After Li Huangquan's breakthrough and return, he took away all the mid and high-level combat forces of the sect, leaving only some old, weak, women, and children happily chatting inside the sect's protection array while taking shelter from the rain.
In the ancient council hall facing north and south, Lu Jin'an proudly occupied this hall with a thousand years of history, conducting his morning exercise under the eaves during the morning rain as the sky brightened.
The old, weak, women, and children of the Blood Emperor Sect were not qualified to set foot here.
Amid the sound of pouring rain, Lu Jin'an's breathing gradually became stable and rhythmic. As he inhaled, he allowed the breath to enter through his nostrils, descending into his abdominal cavity, mobilizing the qi and blood of his five internal organs, feeling the fullness brought by the qi and blood.
After circulating this clear energy through a cycle within his body, the turbid air generated by impurities was gradually expelled from his mouth and nose.
In the repeated cycles, the heart was strong and the qi and blood were full, especially as a faint red glow gradually covered the surface of his body.
Screech—
Through the rain, a Red Kestrel soared in, landing on the floor tiles under the eaves. It shook the raindrops off its wings and silently watched Lu Jin'an generate a Vigorous Force different from Spiritual Power due to his morning exercise.
This was a sign that body refinement had achieved some results.
Xia Ming knew that his senior brother trained every morning, alternating between cultivating Spiritual Power and Vigorous Force every two days, and training both every three days.
His senior brother was very disciplined, but Xia Ming never understood why he persisted in body refinement.
After all, for ten thousand years, the path of body refinement of the Human Clan not only hadn't maintained its standard but was gradually declining—resources consumed for breakthroughs in body refinement were increasing, and breaking through was extremely difficult.
In ancient times, before mastering Spiritual Energy, humans relied on their strong bodies trained through exercise to fight demon beasts and gradually rise, even though later they mastered Spiritual Energy and developed today's Spiritual Power system through generations of success and failure, there was no reason why body refinement shouldn't progress or regress.
The inheritance of body refinement among humans clearly hasn't been severed, so why has it become increasingly difficult to inherit?
Is it because of the decline in human constitution?
But even so, with the perfect Spiritual Power system, humanity is now among the top of the Hundred Clans, and the strongest among them are not weaker than the Dragon and Phoenix, so it's not a big issue even without body refinement.
But why does my senior brother persist in body refinement, which has high resource consumption and little effect?
After pondering for a while, Xia Ming stopped thinking about the issue. Anyway, Wandao Sect doesn't lack resources, so as long as senior brother doesn't make mistakes in body refinement, there won't be a loss.
Lu Jin'an continued his morning exercise with concentration, and Xia Ming's calm demeanor indicated that Li Huangquan still hadn't secured the Nanzhuo Alliance after a whole night.
Sensing the fullness of his qi and blood within, Lu Jin'an coordinated his breathing with the rhythm of his internal organs.
Although body refinement and Qi Refinement are two different power systems, both emphasize the use of the Breathing Technique.
Beginning with breathing, ending with breathing; qi fills the Spirit Sea, vigor fills the internal organs.
Lu Jin'an knew that the current human body refinement system was much more challenging than in the past, but having reincarnated, he couldn't justify not pushing his limits, especially with extra strength in Qi Refinement.
Moreover, with plenty of cultivation resources around... If you don't take the initiative to utilize them when they are readily available, it wouldn't make sense.
'The hidden nature and toxicity of the spell created by Nanzhi to accompany Magic are too strong.'
Lu Jin'an thought to himself, even though he completed basic body refinement stages like Muscle Refining, Lianzang, Bone Forging, Marrow Tempering, and Ning Mai, he still couldn't detect how Zhu Nanzhi poisoned him and the hidden toxins within his body.
Although Zhu Nanzhi claimed she created the poison herself, Lu Jin'an felt it was certainly improved upon the works of predecessors, using virgin's blood as a guide, and tiny indescribable watery beads in floating particulate matter containing a small drop of blood...
No matter how you think about it, such poison could only be associated with the women of the Joyful Union Sect.
But then again, considering Zhu Nanzhi might have been in seclusion in the 'little black room' for a long time, it was more likely that she saw the rudiments of such poison originating from the Qingmiao Palace.
But then again, Qingmiao Palace, known for its purity and sanctity, always looked down upon the Joyful Union Sect, so how could it have such a thing?
'For making disciples in the world like Nanzhi refine their husbands into Sword Spirits, are they really getting serious?'
Lu Jin'an quipped internally, ended his exercise, and cast a spell to clean his sweat, then turned to Xia Ming: "Any discoveries?"
Xia Ming transformed into a double-bun hairstyle girl, confidently put her hands on her hips, and said: "I only realized after setting off the day before yesterday that I didn't bring the Detection Stone to check constitutions!"
"So you found nothing?" Lu Jin'an chuckled.
"Of course not." Xia Ming proudly shook her head: "I did find something. There's a Yun Dao Realm Late-stage by Lin Mu's side named Xiao Li, who was presiding over the defense array during Lin Mu's seclusion, personally resisting Li Huangquan's attack. Clearly a genius!"
Lu Jin'an nodded: "That's good then."
"Oh right, right." Xia Ming leaned closer out of curiosity: "You said Lin Mu came from the Upper Realm. Why would someone from such a great place be sent to such a backwater?"
Lu Jin'an clasped his hands behind his back, calmly said, "Lin Mu comes from the Upper Realm, but not from the Upper Realm."
?
Xia Ming's eyes showed clear confusion, then she put her hands on her hips, displeased: "You're becoming more like those old guys in the sect, speaking cryptically. Can't you just explain it clearly? I have no idea what you mean."
Rumble—
A thunderbolt flashed through the sky, illuminating the gloomy morning rain, much like the phenomenon caused by Li Huangquan's breakthrough, but more grandiose.
Xia Ming blinked: "He broke through? Quite fast."
After a pause, she eagerly said: "Should we set off now?"
"No rush, let's wait here."
"Will he come? Should I go and lead him over to start fighting?" Xia Ming was quite excited, not having seen her senior brother make a move for a while.
"Don't." Lu Jin'an stopped her, most likely Zhu Nanzhi was over there now, and if she discovers the little bird that had contact with him two days ago, what if she gets jealous?
Yanderes getting jealous are terrifying.
"He will come," Lu Jin'an said. "No need to rush."
"Alright then." Xia Ming held back her curiosity about how her senior brother would make him come.
Lu Jin'an smiled slightly and spoke again: "I just said Lin Mu comes from the Upper Realm, but not from the Upper Realm, right?"
"Mm-hmm!" Xia Ming nodded quickly: "Why?"
Lu Jin'an turned and walked into the hall, speaking softly: "Possession."
Xia Ming's eyes widened: "Possession? From the Upper Realm?"
Lu Jin'an ascended the steps, sat in the position originally belonging to the sect master, Li Huangquan, looking out at the rain with calmness: "Even those from the Upper Realm cannot break the rules."
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