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Travels along the Astral Road
4th level of the Body realm

4th level of the Body realm

After leaving the cultivation room, Wu Guang went to the kitchen area. There he asked Chef Ji for some beast blood, and as spirit beasts were extremely precious he asked for common blood. But was pleasantly surprised by a gourd with a quasi-spirit beast one.

Quasi-spirit beasts were not yet real spirit beasts, but they had already started to absorb qi and so could not be classified as common ones.

He then moved to the bath. But as this time it wasn't empty, he greeted the two middle-aged men present. Judging from the black clothes he saw in the dressing room, he identified them as enforcers.

They returned the greeting and continued speaking between them. Wu Guang didn't intend to listen to them, shredded some of the skin cleaning herbs that were present, and mixed them with the beast blood he previously acquired. After finishing bathing, he took the gourd where the herbed blood was with himself.

The next morning, Wu Guang explored the tower and helped Old Rui in keeping or discarding several theories and information they would present when Elder Chen and Zhen Mang arrived this evening. The elder had said that they will either arrive together if a definite result was reached, or one of them would come to inform and discuss the situation two days after they left.

After that, Wu Guang found Ji Yong and asked him for some oil and an old rag or rug. Ji Yong was surprised but quickly brought the items. After thanking him, Wu Guang decided to ask something that had crossed his mind since Xiao Feng explained the circles

"Brother Ji, why are you dressed in an outer circle uniform? Should not you be an inner circle one? Could you satisfy my curiosity if it's no secret?"

"It's no secret. When I left the sect to take the post of this tower housekeeper, it was at the 9th level Body realm so I was in the outer circle. I managed to break through sometime later, but the sect rules state that disciples that broke through outside the sect can be promoted only via a test or during the two examinations. I haven't gone to the sect for a long time, plus, I don't really feel that this would change anything for me. Although I am a disciple, this is just in name, to justify my post here"

"I see now, the rules cover almost every possible case" Nodded Wu Guang, and thanking him again for the items, went directly to one of the cultivating rooms.

To pass from the 3rd level to the 4th level of the Body Realm, one would need to successfully circulate qi inside his body. Using a circulation technique to control it, one's qi will have to pass through all the meridians. The first full circulation was the sign of successfully entering the 4th level, the first level of the so-called intermediate or middle stage of the Body realm. From this point, each successful repetition would improve the qi circulated and partially improve the meridians and part of the connections. When the meridians made the body assimilate the initially absorbed qi making it personal, one would break to the 5th level and this process would be natural in the future.

Wu Guang's goal was to enter the 4th level in the following hours. And the items he requested from Ji Yong were to dispose of the impurities that one's body would expel during the first circulation.

Extending the cloth rug he got above the cultivation mat, Wu Guang sat down crosslegged, absorbed some qi, and then proceeded to fill his meridians. He slowly recalled the circulation technique he had chosen, it was called 'Everchanging Path, Everchanging Flow'. The complete set of cultivation techniques that this one hailed from was the most secret knowledge Bai Qi memories contained. A knowledge that would have made him a target for any cultivator of the Divine realm, as this was knowledge he had gained when he faced a heavenly tribulation and ascended to Immortal or Sky realm.

Gaining inspiration during a tribulation was something uncommon, but known to most of the cultivators. But gaining a set of techniques was unheard of. He didn't know why he received such fortune, or even why he did consider that it was incompatible with the path of Wisdom he followed. Only after successfully surviving his assassination and managing to practically resurrect in a new body he understood that it was Heaven's Will.

Here one should understand that a circulation technique was a thing that affected your future path. You could change your breathing technique with some effort, but a circulation technique could be only either upgraded in one corresponding to the same method or combined with other similar ones. If one wanted to change it forcefully, one could lose part of his cultivation, and in the worst case would be crippled forever.

Different level cultivation technique sets would allow one to reach the corresponding realm by following them. But in exchange from the moment one created their dantian and entered the Spirit minor realm no other cultivation techniques would work, even if one tried to start training from scratch by destroying their cultivation.

The set that he obtained was worded similarly, showing signs of being able to reach the Astral realm. But the most frightening thing wasn't the realm, but the fact that this set mentioned it was unique and by such could be only cultivated by a single living being.

This set was named 'Master of Everything, Ruler of Nothing' and was extremely strange. It did not have any corresponding Dao laws or contain any main paths.

It was the exact opposite, the accompanying information that appeared in his mind was that it would fuse with any path of Dao a cultivator practiced and could integrate with an unlimited amount of them. Also, it mentioned that some cultivation techniques would automatically resonate with it, and by such will be naturally fused with the ones in the set.

