Chapter 191: Quiet Cultivation

Chapter 191: Quiet Cultivation

Back at the palace, Hui released Gu Tian and slumped against the wall, panting. Scary, scary! He pushed his hair out of his face and glanced back up at the window. No one chased them yet. The night remained dark and quiet.

He breathed out. Thank goodness.

Something trembled in his other hand. Hui uncurled his fingers to reveal the lotus seed. The black seal carved into its surface, but failed to burrow through. Powerful life qi dwelled inside the shell, preventing it from digging any deeper.

Hui took a deep breath. He closed his hand back around it and squeezed tight. I have her now, safely sealed away. In the future what should I do? Give her to Bai Xue? At the very least, I should give her back to the Bai Clan. She doesnt have much consciousness right now, but theres no guarantee she wont regain it later. She was just born, after all.

He hesitated, then flickered his fingers and stored it in his storage ring.

I took care of the tablet, the lotus, the qi seeds all thats left is the gropey garden patch. He shuddered, then shook his head. Dont give up, Hui! Life qi. Life qi!

Life qi

Hui put a hand to his chin. He swept his mind through his storage ring, taking in the petrified wood and the leg hed stolen from Bai Jingwen.

Petrified wood. Death qi. Soft plants, growing rapidly. Life qi. Can I combine both into one body cultivation method? Swap between the two, the way Bai Xue swaps between genders? Tough, hard crystal when I need to take a blow, giving and rapidly regenerating when I need to fake an injury or heal. In life qi mode, I can lose a limb with almost no cost, then swap to death qi mode and retain the injury in a tough, hard to break body until Im ready to heal it.

I feel like Im so close Hui muttered to himself, frowning. So close to comprehending this body cultivation technique of mine! Theres just something missing. Some critical element. It might only be a thought or a word, but until I find it, I wont be able to finish it!

Youre close? To what? Gu Tian asked.

Hui looked up, startled. Oh right! I forgot about Gu Tian! Er nothing, Elder Brother. Im trying to comprehend a new technique, thats all.

Youre cultivating, even now? Gu Tian said, startled.

Eh? Shouldnt I be?

No, its just what diligence, Gu Tian commented. He shook his head. Maybe thats why Im stuck at second realm.

I want to steal the life qiahem! I want to disarm the trap in the garden patch as well. But I should wait until the hubbub from messing with the lotus dies down, or else this small cultivator will get caught! So I might as well cultivate quietly until the sect quiets down. Its not as if I lack things to contemplate, after all.

Gu Tian stepped out into the night. Hui wandered into a corner and sat down. He drew out the piece of petrified wood and the leg from Bai Jingwen and began to cultivate.

Petrified wood death qi. Growth and regeneration life qi. Combine the two into one, and they cancel one another. Separate the two, and they can flourish. Two modes, like Bai Xue. Instead of yin and yang. Death and life. Two sides of the same coin, which cannot touch.

Two sets of meridians, coursing through my body.

Through my body?

Hui furrowed his brows. He focused on his qi and death qi meridians. My qi passages and meridians are in my body. I can feel them. But the death qi those passages are superimposed. As if theyre taking up the same space, but not. Almost illusory. But I know they arent. I use them constantly!

Wait. When I used death qi for the sealing talisman, my blood decayed and turned black. If my death qi meridians were in my body, how would my flesh survive?

Then where are my death qi meridians?

Hui sent his awareness inward, into his body. Qi passages coiled through him, glowing faintly, thrumming with power. He frowned. No death qi?

Turning his attention to his dantian, he found the songbirds flitting about. The death ducks swam around in the void, as usual, and yet didnt taint his qi. How?

His vision shifted. The third eye on his soul opened, and he saw his soul within his body. Death qi flowed through it, dark and cold. It collected in his souls dantian and circulated there, the ducks swimming about. The death qi, too, made a hollow void, and the ducks swam happily in the empty space.

I huh. Hui lifted his souls hands out of his body. Black qi coursed through their passages, visible through his translucent arms. Though the marks had always been there, without him looking for them, he hadnt consciously seen them. He flexed his hands, then looked down at his fleshly body. With his third eye, he saw glowing qi and glimmering gold life qi swirling through his flesh. Death qi in my soul, qi and life qi in my body.

But Im trying to cultivate my body, not my body and soul! It does me no good if I can petrify my soul. It wont protect my body at all if petrification of the soul is even possible!

A cold cough sounded in his ear. Hui jumped and fell back into his body. Right, right! I dont want to bother Reaper-Sis.

He circulated his qi outward, pushing it into the petrified wood and the leg. Theres something. Something Im missing. Focus, Hui. Figure out how to put it all together! Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience