Chapter 90: Bound by Blood

Above the lower dantian.

The Dao Seed settled into its mysterious position.

This place, the exact center of heaven and earth within a cultivator’s body, lies below Heaven, above Earth, west of Thunder, east of Lake—like the North Star, around which all the myriad apertures and stars revolve. It connects above to the Sea of Consciousness, below to the lower dantian; it is like the sea where all rivers converge, intimately linked to the hundred meridians.

Ordinary cultivators, when condensing their Dao Seed, as the name suggests, find it resembles a seed, complete with husk and core.

But Jiang Min, having consumed the Ancient Profound Azure Lotus’s seed, found her perfected Dao Seed formed instead as a mass of primordial chaos, like a great sun—coherent, never dispersing.

A stream of true qi.

Slowly, true qi emanated from the Dao Seed.

“So this is the stage of Reverting to Innate, the true qi birthed by the Dao Seed?” Jiang Min felt a sense of novelty as she sensed the generation of true qi.

She recalled the first step in cultivation—opening the spiritual apertures—where one must mobilize that trace of innate qi within, to cleanse the marrow and open the celestial eye, thus embarking on the path of cultivation.

But—

That wisp of innate qi, once used, was gone.

Now, with the Dao Seed formed, the innate returns; from this moment, the qi once lost to cultivators is generated anew. The embryonic breath takes root in it; as long as true qi endures, so does life.

“Foundation Establishment cultivators must learn the method of fetal breathing, severing the breath exchanged with heaven and earth, nurturing their true qi.”

At this thought, Jiang Min recalled the inner breathing method recorded in the Spirit Communion Art. She guided the stream of true qi to circulate within her body. Wherever true qi flowed, a clear and refreshing sensation followed. Eventually, it returned to the Dao Seed, as if the Seed itself was breathing in and out.

Meanwhile, her breath exchanged with the outer world gradually faded, until it vanished entirely.

Following the method of internal breathing, Jiang Min inhaled and exhaled several cycles. She felt her true breath smooth and unobstructed, her entire body light and buoyant, her spirit clearer than ever before. Many profound mysteries became instantly transparent.

“So this is the feeling of a Foundation Establishment cultivator?” Jiang Min found it difficult to express this wondrous sensation. She recalled a few lines of poetry she had once read in an ancient book:

Within, true qi mingles and breath persists;
Primordial chaos opens anew, giving birth to the boundless.
Yin and yang intertwine, revealing the true scene;
Seizing creation’s secrets, returning to the immortal path.
Life’s flame ignites, the yang is born;
Innate essence restored, granting longevity.
The world knows not the subtlety of this path—
And asks the immortals, where do they dwell?

“Physical strength and cultivation advancing—these were but the outward signs I noticed before.”

“The true foundation established, this is truly the beginning of the Great Dao.”

Jiang Min sighed, slowly opening her eyes to survey her surroundings. She felt a newfound intimacy with the spiritual energy around her and the world itself.

“This wondrous sensation—there will be plenty of time to savor it in the future. After establishing the foundation, what matters most is the external power: the ability to control objects with one’s will, and to refine a life-bound artifact with the flame of life.”

“Ah, the peach branch.”

Speaking of life-bound artifacts—

Jiang Min could not help but turn her attention to the peach branch within her dantian.

The branch had accompanied her through the Five Elements Heavenly Tribulation; now, she sensed a connection as intimate as blood—she and the branch had become one. She could clearly feel the vast demon power surging within it, the vibrant pulse of life, and even the subtle infiltration of lightning and fire within the furnace. Their blood was now intertwined; she seemed to experience it all firsthand.

“This—”

Jiang Min had never expected that, after struggling with the branch’s resistance during her Qi Refining period, a single tribulation would bind them so completely.

She opened her mouth and spat out the branch, which hovered before her. Her bright, limpid eyes gazed at it intently, a trace of strangeness in her expression.

“I had intended to refine you into my life-bound artifact, but now that you’ve become part of me, how am I to refine you?”

She considered for a moment.

A mere thought, and the peach branch stretched and grew, in the blink of an eye becoming a towering peach tree, taller than herself, reaching the stone chamber’s ceiling.

She walked beneath the tree and tried to snap off a piece of the branch. She could not break it; it felt as if she were bending her own arm. Another thought, and the branch severed itself at her will, falling neatly into her palm.

She stroked the severed branch, the sensation as if touching her own flesh.

A thought, and several threads of lightning and fire shaped into sword energy in her palm. She tried to destroy the branch, but it remained intact; instead, a faint tingling coursed through her from the branch.

“It’s certainly resilient. Yet, even though it's fused with my flesh, I still know nothing of its origin.”

“Then, what if I try refining it with the flame of life?”

The flame of life—

Born from the Dao Seed at Foundation Establishment, a strand of yang fire, and the very means by which Foundation Establishment cultivators refine their life-bound treasures.

Jiang Min had practiced Lightning-Fire Furnace Forging in her Qi Refining days, but now that she had reached Foundation Establishment, such methods were obsolete.

She exhaled a wisp of the flame of life, wrapping the severed peach branch within it.

The flames blazed fiercely, the branch suspended within, yet unchanged. Through their blood connection, Jiang Min sensed a minuscule trace of power slowly seeping into the branch during the burning, but with such negligible effect, transforming the branch into the sword she envisioned was still a distant dream.

“Even the Foundation Establishment’s flame of life cannot refine the peach branch?”

Jiang Min was momentarily stunned.

She had hoped to forge the branch into her life-bound sword!

But at this rate, she would be waiting for an eternity.

“It’s not as if I can just wield a tree branch as—”

Before she could finish her thought, she remembered how He Liang had once snapped a branch to use as a sword, demonstrating sword energy for them. Her expression grew uncertain, and she arched a brow, pondering.

“Should I try it as well?”

Previously, she had never considered using the peach branch as a weapon, lacking full control. Now, things were different…

Jiang Min withdrew the flame of life, gripped the branch, and infused it with lightning-fire sword energy, slashing toward the ground.

A deep fissure appeared in the blue stone floor, so dark its depths could not be seen.

Jiang Min raised her brows, her spiritual senses probing the cleft. A satisfied smile played across her features.

This chasm was not solely the work of her sword energy.

The branch’s devouring power had merged with the lightning-fire energy, making it even more formidable.

“It seems using the peach branch as a weapon is indeed feasible.”

Jiang Min nodded in satisfaction. With a wave, the severed branch flew back to the peach tree, which then shrank rapidly, returning to a small twig. Jiang Min swallowed it, restoring it to her dantian.

Since refining was fruitless and the branch was now inseparable from her, Jiang Min dispelled the lightning-fire furnace in her dantian, allowing the peach branch to return to its rightful place.

No sooner had she finished than—

Whoosh!

The little grass that had been lingering at a distance flew over, circling her twice. Its leaves swayed, radiating joy.

To its sensitive perception, Jiang Min’s essence had undergone a tremendous change after Foundation Establishment; the difference was unmistakable.

Jiang Min retrieved from her Heaven and Earth Pouch the various qi-concealing treasures and the invisibility gauze she had set aside for the tribulation. She donned them one by one, then, catching sight of the delighted grass, she laughed and said, “A-Ling, once I leave seclusion, I’ll purify some Thunder Jade Marrow for you to eat and play with, so you’ll have more tricks up your sleeve.”

At this, the little grass was overjoyed, dancing around her in excitement.

Only by consuming the treasures of heaven and earth could it grow stronger, and Thunder Jade Marrow was among the rarest and most precious of such things.

“A-Ling, let’s go!”

“I’ll take you home—with me, to my homeland.”