"Boom—"
With a deafening roar, the disoriented Yun Qi tumbled into a deep crevice.
He quickly scanned his surroundings and found the underground space to be vast and empty, stretching endlessly into the distance.
Looking down, he saw an abyss so deep that its bottom was invisible.
In this vast, pitch-black cavern, there were numerous dazzling lights, some clustered together, others forming streaks, making it feel as if he were floating in a sea of stars or had entered the inner landscape of his own body.
Yun Qi didn't recognize these as True Fiends; he thought they were just clumps of accumulated miasma that had taken on a tangible form.
"Sizzle—"
The fiery aura surrounding Yun Qi came into contact with the fiendish energy in the cavern, causing it to burn fiercely and emit a piercing screech.
Yun Qi's expression changed.
The miasma here was incredibly potent, and he couldn't absorb any energy in this place.
The limited amount of spiritual power he had stored wouldn't last long!
He quickly summoned his "Dragon Chariot," tumbling onto it to halt his descent, and then attempted to ride the clouds upward.
However, as the saying goes, "The wind rises from the tip of the grass."
The underground fire below the cavern created a swirling inferno that, when it reached the surface, turned into a howling hurricane.
Yun Qi tried to fly out of the cavern, but he was like a willow catkin caught in the wind, unable to control his direction.
True Fiends were everywhere in the cavern.
If the Red-Haired or Green-Robed cultivators saw this, they would be overjoyed.
But for Yun Qi, it was nothing short of a death sentence.
Soon, caught in the hurricane, Yun Qi couldn't dodge in time and collided with a massive, multicolored True Fiend the size of a small mountain.
Before the collision, Yun Qi managed to store his "Autumn Water" sword and the "Qian Shen Zhai Seal" into the Void Stone.
"Whoosh!"
Like a candle flame in the wind, the fiery aura around Yun Qi was extinguished in an instant.
Immediately after, the clothes he wore also disintegrated into nothingness.
"Ah—"
Upon contact with the True Fiend, Yun Qi's first sensation was pain—an unprecedented, unimaginable agony.
It felt as if he had been thrown into a vat of molten iron.
His entire body was engulfed in searing heat.
His skin was instantly scorched, and his long hair turned to ash in a flash.
In just a moment, the young Daoist was reduced to a bloody mess.
The molten iron seemed to have the weight of a thousand mountains, relentlessly forcing its way into his body—into his flesh, his meridians, and his acupoints.
Enduring such torment, Yun Qi's eyes turned blood-red.
In that instant, he lost the ability to think.
His thoughts seemed frozen by the molten iron.
All he could do was scream instinctively.
Yun Qi didn't know that this was called "Fiend Rushing Through the Acupoints," the most dangerous step in the process of refining Fiends for a second-level cultivator.
In the inner alchemy path, this process is also known as "Subduing the Dragon and Taming the Tiger."
In orthodox inner alchemy cultivation, introducing Fiends into the body requires years, even decades, of preparation after obtaining the Fiends.
Fiends are born from the pure and turbid energies of heaven and earth, and they are extremely rare.
However, all things in the world are interconnected and counterbalanced.
While Fiends can erode the heavens and earth and scour the human body's acupoints, they are powerless against lead and mercury.
Therefore, before gathering Fiends, inner alchemy cultivators must first seek out lead and mercury.
After obtaining these, they must refine them with numerous secret treasures.
This process is called "Adjusting Lead and Mercury."
Once the Mystic Mercury and True Lead are refined, they are ingested and integrated into the meridians.
Only after this preparation can the cultivator swallow the Fiends and guide the Dragon and Tiger along the path paved by the lead and mercury to the three-inch point below the navel, opening the second of the three major acupoints in the human body—the Yellow Court, also known as the Dantian.
This act is called "Plowing the Court."
But Yun Qi was only at the first level and had not prepared any lead or mercury.
Thus, instead of "Plowing the Court," the True Fiend was plowing through every part of Yun Qi's body.
In just a moment, Yun Qi regained his senses.
The relentless mental training he had undergone day and night finally paid off.
He tightened his focus, almost forcibly making himself forget the pain, and concentrated solely on survival.
Looking inward, he observed the inner landscape of his body.
He saw one light after another extinguished and heard the sound of rushing water.
This was the True Fiend scouring his body, clogging and sealing his acupoints one by one.
Yun Qi didn't know what use his body would be even if he survived this ordeal.
