Chapter 288: Ethereal Qi, the Power of Metal

Chapter 288: Ethereal Qi, the Power of Metal

Chu Ning began to circulate the Five Elements Chaos Technique, preparing to absorb the metallic spiritual energy between heaven and earth while simultaneously converting his Golden Core's intrinsic tri-attribute power of wood, fire, and earth.

What surprised Chu Ning slightly was that as soon as he activated the Five Elements Chaos Technique, the Ethereal Qi in his dantian reacted, and a strand of it was refined.

At the same time, the metallic spiritual energy in the surroundings quickly converged towards Chu Ning's location.

In just a few breaths, a large amount of pale golden spiritual energy gathered, enveloping him in a golden cocoon.

Then, it surged wildly into his body.

"That's right, Ethereal Qi can attract spiritual energy from the heavens and earth!"

This wasn't the first time Chu Ning had refined Ethereal Qi, and he soon recalled the time when he had refined the Wood Spirit Seed's Ethereal Qi in Qingxi Sect.

With the Gold Spirit Seed's Ethereal Qi in his dantian, along with the abundant metallic spiritual energy gathered, Chu Ning's originally cultivated tri-attribute power of wood, fire, and earth didn't even need to be converted.

The Ethereal Qi and the newly arrived spiritual energy were swiftly transformed into magical power and supplemented into Chu Ning's Golden Core.

Soon, a faint strand of golden color appeared on the tri-colored Golden Core, and at a speed visible to the naked eye, it began to expand.

Chu Ning clearly felt the changes in his dantian and immediately stopped driving the conversion of magical power, choosing instead to focus all his efforts on refining and absorbing the metallic spiritual energy from the heavens and earth.

With a metal spiritual root comparable to a Heavenly Spirit Root, along with his Metal Spirit Body, Chu Ning's absorption speed was terrifying! Fortunately, the spiritual veins within Ice Spirit Fairy City were of a high grade, resulting in an extremely rich concentration of spiritual energy.

Additionally, although Chu Ning absorbed a large quantity at a rapid pace, the overall process was relatively prolonged. It wasn't like the process of condensing a Golden Core, where one would absorb an enormous amount of spiritual energy in an instant, causing heavenly anomalies.

Hence, ordinary cultivators wouldn't be able to detect any abnormalities in the spiritual energy.

However, at this moment, in the depths of the Long Sky Pavilion, which soared into the clouds in the sixth layer of the Upper City, an elderly man clad in a brocade robe and wearing a golden crown, who had been cultivating, suddenly opened his eyes, a strange glint flashing in them.

"It seems like there's a Golden Core cultivator in one of the caves on the fourth layer who's cultivating some kind of secret technique. He's actually able to attract the metallic spiritual energy between heaven and earth! This person's secret technique seems to have some profundity to it."

The elderly man carefully sensed the surroundings and found that although the metallic spiritual energy had fluctuated, it didn't seem to have much of an impact on Ice Spirit Fairy City, so he relaxed and closed his eyes again.

Although he was curious about the secret technique, it wasn't enough to make him consider leaving seclusion.

Chu Ning, of course, knew nothing of this.

Ever since he had stimulated the Ethereal Qi in his dantian, Chu Ning had remained seated in meditation.

Three months passed in this manner, and Chu Ning, who had been cultivating continuously, finally emerged from his meditative state.

"In three months, I've refined three strands of Ethereal Qi and absorbed a large amount of metallic spiritual energy. The metallic attribute magical power has now completely caught up with the other three attributes, and this speed far exceeds my expectations!"

A hint of satisfaction flashed in Chu Ning's eyes.

Having undergone two magical power conversions, he was well aware that it should have taken less time if everything had proceeded normally.

Especially now that his magical power was far denser than before.

However, with the boost from the Gold Spirit Seed's Ethereal Qi, the metallic attribute magical power had been replenished in just three short months, and there was no need for conversion.

Such speed was undoubtedly astonishing!

At this point, Chu Ning glanced at his cultivation proficiency:

[Five Elements Chaos Technique (Middle-grade Heaven Rank), Second Layer (3000/100000)]



[Nine Transformations Body Refining Technique, Second Volume, Second Layer (23600/90000)]



[Refine God Technique, Fourth Layer (57045/64000)]



The second layer of the Five Elements Chaos Technique had increased to 3000 points, equivalent to an increase of over 30 points per day during this period.

