Dao Companions Help Me Live Forever

Chapter 22: Self-reflection and Bad News

The window reveals the dawn.

The horizon is already showing a pale white.

Yu Lan is clearly exhausted, sleeping soundly while hugging the blanket, in a rather ungraceful posture, even snoring.

On the other hand, Yu Xian, who is completely exhausted, sits cross-legged on the floor, with a spiritual light emanating from the top of his head.

His inner energy is boiling, causing a peculiar reaction with the surrounding air. At first glance, it appears as if a faint white light is enveloping him.

Although the spiritual energy in the mortal world is thin and unsuitable for cultivation, this situation clearly does not apply to someone with a "golden finger" like Yu Xian.

The newly gained inner energy in Yu Xian's body seems to come from another dimension, completely unaffected by the current environment.

He has finally successfully broken through to the later stage of Qi Refining.

[Name: Yu Xian]

[Cultivation: 7th layer of Qi Refining (1/210)]

[Soulmate: Yu Lan (1/1)]

In addition to having more abundant and higher quality inner energy, the most significant characteristic of the later stage of Qi Refining is the separation of the soul.

In the early stage of Qi Refining, inner energy condenses and the soul is born.

However, at this moment, the soul is still very weak, only allowing the cultivator to have sharper senses.

As cultivation progresses, the soul also grows and strengthens.

By the middle stage of Qi Refining, the soul can control itself and perceive its own condition at any time, known as introspection.

If one is stronger, they can even extend their soul outside of their body, achieving the effect of clairvoyance.

Just like when Yu Xian was gambling on stones before.

At this stage, if one wants to practice martial arts, everyone becomes a martial arts genius.

Because they can control their physical essence and blood, allowing them to progress rapidly in the path of Qi and blood cultivation.

However, not many cultivators are willing to practice martial arts again.

After all, with the operation of inner energy and the automatic tempering of the body, there is no need to practice martial arts to make the body stronger. In addition, the existence of various powerful spiritual arts makes martial arts seem extremely mediocre.

It is precisely because the spiritual energy in the mortal world is thin and Qi Refining is difficult that martial arts have a place to survive.

In the later stage of Qi Refining, the soul is no longer just an auxiliary force, but becomes one of the core forces alongside inner energy.

The soul, which could only barely separate from the body, has successfully broken through the limitations of the physical body and can freely roam outside, like a third hand for cultivators.

And it is a third hand that comes with a 360-degree panoramic map.

When the soul is projected outside, it also serves as the foundation for controlling spiritual tools.

Controlling spiritual tools sounds very high-level.

In fact, it is not much different from a warrior wielding a sword or a blade, except that the hand holding the weapon becomes an intangible and immaterial soul.

The distance at which the soul can be projected also represents the distance at which spiritual tools can be controlled.

At the early stage of Yu Xian's later stage of Qi Refining, the distance at which the soul can be projected is less than ten meters. Within ten meters, he can manipulate spiritual tools as he pleases, and nothing can escape his perception.

If he wishes, he doesn't even need to turn around to see the movements of an ant in a corner behind him.

With a thought, a teacup on a table about three to four meters away trembles as if an invisible hand wants to lift it up.

However, when it is about two centimeters away from the table, the force dissipates, and the teacup falls steadily back onto the table.

"It seems that the power of pure soul is still too difficult to directly affect reality. No wonder it requires a standard spiritual tool instead of just any weapon," Yu Xian ponders to himself.

It should be noted that when he was in the middle stage of Qi Refining, he could already manipulate a large hand made of inner energy and move wooden boxes weighing hundreds of pounds.

But now, relying solely on spiritual consciousness, I can't even lift a cup of tea.

Of course, one is like a grand opening, while the other is like embroidering flowers on tofu. The difficulty of the two is incomparable.

Before, he had also thought that if his spiritual consciousness could be projected outward, freely manipulating swords and knives to unsheath them in mid-air, wouldn't it be just as marvelous as using magical tools?

But now, after experimenting a bit, he realized that there was still a long way to go if he wanted his spiritual consciousness to have an impact on reality.

Without guidance from predecessors, all of his cultivation experiences could only be explored by himself.

However, Yu Xian didn't think there was anything wrong with that.

Once he had a master and a sect, it meant a vast network of interpersonal relationships, but it also meant trouble.

If the master is in need, should he help?

If the sect is in trouble, should he lend a hand?

Once he helps, all sorts of miscellaneous tasks naturally arise, and he may even have to fight and compete with others. One wrong move could mean death.

Although his current life is difficult and frugal, he can't even bear to use a single spiritual stone, but he finds solace in its tranquility.

Of course, the main reason is that he has a Dao companion to assist him. Advancing step by step in cultivation, he doesn't have as many worries as ordinary cultivators, naturally giving him peace of mind.

Normal cultivators have the support of their sect elders in order to go further.

After breaking through, Yu Xian reflected and found that he was very satisfied with his current life, so he decided to continue maintaining it.

"To reach the seventh level of Qi Refining, I need 210 cultivation points. At an average rate of two points per day, I will need a little over three months, which isn't too long."

"By this calculation, each level of cultivation requires the total of the previous two levels. Based on this, reaching the eighth level of Qi Refining will take half a year, and reaching the ninth level will take a little over a year."

"Tsk tsk, before coming to the mortal world, who would have believed that I could become a quasi Foundation Building expert from a small role at the third level of Qi Refining in less than three years?"

"It seems that a cheat-like life doesn't need any explanation."

"I have time, there's no need to rush for immediate gains. I still need to continue keeping a low profile."

Yu Xian gathered his mana, and the restless aura gradually subsided, followed by a strong sense of exhaustion.

He couldn't help but pat his lower back.

Yes, it was clean and spotless, not a drop left.

Although he had reached the later stage of Qi Refining, his physical body was still mortal, and his waist naturally had its limits like an ordinary person.

This breakthrough had greatly overdrawn his future happiness for a period of time.

"Damn, I'm almost worn out."

Yu Xian lowered his head and stared at a certain lump, lost in thought.

Then he yawned, got up, and went to bed, holding Yu Lan as he fell into a deep sleep.

Originally, he had planned to start crafting magical tools in one go, but now it was not possible.

...

As the sun set, leaving only the afterglow illuminating the evening sky.

Yu Xian woke up groggily and instinctively reached out to his side, only to find it empty. It was then that he realized Yu Lan had already gotten up.

"It seems that I still need to act within my means in the future. As good as fine wine is, I shouldn't drink too much."

Yu Xian's mind went blank, he lazily got out of bed, put on his clothes, and with wooden clogs clattering, he went downstairs. There, he saw Yu Lan talking to Chen Yi in the courtyard, looking worried.

When he heard the sound of someone coming downstairs, Yu Lan immediately turned her head and, upon seeing Yu Xian, immediately called out "Master" and ran towards him, leaping into his arms.

"What's wrong?"

Yu Xian held Yu Lan, still a bit puzzled.

"Master, do you know? The Bai Bao Tower was robbed, and many people died. Luckily, we didn't go there today." Yu Lan's face was filled with fear and relief.

(End of this chapter)