56: Building a furnace

Lin Mo said no more and gave Liu Qingli and the others a meaningful look. The five of them took a sharp breath and quickly climbed up the rock wall, soon disappearing into the shadows of the passage above the circular depression.

They left behind a mess on the ground and a pensive Sikong Xuan... In a hidden natural cave on the outskirts of the Crimson Flame Mountain Range.

Pfft!

Lin Mo finally could no longer suppress it, spitting out a mouthful of dark red clotted blood. It was mixed with golden specks of light and an even more obvious grayish-black aura. As it hit the ground, it actually corroded small pits into the rock.

His face was as pale as paper. He sat cross-legged with the demon suppressing sword across his knees. Starlight flowed slightly over the blade, appearing to help him stabilize the turbulent aura throughout his body.

Liu Qingli and the others also sat down to tend to their wounds and take Medicinal Pills, their eyes filled with worry as they looked at Lin Mo.

“Lin Mo, you...” Liu Qingli couldn't help but speak up.

“It's fine. I forced my energy too hard, and there's some backlash. I need to enter secluded cultivation for a few days.”

Lin Mo's voice was raspy as he closed his eyes. “You all should also hurry and heal. This place is safe for now; I've already had Si take men to guard the perimeter.”

With a thought, he used the 'connection'—which hadn't upgraded yet but was becoming clearer due to his own changes—to send a command to the Death Warrior leader [Si] in Qinglan and other Death Warriors scattered about. He ordered a maximum state of alert, the collection of healing herbs, and a secret investigation into information regarding the 'Far East Sea Eye'.

At the same time, he began to operate the Aperture Condensation Method with all his might, attempting to sort out the rampaging energy within his body.

Pale golden martial True Qi, wisps of newly born, higher-quality but extremely unstable 'Pseudo Spiritual Power', and a trace of 'demonic taint' residue that had been neutralized by the demon suppressing sword's aura after being picked up from the Seal's core... the three collided and became entangled within his Meridians and hidden acupoints.

Outside the cave, night fell, and the unique dark red sky of the Crimson Flame Mountain Range gradually faded away.

Inside the cave, there was only the sound of heavy breathing and the steady, cold starlight from the longsword on his knees.

Inside the cave, time lost its meaning.

Only Lin Mo's suppressed gasping and the steady pulsation of the starlight from the demon suppressing sword on his knees were intertwined.

His internal body had already become a battlefield.

The pale golden martial True Qi was a gift from a hundred Death Warriors' day-and-night bitter Cultivation and thousands of refinements. It was as vast as a river, already far exceeding the limit of the Muscle realm and even touching the threshold of a Grandmaster.

The wisps of newly born 'Pseudo Spiritual Power' originated from the mutation caused by the Qi Sea Acupoint and the surrounding hidden acupoints absorbing pure Spiritual Qi and trace amounts of demonic taint in the extreme environment of the Seal's core. This collided with his own majestic blood qi, the Aperture Condensation Method, and the vague concepts from the animal skin scroll.

Its quality was extremely high, carrying the cold desolation of the stars and the heavy weight of demon suppression. However, it was thin and violent, completely incompatible with martial True Qi, like boiling oil falling into water.

And that trace of 'demonic taint' which remained stubbornly after being significantly weakened by the demon suppressing sword's aura, was constantly trying to erode his Meridians, distort the flow of internal qi, and provoke irritability and killing intent from deep within his mind.

The conflict between the three was like detonating countless tiny explosives within his Meridians.

If not for Lin Mo's Physical Body having been stacked countless times by the System to a terrifying strength, and the hidden acupoints opened by the Aperture Condensation Method sharing most of the pressure, his Meridians would have snapped by now, and he would have died from his body exploding.

“It can't go on like this...” Lin Mo's consciousness sank into his body, observing this disaster as calmly as an outsider.

The complete circulation route of the Basic Qi Cultivation Art appeared clearly in his mind.

