Chapter 292: Chapter 12: Confluence of External Scenery, Innate True Qi
Bathed in the morning sun, Zhou Heng was bathed in golden light, slowly ascending into the sky.
In the eyes of the people in Yuxiang Town, he was like the second sun rising from the west, bright and dazzling, emitting a sense of absolute purity and cleanliness.
Bathing in such light, everyone felt warm and comfortable, and their spirits were much soothed.
“So this is True Qi, this is the external manifestation of Innate prowess,” Zhou Heng murmured softly.
At this moment, he had allowed the “Three Lives All Things” internal view to converge with the external, refining Pure Yang True Qi and officially stepping into the realm of Secret Sixth Rank, truly breaking away from the “mundane.”
Although at the peak of the Seventh Rank, Zhou Heng had already fought against experts of Secret Sixth Rank, and had even achieved victory relying on treasured weapons and special skills, he still didn’t have a detailed understanding of the specifics of the Secret Sixth Rank.
It was only after he truly stepped into this realm that he realized how dangerous it had been to use treasured weapons to fight against experts of this realm.
First of all, the power of True Qi far exceeded that of Inner Qi.
The latter comes from the martial artist themselves, a combination of physique and spirit, while the former is created by using special methods to combine Inner Qi with the natural energy of heaven and earth, refining a higher-level power.
Not to mention the mobilization of the vast natural power of heaven and earth, just the inherent power of True Qi itself is a hundred times that of Inner Qi.
Moreover, True Qi is more real compared to Inner Qi.
Inner Qi has form but no substance.
When Zhou Heng used to exert martial arts with Inner Qi, although he could feel the released Inner Qi shining and condensing various effects, in the end, it was just an image. Even if it could hurt people, it was insubstantial and would be scattered when faced with powerful weapons.
True Qi, on the other hand, has both form and substance.
Now when Zhou Heng uses True Qi to exert martial arts, such as “Grasp Gold Hammer”, he truly condenses a golden, shining hammer that is tangible and substantial. The power has increased untold times.
Besides, after refining True Qi, the differences in Inner Strength also become apparent; different types and ranks of Inner Strength refine True Qi with different characteristics.
This was already manifested at Lower Third Rank, but at the Secret Sixth Rank level, it was further intensified.
For example, the Pure Yang True Qi that Zhou Heng refined is characterized by being utmost rigid and yang, dispelling evil spirits. No matter what martial arts he uses, they will embody these characteristics, and if he uses Pure Yang type martial arts, the characteristics are even stronger.
Of course, what truly makes the strength of Secret Sixth Rank supremely surpass that of the Seventh Rank is the convergence of the external view, the mobilization of the qi of heaven and earth, and the control over the natural power.
An ordinary Secret Sixth Rank martial artist, at full strength, can mobilize the natural energy of heaven and earth within a hundred feet radius. If they use martial arts for wide-range attacks, they can cover an area of a square mile.
This, for the majority of those at the peak of the Seventh Rank, is unstoppable.
Zhou Heng was no exception.
If the two Secret Sixth Rank experts from Heavenly Palace had not aimed for precision in striking Zhou Heng, trying to avoid making too much commotion, and had instead flown in the sky and used wide-range attacks, perhaps Zhou Heng would have had to use some of his trump cards then.
And these are just ordinary Secret Sixth Rank martial artists. If they come from major Martial Dao Sects and practice advanced Inner Strength, their power would be even greater, easily mobilizing natural energy within a three hundred feet radius and an attack range around three miles.
The Pure Yang Dan Jing that Zhou Heng practiced belongs to this level.
However, his internal view is extraordinary, with “Three Lives All Things” naturally conforming to the laws of nature, and when mobilizing the qi of heaven and earth, he surpasses others.
Just after breaking through, he was able to mobilize the natural energy of heaven and earth within a five hundred feet radius.
Moreover, those Middle Third Rank martial arts and Taoist Formulas he mastered can finally display their true power.
