Chapter 154 - Restarting Qi Refining

Yaan exited the Flesh Core Extraction Formation and stored the blood-red core in his spatial ring.

Following the removal of his Vital Core, Yaan’s vital cultivation regressed back down to the Mid 3-Star Realm. Under a perfect removal, he would retain Peak 3-Star cultivation, but this was basically impossible in reality; only dropping to the mid stage was already very good.

Recovering the remainder of the Vital Energy would not be difficult at all, simply consuming his extracted Vital Core would be sufficient to achieve this. After consuming his own Vital Core and returning to the Peak 3-Star Realm, there would even be plenty of Vital Energy left over, so he could immediately continue on and use this energy to assist with his Vital Qi Core formation!

There were benefits to having a lower cultivation though, since the lower Yaan’s Vital Energy cultivation, the easier he would find his cultivation of Innate Qi. Or rather, the closer together those two paths of cultivation, the less they would hinder one another.

When Yaan first started cultivating, Rui simply stated that it was mandatory to cultivate the body and Qi side by side, and that each of the realm ascensions needed to proceed simultaneously. This was not entirely true, but to the Yaan of back then, it was basically the case. Yaan now understood that at that time, Rui was simply trying to convince him to continue on with the best option that he had available to him.

Trying to cultivate his Innate Qi from scratch whilst possessing 3-Star Realm vital cultivation was really a tall order - it would be inefficient beyond belief. Each breakthrough would be similarly arduous. That said, since Yaan had already attained the Innate Qi Realm in the past, there would be no difficulty in comprehending the realm boundary up until this point, not to mention that his Psyche Power was now at such a level that these lower rank breakthroughs were far less of an issue compared to how others would fare in the same situation.

As Yaan stared at the Origin Soul Realm captives with a slightly hesitant expression, the Immortal Ancestor suddenly spoke, knowing what he was thinking.

“These are the only resources that I will give you to cultivate your Qi.”

This white-haired immortal spoke of Origin Soul Realm Cultivators, powerhouses that shook the world of Foundation Step cultivators, as if they were mere materials. Though, Yaan was used to this by now.

Yaan sighed and nodded, having more or less expected this situation already.

He didn’t want to begin his Qi refining cultivation by killing an Origin Soul Realm powerhouse. The Slaughter Aura from doing this would be too strong, making it extremely difficult to absorb properly, since he currently possessed no Qi refining cultivation whatsoever.

It would be easier to start off with a weaker cultivator, there was no doubt about that. Due to the fact that his stronger Vital Energy cultivation would hinder his progress in Qi refining, merely killing someone at the Qi Gathering Realm was insufficient, and even those at the Innate Qi Realm would not be enough. However, Qi Temple Realm cultivators? Killing cultivators at this level should be enough to assist Yaan in returning to the Qi Gathering Realm!

Back when Yaan first developed the Fiend Foundation, he was only considered a half-fiend, he needed to kill many people in order to complete the Fiend Transformation, becoming a fully fledged fiend and stepping into the Qi Gathering Realm and 1-Star Realm simultaneously.

Now, things were different. Yaan was already a complete fiend, there was no need to meet that killing quota again, nor would doing so help him to step back onto the Qi refining path. In a way, Yaan’s path forwards now was more orthodox - he needed to become a Qi refiner in the same way as anyone else, by developing a trace of his own Innate Qi in his body…

Of course, in reality, Yaan was far from ordinary. He would develop this Innate Qi by refining Slaughter Aura, and he would naturally refine far more than he needed after slaying an Origin Soul Realm cultivator.

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

These thoughts flashed through Yaan’s mind as he approached the far left pillar in the Grey Mist Pressure Chamber. There were a total of 18 pillars in this hall, each with 10-20 cultivators sealed onto their surfaces, tied up with some sort of unknown power.

In truth, Yaan did not know how difficult this first step would be. Would he succeed in breaking through immediately? In theory, the amount of Slaughter Aura that could be refined from killing an Origin Soul Realm cultivator should be far more than enough to enter the Qi Gathering Realm, but perhaps it would be too much, making it impossible to focus on the ascension…?

In the end, Yaan stopped thinking. With a sword in his hand, a decent sword that he bought from the sect in exchange for some of his resources, Yaan’s body became a blur and he pierced forwards in a single, swift motion.

“Wait.”

Yaan paused before landing the strike, pulling back at the last moment. He turned towards the Immortal Ancestor with a questioning look.

“Do you possess a method to kill the Origin Soul?”

For a moment, Yaan’s mind went blank at this question, because he realised that he had completely overlooked this point. Perhaps he had been too overeager to begin cultivating again…

An Origin Soul Realm powerhouse possessed an Origin Soul, unlike mortals and lower realm cultivators who were limited by their mortal soul.

The Origin Soul resided in the dantian, sitting in the lotus position on the highest level of the Qi Temple or Qi Palace.

