“Although I heard Zhao Qianyuan say that spiritual energy will dissipate and disappear, I still don’t know the exact details. Let’s try it first and absorb the spiritual energy into the body…”
She clenched the blood spirit stone in her hand, causing a faint glow from inside and emitting traces of spiritual energy.
She first used the ordinary breathing method of a warrior to absorb it into her stomach, but in her perception, the spiritual energy only moved slightly before floating into the sky and disappearing.
The layers of tiles, wood and stone in the hall were unable to stop the flow of spiritual energy.
"Ordinary inhalation can make the spiritual energy move a little... there should be a chance to absorb it into the body."
"But even if the spiritual energy enters the body, it will quickly penetrate the flesh and fly away."
Xi Heng had heard from Zhao Qianyuan before that the other party had also forcibly absorbed spiritual energy into his body, but was unable to keep it in his body for long.
"If there is a vortex in the body that constantly absorbs spiritual energy and prevents it from leaking out, perhaps I can practice Qigong... but how can I do that?"
After a moment she said to herself again, "For example, is there any spell?"
"Master of ceremonies." She called out when she thought of this.
There was a slight knock on the door, and the person she saw after opening the door was not the master of ceremonies she had thought of, but another petite palace maid who was guarding the door.
"Your Majesty, the Master of Ceremonies is sorting your clothes downstairs. I will go to find him right away..." the other party said.
"No need. Do you know where the former emperor's study is? Take me there." Xi Heng was just looking for another spell book like the Blood Sea Spell.
"I know." After paying her respects, the palace maid turned around and led the way, bringing Xi Heng to the study on the same floor.
Xi Heng didn't pay attention to the magnificent scene and the exquisitely crafted bookshelves. He walked straight in and walked around the sixteen large bookshelves.
Most of the books stored in this study are legends of immortals and gods, Taoist books, or divination, astronomy, astrology, yin and yang theory, etc. A few are books on political governance written by emperors of previous generations.
She even found the genealogy of the Great Zhao royal family and found her own name on it, but she did not find any magic secret book like the Blood Sea Spell.
After searching, she asked the palace maid to take her to another imperial study, and even searched Zhao Qianyuan's bedroom before his death, but still found nothing.
"Perhaps spell books like the Blood Sea Method are truly extremely rare in the world...even the emperor doesn't have any extra ones."
After Xi Heng shook his head, he returned to the dormitory, took out the Blood Sea Method and read it carefully, searching word by word, looking for more information about the Blood Spirit Stone.
The girl pressed her temples and came up with the answer distressedly:
In this spell book, the Blood Spirit Stone seemed to be just a magical storage tool used to store the spirit of flesh and blood, which would be transformed into spells when needed.
The original text in the book did not say that the spiritual energy in the Blood Spirit Stone could be used to practice Qi cultivation and become immortal. The so-called Qi cultivation path to immortality was nothing more than a few poems and sentiments that the crazy emperor wrote down next to the Spirit Absorbing Method.
"Is practicing Qi and cultivating immortality just Zhao Qianyuan's wishful thinking?" Xi Heng became more and more confused:
"Is it true that there are no immortals or methods of longevity in this world? There are only these wizard-like spells?"
"But there are indeed legends in the world that immortals can call the wind and rain, ride on clouds and mist, move mountains and seas..." She tried to convince herself, but then shook her head slightly:
"However, it is also possible that these are just false stories that have been made up."
Xi Heng gradually became hesitant, and subconsciously looked up, looking at the azure sky through the window in front of the long desk.
As he thought about it carefully, he muttered to himself:
"There are indeed so-called methods of cultivating the Tao in the mortal world, which can absorb and exhale the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, refine the energy into spirit, refine the spirit back to emptiness, and refine the emptiness into Tao..."
"There are indeed extraordinary spells and spiritual energy in the world, but I am currently unable to capture this spiritual energy into my body to practice Qi and cultivate immortality... As long as I can seal off the spiritual energy and create an environment full of spiritual energy, maybe it will be possible."
“How should this be done?”
"Wooden boards and earth and rocks certainly can't lock up spiritual energy...what about other materials?"
Xi Heng thought of this and started trying it immediately.
She squeezed the blood spirit stone tightly to squeeze out a trace of spiritual energy, and tried to cover it with her palm first. As a result, the spiritual energy penetrated the flesh, blood and bones of the human body naturally without any pause.
She broke off two bracts, one gold and one silver, from the gold and silver carved decorations at the side of the room and placed them on the blood spirit stone.
