Yang Wenqing forcibly suppressed the joy in his heart. Sensing the speed at which his qi sea absorbed the spiritual qi within his body, his consciousness swept through the Golden Core world in a flash, and he came to a decision.
The speed at which this cultivator’s remains gathered qi was even faster than the Spirit Gathering Formation in the branch bureau’s training room. Its flaw was that the spiritual qi it gathered was very coarse, but Yang Wenqing had the Golden Core world, so he could completely ignore that drawback. With it, Yang Wenqing would not need to practice boxing to draw spiritual qi into his body for cultivation.
In that case, perhaps the two-year timeframe he had previously set could be shortened to a few months—or even possibly a single month.
“Wenqing, cultivation cannot be rushed!” Li Ming spoke up to remind him. He had noticed the light in Yang Wenqing’s eyes. He had seen that kind of light far too many times, and knew what Yang Wenqing was thinking at that moment.
“That’s right, Wenqing. You’re still young,” Zhou Kun also advised. “If you use this thing to cultivate and aren’t careful, you’ll damage your spiritual meridians. If things go badly, you might completely lose the possibility of advancing to the Qi Refining stage.”
“How much is this thing worth?” Yang Wenqing asked.
“I don’t know, but it probably won’t be too much,” Li Ming replied. “For most low-level cultivators, it has no use whatsoever. Once they reach the Qi Refining stage, they won’t use it anymore. Its greatest use is being recycled by some research institute and taken away for strange experiments.”
After he finished speaking, he paused, then stared at Yang Wenqing and added, “You should know that Spirit Gathering Formations suitable for our current stage are very complicated to set up, because our spiritual meridians are very fragile. In most cases, even the children of wealthy families won’t cultivate through spirit gathering at this stage.”
Yang Wenqing fell silent for several seconds. Meeting Li Ming’s gaze, he said, “Thank you for the reminder, Brother Ming. I just want to try it. Before it’s sold, how about I borrow it to cultivate for a while?”
Li Ming and Zhou Kun exchanged a glance. In truth, both of them wanted to refuse—not because they feared Yang Wenqing would keep it for himself, but because they were afraid he would overdo his cultivation and cause permanent damage to his spiritual meridians.
“I can’t give you an answer. I’ll tell the captain and let him talk to you.”
Li Ming gave his reply, then said, “For now, put it away first. We need to destroy these buildings and clean up those corpses.”
“No problem!” Yang Wenqing nodded. He wrapped that section of spine in a clean piece of oilcloth and placed it inside his tactical backpack.
Afterward, the three of them dragged the yao corpses scattered across the open ground into one place and piled them up.
The fur, claws, bones, and flesh containing a trace of spiritual qi from these yao creatures were all materials of some value to the City Defense Bureau or certain merchant associations. Later, specialized militia would come to handle and register them in greater detail.
Li Ming drew a pale yellow talisman paper from the layered compartment of his talisman pouch. After activating it, a fresh-scented breeze immediately formed. With the corpse pile as its center, the breeze spread outward in all directions, interfering with and dispersing the heavy stench of blood.
Then, Yang Wenqing’s three-man team continued advancing south.
Perhaps because of the existence of this wolf yao tribe, the yao creatures and spirits in the surrounding area had either been absorbed or driven away. As a result, during the subsequent sweep, they only encountered some insignificant wild beasts and a few scattered spirits, which were dealt with effortlessly.
At around three in the afternoon, after they reached the boundary of the designated area and left behind markers, the three of them returned to the camp along their original route.
By the time they returned to camp, the setting sun had already dyed the horizon red. The other squad members were also returning one after another, and the camp was clearly busier than it had been yesterday.
Yang Wenqing had just returned to the camp station and put down his equipment when Captain Xiao Liang walked over.
“Li Ming told me everything.” Xiao Liang got straight to the point. Looking at Yang Wenqing, he asked, “Are you sure you want to take the risk?”
“Captain, I understand the risks involved.” Yang Wenqing’s tone was sincere. “I’ll be very careful. The moment I feel any discomfort in my spiritual meridians, I’ll stop. I know my limits. I won’t gamble with my future.”
Hearing this, Xiao Liang stared at Yang Wenqing for a few seconds, while Yang Wenqing’s eyes remained clear and resolute.
“All right. Since you insist, then do as you said. Remember, act within your ability.”
“Thank you, Captain!”
Gratitude appeared on Yang Wenqing’s face.
However, although Xiao Liang agreed on the surface, in his heart he secretly decided that over the next two days, while they were out, he would pay extra attention to Yang Wenqing’s condition in secret. If anything seemed wrong, he would immediately intervene by force.
Not long after Xiao Liang left, Ye Yong ran over again to call Yang Wenqing to eat.
After dinner, the camp gradually quieted down. Most of the team members were seizing the time to rest and recover the strength and energy they had consumed during the day. Only the patrolling militiamen moved back and forth along the edge of the fence.
In a relatively secluded corner, Yang Wenqing first practiced the fist techniques of the Qi Guiding Art three times as usual, adjusting his condition to its best state. Only then did he sit cross-legged and pick up the spine wrapped in oilcloth.