But now was not the time to think about that.
With the True Fiend blocking his acupoints, he had no choice but to sacrifice the lesser to save the greater.
Among the hundred acupoints in the body, the most important are the three major acupoints that store the Three Treasures: the Purple Palace, which stores the spirit and thoughts; the Crimson Palace, which stores the body's essence and blood; and the Yellow Court, which stores the energy of heaven and earth.
Without much thought, Yun Qi decided to ignore the Yellow Court for now.
Since it was not yet opened, blocking it wouldn't kill him.
His Crimson Palace was also unopened, and all his essence and blood were concentrated in the heart acupoint, so he couldn't afford to lose that.
His Purple Palace was also unopened, but thoughts and consciousness were not intangible; they still relied on the Purple Palace to exist.
Although he hadn't seen its true form, he knew the Purple Palace must not be lost.
Suddenly, he turned his attention to the Twelve-Storied Tower.
To protect the heart acupoint, he needed to open the Heart Mansion now! Once the mansion was established, a deity would reside within, providing the only defense against the True Fiend's invasion.
As for protecting the Purple Palace, he thought of the "Peach Capital."
The old temple master had once said that flying swords were driven by thoughts and usually stored in the Purple Palace.
Yun Qi didn't know what grade the "Peach Capital" was, but when he had previously made contact with it using his thoughts, the sword had responded! Such a sentient sword—could it enter his inner landscape and protect the Purple Mansion?
He sent a strand of thought to the "Peach Capital" sword that followed him closely, but the strand was quickly scattered by the True Fiend, losing contact with his main consciousness in the inner landscape.
"Clang!"
A clear sword chime resonated throughout Yun Qi's inner landscape.
A massive crimson sword, seemingly large enough to blot out the sky, slowly entered this world and positioned itself horizontally within the inner landscape, illuminating the dimming world caused by the blocked acupoints.
Yun Qi smiled.
At least things weren't completely hopeless.
With a thought, the "Peach Capital" shrank and moved to the purple light cluster at the top of the inner landscape.
The flying sword formed a swirling vortex of fire, protecting the Purple Palace.
He then remembered that when he had previously expelled the Sun's Yang Fire, most of it had been absorbed by the "Peach Capital."
With another thought, the "Peach Capital" responded as expected, releasing a torrent of blazing fire energy from its blade.
The golden Sun's Yang Fire was far more abundant than what Yun Qi had accumulated!
With another thought, the Yuan Dan Daoist in his throat acupoint opened its eyes.
The burly Daoist stood up and strode out of the Twelve-Storied Tower.
Behind the Daoist, the Three Flavors True Fire, drawn from the lights of the human world, followed closely, like a cloak or a banner.
The Daoist flew out of the Twelve-Storied Tower and merged with the waterfall of Yang Fire falling from the Purple Palace.
Like a general rallying his troops, the Yang Fire followed the Daoist, heading straight for the Heart Mansion, creating an overwhelming force.
Yun Qi's consciousness observed from above, as if standing on a command platform.
The heart acupoint glowed red, like a small sun suspended in the inner landscape.
Arriving at the entrance of the heart acupoint, the Yuan Dan Daoist, aware of his master's urgency, pointed his peach wood sword.
The Sun's Yang Fire and the Three Flavors True Fire merged into one, forming a river of fire that surged toward the heart acupoint.
The heart acupoint was like a bottomless pit, an endless sea, devouring the river of fire without showing any signs of saturation.
Only a moment had passed, but Yun Qi was frantic with anxiety.
He chuckled wryly to himself—this was truly a case of being forced into action! Everything felt so rushed!
Watching as the hundred acupoints in his body were extinguished one by one, Yun Qi was on the verge of despair.
However, the "Peach Capital" continued to spew forth Yang Fire energy, forming a fiery line between the heart acupoint and the Purple Palace.
With another thought, Yun Qi decided to try anything, even if it seemed hopeless.
Beside the Purple Palace, the Bright Palace began to descend!
The intricately designed, magnificent palace followed the fiery line down to the heart acupoint.
Suddenly, the palace gates opened wide, and the majestic Lord of the Morning Star, dressed in resplendent robes, rode out on a cloud, heading straight for the sun-like heart acupoint.
Meanwhile, the burly Yuan Dan Daoist, without hesitation, plunged into the fiery orb!
(End of Chapter)