Chapter Five: Refining the Sacred Essence

Ying Chen closed his eyes, then opened them again; his expression was now tranquil as still water.

Amidst the various items he had laid out, he selected talisman paper and cinnabar, focusing his attention on the task of drawing. This process alone took him a full day and night, during which he drank only a little clear water and took no food. At last, he swiftly finished, then reached for a clay jar by his side, opened it, and poured out all the five-colored earth within, spreading it on the ground. He then placed the completed talisman papers in specific positions, accompanied by various medicinal herbs, black jade, spirit stones, and even several talisman coins.

In this way, a simple yet complete altar was arranged.

Ying Chen checked his work and, finding no error, bent down and forced a drop of blood from his fingertip, beginning to draw talismanic patterns atop the altar, linking the herbs, talisman papers, black jade, spirit stones, and other objects together.

This step took him another hour. By the time the entire altar was covered in talismanic lines, his face was as pale as paper.

Ying Chen took no notice. Gazing at the vast, eerie, blood-red symbols before him, a look of satisfaction spread across his face. He grinned silently, and in the dim light, he seemed almost a specter or demon.

“The final step.” After a moment, he steadied his breath, fetched another urn from his storage pouch, and unsealed it. Instantly, the smell of blood filled the air.

He tipped the mouth of the urn over the center of the altar, and with a wet, sickening noise, hearts, livers, flesh, and bones all tumbled out, piling up in that spot.

This was the fox demon he had hunted and meticulously disassembled.

His purpose in slaying the creature had been to seize its essence for his own benefit.

His nostrils were now overwhelmed by the stench of blood, yet his face remained blank. He formed a hand seal and pointed into the center of the altar: “Rise!”

Instantly, the talismanic lines on the altar seemed to come alive, writhing as they crept up over the mound of blood and flesh.

The various medicinal herbs quickly withered and even turned to powder; the black jade, spirit stones, and talisman coins all began to glow, their spiritual light flowing swiftly along the talismanic lines and into the flesh and blood.

Soon, the mound of flesh was covered with talismanic lines, like a spider’s web binding it tightly.

At this point, the stench of blood vanished.

Next, Ying Chen took out a jade bottle of pure water, raised it high, and poured it over the blood and flesh.

The pure water sizzled as it fell, as if raising a cloud of smoke. In the blink of an eye, the mass of flesh, along with the talismanic patterns, melted away.

By the flickering candlelight, the thick, murky blood flowed outward, soon covering the black jade, spirit stones, and other items whose spiritual light had faded, washing away the powdered herbs and soaking every inch of the five-colored earth.

Strangely, as the blood flowed out, what was left behind appeared as a pool of liquid as clear as spring water.

The two substances—the filthy blood and the pure liquid—remained entirely separate, not mixing at all, a truly miraculous sight.

“It’s done!” Seeing this, Ying Chen’s heart was finally at ease.

This clear liquid was the essence refined from the fox demon’s demonic energy and life force, combined with various herbs and spiritual materials.

It could be called a “Great Elixir for the Human Way,” meant to take from the insufficient and give to the abundant. Among the Forty-Two Sacred Arts, it was named “Sacred Essence.”

As for the thick, bloody residue, it was the filth produced during the process—highly toxic.

Ying Chen’s eyes blazed with excitement, but he did not act rashly; instead, he calmed his restlessness and waited patiently.

As time passed, the pure Sacred Essence and the filthy blood separated completely. The filth seeped into the five-colored earth, staining it a dark red, while the clear Sacred Essence remained pooled at the center of the altar.

Still composed, Ying Chen opened the bamboo cage, took out the mountain rat, and used a needle to draw up a drop of Sacred Essence, which he fed to the rat.

The mountain rat instantly screamed as if set alight. Dangling from its tail, it struggled violently; its dark brown fur fell away in clumps, revealing rough, bare skin.

Ying Chen’s gaze sharpened, but after observing carefully for several more minutes, his expression relaxed with delight.

Before his eyes, the rat’s lost fur began to regrow at a speed visible to the naked eye—each hair black and glossy, as if oiled. Under his fingers, the animal’s strength grew as it struggled.

Ying Chen took a needle and pierced various parts of the rat, even drawing blood from its organs, to ensure that the revival was not merely superficial. At last, he was completely reassured.

He tossed the rat back into its cage, no longer able to restrain himself. He bent down and scooped up the Sacred Essence—

The liquid Sacred Essence gathered like a single bubble of water. Lifting it with both hands, he raised it high and then drank it down in one gulp.

A surge of tremendous heat burst from his belly, spreading through his body in moments.

Yet this heat was not burning, but warm—as if he were soaking in a hot spring formed of the densest spiritual energy, every pore opening and greedily absorbing the essence.

Ying Chen even felt that he need do nothing at all; under the nourishing effects of the spiritual essence, he would break through to the next stage as a matter of course.

Of course, this was merely an illusion. If he truly believed it, he would fall victim to the barrier of complacency.

He returned to his couch, sat cross-legged, palms up, closed his eyes, and began to circulate his cultivation method.

The “Mystic Yin Formula” he practiced was one of the foundational arts of the Innate Path, cultivating yin-aligned spiritual power—gentle and harmonious in nature. In the future, it would allow him to switch to many superior methods of the Innate Path.

This kind of method was slow to train but built a solid foundation, making future breakthroughs smoother and easier.

Before his rebirth, the original Ying Chen had already reached the fourth stage of Qi Refinement, just a step away from the fifth. After reincarnation, he had not lost this cultivation; all he lacked was a few months of patient work, or a small boost from an external force.

Now, aided by the Sacred Essence, his breakthrough was a matter of course.

With each breath, the cultivation method flowed within him. Ying Chen felt as though he had lifted a veil or pierced a thin paper window—effortlessly crossing the barrier, while the spiritual energy within him surged like a spring.

Clearly, the Sacred Essence he had struggled to refine would bring him benefits far surpassing the simple breakthrough to the fifth stage of Qi Refinement.

He sat quietly on his couch, yet within and without, a mysterious energy seemed to cycle—rising, falling, gathering, dispersing—and with each cycle, his aura grew stronger.

Gradually, these fluctuations extended into the real world, and the faint candle flame in the room began to sway, flicker, and finally went out.

The refining chamber returned to darkness, but Ying Chen’s aura continued to rise.

At last, on the tenth day after consuming the Sacred Essence, the energy in the chamber reached a peak, then suddenly fell as if plunging into an abyss, ceasing all fluctuation.

Only a pair of eyes opened in the darkness, shining with radiant spirit.

“The sixth stage of Qi Refinement—achieved!”