In just a moment, the spiritual qi between heaven and earth seemed to be drawn by an invisible force field, rapidly gathering toward him. Yang Wenqing immediately did his utmost to guide the gathered spiritual qi into his body.
This spiritual qi that had been forcibly gathered came too quickly for Yang Wenqing’s narrow qi sea to refine in time, and it would surge into the spiritual meridians throughout his body.
Therefore, Yang Wenqing directly entered the Golden Core world, using its power to refine this spiritual qi before guiding it to circulate through his spiritual meridians in a full major heavenly circuit.
Even so, he still saw fine cracks appear in his spiritual meridians. This was caused by the circulation speed being too fast. Yang Wenqing did not stop. Gritting his teeth, he continued maintaining his cultivation, because at this moment he could clearly sense his spiritual meridians slowly expanding.
But as time passed, the burden on his spiritual meridians grew heavier and heavier. Waves of tearing pain came from his limbs and bones, reminding Yang Wenqing that his body was already nearing its limit. Only when he felt that his spiritual meridians were about to be unable to bear the strain and might soon affect his foundation did he decisively cut off the spiritual qi connection with the spine.
At this moment, the qi sea inside his body was already brimming to the point of overflowing. The effect was even more significant than several days of bitter cultivation under normal circumstances. But the price was that his spiritual meridians were covered in fine wounds, along with the burning, stinging pain those wounds brought.
Yang Wenqing did not dare be negligent. He immediately gathered his mind and fully circulated the Basic Qi Refining method, mobilizing the overflowing pure spiritual qi in his qi sea to repair his damaged spiritual meridians.
By the time he had roughly repaired his main spiritual meridians, he discovered that the sky had already turned completely dark.
He exhaled a breath of turbid air. Sensing the full qi sea within his body, his heart was filled with the satisfaction of a bountiful harvest. Just then, he noticed that not far away, Captain Xiao Liang was sitting cross-legged beside a supply crate. He seemed to be meditating with his eyes closed, but the direction he was positioned in just so happened to allow the corner where Yang Wenqing had been cultivating to fall within his peripheral vision.
Yang Wenqing immediately understood. The captain was afraid he would cultivate too much and was protecting him.
…
Early the next morning, just as the sky was beginning to brighten, the urgent whistle for assembly sounded throughout the camp.
All the patrol members quickly got dressed and jogged to the center of the camp to form up. Station Chief Wang Ren stood at the front, his expression even more solemn than yesterday.
“After yesterday’s preliminary sweep, the threats on the outer perimeter have basically been eliminated.” Wang Ren’s voice spread throughout the camp. “Today, the six patrol teams will gather together and advance into the depths of the forest in a fan-shaped formation. Our goal is to clear out every large-scale yao gathering point in this area and completely eradicate these hidden dangers…”
Over the next three days, the clearing operation unfolded in full.
Station Chief Wang Ren personally took command. The six patrol teams steadily advanced deeper into the forest, and several yao gathering points they encountered were turned into ruins amid bursts of gunfire. Wang Ren, the station chief, and the six captains did not even have the chance to make a move.
Every day at five in the afternoon, the teams would return punctually to the forward base temporarily established by the militia to rest. At that time, Yang Wenqing would seek out a secluded place to cultivate with the help of the spine, while Captain Xiao Liang would always just so happen to be meditating or handling matters not far away.
It was worth mentioning that later, cultivator remains were discovered at another gathering point as well, but they were only two ribs that were close to weathering away.
Three days later, the major threats in Forest No. 13 had basically been purged, and long-term monitoring formations and simple outposts were established at several key locations.
Thus, the main force began returning to Qianjiao County.
With the end of the year approaching, the festive atmosphere in the county town was growing stronger, but the security station’s work did not relax. Especially during the Spring Festival, even more manpower was needed to maintain order.
As a newcomer, Yang Wenqing was assigned consecutive duty shifts.
Perhaps because it was during the Spring Festival, the captain had yet to hear back from any buyers he had contacted about purchasing the spine.
Throughout the entire first lunar month, Yang Wenqing spent his days on duty, patrolling, and cultivating. As long as he returned to the dormitory, he would take out the spine and cultivate with the assistance of the Golden Core world.
Such days continued until a cold night at the end of the first lunar month. As Yang Wenqing finished his cultivation as usual and withdrew his practice, he suddenly sensed something in his heart.
He immediately sank his mind and used the Golden Core world to observe the spiritual meridians within his body…
He saw that the qi sea within him, which had long since been filled to the extreme, had already reached a certain critical point. The spiritual meridians throughout his body also transmitted a strange sense of saturation and throbbing, as though some kind of shackle was about to be broken.
Yang Wenqing abruptly opened his eyes, suppressing the excitement in his heart, and muttered to himself, “Faster than I imagined. With the spiritual qi I’ve refined in my qi sea right now, there’s a high chance I won’t even need the Dragon Ginseng Pill to advance to the Qi Refining stage!”
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