The Imperial Martial Pill Venerable

On a cliff on Liubo Island.

Qin Ya sat on a towering cliff, unafraid. The whistling gales that swept past failed to stir even the hem of his robes, as if an invisible barrier surrounded him.

He sat upright on the high cliff with the Ting Xiao Sword placed beside him. By now, his mind was at peace. "They still haven’t come looking for me," he said indifferently. "It seems that bottle of Nourishing Spirit Pills was remarkably effective. Even if they still don’t believe I can refine Spirit Pills, they won’t let me leave Liubo Island at a time like this."

"So, you really can refine Spirit Pills, kid?" the Ting Xiao Sword Spirit asked.

"What, you don’t believe me either?"

"It’s not that. It’s just a bit mind-boggling," the Ting Xiao Sword hummed, its voice tinged with emotion. "You reached the Extraordinary Realm at your age; I assumed you were completely focused on Martial Arts. I never expected your talent in the Alchemy Dao to be so outstanding. Or perhaps I should say the Pill Venerable’s legacy is just that Heaven-Defying."

"Well, Ancient King and the others probably won’t come for me until tomorrow. With powerful enemies all around, I can’t afford to slack off," Qin Ya said with a faint smile.

With that, he began to cultivate.

As the True Essence Qi Sea within him began to circulate, Qin Ya felt a sense of absolute control wash over him. He slowly extended his hands, and with a flicker of his Divine Thought, streams of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi converged on his palms, forming a milky-white orb in the blink of an eye.

This white orb was Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi, so dense it had condensed into a mist.

’Sky-Controlling Martial Artists manipulate Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi and comprehend its mysteries. I feel like the amount of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi I can control is definitely more than just this.’ A look of eagerness flashed in Qin Ya’s eyes, and he began to operate his True Essence Qi Sea at full power.

A hundred zhang, a thousand zhang, three thousand zhang, five thousand zhang...

Gradually, Qin Ya controlled more and more Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi until a Primordial Qi Vortex, visible to the naked eye, slowly formed around him, stirring up a gentle breeze. As he stood at its center, a sudden jolt shot through his mind, and intense pain swept through his body. The Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi under his control instantly scattered. ’This is...’

"Your limit. This is your current limit."

The Ting Xiao Sword spoke impassively from the side. "The reason Sky-Controlling Martial Artists can manipulate Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi is because their True Essence Qi Sea overflows, filling the acupoints of the body, opening the Divine Acupoint in the brain, and giving birth to Divine Thought. This creates a bridge to heaven and earth, and it is through this bridge that you control Primordial Qi. The range of your control is determined by your True Essence Qi Sea and your Divine Thought."

"I can see that you possess a Leakless Body, and the Cultivation Technique you practice is truly extraordinary—at least a Celestial-Tier Upper Class Secret Technique. This makes your True Essence Qi Sea unusually dense. This is a great advantage, and it’s why the range of Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi you can control far surpasses that of Martial Artists at the same realm."

"However, while the perceptive range of your Divine Thought is much greater than that of other Martial Artists at your realm, its quality is no different from that of an ordinary Extraordinary Martial Artist. At most, you can only control the Heaven and Earth Primordial Qi within a six-thousand-zhang radius. Once you exceed that, your Divine Thought won’t be able to bear the strain."

As expected of an ancient relic that had lived for tens of thousands of years, the Ting Xiao Sword’s words laid out the condition of Qin Ya’s body with perfect clarity, causing him to fall into deep thought.

"Don’t think about anything else. There are only two things you need to do now: first, comprehend the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth, and second, increase the strength of your Divine Thought. This is one of the primary paths of cultivation for Extraordinary Martial Artists from now on. Do you understand?"

"I am grateful for the lesson."

In truth, even adding his past and present lives together, Qin Ya was only a little over three hundred years old. Such an age was commonplace among Extraordinary Martial Artists.

Moreover, he had never reached the Extraordinary Realm in his past life. Although he frequently associated with Extraordinary Martial Artists, he was still somewhat unfamiliar with their methods of cultivation.

