I Can Strengthen Infinitely

Chapter 407 - 266: Essence, Vital Energy, and Spirit

Spiritual Sense Hundred Refinement Skill—a cultivation technique specifically designed to temper divine sense.

This technique was previously unheard of by Qin Yuesheng; unlike cultivating Inner Strength through Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi, the source of spiritual sense lies in the mental sea.

The moment Qin Yuesheng began to cultivate the Spiritual Sense Hundred Refinement Skill, ripples instantly surfaced deep within his mental sea.

Ordinary people spend their whole lives without ever touching their own mental sea; it’s where the soul is concealed, and also the most fragile place within a person.

In Qin Yuesheng’s mental sea, threads gathered and rose up, swirling like water cyclones.

One thread, two threads, three threads, four threads...

When he reached five threads, Qin Yuesheng felt his mind swelling, already pushing the limits of what he could endure.

Guiding these five threads out from the mental sea, spreading them throughout his body, Qin Yuesheng immediately sensed a dramatic transformation in his perceptions.

At this moment within his body, thick red mist spread, raging and occupying every muscle and vein.

This was the ’essence’ supplemented inside Qin Yuesheng by the Replenishing Essence Pill he had consumed.

As the threads advanced, the red mist gravitated toward them, eventually attaching itself to the strands.

The threads were Qin Yuesheng’s spiritual sense. Sensing this anomaly, he was astonished; as the spiritual sense moved with the ’essence’, that indescribable feeling of discomfort began to fade, a promising sign that proved the Spiritual Sense Hundred Refinement Skill was viable.

With that, Qin Yuesheng immediately directed his spiritual sense to absorb the red mist within his body, circulation set in motion through the whole system; slowly, due to constant movement, the red mist spread into his flesh, and he felt a pronounced tremor in his body, as if every cell was expressing joy.

After half a stick of incense, a deep red blood bead the size of a grain of rice settled quietly at Qin Yuesheng’s lower abdomen, right above his dantian.

With the emergence of this blood bead, his pressing desire dissipated entirely, and his whole body felt sublimated, incomparably light.

"Hoo!" The normally flushed Qin Yuesheng’s complexion gradually returned to normal. He opened his eyes, and a sharp gleam flashed within them.

His ’essence’ was evidently much stronger than before.

The robust ’essence’ made Qin Yuesheng feel an astonishing vitality throughout his being, instantly wiping away all the fatigue from last night’s prolonged battle.

"They say when essence, qi, and spirit are complete, that’s the foundation for reaching the Grandmaster Realm. It’s truly so, though what exactly counts as completion of essence, qi, and spirit?" Qin Yuesheng pondered, then proceeded to pop the remaining Replenishing Essence Pills into his mouth, one after another.

After digesting the benefits of five Replenishing Essence Pills, the blood bead at his lower abdomen swelled to the size of a date pit, forming a hemisphere. He deduced that once it became a perfect sphere, it should be considered ’essence completion’, the requirement for the Samadhi True Flame—primordial essence at its fullest.

With the Replenishing Essence Pill as practice, Qin Yuesheng started taking Qi Replenishing Pills. When all five were consumed, a semi-circular white bead appeared at his chest.

With the arrival of the white bead, Qin Yuesheng only felt all his qi flowing unobstructed, his mind clear and refreshed. In this state, his combat strength would surely be boosted by thirty percent in battle.

Qin Yuesheng kneaded his face a few times, and immediately, his near-otherworldly handsome features became noticeably more ordinary; but walking on the street, he would still draw the gaze of respectable married women and young girls.

At least he no longer possessed the bewitching allure of his true face.

With all this done, Qin Yuesheng left at once, returning to Cyan Yang City.

...

With Yuan Wudi’s death in Cyan Yang City, life settled into tranquility. Ah Jiu lived daily within the residence Qin Yuesheng had prepared for her, attended by Chunfeng’s four maids. No more fearing pursuit, nor living in constant flight.

Ah Jiu gradually grew more lively, her girlish charm blossoming ever further.

Qin Yuesheng, on the other hand, scarcely visited her, instead secluding himself in the Qin Mansion, studying papers left by Huang Ting.

These pages contained much about the Life Star; the more Qin Yuesheng read, the clearer his understanding became, a rough idea now forming in his mind.

In the study.

Qin Yuesheng gazed at a chair seven paces away. He reached out, and a golden phantom palm shot from his hand, instantly smashing the chair to pieces.

This was a minor maneuver Qin Yuesheng had learned in recent days for channeling his Life Star power—though he could summon only a fraction of it. He had not forgotten how, in the battle with Yuan Wudi’s bone giant, his Life Star had automatically protected him, manifesting as a golden giant fist that shattered Yuan Wudi’s skeleton in a single blow. That power was truly terrifying.

