Lord of the Demon Sect

“By the way! Senior Sister Lin, do you think using Zhan Ming’s two spiritual artifacts will bring us trouble?” Jiang Chen asked cautiously after putting the hundred souls banner into his storage bag. This was no joking matter.

Lin Yushang smiled slightly and replied, “Don’t worry about that! I’ve looked over these two artifacts; they are standard artifacts exchanged with contribution points from the sect. In fact, a large portion of the disciples in the sect are using them. We have nothing to fear.”

With Lin Yushang saying that, Jiang Chen felt relieved. They then continued to divide the spirit stones.

The over a thousand low-grade spirit stones were divided in half by Zhang Pang since he hadn’t gotten anything from the previous encounter, so he also received the two gathering qi powders. The remaining spirit stones were equally shared among the other three.

After splitting the spoils, the four of them destroyed the evidence and then returned to the Ghostly Slaughter Sect.

Jiang Chen immediately spent fifty contribution points to learn the spirit control technique; otherwise, possessing the hundred souls banner without knowing how to control spirits would be quite ridiculous.

He checked and found he still had thirty contribution points left, so he decided to exchange them for a defensive spell called “dark shield.” This spell could create a black qi shield in front of his body to block enemy spells and martial skill attacks. It was a practical spell commonly used by disciples at the Qi Refinement stage.

After this brush with death, he felt that his cultivation level had made some subtle progress but had reached another bottleneck.

Fortunately, he still had plenty of qi nourishing pills, so he could attempt to break through to the fourth layer of Qi Refinement.

Jiang Chen returned to his room, got into bed, and sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

He allowed his mind to completely quiet down, entering a state of meditation without distractions…

During the following days, whenever Jiang Chen felt hungry, he would eat the prepared dry rations, and whenever he was thirsty, he would drink water.

Each day, he remained sitting on the bed to cultivate.

He first sent out a strand of spiritual sense to guide his spiritual thoughts, continuously attracting the green spiritual energy particles from the air into his body, passing through the seven meridians and eight vessels¹, entering the sea of consciousness, and then entering Jiang Chen’s primordial spirit, transforming into spiritual power.

Days went by. Although the cultivation process was very monotonous and tedious, under Jiang Chen’s strong desire to improve his strength, he unknowingly went through it.

Finally, Jiang Chen noticed that his spiritual power had reached a saturated state, and his cultivation level had attained the complete perfection of the third layer of Qi Refinement. He vaguely sensed the barrier to the fourth layer of Qi Refinement. This was the first bottleneck he encountered since becoming a cultivator. As long as he worked hard to break through this barrier, he could become a mid-stage cultivator of Qi Refinement.

Jiang Chen pondered for a moment, then took out a small porcelain bottle from his pocket and poured out a white pill. This was the qi nourishing pill he had prepared earlier to break through his bottleneck.

This was one of the several types of pills available for cultivators at the Qi Refinement stage to enhance their cultivation level. However, the qi nourishing pill was effective mainly for those at the early Qi Refinement stage; it had little effect on cultivators above the middle stage. At that point, one should switch to gathering qi powder, which had better effects.

However, for Jiang Chen, who was only at the third layer of Qi Refinement, the qi nourishing pill would still be quite helpful in his attempt to break through the bottleneck.

Jiang Chen pinched the qi nourishing pill between his fingers, inhaling its fragrant scent. He tilted his neck back and swallowed it.

As the pill entered his mouth, it quickly dissolved into liquid, and the medicinal properties were progressively absorbed by his body, transforming into vital energy. It followed the seven meridians and eight vessels, circulating throughout his body, gradually merging with his spiritual power, and slowly reaching the sea of consciousness in his Dantian.

At this time, Jiang Chen’s primordial spirit was already considerably larger than when he had first reached the third layer of Qi Refinement, radiating much more light. The medicinal power transformed from the qi nourishing pill flowed into his primordial spirit, continuously enhancing its vital energy while refining and improving Jiang Chen’s physical condition, propelling him from the complete perfection of the third layer of Qi Refinement toward the fourth layer…

His body was undergoing subtle changes, and an observer from the outside would notice a faint, soft glow emanating from him. His skin was becoming increasingly smooth and radiant, with black, viscous liquid seeping from every pore. This was the expulsion of toxins and impurities from his body. As his cultivation level increased, his physical strength would grow, and his spiritual sense would extend further.

Within his Dantian, Jiang Chen’s primordial spirit appeared as a ball of white light, no larger than a grain of rice. However, it contained an ever-increasing amount of spiritual power, emitting stronger radiance. As its vital energy continuously grew, its size also increased, becoming more robust as it attempted to break through a barrier constraining it.

“Puff!” With a resounding noise, Jiang Chen felt a “pop” from within, as if something had broken through.

He was filled with joy as he examined his internal condition. He noticed that the fourth meridian within his body had become connected. Meanwhile, his primordial spirit in the sea of consciousness had suddenly doubled in size; it had grown from the size of a grain of rice to that of a soybean. The light it emitted was much stronger than before, and he no longer felt any constraints.

“I’ve finally broken through to the fourth layer of Qi Refinement! I have become a mid-stage cultivator!”

Jiang Chen rejoiced, glancing at the hourglass by the door-ten days had already passed in reality.

