In the mountains, under the cover of night.
Cloud Qi raced through the forest, led by a majestic white dragon, the father of Winter Fire's little dog, borrowed by Cloud Qi for this journey.
The dog and the man moved swiftly, leaving no sound in their wake.
Suddenly, the white dragon halted, its gaze fixed ahead.
Cloud Qi followed the dragon's line of sight.
There stood a massive, grotesque tree, towering twenty to thirty zhang high, with broad, dark green leaves shaped like human palms.
The night wind rustled the leaves, creating a loud, eerie sound, as if many people were clapping from within the tree.
Upon closer inspection, it seemed there were indeed people on the tree!
Corpses hung from its branches!
Seeing this, Cloud Qi's expression remained impassive, but his eyes gleamed with a fierce light.
From half a li away, he pointed his left hand at the demonic tree and uttered a spell:
"Burn to Ash!"
"Boom—"
The demonic tree burst into flames.
"Aooo—"
As the heavenly fire descended, the tree let out a piercing wail.
The giant tree alternated between emitting black smoke and raining green droplets, but nothing could extinguish the destructive flames imbued with profound annihilation.
The blazing fire illuminated the area for several li, burning for about half an hour before the giant tree was reduced to ashes, and the corpses were finally freed.
[Burn to Ash] was a new spell he had recently comprehended.
During his time in the Miao village, he had gained a deeper and more complex understanding of the essence of fire.
Previously, when using the [Burn] spell, it primarily manifested the concepts of [burning], [intense heat], [extreme heat], and [light].
But in the Miao village, he observed how the villagers used fire not only to ward off evil spirits but also to dispel physical cold and inner fears and loneliness.
Fire could also burn intangible things.
After several days of contemplation, he concluded that the [Burn] spell could be divided into [Burn to Ash] and [Purify by Fire].
[Burn to Ash] was a spell of destruction, using flames to annihilate all evil spirits and malevolent entities, focusing on the concept of [annihilation], representing death. [Purify by Fire] was a spell of protection and empowerment, using flames to dispel illness, chronic diseases, fear, darkness, and distractions, focusing on the concept of [purification], representing life.
[Annihilation] and [Purification] were the goals, while [Burning] was the means.
In the future, only when both [Annihilation] and [Purification] were achieved would the spell be considered complete.
The [Burn to Ash] spell he now wielded, though derived from the [Burn] spell, carried a much stronger sense of destructive annihilation, transcending ordinary fire and becoming a form of magical flame.
He was here to use the [Burn to Ash] spell to cleanse the evil spirits around the Eighteen Villages of the Hong River.
He knew that powerful demons and fierce ghosts might lurk around the Eighteen Villages, beings he could not afford to provoke.
He also knew that some of the minor demons he destroyed might reappear in a few years, nurtured by the mountains.
Even though only the white dragon leading him knew of his actions.
But he didn't care.
Since he had encountered them and had the ability, he would act righteously in the present, with a clear conscience.
With the evil spirits vanquished, the flames gradually dissipated.
After waiting patiently for a while and seeing no other evil spirits approach, Cloud Qi signaled, and the white dragon darted forward, digging through the ashes.
Cloud Qi, meanwhile, held a hand seal, ready to strike, vigilant against any potential threats.
But nothing happened.
Soon, the white dragon returned with something in its mouth.
Cloud Qi reached out and took it—a seed-like object.
He stored it in his cave stone and had the white dragon lead him to the next site of evil.
Several days later, on the seventeenth day of the ninth month, in the Chestnut Stream Village, in front of his own house.
Cloud Qi sat cross-legged, entering a meditative state.
The "Inner Landscape Scripture of the Hundred Apertures" stated: The Twelve-Storied Tower is the gateway between the human microcosm and the natural macrocosm, the pivot of qi circulation, and can serve as a temporary residence for inner deities.
This meant that the Twelve-Storied Tower was the portal connecting the human body's small universe with the vast universe of nature, the hub of spiritual energy flow, and could act as a temporary abode for other inner deities.
One unique aspect of the Twelve-Storied Tower, compared to other apertures, was that it could be opened layer by layer.
Thus, the difficulty of opening one layer of the Twelve-Storied Tower versus other major apertures was vastly different.
In other words, even though Cloud Qi's heart mansion was not yet open, he could first open one layer of the Twelve-Storied Tower, envisioning the inner deity of the heart mansion within it.
This way, he could both visualize and absorb qi, nurturing the inner deity in advance.
Once enough spiritual power was accumulated, the inner deity residing in the Twelve-Storied Tower could use that power to open the heart mansion, taking control of the blood and essence circulation.
Cloud Qi had been absorbing qi for over a year, and the first layer of the Twelve-Storied Tower had already loosened, making it not difficult to open.
Originally, he had planned to delay opening the Twelve-Storied Tower.
He had thought that only by visiting the Golden Rooster Clan at the Heavenly Rooster Mountain in the Southern Wilderness would he have the chance to comprehend the essence of the Rooster Deity, laying the foundation for his inner deity.
But unexpectedly, he had made significant progress in this small Miao village.
As the saying goes:
"Circumstances are ever-changing, like water without a constant form."
He decided to open the first layer of the Twelve-Storied Tower today, right here in the Miao village.
The method he chose was the simplest and fastest: ingestion.
Using external force, he would directly flood the aperture with vast spiritual energy.
However, this method was only suitable for opening the first layer of the Twelve-Storied Tower.
If he wanted to open the heart mansion, he would need resources far beyond his current means.
Of course, this quick method had its drawbacks.
It skipped the process of comprehending the essence of the spell and refining spiritual power, which was why some cultivators who relied on elixirs to advance often hit bottlenecks.
This wasn't a problem for Cloud Qi.
He simply prioritized and adapted as needed.
With a wave of his sleeve, his cave stone flashed, and several items appeared before him.
There were seeds, jade marrow, grass fruits, gold essence, and some unknown objects.
These were all obtained from his battles against evil spirits.
Though not of the highest quality, collectively, they should be enough to open one layer of the tower.
Cloud Qi's apertures leaned towards the yin element, aligned with the water phase.
To be cautious, he selected some water-aligned spiritual materials and used his magical fire to refine them into pure spiritual liquid.
Cloud Qi multitasked, both consuming the spiritual liquid and monitoring his inner landscape, focusing on the Twelve-Storied Tower.
The fragrant spiritual liquid entered his mouth, and Cloud Qi tilted his head slightly, allowing the liquid to flow down his throat.
But he kept his throat closed, preventing the liquid from entering his esophagus.
Suppressing the urge to cough, Cloud Qi used his willpower to dissolve the liquid into a surge of spiritual energy, which he then directed towards the Twelve-Storied Tower.
From the perspective of his inner landscape, the Twelve-Storied Tower appeared as a mountain-shaped yellow mist.
What lay within? It was unclear.
Suddenly, a fierce wind swept through his inner landscape, rushing towards the peak of the yellow mist.
The mist at the peak swayed in the wind, gradually losing its form and slowly being blown away, revealing what lay beneath.
Cloud Qi observed the exposed section, realizing why it was called the Twelve-Storied Tower.
The hollow, jade-like structure indeed resembled a layer of a tower.
The Twelve-Storied Tower was like a magnificent palace hidden within mountain mist, with only the top layer now fully revealed, emitting a faint, ethereal light.
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(End of Chapter)