At present, Qin Yuesheng had made some progress, but was still a considerable distance away from deploying a full Life Star Realm.

"Young master, it’s happening! There’s really a fight breaking out!" Cao Zhengchun suddenly ran to the door and shouted.

Qin Yuesheng flung his arm, and the door was swept open by the gust, revealing Cao Zhengchun outside.

"What’s happening?" Qin Yuesheng asked.

"Cao Rebels and Wu Rebels—they’re fighting at Changping Slope!"

Ever since the thirty-six rebel leaders rose up, common folk have called them all ’rebels’—Cao Rebels were led by Cao Mengda, Wu Rebels by Wu Bao.

As two of the three major rebel leaders in Jiangnan, they were quite infamous.

Cao Mengda was backed by the White Lotus Saint Sect, his expansion relentless; seen from above, half of Jiangnan would appear under his control, severely encroaching on Wu Bao’s territory.

Liu Xian, being in eastern Jiangnan, with Wu Bao as a buffer between him and Cao Mengda, did not yet face direct conflict.

The Wu Bao faction, by contrast, was bound to clash with Cao Mengda sooner or later.

Once rebellion broke out in the same region, their sole aim was seizing all of Jiangnan, becoming King of Jiangnan and storming the Central Plains, to join the other victors in attacking Chang’an. Once Great Tang fell, the winners would vie for supremacy in the Central Plains, dividing up territory and battling to see who among them would become the new lord of the world, founding a new dynasty.

After all these days, the battle between Cao Mengda and Wu Bao marked the true beginning of Jiangnan’s most chaotic era.

"The war has begun." Qin Yuesheng was unsurprised, simply nodding: "I understand. Go arrange the hospital guards’ patrol schedule. Now that war’s come, plenty of refugees will surely flood into Cyan Yang City. It’s inevitable that some unscrupulous martial artists will slip in—keep strictly on top of the patrols, and don’t let any outsiders ever break into the Qin Mansion."

"Yes, sir." Cao Zhengchun answered and withdrew.

Watching him leave, Qin Yuesheng shook his head.

Months ago, he’d groomed Cao Zhengchun as his follower; but now, having reached the seventh layer of the Internal Power Realm and preparing to advance to Grandmaster, a mere external martial artist like Cao Zhengchun could no longer keep up.

Thus, Qin Yuesheng assigned him to manage the hospital guards, his status now markedly elevated.

"Time to meet Sanhuang. With dragon qi in his veins, it’d be a pity for this boy to languish in the Twelve Linked Rings instead of stirring up the world." Qin Yuesheng rose, left the Qin Mansion, and found a secluded spot to deploy the Carefree Heavenly Travel Skill toward the East Sea.

...

Upon the East Sea, a lone skiff.

The boat was scarcely larger than a bench; a long-skirted woman stood atop it, rhythmically paddling forward.

The sea wind made her dress billow and rustle.

Her features were exquisite, complemented by an oval face and willow brows; by rights a beauty, but her face was ravaged by scars, marring her looks.

"You little bastard, sneaking away like that—do you know how hard I’ve searched for you?" The woman gazed venomously across the thousand-zhang waves, laughing darkly at a distant city at sea.

Behind the skiff, a thick rope trailed in the water; where it entered the waves, the rope twisted slightly as swells passed, shadowy shapes appearing just under the surface.

Suddenly, a large wave sent the skiff pitching high, yanking the rope up and out of the water—revealing corpses tied at the waist, long bloated from immersion, so grotesque as to make one look away, sixteen in total.

When the skiff fell back to the water, the corpses sank once more beneath the waves.

...

In the Twelve Linked Rings, Sanhuang stood atop a stone tower, practicing the sword technique taught to him by Qin Yuesheng. He trained earnestly, drenched in sweat, his shirt soaked through, perspiration pouring off him like rain.

Just then, a dark speck appeared upon the sea’s horizon and caught Sanhuang’s eye.

He froze, instinctively gazing at the black speck—a thousand zhang away: neither near nor far. He could faintly make out the figure of a woman in a long dress.

Sanhuang was instantly stupefied.

That dress, that slender silhouette—they were all too familiar.

It was the one who had raised him, yet abused and scorned him ever since: his ’abusive mother’.

His body began to tremble involuntarily, childhood nightmares and memories of torment flashing through his mind—the scenes of beatings and abuse floating up one after another.

"Why is she here?" Sanhuang exclaimed in terror.

In that instant, he couldn’t care less about training with his sword, immediately running down the stone tower to find the remaining ringmasters of the Twelve Linked Rings to discuss the matter.

That woman was extremely dangerous; he must never fall into her hands again, or he’d perish—he’d be brutally tortured to death!