Fellow Daoist Entrusts His Child: Immortality Begins with Nurturing a Demoness

Chapter 128 Qi Refining Eighth Level, Awakening (Combined Chapter)

"call--"

As dawn broke, Luo Fanchen was underground, his palms facing the sky, confronting the rising sun.

He kept breathing, and after circulating his true essence of Yi wood through the Great Heavenly Circuit, it transformed into the true meaning of withering and flourishing. Through resonance, he guided the spiritual power of wood and absorbed a small amount of lesser yang qi into his body to further refine the true essence of Yi wood.

"Cough cough."

Luo Fanchen frowned, coughing lightly behind his lips. His powerful and surging Yi Wood True Essence had circulated nearly a hundred times. Even his resilient meridians could not hide the swelling, giving the illusion that they were about to overflow.

The true essence of Yi Wood overflowed his meridians and seeped into his skin, causing his entire body to emit a faint green fluorescence.

"Twenty-seven times."

Luo Fanchen's face grew increasingly flushed. The expansion of his cyclone seemed to have hit a bottleneck. He could only barely push the cyclone to grow a little after ten cycles of the Great Heavenly Cycle. The boundaries of his Qi Sea were too vast, and the size of the cyclone was already nearing its limit, still unable to cover the border.

It must be completely liquefied to achieve eight layers.

"This lousy spiritual root!"

Luo Fanchen gritted his teeth and cursed inwardly. His Five Elements Spiritual Roots were too inefficient at absorbing spiritual energy, with an efficiency of less than 10%.

Most of the spiritual energy is wasted because it cannot be absorbed after entering the body. Even with four spiritual roots, the pure spiritual energy of the Luoshen Pill and the strong soul energy of the Soul Banner should have enabled him to break through to the eighth level of Qi Refining long ago.

It seems unlikely to work out.
Luo Fanchen clicked his tongue in amazement. After reaching the seventh level of Qi Refining, all his acupoints were open, and the power-accumulating properties of the Yi Wood True Essence provided negligible help in breaking through to the next level.

With both the Five Spiritual Roots and the True Essence Body working together, even with thorough preparations, he was somewhat helpless. His dantian qi vortex seemed to have reached the limit of the Lesser Yang Wood Transformation Technique. Without an opportunity to increase the size of the qi vortex, he could only remain stuck at the seventh level.

He began to understand a little why Ling Leng wanted to refine the Heavenly Demon Spirit Puppet.

Many times, that slight difference is an insurmountable barrier. He could even push the Shaoyang Wood Transformation Technique to its limit. If he were a rogue cultivator or a disciple of an affiliated sect, he probably would never be able to break through to the eighth level in his lifetime.

"pity."

Luo Fanchen sighed softly, unwilling to waste the soul power fed back by the Soul Banner and the medicinal power of the Luo Shen Pill.

Unfortunately, the bottleneck had been reached, and even if he circulated the energy a hundred or a thousand times, it would be in vain.

The vortex of energy within the dantian couldn't reach the edge at all.

The outer edge of the Qi Sea symbolizes the capacity of true essence, while the Qi vortex itself symbolizes the cultivator's burst of power and the efficiency of true essence condensation.

The vortex is only affected by the level of cultivation technique, special physique, and extremely rare natural treasures.

"Is the Lesser Yang Wood Transformation Technique not working either, or is the fifth level not enough?"

Luo Fanchen murmured, "The Lesser Yang Wood Transformation Technique has seven levels."

The fifth level corresponds to the ninth level of Qi Refining. The remaining sixth and seventh levels are all preparations for Foundation Establishment. Therefore, the problem is not with the cultivation method, but with him. No wonder Ming Ruoxue said that even Xuan Zhang, who is known for his strong true essence, could only give him a sliver of hope for a breakthrough.

If even the Eightfold Path is this difficult, how much more difficult is the Foundation Establishment Path?

Luo Fanchen was slightly irritated. Feeling frustrated, he was about to stop practicing when he clenched his fists tightly in resentment.

