Death God: Starting from Refining Essence into Qi

The morning light seeped through the spiritual mist, tinging the Shihouin clan grounds within the Seireitei with a pale gold hue.

The breakfast delivered by Genki and Sosuke completed another cycle of the microcosmic orbit.

The tearing sensation deep within my soul remained as before, but it was no longer as sharp after I reached the Foundation Establishment stage—as if the pain had been wrapped in cotton wool, separated by a dull barrier.

Xuan knew that the barrier would eventually wear down.

Since Foundation Establishment can indeed postpone this hidden danger as I expected, I am even more confident that the problem can be solved after Spirit Refinement.

Improving one's cultivation level is of utmost urgency.

The knowledge gained from past lives may not be universally applicable, especially since my current situation is quite unique.

The Great Spiritual Library, managed by the Tsunayo family, one of the five great noble families, likely contains knowledge related to the soul, but the Shihouin family may also possess books on the subject.

Shihouin Senka mentioned the family academy, so it makes much more sense for him to join the academy as a student first and then search for the library.

His act of proactively requesting to join the family academy and then immediately searching for specific books was too conspicuous.

It would be different if the family noticed their talent and, out of a desire to value and nurture their orphaned children, sent them to school.

That's just how people are; they don't doubt what they've actively obtained.

He has already shown precocity beyond his years in front of Senri and Sosuke, but this alone may not be enough for him to join the academy; he may need to demonstrate a certain talent.

The basic skills of a Shinigami are divided into swordsmanship, unarmed combat, instant step, and demonic arts.

Xuan is currently completely ignorant of the Instant Step technique, so he can be ruled out first; he is unlikely to demonstrate his skills in hand-to-hand combat, as he would need an opponent to showcase his martial arts prowess; not to mention his swordsmanship, he doesn't even have a sword in his hand.

Only the Ghost Path remains.

In the world of BLEACH, there exists a system of sorcery called Ghost Path, which is similar to Taoist magic or Western magic.

Depending on their characteristics, the path of demons is divided into the path of destruction and the path of binding.

The term "Hado" (破道) literally means "destructive path" or "destructive path," and it is the means of attack used by many Shinigami (gods of death).

Binding techniques encompass a wide variety of types, including those for controlling enemies, those for defense, those for long-distance communication, and those for tracking and locating targets.

There is another ability to heal injuries or spiritual power—Return to the Path. However, it is essentially based on restoring spiritual pressure. The restored internal spiritual pressure and the caster's external spiritual pressure work together to restore the body. This is why some diseases or damage to the core of spiritual pressure are difficult to heal through Return to the Path.

Therefore, strictly speaking, it does not belong to the realm of ghosts.

After reaching the Foundation Establishment stage, his control over spiritual power was quite adept. His solitary cultivation of spiritual power was discovered by Qianri, so it wasn't surprising that he comprehended a low-level ghost path at this point. Furthermore, mastering the ghost path also granted him a basic ability to protect himself.

The most crucial reason is that Xuan has memorized a lot of theoretical knowledge related to Taoist magic; now that he has spiritual power, he naturally feels itchy to use it.

"The thunder magic of the Taoist sect in my previous life, especially the palm thunder, I wonder how it compares to [Breaking the Dao - Eighty-Eighth: Flying Dragon Strikes the Thief and Shakes the Sky with Thunder Cannon]? It's a pity that the spiritual energy was exhausted in my previous life, and even the Celestial Master was unable to reproduce it." Xuan thought regretfully.

Textbooks on advanced Kido were only available to officials of the rank of Seat Officer or above, and at this time, the Gotei 13 had not yet appeared, and the first captain of the 2nd Division, Shihouin Senhi, even appeared to be underage.

In the world of Bleach, the release of Kido requires specific hand gestures and postures, as well as the flow of spiritual energy along a fixed path. It also demands extremely high precision in the control of spiritual energy. For example, when Renji Abarai used the fire-attribute Kido [Red Fire Cannon], his lack of precise control over his spiritual energy caused the Red Fire Cannon to explode right in front of his face.

Chanting is not a necessary condition for using the Kido (Demon Path). Its function is to precisely mobilize spiritual energy through the power of words, thereby increasing the efficiency of spiritual particle output. In simpler terms, chanting makes the power stronger.

This is why the Kido (Demon Path) has developed practical techniques such as "abandoning incantation" and "postponing incantation".

For Gen at this moment, [Breaking the Path One: Rush] was undoubtedly the best object for him to test whether he could use the Ghost Path.

