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Chapter 158: Chapter 155 Qi Observation
"Power."
Gu Jinlai pondered this term.
In human speech, ’power’ never refers to an individual alone, but is often accompanied by identity, status, authority, amongst various other aspects.
Human strength has its limits while heaven and earth are infinite.
Even Primordial Spirit True Monarchs, relying on their own arduous cultivation, may not be able to leverage the momentum of heaven and earth with their own strength after decades or even a century of time.
Therefore, what they need to do is to borrow the power of all living beings, to collect the will of the populace, to allow their spirit to sublime until they are powerful enough to shake heaven and earth and use the power of heaven and earth for themselves. Thereupon, they can summon winds and call for rains, alter the heavens and the earth, achieving deeds that to ordinary people marvel as if from myth and legend.
Gu Jinlai was reviewing the sections on Refining God, Divinity Transformation, and Primordial Spirit in the Purgatory Reincarnation Technique.
Before Refining God, cultivators are engaged in refine essence into energy, strengthening their own physical bodies to transform their vital energy and blood into nothingness and turn it into True Qi.
This concept was something he had seen in many martial arts novels on Blue Star which also contained descriptions of similar concepts like Inner Qi and Inner Strength.
Moving on to Refining God...
Although it involved a greater complexity, he was still barely able to grasp it.
It was akin to the Soul Shifting Technique found in martial arts biographies.
It wasn’t until the Divinity Transformation stage resulted in the formation of a Yin God that the world’s cultivation system began to sound extraordinary.
However, powerful as the Yin God seemed, it required the aid of a Spiritual Artifact.
A Divinity Transformation Cultivator without a Spiritual Flying Sword could be besieged and killed by three to five Refining God cultivators who mastered cooperation.
It was only with a Spiritual Flying Sword that using the Yin God for sword control, killing over ten miles, was one plus one greater than two, taking advantage of distance, virtually disregarding Refining Gods.
In fact, once the Refining God grasped the Mental Realm, he could intercept a flying sword, breaking the strongest Killing Move of a Divinity Transformation Cultivator.
Furthermore, with an extremely keen perception from cultivating Mental Realm, facing a Divinity Transformation Cultivator who has lost the use of their sword, victory was no longer a hopeless endeavor.
The Primordial Spirit above Divinity Transformation was essentially a further refinement and strengthening of the Yin God.
On top of making the controlled flying sword faster, its main characteristic was the ability to draw upon True Qi, giving the originally insubstantial Yin God an energy-formed entity, possessing a stronger lethality.
Depending on the Sword Control Technique and the Spiritual Flying Sword, a Primordial Spirit Real Person could even transform the flying sword into a Fire Phoenix that could scorch a region, or imbue the sword with frost to freeze hundreds of yards.
However, transforming into a Fire Phoenix or imbuing the sword with frost still ultimately consumes the cultivator’s own strength.
A full-blown strike might not be enough to destroy a city or drain a pond.
It’s the Devas, potentially capable of moving heaven and earth’s momentum with each action, who are always mingled with the vast might of heaven.
Such a realm is truly powerful like an apocalyptic disaster, and it’s not just about diverting rivers and breaking streams—even moving mountains and flattening seas might not be impossible.
In Gu Jinlai’s view, every Deva would be equivalent to a humanoid nuclear weapon on Blue Star.
This is a might that can’t be overcome by sheer number of humans.
Truly gathering the strength of thousands upon oneself.
For this very reason, in today’s world, only Devas have the qualification to establish states.
Only sects that possess Devas or have produced Devas in the past have the standing to be called top-tier great sects.
"Devas cultivate the will of all living beings, while the Qiantian Purple Qi Technique cultivates Lucky Qi."
Gu Jinlai was flipping through the book Jiang Chongshan had taken out.
During this period, he had already read the tome thoroughly.
Lucky Qi is itself akin to a great momentum.
Where the hearts of people turn, the collective will is as solid as a fortress.
If he were to follow the path of cultivating Lucky Qi, all he would need to do is spread his will through publicity means to every city he rules, making sure the populace understands his thoughts and intentions and securing their full support. In turn, he would naturally be endowed with Lucky Qi.
Or more accurately...
"The current me is actually in a state enveloped in Lucky Qi because everyone follows my orders without reservation, the people of the five cities—Lingxiao City, Yuanhua City, Changjun City, Sunset City, and Baihe City—over eleven million citizens live in tranquility and contentment because of my orders, and their hearts are aligned..."
Gu Jinlai contemplated.
People often say he already holds substantial power, difficult to counterbalance.
Isn’t this "power" also another interpretation of being protected by Lucky Qi?
"Since I already possess ’Lucky Qi,’ let’s see to what extent the Qiantian Purple Qi Technique can transform these ’Lucky Qi.’"
Gu Jinlai immediately made a decision.
To cultivate the Qiantian Purple Qi Technique.
As the Qiantian Purple Qi Technique was one of those cultivation techniques that are difficult to start with and even harder to master, Gu Jinlai did not wish to waste time stuck at the entry-level stage.
He concentrated his spirit, and soon, it fell upon those two strains of Qingguang he had always set aside as a reserve.
But as his mind wandered there, he noticed something.
"Hmm? My Karma... fell to the twelfth layer?"
Gu Jinlai was somewhat surprised.
Karma can fall.
This he had known for a long time.
But he had not expected it to have plunged to this extent when he wasn’t paying attention.
He quickly thought of something.
Gu Chaoyang, because he carried out his orders, had seen his Karma fall close to nothing. What about him, the issuer of these orders?
In the past, the rise of his Karma had been rapid because from time to time he went on military expeditions, with Karma fluctuating wildly, obscuring the trend.
