Chapter 52: The Purple Palace at the Center of the Brows Nurtures Divine Powers

Qingxuan Taoist Temple had been closed to the outside world for two years.

Whether it was the common folk of Qingshan County or the gentry of Dongjun, everyone seemed to have gradually forgotten the existence of Qingxuan Taoist Temple.

Even Zha Liangcai and Zha Liangping of the Dongjun Zifu Zha clan assumed that Jiang Sheng had gone somewhere else to avoid disaster.

No one knew that at this very moment, inside Qingxuan Taoist Temple, Jiang Sheng was already preparing to open his Zifu.

For seven days, Jiang Sheng sat cross-legged in meditation, neither eating nor drinking.

On one hand, he was initially refining the Jade-Green Lotus Platform; on the other hand, he was gradually adjusting his internal vital energy to a state of flawless perfection.

When the seventh day arrived, Jiang Sheng perceived the river-like surging spiritual power within his body and silently initiated the breakthrough to the Zifu realm.

The Zifu realm requires a Foundation Establishment cultivator to use their entire body's spiritual power and vital blood to impact the dragon spine, unblocking the spinal column, and opening the divine palace of the brow.

As the internal spiritual power circulated again and again through the meridians of his entire body in a grand heavenly cycle, Jiang Sheng sensed that infinitesimal opportunity in the vast ethereal void.

As the sun reached its zenith and the midday sun melted the snow, inspiration suddenly dawned on Jiang Sheng.

The pure spiritual liquid transformed into spiritual power, surging forth from his dantian and rushing upstream along the Zifu heavenly meridians.

Jiang Sheng felt a roaring sound echo within his sea of consciousness.

The spiritual power poured into the dragon spine, effortlessly piercing through a segment of the vertebrae.

Instantly, as the spiritual power flooded into the spine, it violently expanded the heavenly meridians, cracking the spinal bones, and the agonizing pain of tearing the spinal marrow caused Jiang Sheng's brows to furrow involuntarily.

Without the aid of the Purple Cloud Barrier-Breaking Pill to protect the meridians or the Purple Sun Jade to safeguard the mind and spirit, one would inevitably have to endure such excruciating pain.

Yet, once external objects were used, the Zifu heavenly meridians would be artificially shaped, leaving no further path of advancement for the future.

The reason why achieving the Zifu realm was so difficult was twofold: first, items for opening the Zifu, such as the Purple Sun Jade and the Purple Cloud Barrier-Breaking Pill, were monopolized by major factions; second, the sheer agony of forcibly opening the Zifu was enough to make one lose their mind and drive them mad.

That black fire serpent, Hei Huan, had unconsciously begun to breakthrough to the Zifu realm and gone mad, leaving its defenses completely open so that Jiang Sheng could slice open its head with a single sword strike.

Whether for the sake of his future Great Dao or for the golden core river deity that might arrive at any moment, Jiang Sheng refused to allow himself to use external objects.

Jiang Sheng was well aware that the spiritual power from his Heavenly Foundation Establishment was more than sufficient, and he possessed supreme treasures like the Jade-Green Lotus Platform; right now, all he needed to do was endure the pain.

"It is merely physical suffering, break!"

Jiang Sheng's mind was incomparably clear, his eyes limpid and devoid of any madness.

As Jiang Sheng exerted his utmost to drive the spiritual power within his body, the spiritual liquid in his dantian transformed into a surging tide of spiritual power, continuously pouring into the spine to open up the Zifu heavenly meridians.

Even Jiang Sheng himself did not know just how profound his foundation was when fully unleashed, and this breakthrough to the Zifu gave Jiang Sheng a true appreciation of his long-accumulated reserves.

The surging spiritual power pierced through the vertebrae like a bamboo split by a cleaver, clearing the Zifu heavenly meridians inch by inch.

From the tailbone all the way up to the cervical vertebrae, Jiang Sheng still had plenty of surplus spiritual power!

For a cultivator with an Earthly Foundation Establishment, being able to force their way up to the thoracic vertebrae in one go was already a rare feat, but for a Heavenly Foundation Establishment, this was the most natural thing in the world.

Such was the path of cultivation; once you lagged behind at the start, trying to catch up later made every single step infinitely more difficult.

Jiang Sheng firmly guarded his mind, urging his spiritual power to make a final assault on the cervical vertebrae.

The final cervical vertebrae were undoubtedly the hardest to break through. Without the blessing of the Purple Cloud Barrier-Breaking Pill, ordinary cultivators could only rely on their own vital blood to make the charge.

