A Song For The Ages

Time flowed differently in the reward chamber. Feiyin lost track of the days as he fell into a rhythm, a balance between cultivation, study, and rest. The orb containing the pure, mild essence remained warm in his hands as it steadily poured its gentle energy into him. Each time he sat cross-legged, focusing his breathing and guiding the essence through his meridians, he felt the familiar pressure of yet another acupoint approaching its limit.

At first, the process was smooth. His body had long since adapted to constant strain and high-efficiency absorption, thanks to both his training and his three internal nexuses. But after opening nearly twenty acupoints in the span of a few hours, his flesh, bones, and spirit began to feel the burden.

The strain wasn't like a physical wound or soreness, it was subtler, like a deep tightness in his marrow and a heaviness pressing behind his eyes. His body ached to rest, and his mind began to drift. So, he changed tactics.

When his body could no longer bear more cultivation, Feiyin would pause and turn to the two jade slips that the trial spirit had given him.

The first contained knowledge of the cultivation realms beyond the early phases of Qi Condensation. As he held the cool, pale-blue jade slip to his forehead and channeled a thin thread of essence into it, his mind opened to a flood of structured information.

He saw diagrams of meridian maps, explanations of acupoint dynamics, and the phases of cultivation laid bare in breathtaking detail. The progression from Qi Flow to Elemental Infusion was laid out step-by-step, but what truly caught his attention were the variations in how one could approach the next stage.

The most common method for reaching Elemental Infusion was the slow and steady infusion of an element into one's essence qi. This process, while reliable, required great patience. Cultivators would focus on a single element, typically fire, water, earth, or wood, and slowly let its nature tint their internal essence. In time, their techniques would reflect that affinity, enhancing their power, but only in limited ways.

Feiyin noted that this process usually resulted in one or two elemental infusions at most, as the strain of maintaining harmony between conflicting elements grew too great beyond that point.

The second method was more refined and slightly more dangerous. Using rare elemental supplements, crystals, pills, or environments aligned with a particular element, cultivators could hasten the infusion process. By carefully balancing their choices and ensuring that the elements did not naturally oppose one another, they could sometimes manage up to three. This was the path taken by most elite sect disciples.

But the third method was different. Deeper. Rarer.

It was the path of Intent.

Feiyin read with growing fascination. If one could comprehend the Intent of an element, grasping even the earliest layer, known as the seed of intent, then that element could infuse not just one's essence qi, but one's body and soul as well, attaining a deeper level of infusion.

Intent allowed not just affinity. It was alignment. Harmony. The element would become a part of the cultivator, and in return, the cultivator would embody the element. There would be no inherent limit to how many elements could be infused this way, as long as their Intents could be understood and balanced.

Feiyin's thoughts turned inward.

He already possessed Awakened Saber Intent and, most recently, Musical Intent. Both were aligned more with the weapon and spiritual daos, but perhaps this meant that his mind was already open to more abstract paths of infusion. Could he take this superior route for his elemental path as well?

He closed the jade slip and let out a slow breath, the insights still unfolding in his mind.

The second jade slip was even more overwhelming. Alchemy.

Not just the preparation of pills, but the comprehensive foundation of both pill and artifact refinement. It detailed the balance of elements, the importance of essence-conductive materials, and how spiritual resonance could shape both healing and martial tools. There were annotated diagrams of pill furnaces, artifact blueprints, formulas for stabilization, and techniques to manipulate fire in all its forms. It included old master notes from long-dead alchemists who had refined medicinal artifacts capable of sustaining entire cities.

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But what caught his attention most was the field of Runic Alchemy.

Runic Alchemy, as the jade slip described, was the true pinnacle of the alchemist's path. It was not merely about combining alchemy with sigils or formations, as many lesser alchemists did to compensate for a lack of talent or to extend their limited skills. Instead, it was about refining pills or artifacts to such a level of purity, balance, and resonance that a rune would form naturally upon completion, recognized and accepted by the world itself. In the information he perused, the alchemists who mastered this process were anointed by the Mortal Dao, and would become Saints of Alchemy, known as Mortal Saints.

This was the dream all true alchemists aspired to: to reach a stage where their creations were acknowledged by the Dao. To imprint intent not through external markings, but through the very structure and energy of the item. This was known as Runic Alchemy, true Runic Alchemy. Unlike the inferior method of carving sigils onto artifacts or relying on external formations to supplement their shortcomings, true Runic Alchemy demanded skill, intuition, and a deep understanding of the world.

Feiyin learned that such refinement could only be achieved after one became a profound alchemist, someone whose essence qi had already been infused with elemental nature. Only then could an alchemist truly transform the medicinal properties of ingredients, allowing for the chance that a rune might form naturally in the final product, a sign of recognition from the world itself. This was what all great alchemists pursued, for their creation to reflect a balance so pure that even the Heavens acknowledged it.

He also came across information that detailed various commonly used elemental configurations to help guide such transformations. While most chose a simple elemental affinity, with fire for power and wood for regeneration, Feiyin considered his own approach. He had long used the five elements as a cycle to enhance his cultivation. If he could comprehend the intents of all five and bring them into harmony into his essence qi, his alchemy might one day exceed anything seen in the sect.

Every day, he would return to his orb of essence. And every day, another acupoint would open.

101… 112… 129…

His qi circulated with mounting vigor as he increased his connection to the world.

136… 152… 174…

His flesh grew more resilient, bones denser and heavier as his ability to hold essence qi increased. He could feel his body becoming something far beyond what it once was. Even his spiritual sense expanded steadily, brushing out in broader arcs, 200 meters, then 300.

190… 211… 236…

By now, his oscillation sense was razor-sharp, able to trace even the minor tremors in essence through the foundation stones of the chamber. As his meridians adapted, the flow of qi became swift and quiet, like a well-tuned river.

258… 279… 299…

There were no blockages left, only increasingly subtle gates, requiring deeper stillness, sharper focus. His mental fatigue grew from the sheer intensity of sustaining such high precision and internal harmony over time.

324… 343… 356…

Each point opened with a glow, a flare of essence, and then settled into his system like a newly fitted gear. Every one of them added to the depth of his internal universe.

Finally, the 361st.

The last acupoint.

Located just above the crown of the head, where the governing and conception vessels met, the apex of human potential.

Known in ancient scrolls as the Heavenly bridge, this node was more than a capstone. It was the connection between the body and the world beyond. Between spirit and cosmos.

Feiyin exhaled and drew a slow breath. His hands trembled as he aligned his essence one final time.

He touched it.

The gate pulsed.

A wave surged through him, dense, encompassing, and then clear. Not pain, but transformation. His meridians hummed with energy, his bones gave off a faint, musical resonance.

His oscillation sense sharpened. His spiritual sense exploded outward.

Five hundred meters.

He could sense each pulse of energy, each breath in the stillness. The world opened before him, not as a haze of light and force, but as a network of intention and motion.

The 361st acupoint allowed him to bridge not only his body to the greater flows of essence, but also to attune his soul to them. The oscillations were clearer, more resonant. The essence in the air vibrated in a language he was only now beginning to hear.

His soul stirred with ease, no longer bound tightly within. The flow of essence now danced alongside his will, eager to come into his body.

Feiyin stood, breath deep and even. His body no longer felt bound by weight. He gazed at the painted mural of stars above. It shimmered slightly, as if in recognition.

The Elemental Infusion Realm awaited.