Demoness, where are you Fleeing to?
Chapter 179 - 168 Upgrade_1

He had confirmed that his mirror had broken due to the Heart Asking Bell, as the Zhenyuan in his body had significantly increased just during the first half of the night, and its quality was extremely high.

This Zhenyuan not only helped him break through his realm, but after Li Xuan formed his elixir nucleus, he could use his remaining strength to further condense and solidify his elixir shaped liquid Zhenyuan.

After thinking about it, Li Xuan could only attribute it to the Heart Asking Bell. After all, the Golden Abalone Soup was effective, but it was far from enough to help him open the Second Door.

This must be a gift from Master Yu and the learned scholars of Neo-Confucianism after he had passed the sixth trial.

Although Li Xuan couldn’t figure out when this happened, or how his Zhenyuan had grown to such a state, it did not matter.

The key point was that he had opened the Second Door, increased his lifespan, and his combat power had surged, gaining many new abilities.

The cultivation system of Jin Dynasty had twelve small realms, known as the 12th house level. These twelve house levels belonged to four great realms, known as the Four Doors - Qi Gate, Dan Gate, Earth Gate, and Heaven Gate.

For Wu cultivators of the Liudao Division, opening the Dan Gate is particularly important. After stepping into the fourth house level, they can gather Qi in their eyes, open the ’Spirit Eye’, and peek into the realm of spirits and ghosts.

Therefore, in the Liudao Division, Wu cultivators above the Fourth-Floor Territory are considered the backbone.

Of course, the ’Tao-protecting Eyes’ opened by the Artifact Spirit of the Heart Asking Bell are much stronger than the ’Spirit Eye’ of Wu cultivators.

’Spirit Eye’ can’t see all spirits and ghosts. For example, the Jianzhi Barrier of the lady in red, now even Jiang Yunqi and Vice Master Zhang can’t detect its trace.

But Li Xuan’s ’Tao-protecting Eyes’ can not only see most of the demons, ox demons and snake gods in this world, but also has a certain suppressing ability and the power to break illusions.

So, for Li Xuan, it’s more of a superfluous ability.

The second new ability is Inward View. After stepping into the Dan Gate, one can further observe the blood vessels, muscle tendon texture, and bone marrow in the body to understand their states.

This is very important for Li Xuan. He has read some online novels and knows about the technique of stimulating cells with lightning to refine the body, which is a common approach in many transmigration web novels.

Li Xuan also wants to try, and luckily, as a forensic doctor, he has a deep understanding of the human body.

The current problem is that his control of lightning is not good enough; and he can’t accurately understand the condition inside his body to make corresponding adjustments, as there are no CT or X-ray machines, or modern detection equipment such as MRI in this era.

Therefore, the opening of Inward View indicates that the prerequisite for Thunder Body has been met.

The third ability is Gang Qi. After Dan Gate, the quality of a Wu cultivator’s Zhenyuan greatly increases, it can be stimulated outside the body to form protective Gang Qi or it can be poured into weapons to form Sword Qi or Blade Light, greatly increasing the killing power and range.

Gang Qi can also be covered over the palms, greatly enhancing the power of palm techniques, making them immune to weapons.

Unable to hold back his excitement, Li Xuan ran out to the yard in the middle of the night to try out his sword techniques. As expected, they were much sharper. The Blade Light he slashed out stretched out a foot long, its might almost equal to the actual Huaiyi Blade.

Then, whether it was control over ice or thunder, his power had increased a lot, three times more than before. With one slash, he could freeze everything within twenty feet, with a majestic momentum that shocked the heart.

It was a pity that it was late at night, otherwise, he really wanted to bring Leng Yurou or even Li Yan over to test how much his fighting power had evolved.

While practicing his sword, Li Xuan discovered something else that surprised him.

He could actually use the ’Great Rectitude’ — not drawn from the Song of Righteousness scroll, but Li Xuan’s own ’Righteousness’.

Confucian cultivators and spell cultivators both mainly cultivate their spirits and nourish the Qi in their Primordial Spirits. The so-called Great Rectitude is essentially a person’s spiritual power.

Li Xuan’s Great Rectitude Martial Intention then spread out freely, deeply combined with his Soul Power, forming a unique Qi Yuan, nurturing in his Primordial Spirit, showing signs of Dual Cultivation of both martial arts and spells.

This was confusing. The ’Righteousness’ of those Confucian scholars, which of them wasn’t formed by day after day of reciting saintly texts, pondering the essence of Confucianism, and daily grinding and nurturing their spirits?

Confucian cultivation is inclusive, with no requirements for cultivation aptitude, but it requires five to ten years of hard work to cultivate the Great Rectitude.

According to web game terminology, Confucian scholars would be strong in the late game, weak as dust before the fourth house level.

But now, Li Xuan had reached this level in one leap.

The key point was that Li Xuan’s Primordial Spirit was nine times stronger than ordinary people. Therefore, the ’Great Rectitude’ he used had an astonishing power.

Li Xuan tried to release his ’Great Rectitude’. Remarkably, within a short period of time, he shattered and crushed all the bricks within a three-foot radius!

Unfortunately, he was not strong enough to sustain it at the moment. This was because a person’s soul power derives from the Qi and blood of their flesh. Li Xuan’s current cultivation was weak, and his body’s Qi, blood, and essence could not support his spirit’s consumption.

