Level Up in Martial World

Lu Zhen frowned, sensing the changes in his cultivation. Although the middle-grade Qi stone was broken and swiftly converted into pure Qi—essentially attributeless Qi—and then absorbed as his own plant Qi, the effect was minuscule.

His cultivation increased by only a slight amount, barely noticeable, akin to a drop of water in an ocean.

"Hmm," Lu Zhen contemplated, his gaze shifting to the other middle-grade Qi stone. He now had enough power to devour this Qi stone.

After the Devour skill, which was a gold-ranked skill, reached level 3, he could essentially digest all things, and Qi stones were no exception.

However, the problem lay in the fact that these Qi stones became relatively useless to him after he reached the peak of the second-stage martial realm.

Now, their only utility lay in restoring his Qi, as Lu Zhen could swiftly refine the pure Qi into wood Qi, allowing for rapid recovery with just a blink of an eye.

Lu Zhen looked at the center where a Qi stone seemed to almost float, emitting Qi naturally from the surroundings.

He slowly avoided the pile of treasures and walked up to the stone, picking it up.

Pure Qi immediately wafted into his nose, making his mind peaceful, his eyes shimmering with excitement.

"Being the leader of the entire phoenix definitely helps," Lu Zhen mused to himself. These high-grade Qi stones that he possessed would never have been obtained with the mere status of the young master of the family. Now, they were possible and easily available to him.

Although it was still difficult for him to get his hand on, it was still possible with his status.

What was a high-grade Qi stone?

This precious resource was even valuable to the first-stage martial artist.

This alone made it a resource to be sought after, just like middle-grade Qi stones, which also had the special benefits of condensing the Qi and slightly strengthening the body. The high-grade Qi stone also provided these benefits, even greater than middle grade.

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In addition to its calming effect, the high-grade Qi stone possessed extraordinary properties that could enhance one's martial arts visualisation by several folds. It even held the potential to refine intent, which was even more helpful for first-stage martial artists.

Although Lu Zhen hadn't yet reached the level of a first-stage martial artist, he understood the value of these benefits. While he couldn't fully harness the power of refining intent, he could still utilise the Qi stone's other advantages to enhance his cultivation.

"Let's begin cultivating the Heaven Refining Demonic Qi," Lu Zhen declared resolutely. He settled into a comfortable position, preparing to ingest the high-grade Qi stone.

With a determined motion, he placed the stone in his mouth and swallowed it whole. As it descended into his stomach, a transformative process began.

Within moments, the stone started to break down, its once-solid form gradually crumbling. Each breath seemed to hasten the disintegration, causing tiny cracks to spider web across its surface.

Yet, with every crack, a burst of pure Qi escaped, far more potent and abundant than that of a mere middle-grade Qi stone.

Lu Zhen felt his mind calm as if in a serene lake, allowing the true form of his martial art to manifest vividly in his consciousness. Each movement, each technique, became crystal clear, as if he were experiencing them in real life.

Simultaneously, his body responded strangely to the mysterious energy coursing through him. It was as if every fibre of his being awakened, tingling with anticipation gradually being broken and regenerated with the help of the mysterious energy.

But Lu Zhen's focus wasn't on these bodily sensations. Instead, his attention was drawn to the patches of blood within him. Besides his own lineage, there was another patch of blood near his heart, continuously pumping out golden essence — the bloodline of the Elfen.

With deliberate precision, Lu Zhen directed some of the mysterious energy into both bloodlines, initiating a delicate fusion process. As the energies intertwined, subtle shifts occurred within his body, imperceptible to most but discernible to Lu Zhen, given his heightened physical awareness.

For now, however, he remained steadfast in his cultivation, fully immersed in the intricate dance of merging bloodlines and advancing his spiritual and martial prowess.

The mysterious energy surged within him, its potency heightened to a lethal degree. In a fleeting moment, Lu Zhen seamlessly merged the two bloodlines into one — a radiant blend of golden hues tinged with a subtle green, pulsating rhythmically from his heart.

Though imperceptible to the naked eye, profound changes occurred at the DNA level of Lu Zhen's being, alterations that eluded his immediate awareness but lingered within the very essence of his blood.

However, Lu Zhen wasn't done yet!

Harnessing the residual energy still coursing through him, he directed its flow to hasten the refinement of demonic Qi. Almost a quarter of the energy, dedicated to fortifying and enhancing various aspects of his being, converged upon his heart, transforming into pure Qi that infused the golden-green essence pulsating within his blood, transforming it into Demonic Qi.

With meticulous precision, Lu Zhen monitored the process, observing as each strand of Demonic Qi coalesced within his bloodline. "One strand, two strands... Ten strands," he murmured.

The high-grade Qi stone had already been broken by his body as the mysterious energy instantly filled Lu Zhen's entire body.

If he hadn't used the previous mysterious energy to refine his bloodline, then Lu Zhen would have instantly exploded from the sheer energy that would have seeped into his body.

Suddenly, Lu Zhen snapped open his eyes.

"Hundred strands of demonic Qi," Lu Zhen muttered as the demonic Qi instantly started to resonate with him.

The hundred strands of demonic Qi instantly penetrated his heart in the blink of an eye, searing pain erupting from Lu Zhen's heart as it expanded several times, creating a dent that could be seen from his chest.

However, Lu Zhen was undeterred; he could handle the pain.

But just at this time, he felt his mind become strangely clear as a blue panel flickered in front of him.

Lu Zhen couldn't focus on the panel as all his attention was on his own heart, carefully sensing all the changes that were happening.

The demonic Qi, after entering his heart, opened a pathway where it was instantly stored. This pathway was created with the help of Lu Zhen's heart meridian.

Unlike Qi cultivation, where meridians had little importance, the human body in this world had twelve meridians.

Even the pathways that martial trainees created to break through the third-stage martial realm didn't need much help from the meridians. As long as the Qi pathways that the martial trainees created could flow throughout their entire body, it would be enough.

For Lu Zhen, this wasn't even important, as Qi could freely travel in his body without any rejection at all.

However, the Heaven Refining Demonic Qi was different. To reach the second level of the cultivation technique, he needed to store a hundred strands of demonic Qi in his heart meridian, creating a kind of dantian to store these demonic Qi.

But it didn't end there. Lu Zhen, after using these demonic Qi in his heart meridian, started to refine an imaginary crystal dome inside his heart. The hundred strands of demonic Qi slowly drained as they were being refined into the dome.

As a result, Lu Zhen's heart slowly returned to its normal form, but a pathway had already formed in his heart meridian, resembling a dantian.