Reversing the Milky Way

The Spiritual Energy Technique: At the beginning of the universe, in its very origin, it transformed into spiritual energy. All things possess a spirit, born from this vast and boundless cosmic breath. Spiritual energy is the essence of heaven and earth, formless and intangible, yet omnipresent. The first priority in cultivating the Spiritual Energy Technique is condensing Qi. With a mind as still as water, sense the fluctuations of spiritual energy in your surroundings. Slowly inhale and exhale, absorbing the essence of heaven and earth, gathering the spiritual energy of all things, allowing your internal Qi to resonate with the external spiritual energy. As your breath deepens, the spiritual energy within your body gradually gathers, forming a warm yet powerful flow that circulates through your meridians, cleansing your body and strengthening your soul. Upon entering a state of selflessness, guide your thoughts to sense the subtle spiritual energy, the very foundation of all life's growth and the basis of cultivation for immortals.

Yu Qing'an: "Bai Cheng, although in places rich in spiritual energy, people with a cultivation physique will unconsciously absorb the surrounding spiritual energy, this efficiency is too low. Without proper guidance, it cannot be considered true cultivation of spiritual energy. Since you and Yue Ling's aptitude for sensing spiritual energy far surpasses that of ordinary people, I don't need to describe the comprehension stage in detail. What you need to do now is to draw spiritual energy into your body, then unblock your meridians and allow the spiritual energy to circulate. When you fully utilize the spiritual energy to circulate through your body's meridians, the spiritual energy you absorbed will be transformed into spiritual power corresponding to your physique within your body. This is also known as the Small Heavenly Circuit. Cultivators need to practice continuously to make the spiritual energy circulation smoother and faster until it forms a natural cycle without deliberate guidance. During this period, you need to repeat the Small Heavenly Circuit a lot. At that time, you can easily draw upon the spiritual power within your body with every move. This is the basic content of the Spiritual Energy Technique's Qi Guiding and Circulation Chapter."

Yu Qing'an looked at Bai Cheng and Yue Ling in front of him and spoke slowly. Bai Cheng listened with a sense of understanding but not quite, because he felt that the Qi Condensation Technique that Yu Qing'an was talking about was very similar to his own situation when circulating spiritual power, but there were some differences in the specifics.

Yu Qing'an: "Now, you will begin to try to absorb the surrounding spiritual energy. You must calm your mind and concentrate your spirit. This way, the efficiency of absorbing spiritual energy will be greatly improved."

Bai Cheng nodded, then calmed his mind and returned to the same mental state as before. As the sounds of the surroundings faded away, Bai Cheng felt as if he were on a tranquil lake. His every breath seemed to merge with the天地 (heaven and earth).

A moment later, he felt some light appear around the lake, and this light gradually approached him before merging into Bai Cheng's body.

When Bai Cheng absorbed these lights into his body, he did not feel anything unusual. On the contrary, he felt extremely comfortable the moment the lights entered his body.

Only then did Bai Cheng realize that this was the true feeling of spiritual energy entering his body. His body had reached the point where it could withstand the entry of spiritual energy, which was why he didn't experience the pain he had felt before.

At this moment, Yu Qing'an looked at the two people in front of him. They had obvious spiritual energy vortexes around them, drawing all the surrounding spiritual energy to them. Especially Yue Ling, her physique seemed to be closer to spiritual energy than other physiques. It seemed that she did not need to deliberately guide the spiritual energy to come to her side on its own.

Seeing this, Yu Qing'an couldn't help but sigh, "These young people are truly formidable; they have far surpassed me back then."

When he looked at his daughter, he suddenly thought of his wife who had been missing for many years. Yue Ling's performance had far exceeded his expectations. He had not taught Yue Ling to cultivate the Qi Condensation Technique beforehand, but when he saw Yue Ling release her spiritual power as a slash, he was also greatly surprised. However, Yue Ling seemed to be doing everything so naturally, as if he had already understood it in the dark.

Yu Qing'an didn't continue thinking about it, because he had more important things to do at the moment, which was to restore his strength. After some recent events, he decided to restore his strength first. Although he couldn't guarantee that he could return to his peak condition, the recent events made him feel anxious and uneasy.

Meanwhile, above the waterfall, the white deer was staring at the three people below with its emerald green eyes, while its peripheral vision also glanced at the golden-winged thunderbird egg that was shimmering with light.