"This Ethereal Qi is indeed a wonderful thing!"

Chu Ning couldn't help but exclaim in admiration. He knew that he had now cultivated the second layer of the Five Elements Chaos Technique and had reached the mid-Golden Core stage.

To have increased his proficiency by such a large amount in just three months was indeed terrifying.

"If the Ethereal Qi has such astonishing effects, then what about the Gold Spirit Seed?"

With this thought in mind, Chu Ning couldn't contain his curiosity, and despite having just completed a stage of cultivation, he once again activated the Five Elements Chaos Technique, attempting to refine the Gold Spirit Seed.

However, the Gold Spirit Seed remained unmoved.

After trying for a while, Chu Ning had no choice but to temporarily give up.

"It seems that with my current magical power, I'm still unable to refine this Gold Spirit Seed," Chu Ning said, shaking his head slightly and exhaling softly.

Since the Gold Spirit Seed seemed to have no adverse effects while residing in his dantian, he decided to leave it be for the time being.

Chu Ning ended his cultivation session and left the cultivation room.

As Ling Xiaobai was still asleep, he made his way to the Frostbite Bloom and began to cultivate the Mysterious Spring Technique.

During these past few months, without Ling Xiaobai urging him to hasten its maturation, he had focused solely on his cultivation and hadn't practiced the Mysterious Spring Technique.

As a result, the Snow Crystal plant's rate of condensing spirit liquid had slowed significantly.

At this moment, on the leaf that was close to producing spirit liquid, the white substance resembling a lingzhi mushroom was still far from transparent.

Chu Ning carefully sensed it but didn't detect any traces of metallic energy within.

Turning his attention to his medicinal garden, he realized that he didn't seem to have any metallic spiritual plants. He lightly patted his forehead.

"Previously, I didn't pay much attention to metallic substances, whether they were spiritual plants or refining materials. Fortunately, the previous few spiritual plants are still effective, and the Snow Crystal Herb can continue to provide spirit liquid. As for refining artifacts..."

With that in mind, Chu Ning began to search through his storage bag.

After searching through his possessions, he only found three useful items: Gold Silkworm, Starseed Iron Essence, and Black Mysterious Gold.

Among them, the Jin Yanshi and Xingchen Iron Essence were obtained from Tie Shi and Ao Langtian.

As for the Black Xuanjin, it was acquired from You Jing's black chain, a portion of which had been used in the previous refinement of the three spirit swords.

Back then, it was only with the help of Ge Liuyang's ancient treasure that he was able to obtain three segments from the chain.

Now, however, it was impossible to obtain more.

With this thought, Chu Ning heaved a soft sigh.

"Indeed, it seems that great sects do have their advantages when it comes to resources.

I just didn't think about it when I was in the Jiuhua Zong."

It wasn't Chu Ning's fault for not preparing in advance. Soon after he formed his Golden Core in Jiuhua Zong, he entered the Golden Spirit Species Spirit Domain.

At that time, he never expected that he would leave Jiuhua Zong right after entering the domain, and that this departure would last for over twenty years.

So, it was natural that he hadn't prepared for the refinement of spirit treasures of the three attributes as early as he had before.

Now, it seemed that gathering the materials to forge the Gold Spirit Sword wouldn't be so easy.

Chu Ning shook his head, not feeling overly anxious.

After all, he still had spirit treasures he could use, and they were no small matter in terms of power. As for the Gold Spirit Sword, he could take more time to collect the materials and forge it later.

He still had some items that could be used for exchange, and if he put in some effort to search, he should be able to gather the remaining materials.

Although he couldn't forge a metal-attribute spirit treasure, Chu Ning felt that he could try cultivating metal-attribute spells.

Now that he had refreshed his Metal Spirit Body, it was only natural that he would cultivate one or two metal-attribute offensive spells, which would undoubtedly be useful in the future.

Especially when it came to the so-called Geng Metal Qi, Chu Ning's intuition told him that it could only be manifested through metal-attribute offensive spells.

Chu Ning did have metal-attribute spells, and at this moment, he took out two jade slips from his storage bag.

He carefully examined the two jade slips, which recorded the Golden Light Staff Technique and the Golden Armor God Shadow Fist Technique, respectively.

After some contemplation, Chu Ning kept the latter and returned the former to his storage bag.

These two spells were obtained after defeating the old man with the surname Zou from the Black Cloud Sect and Tie Shi from the Tianji Alliance, respectively.

