Chapter 113: Foundation Establishment in the Sea of Qi

Chapter One Hundred and Thirteen: Foundation Building in the Sea of Qi

Inside the flesh between one meridian and another, the scene was even more tragic. Because spiritual power had broken through its restraints and was raging wildly through Jiang Yan’s body, and because spiritual power possessed an innate tendency to draw toward itself, the rampaging currents kept crashing toward the direction from which another meridian’s spiritual power had burst forth. In this way, they tore open channel after channel through flesh and blood, until between the meridians the flesh had almost dissolved into a blur of crimson pulp...

From his inner vision, Jiang Yan could clearly perceive that the flesh between his meridians had already been reduced to a blood-soaked mass. Within that bloody red haze, strands of wood-aspect spiritual power flickered with a cyan sheen as they scattered and collided throughout his body.

At the source of the nine ruptured meridians within Jiang Yan’s body, there was a newly opened sea of qi. This was an additional aperture that had formed after Jiang Yan broke through to the great completion of the spirit-refining stage. This sea of qi possessed formidable power, and the future foundation-building process would also take place within it.

Now, however, the top of the sea of qi, where the nine meridians entered it, had been torn apart by the collapse of the meridians. Like a balloon ripped open by a mischievous child, the crown of the sea of qi had split into a gaping wound, and spiritual power kept surging through that great opening and into the sea of qi.

What puzzled Jiang Yan was this: although the top of the sea of qi had been torn open, the wound there was not growing larger. Instead, it was slowly, bit by bit, shrinking...

Each time a chill ran across his back, Jiang Yan could sense a dazzling flash of light at the top of the sea of qi. After the wound there tightened slightly, the brilliant light would then rush into his sea of qi.

The Green Wood Spirit Transformation Art.

A surge of delight flashed through Jiang Yan’s heart. Wan’er had finally mastered the Green Wood Spirit Transformation Art.

“Pure wood intent, the turning of heavenly law, the sea of qi takes form as a seat, becoming the cornerstone...”

The incantation of the second-rank Green Wood Art slowly flowed through Jiang Yan’s mind. The method for foundation building within the sea of qi was described in detail within the second-rank Green Wood Art. Although Jiang Yan currently had no Foundation Pill and no aid from the Six-Star Platform for foundation building, after examining the chaos within his sea of qi through inner vision, he could only helplessly realize that his meridians were severed, his sea of qi was ruptured, and though Wan’er’s Green Wood Spirit Transformation Art was helping to constantly mend his body, that was but a drop in the bucket, utterly insufficient. If Jiang Yan wanted to live, he had no choice but to build his foundation in order to save himself.

Carefully, Jiang Yan began to mobilize the last traces of spiritual power left in his body. Because the spiritual power from the azure primordial wood had poured into him, much of Jiang Yan’s own spiritual power had been neutralized, leaving him with very little he could still direct.

Under his conscious control, the circulation of the spiritual power within him gradually returned to the proper course, flowing toward his sea of qi...

Slowly, Jiang Yan let his divine sense sink into the sea of qi along with the circulating spiritual power.

The moment his consciousness sank into the sea of qi, a sudden brightness burst before him. In his spiritual perception, Jiang Yan seemed to stand beneath a blinding white sun. The sea of qi was filled with dazzling, snow-bright spiritual power, and this brilliant radiance illuminated his sea of qi so completely that he felt as though he were bathed in sunlight.

The spiritual power under Jiang Yan’s control surged into the sea of qi like a cyan waterfall pouring down from the top of the sea of qi, merging into that field of brilliant white light.

The instant the spiritual power entered the sea of qi, Jiang Yan’s perception trembled violently. The power he controlled suddenly swelled many times over. Under his conscious guidance, the spiritual power within the sea of qi was rapidly assimilated by his cyan spiritual power, swiftly transforming from a snow-bright hue into a vibrant, life-giving cyan.

In the blink of an eye, all the spiritual power in Jiang Yan’s sea of qi had transformed into cyan. The snow-bright spiritual power had all become the Green Wood Art spiritual force he could command, entirely taken under his control. Yet after mastering that white radiance, Jiang Yan was astonished to discover that it had actually been the form taken by the Green Wood Spirit Transformation Art — spiritual power accumulated within his own sea of qi by Tang Wan through successive uses of the technique.

Spiritual power still continued, endlessly, to pour into the sea of qi from outside it. The azure wood spiritual force beyond his control kept flooding toward it in greater and greater numbers, surging into Jiang Yan’s sea of qi. It was as though the spiritual power he had just controlled had pointed out a direction for all the uncontrollable currents; the spiritual power pouring out from the azure primordial wood all rushed in a single tide toward Jiang Yan’s sea of qi.

“Pure wood intent, the turning of heavenly law, the sea of qi takes form as a seat, becoming the cornerstone...”

Within the second-rank Green Wood Art, the incantation for foundation building slowly passed through Jiang Yan’s heart...

He steadied his mind and calmed his breath, struggling to suppress the surging blood within him that would not settle because of the ruptured meridians, restraining the turmoil of thought caused by pain, and directing the unstable spiritual power in his sea of qi to circulate slowly along its inner walls.

The spiritual power pouring into Jiang Yan from the azure primordial wood, once it entered the sea of qi, seemed to be drawn in at once, joining the circulation of power within the sea of qi. It moved in a loop along the inner wall and was slowly assimilated by the spiritual force in Jiang Yan’s body that carried the properties of the Green Wood Spirit Transformation Art, rapidly converting into power he could use.

Within Jiang Yan’s body, the situation was gradually turning for the better...

...

After a piercing scream, yet another cultivator was torn into a spray of blood and fell beneath the shockwave.

