off blades. If we don't respect the gods and spirits, we might get eaten by a demon one day and never get a chance to reincarnate!"

"Tch! I've traveled north and south for so many years and encountered mountain bandits, water bandits, and rogue soldiers, but I've never met a demon. They're just things meant to scare people. If you actually believe that, you're as soft as a woman!"

"You're the woman..."

As the two began to argue, Chen Yuan finished his breakfast, shook his head with a smile, and rose to leave.

Countless eerie stories circulated in the martial world, but whether they were true or false was impossible to say.

...

Chen Yuan settled his bill, left the inn, and rode his horse into Yuanping Pass, traveling by day and resting by night without pause.

Two days later, he finally came to a halt in a valley overgrown with weeds and thorns.

This was the site of the Black Wind Fortress; beneath the weeds lay collapsed stone walls and burnt-out houses.

Chen Yuan conducted a careful patrol of the surroundings. Finding no signs of human presence, only the tracks and droppings of wild beasts, he felt slightly relieved.

The place he had chosen was precisely the cave where Xie Quan had hidden his treasure.

Aside from Chen Yuan, no one else in the world knew of this place, making it perfect for converting the True Qi in his body into Magic Power.

Chen Yuan led his horse to the edge of the cliff where the Black Wind Fortress used to dump corpses, slaughtered the horse, and threw it down the bottomless precipice.

He would have no leisure to attend to anything during the process of converting his Magic Power; leaving the horse would only attract predators.

Subsequently, carrying his luggage, he retraced his steps. Following the memories in his mind, he wound through a dense forest until he reached the cave where Xie Quan had hidden his treasure.

Just as when he had left, the cave was obscured by vines, and the foliage was even denser than before.

However, Chen Yuan did not grow careless. He carefully scouted the area once more, and only after confirming that no one had been there did he feel completely at ease.

He pushed aside the vines and entered the cave, making his way to the deepest part. He unwrapped his bundle and set aside two luminous pearls, a month's worth of dry rations, and some daily necessities.

Then, Chen Yuan left the cave and searched the surroundings. After nearly half an hour, he found a massive boulder weighing several thousand catties and hauled it back.

This trip took another half an hour. Even with Chen Yuan's extraordinary strength, he was still dwarfed by the immense weight of the stone.

With great effort, he positioned the boulder to block the cave entrance. This way, no matter how fierce a beast might be, it would not be able to charge in.

Once prepared, Chen Yuan filled his stomach, regulated his breathing for several hours, and then spread out the blanket he had brought. He sat in meditation with a solemn expression.

Recalling the methods recorded in the *Crimson Flame Manual*, he focused his mind and calmed his spirit, sensing the spiritual energy drifting between heaven and earth.

In less than fifteen minutes, Chen Yuan "saw" colorful specks of light surrounding him, drifting in the air like fireflies.

If a cultivator with a Pseudo-Spiritual Root were to practice for the first time, it would take anywhere from three to ten days to sense spiritual energy.

However, because he possessed True Qi in his body, which shared similarities with Magic Power, he was able to sense the spiritual energy in such a short time.

Chen Yuan carefully operated the technique. The colorful specks of light slowly drifted toward him and merged into his body.

A faint, cool sensation emerged, similar to the feeling of being bathed in starlight, though much weaker and far less comfortable.

He carefully controlled the spiritual energy entering his body, guiding it along specific meridians to slowly enter his Dantian.

Once the spiritual energy entered the Dantian, it acted like two tigers refusing to share a mountain; the True Qi immediately began to riot, rushing about wildly. It looked as though it was about to burst out of the Dantian and ravage his meridians.

Fortunately, Chen Yuan was prepared. He shifted his technique, restraining the True Qi and forcibly fusing it with the spiritual energy specks.

According to the *Crimson Flame Manual*, this step was the most critical and required extreme caution.

If he failed and the True Qi clashed with the spiritual energy, striking his Dantian and meridians, he would suffer Qi Deviation, or even potentially explode.

But Chen Yuan did not take the warnings of the *Crimson Flame Manual* to heart; instead, he chose the high-risk method of forced fusion.

"Ugh—cough, cough!"

Chen Yuan suddenly snapped his eyes open and spat out a mouthful of blood.

