Chapter 22: Breaking Through the First Layer of Qi Refining

  Yin Lao Mo withdrew his divine sense and glanced at the mysterious person behind the curtain, seeing that he was still prostrating on the ground. He asked, "Is there anything else to report?"

  "This is what I really want to tell Master."

  "Oh? Come and take a look."

  "This man is called Shi Dong." The mysterious figure waved his sleeve, and a beam of light flew out from it.

  It fell into the empty space and formed a wave-like water, on which appeared the appearance of Shi Dong. It was a round face with two agile small eyes, standing in the crowd with his head down. He saw him slyly looking around the high platform, it was the scene where Lei Huo and Mao Feifei were competing, but somehow this person recorded it with secret techniques.

  Yin Lao Mo took a glance and remained noncommittal, waiting for the man to continue his explanation.

  "When he first entered the sect, his qualifications were at the bottom of the third grade. On the day he was assigned to a cave, Zhou De Nuo found him and stuffed a copy of the Gambler's Scripture into his hands. Later, it was taken away by Bai Jin and publicly turned into fragments."

  But afterwards when he went back to investigate these fragments, he discovered that they had been quietly picked up by Bai Jin.

  Yin Lao Mo nodded and said expressionlessly: "Continue speaking."

  "Yes! Later, I had someone keep an eye on Bai Jin and saw him secretly compiling this 'Gambling Devil Scripture'. He's still studying it. But after I took a look at the content, it should be a fake scripture. This is just Zhou De Nuo's trick to distract us."

  Yin Lao Mo furrowed his eagle-like eyebrows, stroking his chin, his face a picture of deep contemplation: "The Obstruction Technique is nothing special. Since he's an undercover agent from the San Shan Fu Sect, when White Jin drove him out, he naturally had to pretend to be crazy and stupid to numb White Jin. Hmph! That idiot White Jin ruined everything, letting Zhou De Nu slip away right under his nose!"

  It suddenly occurred to him that the true intention of Zhou De's obstacle-removing technique was to conceal the movement of the stone.

  That person shook his head and replied, "I don't know, I only know that this stone was taken by Bai Jin and Duan Mei from the foot of Ling Xiang Sect, and when they entered, Zhou De Nu found them. Now Zhou De Nu's cave is occupied by Mao Fei Fei. During the martial arts competition, Shi Dong was injured by Mao Fei Fei who fell from the high platform, and then Mao Fei Fei carried him back to the cave, and the two of them stayed together for a long time before parting ways."

  "Do you think there's a problem here, and it's not just a coincidence?" asked Yin Laomo.

  "Shi Dong was not unexpectedly hit by Mao Feifei, but was kicked over by someone."

  "Who?"

  "Zhū Kě ér!"

  "Haha......" Yin Lao Mo suddenly sneered, "It's getting interesting! Looks like my old opponent can't hold back either!"

  "Is there anything else you'd like to report?"

  "It's all gone."

  "Alright, closely monitor Shi Dong, Zhu Ke'er and Mao Feifei, record all their cultivation changes, movements, and who they meet. Also, arrange for someone to investigate the three people's backgrounds as soon as possible and get me a detailed and accurate profile!"

  "Yes!"

  "Remember, just surveillance, no interference in their daily activities. The big fish we're after is the one behind them!"

  "Achoo! Achoo!"

  Shi Dong let out two loud sneezes, feeling a bit dizzy and his nose was slightly sore, as if he had caught a cold.

  He thought that this should be the result of holding those evil spirit stones yesterday, counting and checking the number, resulting in being invaded by thick yin energy.

  "Alas! It's all because I was too excited! Master said it right, one can never relax at any time!" He shook his head in self-mockery, sat on the couch to calm down and focus, but suddenly his face gradually turned red, his blood circulation accelerated, even his breath was hot.

  He hastily jumped down from the bed, picked up two stone rollers with one hand each, and slowly moved forward around the stone table, actually starting to practice the "Marrow-Wheel Turning Evil Spirit Skill".

  It was just a moment ago that Shi Dong woke up from his meditation and felt that he had caught a cold, which had never happened to him since he started practicing.

  If it hadn't been for the cultivation before, being affected by this wind chill wouldn't have mattered. However, after practicing Mo Jie Zhan Sha Shen Gong, every day the body continuously absorbs yin energy and merges with qi and blood to form Sha True Qi, so naturally there is a lot of yin energy in the body.

  Once contracted with wind chill, if not eliminated in time, it is easy to induce the outbreak of internal cold evil, so any cultivator of the Demon Gate attaches great importance to this and must eliminate it as soon as possible.

  To put it bluntly, a Mo Xian Men cultivator should not feel the cold. If they do, it is an omen of walking into demonic fire.

  Shi Dong hastily took the nourishing blood pill, regulating the flow of qi and blood in his body, and using his spiritual power to dispel the wind and cold.

  Half an hour later, Shi Dong's whole body was hot and sweaty, his face turned rosy, and his eyes sparkled. Seeing that the chill he had just suffered from had been completely dispelled, he couldn't help but smile.

