Six months flew by seamlessly.
In the Yang Yore Fields was a figure surrounded by gold-colored energies. In his right palm, violet lightning and silver mist flowed endlessly. They danced like companions of the night in perfect balance.
In his left palm was red, blue, brown, and green energy. They were the four natural elements of the world: fire, water, earth, and wind. They existed in an even greater balance and flow.
Wei Wuyin took a deep breath and exhaled. The gold energy rippled and the strands of golden yang energy beneath his feet wiggled wildly. He opened his eyes to reveal various images flashing within. Each image was illusory, but contained a powerful source of vitality.
He had ascended to the Fifth Stage of Qi Condensation, Yang Growth Phase. His qi now had innate vitality, capable of exhibiting far more power and influence over the elemental energies birthed. This was a defining moment for cultivators and allowed them to actively control the forms of their qi as if they were truly alive and sentient.
If before, Wei Wuyin was a stationary faucet, then now he had obtained a firehose, where he could redirect and control the output of his qi. The intricate level of control enabled all of his qi arts to reach a new level.
Soon, the various energies and vitality started to subside until it was completed reined in, being concealed deeply within Wei Wuyin's body. He had reached the Fifth Stage of Qi Condensation four months in, and the remaining two months were mostly used to solidify his cultivation base, train in some qi arts, and spiritual spells.
"I had never thought that the Yore Yang Fields would be so beneficial to me," Wei Wuyin grinned. He now possessed the strength to fight top-tier Core Elders, and his cultivation base was short from reaching the 'God' level. If he could take that step, his chances of becoming a Godlord were close.
That being said, the two words 'sixth phase' were like an endlessly stretching chasm for many, unable to be reached in their entire lives. It wasn't just the untalented, but those who had greater talent than him before and the full support of an entire sect had failed to cross this chasm.
Wei Wuyin once heard the story of a beautiful and talented daughter of the former sect leader of the Aqua Echo Sect, one of the Five Great Sects, had reached the fifth phase at sixteen. Even to this day, a full eighty-odd years later, she still remained at the fifth phase. This illustrated its difficulties perfectly.
Therefore, Wei Wuyin wouldn't be overconfident. His goal wasn't to reach the sixth phase at the moment, but to transform his Heart of Qi into a Heart of Elemental Qi. That's his far, long term goal for himself. If the opportunity to reach the sixth phase happens along the way, he'll definitely seize it, but until then, he had other things to achieve.
Such as the Haven Heart Qi Method. Within these six months, he had absorbed enough essence to allow his meridians to be reborn, transforming and giving his essence a higher purity grade. While it may be a miniscule difference, the change in purity grade related to one's cultivation speed and talent. The fact he enhanced it, even by one percent, was enough for him to celebrate.
The change in purity also meant he had new innate essence to draw from. He now had a freshly cloned mind, a renewed body, and purer essence. All he lacked was a spirit. According to the Haven Heart Qi Method, the fourth level was titled Spirit Severing and Spirit Transformation.
He knew it was similar to the other levels, but far more dangerous. It required one to split their current Heart of Qi spirit, that which acts as the brain center, to create another one. It was cloning, but more direct and had far less leeway in methods capable of being deployed.
In truth, he had a deep level of fear and natural aversion towards this level. If he messed up even a tiny bit, qi deviation was a certainty, and there wouldn't be a way to stop it. Without his spirit, his Heart of Qi would just be a volatile bomb filled with elemental, yin, and yang energies.
A silhouette of a finger rolled next to him, causing him to shiver.
"He Long…"
He didn't explode, but his fate was horrific. Tao Gui, however, didn't even have a piece remaining. That terrified him greatly. While he had a strong willpower and strength to press forward despite risk, the logistics of the Spirit Severing wasn't something he could safely direct like Mind Dissolution.
Shaking his head, he got up and looked around. The moans had long since ceased. It seemed Yan Zhu had left around a month in, unable to stay the entire six months. It made sense. She was going at it every few hours, that had to be exhausting.
He was actually surprised she lasted a full month. He felt admiration for someone who's willing to do such a thing. While her self-intimate actions weren't out of the ordinary for women in general, he heard yang energy refinement for women were like having your body controlled by a ghost creating an itch you can't scratch.
That sounded very uncomfortable.
He decided to leave. He had already run out of time anyways, so he had to leave. As he looked around, he couldn't help but feel emotional. If he had full access to something like this 24/7, his cultivation would reach untold levels.
He looked at the golden strands and noticed that they had shrunk an entire forty percent in height. With just him and Yan Zhu, they had consumed forty percent of the yang energy within. This was the reason why the sect limited the numbers within and required contribution points to enter, for both disciples and elders. The limited amount of top quality resource grounds like this was far too few, and never everlasting.
If he spent two years here alone, there would be no more energy for others.
After exiting, he saw Wei Si's bulky body. He stood like a quiet guardian, absorbing the remnant yang energy emitted by the gate. When the gate opened, Wei Si's eyes opened along with them and he turned around. When he saw his cousin, there was a dense light of joy within his eyes.
"You've finally left!" Wei Si happily exclaimed.
Wei Wuyin smiled, "Mn. I've finished my six months, so I had to leave." After saying that, he looked around. There was something strange about the environment but he couldn't quite pinpoint the oddity.
"Oh yeah! I nearly forgot," Wei Si pulled out Wei Wuyin's entry badge and handed it over. On the badge, what originally said 'six months' had now said 'one day'. Seems like he was cutting it quite close.
