Chapter 617: Not Strictly Speaking Dual Cultivation

White Paper Immortal City.

Qing Chi and Jiao Ma (Ning Zhuo) walked side by side into the secret chamber.

"Do you think they can succeed?" Jiao Ma's father asked with a worried expression.

Standing beside him were Qing Yan, Li Xiangshang, and Wen Ruanyu.

Li Xiangshang sighed. "It's very difficult to refine a commander's heart into a military seed. Jiao Ma and Qing Chi are both too young. How are their usual artifact refining skills?"

Jiao Ma's father slightly shook his head, his worry deepening.

Qing Yan, on the other hand, said, "Even if it's very difficult and hope is slim, what else can we do? At this point, we just have to bite the bullet."

Wen Ruanyu, however, chuckled. "I, for one, believe they can succeed!"

Three pairs of eyes immediately turned to him, seeking an explanation.

Wen Ruanyu chuckled again, saying nothing more, appearing profound and mysterious.

Ning Zhuo surveyed the secret chamber.

This was the secret chamber the City Lord had personally lent out, which he had always used himself. Equipped with a time-acceleration formation, its specifications were naturally very high.

After Qing Chi and Ning Zhuo surveyed the room, Ning Zhuo began channeling his divine sense to inspect the various facilities in the secret chamber, focusing particularly on the time-acceleration formation.

Qing Chi, however, cast her gaze towards Ning Zhuo, her heart filled with happiness. "Being in the same room with Little Ma and refining the military seed together, it truly feels wonderful! This time, with Little Ma by my side, I will definitely succeed! As long as the military seed is refined, even if White Paper Immortal City is submerged by a ghost tide in the future, I can still retreat with Little Ma, right?"

Qing Chi was filled with confidence and anticipation for the future.

Ning Zhuo checked the setup several times, finding nothing amiss, then asked Qing Chi to check too.

Qing Chi, however, couldn't understand them; she had to read the relevant jade slips and needed Ning Zhuo to explain a few things before she learned how to control the formations.

After a brief rest, the two sat down cross-legged and began the formal artifact refining process.

With a thought, Ning Zhuo activated the formation.

The space rippled, and transparent waves shimmered past. Before their eyes, where there had been nothing, a small mountain of Green Sandalwood appeared.

The century-old bark shimmered with a bronze luster, exuding a sense of antiquity and gravitas. From its cross-sections, amber-like resin quietly seeped out.

"Let's begin," Ning Zhuo said, looking at Qing Chi.

Qing Chi hummed in acknowledgment. With a resolute expression, she emanated her divine sense and channeled her magical power, beginning to process the century-old Green Sandalwood.

Qing Chi was the host of the military core, so she needed to lead the entire refining process. Although Li Xiangshang's talent had lowered the standards by about thirty percent, the amount of Green Sandalwood was still too vast for Qing Chi to handle alone. If Qing Chi were to refine it independently, it would likely take her two or three years to finish. However, in this cultivation chamber, with the help of the formations and Ning Zhuo's assistance, she could save ninety-nine percent of her effort. Furthermore, the time-acceleration formation greatly shortened her artifact refining time.

Within the formation, clusters of azure flames suddenly emerged, forming a raging inferno. The azure fire immediately filled the entire secret chamber. The sheer intensity of the fire startled Qing Chi.

"What a huge fire!" she exclaimed, immediately wanting to process the Green Sandalwood.

However, Ning Zhuo stopped her. "Wait, reduce the flame a bit."

"Okay," Qing Chi said, completely obedient to Ning Zhuo, and immediately complied.

The flames quickly subsided to less than half their previous intensity.

Ning Zhuo then transmitted a message with his divine sense, "Adjust it slowly, make it a bit larger." He possessed a profound understanding of fire elemental arts and solid artifact refining fundamentals, allowing him to control the situation better than Qing Chi.

Once the azure flames were adjusted to the appropriate power, Ning Zhuo immediately directed them, continuously feeding the Green Sandalwood into the flames for processing. He was in charge of assisting, while Qing Chi was in charge of refining the artifact.

The ghost girl's magical power gradually diminished, and beads of sweat soon appeared on her nose. She concentrated fully, controlling the formation. Within the raging azure flames, the Green Sandalwood melted like bronze, turning into puddles of wood pulp.

Once all the Green Sandalwood had melted and transformed into wood pulp, Ning Zhuo immediately took out Cinnabar from Chenzhou. He sprinkled the cinnabar into the wood pulp, adding countless purple specks to the bluish-black pulp.

Qing Chi was panting, her divine sense severely depleted, almost exhausted.

Ning Zhuo said, "Save your strength, I'll help you."

He took over the task, his expression slightly changing. The burden of artifact refining was much heavier than he had anticipated. Fortunately, Ning Zhuo's soul foundation was equivalent to a million human souls, and his spiritual sea cultivated the "Mirror Platform Communication Art," one of the Three Supreme Arts, making his divine sense far stronger than others of the same level.