"I wonder when such perfect conditions for a breakthrough will come again."

Luo Fanchen gritted his teeth; he needed to establish his foundation as soon as possible and didn't have time to waste.

If the cyclone can't cover the edge, then he'll do it himself. If he can use Kui Wood within the dantian cyclone to resonate and attract wood-attribute spiritual power, he can forcibly expand the cyclone's scale in a short time until the Yi Wood True Essence covers the entire dantian.

With his extraordinary aura strength, he can at least refine one or two percent of the wood-attribute spiritual power. If he perseveres, he will succeed.

The downside is that the risk is extremely high. Even with the aid of the Spirit Gathering Technique, the backlash from breaking through the barrier is so great that it makes ordinary cultivators hesitate.

The Qi vortex is the core of the dantian and the foundation of a cultivator. Unrefined spiritual energy is mixed and disordered, making it difficult to control. It's like pouring hot oil directly into the dantian; at best, it will severely damage the dantian and greatly diminish one's cultivation; at worst, it will lead to death.

Fortunately, his cyclone is strong enough to hold out for a short time.

As for the dantian boundary, it's a bottleneck that even Foundation Establishment Pills can't break through, so it shouldn't be easily breached, right?

"Let's give it our all, there's no time to waste."

Luo Fanchen roused himself and, while observing his own reflection, urged the true essence of the Yi Wood to pass through his lungs and, after passing through the lung lobes of the spiritual seed, to rush straight to his right eye along the Ren, Du, and Chong meridians. He immediately felt an unbearable burning pain and his ears were ringing.

He quickly observed the limit of the distance at which true essence was scattered at the edge of the cyclone. Beyond that, he used the Kui Wood Technique to resonate with wood-attribute spiritual power and slowly condensed wood-attribute true essence beyond the bottleneck.

The mixed and volatile wood-elemental spiritual energy penetrated through the skin and flesh, surging into the dantian.
"hiss--"

Luo Fanchen gasped, feeling a strong bloating and heaviness in his lower abdomen, as if a red-hot iron was searing his dantian. He almost couldn't maintain his sitting posture and instinctively wanted to curl up and convulse.

With excruciating pain in his dantian, Luo Fanchen vomited blood incessantly. He forced himself to maintain his spirit and activated the True Meaning of Withering and Flourishing. The boundless vitality swirled within the vortex, forming a small cluster of tender green crystals. The terrifying suction of the Spirit Gathering Technique forcibly bound the raging wood elemental power to its spot.

"Every breakthrough is never easy; why should it be?"

Luo Fanchen cursed inwardly. Thanks to the Spirit Gathering Technique binding the wood spiritual power, his dantian could still hold on for the time being, but the pain did not lessen at all.

His lower abdomen was sunken in until only a layer of skin remained. His internal organs, meridians, and even blood were all drawn towards his dantian by the Spirit Gathering Technique.

The flesh and blood were groaning, the veins were spasming incessantly, and beads of sweat the size of beans were falling from the forehead as if they were free.

"It's useful."

Luo Fanchen vomited blood incessantly. Before his consciousness blurred due to the torment of the wood-attribute spiritual power, the frantically buzzing vortex finally increased by one point.

Even a tiny fraction of a point indicates that his method was effective.

It works!

Luo Fanchen was greatly encouraged and continued to absorb the wood elemental energy, refining it after being restrained by the Spirit Gathering Technique.

Twenty-eight times, the scale of the cyclone expanded again. At the same time, his dantian was in a mess. The solidified liquefied Yi Wood True Essence surged and undulated, spontaneously repelling the external wood-attribute spiritual power and fighting against each other.

His dantian was covered with numerous wounds, overflowing with blood, and almost rotting.

Fortunately, the most important vortex was still able to be maintained, and although the dantian was in severe pain, there was still no sign of leakage.

Such injuries would prevent an ordinary cultivator from ever activating their true essence in their lifetime. Fortunately, the Yi Wood true essence already possesses the characteristic of self-healing the physical body. As long as the breakthrough is successful, the true essence will automatically nourish the dantian and slowly heal without leaving any sequelae.

