Bai Youyou was angry, but now wasn't the time for a lecture.
"Quickly find a place to properly refine it!" Bai Youyou said, her cold voice filled with concern. This made Shen Xiang's heart warm, and he suddenly felt a bit guilty. He had stubbornly gone against Bai Youyou's advice.
Shen Xiang ventured deep into the forest and began refining the violent True Qi he had absorbed while sitting atop a large tree. Since this True Qi wasn't his, it would create resistance once it entered his body, making it unstable and aggressive. If he couldn't suppress it, he might explode at any moment.
Fortunately, the situation wasn't as dire as it could have been. Although Jiu Duzi was at the tenth level of the Mortal Martial Realm, his True Qi wasn't the purest kind, nor did it have any special attributes.
Inside Shen Xiang's body, the Taiji Yin-Yang Diagram spun rapidly, absorbing the chaotic True Qi into the diagram to refine it, spitting out pure white True Qi. The diagram nurtured the five differently attributed True Qi orbs floating above it.
"Sister Meiyao, what should I do next? I feel like those five True Qi orbs might not be able to hold so much True Qi," Shen Xiang asked.
"Compress and shape them! You need to condense those five orbs of True Qi into distinct forms," Su Meiyao immediately responded.
"Does that mean I'm about to reach the True Form stage of the ninth level of the Mortal Martial Realm?" Shen Xiang asked again. Compressing and forming True Qi was the hallmark of the ninth level.
"Not so fast. You need to form shapes for all five orbs. Since you've cultivated the Four Symbols Divine Art, you should form the shapes of the Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise," Su Meiyao said.
Shen Xiang frowned. "But I don't know the real forms of these Four Symbols divine beasts. How am I supposed to shape them? And my main technique is the Taiji Divine Art, so my true form should be related to that."
"The Four Symbols Divine Art is derived from the Taiji Divine Art. Both the Taiji and Four Symbols Divine Arts contain a passage on forming true shapes at the ninth level of the Mortal Martial Realm. Just follow it, and you'll naturally be able to form the four beast shapes," Su Meiyao explained.
Upon hearing this, Shen Xiang immediately recalled that both the Four Symbols Divine Art and Taiji Divine Art did have a passage he hadn't understood before. Su Meiyao had mentioned it was a crucial part, but hadn't explained that it was for condensing true forms.
Shen Xiang followed the passage, circulating his technique and letting his True Qi flow in a new pattern through his dantian. He started with the Azure Dragon form, compressing a large amount of True Qi together to shape it. During the compression, the True Qi would generate tiny explosions, which would alter its quality and make it denser and stronger.
An entire day passed, and a snake-like form of True Qi began to appear in Shen Xiang's dantian, coiling around the Taiji diagram. However, it was still just a rough outline, not fully formed yet, so the details of the Azure Dragon were unclear.
"True forms are only shapes, not the actual creatures. Only when you reach the tenth level and achieve perfection will your True Qi forms become lifelike. You must condense and compress all five elemental True Qi orbs into shapes before you can enter the ninth level of the Mortal Martial Realm," Su Meiyao said.
Shen Xiang nodded and continued to cultivate.
By the next morning, warm sunlight filtered through the leaves and onto Shen Xiang's body. He slowly opened his eyes and let out a soft breath. He had already formed two True Qi shapes.
The Azure Dragon and the Vermilion Bird shapes, although still blurry, were formed from a massive amount of compressed True Qi, making them incredibly dense and powerful.
Before, each True Qi orb was like a small bead, containing hundreds of rice grain-sized True Qi particles. But now, the bead had to hold thousands or tens of thousands of these particles. This was just the initial stage, and to create fully lifelike shapes, he would eventually need to compress tens of thousands of particles into that tiny space.
"I've only formed two shapes!" Shen Xiang observed the snake and bird-like True Qi shapes within his dantian, feeling a bit disappointed.
"Be satisfied. Most of that guy's True Qi was full of impurities, so after refining and compressing it, there wasn't much left," Su Meiyao remarked.
"Hmph, don't let this happen again!" Bai Youyou's angry voice suddenly rang out, making Shen Xiang shudder.
Shen Xiang quickly smiled apologetically, "Sister Youyou, I know I was wrong. There won't be a next time."
"You better not dare," Bai Youyou huffed coldly.
Although he hadn't reached the ninth level yet, Shen Xiang felt much stronger. The small explosions during the compression process had changed the quality of his True Qi, making it even more potent.
If his previous True Qi could be compared to a grain of rice that could blow up a tree, now a single grain could blow up ten trees. This was because each of his current True Qi grains was the result of compressing ten previous grains. This kind of compression required enormous amounts of spiritual energy to convert into True Qi.
Shen Xiang asked, "Sister Meiyao, the Four Symbols Divine Art can only form four True Qi shapes, but my True Qi has five elements. What should I shape my Earth attribute into?"
"The Taiji Divine Art mentions it. It's an elephant! Though back then, I chose to shape mine into a lotus flower," Su Meiyao answered.
An elephant! Shen Xiang was delighted because, in his mind, elephants were among the most powerful beasts.
Still sitting in the tree, Shen Xiang felt at ease now that the Nine Poison Gang had been dealt with, making the surrounding area safe. He took out Jiu Duzi's storage bag and began to inspect its contents.
There were many things inside, most notably a large number of poison needles, hidden weapons, and various toxic powders and antidotes. There were also some pills and a considerable amount of spirit money. These items could be useful to Shen Xiang, especially in dangerous situations where he could use the hidden weapons or poisons against enemies.
Shen Xiang also discovered a square jade box in the storage bag. He tried to open it, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't budge.
"Use your Divine Sense. This box must contain something that can only be opened with strong Divine Sense," Su Meiyao advised. Even though she was inside the ring, she could see what was happening outside.
Shen Xiang immediately poured his Divine Sense into the jade box, but to his shock, it felt like a bottomless pit, devouring his Divine Sense. It became difficult for him to withdraw his consciousness.
After a few moments, Shen Xiang's head began to spin, but just then, the jade box stopped consuming his Divine Sense and automatically opened. Inside, Shen Xiang saw a walnut-sized pearl resting on a piece of yellowed demonic beast skin.
At that moment, Bai Youyou and Su Meiyao emerged from the ring, standing on a thick branch of the large tree, gazing at the object in Shen Xiang's hand.
"This is an Inheritance Pearl. As long as you channel your Divine Sense into it, you can read the information stored inside," Su Meiyao explained. She took the beast skin from beneath the pearl and unfolded it. It was enormous.
"So, this pearl contains something left behind by someone else?" Shen Xiang asked.
"Yes, many sect leaders use this method to pass down their martial arts. This Inheritance Pearl likely contains martial techniques or alchemical knowledge," Bai Youyou replied.
Shen Xiang was overjoyed. He hadn't expected Jiu Duzi to possess such a treasure. He immediately channeled his Divine Sense into the Inheritance Pearl, and a massive amount of information surged into his mind. As he processed the data in his mind, a look of ecstatic delight spread across his face.