But lately, the overall situation in Star State had been calm, and Lingxiao City had not waged war for a long time. Even the recent march into Red State had not resulted in a battle.
Under such circumstances, it was only natural that his Karma would decline noticeably.
"So, the reason the Primordial Spirit True Monarch from the Purgatory Sect didn’t launch an attack according to my prediction is that my Karma dropped too sharply?"
Gu Jinlai’s expression was somewhat strange.
With twelfth-layer Karma...
He’d only attract Refining Gods and a small number of Divinity Transformation Realm opponents.
Such enemies daring to provoke him would be tantamount to seeking death.
As for a Primordial Spirit True Monarch...
He would at least have to wait until his Karma surged to the fifteenth or sixteenth layer, or even to the eighteenth, nineteenth, or twentieth layers, before they would act.
"Speaking of which, the surge in my karma to over sixteen layers, once at Starlight City’s Heavenly Grass Pavilion, and once when attacking Baihe City... The consequences that those two actions brought about, the first was Xin Tianqi, and the second was a Primordial Spirit True Monarch from Purgatory Sect. It’s just that because my karma exploded, I immediately had Qingguang suppress it, and in the end..."
Gu Jinlai reflected.
For a moment, he was somewhat unclear whether this was merely a coincidence or if there were other reasons.
Shaking his head, Gu Jinlai shifted his gaze back to the conscious embodiment of the little man.
"Qian Tian Purple Qi Technique, Refining Destiny for one’s own use... However, to directly achieve entry-level... I still need to optimize it a bit... I don’t even know if it’s considered an optimization, after all, when it comes to Lucky Qi, I only have a half-baked understanding, and if I’m not careful, the more I optimize, the worse it might get."
With this thought in mind, Gu Jinlai didn’t plan to modify the Qian Tian Purple Qi Technique too much; he just hoped to use this streak of Qingguang to achieve his entry into its mysteries.
With a thought, a streak of Qingguang was injected into the conscious embodiment of the little man.
Suddenly, his thought processes became more active and clear than ever before.
Lucky Qi.
What is the essence of Lucky Qi?
When the time comes, heaven and earth act with united force!
Heaven and Earth, they are Lucky Qi.
Lucky Qi, is the brilliant Heavenly Dao.
What is Heavenly Dao!?
It is order!
It is the cycle!
It is the eternal return!
It is immortal!
When a civilization arbitrarily decays and tramples on the lives of all beings, Heavenly Dao will naturally bring down punishment.
Like through environmental chaos triggering natural calamities, leading to earthquakes, volcanoes, floods, and storms.
Or through the imbalance of species, bringing about various diseases and bacteria, resulting in the extinction of species, and so on.
In small terms, this is referred to as falling on bad times, and in larger terms, it is the backlash of the Heavenly Dao.
If a civilization managed to maintain order and remedy the situation at the first sign of disaster, there would still be hope to mend the fold after the sheep are lost.
But if order collapses, hearts are scattered, morality lost, and all beings seek self-preservation at the expense of others for personal gain, it eventually leads to a vicious cycle, forming overwhelming calamities. Under the avalanche, no one is spared.
Countless historical events started to emerge in his mind.
On Blue Star, at the end of an empire, great changes occurred in heaven and earth, the temperature plummeted, bringing an end to a dynasty.
But if the rulers of that empire had been able to build a high-efficiency, stable order, how could it have led to the collapse of the empire, leaving the people with no livelihood?
Similar events continued to emerge in Gu Jinlai’s mind.
In the end...
They condensed into two words.
"Order!"
Gu Jinlai muttered to himself.
What he wanted was Lucky Qi, which is order.
All karma arises on its own.
The rise and fall of the sun and the moon, the change of seasons, all matters, all have their destined law.
Only by controlling order can one maintain the Heavenly Dao unbroken.
"My Lucky Qi is order, my Dao is also order."
The Qingguang dissipated.
Gu Jinlai clearly felt that the "world" before him had changed.
Between heaven and earth, numerous lights could faintly be seen piercing the sky, enveloping the dome.
These lights were of various colors.
Around Gu Jinlai, there were faint bursts of white light.
In the north, where Daqian Imperial City was located, black, red, and purple lights intertwined and spread across a vast area.
Of the three lights, the purple was the most dominant and oppressive.
But the black and red lights were numerous, reflecting and shining off each other; even if a single strand was not as strong as the purple light, together they dimmed the purple light.
He turned his head; to the west, two red lights were interweaving while further away, there was a vast expanse of white, unclear to the eyes.
To the south, a red light reached from the ground to the sky, but there was also an incredibly thick black light oppressing everything beneath it.
It seemed that as long as the black light continued to advance, the red light would not last long before completely dimming and eventually disappearing.
He then turned his gaze to the east.
To the east, the first thing that caught his eye was a fairly bright black light, and further out was a red column of light even brighter than the three red lights in the south and west.
He quickly made some calculations and figured out something.
"The red lights represent the Ten Great Demon Sects and the Six Great Immortal Sects; the brightness and size of the lights represent the Lucky Qi of their Sects. As for the black light..."
Devils.
The black light is the source of the turmoil brought by the devils to the Qiantian World.
He could clearly feel that this kind of light has the most obvious destructive effect on "order."
Even though the red light was also a destroyer of order, its threat level was not as high as the black light.
Those black lights seemed to be the true enemies of this world.
"Hm!?"
Just as Gu Jinlai was observing these black lights, he seemed to have noticed something.
The shimmering black light in the east was gradually pressing towards the expanse of white light where they were located, and judging by the trend...
It seemed to be about to cover and crush their light!?
"Devils, are those devils from the Yunqi Mountain Range!?"
Gu Jinlai quickly realized something, "This is bad, there’s trouble in the east, the devils are about to attack!"
