Cultivation Start

The risk would be equal in both regards so it was a matter of tolerance. Lingshi chose the second method.

"Give me the materials and take off your clothes," Lingyun said.

"What?" she exclaimed

"Dissipating your qi will generate a lot of heat which will melt your clothes anyway. Once you start the Asura System your qi will be purified bone which will reinforce your body, Before that your qi will do a good job of obscuring you from view and I also added an invisibility formation, there is no need for worry."

Once she was ready he took the materials she had prepared and laid them about her in their designated spots. Twenty large beast cores glowed different colours, the blood of a black water wyrm, the heart core of a black-maned lion, and the Yang Essense stones that had been provided to her.

He used the blood to draw inscriptions on her skin which would need to be redrawn once the blood was absorbed since she had not cultivated the soul. If she had she would have been able to control that automatically. Once that was done he instructed her to cultivate as per the Asura system Manual.

Once everything was going smoothly he sat down and began to cultivate. With his level of soul cultivation, he was able to automatically cultivate his body as well as gain insights into his inner sea. Xiaoya was monitoring the other two so that he could be alerted in anything went wrong.

For his body, he began absorbing and refining the Yang essence into pure Yang qi. Once that was done he would then absorb the Yin Qi provided by Xiaoya and find a balance between the two and integrate that into his body to create a yin and yang core. Once that was successful he would break through to the True Core Mortal Realm from the Open Mortal Realm.

In his Inner Sea, he was reviewing the Sword technique that he had created and used when fighting Ling Qifan. He had realised that nothing could compare to actual combat to gain experience. A version of Qifan appeared in front of him and this time he didn't just redirect the attacks but he expanded his movement set to counteract Qifans Strike.

He sat down constantly to evaluate the fights but after some time he realised that there was no more growth. He needed to find more real-world opponents to fight. He also realised that the sword technique he had encountered like the leaves in the wind was reaction based and passive. Its greatest merit was using the opponent's strength against them. He would need something that allowed him to initiate and stand firm.

It was temporary but it was still a setback. He took this chance to focus on how his body cultivation was going. He examined his body. Like Xiaoya had mentioned the more Yang essence he absorbed the wider his meridians became. But the while the Yang essence might be. pure for others, for him it scarred his meridians which would be bad for him in the long term.

The amount he had gathered in his body was barely enough but he had to do something otherwise it would take longer to repair his meridians. He halted the internalisation of more yang essence and started working to purify it but the more he circulated it the worse the injuries on his meridians became.

"What do I do? It keeps getting worse," he asked her. In truth, the damage was not dire and he could have continued cultivating with the injured but he preferred to find a method that was most efficient.

Xiaoya looked at him and pondered. She also knew that this was the best way to go about it but there was no way to purify it with such a small amount of Yang essence.

"Isn't Ying and Yang about balance?" he asked. "What if we used Yin to clean out the Yang?"

"It's a good idea but you need to balance Yin Qi with Yang Qi after it has been purified," she explained.

"What if we run them counter to each other like ..."

"Like a funnel," she said reading his thoughts. "It could work but you have to be very careful."

With this thought, Xiaoya unsealed the Yin qi and it began flowing into his meridians. He controlled the flow of the Yang Essense so that it met with the yin qi which was flowing in the opposite direction. It was now the moment of truth. When they met the initial contact was like oil and water touching but not mixing.

The Yang essence was so dense and heavy that it flowed right below the light yin qi. If this continued it would only be not helpful but too much yin qi would affect him adversely. The little amount that had been released was already making the air around him cold.

he controlled the Yin qi so that it surrounded the Yang essence and then it began to rotate like a grinder. After a few minutes this pure red-orange, yang qi was formed. it was little but it was a start. The yin Qi continued to grind and eventually it merged with the Yang qi and started flowing in the normal direction.

The power contained therein was exponential in comparison to the individual parts. The combined qi gave the entire process life as the rotation increased and more and more yin and yang combined Lingyun realised that he had lit a match and the fire was no longer in control. If the fuel ran out he would burn instead. He resumed the absorption of Yang Essense while Xiaoya controlled the flow of pure yin. The more fuel they pushed the more pure yin and yang were produced.

This naturally healed his scarred meridians and as it continued to flow in his body the effects slowly began to become visible. The point of purification was near his stomach and the meridians there began to turn transparent like crystal. While they remained flexible the pure yin and yang began to reinforce them by creating a mesh.

Xiaoya recognised this immediately. This was the formation of what would later become Yin & Yang Meridians. This would only make subsequent breakthroughs easier but would increase the amount of qi needed and the quality would need to be higher as well. Thus she unsealed more yin qi and likewise, Lingyun increase the flow of Yang essence.

This would take some time but it had to be done.

As all this was happening a certain thought started to form in Lingyuns Mind. It rang of balance. He would have to ponder on that later.