Chapter 310: Secrets of the Domain, Harmonizing the Five Elements, and the Five Element Tempering Bo

Chapter 310: Secrets of the Domain, Harmonizing the Five Elements, and the Five Element Tempering Body Technique

Lu Qing sat cross-legged on the ground, quietly contemplating the insights into domains that his ability had simulated.

The old doctor and the others watched him silently, even refraining from their usual casual conversations to avoid disturbing his cultivation.

Time passed quietly, and at first, no one seemed to notice anything unusual.

However, before they knew it, a subtle yet formidable aura began to emanate from Lu Qing. It was as if the might of the heavens themselves was being unleashed, suppressing everything in its path.

The old doctor's expression changed slightly as he immediately spoke up, "Everyone, let's move back a bit. It seems like Ah Qing has had a breakthrough."

The group quickly retreated to a safer distance.

In fact, they didn't need the old doctor's prompt, as they had already felt a sense of discomfort.

The aura emanating from Lu Qing, though subtle, made them feel a suffocating pressure as if something terrible was about to happen if they didn't move away quickly.

As the group backed away, Lu Qing, who was in the midst of his cultivation, also sensed their movements.

While he was receiving the insights in his mind, he wasn't completely oblivious to his surroundings.

Once the group had retreated to a safe distance, he could fully focus on assimilating the insights about domains that were being transmitted to his mind by his ability.

This time, his master had imparted all his understandings of domains into the small sword qi domain that Lu Qing had created with his palm earlier.

His ability had faithfully downloaded and simulated these insights, translating them into a form that Lu Qing could comprehend.

It gave Lu Qing a true understanding of domains.

"So that's how it is," Lu Qing thought to himself. "Domains are about controlling the space around oneself. By extending one's spiritual power and merging it with the surrounding heaven and earth, one can harness the primal energies of the universe and transform them into domains, which can then be used to execute various techniques against enemies."

Lu Qing's mind buzzed with newfound enlightenment.

The application of domains varied from person to person, and different insights could lead to different techniques.

For instance, the Third Holy Master, by merging his spirit with the heavens and earth, gathered the primal energies of the four directions, forming a grand momentum to oppress his opponents. This was one way of utilizing a domain.

On the other hand, his master's palm-sized sword qi domain was intricate and exquisite, showcasing a different approach.

They simply walked different paths in their cultivation.

Moreover, even among domains, there were varying degrees of strength.

The power of one's spiritual energy, the extent of control over the primal energies, and the level of one's cultivation all played a role in determining the might of one's domain.

"My master has realized the way of water and fire, so his domain manipulates the water and fire energies of the universe," Lu Qing mused. "With water and fire supporting each other, his domain is much more powerful than ordinary ones. Now, which energies should I control?"

Lu Qing fell into deep thought.

Typically, when a martial arts master broke through to the Innate Realm, they would choose to focus on cultivating a particular type of primal energy, refining their own attribute true qi.

A very small minority, like his master, might stumble upon the opportunity to realize the harmony between water and fire, allowing them to cultivate two types of attribute true qi simultaneously without any conflict. Instead, the two energies would complement each other, enhancing their cultivation speed.

Ever since Lu Qing entered the Innate Realm, he hadn't had sufficient time to refine his own attribute true qi.

So, he hesitated, unsure of which path to choose.

Or perhaps, he should cultivate all five elements?

The idea suddenly flashed across Lu Qing's mind.

To be honest, he had been contemplating this idea for a while.

When his master first entered the Innate Realm and explained to him that the human body contained the five elemental energies, and one could choose which type of true qi to cultivate, Lu Qing had asked if it was possible to cultivate all five elements simultaneously.

Back then, his master's answer was that while it was theoretically possible, one's energy and attention were limited. Attempting to cultivate all five types of true qi at once would undoubtedly slow down one's progress.

By the time one managed to achieve some level of proficiency, their lifespan might already be nearing its end.

In that case, even if one succeeded in cultivating all five types of true qi, what would be the point?

However, for Lu Qing, cultivating all five elements simultaneously wasn't as challenging.

With his ability, he could learn and progress much faster than ordinary people, no matter the task.

While others worried about their limited energy and attention, he didn't have such concerns.

Therefore, for Lu Qing, cultivating all five elements was indeed the best choice.

With his decision made, Lu Qing wasted no time in settling his mind and preparing to refine his attribute true qi.

He calmed his mind and extended his spiritual power from the Yintang acupoint between his eyebrows, connecting with the heavens and earth.

Instantly, Lu Qing sensed the colorful primal energies of the five elements, as well as the spiritual energy lurking in the higher spatial layers.

