Chapter 118: Qi Circulation Method

During the process of awakening her younger brother, Empress Bai Hong inadvertently touched fragments of his memories.

Back then, he truly had been killed by the Tiger King. After burying him with her own hands, Bai Hong departed with the elder. Yet at the moment of his death, Bai Niao's obsession ran so deep that his blood, mixed with those lingering thoughts, seeped into the sword the elder had quietly placed behind him, preserving the final trace of his true spirit.

Buried together with the sword, his body gradually developed a faint sense of awareness. That remnant of true spirit slowly grew stronger, but his flesh, entombed underground, had already been devoured by insects and snakes. In the end, only his true spirit remained, bound to the sword.

Bai Hong drew upon more spirit qi, probing deeper into her brother's memories. "So this is what happened."

Once his true spirit had recovered, it wandered without aim around the grave. Since it was tied to the elder's sword, it could never leave the burial mound.

Decades later, when the sword's stored spirit qi was finally exhausted, his true spirit began to wane, unable to linger long at the grave. Just as it was about to disperse, a young cultivator appeared in the village, his back laden with enchanted treasures.

Lu Chen's eyes widened as he spotted the figure at the village entrance. "This cultivator... this cultivator..."

Wind Dragon studied the cultivator standing before the grave. "Is that Lord Green Emperor? No... that can't be right. Lord Green Emperor would never carry so many treasures on his back. Could he be Lord Seventh?"

***

"Kind cultivator... Please save me. I'm about to die."

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

Having been alone for so many years, Bai Niao's words came out halting and broken. "I want to find my sister. I just want to see how she's doing. Just one glance is enough. After that, you may use me however you wish."

The young Feng Tiancheng passed the grave, sensing the true spirit and the sword buried beneath. "An obsessive spirit? And with such powerful will."

He came up with the idea to forge a weapon. Without hesitation, he dug them out. "Since your obsession runs so deep, let me try something. If I can merge you with this sword... your spirit won't fade. If it fails, you are already on the verge of dispersing. Nothing will be lost."

Bai Niao's frail voice whispered, "No problem... I'll let you use me for the experiment. Whatever conditions you ask, I'll accept them."

"As for conditions, forget it," Feng Tiancheng placed the sword down. "Having a true spirit of pure obsession to test my forging is already more than enough. I've searched for years, and at last, I've found my chance."

He produced his forging tools, channeled his spirit qi, and began refining the sword. "If this succeeds, I'll establish an entirely new system of artifact forging. Just thinking about it excites me."

Lu Chen fixed his gaze on the young Feng Tiancheng. "Could this be... the sword spirit Grandpa Feng once mentioned?"

Even before witnessing this illusion, Lu Chen had heard Feng Tiancheng mention Empress Bai Hong several times. And even though his hand seals were rough and incomplete, Lu Chen still recognized them. They were the same seals he had used when binding Wind Dragon into the Hunyuan Greatsword, though his own were more refined.

Wind Dragon trembled and whispered, "I finally remember who they are. No wonder they seemed so familiar. They once followed Lord Seventh and trained under him for a time.

"But back then, they were only children, with no title of emperor and no mastery of the five elements. Later, they simply vanished, and even Lord Seventh never went searching for them."

"So that's how it was." Lu Chen swiftly flipped through the letter, hoping for more details. But after that point, Feng Tiancheng's name was never mentioned again.

***

The scene shifted once more. Bai Hong tried countless methods, yet none could awaken her brother. Still, finding his true spirit brought her immense comfort. As a sword spirit, he no longer faced death, and with that, he could remain by her side in cultivation. One day, when she uncovered the legendary secret art, she believed she could fully revive him.

In that moment, Bai Hong's heart came alive again. The inner demons that plagued her dissipated, her cultivation surged, and she instantly restored herself to the peak of the Core Breakthrough Realm.

She lingered in the village for a long time, stabilizing her realm, before finally carrying away her brother's true spirit along with the elder's sword. From then on, that sword became her life-bound weapon.

Three thousand years passed. By then, Empress Bai Hong had long surpassed the Core Breakthrough Realm and carved her name into history.

Time moved on. Dynasties rose and fell, yet her legend endured. Across the continent, the name of Empress Bai Hong spread, and with it, the fame of the legendary sword, Bai Niao.

Eventually, within an ancient secret realm, she stumbled upon a fragment of the rumored secret art. Though incomplete, it confirmed that revival was indeed possible. From that day forward, Bai Hong lived for nothing else—her sole wish was to restore her brother's human form. She abandoned her title, relinquished her cultivation path, and withdrew into seclusion deep within the forests.

There, she began cultivating the five elements simultaneously.

For ordinary cultivators, such a path was impossibly arduous. Yet for Bai Hong, each element she mastered gave her insight into the principles of the others. With patience and accumulation, she steadily brought the five into harmony. In only two hundred years, she had already cultivated each element to its peak.

But it was then that the drawbacks of cultivating all five began to manifest. The elemental forces within her grew unstable, slipping beyond her control. At the same time, her old enemies converged upon the valley where she had been in seclusion.