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For practically anyone, this would be either gibberish, fake, or a joke. Just imagine, you could train and be proficient with anything and combine opposites like the water and fire? And the last passage was even stranger, a set contained its own ways, how could you fuse something into it?

But Bai Qi was a Wisdom path scholar, and he had penned enough treatises to understand the reality of this set. By ignoring the limitations that single Dao paths had, this set would be using whatever you learn as part of itself, creating its own path and laws.

The only thing that this set was missing was a breathing technique, which seemed logical. Breathing techniques were not needed to cultivate after one created the dantian. They are only used to quicken the process of qi absorption and unless the path you followed required to use a specific one, everyone simply used the best they could get.

Wu Guang emptied his mind of anything except the mantra of 'Everchanging Path, Everchanging Flow'. After quickly marveling at the fact that different effects in circulation speed, thickness, or starting meridians were reached by changing the mantra order could be reached.

This alone was already a sign showing the set's uniqueness. He recited the most basic form of the mantra, which should slowly generate a current starting from the Taiyin meridian, traveling all the body passing the other 11 meridians and then return to the starting point. After the mantra was recited, he willed and followed the small qi strand that was carving its path through the impurities that obstructed the pathways. These impurities would partially be destroyed by the qi and partially forced out of the pathways. After the circulation ended he would need to use the manner from the 2nd level of the Body realm to expel them from the body. The first circulation was completed after an hour and Wu Guang successfully entered the 4th level of the Body Realm. His basic pathways were cleared and all the impurities from them were either eliminated or were forced out.

He disrobed, quickly reached a qi saturation state, and without letting the qi enter his meridians quickly forced it outside through the enlarged pores. The leaving qi contained black, small, foul-smelling particles that were actually the impurities that blocked his pathways. After they were expelled, he quickly folded the now dirty cloth rug and put it aside for now, intending to burn it after. He then quickly used a moistened cloth he had brought with him to clean his body. Placing the cloth over the folded rug, he dressed up and sat down on the cultivation mat, scanning the body with his consciousness.

The results were easily visible, as a small amount of qi was slowly moving alongside the pathways, flowing from meridian to meridian. After a brief observation, he decided to run another circulation before leaving the room.

This done, he went to his room, took the blood and herbs he had prepared the day before and his change of clothes, and descended to the Bath. This time there was no one here, so he proceeded to rub the bloody mixture all over his body after splashing himself with a bit of cold water. While he was doing that, he sensed someone entering, turning his head around he saw Xiao Feng who stood in the bath doorway with a blank expression and open mouth.

"Brother Xiao, don't worry. This is a small trick to improve the effect of cleaning herbs and is used to clean the pores. It's beneficial for any cultivator, want me to share some?" Seeing the shock on his face Wu Guang explained and extended the gourd in his hands and started chuckling.

"It's funny for you? Are you an idiot?! Did you even imagine what a person would think if he entered the bath and saw a bloodied person who was actually applying even more blood on his body and moaning?"

Wu Guang stopped laughing and spoke in an offended manner

"Moaning? Where did that even come from?" Then a devilish smile appeared on his face

"Well, seeing as you are so interested, why I don't help you apply some as well?" Wu Guang suddenly rushed from where he was standing and splashed some of the gourd contents on Xiao Feng. Then he quickly leaped away and mockingly said

"Don't waste the product, c'mon, rub it. You can also moan a little if you want, I can swear that it will remain between us" And started laughing

Xiao Feng stood there with half his body covered in blood and pieces of herbs, he looked like if he was heavily injured. He was trembling and his normally pale face was red

"I WILL FUCKING KILL YOU" he shouted and launched himself at Wu Guang

Wu Guang evaded him easily and even managed to splash him with a bit more blood from the gourd.

This continued for several minutes, at the end, Xiao Feng calmed down and looking at the still laughing Wu Guang also chuckled

"Ok, ok, it is my loss this time. After all, I can't bully you with my cultivation, at least until you enter the sect officially"

"Well, now that you accepted it, stop waiting for it to dry. Rub it on your body, I guarantee you will understand why I am using it" Wu Guang also calmed down and saying this placed the now half-empty gourd near Xiao Feng.

Right at this moment, Xiao Feng suddenly lifted one of the barrels filled with cold water near him and emptied the contents on the distracted Wu Guang. The latter didn't even react to this, even more, he made an extremely grateful face and said in a mocking manner

"Thank you, here was I thinking of doing exactly that" And with a light chuckle he left the dumbfounded Xiao Feng standing there and entered the hot pool.

Sometime later, both of the youths arrived at the Wisdom floor, where dinner was already served. Today Wu Guang and Old Rui decided to eat here, waiting for the arrival of Elder Chen.