Ink panel: Hunting the sun and surveying the sky from the bow.

Chapter 367: Cultivating the Ancient Spirit, News from the Front
After dealing with a bunch of trivial matters, Shen Qing turned down the banquet invitations from his subordinates, had a few conversations with a few confidants, and then began his daily hard work.

This was a habit he had maintained for a long time, and he had never broken it even during the Pacification Meeting.

Late at night, the moon and stars are rare.

Everything in Yongzhou City was silent.

In the backyard of the Shen residence, Shen Qing sat cross-legged on the bed with his hands gently spread out, facing the bright moonlight.

He continued to inhale and exhale, practicing with a special rhythm, and his breathing seemed deep and long.

With every breath, wisps of white mist filled Shen Qing's mouth and nose. The mist was so thick that it was almost like substance, and it flickered with a faint silver glow under the faint moonlight, appearing somewhat unusual.

As his practice continued, gradually his body seemed to be wrapped in a layer of flowing light. Under the light, his body seemed to be cast in bronze, making him look otherworldly.

After so many years of practice and study, Shen Qing has gradually gained a very clear understanding of martial arts.

In this world today, an ordinary person starts with tempering his Qi and blood, stretching his muscles and bones, strengthening his skin and nourishing his Qi, and then breaks through to become extraordinary, condensing his Qi sea, and reaching the Qi sea realm.

The cultivation after the Qi Hai realm is very different from the past. It focuses on the cultivation of spiritual energy, and then goes through the Yu Luo realm, Dan Ren realm, Ling Xu realm, Yuan Shen realm, Kong You realm, until the He Yi realm, achieving the highest level.

Every step of practice here is extremely difficult for ordinary martial artists. Perseverance, opportunity, talent, and understanding are all indispensable.

Now, relying on the ink panel, Shen Qing rushed all the way and broke through to the Lingxu realm.

At this point, he already had one foot almost on the threshold of becoming an immortal warrior.

If everything goes well, he will then use the spiritual power in his body to condense his primordial spirit. Then he can break free from the constraints of his flesh shell and forge a spiritual clone. This means he has truly mastered martial arts and gotten rid of vulgarity.

Later on, one will become a powerful air-roaming warrior, whose body will transform into heaven and earth, and who can move freely, transcending material constraints and becoming almost an immortal.

With Shen Qing's current cultivation speed, it would take at least ten years or even longer to reach this level without external force.

As for the last realm of this martial art, the realm of unity, the time required would be measured in decades.

Among the billions of people in the Great Zhou, only the ancestor of the Ji family and the current Majesty Ji Zikong have achieved the state of unity.

There was no third person besides the two of them.

Unfortunately, so far, no one has ever seen either of them take action.

No one knows to what extent the state of unity has been reached.

But there is no doubt that these two people are much stronger than those in the Kongyou Realm and the Yuanshen Realm.

Therefore, considering it from another perspective, the current situation in the southern part of the Great Zhou is corrupt, with demons and rebels everywhere. It seems like this is the result of Ji Zikong and others' deliberate indulgence, as if they are deliberately consuming the world's martial artists.

The same was true of the Jingluan Society.

But Shen Qing knew very little about the reasons why they did this and had no idea about it.

Shen Qing exhaled lightly and focused his attention on the brocade bag on his waist. He took out the brocade bag from his waist and placed it in front of him.

This brocade bag is a treasure given to him by Lan Gongliang. It can hold many items and is very mysterious.

Shen Qing looked down and saw a faint glow flowing on the treasure bag, just like the brightest star in the night sky.

He gently raised his fingertips, and a pure and flawless spiritual energy flowed out from his body, wrapping around the intricate patterns on the bag's opening like a fine thread.

With the continuous penetration of spiritual energy, circles of delicate ripples suddenly appeared on the surface of the treasure bag, like the light waves on a calm lake blown by the breeze, forming an existence similar to a "door".

This "door" seemed to have some kind of restrictions originally, but it has lost its function after a long time.

After sensing Shen Qing's spiritual energy, the door opened, revealing a strange space, about a few square meters in size, but it seemed to be connected to another dimension, with light flickering inside.

There are many miscellaneous items inside, including wish beads, treasure bows, weapons, secret books and various precious spiritual materials and elixirs.

Shen Qing did not select them one by one, but only focused on a few of the jade plates. He took them out one by one and placed them in front of him.

These jade plates were all used by him to absorb spiritual essence in the ancient ruins. He looked down and saw that each jade plate was shining brightly and full of spirituality, with special textures all over it, which was quite extraordinary.