Success meant opening the Zifu; failure meant suffering damage to their essence, breath, and spirit at best, or near-death at worst.

However, Jiang Sheng did not need to worry about any of this.

The Jade-Green Lotus Platform had long been stored by Jiang Sheng in his dantian, and this was precisely the moment for it!

As the spiritual energy within the Jade-Green Lotus Platform was mobilized by Jiang Sheng, the river of spiritual power, now reinforced with surplus strength, surged upstream once again.

The cervical vertebrae were unblocked one by one, and the Zifu heavenly meridians reached their final moment inch by inch.

Eighty percent.

Ninety percent.

At the very height of success, the final step!

Enduring the agonizing pain of his spine and meridians being torn and expanded inch by inch, Jiang Sheng drove his internal spiritual power to the limit.

That upstream torrent of spiritual power, carrying rolling waves like a dragon crossing a river, surged straight up along the spine to its peak, knocking upon the heavenly gates!

"Boom!"

Another thunderous explosion resounded within his sea of consciousness.

Jiang Sheng's entire dragon spine was thoroughly unblocked, the heavenly meridians flowed freely, and the Zifu at the center of his brow opened of its own accord.

In an instant, Jiang Sheng felt his entire body become limpid and transparent, his mind refreshed and clear. The pain from just moments before vanished entirely, leaving only a lingering sense of coolness and profound freedom.

That sensation was akin to a river flowing naturally into the sea, or a trapped dragon finally ascending to the heavens, giving Jiang Sheng the feeling of shackles being shattered in a moment of sudden enlightenment.

Yet that ethereal, immortal-like sensation was suppressed by Jiang Sheng the very next moment.

Jiang Sheng circulated the Zifu chapter of the *Heavenly Scripture of Water Primordial*, and the spiritual power within his body surged out from the dantian, roaming through the meridians of his entire body, connecting with the spinal heavenly meridians and pouring into the Zifu. After being further refined and condensed by the Zifu, it flowed back once more into the dantian.

After merely a single heavenly cycle, the spiritual power within Jiang Sheng's body had undergone yet another condensation.

This also gave Jiang Sheng a profound realization of just how massive the gap was between the Zifu realm and Foundation Establishment.

"Truth be told, that river deity's avatar was not a true Zifu entity; it merely possessed the strength of the early Zifu stage."

With a light chuckle, Jiang Sheng closed his eyes slightly and began practicing his cultivation technique.

Having just entered the Zifu realm, Jiang Sheng was at the exact stage where he needed to stabilize his realm.

As Jiang Sheng operated his technique, a vast amount of stray spiritual energy between heaven and earth converged into the main hall, pouring into Jiang Sheng's body in a torrential rush and gradually being purified and refined by him into quintessential magical power.

Tian Mingan stared in astonishment at the changes occurring around Qingxuan Taoist Temple.

He had never imagined that there was such a vast amount of spiritual energy hidden within Qingping Mountain.

He saw the spiritual energy from all directions continuously converging as if drawn by some invisible force, gradually forming a vortex of spiritual energy above the front hall before being guided down into the hall itself.

And the front hall acted like a gluttonous beast, continuously swallowing this spiritual energy as if its appetite could never be satisfied no matter how much was provided.

Under such intense extraction of spiritual energy, Tian Mingan did not dare to cultivate at all.

For he could never compete with Jiang Sheng for the energy, and trying to cultivate by force would only result in injuring himself.

Watching helplessly as endless spiritual energy poured into the front hall, the massive depletion of the surrounding spiritual energy had already alarmed countless living beings.

Bai Shang had personally come over to investigate, but upon discovering that it was Qingxuan Taoist Temple, he quietly withdrew.

This session of cultivation lasted for a full half-month and more.

The spiritual Qi within Qingping Mountain seemed inexhaustible; even after being extracted by Jiang Sheng for half a month, it remained supremely abundant.

After half a month of cultivation, Jiang Sheng had also mastered the Zifu chapter of the *Heavenly Scripture of Water Primordial* by heart.

At this moment, the spiritual power within Jiang Sheng's body had been purified once again. Having undergone the dual refinement of both the dantian and the Zifu, the cultivator's magical power could finally be considered capable of eventually condensing a Golden Core.

Perceiving the surging and refined spiritual power within his body at this moment, Jiang Sheng finally brought his closed-door seclusion to an end.

Pushing open the doors of the front hall and feeling the warmth of the external sunlight, Jiang Sheng narrowed his eyes slightly: "Since beginning my quest for the Dao at the age of eight, now at twenty-four, I have finally opened the Zifu."

