Qi Cultivation Starting from the Repair Panel

Every time she left, it was as if a sharp blade pierced into the depths of the wild forest.

Each return, her body bore heavy injuries, with a thick aura of blood and ferocity wrapping around her like a tangible armor, cold and biting.

The honed edge of battle was completely integrated into the flow of her Qi, born from countless struggles on the brink of life and death.

Her path was completely different from Chu Zheng's quiet meditation and Qi Refining into Spirit.

Over these forty years, her cultivation was forcibly extracted from her blood and bones during repeated bloody battles with the terrifying beings deep within the wild forest.

Starting from the Embracing Pill Realm, she left bloody footprints with each step, crossed into the Concentration Realm, broke open the Divine Orifice, and finally, with unimaginable will and sacrifice, reached the Divinity Realm, Sixth Order Martial God, which represents the ultimate in physical martial arts.

At first, as Xue Qing's absences grew longer, Chu Zheng did try to find her.

He spent considerable effort studying the Heavenly Divination Technique, and though he might not have mastered it fully, finding someone in this wild forest was not difficult.

Through calculations at his fingertips and following the imperceptible pull of Qi, he accurately located Xue Qing several times.

When Xue Qing did not return after more than a month for the first time, Chu Zheng set out to find her, eventually spotting her figure deep in a swamp.

Mud and filth bubbled around, with the foul stench spreading, and the massive carcasses of several Poison Swamp Crocodile Dragons lay like mountains, shells shattered, flesh bloody and blurred.

Xue Qing sat collapsed atop the largest dragon's head, with one of her arms almost torn off, loosely hanging by tendons and muscles, the white of bone clearly visible.

Deep green poison sizzled at the edge of her wound, corroding the flesh, emitting wisps of green smoke.

Her other hand clutched a bone blade with a chipped edge tightly, the blade tip deeply lodged in the shattered eye socket of a crocodile dragon.

Sweat and blood mixed with mud covered most of her face, leaving only her eyes amazingly bright, like burning cold stars.

When Chu Zheng's presence appeared at the edge of the swamp, those eyes instantly lifted, the sharp gaze piercing through the swamp to fix on him.

There was not a trace of surprise in her eyes, only a hint of coldness, keeping others at a distance.

Chu Zheng paused in silence for a moment, then quietly retreated.

Another time, it was at the peak of a ravine, with jagged rocks and wind as sharp as blades.

The Gang Feng howled, lifting stones and emitting a ghostly wail.

Xue Qing was engaged in combat with a ferocious beast with wings on its ribs, shaped like a giant lizard.

Her movements were extremely swift, as she weaved through the narrow cliffs and chaotic wind blades, leaving behind trails of afterimages.

But the beast was faster, its claws tearing through space with each swipe, leaving deep bone-revealing scratches on Xue Qing's back, flesh rolling back as blood was carried away by the Gang Feng, staining the sky red.

Each clash with the Wind Peng sent her staggering, yet she never fell; her Blood Qi burned ever fiercer, and the Martial Arts True Gang on her fists repeatedly struck the Peng's tough scale armor, creating deep thunderous sounds.

When Chu Zheng appeared at the edge of the ravine, trying to assist, Xue Qing somehow sensed it, turning abruptly and shouted over the howl of the Gang Feng:

"Get away!"

Her voice contained an almost furious expulsion.

Chu Zheng halted outside the ravine, watching her battle, and finally, at the cost of nearly breaking a leg, she crushed the head of the fierce beast.

After that, Chu Zheng gradually understood that his presence, that so-called protection, was not a reliance for Xue Qing but a formless shackle.

What she needed was not shelter but a blood-drenched battlefield in the endless wilderness.

He ultimately gave up searching and focused all his efforts on honing and solidifying his own cultivation.

Within the valley, it was silent, with only the spiritual mist flowing slowly over the pond's surface like a frozen river of space-time.

The abundant Yuan Qi within Chu Zheng surged with his breathing, slowly returning to the Nine Orifices Golden Core deep within his Dantian.

Every cycle, the light of the Yang God condensed further, and his perception of the formless spiritual rhythm in the world became clearer.

In the Refining God Realm, his Divine Sense reached the heavens and earth, where every detail was visible; he could even hear the long breathing of the Spirit Vein at the bottom of the deep pond.

Amid the utter silence, from the direction of the valley entrance, an exceptionally intense life force entered Chu Zheng's perception.

