The Indestructible Heart-Burning Sutra

[Currently, your theoretical lifespan is two hundred years, and your current age is sixty.]

[Therefore, once you swapped to the 'Eternal Half-Emperor' trait, your cultivation realm directly advanced to the Martial Saint realm!]

[However, if you want to cultivate, you still have to follow the methods of the Martial King realm.]

[After your breakthrough, your masters brought you the Holy Land's Qi Refining Art—the "Carefree Heart Mantra".]

["Disciple, this Qi Refining Art was created by our Holy Land's God Xiaoyao. It is an Earth-tier Qi Refining Art! Looking across the entire Human Realm, only the Shen family's 'Starlight Heart Mantra' can compare to it. As for other factions, even the Mountain and Sea Holy Land and the Firmament Holy Land possess High-tier Qi Refining Arts at best! You must cultivate it diligently. Let your master explain the path of cultivating True Qi to you..."]

[Because the Human Realm had once suffered a break in its legacy.]

[The highest tier of Qi Refining Arts circulating in the world today is surprisingly only Earth-tier.]

[Moreover, only the Carefree Holy Land and the Star Domain's Shen family possess them.]

[The reason they have them is that their ancestors experienced the afterglow of that glorious era.]

[Creating the Three Qi cultivation methods and martial arts is easier than creating Qi Refining Arts.]

[Thus, after the legacy was broken, as long as geniuses with talent in cultivation methods emerged, they still had the chance to create a series of new techniques by combining the fragments left by their predecessors.]

[But as for Qi Refining Arts, although people have been trying to create them over the past thirty thousand years, both their quantity and quality have remained stagnant.]

[After all, one crucial reason cannot be ignored.]

[If a person hasn't reached the Martial King realm, they won't know what True Qi is. No matter how much of a genius they are, it's impossible for them to create a True Qi cultivation method.]

[However, the Martial King realm is incredibly difficult to break through to, so there are very few of them in every era.]

[Without a sufficient base number, creativity naturally remains low.]

[Every cultivation genius only shines in their own era, lacking even a peer to converse with. Wanting to create a higher-tier Qi Refining Art under such circumstances is naturally tremendously difficult.]

["Thank you for your guidance, Master. Your disciple will definitely cultivate with the utmost care."]

["Don't forget to study formations as well. Your current attainments have already surpassed ours. You are just one step away from becoming the only Immortal-tier Formation Master in the Human Realm!"]

["Your disciple won't forget. I'll grasp both firmly!"]

["Good, good, good!"]

[In reality, you had no intention of cultivating the "Carefree Heart Mantra". You had something better—the Heaven-tier Qi Refining Art, the "Heart-Burning Imperishable Mantra"!]

[It was a reward from the previous simulation task.]

[It could finally be put to use.]

[The Martial King realm can be broadly divided into three cultivation stages: early, middle, and late.]

[What needs to be done in each stage is to condense more True Qi within the body.]

[True Qi is dispersed throughout the entire body, but there is a limit to the amount of True Qi the body can bear.]

[To gather more True Qi, one needs to open up their "foundation". Otherwise, no matter how much one cultivates or how good the technique is, the True Qi will not increase.]

[The foundation is similar to physical body strength, but the two cannot be equated.]

[The foundation is a more fundamental physical quality; it is the physical cornerstone that carries all supernatural power.]

[For example, in the second simulation, your lifespan was reduced due to poisoning, leaving your body weak for a long time.]

[This was actually a case of a damaged foundation.]

[However, in combat, as long as you could endure the pain, you could still unleash the appropriate physical strength and power.]

[Opening up the foundation is the step where a cultivator truly sheds their mortal body and creates a qualitative gap between themselves and ordinary mortals.]

[This step is often even more difficult than cultivating True Qi.]

[However, as a Heaven-tier Qi Refining Art, the "Heart-Burning Imperishable Mantra" solved this problem for you all at once.]

[Using the 'Proficiency' trait to casually practice for a few days, you directly reached the entry level of the "Heart-Burning Imperishable Mantra".]

[Afterward, when you circulated the "Heart-Burning Imperishable Mantra" to improve your True Qi cultivation, a heart-devouring agony swept through your entire body, making you turn completely red. Billowing waves of qi radiated from you as if you were being roasted in raging flames.]

[This is one of the unique effects of this technique. It can forcibly open up the foundation using True Qi as a sharp blade while cultivating True Qi at the same time!]

[The only drawback is that it hurts.]

["It hurts this much?! If I had known, I would have brought along the 'Superbeast's Pain Sensation'..."]

[On second thought, you felt that your real self wouldn't have equipped you with that trait. You would definitely say:]

[What does it matter if it hurts in a simulation? Just endure it.]

["That bastard who talks without feeling the pain!"]

[Thinking carefully, that bastard was also yourself; that was exactly what you had done before.]

[Fucking hell!]

[After successfully practicing the "Heart-Burning Imperishable Mantra", all your True Qi directly appeared in the form of flames.]

[All your attacks, even a simple punch—what we would call a basic attack—were accompanied by fierce flames.]

["This still isn't the most formidable aspect of this technique..."]

[The word "Imperishable" in the technique's name wasn't just there to look cool.]

[When the "Heart-Burning Imperishable Mantra" reaches the perfect stage, as long as the practitioner's True Qi is not exhausted, no matter how severe the trauma their body suffers, they can be reborn in flames and regenerate severed limbs!]

["As expected of a system reward. It's too powerful; it completely crushes all Qi Refining Arts in the Human Realm!"]

[During your breaks from cultivation, you had a "phone call" with Shen Qingshan—using the Carefree Token.]

[The last time Shen Qingshan came to find God Xiaoyao, God Xiaoyao gave him a Carefree Token.]

[Learning that you were still alive, Shen Qingshan was overjoyed, expressing that Third Sister had been very worried about you and could finally be at ease.]

[You inquired about how the Shen family's plan to arm and strengthen the low- to mid-level martial artists of the Human Realm was progressing.]

[Everything was progressing very smoothly.]

[As more and more evidence of the impending Dragonkin invasion surfaced, especially after the ten of you returned from the other world and shared what you had seen and gained.]

[Now, almost no one doubted this matter anymore.]

[All factions were earnestly preparing.]

[The older generation did their best to cultivate the younger generation.]

[The younger generation cultivated diligently to improve themselves.]

[The prime generation geared up for war, ready to face the enemy at any moment.]

[God Xiaoyao had actually given Shen Qingshan a whole pile of Carefree Tokens.]

[He entrusted Shen Qingshan with distributing the Carefree Tokens to the hands of all major factions.]

[Whether it was the Five Domains or Holy Lands on the continent, or the archipelagos and overseas factions beyond the continent, everyone had to take one.]

[This way, no matter where the Dragonkin's attack began, the entire Human Realm could be notified in time.]

[This would prevent them from being caught off guard and destroyed one by one by the Dragonkin.]

[As the dignified ancestor of the Shen family, Shen Qingshan naturally wouldn't go and deliver the Carefree Tokens himself.]

[The Shen family lacked anything but manpower; there were plenty of errand runners.]

[Afterward, you contacted Hua Wuyan to learn about Li Lingyue's situation.]

[You learned that Li Lingyue had already proclaimed herself Emperor in the Southern Border and had gained the support of a massive amount of incense offerings.]

[Currently, Li Lingyue was in secluded cultivation, attempting to break through to the Martial Saint realm.]

["Lingyue's Incense Holy Body is still as unreasonable as ever. Once the incense offerings build up, her cultivation improves as fast as a rocket. Perhaps she might even become a Martial God?"]