Upon witnessing this through his ability, Lu Qing's heart stirred once more.

With the changes in the heavens and earth, spiritual energy had already revived and was becoming increasingly dense day by day.

It wouldn't be long before it returned to the state of the ancient cultivation era.

"At that time, the art of cultivation will surely rise again and reclaim its glory.

The flourishing martial arts of today will likely wane and return to its rightful place.

No, it's not that it will wane, but rather it will revert to its intended role.

In fact, Lu Qing speculated that today's martial arts are likely an offshoot of the body-refining branch of the ancient cultivation methods.

This is because there are too many similarities between the two cultivation practices.

Both involve absorbing and refining the energies of the heavens and earth to temper one's body.

It's just that martial artists absorb the primal energies, while body cultivators refine the higher-level spiritual energy.

Spiritual energy also consists of the five elements, and perhaps, instead of cultivating attribute true qi, I should directly refine spiritual energy."

It just so happened that after refining the Nine Source Vitality, his physical body had reached the realm where his skin emitted a faint glow, naturally making him suitable for the path of body cultivation.

With this thought, Lu Qing's mind suddenly shifted.

Countless legacies left by the Li Huo Sect flashed through his mind.

Finally, his consciousness settled on a few cultivation techniques.

They were some of the best body-refining techniques among the Li Huo Sect's legacies.

The highest realm one could achieve with these techniques was the Golden Core stage.

Lu Qing browsed through them for a while before his attention landed on one particular technique.

Its name was the Five Element Tempering Body Technique.

Coincidentally, this was also a cultivation method that involved refining all five elements.

The core of this technique was to absorb the spiritual energies of the five elements—gold, wood, water, fire, and earth—to cultivate five-element spiritual power and strengthen oneself.

It was an extremely powerful body-refining technique.

It was said that the five-element body cultivated through this technique was exceptionally robust, surpassing ordinary body cultivators of the same level by a significant margin.

However, this technique was also notoriously slow in terms of progress.

Even the powerful cultivator who created it only managed to cultivate it to the perfect Golden Core stage before his lifespan came to an end, leaving him with regrets as he passed away.

After the cultivator's demise, the Five Element Tempering Body Technique gradually spread, eventually falling into the hands of the major sects and factions of that time.

However, due to its slow cultivation speed and limited potential, most sects only treated it as a collection piece, and few bothered to cultivate it.

The Li Huo Sect, which was quite influential in the cultivation world back then, naturally possessed this technique among its legacies.

After perusing the information about the Five Element Tempering Body Technique, Lu Qing decided that this was the one.

There was no other reason than the fact that the best body-refining techniques among the Li Huo Sect's legacies could only reach the Golden Core stage at most.

Since the upper limit was the same, he naturally chose the technique with the most formidable power.

As for the drawback of the Five Element Tempering Body Technique being slow, he didn't mind at all.

With his ability, he was confident that he could handle this technique.

Calming his mind to its optimal state, Lu Qing utilized his ability to start comprehending the Five Element Tempering Body Technique.

Countless insights surged from the depths of his mind, and Lu Qing swiftly absorbed them.

His understanding of the Five Element Tempering Body Technique began to deepen.

The technique was divided into three sections: Refining Qi, Building Foundation, and Golden Core.

Each realm contained an immense amount of information.

If not for Lu Qing's advancement to the Innate Realm and the evolution of his spirit soul to the Yang Seal stage, enhancing his spiritual power, he might not have been able to absorb all these insights.

Fortunately, none of that was an issue anymore.

Lu Qing immersed himself in the countless cultivation insights.

After an indeterminate amount of time, when he absorbed the very last insight, his mind trembled, and a moment of enlightenment arose within him.

He had basically comprehended the Five Element Tempering Body Technique, especially the Refining Qi section, which he had thoroughly digested without any doubts or obstacles.

With a thought, his spiritual power once again emerged from the Yintang acupoint between his eyebrows, sensing the heavens and earth.

This time, he ignored the colorful primal energies of the five elements.

Instead, he focused his attention on the spiritual energy that existed in the higher spatial layers, filled with a lively and spiritual essence.

This was the first time Lu Qing had seriously sensed spiritual energy since entering the Innate Realm.

He discovered that spiritual energy was full of vitality and was quite playful in nature.

Although it existed in a higher-level spatial layer, it was easy for spiritual power to sense it.

However, if one wanted to peel it away from that layer and absorb it into their body, it would be extremely difficult.

One would need to possess sufficiently strong spiritual power to accomplish this.

This was the reason why, despite the revival of spiritual energy, very few people could draw it into their bodies and refine it.

Most Innate Realm cultivators today, unless they had some special opportunity, generally had weak spiritual power.

