Qi Palace Realm
A storm of Slaughter Aura surged into Yaan's body.
He was prepared to endure the slaughterous emotions brought on by the absorption of this aura yet again, but to his slight surprise, Yaan found that his ability to resist the Slaughter Aura's temptation had improved substantially.
He was only somewhat surprised by this. Firstly, his Qi refining cultivation was now at the Peak Innate Qi Realm, meaning that his cultivation was closer to this Origin Soul Realm powerhouse compared to before, lessening the strain on his mind. Secondly, there was his Slaughter Qi!
Possessing Slaughter Qi made it such that Yaan's killing intent had grown deeper and more overbearing. His Slaughter Qi was saturated with killing intent, both towards Yaan himself, and towards the world.
But Yaan found that harnessing control over his Qi allowed him to gain a deeper understanding of slaughter itself, whilst the Slaughter Qi could be used as a subduing power over Slaughter Aura and the murderous desires which it brought on!
It wasn't that the slaughterous feelings brought on by the Slaughter Aura were less intense, but that he had developed a better ability to deal with and to resist such feelings. As such, he was able to remain completely calm in this situation, so much so that he did something rather shocking.
Chi!
Yaan killed a second cultivator at the Origin Soul Realm before properly refining the Slaughter Aura released by the first.
As the ordinary looking sword became soaked in blood, the black runes appeared once again. The corpse shrivelled up due to the unknown power of the sword, then after a short period of time, the sword returned to normal. After this, the black runes faded and the sword once again looked mundane.
Yaan stared at the sword until it returned to its baseline state. He was unfazed by the ferocious dark power flowing into his body.
He was not yet done.
Chi!
He killed another Origin Soul Realm powerhouse. He paid close attention to the black runes on the sword, only returning his focus to his present condition after the sword once again returned to normal.
Yaan was very interested in this sword. This sword, even when used normally, had the ability to kill an Origin Soul Realm cultivator's Origin Soul! This was a truly shocking power. If this sword made its way into the world of Foundation Step cultivators, it would certainly create a huge storm.
A blade that could be wielded by those at Rank 4 to massacre the souls of those at Rank 5, this was really an extreme treasure.
Of course, this relied on the wielder being able to maim a Rank 5 powerhouse in the first place, and almost nobody could achieve this. Still, it was no doubt an incredible sword.
Typically, only soul cultivators possessed methods to deal with the soul prior to Rank 5, but soul cultivators were extremely uncommon on the Qi Plane.
Once the blade returned to normal, Yaan shut his eyes and focussed on his internal condition. After killing three Origin Soul Realm cultivators in a row, the Slaughter Aura pouring into his body was like a violent tsunami, attempting to throw his mind and heart into chaotic disarray.
More pressingly though, was the accumulation of the slaughterous energy that gathered around his dantian, attempting to break in after his body naturally refined the Slaughter Aura.
In the past, Yaan had no control over the refinement of the Slaughter Aura. Even just now, before he gained Slaughter Qi, he could at most exhibit some minor control, accelerating the refinement by a small margin.
Now though, things were different. Yaan could feel the gathering of the slaughterous energy within his body, forcing its way into his dantian and causing his ocean of liquid Slaughter Qi to grow further. Compared to refining Innate Qi, refining Slaughter Qi from Slaughter Aura was multiple times more efficient, because Slaughter Qi was very similar in nature to Slaughter Aura!
If there was one difference between the aura and Qi, it was that Yaan had control over his own Slaughter Qi. So, he used this control to indirectly control the Slaughter Aura, using his Slaughter Qi to drag the aura directly towards his dantian at the fastest possible speed.
Whoosh!
The aura surrounding Yaan seemed to vanish, as in an instant, it was pulled into his body. Even Yaan himself felt stumped by the shocking speed at which he was able to absorb the Slaughter Aura, almost catching him off guard when it rapidly shot into his dantian…
BANG!
A shockwave exploded out from Yaan's body, he trembled violently, but grit his teeth and persevered.
The Slaughter Aura, upon being dragged through the dantian walls, was instantly refined into slaughterous energy, then into Slaughter Qi. The quantity of Slaughter Qi in his dantian rose dramatically in a short period of time. After all, he had refined this Slaughter Aura from three Origin Soul Realm cultivators almost instantaneously!