Chu Zheng slowly opened his eyes, his deep gaze reflecting a calm and ancient light.

With the sound of heavy, slow footsteps, the spiritual mist was parted by an invisible force, and a figure walked out from the hazy light and shadow, stepping onto the relatively open ground by the pond.

It's Xue Qing.

However, the scene before his eyes, even for Chu Zheng who had long been accustomed to her returning bloodied, stirred a wave of emotion, causing his pupils to suddenly contract.

The vestment robe she wore had completely lost its original color and shape, almost entirely soaked through with dark red and fresh bright red.

Large areas of skin were covered in blood stains and dirt, and on the left side of her waist and abdomen, the flesh seemed to have been fiercely plowed by the claws of some giant beast, deep enough to see the bone, and even the edge of squirming internal organs was faintly visible.

The rolled skin around the edges of the wound was a bizarre black-purple color, seemingly still retaining some kind of corrosive toxin, constantly eroding the surrounding healthy flesh, preventing the wound from healing.

On her left shoulder blade, a terrifying fist-sized blood hole went completely through, with the edges of the bone shattered into jagged shapes, clearly caused by piercing teeth or sharp horns of some ferocious creature.

Blood slowly and continuously seeped from these two deadly wounds, dripping onto the moss and gravel below, making a slight dripping sound that was extraordinarily piercing in the silent valley.

Normally, a person suffering such severe injuries would have long failed to stand, Xue Qing remained upright, her waist and back straight as a pole.

She walked to the edge of the pond, washing away the blood stains, scraping off the rotten flesh from the wound's edges, revealing the underlying paper-like pale skin, her lips pressed into a colorless straight line.

Immediately, she started to eat several pieces of flesh, even pulling at the wound, yet her expression remained calm.

After a while, she bandaged the wounds herself and seemed to have regained some Yuan Qi, lifting herself up and walking towards Chu Zheng.

Ultimately, she stopped a yard or so in front of the green stone where Chu Zheng was seated cross-legged.

Chu Zheng looked at Xue Qing before him, his heart felt slightly complicated, as if he already had a foreboding of what Xue Qing was about to say.

Standing still, Xue Qing said no more, her bloodstained right hand reached into her bosom, this simple action seemed to pull on the shoulder's piercing wound, causing her arm to tremble slightly.

After fumbling for a while, she took out a Storage Ring, gently raising her arm and sending it across the air to Chu Zheng in front of him.

Only then did Xue Qing lift her eyes, meeting Chu Zheng's gaze, her voice deep and steady, her eyes brimming with resolve:

"Inside here, is the corpse of a Sixth Order Perfect ferocious beast, and…"

Her voice paused slightly, then continued: "Four million three hundred sixty-seven thousand one hundred sixty-three top quality Spirit Stones."

"This compensates for the depletion from my cultivation over the years."

In the valley, a deathly silence fell, the water surface of the Cold Pond undisturbed by ripples, even the flow of spiritual mist seemed stagnant.

The bloodstained ring quietly lay on the green stone, making Chu Zheng's emotions complex despite having anticipated it, stirred slightly by Xue Qing's actions.

"Previously, you tended to me greatly..." Xue Qing's voice sounded again, interrupting Chu Zheng's swirling thoughts: "This favor, I will repay in the future."

"Paths diverge, from today on…"

Xue Qing's voice raised slightly, resolute determination shining in her eyes: "We part ways."

Today she returned, to sever the bond between the two.

She was not narrating but dividing, calculating clearly and precisely.

She intended to cut off all deeply intertwined emotions and debts from the past.

The paths they follow are ultimately different.

If this continued, the troubles she would bring forth would be unbearable for Chu Zheng.

In the future, formidable enemies far more terrifying than the likes of Xu Menghan will inevitably appear, at that time even if she is able to handle it, Chu Zheng would certainly be implicated.

Not every time would there be someone like Yun Tianji from Ten Thousand Treasures Tower to lend assistance; separating now was beneficial for both.

Paths diverge.

This sentence erupted like thunder, instantly awakening Chu Zheng from his self-assured peace of mind.

He seemed never to have been as clear-headed as this moment.

The woman before him was Xue Qing, not Song Lingxue.

Since arriving in the Ancient Times, his consecutive actions had completely altered Xue Qing's original trajectory.

Xue Qing's actions now, perhaps were to restore everything back to its rightful path.