A moment later, he had this step properly handled. One hundred thousand catties of wood pulp condensed into translucent azure chalcedony. The chalcedony spiraled, forming the shape of tree rings, while millions of purplish-black specks were scattered within it, numerous as stars in the Milky Way.

Qing Chi, having gained a moment to breathe, had already recovered most of her strength. She looked at Ning Zhuo with gratitude, transmitting a message with her divine sense: "Little Ma, it's thanks to you that I'm here. Otherwise, I wouldn't even have gotten past the first step."

Ning Zhuo glanced at Qing Chi, gaining a renewed understanding of her; at least her artifact refining skills were much stronger than he had expected. "Let's continue. You are the host of the military core, so the final artifact refining steps must be completed by you."

"Mhm!" Qing Chi nodded, immediately bit the tip of her tongue, and sprayed out a mouthful of vital essence blood. The vital essence blood fell into the chalcedony, immediately transforming into a bloody glow and permeating the chalcedony. Within a few breaths, the entire chalcedony began to emit a bloody glow.

Watching the bloody glow quickly weaken, Qing Chi still hadn't taken the next step.

Ning Zhuo loudly reminded her, "Qing Chi!"

Qing Chi gritted her teeth, her expression strained. "Little Ma—I can't activate it."

Ning Zhuo immediately took over, channeling a large amount of divine sense into the formation disk and activating the talisman imprinting formation within it. In an instant, ten thousand talisman light figures fell into the bloody chalcedony. The chalcedony disintegrated, transforming into azure-purple paper coins.

Ning Zhuo followed suit, imprinting it repeatedly, ten times in a row, producing one hundred thousand azure-purple coins. A small pile of chalcedony remained.

"This time, I'll do it!" Qing Chi said, unwilling to admit defeat.

Ning Zhuo let go, allowing her to exert her effort. Although difficult, Qing Chi eventually managed to produce over three thousand more azure-purple coins.

"It's so hard! Refining a military seed is truly too difficult!" Qing Chi's confidence was severely shaken. "I gave it my all, but I couldn't even imprint it once. Little Ma, how is your divine sense so strong?"

Ning Zhuo shook his head. "Now is not the time to delve into these matters." The young man's expression was grim. "Given this difficulty, I'm afraid we're going to fail the next step!"

Qing Chi nodded. "For the previous steps, I could still rely on you. But for the next step, burning incense, I have to act within my spiritual sea, and I can't rely on you for that."

"Darn it!" Qing Chi gritted her teeth, extremely unwilling as she realized failure was imminent.

Ning Zhuo gazed at Qing Chi, transmitting a message with his divine sense: "I have another method, but it requires you to open yourself completely and allow me to act freely. Whether it's controlling your physical body or entering your spiritual sea and dantian, you must have no defenses and cooperate with me to the greatest extent possible."

Qing Chi froze at his words, then immediately showed a shy yet sweet smile. "Little Ma, you can do anything you want to me. Come on!"

Ning Zhuo: ...

At this moment, his emotions became complicated.

Qing Chi urged, "What are you waiting for? Hurry and come!"

Ning Zhuo sighed, calmed his emotions, and suddenly unleashed his trump card ability: Divine Ability: Life Thread!

According to Ning Zhuo's current abilities, he could affect peak Golden Core cultivators. At this moment, Qing Chi was merely at the Foundation Establishment cultivation level and completely unable to resist. She hadn't thought of any resistance; her level of trust in Jiao Ma could perhaps be equated to Sun Lingtong's trust in Ning Zhuo. Thus, the Life Thread immediately connected to her without any hindrance.

Ning Zhuo performed three tasks simultaneously. On one hand, he controlled Qing Chi using the Life Thread. On another hand, he channeled his own divine sense into Qing Chi's spiritual sea. Thirdly, he controlled the formation to continue the next step of the refining.

South Sea Agarwood began to burn, and the purple smoke it formed resembled numerous flood dragons. The smoke dragons entered Qing Chi's spiritual sea, emitting countless plumes of dense purple smoke, creating a momentum like crashing waves. The heart-like military core rose into the spiritual sea, continuously absorbing the purple smoke.

After absorbing to a certain extent, the military core suddenly self-destructed, transforming into countless azure light specks scattered throughout the vast purple smoke. At this moment, both Ning Zhuo and Qing Chi heard the sounds of slaughter, the clashing of armor and weapons, shouts, military drums, and more. Two streams of blood flowed from Ning Zhuo's nostrils; in that instant, he exerted all his strength. Qing Chi was also using all her strength, but her help was negligible.

Both heard the sounds of slaughter growing fainter, and the azure light specks in the purple smoke were spreading further apart. They absolutely couldn't be too far apart! Beyond a certain distance, the azure lights would completely separate and no longer be part of the military core.

In this critical moment, Ning Zhuo immediately activated the formation, burning the recently refined azure-purple coins. After these paper coins were burned, the resulting smoke also entered Qing Chi's spiritual sea. Within the smoke of the azure-purple paper coins, the azure light specks seemed to respond to a call, gathering together once more and reforming into a complete military core.