After all, when he was at the peak of the Seventh Rank, he was unable to mobilize a massive amount of qi, and since Middle Third Rank martial arts mostly rely on the power of nature as their core, he naturally only captured their form.
Things would be very different from now on.
“After refining True Qi, my control over that Cave Sky world has also improved,” Zhou Heng’s eyes shone brightly, with a glint of gold. He could feel that he was able to call upon a trace of the Power of Cave Sky at any time to enhance himself.
With his current level of cultivation, the effects of the enhancement were limited.
Just one thing.
And that was the endless natural energy of heaven and earth!
Zhou Heng could replenish his True Qi anytime and anywhere, which meant that he almost never faced the situation where his True Qi was exhausted.
Even if he were imprisoned in a spiritless land devoid of natural energy, he could still wield the energy from within the Cave Sky to cast powerful Martial Arts or Taoist Formulas.
This one aspect alone was enough to make him a strong contender at the Secret Six Rank level, having just had a breakthrough.
“However, now I primarily cultivate Pure Yang True Qi, which doesn’t quite align with the inner scenery of the ‘Three Lives and All Creations’.” While realizing a whole new realm, Zhou Heng also spotted the problem with his current cultivation practice.
The concept of “Three Lives and All Creations” is based on inclusiveness and accommodating everything, which has been the core of his Martial Path will all along.
It was fine when he was at the Lower Third Rank, with Inner Strength like the Minor No-Limits Skill and Innate Skill combined, but now he was fully concentrated on Pure Yang True Qi, which was at odds with his Martial Path will.
This was not a minor issue.
True Qi is the foundation of True Gang, and the process of refining Dharma Phases to break through to the Sect Fifth Rank is the integration of True Gang with the inner scenery.
If the Martial Path will embodied in the inner scenery is different from the True Gang, it would definitely cause trouble in refining the Dharma Phase and might even create a huge bottleneck that could prevent a breakthrough.
“Next, I should cultivate more Inner Strength,” Zhou Heng thought to himself. “However, in addition to cultivating more, it would be best to have a main Inner Strength that could coordinate all True Qi and work together with the inner scenery.”
What he thought of first, naturally, were the remaining Fortune Bags and Treasure boxes.
If he could obtain some Inner Strength of Absolute Fourth Rank or even Heavenly Third Rank from them, then all these problems would be easily resolved.
However, from past experience,
Whether it was Fortune Bags or Treasure boxes, the chance of obtaining Inner Strength was extremely low; he hadn’t even obtained a single Secret Six Rank Inner Strength to date.
This was a matter of luck, and he couldn’t pin all his hopes on this aspect.
Besides this, the only choice left was to return to Ta Hua and consult Yan Shouyi to find out if Pure Yang Palace had any Martial Arts that could resolve his current issues and what he needed to do in order to learn them.
—Pure Yang Palace has clear regulations on the number of Martial Arts one can learn. Normally, a practitioner at a certain rank can only choose one piece of Inner Strength of that rank to “learn for free.” To learn more, one must complete missions at the corresponding level.
Zhou Heng had already cultivated the Sect Fifth Rank “Pure Yang Dan Jing” and had broken through to the Secret Six Rank. According to the rules, he was actually entitled to choose another Secret Six Rank Inner Strength.
But this would only enrich the variety of his True Qi and would not serve as a main form of Inner Strength nor help in coordinating with the will of the inner scenery.
If Pure Yang Palace didn’t have a suitable Martial Art, Zhou Heng would have to turn to the Wishing Pool in the Ziwei Palace’s Star Sea Realm.
However, he had just visited the Wishing Pool recently, and he would have to wait at least three months before he could enter again.
“I’ll start with the Fortune Bags and Treasure Boxes first,” Zhou Heng decided after a moment of contemplation, musing, “I hope to acquire some decent Inner Strength.”
“Open all the Fortune Bags and Platinum Treasure Boxes!”