Journey to the West: Building a Celestial Empire Starting from Lion Camel Ridge

Chapter 31 Qi Refining Level 1, Lord's Reward

There are eight days left until the rainy season arrives.

For Chen Ping'an, Zhang Shao's arrival was just a minor incident.

What needs to be done must be done, and what needs to be guarded must be guarded.

And those who need to cultivate themselves should still cultivate themselves.

After all, if the lord dies, this sanctuary will collapse directly.

Human lifespan is ultimately limited. If one truly wishes to transform this sanctuary into a celestial dynasty on earth, then one's cultivation journey still has a long way to go.

That's right, why can't I sense this omnipresent spiritual energy?

Chen Ping'an listened to the frequent whistling of arrows piercing the air and sighed helplessly.

After trying it out these past few days, I'm starting to get a vague sense of it.

But when he truly focused his mind on it, it vanished in an instant.

Are you playing hide-and-seek with me?

......

Chen Ping'an walked up the stone wall, feeling somewhat irritated.

When Ali saw him come up, she nodded, looking relaxed.

Some even took out their short daggers and started sharpening them out of sheer boredom.

"Is progress not going too well?"

"Um."

Chen Ping'an was silent for a while: "I'm getting a feel for it, but I'm still just one step away from the finish line."

"When I was practicing, I was just like you, unable to grasp that feeling no matter what I did. Later, I had an idea."

"What are your thoughts?" Chen Ping'an asked curiously.

"This is my own method; I don't know if it will work for others."

"For cultivators, sensing spiritual energy and drawing it into the body are two things that happen one after the other. In other words, one must sense it first before one can draw it into the body."

Chen Ping'an rubbed his chin: "Isn't that what the cultivation manuals all say?"

That's how Brother Fan taught us too.

But Chen Ping'an didn't say that, afraid that Ali would go berserk.

Actually, these two things are the same thing.

"Um?"

Chen Ping'an paused for a moment, vaguely grasping at something.

"At least, the existence of the Spirit Purification Platform is something for you."

Chen Ping'an suddenly turned around and looked at the purification stone platform, his eyes suddenly lighting up.

What's the point of sensing anything!

Why not just draw the Qi directly into the body?

They've all been purified by the spiritual altar, and I'm immune to all poisons, so what's there to worry about?

For others, due to the unique environment of Lion Camel Ridge, they must find those wisps of spiritual energy in the mottled air in order to refine them into their bodies and reduce the corrosive effects of death energy.

However, Chen Ping'an already possessed an exceptionally favorable environment for cultivation.

This is what it means to be ungrateful for what you have!

"Understood."

Chen Ping'an solemnly cupped his hands in greeting to Ali, strode up to the purification platform, and closed his eyes.

......

"Seriously, that's incredibly stupid."

Ali raised her beautiful eyebrows, a smile appearing on her lips.

"If I could use that same cleverness I had for putting demon crystals into arrow towers on this, I would have already reached the first level of Qi Refining."

As she spoke, her gaze fell upon the dark base of the arrow tower.

There, a long, thin bamboo pole was placed.

The bamboo poles were tightly bound together with rough hemp ropes to the arrow tower.

At the bottom, an arc-shaped bevel was made, and pale purple demon crystals slowly slid out from below, landing precisely in the gap of the arrow tower.

Simple, yet highly efficient.

For every six arrows fired from a level one arrow tower, one demon crystal needs to be manually added.

As the lord, Chen Ping'an's mental manipulation of the demon crystals to fall into it was originally the most efficient approach.

But after using this method for a few days, Chen Ping'an tragically discovered...

This arrow tower is useful, but it's too much of a drain on the lord.

He was like a perpetual motion machine, working almost every night to send demon crystals into the opening.

This operation requires constant attention, and it's not easy for someone else to do it for you.

What should I do?

Chen Ping'an found the answer to the problem from the extremely simple gun-loading process he had learned in his previous life.

A thin bamboo pole, just a little wider than a demon crystal.

It is about one meter long and can hold about 30 demon crystals at a time.

If this rapid-fire mechanism works without problems, it can support the arrow tower to fire 180 arrows continuously.

"Technology is the primary productive force."

Ah Li nodded in deep agreement when she recalled what Chen Ping'an had said.

"She's got a good brain, so why is she sometimes so stupid?"

Ali glanced at Chen Ping'an, who was now in meditation and trying to draw qi into his body, and helplessly patted her head.

Men, oh men.

The man is so foolish!

......

After thinking for a long time.

Chen Ping'an ultimately chose the "Qingyuan Body Refining Technique" as his cultivation method before he established his foundation.

There's no other reason than that Fan Qiming's guidance is there, which helps me avoid many detours.

Chen Ping'an didn't consider himself a person with high comprehension. He used his weak spiritual sense to read through "The True Explanation of Yin Yang Five Thunder Qi Cultivation" and a hundred thousand question marks appeared in his mind.

That's enough.

It's not too late to change it once you've reached a certain level of cultivation.

Of course, Zhang Shao's identity was also a reason for his hesitation.

Did Buddhism plant some kind of hidden danger in this practice?

Chen Ping'an decided not to take the risk for now.

He sat on the purification platform, skipping the step of sensing spiritual energy, and carefully guided the wisps of unknown gas around him into his body.

Forced to circulate according to the meridian routes of the "Qingyuan Qi Refining Technique".

Fan Qiming held nothing back, writing down all his insights from his cultivation process, whether successful experiences or lessons learned from failures, in the manuscript.

And he explained it to Chen Ping'an word by word.

Chen Ping'an was deeply moved by this.

After the first major cycle was completed, there wasn't anything particularly special about it.

Chen Ping'an didn't take it seriously. After all, this wasn't extremely pure spiritual energy; it was mixed with some other things, and the amount of energy that could actually stay in the meridians was pitifully small.

When the second major cycle was completed, he finally sensed the existence of that extremely faint energy flow.

It is so faint as to be negligible, but it does exist.

So, this means I've already... mastered the basics?

Just as Chen Ping'an was wondering, a notification popped up on the system panel, which directly confirmed his guess.

Chen Ping'an opened his eyes and opened the panel without hesitation.

[Lord Realm: Qi Refining Realm, Level 1]

The torches in the shelter were still burning, crackling and popping.

Outside the shelter, scattered bone demons lingered, making rustling sounds.

Arrows were shot out one after another, making a rhythmic whooshing sound as they pierced the air.

Everything is the same as before.

But Chen Pingan could sense that something was different.

That bit of spiritual energy was still slowly circulating within his body, without dissipating.