Lord of the Demon Sect

The qi refinement stage is divided into nine layers, and as long as one can condense their primordial spirit, they can attain the first layer of qi refinement. The next step in cultivation is to connect the eight main meridians¹ within the human body. When the spiritual power within a cultivator is sufficient to wash and open one meridian, they advance in their cultivation level. Once all eight meridians are opened, one reaches the ninth layer of qi refinement, at which point they can challenge the final barrier-the opening of the Ren and Du meridians. Once these two meridians are successfully opened, the cultivator can undergo a transformation and enter the foundation establishment stage, becoming a true cultivator.

In order to condense the primordial spirit and reach the first layer of qi refinement, one must first accumulate a certain amount of spiritual power within their body.

However, this process doesn’t take long. According to the lore of cultivation methods, individuals with good spiritual roots can succeed within twelve time periods with the aid of qi nourishing pills. Even those with poor spiritual roots, without any pill assistance, can achieve this within a month.

Jiang Chen’s cave chamber on Ghost Mist Peak is located right above a spiritual vein. Cultivating over a spiritual vein can be considerably more efficient. However, Jiang Chen’s cave chamber is somewhat remote, making the enhancement effect of the spiritual vein on his breathing exercises not very apparent. Moreover, absorbing spiritual energy and converting it into spiritual power can be an extremely tedious task.

Each time he breathes in and out, he must slowly take a deep breath, drawing in the air laden with spiritual energy into his lungs. Then, using his spiritual sense, he expels the impure air, guiding the spiritual energy into his Dantian².

Even though he is above a spiritual vein, the spiritual energy in the air remains quite sparse. After a whole night of meditation and breathing exercises, Jiang Chen barely felt a trace of spiritual power in his Dantian. This small amount of energy was not enough even to wash through the meridians, let alone guide it to run through the small circulation³.

Following the instructions in his cultivation method, he started to guide the spiritual energy from the meridians throughout his limbs and body into the sea of consciousness in his Dantian, embarking on the crucial step of condensing his primordial spirit…

As the faint spiritual energy continuously flowed into the sea of consciousness, the light yellow soul that was already there began to merge with the pale white glowing spiritual energy, gradually changing its glow from yellow to white…

However, halfway through this process, Jiang Chen suddenly felt a bit weak. After all, he had never practiced before, nor did he know any secular martial arts, and his body was quite frail. Others take several months to prepare for condensing their primordial spirit, ensuring that their body and energy are at their peak state. He, on the other hand, was hastily pushed into this, thus quickly hitting a bottleneck.

“Let’s try taking a qi nourishing pill!” Jiang Chen thought to himself.

He immediately took a yellow qi nourishing pill from the small porcelain bottle on the table and swallowed it.

This qi nourishing pill carried a rich fragrance, and the moment it entered his mouth, it melted into liquid, filling his abdomen with abundant spiritual power…

At this moment, Jiang Chen instantly felt a surge of spiritual energy within him, allowing him to continue the process of condensing Qi into spirit…

Finally, six time periods later, after taking the eighth qi nourishing pill, Jiang Chen felt a sudden “bang!” within his body, signaling a transformation…

He observed within his body and saw that in the dark Dantian and sea of consciousness, the light yellow soul finally absorbed and integrated the vital energy within him, transforming into a small, rice grain-sized gas-like white primordial spirit. Although it was tiny and emitted a faint glow, it was indeed a genuine primordial spirit.

Refining essence into energy, refining qi into spirit, and condensing the primordial spirit! This is the path to immortality that countless mortals dream of. Jiang Chen has finally taken the first step on his journey of cultivation, becoming a cultivator at the first layer of qi refinement.

Ordinary mortals, including those so-called martial arts masters, perceive the external world through the five senses: vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch.

However, cultivators, in addition to having senses that are much more acute than those of ordinary people, also develop a spiritual sense that is reliant on their primordial spirit.

This spiritual sense extends beyond the confines of their body into the world outside, breaking through the limitations that the five senses have, allowing them to directly perceive external situations.

Sitting on the ground now, Jiang Chen could clearly sense any subtle movements within a radius of 15 meters around him.

He thought to himself that his current cultivation level should be at the very initial stage of a qi refinement cultivator. If he continued to cultivate, and his primordial spirit grew stronger while his cultivation level increased, his spiritual sense should be able to perceive even farther away.

Just then, a soft feminine voice once again echoed within him: “Congratulations, host! You have completed your first side quest. Since you completed it on the day you activated the Holy Lord System, you can select one reward at the supreme tier from the following options: a supreme cultivation method, a supreme spiritual artifact, a supreme pill, or a supreme spirit beast. Which one do you choose?”

“Ah! Supreme rewards?” Jiang Chen was ecstatic. He knew that the “Ghostly Slaughter Technique” was merely a low-grade cultivation method. Medium-grade methods were likely only available to elite disciples within a sect, and whether the Ghostly Slaughter Sect even had any superior-grade methods was questionable, let alone supreme methods.

“Hmm, while a supreme spiritual artifact is highly valuable, my strength is currently too low. The principle of ‘innocent people suffer for others’ crimes’ applies here; the people from the Ghostly Slaughter Sect are not kind. If they see I possess a supreme artifact, it wouldn’t just be ordinary disciples vying for it-sect elders and even the sect leader might harbor ill intentions,” Jiang Chen quickly ruled out that option.

“While a supreme pill would be beneficial, I wouldn’t know what kind it might be, nor whether it would be of any use to me. Moreover, pills are consumables; once used, they’re gone. Their utility is quite limited!” Jiang Chen also dismissed the idea of choosing a pill.

“A supreme spirit beast could be very useful in battle, but I can only imagine the costs of raising it would be staggering. Besides, having such a supreme spirit beast suddenly appear would certainly raise suspicions. If the Holy Lord System were exposed, it would not be a game!” Jiang Chen quickly ruled out the spirit beast option as well.

“Let’s go with the cultivation method! A cultivation method book stored in my storage bag cannot be taken away unless I’m dead, and seeing as I have impure spiritual roots, my cultivation speed should be relatively slow. With a good method, my progress would surely be much more efficient!” Finally, Jiang Chen decided to choose the supreme cultivation method.

Footnote:

Meridians(经脉):Energy pathways that traverse the human body, responsible for conducting qi and life energy.
Dantian(丹田):Dantian is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine, martial arts, and Daoist practice. It refers to the ‘energy center’ or ‘elixir field’ located in the lower abdomen, which is considered the focal point for internal energy (qi) cultivation.
Small Circulation(小周天):This term refers to the practice of circulating energy along specific meridians in the body, often involving the Du and Ren meridians, to enhance energy flow and balance.