  Next, take out the Qigong Pill and swallow it, then resume practicing Qigong to absorb it, soon entering a state of complete absorption where self and object are both forgotten...

  One day three months later.

  Shi Dong was about to break through into the first layer of the Refining Qi stage, thanks to the catalysis of two bottles of Nourishing Blood Pill and Cultivating Qi Pill every month, combined with the extremely defeated Ling Stone cultivation.

  At this time, he sat cross-legged, with both hands holding a piece of Sha Ling stone stuck to his navel. The seven major meridians in his body slowly rotated, and strands of yin energy were absorbed from the Sha Ling stone into the meridians. After being refined by the meridian's Qi and blood, it merged into the Dan Tian.

  The ball of evil true energy inside the dantian has grown to the size of a broad bean, and as strand after strand of evil true energy merges into it, it begins to rotate and expand, seemingly on the verge of some sudden transformation.

  One moment

  Two quarters of an hour

  Three o'clock...

  Suddenly, the stone stirred and let out a low hum, its muscles tensed up, both hands tightly grasping the evil spirit stone, the meridians around its body rapidly rotating.

  Suddenly, a hissing sound was heard, and the evil spirit stone shrank at a speed visible to the naked eye, just like snow meeting a scorching sun. At the same time, a surge of evil true energy rushed into the dantian.

  In the dantian, that ball of true qi glowed brightly and contracted and expanded, contracted and expanded...

  Crack crack crack!

  A loud noise suddenly erupted inside the dantian, and that ball of evil true energy suddenly exploded, transforming into a cloud-like vortex that slowly revolved within the dantian, flashing with a bright light, as beautiful as the Milky Way.

  Sigh——

  Shi Dong let out a long breath, opened his eyes, and his pupils shone with a brilliant light, as if he had obtained infinite power.

  "Is this all there is to the Refining Qi stage?" he muttered to himself.

  With both fists clenched tightly, a crackling sound was heard, and I felt the true energy in my dantian surge forth vigorously, several times stronger than before.

  "Haha! I finally broke through! This feeling is too great!" Shi Dong excitedly shouted, and suddenly felt his whole body relax, his spirit shining brightly, as if he was floating on air.

  Only then did I realize that breaking through in cultivation is so wonderful, no wonder everyone wants to cultivate!

  After a moment of excitement, I started checking all over and only then did I notice that there were many stains on the surface of my skin, giving off a foul and pungent smell.

  He smiled wryly to himself, knowing that this was the damage caused by the breakthrough to his physical body, and it was these residual impurities that accumulated in his body, so his lifespan was limited.

  After cutting his hair and washing his marrow, his physical body became even stronger, and his lifespan increased by fifty years.

  Shi Dong stood up with a joyful expression, looked at the Seal Spirit Stone in his hand, and saw that it had been completely consumed, leaving only a shallow water mark.

  It only took one Spirit Stone to break through, which was beyond his expectations. For his current status, this one Spirit Stone was nothing, and there were still ninety-five in the storage waistband!

  After jumping into the bathtub and washing up, Shi Dong wiped his body dry and walked out, changed his clothes, and felt refreshed all over, it was really indescribably comfortable.

  With a pleased expression, he glanced around the room, and when his eyes fell on those four stone pedestals, Shi Dong suddenly thought of trying out how much his strength had increased, so he stepped forward, embracing one of the stone pedestals with both hands.

  Huh? Isn't it easy?

  A hundred-jin stone pedestal was lifted up at once, both arms shook, and it actually flew into the air, falling down again to be easily caught by him.

  This made him overjoyed, and he simply threw the four stone pedestals into the air one after another, catching them one by one, his body only slightly sinking.

  Eyes gazing upwards, four stone pedestals as tall as I am, considering the combined force of the fall, the weight has already exceeded 400 catties, and yet I can still catch it, isn't my strength almost approaching 500 catties?

  Realizing this, Shi Dong's heart was overjoyed, and he suddenly remembered the scene where Mao FeiFei and Lei Huang dueled. The two of them went back and forth, each relying on their spiritual energy to attack, but it seemed that they both lacked experience in physical combat, so much so that Mao FeiFei's momentary carelessness allowed Lei Huang to find an opening.

  "Hey! I'll practice my martial arts skills first, so that when I fight with others in the future, I won't be completely inexperienced." With his mind made up, he put the four stone pedestals back on the ground and began to jump high and crouch low, kicking his legs and swinging his fists as if fighting an imaginary enemy.

  Of course, he can't come up with any brilliant moves, just some rough and shallow moves like "Black Tiger Heart" and "Ling Monkey Climbing Tree", which are all learned from the green skin in Sishui City, but every move is loud and has a fierce momentum of a newborn calf not afraid of tigers.

  At the height of excitement, he let out a loud whoop, lifted his leg and kicked with all his might, sending a stone pedestal flying into the air, crashing against the wall with a deafening boom.