The pressure grew noticeably. Storm-like gales spun within the seventh dantian. His ridians thrumd under the constant push.
Still, he had the ntal focus—and enough experience with volatile energies—to absorb the surging Qi without letting it spiral out of control.
Soft crackles sotis echoed in his chest or limbs, signifying the wind's friction with leftover lightning.
The final leaps before hitting the apex of Origin Core Creation demanded more refined Qi. He slowed each compression cycle, carefully forging every drop of wind Qi into a razor-edged swirl in that dantian.
Each breath out carried a faint breeze, rustling the air in the Dual Cultivation Chambers. On the spiritual plane, the new dantian shone bright jade-green, swirling at formidable speed.
Upon achieving the ninth level, Shen Yuan cracked open his eyes. An invisible gust rolled off him, stirring stray dust motes into miniature whirlwinds. He clenched his fist, feeling the unstoppable flow rippling in the seventh dantian.
He exhaled slowly, controlling the sudden surge of Qi. A satisfied calm settled over him. "All right," he murmured, "I've reached the ninth level. Ti to pause and accumulate before the next step."
A soft, amused chuckle sounded in Shen Yuan's mind as Yue Lan spoke, her playful tone echoing through his consciousness.
[Pause and accumulate, hmm? I'm genuinely surprised—where's that reckless streak you always show off?]
Shen Yuan closed his eyes again, letting the charged air around him settle into a more tranquil rhythm. "I'm not stopping completely," he replied with a playful grin. "I just have more to balance than you know. I need to bring the other dantians up to the sa level if I want a perfect breakthrough."
He rose from his ditation cushion, stretching out stiff muscles. Even within the calm of the Dual Cultivation Chambers, faint motes of wind Qi swirled around him.
The new seventh dantian still pulsed with jade-green energy, eager for more action. Yet Shen Yuan had other priorities now.
"It's ti to even the playing field among my dantians—before any big leaps to Extre Origin Cores. Otherwise, the imbalance might cause issues later if I take one of them above the other."
[So it wasn't caution for caution's sake—you just want all your little dantians to march in perfect step. No wonder you are eager to cultivate so quickly.]
He smirked, running a hand lightly over his abdon where he felt the internal swirl of power.
Radiant Lotus Cultivation Art for one dantian, Inferno Smithing Technique for another, Void Transversing Art for one, and the Ancestral Thunder God Codex for yet another—all specialized arts he'd chosen to refine his unique path.
First, Shen Yuan turned his attention to the second dantian, already seeded with the radiant Qi from prior cultivation. He sank into a ditative state, guiding threads of luminous energy to revolve in a more arranged manner.
He revolved his Qi according to the Radiant Lotus Cultivation Art, letting it steady the flow of radiant Qi through his ridians.
Soft, healing warmth suffused his limbs, banishing fatigue from his recent intense breakthroughs.
He pressed the radiant Qi into tighter orbits, aiming for the sa ninth-level threshold of Origin Core Creation.
Every ti the swirling energy threatened to waver, he stabilized it with a calm heartbeat and sharp focus from his Dao Heart.
The result was a gentle, serene glow at his second dantian—an internal lotus of radiant essence, shining as though dipped in liquid sunlight.
…
After a long ti, he opened his eyes. "Haa… finally ninth level for the Radiant Dantian as well."
[Looks like it won't be long before you take all the other dantians to the sa level as well, huh.]
Yue Lan's calm voice echoed in his mind.
Shen Yuan nodded his head with a faint smile. "Indeed, there is much for to do. I can't waste all of my ti in here."
Next, he moved on, loosening the clasp of elental synergy in his fourth dantian, which housed the intense fires from the Inferno Smithing Technique. Images of smoldering coals and roaring forge flas filled his mind as he sank deeper.
He recalled the forging processes he'd used in artifact refining, applying the sa principle to his internal fla Qi.
Gradually, the heat built to a near-furnace temperature, each cycle forging away impurities and steadily increasing his cultivation base.
Like hamr strokes upon molten tal, he shaped each surge of fire Qi toward the ninth-level boundary.
Sparks of embers flickered along his ridians, though his monstrous physiques easily absorbed the scorching assault.
After a span of controlled focus, the roaring flas in his fourth dantian consolidated into a fierce, glowing ember of power—no less intense than the newly ford wind vortex.
Finally, he shifted to the fifth dantian. At once, the crackling hum of electricity flared in his mind—the signature of the Ancestral Thunder God Codex.
Bolts of purple-blue arcs danced along his spiritual sea. Each breath, each recitation of the Codex's verse, drew more thunder Qi into that dantian.
The energies sparked and hissed, surging with primal force.
Like forging a thundercloud in miniature, he compressed the arcs into an ever-smaller sphere, rousing it slowly to the ninth-level threshold of Origin Core Creation from its ager level.
Shen Yuan exhaled slowly, letting the crackle of dissipating lightning settle into a calm static hum across his body.
Four of his dantians now glead at the ninth-level apex of Origin Core Creation—second, fourth, fifth, and seventh—each brimming with distinct elental might. He could practically sense the synergy thrumming beneath his skin.
Yet one more called for his attention next: the sixth dantian, seeded with the Void Transversing Art—an esoteric spatial technique that had only been partially developed.
Shen Yuan steadied his breathing. Without hesitation, he turned his focus inward, locking onto the subtle yet eerie ripples of space-aligned Qi within his sixth dantian. Discover stories with empire
Unlike fiery sparks or thunder arcs, the Qi in this dantian barely gave off a tangible aura. Instead, it felt like endless, quiet depths—tendrils of space folding and unfolding in near silence.
Shen Yuan let out a deep breath, recalling the Void Transversing Art's core principles: "To walk the lines between worlds, one must dissolve all presence and let space cradle them."
Gently, he coaxed each elusive strand of spatial Qi toward the center. His ridians tingled with faint pulls and twists, as though gravity itself were warping around him.
From ti to ti, micro-tears in the ambient Qi threatened to form—but his monstrous physiques, honed by countless tribulations, handled the distortions with ease.
Similar to forging lightning, wind, or fla, he condensed the spatial Qi in repeated cycles—compression, stabilization, compression again.
However, the Void Transversing Art demanded an especially gentle touch: the energies weren't forcibly hamred like tal or whipped like storms.
Instead, Shen Yuan gently coaxed them, weaving them into a denser part of subspace.
Each success led to an inward "fold," intensifying the dantian's capacity. Flickers of faint silver luminescence occasionally rippled around his torso—a visible sign that space was conforming to his will.
With every compression cycle, his sixth dantian's "void" grew deeper, denser, more potent. If wind Qi had roared and lightning Qi had crackled, this space Qi was a soft hum—a near-silent voice of limitless potential.
Ensuring the swirling subspace energies didn't snap outward, a single miscalculation could warp his ridians or cause him to slip into partial teleportation.
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