Then he clenched his fist and let out a wisp of spiritual energy, which naturally penetrated the golden and silver bracts and floated into the sky.
"Let's set a small goal first. Try all the elements currently available on the periodic table... and see which one can have an effect on spiritual energy." Xi Heng clapped his hands and ordered the palace maid to enter.
She said directly: "Pass my order, order the Ministry of Revenue to open the imperial treasury and take out various special metal items from it, and bring one of each type of metal to the palace."
"..." The palace maid did not say yes directly at the first moment, and her eyes gradually became strange.
"What's wrong?" Xi Heng felt strange.
The maid realized that she had been rude and quickly knelt down to explain:
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I was in a daze just now because I remembered that the late emperor had issued a similar decree half a year ago."
"Has he also thought of this?" Xi Heng narrowed his eyes.
If Zhao Qianyuan had tried it before and failed to get any results, it would be disappointing news for her.
"The late emperor placed all kinds of unique items in the underground storage. I can take Your Majesty there..." said the maid in Fuqing Palace.
"It's more convenient. Take me there." Xi Heng stood up holding the bright blood spirit stone in his hand.
The other party responded quickly, bowed respectfully, and then turned around to lead the way.
Walk through the wide corridor in Fuqing Palace, step down the long wooden stairs, reach the underground floor, and then go deeper with a lamp in hand, you will see a thick double wooden door blocking your view.
There was a small gap in the wooden door, it was not locked, and could be pushed open with a little force.
After walking in, a palace maid on the side lit the hanging candlestick, illuminating the underground storage room a little.
Xi Heng reluctantly endured the dull atmosphere and walked in. He saw all kinds of strangely shaped things, all placed on neatly and orderly arranged shelves.
She looked around and saw that most of the things on the shelves were of strange shapes, and it was difficult to recognize which ones were which.
Zhao Qianyuan didn’t know what the periodic table was, but he simply and roughly grabbed all kinds of rare and precious things in the world.
Now, hundreds of strange and bizarre objects are displayed in the underground vault of Fuqing Palace.
Among them are not only metals of strange shapes and colors, fluorite emitting a faint light, but also withered yellow medicinal powder with a pungent smell, various elixirs, and small insects, snakes, rats and the like that are constantly crawling around in wooden cages.
Xi Heng took the glowing blood spirit stone and moved closer to each object step by step, pinching out a trace of spiritual energy and sensing the spiritual energy gradually disappearing through various things.
Lead ash, kerosene, bauxite, tungsten ore, rare earth, strong magnet, fluorite...
After half an hour, Xi Heng used her spiritual energy to pass through all the things in the storage room. The result was as she expected, the spiritual energy that emerged was not affected from beginning to end.
For some reason, it seems that only human breathing can disturb the spiritual energy.
But even if one tries hard to absorb the spiritual energy into the body, it cannot remain in the body for long.
"Either I convert the spiritual energy into magic using the Blood Sea Technique, or I just let it dissipate?" Xi Heng stared at the Blood Spirit Stone in thought.
"Perhaps nothing in the mortal world can block the spiritual energy, and only something from the immortal world can do it..."
She looked up at the strange and dull ceiling again and sighed slightly.
After fiddling with the blood spirit stone in his hand for a while, Xi Heng had no choice but to leave the vault. He no longer had any expectations for these earthly materials.
As he walked, he tossed the precious Blood Spirit Stone in his hand up and down as if it were a simple stone, flicked it with his fingers, and pinched it, hoping to find some inspiration.
"Hmm?" She suddenly stopped.
"If worldly things don't work, then can the blood spirit stone itself, which is used to radiate spiritual energy, have some effect on spiritual energy?"
If possible, she could try to use a large amount of blood spirit stones as bricks and tiles to build a house to lock in the spiritual energy, and practice Qi and cultivate Taoism in it.
Xi Heng blinked, and tightly grasped the spirit stone in his right hand, allowing a trace of spiritual energy to flow out. Then he immediately placed the blood spirit stone on top of the spiritual energy that was disappearing at a rapid rate.
"..."
Then, the spiritual energy penetrated the spirit stone and disappeared.
"This can't be stopped." Xi Heng held his forehead with his hand: "Why?"
Even spiritual stones cannot stop the disappearance of spiritual energy. Perhaps nothing in the world can work.
"Maybe the Blood Spirit Stone is really just used to store spells." By now, her expectations for the Spirit Stone have almost disappeared.
"This thing can't help me embark on the path to immortality, at least not now."
Xi Heng came to a conclusion and comforted himself:
"But it doesn't matter. I still have a lot of time to use. Since I can't embark on the path of cultivating immortals by relying on the Blood Spirit Stone, I will find some other methods..."
