Soul of the Revered Banner
Chapter 46: Qi Refining

Evening.

The setting sun dipped toward the west.

The midsummer sun was no longer scorching at this hour, and the sweltering heat of the world was swept away as the clouds and twilight shrouded the sky.

Under the dark red heavens, the evening breeze stirred the curtains of a speeding carriage.

The swaying curtain revealed a young Daoist in green robes seated upright within the carriage.

He was young, and ethereal in bearing.

If Tu Shanjun were here, he would definitely recognize this person. It was the guardian Immortal Master of Eight Directions County.

The young carriage boy raised his whip high, and with a sharp crack, the whip exploded in the air, instantly shattering a white ghost creature lurking by the roadside.

Two fine horses galloped side by side, and the wheels rumbled forward.

The Immortal Master opened his eyes lightly, spiritual light glowing within them. Staring straight at the distant city walls, he muttered softly, “I hope... it's not too late.”

The battle that day had been extremely tragic.

Two of the Offering Pavilion Immortal Masters had died on the spot.

A green-faced, malevolent ghost had broken through during the fight and, with just one move, had struck him unconscious with serious injuries.

He had thought his life was over, but to his surprise, he survived.

It was the old Daoist from Five Directions Temple who had dragged him from the rubble with a young boy.

By the time he woke up, three days had passed.

According to the old Daoist, the demonic cultivator had already perished, but both his magical weapon and corpse had been collected by Liang City’s Embroidered Guards.

Along with the corpses of the two Offering Pavilion cultivators from Liang City, they had been taken away together.

Thus, the Immortal Master concluded that the Revered Soul Banner had surely also been taken and delivered to the Offering Pavilion in Liang City.

If it fell into the hands of the righteous, that would be good. But if someone with impure intentions got it, it would surely give rise to a future demon.

That Revered Soul Banner was truly special.

The evil spirit housed within it was no ordinary ghost.

The red-haired, green-faced ghost was extremely powerful and had spiritual intelligence and cunning.

Deceptive and ruthless.

Ordinary cultivators were no match for it.

Moreover, the base quality of the Soul Banner was excellent.

As a disciple of the Five Spirits Sect, he could naturally tell that the artifact was at least of mid-grade, and possibly even superior-grade.

Even the demonic cultivator at the third layer of Qi Refining could only swing it once before losing strength, which made it much more likely to be a superior-grade magical tool.

He faintly regretted it now.

Back then, although he had told the governor he would seek help from his sect, in the end, he never sent out the command token due to a moment of personal weakness.

Now, this had resulted in the magical artifact being lost, creating new troubles.

It would have been better to send out the token then and summon a senior from the sect, or a senior brother far stronger than himself.

But regretting now was too late. He could only try to find the Soul Banner’s whereabouts as soon as possible.

He was certain that the banner must be in the hands of a Qi Refining practitioner in Liang City's Offering Pavilion.

That’s why, once his injuries began to heal, he rushed there without rest.

He only hoped they hadn’t realized its true value, or better yet, hadn’t used the Revered Soul Banner yet.

If they had already used it... things would be much more complicated.

Later, he even wondered, was everyone able to obtain the approval of the Soul Banner the way Li Qingfeng did?

Otherwise, with that ghost’s strength, the banner would’ve long since turned on its master.

The carriage wheels crushed small branches on the road, carrying the Immortal Master’s thoughts toward Liang City.

...

Within Liang City.

Old Man Xiang was currently in the midst of a breakthrough, a state that had persisted for a while.

Tu Shanjun suddenly remembered what to do.

Since his internal energy was abundant but his meridians were incomplete and he couldn’t complete a full Great Cycle, then he should direct the excess energy into the Revered Soul Banner.

The Soul Banner was a magical artifact and could utilize internal energy that possessed the nature of spiritual power.

Wouldn’t that mean the Soul Banner could act as an extended meridian, forming an internal-external cycle to complete the full Great Cycle?

Tu Shanjun clapped his hands and exclaimed, “I’m truly a genius!”

The world always said that innate stage was hard, difficult to achieve inner energy fullness, difficult to complete a Great Cycle, and difficult to ascend to the peak and open all bodily meridians, returning to Innate status, where all internal energy transforms into spiritual power and fills the dantian.

But what was difficult for others was easy with Tu Shanjun's help.

If his inner energy wasn’t full, he could eat Yin Soul Pills until it was.

If he couldn’t complete the Great Cycle, he could just use the Soul Banner as an extension to create an internal-external loop.

First transform internal energy into spiritual power, then use the power to cleanse the body and open the blocked meridians, thus reversing the process to return to Innate.

If this theory proved valid, then even ordinary people in Tu Shanjun’s hands could quickly become innate martial artists and ascend as Qi Refining cultivators.