Twenty-nine times.

The cyclone continued to expand, and it would take twenty-nine round trips of mental energy to traverse the entire cyclone.

"Just one last time."

Luo Fanchen cursed inwardly. Ever since he obtained the Shaoyang Wood Transformation Technique, his breakthroughs had never been smooth sailing. Each time, he had to break through with serious injuries. This feeling was really unbearable. If he made any mistakes, he would at least be paralyzed.

This is the price of having five spiritual roots. If he had Mo Xue's superior spiritual roots, he wouldn't be in this situation.

Finally, after gritting his teeth and enduring for the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, just before his dantian began to spasm and his qi vortex began to tremble incessantly, just before he was about to go berserk, he managed to expand the qi vortex to the intensity of thirty rounds.

"Done?"

After maintaining this state for several breaths, Luo Fanchen could no longer hold on and had to cancel the Kui Mu and the Spirit Gathering Technique.

He was completely exhausted, his face was ashen, his clothes were soaked with blood, and he lay limp on the ground like a rag doll, panting heavily.

His meridians were wracked with pain and spasms, his acupoints were blocked by mixed wood-elemental spiritual energy, his dantian was blocked, and his six meridians were not open. He was so weak that even his true essence body could not be effective in eliminating the wood-elemental spiritual energy running rampant in his body.

"It should be done, right?"

Luo Fanchen didn't even dare to look into his dantian, which was already in a mess. Any slight movement could cause it to spasm and convulse.

He summoned the Record of the Eight Desolate Demonesses, and his unfocused gaze slowly refocused.

Name: Luo Fanchen

【Shouyuan: 31/100】

[Cultivation Level: Qi Refining Eighth Level]

[Technique: Lesser Yang Wood Transformation Technique, Fifth Level (30/300)]

"Finally reached the eighth level, almost killed me." Luo Fanchen was dizzy and had to rest for a long time before he had the strength to take a few sweet dew pills. He still didn't have the strength to sit up and meditate.

Fortunately, Qiu Yun's soul had entered the Soul Banner and was wholeheartedly awakening Yun Mo; otherwise, she would have been heartbroken.

As night deepened and the moon and stars sparsely visible, Luo Fanchen remained in a daze for nearly three hours. Only after the effects of the Sweet Dew Pill took hold did his spasming meridians finally subside. A small amount of Wood True Essence re-condensed from his lungs and slowly flowed through his meridians, dissipating the Wood elemental energy while nourishing his acupoints.

He was conscious and had regained some strength.

"Tsk tsk. As expected of a True Essence Body, even his dantian hasn't been punctured."

Luo Fanchen carefully looked inward, and a few strands of true essence entered his dantian. He frowned slightly in pain, but finally he could see the current state of his dantian.

It was a horrific sight. The solidified, liquid Wood True Essence was riddled with countless wounds. The chaotic Wood-attribute spiritual power, along with the vortex, made the dantian extremely unstable. It seemed that the dantian's spiritual power would be unusable until the Wood-attribute spiritual power completely dissipated.

The internal organs, meridians, and dantian were all seriously injured, and the injuries were severe enough to damage the very foundation of the body.

"Three or four months?"

Luo Fanchen pursed his lips. Some of the severe wounds had already healed a little. Although the self-healing of the Yi Wood True Essence was slow, it was continuous. The irreversible damage that would be irreversible for an ordinary cultivator would heal for him in at most four months.

"Profitable."

A smile flashed in Luo Fanchen's eyes.

If you succeed in breaking through, you only need four months to recover from your injuries, during which you can still practice intermittently. If you don't force your way through in one go, the bottleneck will be formed, and even if you take four years, it will be difficult to take that final step.

"It won't take more than four months; once you enter the state of Jingzhe (the awakening of insects), you can recover most of the damage on your own."

Luo Fanchen took a few more Dew Pills, quickly refined their medicinal power, and soon cleaned up.

