Chapter Twenty: The Thicket of Life Refinement

The first stage of cultivating Daoist arts is the Refinement of the Life Cluster.

The process itself is quite straightforward: sense the Life Cluster, activate it, and then illuminate it. Of course, this simplicity is relative—especially for someone like Lan Yi, a top-tier spiritual energy cultivator reborn with the experiences of his previous life. With prior cultivation knowledge, sensing the Life Cluster is almost a step he can skip entirely.

Activating the Life Cluster is even simpler. With spiritual energy as an aid, this step merely follows the activation procedure, allowing the dormant and fragile Life Cluster to gradually be nourished by spiritual energy. Most Daoist organs are exceedingly delicate when first awakened; if exposed to overly fierce spiritual energy from nature, cultivation becomes tantamount to suicide.

The only challenging part is illuminating the Life Cluster.

For spiritual energy cultivators, this is the true beginning of refining the Life Cluster. As spiritual energy is absorbed and vitality is enhanced, the Life Cluster spreads from its initial position, gradually enveloping the entire body inside and out, forming a vast network.

This is the consummation of Life Cluster refinement, a minor realm known among cultivators as "No Leakage."

Before reaching the No Leakage stage, the spiritual energy within the human body is too weak; all Daoist arts must be augmented by external forces to be performed. Only when the Life Cluster reaches the No Leakage realm can Daoist arts be wielded freely.

In other words, before No Leakage, if a cultivator faces sudden combat, their fighting power is severely limited. Even upon reaching No Leakage, issues of spiritual energy reserves and Life Cluster overload continue to plague cultivators.

Lan Yi is an exception.

His rebirth brought with it the foundational spiritual energy furnace from the "Celestial Treasury of Nine Heavens."

Thus, even without attaining the No Leakage realm, he can rely on ample spiritual energy and profound Daoist knowledge to perform enduring and powerful Daoist arts. The "Celestial Treasury of Nine Heavens" is a classic technique that borrows power from heaven and earth, aligns one's fate with mountains, rivers, sun, and moon, making it the kind of cultivation where the more intense the battle, the more abundant the spiritual energy.

"Canghua" gives an advantage in constructing No Leakage.

Instead of building as you go, you can lay the path first, then quickly erect the structure. With the transplanted "Prison Suppressor" stimulating the Life Cluster, "Canghua," under Lan Yi's deliberate control, follows the tracks laid over forty-eight hours without pause, reaching the No Leakage realm at unprecedented speed!

At this moment, atop the mansion of the International Press Conference,

A faint ivory glow emanates from Lan Yi's body. This is the full-body coverage of "Canghua" upon reaching the No Leakage realm. The spiritual energy's radiance is no longer scattered threads, but orderly halos, though these halos flicker uncertainly, like a candle in the wind, ready to go out at any moment.

After achieving No Leakage, any part of the body can freely absorb and release spiritual energy, which previously only the Life Cluster could absorb. This grants immunity to interference from light, fire, electricity, magnetism, sound waves, and other natural spiritual energies—the so-called invasion of external demons, known in Daoist scriptures as the Heavenly Tribulation.

Lan Yi's advancement has been astonishingly rapid; if he couldn't quickly stabilize the balance of spiritual energy inside and out, the rampaging energy within him would manifest as uncontrolled electromagnetic Daoist arts, enough to turn him into a sizzling Beijing roast duck!

"For safety's sake, it's best to use 'Prison Suppressor.'"

Lan Yi responded to the Heavenly Tribulation with rational calm, activating the newly transplanted "Prison Suppressor."

Subdue the Mind Monkey! Unite Dao and Spirit!

The previously flickering, turbulent spiritual energy halo instantly stabilized.

The bizarre visions induced by external demonic invasions, the discomfort and imbalance caused by violent natural energies, were all suppressed by a will as cold and relentless as machinery. His adaptation to external spiritual energy happened swiftly, and soon he peacefully overcame this wave of tribulation.

Lan Yi exhaled a breath of turbid air.

Success.

Even among the ranks of reborn prodigies, his progress would be considered terrifying. Though Daoist arts, in theory, can be rapidly advanced so long as resources and knowledge keep pace, in practice, without unwavering resolve and the will to forge ahead at all costs, one's progress is inevitably slowed by external demons, heavenly tribulation, and mortal danger.

Within the Jianghe civilization before his rebirth, there was a running joke about Lan Yi: if eating excrement could make one stronger, Lan Yi would devour it without hesitation.

At this moment,

Lan Yi had achieved perfection in Life Cluster refinement in Daoist arts.

His martial arts were a step behind, currently at the stage of practicing the Divine Human Aspect.

Fortunately, he still had plenty of time left in the first Artificial Divine Realm to further his progress.

Yet, as always,

Realm does not necessarily equate to combat power. Especially for the reborn, aside from a few fools, nearly every reborn cultivator possesses vast practical experience and reserves of Daoist arts. These spiritual energy cultivators, who have survived countless Artificial Divine Realms and battled all sorts of monsters and demons, cannot be defined purely by their realm.

Having attained No Leakage,

Lan Yi felt no joy.

Everything was as it should be; he was meant to be this strong.

He took stock of his current status.

The spiritual energy furnace still had forty-two percent reserves. As for weapons, nothing worth mentioning. For spellcasting materials, he had "Canghua." Martial arts were auxiliary—meaningless before the Manifestation stage, unable to affect battles between cultivators.

On the Daoist arts side, aside from the Colorless Eye,

He had two usable arts from the Southern Sage Sect: Steel Armor Divine Thunder and Gengjin Sword Qi.

From Shenxiao Peak, three arts: Palm Thunder, Demon Binding Rope, and Thunder Pool Overturn.

Steel Armor Divine Thunder and Palm Thunder were so familiar to Lan Yi that he barely considered them.

Gengjin Sword Qi manipulates magnetic energy to extract Gengjin energy from iron veins, allowing the practitioner to freely shape and fly it. Not only can it slice iron like mud, making it nearly impossible to defend against, it also conducts magnetic curses and transforms into iron blossoms. Alongside Steel Armor Divine Thunder, it is famed as one of the two great can-opening arts.

Lan Yi's comment: an enhanced needle armor-piercing projectile.

Demon Binding Rope kills monsters and evil spirits upon contact. Essentially, it manipulates current and voltage to create two waves of identical frequency but opposite transmission direction, forming a standing wave, which results in an instantaneous high-lethality electric arc rope. Its insidiousness lies in its ability to destroy another's Daoist arts.

Lan Yi's comment: the casting delay is easily detected by cultivators, but if it hits, death is almost certain.

Thunder Pool Overturn unleashes torrents of thunder, resembling divine punishment. By pre-charging and creating ionized channels, it bombards a target area with overwhelming force. Even those hiding in underground bunkers can be locked onto by falling thunder, which attacks relentlessly through all ionized paths.

Lan Yi's comment: a map-wide barrage with auto-targeting.

Steel Armor Divine Thunder and Palm Thunder alone were enough for Lan Yi to dominate Artificial Divine Realm 1909.

Now, he had mastered three more Daoist arts.

These arts gave him greater confidence in probing the deeper, more dangerous secrets of this world. Lan Yi knew well: this world was far from simple. It was, after all, the Artificial Divine Realm.

When Huo Yuanjia wandered outside, he once stumbled into a village.

Every corner of that place exuded an eerie atmosphere.