Unlike ordinary external incarnations, this incarnation can cultivate independently from the main body, but its consciousness is still controlled by the main body.
Li Qingming wishes to use this method, splitting twelve strands of subsidiary soul fragments from the main soul, and implanting them into the twelve corpses obtained through battle, refining them into external incarnations. The purpose? Naturally, it goes without saying.
However, this method is excessively cruel for the practitioner. During soul splitting, the consciousness remains lucid, feeling an indescribable pain as if thousands of ants were gnawing on the bones.
Holding an Eight-Transformation Golden Pill made by Laozi in his mouth, Li Qingming dragged out the twelve corpses including the Jin Ji from the Qiankun Tripod, and muttered to himself, "Let's begin!"
Li Qingming sent his Primordial Spirit into the main soul, controlling the soul fragments to drift out from several chakras in the body. A human's soul consists of two parts: the soul and the soul fragments.
There are three souls: Tai Guang, Shuangling, and You Jing.
There are seven soul fragments: Corpse Dog, Fu Shi, Que Yin, Swallowing Evil, Fei Du, Chuhui, and Stinky Lung.
The soul is Yang, and the soul fragments are Yin. Among the three souls and seven soul fragments, there are further distinctions of Yin and Yang. Within the three souls, Tai Guang is Yang; Shuangling is Yin; You Jing is again Yang. Among the seven soul fragments, Corpse Dog and Fu Shi are Yin, known as Heavenly Soul; Que Yin, Swallowing Evil, and Fei Du are Yang, known as Human Soul; Chuhui and Stinky Lung are Yang, known as Earth Soul.
To fully separate a thread from the soul fragments requires more than ordinary perseverance. Needless to say about perseverance, as a cultivator, Li Qingming, if he did not have a firm will to pursue the Great Dao and the courage to move forward, then all would be in vain.
Neatly turning the Primordial Spirit into a sharp scalpel, Li Qingming carefully made a cut towards "Tai Guang."
"Hissss!"
Although the soul fragments left the body, the kind of pain was directly inflicted on the soul, a kind of soul pain that was simply indescribable with words.
The scalpel transformed from Li Qingming's Primordial Spirit trembled, almost reverting back to human form.
Biting his teeth, Li Qingming secretly thought, "I cannot waste all this effort for nothing. In order to roam freely in the Primordial in the future, I'm all in!"
"Chi!"
A light sound, like the sound of tearing paper. A hair-thin "Tai Guang," floated and was sent by Li Qingming into the corpse of an earth-tunneling rat.
The scalpel transformed from the Primordial Spirit, pointed at the twelve corpses lined up, decisively turned the blade, "Chi chi chi chi…" making eleven cuts consecutively, the hair-like Heavenly Soul floated into the eleven animal corpses.
Sending "Tai Guang" into the chakra, Li Qingming again aimed at "Shuangling," "You Jing"...
"There's no turning back once the bow is drawn! Both directions, one knife, just do it!"
With a resolved decision, Li Qingming sequentially extracted the remaining two souls and soul fragments into twelve strands, sending them into the twelve corpses.
When the last of the Stinky Lung soul fragments was sent into these bodies, these twelve already dead animals miraculously came to life.
Rising up, shaking heads and wagging tails, they moved around in the hall. Li Qingming's Primordial Spirit, excitedly watching these animals, with flickering thoughts, gathered these twelve animals into the Qiankun Tripod.
Afterward, Li Qingming, who retracted his soul fragments and Primordial Spirit, felt his whole body weak and powerless, his complexion turning deathly pale! Struggling to crush the Eight-Transformation Golden Pill in his mouth, Li Qingming began to recover from this ordeal.
Li Qingming's actions this time can't be described as anything but perilous. With the slightest mistake, he might have been obliterated. Fortunately, it was a success.
He rested for a full one hundred and eighty years before Li Qingming's injuries stabilized. As for the soul injuries, they were not so easily healed. Thus, with injuries unhealed, Li Qingming excitedly ran to the exterior of the Ancestral Witch Hall, dragging out the twelve animals from the tripod. These animals, with bright eyes and surging spiritual energy, their every move exuding their former majesty.