The first attempt at fusion had indeed failed.

However, he did not suffer Qi Deviation, nor did he sustain any serious internal injuries. His meridians had only suffered a slight impact, which could be recovered from with a bit of breathing regulation.

This was the source of Chen Yuan's confidence in attempting the forced fusion: his powerful physical body allowed him to ignore the consequences of a failed fusion.

According to the *Crimson Flame Manual*, only martial artists with exceptionally strong physical bodies could withstand the impact of True Qi and spiritual energy on the Dantian and meridians following a failed fusion.

Chen Yuan's physical strength far exceeded that of ordinary martial artists. While studying the manual, he had deduced that he should be able to ignore such an impact, which was why he took the risk.

His aptitude was too poor; if he were to practice the *Crimson Flame Manual* from the beginning, even with diligent effort and no slackening, it would take at least seven or eight years to reach the third level of Qi Refinement.

To save time and increase his chances of breaking through to the late stage of Qi Refinement, he had to take the risk.

He had gambled correctly. Although the impact of the True Qi and spiritual energy on his Dantian and meridians was intense, his Dantian was solid and his meridians were resilient. He had only sustained minor, inconsequential injuries from the impact.

After regulating his breathing for a moment, Chen Yuan continued the forced fusion of spiritual energy and True Qi.

"Cough, cough!"

The second attempt failed.

"Cough, cough!"

The third attempt was still unsuccessful.

The fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh...

It wasn't until the thirteenth attempt that Chen Yuan finally managed to merge a single speck of spiritual energy into a wisp of True Qi.

Having taken the first step, the rest became a matter of painstaking, gradual work.

Following the cultivation method in the *Crimson Flame Manual*, Chen Yuan circulated the wisp of True Qi—now mixed with a speck of spiritual energy—through his meridians for one complete cycle.

By the time it returned to his Dantian, it had transformed from extremely Yang and violent Six-Yang True Qi into a pale red Fire-element Magic Power.

"Whew..."

Chen Yuan opened his eyes and let out a long breath. A surge of wild joy rose in his heart, followed immediately by deep exhaustion and hunger.

He picked up his dry rations, hurriedly filled his stomach, rested for a moment, and then resumed his meditation to continue converting the True Qi in his body.

The second wisp, the third, the fourth...

Sitting in the deepest part of the cave, Chen Yuan lost track of time, immersed in his cultivation, converting wisp after wisp of True Qi into Magic Power.

Finally, after consuming most of the dry rations he had brought, he had converted all ninety-nine wisps of True Qi in his body into the Fire-element Magic Power of the *Crimson Flame Manual*.

The current Chen Yuan had transformed from a peak Huajin martial artist into a peak third-level Qi Refinement cultivator, and he had even touched the bottleneck of the fourth level.

Feeling this precarious obstacle, Chen Yuan did not stop his cultivation. He continued to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, intending to break through this bottleneck in one continuous surge!

This was the only favor heaven bestowed upon cultivators with Pseudo-Spiritual Roots; once he crossed this threshold, what lay before him would be a series of insurmountable mountains.

...

In the dark cave, Chen Yuan sat motionless. Only the two luminous pearls emitted a dim light, casting flickering shadows across his face like a malevolent ghost.

Suddenly, Chen Yuan's eyes snapped open, a sharp light flashing within them, and a smile appeared at the corners of his mouth

"It worked!"

He had finally broken through the bottleneck of the fourth level of Qi Refinement, becoming a mid-stage Qi Refinement cultivator!

But the joy lasted only a moment. Chen Yuan closed his eyes again and performed an internal inspection. Seeing his Dantian had become empty once more, he couldn't help but let out a bitter laugh.

After the breakthrough, the Magic Power in his body had become more solid, but his Dantian had consequently become depleted. He would need to refill it entirely before he could break through to the fifth level of Qi Refinement.

For cultivators with extraordinary talent, such as those with Heaven-grade or Earth-grade Spiritual Roots, this was a natural process that would only take five or six months.

Even cultivators with True Spiritual Roots would take at most a little over a year to reach the fifth level.

But for a Pseudo-Spiritual Root cultivator like Chen Yuan, without four or five years of time, he could not even dream of touching the threshold of the fifth level.