"When I practice martial arts in my next life, I will go around the world to look for traces of immortals and immortal methods." Xi Heng still has expectations in this regard:
"Maybe we can find a deep mountain valley where Taoists gather. The spiritual energy there won't drift away to the sky, and mortals can directly practice breathing and qi cultivation using Taoist methods... I hope."
Xi Heng grabbed the Blood Spirit Stone and went back upstairs to continue studying the books on the method of transforming energy.
Since she couldn't find the path to immortality for the time being, she would continue to study martial arts - her martial arts still had a lot of room for improvement.
"In my next life, I will also look for other Huajin martial arts. If there is one that suits me, I will be willing to join the somewhat annoying Huangmeishan Army."
"But if you can't find a suitable one, try to deduce the Red Line Sword into Hua Jin... If that doesn't work, then switch to practicing a martial art with a similar temperament and meaning."
"Come to think of it this way, there will be a lot of things to do in the next life." Xi Heng smiled bitterly.
Although she is not dead yet, she has almost planned everything for her next life.
"After all, there is no way out."
I was studying and reading as night gradually fell.
At the beginning of the night, Xi Heng first sat on the bed and circulated his internal energy and blood, trying to open up the key acupoints and meridians to condense the dark power.
Before I could get into the mood, I heard a few footsteps outside the door, followed by a light knock on the door.
Xi Heng sighed, relaxed his cross-legged posture, looked towards the door and asked, "Who is coming?"
"Your Majesty." It was the familiar voice of the palace maid again: "It is Princess Chu Xiao who wants to see you."
"Chu Xiao?" It took Xi Heng a few seconds to remember who Chu Xiao was.
"Why did she come here this night?"
"I didn't know that Her Highness Chu Xiao is already waiting outside the palace gate. Your Majesty, can you allow Her Highness to enter the palace to meet you?"
"Let her in."
The palace maid relit the crystal lamp. After she left, Xi Heng got down from the bed covered with brocade bedding, and sat back down beside the desk, waiting for Chu Xiao, who had come for unknown reasons, to enter the hall.
Just a few minutes after the palace maid left, Princess Chu Xiao knocked on the door and walked in.
She was dressed in a light yellow gown with soaring cloud patterns embroidered on the sleeves, a white gauze draped over her body, a purple gold hairpin in her hair, a necklace adorned with tiger-eye stone and rose crystal around her fair neck, her soft hands resting gently on her waist, her movements revealing the enchanting royal elegance.
Seeing Xi Heng sitting in the front, she politely greeted him and praised his majesty.
"What's the matter?" Xi Heng no longer wanted to care about political affairs, and he was not interested in the princess coming to talk to him.
The other party came to meet you specially, and what he wants to talk about should be just some boring serious matters.
Chu Xiao did not speak directly. When he entered the room and looked at Xi Heng's appearance, he sighed softly:
"When we first met a few months ago, I felt that your Majesty's face was familiar, and I felt even more so when I heard the name Xi Heng..."
"But I never thought that you would be my royal sister who disappeared in childhood, and now you can mess up everything to such an extent." She sighed softly.
"I could tell from the beginning that you were the princess of the Great Zhao." Xi Heng responded: "You came here not just to chat about these family matters, right?"
"No, I came to find my sister to help her solve her problem."
"Oh?" Xi Heng didn't believe it at all, and just tried to ask: "You also know the Blood Sea Method?"
"What is the Blood Sea Method?" Chu Xiao Di Ji looked puzzled. Seeing that Xi Heng had some misunderstandings, she shook her head and said:
"I heard that the Imperial Sister wanted to execute the mastermind of yesterday's assassination, and I happened to know some information, so I came here specially to discuss it with the Imperial Sister."
"Is that so..." Xi Heng lost interest immediately when he heard this topic again.
"My sister seems to be uninterested in this matter?"
"Probably. It doesn't matter who the mastermind is. I can't just go to their house with a sword and kill them."
"But they will still send someone to assassinate my sister next. Does that mean it doesn't matter?"
"At worst, I'll just die." Xi Heng has already taken it easy.
Chu Xiao was stunned for a few seconds.
She looked at Xi Heng's expression and could vaguely feel that he was not joking, as if he had really put life and death aside.
After a long silence, she managed to utter, "I really admire you, my sister, for remaining calm in such a situation."
After a moment, Chu Xiao said:
"But if possible, my sister would also like to get rid of this trouble, right? I can bring the criminal who wants to murder my sister to the court and let my sister deal with him."
