ATPnovel Chapter 26 Like auspicious snow falling
Chapter 26 Like auspicious snow falling
Turbid air is the turbidity of the earth.
Pure air is the pure and spiritual essence of heaven.
Both originated from the same source. In the primordial chaos before separation, they were a unified whole, attracting and following each other like a shadow.
Therefore, when the turbid moves, the clear responds; when the clear rises, the turbid follows. This is the constant principle of heaven and earth.
But what I see today is not like that.
The black mist arrived so fast and fiercely that it was unlike the naturally flowing turbid air in the world. It seemed to have a spirit, and it recognized Fang Shi and rushed straight at him.
Fang Shi felt a chill run down his spine. Before he could retreat, the black mist filled his mouth and nose—cold, bitter, and heavy, drilling straight into his throat.
He held his breath, but it was still no use.
The turbid air, like a living thing, seeped into every nook and cranny, penetrating his meridians through his pores, like cold snakes slithering through his body.
He could clearly feel that the pure and refined body he had cultivated over many years was being polluted inch by inch.
The meridians are naturally nourished by spiritual energy—or rather, pure energy—over the years, resulting in smooth, supple walls that radiate a lustrous sheen.
Now, once the turbid air seeps in, it's like ink entering clear water.
The pure Qi that was originally connected with the meridians was entangled by this turbid Qi, making the pure and spiritual essence turbid and dull, like a silted riverbed filled with thick silt.
No.
It can't go on like this!
The ground trembled violently.
Rumble!
A sound of rocks cracking came from above, and a piece of rock fell straight down. Fang Shi dodged to the side, and the rock grazed his shoulder and hit the ground, shattering into several pieces.
Before they could even stand firmly, another piece of gravel fell down.
His eyes were clouded by turbid air, making it impossible for him to see. He could only turn his hands over and gather his magical power.
A pale blue light surged from his palm, transforming into a water-rippled hand seal that rose upwards—it was the Lesser Water Cloud Seal, one of the few techniques in the Lesser Water Cloud Technique.
[Small Water Cloud Seal Proficiency +1]
【Little Water Cloud Seal (Beginner): 99/100】
The hand seal struck the gravel with a muffled thud.
Unfortunately, his meridians were polluted by the turbid air, slowing down the flow of his magic power. The power of the condensed hand seal was greatly reduced. Although the rubble was blocked, it was not completely shattered. It broke into several pieces and hit his shoulders and back, causing him to grit his teeth in pain.
Fortunately, his body, which was at the second level of Qi Refining, was much stronger than that of an ordinary person. After taking several blows, his bones were not broken and he could still move.
Ignoring the pain, he rushed towards the door, guided by his memory. The ground beneath his feet was sloping, broken tiles were constantly falling from above, and choking dust surrounded him.
He gritted his teeth, leaped a few times, and burst out of the doorway amidst the loud crash of the breaking beam.
Boom!
A muffled, loud crash came from behind, and the entire training room, along with half of the main room, collapsed.
Tiles shattered on the ground, turning to dust; wooden beams broke, raising clouds of dust.
Smoke and dust, mixed with gravel and wood chips, choked him and made him cough repeatedly.
Those belongings—the spirit wolf trinkets, the book "Essentials of Talismans," the newly bought jar of jade rice, and the two pots of wild rice—were all buried under the ruins.
Fang Shi didn't look back, nor did he have time to.
The turbid qi was still rampant in the body, and the spiritual energy in the meridians was becoming increasingly sluggish, like a river in winter, freezing over inch by inch.
He knew that if he didn't expel this turbid energy now, it would become even more troublesome once it seeped into his dantian and polluted his magical power.
He stood still in the courtyard, ignoring the trembling ground beneath his feet and the crumbling walls around him, and with a wave of his hands, he began to perform the Seven Steps of Spirit Invocation.
This ritual was originally intended to use impure energy to soothe the meridians, both guiding the impure energy and cleansing the body and mind.
What's even better is that the state of proficiency was something he deduced, allowing him to adapt flexibly within a certain range. Using it to expel the turbid qi from his body at this moment was exactly the right thing to do.
Cleanse, settle, shake, guide, step, recite, accept.
The first step is to cleanse the turbidity.
He took a deep breath, slowly suppressing the stale air in his lungs to prevent it from rising further.
The second step is to determine the origin.
With three fingers pointing to the center of the forehead, chest, and dantian, the remaining pure spiritual energy within the body is re-condensed.
The third step is the pulse.
Lift your right foot and stomp down heavily, loosening the stagnant, turbid energy stuck in your meridians.
The fourth step is to guide the spirit.
Raise your hand towards the sky and draw a circle in the air, guiding the last bit of pure energy in your body towards the turbid energy.
Fifth step, step on the bucket.
The feet move in accordance with the seven-star layout, three steps to the left and four steps to the right.