The Golden Light Staff Technique was indeed powerful, but it required the use of the old man's spirit treasure, the Golden Light Staff, to truly unleash its might.

For Chu Ning, since the staff wasn't his lifelong spirit treasure, the power he could exert with it was limited.

In comparison, the Golden Armor God Shadow Fist he obtained from Tie Shi was more suitable for him.

Even without relying on a spirit treasure, it could still unleash the power of a top-grade middle-tier spell.

Chu Ning still remembered how Tie Shi had relied on his iron fists to fight against Ao Langtian and the Zou surname elder.

However, after examining the cultivation method of this technique, Chu Ning realized that the Golden Armor God Shadow Fist had extremely high requirements for the physical body. Even Tie Shi had to rely on his opponent's ring spirit treasure to truly bring out the full power of this fist technique.

But this wasn't a problem for Chu Ning.

Having already cultivated the Nine Transforming Body Refining Technique to the second volume and second layer, he could fully unleash the power of this fist technique with just his physical strength.

Moreover, when using this technique, he could also connect it with the Void Finger and the Heaven-Shaking Fist, creating a set of consecutive attacks.

Thus, for the next two months, Chu Ning did not consume any pills or Snow Crystal Spirit Liquid.

Instead, he cultivated the Five Elements Chaos Technique, consolidating his recently advanced realm, while also cultivating the Golden Armor God Shadow Fist.

After two months, although he couldn't be said to have completely mastered this top-grade technique, he had at least reached the beginner level.

On this particular morning, after finishing his cultivation and collecting the Snow Crystal Spirit Liquid, Chu Ning suddenly felt like going out for a walk.

"It's been almost a year since I last left my cave abode. I should go to the Frost Moon Pavilion to check on the spirit herbs.

While I'm at it, I can also see if I can find the materials needed to forge the Gold Spirit Sword."

With that in mind, Chu Ning arrived in front of the golden lightning falcon's spirit beast room and released the two golden lightning falcons.

"Big Jin, Little Jin, let's go. I'll take you out for a spin.

You must be feeling cooped up after being confined in this cave abode for almost a year."

As Chu Ning finished speaking, the two golden lightning falcons let out cheerful "gugu" calls.

At this moment, Chu Ning's eyes lit up.

"Geng metal qi!"

He had suddenly sensed a type of qi from the two golden lightning falcons that he had never felt before.

Although he had never come into contact with it, with just a slight scan, a thought emerged in his mind—this was geng metal qi.

At this moment, Chu Ning even had the urge to directly draw out, condense, and refine the geng metal qi from the bodies of the two golden lightning falcons using his spiritual power.

"So, it's not just heavenly materials and earth treasures that can contain geng metal qi. These demonic beasts can carry it as well.

Of course, it's related to the fact that the golden lightning falcons are metal-attribute demonic beasts. Although they possess both gold and lightning attributes, before advancing to the fifth rank, their metal attribute is dominant. Only after advancing to the fifth rank and condensing their demon core will their lightning attribute truly awaken."

Chu Ning pondered, thinking that it would be easier to search for geng metal qi this way.

Metal-attribute demonic beasts, spirit herbs, and even materials were all within his search parameters.

After keeping the two golden lightning falcons in his spirit beast bag, Chu Ning also put the sleeping Ling Xiaobai into his spirit beast bag.

However, while Chu Ning felt secure in his own abode, he didn't feel comfortable leaving such precious items there when he was away.

Exiting the cave, he bypassed Ice Spirit Fairy City and appeared in the Snowy Peak Mountain Range behind it.

As he saw fewer cultivators, Chu Ning patted his spirit beast bag, releasing the two Golden Lightning Falcons.

"Gu! Gu!" the falcons cried as they soared into the sky. Chu Ning leaped onto Big Jin's back.

He then instructed the falcons, "Fly as you please, and hunt any demonic beasts you wish to."

As Chu Ning finished speaking, the two Golden Lightning Falcons immediately flew towards the depths of the Snowy Peak Mountain Range.

At the same time, their sharp eyes scanned the area below.

Occasionally, when they spotted a demonic beast or two, Little Jin would dive down, using its sharp claws to tear its prey to shreds.

Then, the two falcons would share the spoils.

As the falcons hunted, Chu Ning unleashed his spiritual sense to its fullest extent, searching for any spiritual herbs or artifact refining materials within the mountain range.

