Chapter 167 (1/2)

Translator: Radiant  Editor: Radiant

Inside the Dantian Qi Sea, countless flame-red mist, formed from the accumulation of Xue Ying’s Transcendent Qi, illuminated the space. This red mist was formed after consuming more than 250 kilograms of Origin Stone. After using the Profound Mysteries to completely absorb the energy provided by the Origin Stone, the mist had turned red as it was completely saturated, and was overflowing into Xue Ying’s consciousness.

Chi chi chi.

With a thought from Xue Ying, the countless flame-red Qi started to change. Strands of electric-like rays appeared within the red mist.

The electric strands flittered about, scuttling like electric serpents.

In a rapid transformation, the red, flame-like mist transformed and compressed itself to a higher density, increasing the power! Every electric-like strand that formed devoured a large quantity of the mist.

All of Xue Ying’s Qi quickly transformed.

As the countless red flame Qi instantly turned into threads, they tangled together, forming a crystal sphere. The sphere then slowly turned into a miniature Xue Ying. After that transformation, the sphere changed again into a small dragon. Each transformation was very realistic and vivid in its expression. Occasionally a brilliant light would appear on a form’s skin, differentiating it from an actual entity.

After stepping into the Saint realm, a Transcendent’s Qi is really different, Xue Ying thought. Condensed Qi can be used to shape and form a Qi avatar!

“I must nourish my body and soul first.”

Xue Ying calmed his heart and no longer pondered about the new changes within himself.

Electric serpent-like Qi strands penetrated his skin, flesh and bones… then burrowed into his internal organs and finally into his brain, nourishing his soul.

Nourishing the soul with his new Saint Transcendent Qi took the longest time. Becoming a Saint Transcendent allowed Xue Ying to form a Qi avatar, which required a Saint Transcendent to split a well nourished soul. Therefore, Saint Transcendents usually took their time to slowly nourish their souls, but Xue Ying needed to feed his soul as quickly as possible! He needed to be able to split his soul before he left Xia Capital as he would have to go to various places.

Xue Ying wanted to use his Qi avatar to stay at Snowrock Castle to protect his clan!

During this war with demons, he didn’t dare to neglect his clan in the slightest. Otherwise, if something went awry, it would be too late for regrets.

…

One by one, Xue Ying consumed many Origin Stones weighing more than a half kilogram each to nourish his soul.

After consuming an additional nineteen stones, Xue Ying finally felt a halt in his soul’s growth. He knew further consumption would have no effect in nourishing his Transcendent Qi .

Hu

Xue Ying opened his eyes.

“Saint realm Transcendent?” Xue Ying grinned as he gazed at his side.

Hua-

A flame-red light flew out of Xue Ying’s body and appeared by his side. The light quickly condensed into a red-robed, black-haired, youthful-looking man that appeared exactly same as the Saint Transcendent Xue Ying. The only difference was the faint light flickering on its face, skin, and hair. With a glance, people would know that this figure was not a real flesh and blood body! Instead, this Transcendent was simply the condensation of Qi into a human form.

Splitting one’s soul is really uncomfortable, thought Xue Ying. Fortunately only a small part of the soul separates, causing little impact to the original’s strength.

Fortunately, Xue Ying was not a mage. Mages had to rely on their spirit strength when battling, so there was a bigger impact from dividing their soul. However, knights relied on their Qi, weapons, secret techniques, realm comprehension, and other factors when fighting. Splitting off a shred of their soul would have little impact on their fighting prowess.

“I definitely can’t let my Qi avatar be exterminated,” said Xue Ying while looking at his Qi avatar standing in front of him.

If my Qi avatar is destroyed… Thought Xue Ying. The part of my soul that created the avatar will disappear, deeply damaging my vitality. I will need to spend time and resources recovering what I lost. This fact was recorded in the books Xue Ying had read. After a Saint Transcendent’s soul separates, both parts were still linked together. If a part of the soul inside a Qi avatar was destroyed, the Transcendent’s soul core would be injured as well.

Even though the destruction of a Qi avatar could be considered a small injury, the damage would still affect the soul core of the Transcendent. This damage was different from when a mage has depleted their spirit strength and soul force in battle. That expenditure was only an external part of a mage’s strength and not the core. Even if a mage completely spent this kind of strength, they could still recover it quickly.

But if the soul core of a Transcendent was harmed, even only a minuscule part, the recovery would be very slow.

If the soul core was heavily injured, that person could become intellectually impaired or even driven insane! If the soul core injury was grave enough, that person could die.

The impact of a damaged soul core also affected Demigods… if a Demigod used a Qi avatar to explore dangerous places and lost it, resulting in the damage of their soul core, their first priority and only option would be to retreat and slowly recover. Only after a full recovery could they use their Qi avatar again. A Demigod didn’t dare to immediately send a Qi avatar out for the second time after losing one without a full recovery first.

This fact about Qi avatars was common knowledge.

I’ve consumed Origin Stones so quickly Xue Ying thought as he looked at the amount of Origin Stones left in his hand. ‘From the initial stage to the peak stage, I needed more than 1,500 kilograms of Origin Stone! To reach Demigod, how much more would I need? Fortunately I don’t need to worry about Origin Stones right now.