While Tu Shanjun was fully prepared, Old Man Xiang on the other hand felt that he couldn’t break through after all.

He couldn’t complete the second step, the great cycle of of vital essence.

His eyes opened slightly, their glow even more intense, yet his expression was dim, and he muttered, “Is this really my limit?”

As he opened his eyes, he felt the Revered Soul Banner vibrating in his arms.

Propping himself up, he took it out, voice bitter: “Magical treasure, I…”

Before he could finish, the treasure vibrated endlessly, as if reminding him of something.

Old Man Xiang wasn’t stupid. How could he not see the banner was trying to tell him something?

But what exactly?

“Don’t tell me... it wants to consume internal energy again? But I’m already...”

Halfway through his sentence, he suddenly widened his eyes as a thought struck him.

Since the energy was surging, could he send it into the Soul Banner to reduce the pressure?

Whether he could become Innate or a Qi Refiner didn’t matter now, survival was priority.

Acting immediately, he directed his internal energy into the banner.

But once he did, he discovered a fatal problem, although he could now form a Great Cycle, he didn’t have enough remaining energy to break open the remaining blocked meridians.

“Take a pill.”

Lacking energy, he swallowed a black bead to restore what was lost.

Actually, Old Man Xiang could have drawn back the internal energy from the banner, but he had never tried that before, and now in the heat of the moment, didn’t want to waste time.

Having a method at all was already good, no need for a perfect plan.

After swallowing the Yin Soul Pill, a surge of spiritual energy transformed into internal energy, replenishing his reserves, allowing the cycle to continue, and breaking open the remaining blocked meridians.

Boom.

All meridians opened. The Great Cycle was completed.

Postnatal returned to Innate.

Internal energy transformed directly into spiritual power.

Old Man Xiang began running the Nether Spirit Art, its incantations and spiritual power in perfect harmony, completely synchronized.

In that instant, Old Man Xiang reached Qi Refining first layer.

Second layer.

Third layer.

Only after reaching third layer did he stop.

Some internal energy remained unconverted, but his cultivation method only went up to third layer.

The remaining unconverted energy, under the pressure of spiritual power, became nourishment for his body. But more of it overflowed through his meridians and dissipated into the world.

Old Man Xiang’s eyes snapped open, brimming with spiritual light, blood and energy surging through his body.

Even his appearance looked at least a decade younger.

He had once appeared to be a man in his 60s despite being in his 50s. Now, he finally looked his actual age.

He felt as if he had returned to the peak of his vigor.

“I’ve done it.”

He clenched his fists. Although there was no dragon's roar or tiger's howl, he couldn't help but let out a long breath of air.

All the invisible shackles around him had shattered.

A rush of freedom surged through him, as if breaking free from a cage.

Old Man Xiang was overjoyed, but inside the banner, Tu Shanjun was filled with regret.

“If I had known this much energy would be transformed, I should’ve given him the Blood Fiend Grand Method!”

“So much internal energy... completely wasted.”

Tu Shanjun regretted letting Old Man Xiang choose his cultivation method himself.

The Nether Spirit Art only had three layers, corresponding to the first three layers of Qi Refining. Without a follow-up method, the remaining energy couldn’t be converted, leading to massive waste.

But this wasn’t entirely Tu Shanjun’s fault. He hadn’t expected this outcome either.

The two Offering Pavilion wandering cultivators only had vague rumors in their minds about martial artists becoming Qi Refiners, and knew very little.

Oddly enough, it was Zhao Shixian’s original Skill Seed that had given Tu Shanjun more insight into the transition from martial artist to Qi Refiner.

But it was still vague, just a general idea with no detailed explanation.

That’s why Tu Shanjun’s understanding of martial artist-to-Qi Refiner progression was still shallow.

He had thought that internal energy might only be enough to reach the first or second layer at most. He never expected it to surpass the third and still leave much wasted.

A huge misstep.

If it had been done right, perhaps Xiang could’ve reached fourth or even fifth layer.

Maybe even higher, Tu Shanjun thought that some particularly gifted innate martial artists, with all their meridians opened and converting internal energy to spiritual power, might shoot directly to layer seventh or eighth.

Saving them ten or more years of hard cultivation.

Of course, the path of turning a martial artist into a Qi Refiner existed because one had no spiritual roots, and couldn’t even sense energy otherwise.

Any person with a five-spirit-root aptitude wouldn’t spend decades cultivating martial arts, just to make a desperate bet at the end to reverse Innate and reach late-stage Qi Refining.

Five-spirit-root cultivators, if persistent, could sense energy within three months.

After reversing acquired to innate, their cultivation speed would still be slower than that of someone with five-root aptitude. It was the lowest tier in the entire cultivation world.

Five-spirit roots were already called false spirit roots.

Reversing acquired to innate sounded impressive, but in truth, was even worse than having false roots.

(Chapter End)