After Ding Hao began his closed - door cultivation, he didn't start cultivating immediately. As the saying goes, "Sharp tools make good work." He first recalled the most basic common sense of cultivation in the jade slip.
The main purpose of the Qi - Refining period is to open the eight extraordinary meridians, the governor and conception vessels, so that the true qi can flow freely in the meridians. One can open the meridians either by oneself or with the help of others. If one cultivates by oneself, it usually takes ten to twenty years. However, with the help of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python, Ding Hao believed that he could greatly shorten this process.
After entering meditation again, Ding Hao could already completely feel the fluctuation of the true qi running in his body - although it was still very weak.
These true qi flowed slowly according to the path of the Wuji Demon Art. Every time it circulated once, it returned to the dantian. Although the spiritual energy provided by the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python was still only a little, Ding Hao had already benefited a great deal. The true qi in the dantian was growing, and Ding Hao's mind was completely immersed in this cultivation!
After an unknown period of time, Ding Hao suddenly felt that the fluctuation pattern of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python began to be abnormal. First, it no longer ran according to his intended path at all, and then it was beating slowly, giving Ding Hao the illusion that he had two hearts in his body.
Ding Hao knew that the time for the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python to flare up again had finally arrived. There was not the slightest fear in his heart, only anticipation. For him, this was a crucial moment. Although he knew clearly the threat of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python to his body, he also knew that it could bring him greater benefits. Ding Hao loved challenges.
The inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python began to emit scorching power. Ding Hao could feel the horror of the spiritual energy contained in the small inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python. The spiritual energy grew from small to large and began to get chaotic, completely out of Ding Hao's control. The heart - rending pain from last time came back!
Due to his cultivation in the past two days, Ding Hao's body already had great resistance and hadn't reached the unbearable point yet. The spiritual energy of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python finally became violent. His body seemed to be at the center of a storm. Wave after wave of stabbing pain began to impact Ding Hao's body and nerves!
Ding Hao had already begun to tremble violently. The five internal organs and every cell in his body seemed to be beating along with the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python! Sweat had already soaked his clothes. Ding Hao's body and spirit were both enduring inhumane torture. It felt as if time had completely stopped at this moment. The inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python showed no sign of stopping its flare - up. On the contrary, the situation was getting worse!
When Ding Hao felt that he could hardly bear it anymore, he unexpectedly discovered a strange thing. Although the true qi was flowing chaotically, a small stream of it accidentally flowed according to the path of the Wuji Demon Art's cultivation. At first, this stream of true qi was extremely weak, so weak that Ding Hao couldn't feel it at all. But it was devouring other true qi and gradually growing stronger.
After a short while, Ding Hao could no longer ignore its existence. In just the time it took to drink a cup of tea, it had become the largest stream of true qi in Ding Hao's body. The other chaotic true qi was gradually being devoured by it. Judging from the situation, it was only a matter of time before it completely devoured them all.
It was precisely because of this reason that Ding Hao felt his body gradually returning to normal and the pain moving away from him. The true qi provided by the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python was still increasing, but now as soon as the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python produced true qi, it was completely turned into its own use by this stream of true qi, and there was no longer any threat to his body.
And this stream of true qi was completely under Ding Hao's control. Every time it circulated, Ding Hao felt that his dantian grew a little stronger.
At this time, Ding Hao began to think that the Wuji Demon Art might not be completely useless. This ability to devour other true qi and strengthen oneself was something he had never heard of!
Now Ding Hao was no longer a completely ignorant cultivator. Although there were no cultivation methods of advanced techniques in the library, there were still introductions, and he had read several of them. However, he had never heard of any cultivation or demonic cultivation methods with such an ability!
Ding Hao was fully aware of what this ability meant. Suddenly, he had a feeling of having found a treasure. Devouring the true power that others had painstakingly cultivated and turning it into his own was definitely in line with the self - serving principle of the demonic way!
To abandon such an extraordinary technique and switch to other techniques, Ding Hao began to think that the people of the Wuji Demon Sect were the stupidest cultivators in the world!
On second thought, it wasn't right. Looking at Chen Ling and Ma Feng's cunning, they didn't seem like stupid people at all. They must have had some problems during cultivation and failed to manifest this ability. Otherwise, the Wuji Demon Sect would never have fallen to the point where everyone could bully them!
The true qi emitted by the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python became weaker and weaker. Basically, as soon as it was produced, it was devoured and digested by the Wuji Demon Art. After a while, the true qi returned to normal. By now, Ding Hao knew that this flare - up had passed. Instead, Ding Hao began to look forward to the next flare - up arriving earlier. Just this short period of flare - up had made him feel that he had gained great benefits. In the future, he wouldn't have to worry about the pain of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python flaring up anymore.
Ding Hao no longer continued cultivating. Instead, he took out the jade slip to study those most basic cultivation techniques. Although Ding Hao had been reading and studying whenever he was free in the past two days, there were simply too many things in the cultivation world that needed to be mastered. It was far from what he could digest in just two days!