So, despite the fact that both spell cultivators and Confucian scholars mainly cultivate their spirits, they have never neglected bodily cultivation. It’s just that compared to Wu Cultivators, who mainly cultivate their bodies, they are considerably weaker.

In ancient times, disciples of Confucianism were versed in both literature and martial arts. After the reforms by successive great Confucian scholars, ’Great Rectitude’ became easier to get started with, allowing even scholars from humble backgrounds to cultivate.

Li Xuan was tempted to test the effects of his current ’Shen Kui Lei Yin’. However, he ultimately didn’t dare to disturb people’s dreams in the middle of the night.

However, he was anticipating the morning even more now.

Li Xuan then calmed his mind again, studying the little seal that he had taken from the Heart Asking Bell.

The seal was simple and antiquated, not particularly eye-catching. Apart from the two characters ’Wen Shan’ underneath, the other four sides of the seal were all engraved. All were in a style that was graceful and handled with ease. On the left was the core idea of Neo-Confucianism ’Preserve Heavenly Law, Extinguish Human Desires’. The other three sides were all filled with sentences. Sentences like ’One heart can either make or break a country, it is only between public and private interests’, ’harvest and store all, no waste when used’, ’keeping righteousness while adoring benevolence and righteousness’, ’thinking sincerely is the basis of self-cultivation, and understanding goodness is the basis of thinking sincerely’, ’the clearer the knowledge, the more dedicated the conduct; the more dedicated the conduct, the clearer the knowledge’ etc, were all listed on it.

This seal had been hanging on Li Xuan since he came out from the Heart Asking Bell.

Just like what the Heavenly Demon from the Heart Asking Bell had said, this thing had chosen him. Li Xuan had tried to put this thing in his room. But when he came out, the seal was already hanging on his waist.

Li Xuan didn’t know how this thing managed to accomplish that. Anyway, unbeknownst to him, this small seal had returned to his side.

However, the Heavenly Demon was wrong about one thing, this seal was not merely a symbol of the identity of Hufa of Neo-Confucianism, it was also a great help to Li Xuan.

The first thing is cultivation. When Li Xuan had been meditating before, he discovered that this thing could gather Spiritual Energy, thus acting as a cultivation amplifier.

Furthermore, it also enhanced his Great Rectitude to a certain degree.

There might be other functions to this item, and this is what Li Xuan needed to understand next.

※※※※

The next day, in the Earl’s mansion’s training field.

Not only were Li Xuan and Li Yan present, but Li Chengji, Leng Yurou, Su Zhaojun, and the middle-aged maid also came by upon hearing the news.

Li Xuan had caused quite a commotion when he had his breakthrough last night, so they had all expected that there would be a good show this morning.

However, the situation in the morning was a bit unexpected. The person that Li Xuan chose as his trial target was not Leng Yurou, but Li Yan.

"You really surprised me this time." Li Yan drew a bright long sword in his hand and gently stroked it: "After the Second Door has been opened, you’ve grown some guts? And you’ve come to me. I’m just saying that I won’t be as soft-hearted as Yurou."

He was just looking for someone to vent his anger, but then Li Xuan came to him.

However, this time Li Yan was more cautious. The losses from the previous two times were due to his cockiness, so this time he was extraordinarily focused, ready for anything.

"Are you done talking?"

Li Xuan interrupted Li Yan impatiently: "Get ready, I’m about to start!"

He attacked first, but the first blow from Li Yan forced Li Xuan back.

His older brother indeed did not hold back like Leng Yurou. Although he did not use his full strength, the force of his sword was overwhelming. His swordsmanship was either like a freezing wind or like the sun blazing in the sky. With a bearing of proficiency and ease, he had Li Xuan at a disadvantage, making him break out into a cold sweat.

It was like a cat playing with a mouse, watching Li Xuan resist, struggle, dodge.

Li Xuan was in a very embarrassing situation, but Li Chengji on the sidelines was stroking his long beard, rejoicing. The eyes of Leng Yurou beside him were also filled with surprise.

Su Zhaojun was not with them, she and the middle-aged maid were both watching from a distance under the eaves.

"I told you so, his talent is very good. He has only seriously practiced martial arts for just two months, right? His swordsmanship has already reached this point, this speed of progress can be described as astounding."

Su Zhaojun stood with her hands behind her back, sighing continuously: "If it weren’t for him wasting too much time, neither I nor Yan would be his match now."

"His understanding of swordsmanship has reached the beginner’s level, but his foundation is very weak. Only with constant hard work over many years, will he be able to make it up."

"I don’t think your uncle can be so persistent. For someone like him with a weak foundation, his flaws would be completely exposed when encountering a real master." The middle-aged maid shook her head.

"Your words are a bit biased. Can a solid foundation guarantee a victory against a real master?"

Su Zhaojun shook her head and laughed: "He already has few rivals below the sixth house level now, do you still want him to fight beyond his level with the Third Door?"

"But if he encounters someone with special techniques, this flaw in his foundation will always be there—"

The middle-aged maid was speaking when suddenly, a shout came from the field. Li Xuan roared, and it echoed throughout the field.

The middle-aged maid suddenly felt a tremor in her spirit, her head felt dizzy, and she briefly lost consciousness.