Lu Qing attempted to peel away a strand of spiritual energy from the higher spatial layer.

With his current spiritual power, this was not a difficult task at all.

Soon, he peeled off a strand of spiritual energy and guided it into his dantian's qi sea.

Lu Qing then activated the cultivation method of the Five Element Tempering Body Technique, refining and tempering it further.

Before long, Lu Qing successfully condensed his first strand of spiritual power.

But this was just the first step.

The strand he had refined was water-attributed spiritual energy, and the resulting spiritual power was also water-attributed.

However, the Five Element Tempering Body Technique required him to simultaneously condense and refine the five elements—gold, wood, water, fire, and earth—and then, through a profound mental technique, blend and fuse them together.

The goal was to cultivate a unique and formidable type of spiritual power known as the Five Element Spiritual Power.

This was the real reason why the Five Element Tempering Body Technique was notoriously slow in progress.

While others could condense one strand of spiritual power, you would have to spend five times more time to condense the five elements. No wonder it was slow going.

This was also why few people in the ancient cultivation world practiced the Five Element Tempering Body Technique.

Even if you became powerful, what was the point?

In the path of cultivation, longevity was the ultimate pursuit!

While strength was important, it was not as valuable as a long life.

No matter how strong one's power was, it could only bring temporary glory.

In the face of time, one would eventually turn to dust.

Only longevity could grant eternal life, the ultimate goal of all cultivators.

Moreover, strength was not solely determined by spiritual power.

One's realm was also a manifestation of their power. The Five Element Tempering Body Technique might be formidable, but it could only dominate up to the Golden Core stage.

If one encountered a powerful cultivator beyond that stage, they would still be crushed.

For all these reasons, very few people cultivated this technique with its limited upper bound.

Of course, these were not concerns for Lu Qing at the moment.

So, after condensing the first strand of spiritual power, he immediately continued to sense and peel away the next strand of spiritual energy.

This time, he chose a wood-attributed strand.

And just as easily, he peeled it away and attempted to absorb it into his dantian's qi sea.

Perhaps it was because his body had already refined the Nine Source Vitalities.

When he absorbed the wood-attributed spiritual energy into his dantian, there was no conflict with the previously condensed spiritual power.

Instead, it obediently allowed him to temper and refine it further.

As Lu Qing was in the midst of condensing spiritual power, the old doctor nearby sensed the aura emanating from him and was astonished.

"This is the aura of spiritual power. Has Ah Qing become a cultivator?

But why do I sense two different types of spiritual power attributes from him?

Could it be that he intends to cultivate multiple attributes simultaneously?"

The old doctor himself had condensed both water and fire spiritual powers, but he never expected Lu Qing to embark on the same path.

For a moment, he felt a twinge of worry.

He was able to condense two types of spiritual power because he had comprehended the harmony of water and fire.

But Ah Qing hadn't comprehended a similar insight, and the old doctor wasn't sure if he could handle the conflict between multiple spiritual powers.

However, despite his concerns, the old doctor refrained from interrupting.

He understood Lu Qing's character; his disciple would never attempt something unless he was confident.

Since Ah Qing dared to condense multiple attributes simultaneously, he must have his reasons.

As the old doctor worried, Lu Qing successfully condensed the wood-attributed spiritual power.

Without hesitation, he continued to condense the third strand.

And so, with Lu Qing's continuous efforts, eventually, five strands of spiritual power with distinct attributes appeared in his dantian's qi sea, occupying five different positions.

Lu Qing calmed his mind as he gazed at the five strands of spiritual power in his dantian.

The next step was the most crucial.

He had to use his powerful mental strength to activate the mental technique, blending and fusing the five strands of spiritual power together to condense the true Five Element Spiritual Power.

This process was extremely dangerous. If he was not careful, the conflict between the five elements could easily lead to a devastating explosion.

In a best-case scenario, he would be severely injured, his qi sea damaged. In the worst case, his dantian's qi sea could be destroyed, rendering him crippled.

However, having come this far, Lu Qing did not flinch.

Moreover, he believed that with his current foundation and control over his body, refining these five elements would be a seamless process.

After giving himself a mental boost, Lu Qing regained his composure, his mind as still as a tranquil well.

He began to activate the mental technique, using his mental strength to merge the five strands of spiritual power in his dantian.

Under Lu Qing's powerful mental impetus, the five strands of spiritual power started to converge and intertwine with each other.

Lu Qing watched this intently, not daring to relax for a moment.

However, to his surprise, the fusion of the five strands of spiritual power proceeded exceptionally smoothly, much easier than he had anticipated.

In no time, a brand new strand of spiritual power emerged in his dantian.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end