Shen Qing took out one of the pieces and placed it in front of him to look at it carefully, his mind lost in thought.

He didn't know if it was an illusion, but he vaguely felt that the spiritual essence in the ancient ruins was exactly the same as the spiritual essence that fell from outside the domain, and there seemed to be no difference between the two.

Shen Qing sometimes wondered why the remains of an unknown sect from ancient times were so powerful?

At this moment, the image of the perfect woman emerged in his mind.

Her terrible power killed them like ants.

Shen Qing felt a little worried and suspected that such ancient relics were not isolated cases.

If such a being appears again in the future, he will not be his opponent at all.

Demons are appearing everywhere now. No one can predict what the future will be like. It may be extremely dangerous.

A strong sense of crisis surged into his heart again.

Shen Qing put his mind aside and stopped thinking about these useless things. It was useless to think too much.

He silently chanted a meditation mantra to calm his heart, then mobilized a bit of spiritual power to sacrifice one of the jade tablets.

Shen Qing carefully mobilized a trace of extremely pure spiritual power and placed it on the jade token.

The ancient jade plaque seemed to be activated, floating lightly in the air and dancing gently.

The next moment, the restriction on the jade token began to loosen slightly.

In an instant, like a wild horse breaking free from its reins, it surged out from the jade token and instantly filled the entire room. The air was filled with rich spiritual energy, and even a faint fragrance was in the air.

Shen Qing took a deep breath, feeling the unprecedented abundance of spiritual energy, and a fiery light flashed in his eyes.

He noticed that there was a pot of orchid on the windowsill. Under this spiritual energy, its flowers were blooming and its body was constantly expanding. It was growing and blooming visibly, becoming green and gorgeous, and full of spirituality.

Without further ado, Shen Qing quickly took out a wish bead that was glowing with a faint fluorescence from the brocade bag, and activated the bead refining method to perform the same ritual.

Seeing that everything was ready, Shen Qing formed seals with his hands and started to practice the Six Paths of Reincarnation Technique that he had just broken through.

This technique is extremely profound and is several times more mysterious than the previous Six Paths Whale Swallowing Technique.

When Shen Qing was practicing, all the acupuncture points on his body lit up, shining like stars.

Several of the important acupoints shone the brightest, and they were connected to each other to form a strange spoon shape. The light on it expanded and contracted like his breathing.

Under these lights, every bit of spiritual energy was carefully guided by him, flowing within his body along the unique trajectory of the Six Paths of Reincarnation, nourishing every inch of flesh and blood, every wisp of spiritual consciousness, and strengthening his cultivation.

In this process, time seems to have lost its meaning, and the hustle and bustle and changes of the outside world are isolated.

Time passed little by little.

When the first rays of morning light penetrated the window and shone on his body, Shen Qing suddenly came out of his cultivation state.

He looked up and saw that dawn had broken before he knew it.

Shen Qing felt the changes in his body and looked at the ink panel again. A night of practice did not bring about any obvious changes in his cultivation, and there was still a long way to go in the future.

He stood up from the bed, stretched his arms and legs a little, and felt refreshed. At this moment, he found a hint of warmth in his chest.

Shen Qing frowned and took out a bronze mirror from his arms.

His consciousness moved, and spiritual energy flowed in his body, entwining the spiritual realm.

As his mind moved, ripples appeared on the mirror, and a faint glow appeared.

Then, lines of text slowly emerged from the mirror.

"Brother Qingzi, how are you these days? Have you returned home safely?"

Shen Qing looked at the words appearing in the mirror with a calm expression.

During this period of time, he has been communicating with Shen Xiaohu through the spiritual realm every now and then, and he has become accustomed to it.

After waiting for a while, Shen Xiaohu sent back another message from the other side: "After the ancient ruins appeared, the Taoist master has announced that after one month, our sect will evacuate Danzhou in batches and return to the Holy Mountain. Perhaps we will have a comfortable life in the future. Don't worry, parents, I am fine."

Seeing this line of text, Shen Qing narrowed his eyes slightly, and a complex light suddenly flashed across his expression.

From what Xiaohu said, the leader of the Huangtian Sect took over Danzhou only for the ancient ruins?

If this is the case, then many cities may not be particularly important to the Huangtian Sect and can be abandoned at any time, just like Taiping County back then.

After the Huangtian Sect gave up many cities, the court had achieved their military goals.

In this case, does Xue Zhao still need to continue leading his troops to fight?
Not necessarily.

