Chapter Sixty-Two: The Qi Gathering Realm (Part Two)

The development of the internal organs remains an enigma. Chen Yu set the matter aside; it is not something to be rushed and must be approached with patience.

As he had remarked before, if he ultimately failed to uncover any miraculous properties, there was no harm in manufacturing them himself. He had gained plenty of experience in both sculpting small effigies and crafting energy vortices.

Speaking of sculpting, he had long contemplated creating a "primordial spirit" within his Niwan Palace. However, his spiritual power had been insufficient at the time, resulting in a construct no larger than a sesame seed. Furthermore, his lack of refined control meant the form would not hold, crumbling at the slightest provocation.

Perhaps now was the time to try again...

Chen Yu shook his head, casting the thought aside. Several spiritual vortices were still drifting within his Niwan Palace; attempting to sculpt an effigy required a significant expenditure of spiritual power, which would inevitably disrupt the vortices' rotation. Should they shatter, it would be a regrettable loss, for they had matured considerably over their long period of operation and were no longer as fragile as they had been at the start.

To rashly break them, setting aside the effort required to suppress the subsequent violent surge of scattered spiritual energy, would in itself be a laborious task to rectify. For now, these vortices were diligently tempering his spirit, and it would be better to wait until his spirit had further solidified and could no longer derive progress from them.

...

*Swish!*

A wisp of white energy flickered from the tip of Chen Yu’s finger, but it dissipated before traveling even seven inches. The remaining energy drifted above the water’s surface like a thin, shallow mist. A silver crucian carp poked its head out, as if mocking the short-lived, feeble display of the Great Daoist Master Chen.

"Well," he chuckled, "the Six-Pulse Divine Sword didn't manifest, but the Six-Inch Divine Sword certainly did."

He dismissed the notion of replicating peerless martial arts like the Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms. As it stood, unless he could improve the duration and density of his energy techniques, any external manifestations would remain elaborate yet hollow, lacking true substance.

Chen Yu toyed with the energy, letting it shift within his palm—now a mountain range, now a crane in flight, then a surging river that collapsed in an instant to reform into a round-faced little figure. The effigy had delicate features, long hair cascading over its shoulders, and was draped in a crane-patterned Daoist robe, yet its eyes and brows remained perpetually indistinct, shrouded in a persistent blur.

*Pop!*

The figure dissolved into a mix of silvery-grey and milky-white. Chen Yu mused that even with the aid of his spiritual power, manipulating energy outside his body remained a formidable challenge. He had already expended a significant amount of his mental focus, yet he still could not achieve any level of precision. Whether it was the mountains, the crane, or the chubby version of himself, he could barely capture a fraction of their form, let alone their spirit.

And he knew this was only at close range. If the energy moved a foot away from his body, while it would not dissipate entirely, his spiritual reach would fail. Without that mental tether, he could not even achieve the meager results he had just produced, leaving the energy to simply drift away into nothingness.

How could he prevent this? Chen Yu continued his search.

*Splash!*

He grabbed a net and scooped up a silver crucian carp. Crouching down, he reached into the corner of the pool, grasped the shell of a fat crab, and pulled it from the water. In the center of the pool, the ripples danced around a small, palm-sized sandbar he had built up. A medicinal herb was planted in the soil there.

It had finally sprouted, pushing through the surface with water droplets clinging to the tips of its leaves. Months ago, he had brought back five types of herb seeds from the pharmacy down the mountain. Originally intended for experiments with spiritual energy, they had been neglected as he focused on the various vegetables in his garden.

At the beginning of the month, the other four varieties—including the Baoxin Herb—had been sown. Three types were moved to the herb field, but this particular plant required proximity to water, so he had waited until after the rains had filled the pool to plant it. The Baoxin Herb, planted by the edge of the vegetable garden and treated with spiritual energy, had already begun to trail green vines. In comparison, the others were much slower; while the rest had yet to break their shells, this one had already poked its head out.

Unlike the memory of the original herb, this one, catalyzed by spiritual energy, had sprouted three young leaves as soon as it broke the soil, the central leaf adorned with fine, cyan veins. He did not yet know the outcome, but Chen Yu was deeply intrigued by the effects of the spiritual energy on the herbs. This was a common herb for healing and dispelling cold, and he wondered what it might become after such catalysis. Would it differ from the peach blossoms in front of the courtyard, which also possessed healing properties?

Everything remained to be seen. He carried the fish and crab away, intending to stew a fresh pot of soup for lunch to soothe his stomach. He would spend the afternoon reading and researching his energy, passing another peaceful and tranquil day.

...

Under the moonlight, atop a large bluestone, Chen Yu practiced his breathing. He was performing his self-created technique, a synthesis of the Spirit-Calling Body-Strengthening Art and other methods, which he had dubbed the "Internal Harvest Breathing Technique."

After much exploration, the technique had evolved beyond mere rhythmic breathing. It now incorporated aspects of Daoist breath-control, including certain concepts from the "Sha-Harmonizing" school. His internal energy channels were now saturated, and he no longer needed to expend great effort to bridge his spirit and fetal breath to nurture energy; the breathing technique sufficed.

The name "Internal Harvest" was chosen primarily because the technique focused on the generation of energy within the body. In his view, the spirit was harvested from consciousness, the fetal breath from flesh, sinew, and internal organs, and the energy channels spanning his body used the spirit and fetal breath as raw materials, fusing them within his acupuncture points to generate energy with every inhalation and exhalation. It was an internal harvest, in every sense of the word.

On the other hand, perhaps having read so many Daoist descriptions of the "evil energies" of heaven and earth, Chen Yu still held a shred of hope that one day he might discover a unique, external energy similar to such "Sha." To him, if breathing and meditation only acted upon internal energy, it was far too limited. Since there was an internal harvest, there should naturally be an external one.

Though, as of yet, he had found nothing.

Now, with his body transformed and his energy self-generating, Chen Yu was becoming less and less like a normal person. His internal training had reached perfection that fateful night, yet he had never found the "Dragon-Tiger Pass" described in the *Cloud Crane Manual*. It was said to be an ethereal, mysterious sensation—a deeper manifestation of force, a chasm to be crossed before reaching the realm of "dissipating force." He remained at the level of "penetrating force," and his power could only be described as "soft force," far from the mastery of "dissipating force."

Yet, his internal organs and physical body were comparable to—or even surpassed—those of second-rate, first-rate, or even top-tier experts who had mastered external training.

So, what did this make him?

Chen Yu could not quite define his own level. After weighing the options, he simply followed his heart. The martial artists had their own path, and his was clearly different. Thus, he gave his state a fitting title: [Energy Harvesting].

Harvesting spirit, harvesting fetal breath, harvesting internal energy.

Condensing it into "Qi"—that was the hallmark of this realm. Of course, this title was something of a joke; he hadn't fully grasped it himself, and the term "Energy Harvesting" was merely borrowed from the terminology of the Sha-Harmonizing school and his own breathing technique. Perhaps when he truly forged a path of cultivation, the name would be set, though by then, who knew what it might be called?

"If I were truly bold, I could call it the 'Great Luo Golden Immortal Realm'."

Chen Yu did not dwell on it. Such things were empty vanity; what truly mattered was the energy itself.