A Zifu cultivator enjoyed a lifespan of five hundred years, barely worthy of the title of a True Person.

Although it was nothing much within a major Dao sect, here in Qingzhou of the Qi State, he could already be considered a towering figure.

Perhaps looking across the entire Qi State, Jiang Sheng was the only one to achieve the Zifu realm at such a young age.

"Master, you have finally emerged from seclusion."

"Your disciple congratulates Master on opening the Zifu and attaining a five-hundred-year lifespan."

As he spoke, Tian Mingan bowed to Jiang Sheng with utmost propriety.

Jiang Sheng waved his hand: "Enough. It is not as though the Golden Core Great Dao is within immediate reach; what is there to celebrate about reaching the Zifu realm?"

Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Zifu.

Golden Core, Nascent Soul, Deity Transformation.

The Zifu realm, when all was said and done, merely meant the Golden Core was within sight; in reality, one had not even truly set foot upon the Great Dao yet. In Jiang Sheng's heart, there was truly nothing to rejoice over.

Casually tossing a jade bottle to Tian Mingan, Jiang Sheng said: "This bottle of Qinglian Pills is left for you by your Master. Use them after you reach Foundation Establishment, and make sure to keep them safe."

Tian Mingan hurriedly caught the jade bottle and bowed to Jiang Sheng once more: "Thank you, Master."

"There is no need for such formalities. Focus on your cultivation; I have some minor insights that I need to go and test."

With that, Jiang Sheng opened a breach in the Flowing Light Azure Water Array and flew straight in the direction of the Taiping River.

Having ascended to the Zifu realm, Jiang Sheng's speed had increased by several notches, and it took him very little time to travel from Qingxuan Taoist Temple to the Taiping River.

Arriving above the Taiping River and looking down at the surging waters below, Jiang Sheng slowly closed his eyes.

From the moment he knocked open the heavenly gates, unblocked the dragon spine, and successfully opened the Zifu, he had spontaneously comprehended the embryonic form of a divine ability.

Now that he had stabilized his cultivation realm, he was finally ready to test it out.

With a flick of Jiang Sheng's finger, spiritual power surged forth, condensing beside him into a three-chi-six-cun water sword.

The water sword entirely mimicked the appearance of the Azure Duckweed Sword, yet because it was formed from pure spiritual power, it appeared exceptionally translucent and clear.

Jiang Sheng gently grasped this water sword. With a single slash from him, the Taiping River below seemed to be cleaved open by an invisible force, revealing a deep gully.

The river waters on either side churned incessantly, while the center revealed the mud, fish, and shrimp of the Taiping River bed.

A single sword stroke cleaving a river?

Jiang Sheng urged the water sword once more. The water sword transformed into a speck of spiritual light that shot out instantly, spanning a thousand zhang in the blink of an eye before circling back just as swiftly.

With a shake of the sword body, three more sword lights split off, and four sword phantoms intertwined and circled back and forth, spinning and dancing in mid-air.

Sometimes hovering beside Jiang Sheng, sometimes splitting into four directions to form a sword array.

Jiang Sheng gradually gained enlightenment: "Nothing in the world is softer or weaker than water, yet nothing can surpass it in attacking the hard and strong. Hence it is said: highest good is like water."

"This is the Sword of Like Water, or alternatively, the Like Water Sword Array."

For now, this sword was merely the embryonic form of a divine ability; only when Jiang Sheng forged his Golden Core could the divine ability be completely solidified.

Yet this embryonic form was already more than enough to serve as Jiang Sheng's trump card.

Sensing the spiritual power within his body once more, Jiang Sheng looked toward the direction of the Dongjun prefectural city: "That golden core river deity is currently residing in the Taiping River outside the prefectural city."

"I cannot simply wait for the enemy to strike at our doorstep. To put it simply, this Daoist must strike first to gain the upper hand."

Having made up his mind, Jiang Sheng recalled the Sword of Like Water and turned to fly back toward Qingping Mountain.

A full quarter of an hour after Jiang Sheng left, the churning waters of the Taiping River finally calmed down, once again shrouding the exposed riverbed.

Returning to Qingxuan Taoist Temple on Qingping Mountain, Jiang Sheng said to Tian Mingan: "Your master has decided to strike first to gain the upper hand."

"Therefore, I plan to visit the Zha family of the prefectural city to seek counsel, so as to fathom the true background of that river deity."

"Disciple, would you be willing to accompany your Master to take a look?"

Upon hearing this, Tian Mingan was stunned for a moment, and then said with pleasant surprise:

"This disciple is naturally willing to go."