Maybe Xue Zhao will take the initiative to return to Beijing at that time.

He and Xue Zhao had a feud over the murder of one of their sons, and the two were almost incompatible.

Once Xue Zhao returns to Beijing, he will be able to free up his hands to deal with me.

Today, due to the deliberate indulgence of the Ji family, chaos is gradually arising in the Great Zhou Dynasty, and the deaths and injuries of a few officials will not cause much waves at all.

As a great general of the dynasty and a martial artist in the late stage of Yuanshen realm, if you want to deal with him, you really have no choice but to surrender.

Especially since he was in Yongzhou, a place far away from the capital, it was easier for Xue Zhao and others to operate.

I can't stay in Yongzhou.

On the contrary, Kyoto is at the feet of the emperor, and he has been appointed by His Majesty himself as the commander of the southern part of the Bingmasi, which may make Xue Zhao afraid and dare not act recklessly.

Shen Qing looked at the psychic mirror, thinking deeply.

Xiaohu and his men will leave Danzhou in a month, so Xue Zhao may be able to return to the capital in about two months at the earliest.

In other words, after he goes to Kyoto, he will have to find a way to gain a foothold within one or two months.

"I'm afraid that I'll be away from my parents for a long time, and Brother Qingzi will have to work hard in the future."

The text sent back by Shen Xiaohu interrupted Shen Qing's thoughts.

He replied silently: "It's all my duty. I will tell my uncle and aunt to rest assured and not to worry."

Shen Qing cut off the message from the spiritual realm, threw it into the treasure bag, pushed the door and walked out.

In the far east, rays of morning light continue to shine through the sky, dyeing the skyline golden, full of vigorous power.

At this time, the servants in the Shen Mansion have already started to get busy, preparing meals, dusting, and taking care of the courtyard.

Shen Qing went straight to his uncle and aunt's residence, intending to tell them about Shen Xiaohu's movements to reassure them.

He walked across the bluestone road shrouded in morning mist and entered a small courtyard.

Pushing open the half-open wooden door, Shen Qing's gaze swept across the courtyard and finally stopped on his uncle and aunt.

The morning light shone on their slightly aged faces, revealing the worry and uneasiness that were difficult to conceal.

The two of them had gotten up early and just sat facing each other in silence, with worried looks on their faces.

Uncle Shen Er even put the pipe to his lips and smoked non-stop.

"Uncle, aunt, I'm here." Shen Qing approached and said, "Just in time, there was news about Xiaohu this morning."

Aunt Wang raised her head and pretended not to care, "What other news can there be? No matter how much you say, you still can't come back. What's the point?"

"Can you stop complaining and listen to what Qingzi has to say?" Uncle Shen Er said unhappily.

Shen Qing's eyes moved slightly, and he caught a glimpse of the handkerchief in his aunt's hand, which had been tightly grasped and twisted into a ball.

He knew his aunt's temper. What she said and what she actually thought were completely different things.

Shen Qing smiled and said, "Uncle, aunt, you don't have to worry too much. Xiaohu just told me that they are about to evacuate from the front line and leave Danzhou. They should have a peaceful life from now on. At least their lives will not be in danger."

Shen Er said: "Really?"

Shen Qing nodded.

Shen Er's tense face finally relaxed, and he let out a long sigh, "May the ancestors of the Shen family bless you. May the ancestors of the Shen family bless you."

When Aunt Wang heard this, a light suddenly lit up in her eyes, but she quickly concealed it and said nothing more.

Shen Qing continued, "Uncle, aunt, please get ready. We may have to prepare to go to the capital in the next two days. You will all come with me then."

"Ah? So fast?" Auntie said in surprise, "We have only been settled here for a few years."

"People go to higher places, and water flows to lower places." Shen Qing advised: "It's always good to go up."

Uncle Shen Er said, "Qingzi, there is one more thing I forgot to tell you."

"what's up?"

"A few people from Taiping County escaped. I don't know where they found Zhang Shuyuan and me. I settled them in the city."

"Well, uncle can take care of this little matter. What is the current situation in Taiping County?"

"Taiping County is gone."

"Gone?"

Shen Qing was a little confused.

Uncle Shen Er said, "I heard from those people that an ancient tomb appeared in the deep mountains over there, and many demons appeared. The city and the outside of the city were occupied by demons, and there was no room for people to live. I am not sure what the current situation is."

Ancient tomb?

Shen Qing subconsciously felt that this might be the same thing as the ancient ruins.

Something is obviously changing in this world.

(End of this chapter)