A cloud of dust suddenly rose high into the air, filling the entire battlefield. A brown boulder taller than a man that had survived the previous shockwave was silently reduced to powder as the shockwave swept low across the ground, kicking up a towering veil of dust in its wake.

“Go.”

Tang Wan’s face was pale as she pressed her palms together, still casting the Green Wood Art. A trace of snow-bright light lit up in her palms. Gently pushing forward with her delicate hands, she let out a soft command, and that radiance sank into Jiang Yan’s body.

She lifted her head to glance at the brown boulder that had been ground to dust, then looked at the spray of blood drifting in the shockwave. A look of steadfast resolve flickered in her eyes as she murmured inwardly, “Senior Brother, you will be all right.”

After her silent prayer, Tang Wan once again pressed her palms together and continued to cast the Green Wood Spirit Transformation Art. Though the spiritual power in her body was nearly exhausted, she still refused to heed anything else. Her eyes held nothing but Jiang Yan’s silhouette as she devoted herself wholly to the art of green wood transformation...

Jiang Yan’s body remained drenched in blood. The damage to his meridians had caused the blood within him to seep out through his skin, and as the water formed by the sweat on his body flowed over him, he looked from afar like a man made entirely of blood.

Within the sea of qi, spiritual power still poured in ceaselessly from the flesh-mangled meridians, rushing into the damaged sea of qi and being assimilated by the Green Wood Art spiritual force within Jiang Yan, which possessed the power to transform and absorb.

Time passed slowly. The shockwave created by the explosion was now less than several dozen meters from Jiang Yan. Tang Wan, still casting the Green Wood Spirit Transformation Art, had grown even paler. Nearby, the golden bell shield cast by the monks of the Great Compassion Temple had already shone with a golden light, protecting Wukong and the others. The green wood beast still stared with its innocent eyes, its large gaze darting back and forth between the golden bell shield and Tang Wan. A few crystal-clear heads turned uneasily from side to side.

...

The manner in which spiritual power circulated within Jiang Yan’s sea of qi gradually changed. From the initial motion of rotating along the wall of the sea of qi, it slowly evolved into a circular rotation, turning along a ring like a crescent moon...

At the top of the sea of qi, spiritual power that was not under Jiang Yan’s control still poured in without end. On the azure primordial wood pressed beneath Jiang Yan’s palm, the radiance remained brilliant, and spiritual power continued to batter the shattered meridians within his body.

Within the sea of qi, the circulation of power grew faster and faster. Under Jiang Yan’s conscious urging, it accelerated again and again. Because it was moving too swiftly, a vague cyan platform flickered into view within his sea of qi from time to time...

At the top of the sea of qi, the spiritual power surging from the azure primordial wood still continued to flood into Jiang Yan’s sea of qi. As the circulation of power inside his sea of qi grew faster, the speed at which spiritual power entered it also increased. The moment that power entered the sea of qi, it was immediately assimilated by the spiritual force within Jiang Yan and swept into the rapidly spinning crescent...

Hoo, hoo...

Because the spiritual power within the sea of qi was circulating too quickly, Jiang Yan seemed to hear beside his ear a storm of wind born from its swift motion. Within his sea of qi, because the pace of assimilation was too rapid, the incoming spiritual power was no longer sufficient. The Green Wood Art spiritual force, tinged with a faint cyan glow, actually surged toward the top of the sea of qi, drawing the wildly rampaging spiritual power within Jiang Yan’s body toward it.

As the rate of spiritual power entering the sea of qi increased, the meridians within Jiang Yan’s body, already riddled with holes from the raging current, no longer had any violent impact coursing through them. The suction between Jiang Yan’s palm and the azure primordial wood gradually weakened, and on the wood, that snow-bright radiance slowly began to dim.

Within Jiang Yan’s sea of qi, the circulation of spiritual power also gradually reached its peak. A cyan foundation platform appeared in the sea of qi, though it seemed somewhat unstable. With Jiang Yan’s breathing, it flickered in and out of view, its cyan light wavering.

“Foundation building is finally close.”

Jiang Yan thought with a measure of relief. Once the breakthrough succeeded, he believed that, with the properties of the Green Wood Spirit Transformation Art, he would surely be able to repair the shattered meridians in his body, which were like a ruined rag doll, and step steadily into the early foundation-building stage.

Clang, clang, clang...

A piercing metallic clash suddenly rang in Jiang Yan’s ear. Feeling the bone-chilling spiritual force striking his face, Jiang Yan suddenly remembered where he was now: on the path that the shockwave from the beast-slaying gate’s spiritual explosion would inevitably pass through.

“Senior Brother, the spiritual explosion is here. You still haven’t woken up, Senior Brother. Wan’er is useless... I don’t know what to do...”

A soft voice suddenly sounded beside Jiang Yan’s ear. It was Tang Wan. Seeing the shockwave from the spiritual explosion already before them, and already striking the monk Wukong’s golden bell shield, she knew that in the next instant the shockwave would reach her and her senior brother. Unable to help herself, she extinguished the hope of saving him and gave up on continuing to cast the Green Wood Spirit Transformation Art.

“I’m useless... but if I can die together with Senior Brother, I’ll still be happy...”

As she spoke, a fragrant and tender body threw itself into Jiang Yan’s arms, holding his waist tightly.

“Though I’m useless, I can still help Senior Brother block the storm for a moment.”

Tang Wan buried herself in Jiang Yan’s embrace and clung to him tightly, using her own back to shield him from the storm. Her voice was low as she spoke of her helplessness and her comfort...

Hum, hum...

As Tang Wan threw herself into Jiang Yan’s arms and used her back to block the shockwave from the spiritual explosion, the snow-bright light on the azure primordial wood suddenly flared to life once more.

Bang...

A familiar explosive crack rang in his ears, and Jiang Yan’s body jerked violently.