Take the primordial qi generated by the middle aperture. Circulate it throughout the body with the upper aperture. Mold the energy with worldly essence refined inside the lower aperture. All three apertures were in use. All three were necessary to advance.

  The Elemental Tempering stage demanded a martial artist have the ability to produce element-attuned primordial qi. And the Giant Whale Breathing Method did just that. By aligning his breath into a specific rhythm, he could force his three apertures to resonate with one another, and begin channeling a steady stream of water-element primordial qi.

  But that was just one element. The peak of Elemental Tempering likely needed five such techniques in order to reach the peak of the Mortal Shedding realm.

  Fortunately, Lu Qingshan had always placed importance in the five elements. He had already gathered five subsequent martial arts aligned with those elements. With his existing insight, he didn’t believe he couldn’t find a way to channel the other four elements as well.

  Heavy experimentation was still needed, though it would be a lot easier to make mistakes during the Mortal Shedding realm rather than attempting a major realm breakthrough. Thus the Mystic Jade Essence was best saved for later. His sect then had to make the necessary preparations: healing medicines to recover from any injuries during the tests and secret medicines to replenish his primordial qi faster.

  Lu Qingshan glanced at the stone slab. He was confident in attempting this, but having higher levels of understanding in those elemental inner force methods wouldn’t hurt.

  Lu Qingshan (29 years old)

  Lifespan Remaining: 35 years

  Cultivation: Mortal Shedding - Aperture Tempering

  Techniques: Hundred Beasts Refinement (Level 1, 11/10000), Insect Harmony Mantra (Level 7, 129/10000), Blood Seas Inner Force (Limit), Heavenly Demon Disintegration Technique (Level 2, 3184/10000), Giant Whale Breathing Method (Level 6, 1/10000), Blood Pulse Technique (Level 2, 3819/10000), Dragon Spine Manual (Level 4, 9670/10000), Great Ape Breathing Method (Limit), Roaming Tiger Breathing Method (Limit), Nimble Deer Breathing Method (Limit), Red Falcon Breathing Method (Limit), Tiger Fist (Limit), Deer Steps (Limit), Stoneskin Technique (Limit), Seven Steps Technique (Level 4, 2373/10000), Verdant Summer Inner Force (Level 3, 143/10000), Black Fury Inner Force (Level 4, 2776/10000), Raging Bear Breathing Method (Level 2, 4999/10000), Soaring Crane Breathing Method (Level 3, 3599/10000), Flowing Cloud Inner Force (Level 3, 3599/10000), Golden Shell Body (Level 2, 2149/10000), Golden Drop Inner Force (Level 4, 17/10000), Earthen Crust Inner Force (Level 2, 1899/10000), Hidden Veil Technique (Level 4, 7433/10000), Turtle Breath Inner Force (Level 3, 9468/10000), Wave Motions Fist (Limit), Tiger Roar Technique (Limit), Crane Wings Technique (Limit), Iron Bear Technique (Limit), Viper Strike Technique (Limit), Silent Step Technique (Limit), Basic Hand-to-hand (Limit)

  Mystic Jade Essence - Dao Fruit of Sublime Miracles - Condensing... 77%

  The Giant Whale Breathing Method covered the water element. Since he had easy access to earth and metal element spiritual energy from the earthworm, it would be more efficient to work on those elements first. To be able to reach the peak within two years, in the next year, he needed to focus on his understanding of the Earth Crust and Golden Drop Inner Force methods.

  But he had ways to make it go faster. His eyes flicked over to the Cold Abyss Pearl, now in the hands of the An siblings. It turned out An Xin's primary cultivation method focused on the water-element, and her cultivation speed skyrocketed as a result. She was the next one slated to reach Jade Cleansing with the help of the pearl. He'd have to borrow it from her temporarily, though. And she had already entered seclusion.

  Interrupting a seclusion was not a thing he wanted to encourage. Strict rules had to be set. Fortunately for them both, she had a good chance of reaching the next stage within the next few weeks. And he had time to explore the underground areas with the earthworm.

  This would fuel it with new sources of metal ores, allowing the worm to begin providing a new source of earth and metal element spiritual energy. They were starting to run out of things to feed it during Qin Ye’s seclusion.

  Afterwards, Lu Qingshan only needed to figure out the wood element and the fire element in order to fully complete his breakthrough to the peak of Mortal Shedding. Deducing the path to the second realm of martial arts could wait — consolidating his foundation was his next step. His two year plan looked steady.

  As Lu Qingshan shot towards the first point of interest, he wondered where the demonic cultivators had gone. It would be problematic if he encountered the black flame demonic cultivator down in the caves where the fetus silhouette had appeared. That was an unknown threat with unknown abilities. He didn’t so much as fear them, but he needed to know its capabilities.

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  Then there were outside forces to consider. Perhaps they had been long driven away by the demonic cultivators’ method of hunting everyone who entered the fog. Or, maybe they were preparing for a final push. Lu Qingshan didn’t know what anyone was planning. But if the first was true, then he’d look into whether or not the ghost market had set all this up as an offering to those demonic cultivators.