Unlike those in the realms below them, Origin Soul Realm cultivators could survive the complete destruction of their body! However, they could not remain in this state for long; the Origin Soul was a spiritual entity, whilst the Qi Plane was a physical world. Without a physical form to tie the soul down to this world, it was well known that the Origin Soul would fade away, perhaps dying, or perhaps travelling to an unknown place…

Yaan was not like others, he knew well that the Origin Soul would enter the Spirit Plane after crossing the plane boundary!

Whilst this immediate separation between himself and the Origin Soul Realm cultivator might seem like the difference between life and death, it was not quite so. Yaan would indeed be able to harvest Slaughter Aura by killing an Origin Soul Realm cultivator without bothering about their soul, but unless he killed the Origin Soul too, he would not be reaping the full benefits of this situation!

He had overlooked this point mostly because dealing with his enemy’s souls had never been an issue until now, it was an aspect of combat and killing that was quite foreign to Yaan. Not only that…

Yaan was only a 3-Star Realm demon right now, how could he possibly possess a method to kill an Origin Soul? In fact, it was their complete inability to harm the Origin Soul that made Spirit Core Realm cultivators helpless against those in the Origin Soul Realm!

“Use this.” The Immortal Ancestor did not need Yaan to answer, he could tell right away that Yaan indeed had no method to slay an Origin Soul.

He passed to Yaan an ordinary looking sword. After catching the weapon and examining it, Yaan showed a doubtful expression, before glancing at the immortal and hoping to receive an explanation. Unfortunately, the white-haired man simply watched Yaan without saying anything, he clearly had no intention of explaining himself.

Silently, Yaan put away his own sword and held the new plain-looking sword in one hand. He used various methods to examine the sword, from enhancing his eyesight with his three powers, to injecting his Vital Energy and Astral Power in an attempt to activate this ‘treasure’.

However, the plain-looking blade had no reaction. It was as if it was an ordinary mortal sword.

Not bothering to think about this any longer, Yaan retook his position before the Origin Soul Realm cultivator. The Immortal Ancestor obviously wouldn’t give him an ordinary mortal sword, Yaan knew that there must be something special about this blade that he could not see.

Puchi!

An Origin Soul Realm powerhouse was cut down ruthlessly, not even having the chance to resist, or to even realise that his life was being harvested like some sort of resource.

Qi refining cultivators, when unconscious and unprotected by any sort of treasure, formation or spell, were often completely vulnerable, almost as much so as an ordinary mortal. Some Qi refiners possessed constitutions or other abilities that protected their bodies even when they slept, but most relied on the active usage of their Qi in order to showcase their power. For a Qi refiner like this one who was suppressed entirely by the Immortal Ancestor’s methods, there was simply no possible way for him to resist Yaan’s ordinary strike.

As the blood splashed out and flowed across the blade, dripping down from the cultivator’s body and onto the ground, Yaan stared forwards with a narrowed gaze.

Until the moment the sword drew blood, it seemed entirely ordinary. But, the moment that it became soaked in this dead man’s blood, it transformed into an entity that was anything but ordinary!

HAAAAA!

A low growl like that of a savage beast echoed out from the sword, causing Yaan’s expression to become serious.

Bang!

Almost instantly after he noticed the change to the blade, which was now covered in black runes and emitting a severely demonic aura, A sharp ‘bang’ echoed out from the cultivator’s body, around the region of his dantian. His body immediately seemed to lose any remaining signs of life, rapidly ageing until it was like a completely dried up corpse!

Yaan’s expression changed once again, but now for an entirely different reason. He immediately stopped paying attention to the bizarre demonic sword and the shocking state of this corpse as the Slaughter Aura generated from slaying an Origin Soul Realm powerhouse stormed into his body like a torrential wave. He staggered back, gritting his teeth with reddened eyes and a bloody desire filling his mind.

It had been too long since Yaan last felt the unusual bloodlust that was generated from the refinement of Slaughter Aura…but he was not the same as before.

Within seconds, Yaan’s body relaxed and his expression became calm. This tranquillity looked out of place when paired with his bloodshot eyes, it gave the strange impression that he had become detached from his own emotions.

Yaan realised very quickly that previously, he had been overthinking it - there was no chance that he would lose his rational mind under the influence of this Slaughter Aura.

For a moment, he recalled the difficulty that he faced back in the Heavenly Path Sect, whenever he was met with a single strand of Slaughter Aura, thousands of times weaker than this…

Years later, he had killed far more people compared to when he was a child back in the Heavenly Path Sect.

He did not enjoy killing…but he had lost his unwillingness to kill.

He was no longer so susceptible to being manipulated by this feeling of frantic bloodlust.

A mere Slaughter Aura, even that born from the hatred and resentment of an Origin Soul Realm cultivator, could not shake Yaan’s heart.