As dawn broke, Luo Fanchen sat cross-legged and practiced breathing exercises to clear away the remaining wood-elemental spiritual energy in his body. He tried to activate his dantian, but the intense pain persisted. However, he was able to draw upon a small portion of the Yi wood true essence.

"In a short battle, I can still unleash the strength of the eighth level of Qi Refining, which is enough to overwhelm the genius disciples of the three sects at the welcoming banquet."

Luo Fanchen ate the Ganlu Pill and Luohe Pill like candy. After two days of rest, apart from being pale and slightly deficient in qi and blood, his condition had improved by more than half. Sensing that Qiu Yun's soul power was gradually gathering, he then cast the Cleansing Spell and stepped through the Yin Mist.

After walking a hundred meters, blood patterns gradually appeared under his feet. Luo Fanchen narrowed his eyes and sensed a familiar aura in addition to Qiu Yun's presence.

"Is it Yunmo?"

Luo Fanchen murmured, and before him, the three-zhang-tall soul banner was shrouded in golden light, and Qiu Yun's figure slowly condensed.

Her pretty face looked slightly tired. After noticing Uncle Luo's whereabouts, she floated over with her lotus-like steps. She took a light sniff with her fair nose and seemed to detect the bloody smell on Uncle Luo's body and his slightly pale face. Her pretty face wrinkled up with heartache.

"Uncle Luo, you forced yourself to break through again?"

Qiu Yun pouted slightly, her soft hand reaching out to envelop Uncle Luo's palm with a wronged expression. As their palms clasped together, she used her soul power to gently smooth Uncle Luo's meridians. While feeling sorry for him, she seemed to want to scold him for not taking care of himself, yet she also knew who Uncle Luo was so eager to break through for.

It was because of her and her sister that Uncle Luo desperately wanted to increase his power to protect them.

"It's ready, Uncle Luo. Sister Yunmo's soul tempering is complete, and she can be awakened at any time."

Qiu Yun sensed that Uncle Luo was alright, so she changed the subject and added in a softer voice, "Uncle Luo, what are your plans for Sister Yunmo?"

After the soul is awakened, its spirit is quite fragile. If it is taken into the soul banner, as an ordinary soul, it will probably be affected by the second-tier soul banner and will soon degenerate into an evil ghost. Fortunately, Uncle Luo had already prepared the soul-collecting items.

"I have plans. Thank you for your hard work these past few days, Qiuyun."

Luo Fanchen gently stroked Qiu Yun's black hair at her waist, his gaze fixed on the soul body slowly floating above the soul banner, a slight sigh escaping his lips.

Before her, Yunmo's beautiful eyes were closed, her slender arms curled up around her knees, her expression serene.

Her soul was far more ethereal than Qiu Yun's. Even after undergoing a spiritual cleansing, it was still incredibly weak, probably only at the early stage of Qi Refining. If it wasn't settled quickly, it would dissipate within half a day.

"Ugh."

Luo Fanchen sighed softly. Fortunately, Yunmo still had a chance to be resurrected, which could be considered as making up for the debt.

He made hand seals and chanted incantations. As the Yi Wood imprint on his chest burned hot, a dark yellow copper bell emerged from his chest and gradually materialized. Its exterior was worn and old, and there was no pendant inside the bell. Its spiritual aura was dim, but the array patterns were mysterious and profound.

"Soul-summoning bell"

Qiu Yun murmured, knowing that this item was obtained from the black market after the extermination of demonic cultivators. It was a demonic treasure on par with the Soul Banner, and it was most suitable for Yun Mo.

"Uncle Luo, do you need my help?"

"No need. Qiuyun, teach her more about controlling the Soul Banner in the future."

Luo Fanchen gently shook his head. After infusing the True Meaning of Withering and Flourishing into the Soul-Summoning Bell, he formed the Hai Water Seal with his hands and used the Evil-Controlling Technique to slowly guide her soul into the Soul Bell.

