Chapter 1173 – Sword Pavillion Concentrating Astral Qi
Chapter 1173 – Sword Pavillion Concentrating Astral Qi
Once everyone had sat down, Laura immediately opened the monitor. Displayed on the screen was a boat. This wooden boat wasn’t small nor big. It didn’t have an oar. And on its side was an insignia. The insignia showed an unsheathed sword pointed towards an expansive sky.
Then Laura said, “We checked online, this is the insignia from the Sword Pavilion. It is a medium-sized sect in the Cultivator Realm. The people in this sect lived by the sword for their entire life. Once someone joins the sect, an elder would make a sword that went along with that person’s characteristics. This sword would be made from the best materials. However, this sword would practically be a blank. Then the person would place the sword in their dantian to be slowly nurtured. In turn, the person would become the sword and the sword would become the person. It was a state of unity between man and sword.”
Laura took a deep breath before she continued, “But because of their unique way of doing things, the sect was stuck in being a medium-sized sect. However, this didn’t mean that their status in the Cultivation Realm was low. It was said that their offensive strength is second to none in the Cultivation Realm.”
Zhao Hao nodded. The sword was the lord of killing. So it wasn’t a wonder for a person who studied the sword their entire life to have strong offensive abilities.
Laura added, “When they reach core formation, they could use other magic treasures. But before core formation, they can’t use anything else than their swords. Reaching core formation would transform their sword into a sword pill. The sword is the pill and the pill is the sword.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Good. It seems like the Sword Pavillion isn’t simple. Their cultivation method is pretty rare.”
Laura agreed, “And the strength of the Sword Pavillion could only get stronger as time passes. Although everyone in the Cultivation Realm lived long lives, they were still mortal unless they reach the realm of Immortality. Unless they encountered some accident, members of the Sword Pavillion who were at the end of their lifespans would go to the sect’s ancestral grounds and spend the rest of their lifetime there. Once they die, they would leave their swords behind, along with a trace of their spiritual force. These life source swords would then exist in the ancestral grounds. Actually, every time the Sword Pavillion accepts a student, they would take them to the ancestral grounds first to pay respects to the swords of their ancestors. It might even be possible for these swords to choose a new master.”
Laura drank some water and continued, “These swords have traces of their original owner’s spiritual force, allowing a sliver of the original owner’s consciousness to exist inside. However, this consciousness couldn’t function like a normal human. But even so, this spiritual force could still choose a person that has the liking of the original owner. And since these swords had been nurtured for a long time, their strength was greater than newly made swords. This would increase the chosen person’s strength very quickly. It was precisely because of this accumulation that the Sword Pavillion gets stronger and stronger as each generation passed. Even top sects in the Cultivation Realm couldn’t easily provoke them.”
Zhao Hai nodded, but his eyes were stuck on the monitor as the Sword Pavillion’s people entered Yellowsand Planet. Upon entering the planet, the small boat suddenly changed course and headed straight towards something. When he saw the trajectory of the small boat, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but stare as he said, “They’re heading towards Astral Wind Canyon?”
The reason Zhao Hai gawked was because Astral Wind Canyon was quite a famous place in Yellowsand Planet. Yellowsand Planet’s years comprises 12 months. Ten of these months would have extreme winds blowing through it. As for the remaining two months, there would be rain. This rain is filled with astral qi. If one was exposed to this rain for a long time, then their bodies would wither until they die.
This event happens everywhere in Yellowsand Planet except one place, Astral Wind Canyon. In other places, once the rainy season began, the winds would stop. But in Astral Wind Canyon, the winds would continue all year round.
At the same time, the winds in Astral Wind Canyon were much stronger than the ones outside. Because of these strong winds, only a few people dared to go there. Before long, Astral Wind Canyon became one of the forbidden lands in Yellowsand Planet.
Sword Pavillion’s destination was very easy to guess. After all, they were travelling in a straight line towards Astral Wind Canyon.
Laura nodded and said, “Right, they seem to be heading towards Astral Wind Canyon.” Then Laura controlled the monitor to show the small boat just right outside the canyon.
However, this small boat didn’t just stop at the mouth of the canyon. Instead, it went directly to the middle. The terrain of Astral Wind Canyon was very special. All around were gray and yellow rocks. These rocks stood upright looking like stone pillars, they looked quite ugly.
However, nobody dared to underestimate these rocks. These rocks stood for tens of millions of years amidst the harsh astral winds of the canyon. Its degree of hardness couldn’t even be compared to iron and steel. Even the Cultivation Realm’s artifacts would find it hard to contend against these rocks in terms of hardness.
The canyon looked like a river. However, it didn’t go straight. Instead it wound down through some sort of pattern. And instead of being obstructed by these curves, astral winds coming through the canyon were actually strengthened.
But when Zhao Hai looked at the canyon more carefully. He found out that although it looked terrifying, the middle of the canyon actually had the weakest astral winds. Moreover, due to their placement, winds coming through this section weren’t amplified by the canyon’s curves.
However, one should know that even if the winds were weak, they were still astral winds. It was still more dangerous than ordinary winds. And these winds were the most ideal for concentrating astral qi as well as refining weapons.
It can be said that in the entire Yellowsand Planet, no other place was better in concentrating astral qi than this section of Astral Wind Canyon.
Zhao Hai found out about these points using the silver needles. Since these needles were made by the Space, where a yellowsand environment existed, they weren’t affected by the astral winds. But after looking at the Sword Pavillion, it seems like they knew about this place. Their visit this time was probably to let their disciple concentrate some astral qi for themselves.