  Because if they did, then that made them his enemy.

  Lu Qingshan arrived at the bloodied patch of trees first. The spiritual earthworm sifted through the soil, quickly discovering there was indeed a medium-sized chunk of ore. It took some time to consume them.

  In the meantime, Lu Qingshan began to breathe deeply like a whale. Inhaling the amplified spiritual energy in this place made it much easier to cultivate the technique. Soon he could feel a wisp of water element energy laced inside his primordial qi.

  The sixth level of the Giant Whale Breathing Method truly made the process much easier to grasp. As the spiritual earthworm finished up its meal and resurfaced, Lu Qingshan pushed that wisp of energy into two wisps, then three. There was still a lot to go, but it was a good start. The mountain was next on his list.

  Lu Qingshan avoided the demonized insect swarms and climbed up to the coffin again. He delivered the spiritual earthworm right below the tomb, waiting for it to provide feedback through their spiritual connection. It seemed to have discovered something beneath the mountain.

  Harder stones would've prevented the earthworm from digging deep enough, but its evolution had been driven by a stronger metal material. The worm stopped a great distance underneath him. Lu Qingshan chanted the Insect Harmony Mantra, its increased range finally giving him the chance to connect his senses with the worm deep underground.

  There was a small cavern, barely larger than the toad he had once fought in the mountains. Above the worm was a stream where a liquid softly flowed down onto the middle of the cave. Growing in the pool was a flower.

  Lu Qingshan didn't know the details, but the earthworm had exuded a deep hunger in its consciousness. Whatever was down there was good food. But the worm had already gained a new evolution from devouring metal, and a flower would likely be better off in his hands instead.

  Fortunately, the control of the Insect Harmony Mantra stayed strong. He recalled the worm back to the surface and thought deeply on how to gain access to that cave. It seemed he could only start digging a hole with the Seven Mysteries Gate.

  Lu Qingshan had the worm roam all around the mountain, but it seemed that flower was the only thing of interest in the center. There were also a few veins of Black Iron Ore, and a single oddly-shaped vein of spiritual metal off to the side of the mountain. Since the worm was already full from consuming the entire vein of ore beneath the bloody-wood trees, he simply marked down the locations of these new veins for now.

  Then he left the mountain peak. But not towards the vine tunnel cave. Lu Qingshan had some deep doubts about that place. Clearly the fetus silhouette was anything but simple, considering the sheer terror he felt when he was just in its proximity. As someone who had already died once, even he needed a tempered spirit to be able to resist.

  Anyone else would’ve likely died down there. And if the demonic cultivators hadn’t left through the sea of fog, the most probable outcome would be to unite and get revenge. The fetus, or maybe demonic fetus, was a powerful weapon to base their comeback on.

  So instead, Lu Qingshan roamed around the forest, letting the earthworm sense ore veins closer to the surface. He managed to uncover a few and also marked them down for his sect to dig up.

  The strange thing was that the spiritual earthworm had screamed at him a few times during his trip. It was not a simple hunger, but an emotion full of thirst, greed, longing, and sheer desire. But the earthworm had become near catatonic as a result, digging circles round and round the surface. Lu Qingshan had to send a strongly worded pulse through his spiritual connection to force it still and carry it away.

  Such an abnormal reaction made him ingrain deep in his mind the memories of the three places where this had happened. He would return later, but not marking them down meant that no one else would find the spots. They were pretty specific too. Most ore veins were much larger than the small areas where the worm had gone crazy.

  In the month or so he needed to traverse the entire basin, Lu Qingshan raised his Earthen Crust Inner Force to the fourth level. The spiritual earthworm was well fed during this time. Its feedback greatly helped push the progress of his earth and metal element martial arts.

  He had also begun to channel a tenth of his primordial qi into the water element, but this was slow progress. Five years was too long to wait for each element to develop. It was time to go see how An Xin was doing in her seclusion.

  Lu Qingshan arrived back at the sect and was pleased to see everyone doing well. An Zichen and Song Lin had both entered a seclusion of their own, while An Xin had already exited. With the help from the Cold Abyss Pearl, she had easily achieved Jade Cleansing. Now she was working with Wu Ruoling on improving some of her newly created secret medicine.

  "I expected you to be fast, but not this fast," Lu Qingshan complimented. "How was the Cold Abyss Pearl? Difficult or easy to use?"

  "It was damaged, but that only reduced its maximum limit," she said. "An Embryonic Breathing realm cultivator can still make good use of it. But the artifact will likely fail to provide much help to someone at Qi Refinement."

  "Can you help me make use of it?"

  An Xin hesitated. "I can activate it and guide the spiritual energy towards you. But are you sure about this? We cultivators have the means to absorb the energy while sifting away the yin qi that comes with the artifact. I'm not sure you do, so you might be in danger."

  Lu Qingshan glanced at his long list of martial skills. The Dragon Spine Manual was so close to the fifth level.

  "Let's wait a few days," he decided.