He possessed countless Cultivation and Martial Skills, Treasure Pills and Marvelous Medicines; what he lacked most was actual cultivation experience. The Ting Xiao Sword’s words had been an enormous help.

At the very least, they had pointed him in the right direction for his future cultivation.

"By the way, you just mentioned the perceptive range and quality of Divine Thought. Could you explain that in more detail?"

Having just broken through to the Extraordinary Realm and awakened his Divine Thought, Qin Ya only knew a few simple ways to apply this new power; he was still very much a novice.

"Divine Thought is one of the standards that separates the Extraordinary from those beneath them."

"It has many wondrous uses: perception, premonition, seeing through falsehoods, and more. For example, that Pseudo-Spiritual Artifact you’re wearing may have the ability to hide your cultivation, but it can only fool some ordinary Extraordinary Martial Artists. A Celestial Human Realm Martial Artist with slightly stronger Divine Thought can see through the Pseudo-Spiritual Artifact and perceive your true cultivation."

"Divine Thought is also a basis for judging the strength of an Extraordinary Martial Artist. It is divided into two aspects: perceptive range and quality. Perceptive range is simply the area you can sense, so there’s not much to say about it. Quality, however, is another matter. Divine Thought is divided into four levels."

"You are currently at the lowest level, Void Transformation. To advance to the second level, you must repeatedly temper it until it transforms from illusory to tangible and you condense a Divine Thought Bead. Only then will you have officially stepped into the second level."

"Divine Thought is the foundation for comprehending the Mysteries of Heaven and Earth. The stronger your Divine Thought, the lower the difficulty of comprehending these mysteries becomes. If you wish to comprehend the Mysteries of the Third Heaven, you must reach the Second Realm of Divine Thought. Otherwise, you will find it impossible to progress."

...

"So that’s how it is." After the Ting Xiao Sword’s explanation, Qin Ya had a sudden realization. He truly felt that a single conversation with a wise man was worth ten years of study.

"I will teach you how to set up a Quenching God Array to aid your cultivation."

"You know how to set up Arrays?" Qin Ya asked with curiosity.

"Heh, just an amateur hobby. Back when I followed the Thunder Sword King as we roamed the Azure Sky Realm, we once killed an Array Master. That battle was perilous—I still have lingering fears just thinking about it. We were both in awe of the power of Arrays. That kid, the Thunder Sword King, didn’t want to learn himself, so he just got a pile of Array Secret Manuals and made me study them."

Qin Ya was left speechless. At the same time, he was amazed at the Ting Xiao Sword Spirit’s high level of intelligence. To be able to study Arrays independently was truly shocking.

Then, Qin Ya took out a pile of Primordial Stones and began to set up the Quenching God Array according to Ting Xiao’s instructions. Having never studied them before, he struggled. Fortunately, his own comprehension was extremely high, and after tinkering for several hours, he barely managed to get it working.

"Hm, not bad. You have good comprehension, kid. Any interest in learning the Dao of Arrays from me?" The Ting Xiao Sword Spirit was also somewhat surprised by Qin Ya’s efficiency.

"Heh, I think I’ll pass."

Qin Ya looked at the Quenching God Array on the ground, its lines tracing profound patterns, and shook his head with a smile. The Dao of Arrays was vast and profound, enough to occupy a person for their entire lifetime. Qin Ya knew that even with his astonishing comprehension, he was still just one person with limited energy. To rashly study Arrays would only distract from his cultivation of Martial Arts.

Besides, his ambition in this life lay with Martial Arts; he wanted only to ascend to its very peak.

"Heh, I won’t insist," Ting Xiao said with a faint chuckle.

Qin Ya then sat down inside the array, took a deep breath to adjust his condition, gradually emptied his mind, and cleared away all distracting thoughts. The Divine Acupoint in his brain pulsed slightly as his Divine Thought spread out, sweeping toward the Primordial Stone at the very center of the array.

Suddenly, the Primordial Stones of the Quenching God Array began to emit bursts of white light. Streams of incomparably pure Primordial Qi entered Qin Ya’s body, circulated once, and then drilled into the Divine Acupoint in his brain. Under the impact of the Primordial Qi, his Divine Thought began to tremble intensely.