On the other side...

News of the attack on Yu Family Village by demonic beasts spread rapidly to the surrounding areas. A day later, even the capital city, thousands of miles away, learned of the incident. Although Xia Tianwu had abdicated, he would still be in charge of various affairs within the royal family until a new emperor was elected.

When he heard the news about Yujia Village, he looked somewhat melancholy and then sighed at the sky.

"Ah, it's time to issue a new decree."

Although the Fire Cloud Kingdom has increased its restrictions on cultivators, at least several thousand civilians still die at the hands of cultivators every year, and tens of thousands more die at the hands of demonic beasts and spirit beasts. Although the entire Fire Cloud Kingdom has tens of millions of people, seeing such reports every year still gives the Fire Cloud Kingdom's emperor a headache.

Having cultivated from an ordinary person to his current level, he naturally understands the humiliation suffered by ordinary people. Although there have been a series of policies targeting cultivators over the past few hundred years, from his father's generation to the present, only strength can convince these cultivators.

Fortunately, over the past few hundred years, many independent sects have been converted to the major cities of the Fire Cloud Kingdom, which has greatly improved the environment within the kingdom. Otherwise, the number of civilians killed or injured in the past would have been dozens of times greater than it is now.

Soon after, Xia Tianwu promulgated a new law that day, which clearly required that even in remote villages, there should be at least one cultivator at the late stage of Qi Condensation Realm to guard the area, and that in the supervisory offices in each town, there should be at least one expert at the early stage of Meridian Opening Realm to guard the area.

As for the city itself, it is home to many cultivation sects and major cultivation families. So even if the royal family doesn't send anyone to guard it, these families and independent sects will protect their own territories. The supervisory office established by the royal family is at most just a symbol here.

The royal family was not worried about these people rebelling, because when the National Seal, which suppressed the spiritual veins under the major cities, was made, the essence of the Xia family ancestors was added. This is why only the direct blood relatives of the Xia family can activate and use the National Seal. This is also why the Xia family has been able to sit firmly as emperors. Even if the country changes hands, the spiritual veins under the Fire Cloud Kingdom will still be controlled by the Xia family.

Soon, Xia Tianwu's decree was issued to all the major cities, and then from there it was passed on to the various towns. However, upon seeing the decree, the supervisory offices in each of the major cities were filled with worry.

Because there are spiritual veins underground in all the major cities. Although they are not as rich as the cultivation caves in the deep mountains where spiritual energy is exceptionally abundant, they are still five times richer than the spiritual energy in ordinary places.

However, there are no such spiritual veins beneath the various towns, which has led to the major cities becoming highly sought-after destinations for cultivators. Therefore, virtually no one wants to leave the cities, leaving the supervisory offices within each city facing a dilemma.

Xia Tianwu had anticipated this, so he immediately issued another decree.

All members of the Supervisory Office who are not serving in any of the major cities can go to the Nine Heavens Refining Tower of the Heavenly Fire Academy for cultivation every year, according to their rank. Ordinary patrol members can cultivate for seven days, village garrison guards can cultivate for fifteen days, and supervisors in each town can cultivate for thirty days. All other officials are treated as cultivating for ten days, and there are no levels to cultivate.

The moment this decree was issued, the entire country of Huoyun was in an uproar.

As its name suggests, the Nine Heavens Refining Tower has nine levels. Legend has it that with each level you ascend, the spiritual energy increases tenfold compared to the previous level. The spiritual energy within the imperial city is already ten times that of ordinary places outside, so the first level of the Nine Heavens Refining Tower has twenty times the spiritual energy of the outside world, and the top level has exactly one hundred times that of the outside world.

Previously, this tower was only open to the Tianhuo Academy. Now, this news has caused quite a stir in the Huoyun Kingdom. Many independent cultivators from all over the country have come to join the town's supervisory office, because only the town's supervisor can cultivate in the tower for a month.

However, the officials in charge of the city's surveillance offices simply said they could accept it, because compared to only being able to cultivate in the tower for a month, it was better to cultivate in the city and enjoy five times the spiritual energy. Although the spiritual energy in the Nine Heavens Refining Qi Tower becomes denser as you go up, it places extremely high demands on the physical body. Only a handful of people can reach the third floor, and the highest record for this tower is only the sixth floor.

At the same moment, inside the Skyfire Academy, an assistant elder received a letter.