The lower the level of Kido, the weaker its power and the simpler it is. As the lowest level of Hakado, it is also the first Kido that students of the Shinigami Academy learn.

The essence of 【沖】 is to guide spiritual energy out of the body. It does not involve the transformation of properties or the reconstruction of form. It only has a little impact and is the most primitive and basic attack.

In reality, 【沖】 can be imagined as expending spiritual energy to strike, and no one would use it to fight in actual combat.

Xuan took a deep breath, temporarily suppressing his grand idea of ​​recreating the palm lightning.

One must eat one bite at a time, and walk one step at a time. Taoism has never liked empty talk, but rather emphasizes "theory and practice." Therefore, the most important thing right now is to master this power and take the first step in "application."

Since we're going to test it, we can't just do it half-heartedly. 【沖】This kind of simple external release of spiritual power is not as difficult as maintaining spiritual power in the palm of one's hand. Xuan hadn't considered the possibility of failure.

This small courtyard may have been used as a warehouse before. Another room was filled with a large number of old wooden rakes, and Xuan needed a target to confirm the accuracy and destructive power of the "Chong".

Xuan took an old wooden target from the next room and placed it on the ground in the courtyard.

Xuan stood five steps away from the target, referring to the gesture that Kuchiki Byakuya had used in his memory, and extended his right index finger, controlling the spiritual power to flow to his fingertip through the lock.

The spiritual energy struck the wooden target, causing it to make a "bang." However, the target only swayed back and forth; only the dust on its surface was scattered by the impact.

Xuan smiled, unconcerned. Firstly, he didn't know the incantation, and abandoning the incantation would naturally lead to a decrease in power; secondly, he hadn't used much spiritual power to begin with.

"Next, let's try [Hado No. 4: White Lightning]. It shouldn't be too difficult; it's just changing the nature of spiritual energy to the lightning attribute [Oki].

Although the Palm Lightning technique might be difficult for him to replicate at his current level, Xuan could easily use its theory of converting spiritual energy into lightning attribute.

The Daoist Canon, Volume 120, states: "For the Palm Thunder, use the five incantations to draw the five names on the Qi talisman in the cleaver, then add the name of Dongnuzi and the Mulang incantation, and rub the writing with your left hand. Just when you feel the sky move, clap your hands and shout. It is even more effective to place the writing in your sleeve in front of the incense burner and strike it."

It is very easy to understand: First, the power of words, such as chanting incantations and reciting the names of gods, is used as a medium to draw upon the thunder energy of heaven and earth and summon the gods of the thunder department.

However, considering that he had transmigrated from another world, actively attracting the thunder and lightning might make him, an "external evil," the first to be blown up. So he decided to skip that step.

Next, drawing talismans is to delineate the channels for thunder energy. Rubbing is a gesture that integrates spiritual power and thunder energy. Subsequent actions are all for controlling the stable activation of thunder energy.

"The Palm Lightning technique is still too advanced," Xuan sighed. He'd better refer to other lightning techniques that don't rely on heavenly lightning.

In Taoist thunder magic, if one does not borrow the power of external heavenly thunder but transforms one's own spiritual power into thunder attribute, one usually chooses the Thunder Grasp Formation.

The monk pinches his five fingers together on his palm, forming a fist-like shape, hence the name "Thunder-Grasping Formation".

Xuan recalled the scene in the original work where Kuchiki Byakuya released the [White Lightning], and it was indeed his left hand that made a fist before raising his finger to release it.

The Thunder Formation does indeed have a distinction between left and right thunder, which are respectively Yang Thunder and Yin Thunder.

Xuan uses the second and third fingers of his left hand to pinch the palm, the thumb presses against the second and third fingers to pinch the Zi Wen (a point on the palm), and the fourth and fifth fingers press against the thumb to pinch the palm.

The heart fire descends and the kidney water ascends, creating a yin-yang interaction within the thunder formation held in the left hand.

Just as he was about to release it, he felt the spiritual energy in his body running wildly through his meridians like a runaway horse, unable to be guided back to its source.

"This is due to insufficient internal cultivation and disordered Qi! How could this be? Isn't [White Thunder] the fourth-ranked low-level ghost path?"

Xuan was so overwhelmed by the spiritual energy that he could hardly breathe and coughed violently.

The fluctuations in spiritual pressure and the violent coughing inside the courtyard were quite loud. Outside, Sosuke shouted "I'm very sorry" and pushed open the door to enter.

Just as Zongzhu was about to say something, Xuan waved his hand to interrupt: "Get me a glass of water, thank you."