At that moment, he could sense the tremendous changes in both his primordial spirit and body.

His outer clothing was completely soaked with the black, viscous liquid seeping from his pores, giving off a foul odor. It seemed a significant amount of impurities and toxins had been expelled. He felt refreshed all over, with a sense of heightened clarity and an exhilarating feeling of vitality.

What made Jiang Chen even more delighted was the sudden expansion of his spiritual sense, which had increased from the previous range of about fifteen meters to an astonishing sixty meters!

With his spiritual sense, he could clearly perceive every movement happening within that sixty-meter radius.

He noticed two ordinary servants sweeping the floor in the neighboring room and could hear the chirping of two sparrows on the roof. Further away, he spotted Zhang Fei and Zhang Pang discussing what to have for dinner that evening…

Every noise, from the small rustling of ants moving in the cracks in the ground to the bustling steps of people around him, was within his awareness. Nothing that occurred within sixty meters escaped his notice.

“It seems the progress from the third layer to the fourth layer of Qi Refinement is quite significant,” Jiang Chen thought to himself. “After all, it marks a leap from the early stage to the middle stage.”

At that moment, a sense of enlightenment washed over him, filling his body with a warm sensation. It appeared that, following his successful advancement, his spiritual power was subtly transforming his body, much like a furious whirlwind clearing out the impurities within him, refining his constitution. While it wouldn’t directly help him undergo a complete transformation, this gradual change was certainly beneficial for his physical condition.

As he stepped out of his room, he happened to encounter Zhang Fei and Zhang Pang coming toward him. Seeing Jiang Chen had emerged from closed-door cultivation and that he had successfully advanced, both brothers were thrilled.

However, because Jiang Chen had employed the breath concealment technique, they perceived him as having the cultivation level of only the second layer of Qi Refinement, thinking he had merely advanced from the first layer to the second.

“Junior Brother Jiang, you’ve been in the sect for over half a year. Advancing from the first layer of Qi Refinement to the second layer, though a bit slow, is quite impressive given your impure spiritual roots and the duration of your cultivation!” Zhang Fei remarked with a sigh.

Jiang Chen could only chuckle awkwardly and remain silent. He thought that if he announced he had already reached the fourth layer of Qi Refinement, it would surely shock them. After all, it wasn’t unheard of for someone to advance from the first layer to the fourth layer in just six months, and there were indeed several examples.

For instance, their sect at Ghost Mist Peak had recently accepted a new disciple named Wang Tong, a mere seven-year-old child with a rare dark spiritual root talent. Lin Yushang and Zhang Li, who brought Wang Tong back, had even received rewards from the sect for this.

As a result, Wang Tong was directly taken in as a personal disciple by the peak master, the Ghost Mist Ancestor, who devoted special attention to him and gifted him plenty of spiritual medicine. Now, Wang Tong had already reached the fifth layer of Qi Refinement.

In recent years, Bone Peak, Blood Fiend Peak, Phantom Peak, and other prominent peaks have also had disciples possessing heavenly spiritual roots or variant spirit roots. Under the special guidance of the sect’s elders and abundant supplies of pills, most of these disciples successfully reached the foundation establishment stage within five years of joining, becoming elite disciples of the sect.

If Jiang Chen could maintain this speed in his cultivation, it wouldn’t be impossible for him to catch up to those talented individuals.

“By the way, Junior Brother Jiang, in just over three months, it will be time for our Ghost Mist Peak’s annual minor examination. You need to be careful not to come in last! Our ancestor has stipulated that the person in last place gets whipped fifty times and has to face the wall for six months as punishment. We’re such good friends, I wouldn’t want you to be the last one!” Zhang Pang reminded him.

“Oh? Senior Brother Zhang, what exactly is the minor examination?” Jiang Chen asked, puzzled.

Zhang Pang patiently explained, “The minor examination is a competition among all the Qi Refinement disciples at Ghost Mist Peak to rank their abilities in battle. The first place receives a reward of one thousand contribution points from the sect, and the second place gets nine hundred and fifty points. The rewards decrease for the subsequent rankings, but there are none after the twentieth place. However, the last place not only receives no reward but also gets fifty lashes from the ancestor in public, followed by six months of facing the wall for reflection as punishment. That’s why everyone has been training so hard lately.”

Jiang Chen felt a jolt of concern upon hearing this. He knew his cultivation level was on the lower end at Ghost Mist Peak and that aiming for the top twenty was probably unrealistic, so he should at least strive not to come in last!

With this in mind, he quickly asked, “How many disciples does Ghost Mist Peak have in total?”

“There seem to be five or six disciples in the foundation establishment stage, but they will participate in the sect’s grand examination, so they won’t be part of our minor examination. As for the Qi Refinement disciples, there are thirty-two of us, and five of them joined the sect within the same year as you. Their qualifications don’t seem to be much better than yours. Most of them are around the second layer of Qi Refinement, and only one has reached the third layer. If you can defeat any of them, you just might avoid coming in last!” Zhang Pang explained the current situation to him.

Footnote:

Seven Meridians and Eight Vessels(七经八脉):In traditional Chinese medicine, these are networks of energy pathways. The meridians circulate qi and blood, maintaining health and balance, while the vessels regulate and support these flows, ensuring overall harmony in the body.