The dim markings inside the bell indicate that the bell has lost contact with Luo Qianqiu. Normally, only he, who can use the True Meaning of Withering and Flourishing, can properly activate the Soul-Summoning Bell and use most of his supernatural powers.

"I still need to find time to study this bell in the future."

Luo Fanchen murmured, "After the Soul-Summoning Bell obtains the spirit, its divine power will be gradually activated, and it will become an aid no less powerful than the Soul Banner."

Luo Qianqiu had previously taught him the method of controlling the copper bell, but he was too busy with other matters at that time to study it. Before and after the wedding, he had plenty of time to study it properly.

"receive--"

Yunmo's divine soul surged into the Soul-Summoning Bell, and the bronze bell immediately emitted a hazy glow, its dim patterns visibly regaining their luster.

Luo Fanchen could sense that Yun Mo's aura was growing stronger, but unfortunately, due to the limitations of the Soul Bell's own grade, it was still stuck at the early stage of Qi Refining. After a while, the girl's ignorant soul gradually awakened, and the bell began to vibrate wildly.

"Buzzing."

"Yunmo, it's me."

The summoning bell hovered in mid-air, trembling and bumping around like a headless fly, seemingly extremely terrified.

It wasn't until Luo Fanchen spoke up and released goodwill together with Qiu Yun that Yun Mo, who had just woken up from a long sleep, sensed the familiar aura and his panicked mind calmed down a little. After a while, a small, timid head condensed on the copper bell and trembled.

"Lord Lolo?"

"It's me. Welcome back to the real world."

Luo Fanchen smiled and nodded, opening his palm to welcome the copper bell as it slowly descended, and said apologetically, "I've implicated you; it's my fault."

His words were full of apology. He bowed slightly to the copper bell. Yunmo's pretty face showed a little panic. She wanted to help Luo Fanchen up, but then she realized that she had no body. She suddenly understood.

She seems to be dead, as if she were in the hands of Jie Xiu.

"Lord Lolo, am I already dead?"

Yunmo's pretty face turned slightly pale, tears welling in her eyes. Looking at the pale golden soul banner dancing beside her and the dilapidated copper bell beneath her, her gentle brows gradually turned bitter. She knew that the status and cultivation she had finally obtained had vanished like a bubble.

She only had the cultivation level of the seventh stage of Qi Refining in her lifetime, so she will probably disappear soon after her consciousness is awakened.

Her lips parted as if she wanted to leave some last words, but she timidly tightened her pretty face and couldn't utter a single word.

Having finally gained the favor of the Pavilion Master and become the Vice Pavilion Master, reaching the seventh level of Qi Refining, his hard work had finally paid off, only to die and perish in the blink of an eye. He was filled with resentment.
"I will help you return to life."

"Resurrection, me?"

Yunmo tilted her head in confusion. Having lived in Jubaoge for a long time, she had some knowledge of the place.

Resurrection is far more complex than possession; it is a reversal of life and death. The materials required are so precious that even the lowest grade of resurrection is worth no less than two high-grade Foundation Establishment Pills. How could a little maid like her afford it?
"After I awakened you, I took it upon myself to take you into this bell as the main soul, so that your three souls and seven spirits would not be scattered."

"Once my cultivation improves, or once Mo Xue enters the Daoist sect and establishes her foundation, I will surely restore you to life."

Luo Fanchen spoke earnestly and said, "Before that, I need you to temporarily stay in this bell. I apologize."

"How could I blame the adults? It's all the fault of the Jie Xiu. Chief镖头 Yun was killed by the Jie Xiu while protecting us, and everyone was killed by the Jie Xiu."

Yunmo's pretty face lost all its disappointment, and she finally cheered up a bit, then began to examine the copper bell beneath her.

The array patterns were strange and mysterious, and the more I looked at them, the more familiar they seemed. They were somewhat similar to those on the Soul Banner. Speaking of which, the Soul Banner of the Master was much more majestic and exquisite than when we last met. I wonder how long her soul had been in a state of ignorance.

Can I really be brought back to life?

(End of this chapter)