The ocean swelled up, doubling, tripling…reaching ten times its original size!
The original quantity of liquid Slaughter Qi should have already been the peak for the Innate Qi Realm. So, when Yaan's dantian found itself filled with ten times the amount of Qi that it could hold, one of two things could happen…either the dantian would collapse, or the dantian would ascend.
The shockwave released from Yaan's body signified his ascension to the Qi Palace Realm!
This ascension was anything but ordinary; it was forceful and uncontrolled. Yaan fought to maintain control over the rapidly evolving situation. He grasped the storm of Slaughter Qi in his dantian and forced it to condense into a solid form…
Strangely, under his control, Yaan began to understand something. There was a certain shape that this solidifying Qi needed to take if it was to settle down into a stable foundation…
This shape was that of a palace; the Qi Palace!
Orthodox Qi refiners formed the Qi Temple, demonic race Qi refiners formed the Qi Palace, this was an innate fact of Qi refining cultivation. The reason for this was supposedly that these forms, the temple and the palace, were respectively the most stable solid states for a Qi refiner's Qi to adopt after reaching Rank 3.
At this realm, the solid Qi could not be utilised directly, unlike at the Spirit Core and Demon Core Realms where the Qi refiner could draw Qi from their core. However, the solid foundation of Qi provided structural support to the dantian, allowing it to grow larger and stronger, whilst permitting the development of superior liquid and gaseous Innate Qi.
Of course, Yaan developed Slaughter Qi, not Innate Qi.
As the faint outline of a single-floor palace took shape, an ocean, thick with Slaughter Qi, formed below. A gaseous form of this Qi rose up from the ocean, filling the dantian's atmosphere, entering the sky high up above, then condensing back down again into the ocean. This was the natural Qi cycle of a Qi Palace Realm dantian.
As time passed by, Yaan managed to subdued the unruly Slaughter Qi that had been rampaging throughout his dantian and Qi Channels. Once again, there was some damage, whilst this sort of ferocious breakthrough was not good for forming a solid foundation.
However…
The Qi Palace that Yaan formed was built from an enormous amount of Slaughter Qi. Even though he only formed a single layer of the Qi Palace, this single layer was built up by piling on wave after wave of Slaughter Qi. Even though his foundation had sustained some damage, this damage could be healed over. The key point was that the basis of his foundation was not weak at all!
This sort of method was contrary to all common understanding of Qi refining. Then again, the demonic race style of Qi refining was unconventional to begin with, it could not be considered with the same standards used for orthodox Qi refining.
After one day and one night, Yaan exhaled deeply.
His condition had finally settled. Within his dantian, a completely solid Qi Palace stood stall, without any cracks, damage or insecurities. The damage that Yaan sustained was endured by his Qi Channels and the inside of his dantian itself, but this level of damage was not a big deal, he would be able to recover relatively quickly.
Whilst he only spent one month to fully recover this time, during which period he was able to confirm that his Slaughter Qi had already reached the peak of the 1st Layer, Yaan felt a rising sense of pressure forming in his heart.
One month was not a long period of time when considering the speed of his cultivation. Under normal circumstances, he would be thrilled with this rate of progress…but his circumstances were anything but normal.
After spending a full month to recover his Qi Channels and meridians, Yaan only had three months remaining until the Immortal Ancestor's three year deadline! If he required this sort of recovery period following each and every breakthrough, he would not succeed in time!
It might seem like Yaan was being too hasty when he killed those three Origin Soul Realm cultivators in order to breakthrough, but this was not the case. The realm breakthrough required a burst of force in order to succeed, especially when he needed to succeed in such a short period of time. It was necessary to use as much Slaughter Aura as he could handle to tackle each breakthrough, otherwise the breakthrough was likely to fail.
Yaan did not have the luxury to spend months or even years comprehending the boundary between each realm calmly. He was forced to cultivate like a lunatic, forcing his way through despite not having fully comprehended the boundary between realms! This was unnecessarily dangerous and could easily result in a severely damaged foundation, but what other choice did he have?
There was no other choice.
Yaan proceeded to assault the next boundary, charging ahead towards the 2nd Layer Qi Palace Realm!