These badges were designed so that the guardians can activate a formation on them to measure time.
As he kept the badge, he still had this odd sensation in the back of his mind. He frowned, once more looking around.
Wei Si seemed to notice Wei Wuyin's actions and his beady-eyes flashed. "A spiritual formation was set up here about a month ago."
"Oh?" Wei Wuyin's eyes lit up as he inspected the surroundings. His eyes shone a faint silver light as he executed the Iron Core Eyes. The ground no longer looked ordinary, but seemed to be linked by some profound means. A faint trace of energy was exuded, nearly miniscule, but it was being directed by a spiritual sense.
"This is an alert formation? They are commonly used as an early warning system, why did someone establish one here?" He inquired but Wei Si only shrugged his broad shoulders. As the formation was harmless, he didn't feel the need to delve too deeply.
Just as Wei Wuyin was wondering why, a figure was riding over on a crane. This crane was black, not white like the ones given to core disciples. It was also nearly three times larger in size than the white cranes and gave off a powerful aura.
They were the aerial partners of Core Elders.
"Elder Ji?" Wei Wuyin looked at the white haired old man without wrinkles on the crane. He cut a powerful figure as he stood upright on its back. He had a flat expression, one devoid of happiness or sadness.
Elder Ji arrived swiftly. His aura faint yet filled with vitality. When Wei Si saw Elder Ji, he greeted him respectfully. Wei Wuyin, however, only gave a perfunctory greetings.
"Had something happened?" Wei Wuyin was concerned why Elder Ji had arrived, but it confirmed that he had set up an alert formation for when he left seclusion.
Elder Ji looked at Wei Wuyin, his eyes measuring him up deeply. "Did you reach the fifth phase?" Despite asking, his heart couldn't help but tremble at the possibility. Such talent!
If resources were all anyone needed to reach the fifth phase, there wouldn't be any fourth phase experts. However, the time it takes to refine and mobilize energy effectively to progress one's cultivation base was incredibly long. After all, it took him decades to reach the fifth phase from the fourth phase, and he definitely used far more yang resources than Wei Wuyin.
Wei Wuyin smiled, but he didn't answer.
Elder Ji's eyes narrowed, but then he smiled and his flat expression became one of faint happiness. "I've come to inform you that the sect has given you a mission. Luckily, it fits your timeline, as you leave today."
"Today? Mission…" Wei Wuyin furrowed his brows in thought. The Scarlet Solaris Sect would often give missions out to inner and core disciples, especially if they don't take the initiative. It was this way of action that left him vulnerable to Jiu Lang's schemes. He was sent to kill the Violet Moon Sect's remnants knowing there was a talented Third Stage of Qi Condensation expert amongst them.
In the information report, that bit had been scrubbed out. It was also removed from the sect's intelligence report, causing the mission to go down in difficulty from requiring a group of Inner Elders to requiring just one Core Disciple. If Wei Wuyin hadn't reached the Fourth Stage of Qi Condensation during, he would've been killed.
Elder Nie, Jiu Lang's aunt, definitely had a hand in such corrupt practices.
Elder Ji explained, "It's a joint mission with two other sects. A task force of sorts. You'll be joining members of the Aqua Echo Sect and Sky Sword Sect. You're assigned to go with Yan Zhu, Shu Yin, Xing Fu, and Elder Bing."
"Elder Bing? Xing Fu?" He frowned, knowing the former, but not the latter. Elder Bing was a Core Elder who's aligned with Yan Zhu's faction. She had a cultivation base at the Fourth Phase of Qi Condensation, Yin Form, and had birthed an advanced elemental qi - Ice.
She could be considered to be top-tier amongst core elders. As Xing Fu, he had never heard that name before.
"Xing Fu is Elder Bing's disciple and took one of the vacant core disciple spots," Elder Ji cleared up. Wei Wuyin pouted his lips slightly. So, why was he asked for this mission?
"Why was I assigned to this mission? Shu Yin is allied with Yan Zhu, so I understand, but I've kept a distance from both of them. Wouldn't anyone else be better, probably a fifth female?" He felt somewhat annoyed. It felt out-of-place for him to be assigned to such a mission.
Elder Ji smiled in response, one could see that he wasn't worried about Wei Wuyin. "It was Elder Bing herself who asked for you. I don't know why, but she insisted." Yan Zhu and Jiu Lang were not allies, so there weren't any obvious schemes afoot.
Massaging his temples, he deeply sighed. "Fine, what's the mission?"
Elder Ji suddenly turned serious, his expression becoming somewhat gloomy, "There's been a string of disappearances, a total of several tens of thousands of people, male and female, have been vanishing. It wasn't all at once, which has brought about deep panic from the public and surrounding powers. Even several Second Stage of the Qi Condensation experts have gone missing."
"The areas and people affected have already touched all three sects, so they've established an agreement to handle it together, establishing a task force. They're taking this seriously." Elder Ji's solemn tone caused Wei Wuyin to take this seriously as well.
Seeing how the sect was sending a core elder and four core disciples, he knew the severity of this matter was great. He expected the other sects to take this just as seriously.
"Alright. When do we leave?" He decided to handle this matter first and then focus on his other goals.
"Now. Let's go." Elder Ji leapt onto the black crane and it prepared to fly. Wei Wuyin said his goodbyes to Wei Si before following suit.
Woosh!
They took to the skies.