Tens of thousands of Earth Core Realm cultivators poured into the valley flanked by sheer cliffs. There, Empress Bai Hong fought alone against the horde. She unleashed the full might of the five elements, cutting down over seven thousand elite warriors in a single strike and shattering the valley itself.

That battle marked both her pinnacle and her downfall.

As the five elements erupted uncontrollably, the chaotic energies tore apart her cultivation foundation. Even her life-bound sword, Bai Niao, was buried beneath the collapsing cliffs and boulders.

After the battle, the valley lay in ruins, piled high with shattered stone, forming a tomb-like landscape. The surviving cultivators scoured and leveled every inch of the valley, yet they could not find Empress Bai Hong's body.

Fearing her possible return for vengeance, their first act upon leaving was to twist the truth. They spread rumors that she had practiced forbidden techniques, lost her reason, and turned into a demon, ultimately slain in the Valley of the Evil Phoenix.

Centuries passed, and Empress Bai Hong never reappeared. Her rise was both legendary and infamous, yet in the end, she was remembered only as a tale of disgrace.

The illusion around Lu Chen froze at that moment, showing no further change.

"I never expected such a tragic story to lie behind the Yin-Yang Five Elements Coexistence Method. I must find the remaining fragments and restore this cultivation method to the world," Lu Chen said, determination flashing in his eyes.

He was certain Empress Bai Hong was not truly dead; otherwise, the secret art in his hands would never have surfaced. She had cultivated the five elements simultaneously for the sake of her twin brother. Her disappearance was a ruse, meant to devote herself fully to the Yin-Yang Five Elements Coexistence Method and her brother's revival.

She also sought to create a path for others who might attempt five-element cultivation, so they could be spared from repeating her mistakes. The Yin-Yang Five Elements Coexistence Method was her theoretical conclusion, drawn from ancient secret arts and her own cultivation experience.

Empress Bai Hong herself had not been born with five elements in her body. Much of what she wrote was conjecture. Lu Chen could not be sure if she had succeeded, but with Bai Ze's help, he had now glimpsed the subsequent qi circulation method of the technique.

"

Sigh...

to think the story ended this way," Lu Chen tucked the oiled papers away. "Bai Ze, let's go back. The letter's been read through. There's nothing more inside."

"She said the technique is divided into six volumes," Wind Dragon spoke from above Lu Chen. "The remaining content must be hidden elsewhere."

"Alright! At least we've obtained the subsequent qi circulation method. Let's head back," Bai Ze said as he deactivated his divine power. The illusion dissolved, and the three returned to the core region.

Lu Chen sat beneath the Innate Green Sovereign Divine Tree, carefully studying the cultivation sequence in his hands. This method seemed crafted specifically for him, perfectly suited to his current condition.

Empress Bai Hong's understanding of the Yin-Yang Five Elements Coexistence Method was mostly conjecture; she had only a Yin-type Heavenly Pool and lacked a Yang one.

Lu Chen was different. Sharing a single Heavenly Pool with Nantian Wan'er, he possessed both Yin and Yang. Their balance had already been established during the Heavenly Tribulation.

After the upheaval of the Heavenly Pool and the small world, Lu Chen's Heavenly Pool had undergone drastic changes. Guided by the Acquired Green Sovereign Divine Tree and the black-and-white twin fish, it had begun to operate independently, developing the Yin-Yang Five Elements on its own.

Sitting beneath the Green Sovereign Divine Tree, Lu Chen followed the initial qi circulation method outlined in the technique. He immediately felt the spirit qi within his body grow more vibrant.

The spirit qi, now tinged with the colors of the five elements, became increasingly stable.

The two Green Sovereign Divine Trees twisted and writhed, adapting to Lu Chen's energy, inhaling and exhaling spirit qi and reshaping the world around them.

Lu Chen opened his eyes, a bright gleam shining in them as he said with delight, "This works. It really works. This technique is practically tailor-made for me. But... if only I could get the complete version of the secret scroll."

"Any noticeable effects?" Bai Ze asked, stepping closer, clearly concerned. "Tell me, tell me."

Wind Dragon glanced at Bai Ze but remained silent.

"The Yin-Yang Five Elements Coexistence Method doesn't speed up the rate at which spirit qi is absorbed, but it balances the five elements, letting them counter and generate each other. This is clearly a cultivation method made for me," Lu Chen said.

He laughed, standing as he placed Wind Dragon atop his head. "And I've discovered something else. My Heavenly Pool seems to be evolving into a small world."

At that, Wind Dragon flared with spirit qi, glaring down at him. "Impossible! How could a human's Heavenly Pool evolve into a small world? Could this be tied to the disturbances between the two worlds a few days ago?"

"

Hehehe,

looks like you've succeeded," Bai Ze said with a smile. "Without a bloodline inheritance, you couldn't possibly understand the reason behind it."

Still lost in excitement, Lu Chen didn't hear Bai Ze clearly. "What was that? Say it again..."

Wind Dragon's eyes blazed as he glared at Bai Ze, his voice trembling with fury through transmission. "

We've agreed that no matter what secrets you carry, you must never harm Little Lu!

"