Yaan's expression was calm and cold as he stared ahead. With the mysterious sword in hand, he directly decapitated an Origin Soul Realm cultivator.
CHI!
Ignoring the head as it rolled to the floor, withering away into a wrinkled mess alongside the felled body, Yaan stared at the sword for some time once again. This time though, he ended up looking away, realising that no matter how hard he searched, he was completely unable to see through the mysteries of this sword.
But this fact only further consolidated his guess that this sword was an immortal treasure!
Regardless, right now, the important matter was his cultivation.
Yaan did not immediately slay another cultivator, but silently observed the changing state of his body and internal Qi system. He did not intend to use this Slaughter Aura to ascend right away, but rather, he wanted to observe the refinement of the Slaughter Aura so that he could better understand how he should go about managing his cultivation this time.
After a minute passed by, Yaan's dantian felt so full that he wondered if it might burst. However, as time continued to pass, the refined Slaughter Qi seemed to mysteriously dissipate…
The excess Slaughter Qi was released from his body as an invisible energy, rapidly transforming into Spiritual Energy once it entered the atmosphere.
Qi could accumulate within the dantian beyond the realm limit to a certain extent, but this was not a stable state - this condition could not be maintained for long. If the gathered Qi was not used to breakthrough to the next realm, and if it did not destroy the dantian by overexerting the dantian's ability to endure, then the Qi would simply dissipate into the atmosphere.
Actually, now that Yaan's Qi refining cultivation had reached the Qi Palace Realm, it was practically equivalent to his Vital Energy cultivation. For this reason, the Slaughter Qi dissipated with greater ease. There was little to no chance of damaging his dantian now, aside from during an attempted breakthrough.
Back when Yaan was a child and cultivated his Vital Energy and Innate Qi side by side, he had never worried about refining 'too much Qi'. The main reason for this was because back then, he only killed living beings close to his own level of cultivation. It was also thanks to his two cultivation paths being equal. Of course, at the time, Yaan had not realised any of this at all.
As the last remnants of the excess Slaughter Qi dissipated away, Yaan exhaled and opened his eyes, staring at the many remaining Origin Soul Realm cultivators with a hungry gaze.
He understood something just now - the breakthroughs between the layers within the Qi Palace Realm were nowhere near as difficult to overcome compared to the breakthroughs between complete realms!
Any Qi refiner could break through from the 1st to 2nd Layer, the only question was whether they had enough time to comprehend this gap before their lifespan expired. However, not every Qi refiner could ascend to the Spirit Core Realm, some might fail even after cultivating diligently for a hundred years!
Yaan understood that the higher layers were more difficult to attain, but this didn't worry him.
So what if his talent in Qi refining was lacking? So what if he could not comprehend the boundary? In the first place, he was not relying on talent or comprehension right now, he was cultivating like a true demon!
CHI! CHI! CHI!
Without further hesitation, Yaan cut down three more cultivators. Their hatred in death steeped into the Slaughter Aura. Yaan could feel their un-resigned emotions storming into his body and mind as the Slaughter Aura enveloped him like a grim cloud.
Whoosh!
He immediately exerted his control over the Slaughter Aura, using his Slaughter Qi to drag the bloodthirsty aura into his dantian, instantly refining it.
Yaan felt a jolt of excitement when he realised that now that his Qi refining cultivation and his Vital Energy cultivation matched one another, in that they were both at Rank 3, his efficiency in refining the Slaughter Aura had become extremely impressive!
His cultivation was still lacking compared to an Origin Soul Realm cultivator, so it would stand to reason that the efficiency of the conversion might remain low….but this was not the case!
Perhaps it was thanks to his Slaughter Qi, which Yaan maintained a forceful control over using his Psyche Power, but he was able to refine this monstrous mass of Slaughter Aura with no less efficiency compared to his days back in the Heavenly Path Sect.
In fact, the efficiency now was perhaps even greater compared to back then!
This was beyond Yaan's expectations, perhaps because he underestimated just how poor his efficiency had been earlier on, prior to his development of Slaughter Qi. Now that his efficiency was back to normal or even beyond normal, his dantian was flooded with a tremendous surge of Slaughter Qi, instantly expanding the aperture under the build up of pressure…
Bang!
