Chapter 37: Unity

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Edward had already been pushing himself beyond his limit for a while now, but he had to make one last effort. His Chi and his body were in their purest state possible, and the longer he waited, the more they would be tainted.

An hour or two probably wouldn't matter as his Chi could refine itself constantly, but if he really fell asleep, with how much he pushed himself, he would sleep for a few days for sure, and by then his Chi would become tainted once again.

It would still be much better than before, and be very close to the purest Purple Chi, but if he went through a tribulation of 81 lightning strikes, it was for perfection.

Normally he shouldn't worry, as he wouldn't be able to do anything about it, he couldn't just stop eating, drinking and breathing after all.

However, thanks to the demon, he now had an idea of his future path. The demon had all the Chi in it's body condensed into a solid core, meaning all the power was in one place. It could be seen as a weakness, but it was also harder than the rest of it's body by a landside, so if one could destroy the core, they could destroy any other part of the body.

Back to the subject, Edward's body wouldn't directly get tainted, it would first be his Chi, and the tainted Chi would then taint the body. Hence, as long as he found a way to keep his Chi pure, then his whole being would remain pure.

As said earlier, his Chi was also capable of refining itself constantly, but because it was spread all around his body at all times, it was quite thin everywhere. If all his Chi was gathered in the same place, then whatever tried to taint it would have to taint his entire reserves, which would be neigh impossible.

So that was his plan, which he started acting upon. Gathering all the Chi in his body to form a core. His Spiritual Energy was completely empty, and he was so exhausted it was recovering at a snail's pace.

However, it wasn't a problem for Edward as he found manipulating his Chi to have become hundreds of times easier now that it had become purer, to the point he could wield it without even using Spiritual Energy.

His first idea was to gather all his Chi around his heart, as it had been where the demon's core had been. However, as his Chi moved around his body, he felt a spot of his body tickle weirdly everytime his Chi passed by.

It was a few centimeters below his navel, right above the pelvis area. His Chi seemed to flow even smoother than before as all his Chi moved to that area, and he started feeling weirdly good.

To form his core, he didn't really have any method, so he decided to be rough, and simply compressed all his Chi into itself. It was rough, but Edward was surprised to see that it seemed to work as his gaseous Chi started compressing in on itself.

However, after five minutes of refining, Edward was surprised to find not a solid core starting to form, but a purple drop of liquid Chi.

First came surprise, before shame. Of course between a gas and a solid, there was a liquid. The quantity of gas to make a solid was enormous, and Edward had far from enough Chi to even form a solid.

It seemed he wouldn't be able to form his Core for now, unfortunately. However, he didn't stop as one of his goals would still be met. As more and more drops of liquid Chi were formed, Edward kept them in place as he created a pocket in his body.

Even if he didn't form a solid core, his Chi would still reside in that 'pocket', and would become impervious to impurities. Moreover, as it got changed into a liquid, the already extremely potent Purple Chi was getting even more purified and concentrated.

More than hour later, all the gaseous Chi had disappeared, leaving ten drops of liquid Chi in his body. Ten drops.

From the gaseous murky Chi that filled his body to the brim, to the gaseous Purple Chi that was spread thinly around his body, to now ten drops of liquid Purple Chi.

The quantity fell by an awful lot, but the quality… it was mad.

But things weren't over, as when all his Chi was turned into a small pond below his navel, he felt a connection establish. Not with an exterior entity, but between three points of his body.

One was below his navel, where his Chi gathered, another was around his solar plexus, which could be said to be the center of his breathing system, and the third one on his forehead, on the glabella, where his spiritual world resided.

All three of his centers of power connected to each other, and the lowest of the three started elevating the other two.

The easiest of the two was the one in the middle, around his solar plexus, as his Chi and his breathing system had been closely related ever since he implemented his ADC.

In ten seconds, the connection reached it's peak as some Chi started entering his body through his pores. This was the Chi of the world, and it was quite pure. The reason for the worsening of the world's Chi in the future was pollution, so in these medieval times, the air was still fresh, and Chi pure.

However, it was still quite far from Edward's Purple Chi, but he did not worry. As lots of gaseous Chi entered his lower center of power through all sides, it was forcefully assimilated by his Chi.

