Refining Essence into Qi began at the very first stage and ended at Mixed Origin.

A cultivator stored qi in the apertures, condensed a golden core, and nurtured an infant spirit born of heaven and earth.

After that came the seizing of a body: the cultivator took over the infant spirit and cast off the mortal frame for good. This was called Refining Qi into Spirit.

Return-to-Void was a long road. The twelve towers and five cities were the great road up to heaven.

Now Shen Yi had finally reached the end of that road to heaven. He had not only opened five cities but had also seen the heavenly gate behind them.

That meant one more step forward would carry him past the mortal world and onto the immortal path for good.

With enough good fortune, one might even ascend to the Immortal Court, be entered in the immortal register, draw an immortal's stipend, and receive incense offerings from the mortal world.

"……" Shen Yi gathered his thoughts. Those things could only ever be daydreams.

Hongze had so many Dao-merging colossi, and not one of them had truly ascended to heaven. The only one anyone had heard of was that purple-whiskered white dragon, and she had gone up there to serve as an immortal's mount.

He slowly opened his eyes. He had finished reading, inside the pearl, the Dao-merging method Sect Master Qin had prepared for Xuanqing.

【Dao-Merging (Numinous) · Five-Immortal Weapon-Commanding Register: Not Yet Begun】

Even after a hundred thousand years, the pearl still showed, faintly, the path Sect Master Qin had carefully laid out for Xuanqing.

The name said as much. To use the method to its fullest, everything hinged on those five immortals… which most likely meant five Dao weapons.

The Nanhong Seven had risen fast and fallen just as fast, with no time to build up a foundation. A Numinous method was probably the best thing Sect Master Qin had been able to find.

Weapon joins with land.

This was the process by which a cultivator and a treasured site slowly became one. Each Dao…