In this way, every time the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python flared up, Ding Hao would fully engage in cultivation. After the flare - up, he would start to study the basic common sense of cultivation in the jade slip. When a person's energy is completely concentrated on doing something, one can forget the existence of time.
It was unknown how much time had passed - a few days or a few months? Ding Hao couldn't tell.
"The Tao begets one, one begets two, two begets three, and three begets all things. All things carry Yin and embrace Yang, and through the blending of qi, they achieve harmony."
One day, when Ding Hao was reading a basic cultivation book, he saw this passage. The book said that cultivation would be twice as effective when Yin and Yang blend. The true qi of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python was scorching and belonged to fire. Fire belongs to Yang, and water belongs to Yin. But where could he find Yin to blend with?
Water belongs to Yin? Water belongs to Yin! Right, the cold pool was just right. Thinking of this, Ding Hao decided to try cultivating in the cold pool the next time the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python flared up. At this time, Ding Hao had already opened the eight extraordinary meridians, the governor and conception vessels, and reached the fetal - breath stage. He could completely rely on internal breathing and no longer needed to rely on his mouth and nose. It was completely feasible to cultivate in the pool!
When he felt the change of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python, Ding Hao dived into the cold pool. As soon as he entered the cold pool, he felt that the cold air seemed to penetrate directly through his skin and into his bones. Although it was midsummer, he couldn't feel any temperature. His hands and feet were directly immobilized by the cold air.
However, the flow of the Wuji Demon Art was not affected by this at all and still flowed slowly. The speed of devouring the spiritual energy of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python also didn't change.
This pool was a hundred meters deep. When Ding Hao sank to the bottom, with the protection of the Wuji Demon Art, his hands and feet could move again, but their flexibility had been greatly reduced. He sat cross - legged and began to cultivate.
A wave of ecstasy welled up in his heart. Sure enough. While the Wuji Demon Art was absorbing the heat of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python, it could also absorb the faint cold air of the black pool. Although the cold air was much softer than the heat of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python, it already made Ding Hao ecstatic because the flow speed of the Wuji Demon Art had increased a lot.
As the heat of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python grew larger, the rotation speed of the Wuji Demon Art also became faster. Later, it couldn't keep up with the devouring speed of the Wuji Demon Art. At this time, Ding Hao's whole body was hot. The water around him made gurgling sounds. Above his head in the cold pool, one bubble after another emerged, as if the water was boiling in a pot. Fortunately, there was still a one - zhang - high water mist above the cold pool, and this situation didn't attract the attention of other members of the Wuji Demon Sect!
The time of each flare - up of the inner elixir of the eight - winged purple python was limited and wouldn't stop because of Ding Hao's hard cultivation. After the flare - up time passed, Ding Hao checked his dantian and immediately knew that cultivating underwater was about twice as fast as above.
Only then did he have time to look at the situation of this cold pool. There were no fish in the cold pool, the water was clear, and there were no plants either. It was too strange!
Ding Hao moved around at the bottom of the pool, with all his six senses wide open, but he didn't find anything strange. The only thing that was a little surprising was that as he moved continuously, there was an extremely tiny difference in water temperature. This difference was not obvious. If one didn't pay attention, one wouldn't feel it at all. Ding Hao was an observant person. Since there were no other discoveries anyway, Ding Hao used his body to feel the place with the heaviest cold air in the pool through continuous movement.
After more than an hour of searching, Ding Hao arrived at the place with the strongest cold air.
What came into view was a cave. Judging from the marks at the entrance of the cave, it was definitely dug by humans. The cold air slowly spread out from the inside of the cave. The cold air at the entrance already made Ding Hao's body feel a little uncomfortable.
His curiosity was immediately aroused. Who dug such a cave here and for what purpose? Ding Hao couldn't help but have this question. Entering the cave, he found that the source of the cold air was a pitch - black longsword without a hilt. The sword was about five feet long and half a foot wide, much longer than an ordinary flying sword. It was made of a strange material that was neither stone nor metal. The pitch - black longsword radiated cold air in all directions, making it impossible for anyone to ignore its existence. Beside it were a pile of bones and a storage ring, and nothing else. The longsword was extremely heavy in the hand. Ding Hao almost dropped it accidentally.
A deep - seated cold air rushed into his heart. In an instant, Ding Hao became an ice sculpture. The Wuji Demon Art automatically operated, and the incredibly cold air of the longsword disappeared. The entire cold pool returned to normal temperature. Ding Hao could feel that this longsword seemed to have a life of its own, cheering for the return of its master!
It didn't look like an ordinary object no matter how he looked at it. After studying it for a long time, he still couldn't figure out what was going on. He held the storage ring in his hand, but he couldn't use it no matter what. He tried many times according to the communication methods recorded in the cultivation classics, but it was still useless.
At this time, Ding Hao thought of the special reaction of the longsword to the Wuji Demon Art just now. After activating the Demon Art, he tried to open the ring again, and it opened immediately. After going through the contents in the ring, Ding Hao finally had a completely new understanding of the Wuji Demon Sect...