Chapter 13: Receiving the Purple Qi at Dawn, Drawing the Rosy Clouds at Dusk

The sun finally sank in the west, and the entire earth entered the night with a long sigh.

Within the Heaven-Reaching Palace, that tiny earthworm had finally completed its long journey, spitting out a round and full Dao Origin.

The time of the rising sun and the setting sun are the best times for cultivation in a day. The sun is warm without being fierce, and heating without being harmful; it is especially good for protecting the Dao Veins of junior practitioners. There were once many instances of people attempting to cultivate at high noon, only to have their inner fires ignited by the True Solar Fire, resulting in their bodies being burned and their veins destroyed.

This was what was known as "receiving the purple qi at dawn and drawing the crimson clouds at dusk."

Even with the physique Jiang Wang had developed from martial arts training since childhood, he felt his blood and qi being squeezed to a certain critical point, beyond which his primordial essence would be damaged. The earthworm within the Heaven-Reaching Palace also appeared somewhat listless.

Of course, at this critical point, the body would not feel weak. The Dao Origins nurtured within the Heaven-Reaching Palace were like tiny hearts, pumping strength incessantly.

All of this allowed Jiang Wang to deeply realize the teachings he had received in class: from blood and qi to the birth of a Dao Origin, it was a sublimation of power, the prerequisite for becoming extraordinary.

He had heard that true martial artists did not nurture Dao Origins, but instead purely polished their physiques and tempered their blood and qi; that was a different path entirely.

In the current age, various lords rose in power, sects stood like forests, and a hundred schools of thought contended, making the Great Dao infinite. It could be called an era of flourishing cultivation, though for Jiang Wang, who resided in the State of Zhuang, he had no other choice.

Jiang Wang carefully manipulated the Dao Origin to move within the Heaven-Reaching Palace, filling in the well-memorized patterns of the Circulating Star Array. This process was not easy. This was because a person's mental strength, much like their blood and qi, had its limits at certain stages.

For a practitioner like Jiang Wang who had just stepped onto the path of the extraordinary, moving the Dao Origin twice a day was the limit; any more would lead to mental exhaustion, and in severe cases, could even damage his consciousness.

Jiang Wang knew well that the foundational array he had chosen was time-consuming, so he dared not waste a single moment, treading as if on thin ice. Any slight error would force him to start over.

And he did not give himself the time to start over.

There were only two opportunities a day to arrange the array points, and he could not miss even one! Even though the Circulating Star Array was far more complex and difficult than the Returning Origin Array.

Suppose someone were practicing alongside Jiang Wang and had chosen the Returning Origin Array as their foundation; even with perfect placement of the array points, they would inevitably be much faster than Jiang Wang.

Jiang Wang did not know if his choice was correct, but since he had made it, there was no reason to look back. He could only move forward, doing his absolute best.

Fortunately, he was doing quite well. After the final pulse-clearing cultivation of the day ended, dozens of Dao Origins were suspended within the Heaven-Reaching Palace, each one full and plump, like ripe grain in an autumn field, exuding the scent of a bountiful harvest. These would all serve as the nourishment for his "Heaven-Reaching."

However, for Jiang Wang, there was still one urgent matter.

The dormitory was empty at this moment. Ling He and Du Yehu had both gone on missions; having joined the inner sect, they were naturally more eager for Pulse-Opening Pills.

Jiang Wang’s mind sank as he entered the Great Void Illusion.

Today was the fifteenth of the seventh month, the challenge day of the month. If nothing went wrong, he would face a challenge from the Master of the Green Jade Altar. He would smoothly—be demoted.

It was the same familiar scene: the magnificent starry sky.

Jiang Wang sat cross-legged, silently watching the phantom of the sundial, waiting for the moment the challenge would arrive.

He wanted to witness the strength of a truly powerful person in this world. Although he had "heard" such intense clashes in the True Reality Temple, he had never seen them with his own eyes. When Dong A had made his move that time, the opponent had possessed no power to resist.

Sitting in this starry sky, he felt his heart grow vast and open.

