Chapter 7 : Half a Year Passes, Seventh Layer of Qi Refining
Chapter 7: Half a Year Passes, Seventh Layer of Qi Refining!
As night fell, Gu Yan returned to his small courtyard.
After a simple wash, he sat cross-legged on the couch.
He did not rush to cultivate, but instead opened 《Flowing Light Splitting Shadow Sword》.
From the opening general outline alone, its intent was already quite extraordinary.
Its core essence lay in transforming the tangible into the intangible, splitting light and seizing shadows.
A practitioner had to reach the second rotation of Martial Dao, with inner force refined to the point where it could initially leave the body,
Only then could one follow the secret method to compress and temper inner force to the extreme within specific meridians, ultimately breaking out of the body and transforming it into invisible yet substantial, sharp sword qi.
The quantity of sword qi, its sharpness, and its speed all depended entirely on the practitioner.
It could be said that a thousand people would wield a thousand different swords—light and shadow following the heart.
The sword technique contained a total of twelve forms, ranging from the opening “Flowing Light’s Sudden Emergence” to the final “Myriad Shadows Return to Origin.” It progressed from simple to complex, then reduced complexity back to simplicity.
It emphasized movement like flowing light, stillness like a resting shadow, with constant shifts between illusion and reality that made it impossible to guard against.
In addition to sword techniques and inner force circulation routes, the latter half of the manual also detailed a special movement technique to accompany sword qi—the Shadow Skimming Step.
After reading the entire text three times, he had completely memorized its contents.
Gu Yan closed the sword manual and shut his eyes in contemplation.
.......
By day, he earned sect contribution points; by night, he cultivated.
In the blink of an eye, more than half a year had passed.
Late that night, Gu Yan slowly concluded his cultivation.
With a slight movement of thought, a panel naturally appeared before his eyes:
【Gu Yan】
【Lifespan: 21/180】
【Realm: Qi Refining · Seventh Layer】
【Entry: Five Elements Spiritual Body · Orange】
【Cultivation Methods: 《Taiyi Dao De True Scripture · First Rotation Chapter》, 《Flowing Light Splitting Shadow Sword》】
Unknowingly, more than a year had passed since the system was activated… and the panel had gained an additional cultivation method column.
But the true transformation lay within Gu Yan himself.
Within his body, seven of the nine acupoints were now fully filled with spiritual power, replacing the original inner force.
As expected—one acupoint, one layer of heaven—he had steadily stepped into the late stage of Qi Refining.
Gu Yan’s gaze lingered briefly on the lifespan section, and the corners of his mouth couldn’t help but rise.
When he first broke through from the first to the second layer of Qi Refining, his lifespan had surged by twenty years, which had already delighted him.
Now, upon reaching the seventh layer, although each level-up only added ten years, he was already very satisfied.
“In the web novels of my previous life, ordinary late-stage Qi Refining cultivators could live to one hundred thirty at most.”
“I haven’t even reached Foundation Establishment, yet I’m already nearing two hundred years…”
“And even Foundation Establishment cultivators only live about two to three hundred years.”
“My abnormal upper limit is probably due to the unique reaction between the local Martial Dao and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.”
In any case, this was an immense benefit.
Lifespan was capital—it was fault tolerance.
Even if the next extraction of entries had to wait until one hundred twenty years old, he had enough confidence to wait.
Aside from spiritual power and lifespan, another qualitative change brought by the seventh layer of Qi Refining was the birth of divine sense.
With a slight movement of thought, an invisible ripple spread outward from him.
Within a radius of a hundred feet, the chirping of insects, the stirring of grass, the condensation of night dew—even the steady breathing of an outer sect disciple in the neighboring courtyard—were all reflected in his mind as clearly as lines on his palm.
This god-like perspective was extraordinarily mysterious, as if the world had shed a layer of separation and become clearer.
Just as he was carefully experiencing the wonders of divine sense...
In the outer sect of Taiyi Dao Sect, at the C-Grade Herb Garden of Azure Cloud Peak.
The moon was hidden and the stars were sparse, dark clouds covering the sky.
The originally tranquil herb garden was shattered by violent collisions of force and sharp cries.
Su Zhi and Lin Wei, who were on duty here, had fallen into a bitter battle.
Their opponent was a martial cultivator clad in a black robe. With each strike, black qi surged, and his palm force was powerful and domineering, capable of leaving the body and injuring from a distance.
The herb fields had already been devastated into a complete mess.
“Second rotation of Martial Dao! Inner force released externally!” Su Zhi narrowly avoided a palm strike, her breathing thrown into chaos.
Both she and Lin Wei were at the peak of the first rotation of Martial Dao, only one step away from the second rotation where inner force could be projected outward.
But that single step was a chasm in real combat.
Facing an opponent who could wield inner force like an extension of his limbs and attack from afar, their defenses were on the verge of collapse, danger lurking at every moment.
The black-robed man let out a strange laugh, seized an opening, and his palm condensed with pitch-black inner force slammed toward Lin Wei’s back!
If this strike landed, death was certain.
Lin Wei was on the verge of perishing.
At that critical moment!
Chi!