That was the orthodox and safe path of transformation: using a Spiritual Root as a guide to absorb external Spiritual Qi and step-by-step transform it into one's own spiritual power, gradually replacing mundane True Qi.

The vague concept of 'Merit Dissipation and Spirit Infusion' on the animal skin scroll, along with the determination of the 'Merit Dissipation and Consciousness Sealing' left by the Array Guardian in the Jade Slip, gave him a direction but lacked a specific path.

“Dissipating merit... isn't about discarding one's power, but breaking down the original True Qi structure to use it as fuel and a Foundation to draw in higher-level energy...”

Lin Mo's mind raced under the pressure of life and death, performing frantic deduction simulations by combining the different insights into True Qi flow fed back by the hundred Death Warriors.

“My advantage lies in quantity and control. The True Qi insights from the Death Warriors allow my understanding of the essence of True Qi to far surpass ordinary people. My Physical Body, stacked by the System, can withstand more intense energy shocks and structural remodeling.”

“The hidden acupoints opened by the Aperture Condensation Method are the best reaction furnaces and buffer zones.”

An extremely risky plan gradually took shape.

He no longer tried to forcibly harmonize or suppress the three energies.

Instead, using the macro-understanding of spiritual power circulation from the Basic Qi Cultivation Art as a blueprint, the concept of 'Merit Dissipation and Spirit Infusion' as the guiding ideology, the hidden acupoints throughout his body as nodes, the majestic martial True Qi as 'fuel' and 'Materials', that wisp of new 'Pseudo Spiritual Power' as the 'spark' and 'mold', and the suppressing intent of the demon suppressing sword as the 'quenching hammer' and 'stabilizer', he would turn his body into a giant, dangerous 'weapon-forging furnace'!

He would use his body as the furnace, Qi as the copper, and thought as the fire to reforge his own energy Foundation!

No sooner said than done.

With a thought, Lin Mo first issued a new command to all Death Warriors through that ethereal connection: stop all Martial Skill Cultivation and switch entirely to quiet meditation.

Carefully perceive every minute change in their own True Qi from its generation and flow to its eruption, and continuously pass these insights through the [Cultivation Feedback] channel without any filtering!

Instantly, a torrent of over a hundred detailed True Qi insights from various perspectives flooded into his consciousness.

This act, which could be called insane, almost instantly overloaded his already strained consciousness.

But he gritted his teeth and held on, integrating these insights as data into his own deductions.

At the same time, he triggered that spark of the purest 'Pseudo Spiritual Power' in his Qi Sea Acupoint.

The spark fell into the majestic river of pale golden True Qi.

There was no explosion; instead, like water dripping into boiling oil, it triggered a violent chain reaction of 'boiling' and 'decomposition'!

“Ugh—!”

Lin Mo's body shuddered violently. Golden light surged under his skin, his veins bulged, and blood seeped from all seven orifices. His entire person turned bright red like a cooked shrimp.

Pain, an indescribable pain.

It was as if every inch of his Meridians, every Muscle, and every bone was being repeatedly forged, torn, and reorganized by an invisible heavy hammer.

Liu Qingli, Lei Meng, and the others were startled and looked over in horror, but they didn't dare step forward to disturb him. They could feel the terrifying energy fluctuations emanating from Lin Mo.

Lin Mo's consciousness remained startlingly clear amidst the pain.

Following the plan he had deduced, he guided the 'boiling and decomposing' True Qi, not to dissipate into his limbs and bones, but to forcibly pull it into the hidden acupoints he had already opened!

The hidden acupoints were nearly bursting from the violent energy, but due to their special structure, they acted like miniature vortices and began to frantically compress, purify, and transform this energy!

The demon suppressing sword seemed to sense its master's pain and determination. The starlight on the blade over his knees shone brightly, and a cool, evil-suppressing intent enveloped Lin Mo's entire body, helping him stabilize his mind and suppress the trace of demonic taint that was trying to cause chaos.