Li Qingming, with a cool gaze, looked up at the sky, and vowed, "Heavenly Dao above, now I behold the Primordial, the hour yet unclear, thus I wish to establish the Twelve Earthly Branches.
'Zi,' signifies everything sprouting under Yang energy;
'Chou,' the knot, where Yang energy is above but not yet descended;
'Yin,' the pull, where all things begin to live in Yin;"
"Mao", signifying flourishing, as all things flourish;
"Chen", signifying trembling, as things grow through trembling;
"Si", signifying rising, when the yang energy is at its peak;
"Wu", signifying covering, as all things grow thickly and densely;
"Wei", signifying taste, as all things develop flavor;
"Shen", signifying body, as the bodies of all things are fully formed;
"You", signifying aging, as all things age;
"Xu", signifying extinction, as all things eventually perish;
"Hai", signifying storing, as all things retract and store.
These twelve are the symbols of the lifecycle of all things!
"By the twelve of Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig, these represent Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai! Twelve Earthly Branches, established!!!"
"Boom!"
Suddenly, the heavenly vault cracks open, and merituous auspicious clouds as vast as oceans surge forth! Witnessing this, which could match a fifth of the Heaven Creation Merit.
Li Qingming's heart is filled with immense excitement. "Damn it! The celestial tiers of the Twelve Earthly Branches must still be unclaimed!"
As the merit approaches, it divides into thirteen parts, a small fraction of which targets Li Qingming, while the rest bless the Twelve Earthly Branches.
Although Li Qingming received only a small portion, once the merit infused within him, it completely restored his weakened soul, from using the Jade Pure Clone Skill, to even more perfect than before. Li Qingming felt as refreshed as if he had eaten a Ginsengfruit, with every pore feeling invigorated!
Looking at the Twelve Earthly Branches, whose cultivation originally peaked at the Da Luo Immortal pinnacle, their cultivation levels surge upon the infusion of the merituous clouds, ascending all the way to the early stage of Quasi-Saint, exhausting the celestial clouds as a result.
Elated, Li Qingming stores the Twelve Earthly Branches into the Qiankun Tripod, contemplating secretly, "Now that all Twelve Earthly Branches have ascended to Quasi-Saint, I have more strategies to employ in the Primordial! Better to hide them away since not even a Saint can detect such high celestial tiers!"
Xiong Da, laying at the entrance of the Ancestral Witch Hall, widens his eyes at the scene unfolding before him. With his simple mind, he can't comprehend it. Thus, Xiong Da flaps his little wings, moving closer to Li Qingming, blinking continuously as he stares at him.
In a good mood, Li Qingming tosses a Sixth-Transformation Golden Pill into Xiong Da's mouth and says, "Your current cultivation level is too low, only at Golden Immortal Level! If you follow me out, you'll make a fool of me. Stay here at the Ancestral Witch Hall, and only when your cultivation reaches the Da Luo Realm can I take you out again!"
Xiong Da joyfully chews on the elixir, not caring about what Li Qingming was telling him.
After leaving Xiong Da in the Ancestral Witch Hall, Li Qingming leaves Mount Buzhou and heads south, planning to first visit his mother on Ten Thousand Bamboo Island, then return to the Primordial Continent.
He had just left Mount Buzhou less than fifty miles when he felt someone following him. He thought to himself bitterly, "What now? I just planned to return to the island, and already someone is trying to stop me. Truly, fate is not on my side!"
"Fellow Daoist, please hold!", as expected, an old voice called from behind.
"This phrase sounds so awkward, where have I heard it before?", Li Qingming puzzled internally.
The newcomer, standing seven feet tall, dressed in a khaki-colored Daoist robe, worn in a disheveled manner, stepping on straw sandals, his hair done in a Buddha's bun, even sporting a vermillion mark on his forehead, holds a purple-gold bowl in his left hand, and his right hand raised, the thumb pinching the middle of his index finger, bending slightly forward, all smiles!
At this moment, Li Qingming seeing the newcomer, is taken aback and exclaims, "Damn, I've finally run into this guy!"