Although the Snowy Peak Mountain Range had the word "snow" in its name, not all of it was covered in snow. Only the area deep within, beyond the Snow Mist Valley, was perpetually blanketed in white.

Thus, on the outer reaches of the mountain range, the spiritual veins were of decent quality, and despite the lower temperature compared to other areas, there were still many heavenly treasures to be found.

Chu Ning's journey had been fruitful, and he soon arrived about twenty miles from the Snow Mist Valley.

Here, fifth and sixth-rank demonic beasts appeared from time to time, so Foundation Establishment cultivators rarely dared to venture further.

And since it would be another year or so before the Snow Mist Valley opened again, there weren't many Core Formation cultivators around either.

Just as the two Golden Lightning Falcons captured another demonic beast, Chu Ning's eyes lit up.

The next moment, he flashed to a spot twenty feet away, landing near over ten stalks of pale golden spiritual herbs.

"Earth Gold Grass, I've finally found spiritual herbs with Geng Metal Qi!"

As he flew along the way, Chu Ning had been using his spiritual sense to search for heavenly treasures.

However, it seemed that there weren't many metal-based heavenly treasures in this area, and the few metal-based spiritual herbs and refining materials Chu Ning had discovered had low grades.

He hadn't found any Geng Metal Qi in them.

But now, he had finally detected the presence of Geng Metal Qi in these over ten stalks of Earth Gold Grass.

Delighted, Chu Ning immediately cast a series of hand seals on one of the stalks.

At the same time, he reached out and grabbed a pale golden strand of energy, pulling it into his hand.

"So this is Geng Metal Qi!"

Chu Ning examined the energy in his hand curiously.

It seemed to have some similarities to the spiritual aura of the Gold Spirit Seed, but it was clearly weaker.

Chu Ning activated the Five Elements Chaos Technique to absorb and refine the Geng Metal Qi into his body.

Then, to his surprise, he found that the Geng Metal Qi didn't reside in his dantian but in his metal spiritual root.

He sensed it for a moment before practicing the Golden Armor God Shadow Fist.

Instantly, a series of fist shadows blasted out from Chu Ning's hand.

"Geng Metal Qi!"

The next moment, Chu Ning manipulated the Geng Metal Qi within him.

A pale golden stream of energy flowed from Chu Ning's movement, intertwining with two of the fist shadows.

Compared to the other fist shadows, these two were not only more solid but also felt nearly ten percent more powerful to Chu Ning.

"With just a wisp of Geng Metal Qi, the power has increased by nearly ten percent.

If I gather more Geng Metal Qi..."

Chu Ning's eyes sparkled, and he turned his attention to the remaining Earth Gold Grass stalks.

He cast a series of hand seals onto the spiritual herbs, then reached out and grabbed the air, pulling strands of faint Geng Metal Qi into his body.

After absorbing and refining the Geng Metal Qi from all the Earth Gold Grass, Chu Ning examined the herbs closely, sensing their energy.

"Their luster seems dimmer than before, but they're still lush with spiritual energy.

However, if I were to use them to refine pills, their effectiveness might be reduced."

As Chu Ning studied the herbs, an idea suddenly occurred to him.

"If I use the Mysterious Spring Technique to help these spiritual herbs gather metal-attributed spiritual energy..."

With that in mind, Chu Ning began to cast the hand seals of the Mysterious Spring Technique on the herbs.

The Mysterious Spring Technique could strip away the five elemental energies, and now that Chu Ning possessed a metal spiritual root and a Metal Spirit Body, his perception of metal-attributed spiritual energy was even more acute.

As the hand seals landed on the Earth Gold Grass, streams of metal-attributed spiritual energy began to converge on the herbs.

After doing all this, Chu Ning didn't rush to leave.

Instead, he sat down to meditate, waiting for the full effects of the Mysterious Spring Technique to manifest.

Then, he carefully observed the herbs, and his eyes lit up.

He could clearly sense that these Earth Gold Grass stalks now possessed a faint trace of Geng Metal Qi.

Although it was extremely weak, it was definitely there.

"With these hens laying golden eggs, how could I worry about not having enough gold eggs?"

Chu Ning chuckled to himself, then proceeded to dig up all the Earth Gold Grass and store them in a jade box.

He planned to transplant them in his cave abode.

Just as Chu Ning finished this task, his eyebrows furrowed slightly, and he turned his gaze to the right.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end