With each step, the pure energy circulates through the meridians in rhythm with the footsteps, gradually drawing the dislodged turbid energy downwards towards the soles of the feet, towards the Yongquan point (Kidney 1), and away from the Dantian (lower abdomen).
Step 6: Recite the mantra.
As soon as the incantation was uttered, the turbid energy within the body seemed to be suppressed, no longer running wild, but obediently following the path of the pure energy downwards.
Step 7: Absorb Qi.
Slowly raise both hands, palms facing each other, as if holding a ball.
The pure energy was drawn out of Yongquan acupoint, and the turbid energy that had been drawn to the soles of the feet followed closely behind, and together they were forced out from Yongquan acupoint.
A wisp of black mist escaped from the soles of his feet and dissipated into the air.
It was a tiny wisp, nothing more than a drop in the ocean compared to the surging turbid energy within the body.
But Fang vowed not to rush.
He re-established his vital energy, re-energized his meridians, and re-invoked the spiritual energy—when his pure energy was exhausted, he used the power of his dantian as a guide to once again perform the seven steps of summoning the spiritual energy…
Then Fang Shi saw the towering black pillar in the center of Qiyuan Town, which looked like a pillar of iron supporting the sea.
[Xu Xing's proficiency in defending the center +1]
【Xu Xing Shou Zhong (Proficient): 100/100】
[Xu Xing's Guardian Level Up: Beginner → Proficient↑]
……
Old Liu also ran out.
When the earthquake struck, he desperately rushed outside—staggering and tumbling, he leaped out the doorway just before the house collapsed.
He was hit by broken tiles and choked by smoke and dust, but he still managed to get out alive.
But he was merely alive.
He collapsed in the courtyard, panting heavily, helpless against the foul air that had seeped into his body.
He could feel the turbid qi spreading in his meridians, like ink dripping into clear water, spreading out in wisps and strands, turning the originally clear meridians turbid and gray.
The magic power also became sluggish. The power that could be activated in an instant now required two or three attempts to barely mobilize.
Old Liu finally couldn't hold back any longer and burst out cursing, "This is foul air? How can foul air pollute so quickly! It must be that bastard Chen Santai who tampered with the formation when he was building it, letting that foul air in too—and I used to call him brother!"
He cursed Chen Santai, and then cursed everyone in the Sanpan Temple whose names he could recall.
No matter who he cursed, the foul energy ignored him and continued to spread inch by inch through his meridians.
He watched helplessly as his meridians gradually dimmed, and the magical power in his dantian went from bright to dull, from vibrant to sluggish.
He tried to force it back with his internal energy and tried to cleanse it with his magic power, but the turbid energy seemed to have taken root, and no matter how much he activated his magic power, it did not budge.
He coughed so hard from the smoke that he bent over.
The sounds of collapsing houses all around him were deafening, making his ears ring.
He looked up and saw a thick column of black energy shooting into the sky from the center of Qiyuan Town, like a black dragon breaking free from the ground and soaring into the clouds.
The black dragon surged and swelled in the air, growing larger and larger until it dyed half the sky black.
Old Liu stared at the overwhelming black mist, his pupils suddenly contracting.
There was no time to think, no time to curse; the body reacted before the brain could, pushing off the ground with both hands and jumping up.
The turbid qi in the meridians had spread to the lower limbs, and when the magic power was circulating, it felt like stepping in a swamp, with each step as heavy as dragging an iron chain.
But he still ran away, recklessly channeling his magic power. Even though the turbid energy spread faster and the light in his dantian dimmed inch by inch, he still managed to escape.
They ran towards the outskirts of Qiyuan Town.
……
Hearing the commotion, Han Laoliu rushed out of the cultivation room.
He had just steadied himself when he looked up and saw a black pillar of gas shooting into the sky from the direction of Qiyuan Town.
"The ley lines... the ley lines exploded!" he murmured, his voice trembling. "The ley lines actually exploded!"
Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly jolted awake.
No, this is not a normal pulse leakage.
Since the earth's veins have already ruptured, even greater explosions are bound to follow. At that time, not only Qiyuan Town, but also Taoyuan Town, Qingshi Town, and Songyuan Town will not be able to escape.
Even if one is lucky enough to survive, the overwhelming turbid air will swarm over and pollute the meridians, making it impossible to cultivate again in this lifetime.
He didn't want to die, and he didn't want to waste his cultivation.
run!
The only option is to run!
Han Laoliu gritted his teeth, disregarded packing his belongings, and turned to run wildly in the opposite direction.
Behind them, the black column of energy continued to rise and expand, like a giant beast breaking free of its shackles, churning and roaring in the sky.
As for the strangeness of the foul air, he no longer cared about it.
……
Zuixianlou, which sells Biling wine, is not located in the most prosperous area of Panshi.