When humanity first looked up at the stars, history began its charge. Compared to the vast galaxy, everything in the mortal world was so tiny and illusory.

After an unknown amount of time, five ink-like characters appeared on the phantom sundial—*Challenger Forfeits.*

Jiang Wang’s heart relaxed, yet he felt a strange sense of regret.

He had preserved the merit produced by the Dongzhen Ruins Blessed Land this month, but that might have been solely due to the powerful deterrence of the previous Blessed Land Master—that blazing figure named Zuo Guanglie!

Those who entered the Great Void Illusion basically concealed their identities in the real world; no one knew what fame they held within the illusion except themselves. Thus, few knew that the Master of the Dongzhen Ruins in the Great Void Illusion was actually the prodigy of Great Chu, Zuo Guanglie. Now, even fewer would know. Even if someone had made an accurate deduction from his fighting style before, they would have to overturn it now.

Generally speaking, when a person died in the real world, their identity in the Great Void Illusion would vanish. But Zuo Guanglie had forcibly exerted the power of the Zhurong True Body, nearly burning through time and space, and due to the entanglement of a powerful obsession and various other reasons, an anomaly occurred. This prevented the Great Void Illusion from reclaiming the Void Key in time, allowing it to be imprinted by Jiang Wang. Consequently, he inherited everything Zuo Guanglie possessed within the Great Void Illusion.

*Blessed Land 23, Dongzhen Ruins! Merit produced this month: 1850 points.*

...

"Evolutionary Platform," Jiang Wang murmured in his heart.

A green bamboo desk appeared out of thin air before him, yet it did not seem abrupt at all. It was as natural as crops growing from the earth, even if the process was bypassed.

There was nothing else on the bamboo desk except for an open jade book, which was currently blank.

Jiang Wang had experience with this; he only needed to visualize the technique he wished to deduce and invest the corresponding merit, and the final deduced technique would eventually appear in the jade book. His previous foundational array, the Circulating Star Array, had been obtained through the deduction of the Returning Origin Array.

Now that his foundational array was incomplete and his Dao Revolutions had not yet been born, his Dao Origins were being depleted one by one. It was unrealistic to deduce Dao Arts. Even Jiang Wang himself only simulated them in his mind and had never truly practiced a Dao Art. After all, in the early stages of cultivation, Dao Origins were too precious.

But he could not simply let his merit sit idle for the future. One must know that on the path of cultivation, to not advance is to retreat. Between tomorrow and an accident, one never knows which will come first; therefore, the proper way was to strive to become as strong as possible at every stage.

Jiang Wang thought for a moment and, among the several sword techniques he was most proficient in, chose a sharp and fierce style to deduce.

And the merit he chose to consume was 1850 points!

The atmosphere of the entire State of Zhuang emphasized Dao Arts over martial arts. But at his current stage, Jiang Wang had no choice; with his foundation incomplete, he did not dare use even the strongest Dao Arts.

Since he had chosen to strengthen his swordsmanship, he would do so with everything he had.

The jade book on the green bamboo desk instantly surged with many characters. These were the ordinary sword techniques Jiang Wang had learned from the outer sect of the Maple Forest City Dao Academy—nothing exceptional beyond their sharpness. But at this moment, the number of merit points on the phantom sundial was continuously decreasing, and the characters in the jade book began to change frantically.

Jiang Wang watched intently; the characters actually seemed to evolve into human figures, drawing swords and dancing. They danced faster and faster, eventually blurring into a single mass.

Jiang Wang couldn't help but squint his eyes, experiencing the illusion of being stung by a sharp edge!

When he blinked and looked again, the characters in the jade book had quieted down. What appeared before him was an arcane sword manual he had never seen before, nor could he have even imagined!

While in the outer sect, Jiang Wang was recognized as the best in swordsmanship. But as he flipped through this manual, he suddenly felt that everything he had practiced before was merely "farmhand's tricks," only suitable for tilling the fields!

The merit points on the phantom sundial had reached zero, yet Jiang Wang let out a satisfied sigh.

It was all worth it!