The size of his pond of liquid Chi barely changed, so little Edward couldn't even feel it, but he knew that every second, as the Chi from the world entered his center of power, his Chi was getting more voluminous.

With a new breath, his body also got energized, and it seemed to kickstart his Chi as his center of power started releasing wisps of Purple Chi around his body and slowly started purifying it.

As his Purple Chi got closer to his brain, it also finally activated his highest center of power, the one between his brows, his spiritual world. His mind was once again going through changes, but unfortunately Edward wouldn't be able to witness them.

The toll on both his body and mind had been too much, and he pushed too far. Although he was now safe from any danger and was better than ever before, now that he had accomplished what he had to, he finally fell asleep.

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As he opened his eyes, Edward felt more comfortable than ever before. The bed under him was rough, a sense of pleasure spread through his body, one he could hardly explain.

He looked around him, and recognized his room in Camelot. He started remembering what happened to him, and a smile came to his lips as he sat up on his bed.

He tried to inspect his body, and was shocked to find he was able to see his internal body with his mind. Before, most of the time he would simply feel what went around in his body, and only in special occasions would he be able to see clearly what was going on, for example when he brokethrough.

But now, his once again strengthened mind actually allowed him to have a clear view of what was happening in his body.

And what he found was quite shocking too. The small pond in his lower center of power… well, thinking about it, he felt a little silly calling them centers of power. His Master had obviously taught him about the three dantians.

The Upper Dantian, in the glabella, housed the Spiritual world.

The Middle Dantian, in the solar plexus, was the center of his breathing system.

The Lower Dantian, a few centimeters below the navel, was where his Chi gathered.

According to Chinese medicine, those were the three reserves of energy in the body. They were different from the seven Chakras, which were gateways for energy though.

Back to the subject, the Chi in his Lower Dantian was no longer a small pond of 10 drops of Chi, but had turned into a much larger lake. Moreover, a wondrous thing was happening in his body.

When he breathed in, Chi from the outside world would enter his body and travel through his veins and meridians to enter his Lower Dantian and be purified. Then, when he exhaled, a small amount of liquid Chi would travel in the same path, purifying and strengthening his entire body.

By the time he breathed in again, this liquid Chi would have dissipated, having been assimilated by his body.

Edward's body had already been strengthened by a great deal when he was reborn through the lightning, and his body had now gotten even stronger as it refined itself while he was unconscious.

Another aspect of him that had gotten stronger was also his spirit. With a thought, all the furniture in the room started floating, and Edward only felt a slight strain. His thoughts also seemed to flow much faster than even before, and his memory seemed to have been enhanced.

Edward tried to levitate himself from the ground, and this was much easier than before too. Unfortunately, he could only hover at most, and his speed was way too slow to be used in combat.

One day though, he hoped he would be able to fly into the sky. Wasn't that every human being's dream after all?

Lastly, his Chi Sense had also evolved as it was closely related to his Spirit. Before, although his Chi Sense was constantly active, he had to focus on something within his perception to predict their movements and force.

Now though, Edward could feel everything within a certain radius, at all times. It was like a sensory domain had formed around him, acting passively at all times. For now, the radius was of five meters, but it was already quite a lot of information to take on.

Was his mind still average, or even after his Spirit Awakening, he would have constant headaches because of the amount of information his brain was processing, but with the evolution of his spirit he could deal with it.

This change might not sound that strong, but not only could he follow many targets at the same time now and feel any danger within five meters, he could also feel the latent Chi in the air, and felt like…

Edward opened his palm, and the Ebony Sword, which had been resting against a wall, unsheathed itself as it flew to his opened palm.

Facing a wall, Edward slashed toward said wall, and shockingly, an arc of light shot out of his sword, smashing into the wall and drawing a large tear on it.

Before, Edward could only send a flying slash by absorbing energy into the Ebony Sword and slashing out with some of his Chi. However, he now could send a flying slash without any energy, other than his own physical strength. He did not even need to use Chi.

It wasn't just because he got stronger, even someone ten times as strong as him wouldn't be able to send a flying slash even if they used all their strength. No, it wasn't a matter of strength.

It was his Chi Sense that gave him a new understanding of the world around him, and how to interact with it. He had entered a strange state with the world, and a new understanding of the sword opened to him. It was very strange.