When he began reading the letter, he was all smiles at first, but as he continued reading, his attitude completely changed. This person was none other than Xuan Chenfeng.

Although he looked only in his fifties, he was actually 152 years old. After reading the letter, he threw it to the ground, his anger evident on his face.

"Hmph! This good-for-nothing is always causing me trouble! No wonder the Xia Emperor suddenly changed the decree; it's all your fault."

He paced anxiously back and forth in his elders' hall, then stopped.

Xuan Chenfeng: "I don't know whether I should report this to Father, but it's best not to let him know about such a trivial matter since he is currently in seclusion."

As soon as he finished speaking, he walked out of his elders' hall, took to the air, and flew north.

Inside the mysterious cave.

Bai Cheng had already completed a so-called Small Heavenly Circuit. He slowly opened his eyes and was surprised to find that Yu Qing'an and Yue Ling were actually practicing together.

They stopped what they were doing after seeing that Bai Cheng had finished his cultivation, and Yu Qing'an came to Bai Cheng's side.

"How was it? How did it feel for Bai Cheng to circulate his spiritual energy for the first time?"

Bai Cheng carefully sensed the changes within his body. He discovered that his body was filled with spiritual energy, which was not emitted from the fragments within his body, but rather was spiritual energy that he had absorbed from the outside world and transformed into spiritual energy corresponding to his own physique. He could feel that he could now clearly perceive everything within a hundred meters around him.

Bai Cheng: "So this is what cultivation is all about? I have already completed a small cycle of spiritual energy circulation within my body. I can feel that cultivating spiritual energy has a tremendous effect on my body."

Yu Qing'an nodded and said, "That's right. The so-called cultivation is to absorb spiritual energy into the body and circulate it continuously in the microcosmic orbit until your body is fully adapted to this state."

After listening to Yu Qing'an's words, Bai Cheng once again raised his palms, wanting to see if he could manifest the spiritual power within his body after cultivating spiritual energy. However, the result greatly disappointed Bai Cheng; only a few golden arcs of electricity leaped in the center of his palms, and then nothing more.

However, Bai Cheng did not feel a lack of spiritual energy this time, so he tried several more times, but with the same result. Yu Qing'an laughed loudly after witnessing this.

"Hahaha! Bai Cheng, what are you thinking? You only circulated your energy once within your body, do you really think you can directly manifest spiritual power?!"

Bai Cheng was also taken aback when he heard this.

"How many times do I need to circulate my spiritual energy through the microcosmic orbit before I can skillfully manifest it?"

After hearing this, Yu Qing'an held up one finger.

Upon seeing this, Bai Cheng also tentatively began to guess.

"One hundred times?"

Yu Qing'an shook his head.

"A thousand times??"

Yu Qing'an shook his head again.

"What? It can't be ten thousand times, can it?"

Yu Qing'an: "That's right, exactly ten thousand times!"

Bai Cheng: "What? Ten thousand times?"

Yu Qing'an: "Of course, this is just the standard for ordinary aptitude. Depending on the aptitude and physique, the speed of the Small Heavenly Circuit varies from person to person. Some people may not need 10,000 times to enter the Qi Condensation Realm, while others may need more than 10,000 times, and it is even possible that they need to run it 20,000 times to enter the Qi Condensation Realm. That is why cultivation is a long process."

Bai Cheng was silent for a long time. He thought that his talent would make him faster than others, but he did not expect that talent was only a small part of the cultivation process. No wonder he saw in those novels that the path of cultivation was long. He finally understood. But since he had decided to cultivate, he had to walk the path to the end.

Thinking of this, he casually asked, "What time is it now? Shouldn't we go back?"

After listening, Yu Qing'an stroked his chin and said, "Now? It should be around 5 PM."

Bai Cheng: "This day went by so fast, I didn't realize it was already sunset."

After listening, Yu Qing'an laughed and said, "Heh, heh, what are you thinking, kid? It's already the hour of You (5-7 PM) on the second day!"

Bai Cheng was greatly surprised after hearing this.

"What? It took me so long to complete one Small Heavenly Circuit? There are 365 days in a year. If I cultivate for a year, I can only complete 180 Small Heavenly Circuits at most. To complete 10,000, when will I ever get there?"

At this point, Bai Cheng couldn't help but subconsciously imagine an old man practicing with a cane.