A faint yet piercing sound of air being torn apart split the night sky.
It was a pale golden sword qi.
About a foot long, fast as lightning, as if born from nothing, it instantly pierced the black-robed man beneath his ribs.
The man’s body stiffened abruptly, his forward palm strike collapsing instantly, the ferocious grin on his face freezing.
He lowered his head to look at the rapidly splitting wound at his waist, opened his mouth, but no sound came out.
His eyes then dimmed, and with a thud, he fell to the ground, lifeless.
Su Zhi and Lin Wei stood frozen.
The daze of surviving death and the sudden turn of events left them unable to react.
That sword qi had come too quickly, too covertly—they hadn’t even seen where it came from.
In the shadows of an ancient tree a hundred meters away from the herb garden, Gu Yan slowly withdrew his right hand, his fingers still shaped like a sword.
He had been sensing his surroundings with divine sense when he noticed the disturbance and quietly rushed over, just in time to witness this scene.
Lin Wei had given him the 《Flowing Light Splitting Shadow Sword》 manual—an act akin to imparting technique—so naturally, he would not stand by and watch her die.
Thus, he used spiritual power to simulate the method of condensing sword qi from the manual, launching that strand of flowing light sword qi from afar.
The sword qi formed from spiritual power was far more powerful than that condensed from inner force—it had slain a second-rotation martial cultivator in an instant.
And that had been far from his full strength; that strike had used only twenty percent of his power.
Seeing that the two women were unharmed, Gu Yan’s divine sense detected another not-weak aura rapidly approaching. Judging by the attire, it was an outer sect elder of Taiyi Dao Sect.
That person was heading straight for the C-Grade Herb Garden.
Immediately after, several more sounds of air being torn apart came from afar—clearly other elders rushing over.
Gu Yan did not linger. His figure silently blended into the deeper night, and after a few leaps, he returned to his secluded courtyard.
He stood quietly in the courtyard for a moment, recalling the scene of taking a life in the blink of an eye.
To his own surprise, he felt no nausea, no fear, not even excitement.
He couldn’t quite describe the feeling.
Gu Yan shook his head lightly, casting aside the thought without further reflection.
The next morning.
Gu Yan arrived at the C-Grade Herb Garden for work as usual.
The herb garden had regained superficial calm, but the destroyed medicinal plants and overturned soil still revealed last night’s turmoil.
Old Chen, the steward, sighed upon seeing him: “Xiao Yan, there was a demonic cultivator causing trouble in our herb garden last night. Fortunately, no one died…
But quite a bit of the herb fields were destroyed. Today’s work will probably break our backs.”
Gu Yan picked up his tools skillfully while responding, “As long as no one died, that’s good. I’ll take on more of the work.”
He noticed that Lin Wei and Su Zhi had not appeared today and couldn’t help but speculate:
After such an incident, the two of them were likely summoned back to the inner sect for questioning.
And indeed, it was just as he had expected.
Within the inner sect of Taiyi Dao Sect, inside a certain hall.
Su Zhi and Lin Wei had already reported the events of last night in detail.
The identity of the black-robed man had been confirmed—he was a member of the Extreme Yin Demon Sect, a long-standing enemy that had battled Taiyi Dao Sect for over a hundred years.
The sect’s cultivation methods were vicious, often using the blood and qi of living beings for cultivation, making it intolerable to the righteous path.
Although the demonic cultivator had not been killed by the two women personally, they had protected the herb garden from greater damage, which still counted as a merit.
Thus, they were awarded a considerable amount of sect contribution points as a reward.
At this moment, however, the focus of the inner and outer sect elders gathered in the hall was no longer on the reward.
Instead, it was on the fleeting, stunning sword qi described by Su Zhi and Lin Wei—the mysterious strike that had instantly killed a second-rotation demonic cultivator.
“That was not my doing.” The outer sect elder who had arrived first waved his hands repeatedly, his expression grave.
“According to the descriptions of Nephews Su and Lin, and the faint residual sharp aura at the scene, that demonic cultivator’s mastery of externalizing inner force was not shallow—at least mid-stage second rotation.
Though I am also at the second rotation, I could never kill him so effortlessly with a single strike.”
Another white-bearded elder stroked his beard thoughtfully: “That sword qi struck the vital point and severed his life instantly… such a method not only requires profound understanding of the sword, but also overwhelming cultivation.
In my opinion, the one who made the move is likely at least at the peak of the third rotation of Martial Dao, perhaps even… already at the fourth rotation!”
“Fourth rotation?” someone inhaled sharply.
In the entire Great Qian Dynasty, a fourth-rotation Martial Dao expert could already be considered a top-tier powerhouse, capable of serving as the highest combat force of an ordinary sect.
Why would such a figure appear near the outer sect herb garden of Taiyi Dao Sect?
And why intervene to save two inner sect disciples?
Was it a passing act of righteousness, or was there some hidden motive?
The elders discussed endlessly, making various conjectures, yet none had any evidence.
The only thing certain was that within the territory of Taiyi Dao Sect, there was a hidden, unfamiliar expert—at least at the peak of the third rotation—who excelled in sword qi.