2nd Layer Qi Palace Realm!
Before Yaan could even properly process this rapid breakthrough, he immediately focussed on condensing the 2nd Layer of the Qi Palace. Compared to forming the 1st Layer of the Qi Palace which acted as the palace's foundation, forming the 2nd layer was actually much easier.
However, this ease was in part thanks to the surging Slaughter Qi which existed throughout his dantian's atmosphere.
Yaan lacked the luxury to stop and assess his breakthrough, he could feel that his dantian was still filled to the brim and beginning to shake unstably, symbolising that he had already reached the peak of the 2nd Layer!
'Maybe I shouldn't have killed three this time-'
Bang!
Yaan only had time for this brief thought, before yet another shockwave erupted out from his body.
A 3rd layer began condensing atop the Qi Palace before the 2nd Layer had even set!
3rd Layer Qi Palace Realm!
If any normal Qi refiner were to see this, their jaw would likely drop slack to the floor. This sort of progression betrayed all common sense in Qi refining! It was well known that the foundation needed to be solidified and comprehended before someone could continue cultivating, no matter breaking through to the next realm..
Yaan's expression paled slightly as he felt that the Slaughter Qi within his dantian was still extremely thick. Realising that this situation was not good, he urged his Psyche Power to gather into a powerful psyche avatar, then used this avatar to exert a strong control over the tumulus Slaughter Qi within his dantian.
Under this fine control, the Slaughter Qi was forcefully subdued. The innate nature of this Qi was that of chaotic bloodlust, so it did not take this forceful control lying down. Regardless, Yaan's Psyche Power maintained its control, ignoring the rapid depletion of Psyche Power from the Sea of Consciousness in order to achieve this.
Like this, Yaan forcefully condensed more and more Slaughter Qi into the 2nd and 3rd Layers of the Qi Palace. He made sure that most went into the 2nd Layer at first, creating a firm enough foundation for the 3rd Layer to sit upon.
After a few minutes, Yaan heaved out a sigh of relief. The formation of the Qi Palace was not yet complete, but at this point, it had at least settled down and was no longer as pressing as before.
He calmly continued to refine and better the Qi Palace, until a three layer tall pitch black palace could be seen sitting imposingly within the centre of the dantian.
With an increased strength of the Qi Palace, the Qi ocean below was also thicker and darker, as was the gaseous Slaughter Qi which formed the Qi cycle throughout the rest of the dantian.
Yaan observed the situation within his dantian and throughout his body and Qi system. After a while, he blinked in wonder.
"This…might be easier than I expected!"
At this point, the Immortal Ancestor spoke up.
"Slaughter Qi is indeed extremely compatible with the Fiend Transformation Technique. This Variant Qi is akin to the very manifestation of demonic race nature; surpassing talent with ferocity and risk. The efficiency is high, whilst this sort of Qi is very suitable for forcing breakthroughs."
Yaan glanced across at the white-haired immortal, but he didn't say anything. Every now and then, this man would speak unprompted, informing Yaan of certain things for seemingly no reason. Other times, when Yaan was struggling and sought him out for advice, he refused to explain even the slightest thing. Yaan had grown accustomed to this strange attitude, but it still made him wonder.
'Is this a unique personality trait, or does he have some objective in helping me at times and ignoring me at others…?'
In the end, he shook his head and stopped thinking about it. He had long since realised that trying to see through the thoughts of an immortal was an impossible task.
No matter how intelligent and perceptive a Foundation Step cultivator might be, what did that matter when an immortal was able to effortlessly deceive their senses? When Yaan looked at the Immortal Ancestor, he could only see what this immortal wanted him to see. In this situation, trying to read his expression, his body language or his tone of voice was not possible.
Beyond that, immortals were all old monsters with at least many hundreds if not thousands of years of experience. No immortal could be looked down on, Yaan knew that he was not this person's match when it came to intelligence, despite his psyche cultivation.
Returning his focus to his own cultivation, Yaan's eyes shone with an expectant light.
He had experienced the cultivation process which would led him upwards through the layers of the Qi Palace Realm. Now, he knew what needed to be done, there was no longer any need to carefully examine every minor change.
The end was almost in sight.