When Laura saw Zhao Hai frown, she quickly knew what he was thinking. Although Zhao Hai hadn’t been inside the Space these days, he still knew about things inside. This was because Laura and the others could just talk to him wherever he was. Even if Zhao Hai couldn’t see anything, he could still hear things.
Laura turned to Zhao Hai and said, “Brother Hai, the Sword Pavillion, it seems like they’re here to condense astral qi. We don’t know how they knew about this place, but if the Sword Pavillion knew about it, then others might also be aware of it. It seems like we need to rethink our estimation of the Cultivation Realm’s strength.”
Zhao Hai nodded. Astral Qi’s biggest benefit is increasing one’s offensive strength. If the Cultivation Realm knew about this spot in Yellowsand Planet, then they could send people en masse to condense astral qi. This would provide a huge increase of collective strength for the Cultivation Realm.
With this thought in mind, Zhao Hai said, “It shouldn’t be that huge a problem. Astral Qi doesn’t only exist in the form in has in Yellowsand Planet. After all, the wind is just a form the astral qi used in order to flow. The essence of astral qi doesn’t change itself. Condensing it shouldn’t be that easy.”
Laura nodded, then she said, “Right. But even if that is the case, in the last few days, we were able to find out that people from the Cultivation Realm have a higher chance of condensing these special energies inside their bodies compared to other people. Brother Hai, we cannot take this issue lightly.”
Zhao Hai nodded and said, “Rest assured. Now that the Space has its own yellowsand environment, we now have control over how intense astral winds could be. With this ability, we should have no problem condensing astral qi of our own. Right, how about we have some undead try concentrating astral qi. This way, we could see if they could get stronger.”
Upon hearing Zhao Hai, Laura and the others’s eyes turned bright. Then Cai’er immediately answered, “Young Master, I’ll get on it.” Zhao Hai nodded, then Cai’er’s body disappeared as she left.
Zhao Hai was still looking at the cultivators from the Sword Pavillion. These people were really here to condense astral qi. But when Zhao Hai saw the group heading out of the small boat, he couldn’t help but stare. There were a lot more people than he expected!
Although the Space was formidable, since the small boat was a magical artifact, the silver needles couldn’t go inside. Therefore, Zhao Hai was unaware of the boat’s internal situation.
So when Zhao Hai saw more than a hundred people going out of the small boat, he was stunned. But after some thought, he concluded that the small boat had a spatial expansion ability. Only through this method could a small vessel like this hold that much people.
Before long, the group got out of the small boat. Then under the leadership of five people, they flew over towards a spot in the canyon to condense astral qi. As for the five elders leading them, they positioned themselves in five directions to protect everyone from unexpected events.
Everything was calm when the Sword Pavillion’s people began absorbing astral qi. But it didn’t take long before they started sweating and their faces turned red and then paled. Nevertheless, everyone clenched their teeth and persevered. But soon enough, someone started spurting out blood and then start falling down.
When this happened, one of the five protectors swept down and went to that person’s side. Then he fed the person a medicinal pill. He broke the pill in his hand before shoving it inside the patient’s mouth.
Naturally, this pill wasn’t any ordinary pill. After consuming it, the injured person began to slowly look better. However, the person was still dazed from the experience. The protector who fed him the pill quickly sent the disciple to the small boat before returning to his post.
After that first incident, more and more people began spurting out blood. They were also fed a medicinal pill before being sent to the small boat to rest.
Seeing this happen, Zhao Hai couldn’t help but frown as he said, “It looks like the Cultivation Realm has found out a way to treat the backlash caused by astral winds. However, those who failed still looked very terrible. They would need some time before they could fully recover. This allows us to have a faint idea of the Cultivation Realm’s talents.”
Laura and the others nodded. Of the hundred people that tried to absorb astral qi, 70 people were already eliminated. However, the five protectors seemed to be unfazed by it. They kept looking after those who were left. As if everything was within their expectations.
As more and more people failed, five people were left in the end. These five were sweating hard and their faces were terrifyingly red.
However, these five people endured. As for the five protectors, their expressions began turning bright at the sight of these remaining disciples. They were experienced people, and they were already aware that it was highly probable for these five remaining disciples to succeed.
Sure enough, after five hours of waiting, the five disciples stopped absorbing astral qi. By this point, their own spiritual qi has astral qi merged with it.
Although these five people were in extreme pain and were very weak, all of them were ecstatic. The same was true for the five protectors. They immediately took the five and then led them to the small boat. Then they quickly operated the boat to leave the planet. From the beginning up to the end, the group didn’t fight any beast in Yellowsand Planet. Moreover, their time spent here was very short, only a few couple of hours.
When he saw the cultivators leave, Zhao Hai frowned for a moment before he chuckled and said, “It seems like astral qi isn’t easily absorbed. Those five might have succeeded, but they still haven’t fully digested the astral qi. This shouldn’t be able to dramatically increase their strength. Hmmm. It seems like I have overestimated them.”
Laura shook her head and said, “Brother Hai, you still need to be careful. You shouldn’t just look at them at their current state. Since they were able to absorb astral qi, then it would be easier for them to absorb more in the future. After absorbing astral qi a few times more, their offensive strength would be much more powerful. As for those who failed, they could no longer absorb astral qi. We’ve checked this information with Margaret. The Ashley Family’s files have information about this. Therefore, it shouldn’t be false.”
When Zhao Hai turned to Margaret, she nodded and said, “It’s true. The first time condensing astral qi is a dividing line. Once you succeed, then condensing more astral qi in the future would be easier. But if you failed the first time, it would no longer be possible for you to absorb astral qi. Even if you can bear the pain, as long as astral qi enters your body, you will immediately be injured. This isn’t something that can be avoided.”