It is located in a secluded corner, very close to Qiyuan Town. If you open the window on the second floor, you can see the canopy of the old locust tree at the entrance of the town.
On ordinary days, herbalists often come here to have a couple of drinks to relieve their fatigue and to grumble at the manager, making it quite lively.
Qi Xueyi didn't know why she came here—was it because the Biling wine was really delicious, or because this place was closest to Qiyuan Town and also closest to her senior brother?
Now she can't tell the difference anymore.
After all, her senior brother had told her not to drink, but she still drank anyway.
He can't see it anyway, and he doesn't care anyway.
She was lost in thought when a clap of thunder suddenly rolled past the window.
Her hand holding the wine cup trembled slightly.
The clear liquor reflected her slightly reddened eyes.
The sound of thunder reminded her of the spring when she was eight years old.
At that time, she still wore her hair in two topknots and a bright red jacket, running around in the corridors of the temple.
Then a clap of thunder rang out, startling her so much that she covered her ears and crouched under a pillar, too afraid to move.
It was her senior brother who picked her up.
He knelt down, put his arms around her, covered her ears with one hand, and gently patted her back with the other.
"Don't worry, it's just spring thunder." His voice was soft, with a rustic accent. "When spring thunder sounds, the hibernating insects wake up, and the seeds in the ground should sprout. It's not a bad thing."
She seemed to understand but not quite, but gradually stopped crying, raised her head, and looked at him with teary eyes.
His face was thin, with prominent cheekbones and a pointed chin. His skin was darkened by the mountain wind, but his eyes were bright, like pebbles washed clean after the rain.
It was those clear, clean eyes that she remembered for a long time.
I remember her growing from a little girl into a young woman, I remember her chasing after me from Sanpanguan to Qiyuan Town, I remember the old locust tree that she could see when she opened this window, from the withered branches to the new buds, and then from the new buds to the withered branches.
After remembering for so long, in the end, he wouldn't even let her into the town.
Qi Xueyi picked up her wine cup, tilted her head back, and took a big gulp.
The sour liquor made her cough, and tears welled up in her eyes—she couldn't tell if it was from the choking or something else.
Rumble!
A loud bang erupted from the ground, causing the entire Drunken Immortal Pavilion to tremble violently.
The wine jug on the table tipped over, spilling wine all over the table.
Qi Xueyi threw down her wine cup, pushed back her chair, and leaped out of the window.
She was a cultivator at the sixth level of Qi Refining, so even if the building collapsed, it wouldn't harm her in the slightest.
But with that leap, she landed on the street and ran wildly toward Qiyuan Town.
The streets were shaking, and the houses on both sides were collapsing, but she was completely unaware.
She kept her eyes fixed on that direction—the direction of that towering black column of gas.
She recognized it as turbid air, and knew that if turbid air in the earth's veins were to erupt on a large scale, it would often be accompanied by an even more terrifying secondary explosion.
Its power was enough to overturn the ground within a radius of several miles and crush all living things into dust.
She should have run, she should have fled in the opposite direction like those panicked rogue cultivators.
But she didn't.
She just kept accelerating, her feet stepping on the Wind-Stepping Technique of the Three Plates Observation, her magic power circulating wildly in her meridians as she ran forward.
She ran along the dirt road leading to Qiyuan Town.
The old locust trees on both sides of the road were shaking violently, their branches snapping and falling to the ground.
She ran past the dilapidated houses—some had collapsed, others were still barely clinging to life.
She ran past the rogue cultivators who were fleeing, her gaze sweeping over their terrified faces.
Finally, she ran to the front of the Sanpan Villa.
The place is now a ruin, with only the black column of gas remaining, rising into the sky from the center of the ruins, surging, roaring, and expanding.
"Senior brother—"
The sound echoed above the ruins, only to be swallowed up by the churning of black mist.
boom!
The second plume of black smoke erupted from the ground, thicker, fiercer, and more intense than the first.
An irresistible force tore the entire land apart from below, and black energy surged forth like magma, crushing and swallowing everything, attempting to turn this land belonging to Sanpan Temple into nothingness.
Just then—
"snort."
A cold snort clearly reached the ears of everyone in Qiyuan Town, Taoyuan Town, Qingshi Town, and Songyuan Town.
The sound wasn't loud, but it was like a mountain looming overhead, completely suppressing the clamor of the city, the roar of the black mist, and the rumbling of the houses.
Qi Xueyi turned around abruptly and looked in the direction of the sound.
Above the stock market, a middle-aged Taoist priest stood with his hands behind his back.
He wore a purple-gold crown and a crane-feather cloak, and there was no radiance about him, but his aura was so real that it made people feel breathless.
The Taoist priest raised his right hand and pointed out with one finger.
That black aura, powerful enough to destroy the heavens and the earth, transformed into countless tiny specks of light, fluttering and scattering, covering the entire Qiyuan Town.
Just like a timely snowfall.