Unlike before, the reformed military core was more solid and at least fifty percent larger. Continuing to absorb the flood dragon's purple smoke, the azure-glowing military core once again burst apart, countless azure specks constantly undergoing qualitative changes while bathed in the purple smoke.

Ning Zhuo waited for a moment, then burned more azure-purple coins, and once again reformed the military core. This time, the military core became full of azure light, appearing lifelike.

This cycle repeated. After Ning Zhuo had burned one hundred thousand azure-purple coins, the military core had completely transformed. The entire heart was as large as a carriage, solidified like coral crystals, semi-transparent, with azure-purple veins radiating from the inside out.

Thump, thump, thump—

With each heartbeat, a wave of air was released, filled with the killing aura of an army formation. The previous chaotic sounds of battlefield slaughter and clashing weapons had all vanished.

At this point, the military core had basically transformed into a military seed.

Ning Zhuo gazed at the military seed, and with a thought, the military seed was forcibly lifted by him, detaching from Qing Chi's spiritual sea. But as soon as it reached Ning Zhuo's spiritual sea, a powerful pulling force immediately emerged, drawing it out and back into Qing Chi's spiritual sea and dantian.

Ning Zhuo sighed inwardly. "I heavily participated in the refining, gaining some control over the military seed, but in the end, it still can't compare to Qing Chi's influence. If more people from the Jiao family join the army and fully support me, perhaps one day my control will surpass Qing Chi's. However, this military seed isn't compatible with my spiritual sea. The truly suitable one is still Qing Chi's spiritual sea."

The cultivation method Qing Chi primarily practiced trained her Middle Dantian Qi Sea. This time, during the refining of the military seed, her spiritual sea was significantly transformed by the azure-purple smoke, creating an environment suitable for the military seed. Ning Zhuo's spiritual sea already had a primary cultivation method, making it completely unsuitable for refining a military seed. Forcing it would not only harm Ning Zhuo himself but also significantly lower the success rate of refining the military seed.

Ning Zhuo gathered his thoughts and softly woke Qing Chi. "Wake up quickly."

Qing Chi had already reached her limit midway through, collapsing into unconsciousness. The formations in the secret chamber were comprehensive; a healing formation immediately activated itself, protecting Qing Chi's body and soul.

Qing Chi was awakened by Ning Zhuo. Seeing the military seed in her spiritual sea, she exclaimed, "Little Ma, you did it!"

Ning Zhuo reminded her again, "Not yet, there's still one last step."

The floor tiles in the secret chamber opened outwards, revealing a huge underground well. Within the well, a vast surge of Yin qi whistled past, like a rushing river.

Qing Chi took a moment to rest, adjusted her state, and returned to her peak condition. Carrying the embryonic military seed in her spiritual sea, she leaped into the underground well. The Yin qi in the well swirled into a vortex, engulfing Qing Chi at its center, and a vast amount of Yin qi covered her entire body. Massive amounts of Yin qi flowed directly into her spiritual sea, and were frantically absorbed by the embryonic military seed.

Qing Chi soon began to shiver from the cold, but her extraordinary perseverance made the ghost girl grit her teeth and persist, without uttering a sound. Ning Zhuo monitored the girl while resting with all his might. His condition was very poor; every bit of recovery he could snatch was crucial.

The situation quickly worsened. As the carrier of the military seed, for every bit of Yin qi the military seed absorbed, Qing Chi had to endure its impact. The girl was a ghost-race member, naturally possessing abundant Yin qi, and her physique was more adapted to Yin qi compared to humans. But the problem was that the girl was only at the Foundation Establishment level, and the Yin qi was overwhelmingly dense and vast.

She quickly developed a green face and fangs, claws grew, her hair grew wildly, her human features rapidly receded, and ghostly characteristics continuously manifested.

Ning Zhuo found it quite strange. "If she were allowed to continue changing like this, would she completely transform into a ghostly entity?"

This won't do!

Ning Zhuo decisively took action, exhaling large amounts of Yang qi. The Yang qi, guided by the Life Thread, precisely flowed into Qing Chi's body. Qing Chi immediately felt streams of warmth rapidly flowing throughout her body. Her consciousness cleared, and the ghostly characteristics rapidly receded until she returned to her original appearance.

"Little Ma, you! I—are we dual cultivating?!" Qing Chi asked, a mix of panic and pleasant surprise in her voice.

"Don't get distracted," Ning Zhuo said, his expression cold. "Continue refining the military seed!"

"Oh, oh, okay, okay!" Qing Chi was overjoyed and quickly agreed.

The biting cold Yin qi had now become extremely lovely in the girl's heart. "Without the Yin qi forcing us, how would Little Ma dual cultivate with me?! Oh my goodness, we dual cultivated!!!" Qing Chi's heart pounded as she felt an unprecedented happiness.

After an unknown amount of time, the military seed was finally completed!

"It's finally done," Ning Zhuo said, feeling utterly exhausted.

Qing Chi, however, was still yearning for more.

Ning Zhuo pulled the girl up and sternly instructed her, "Don't reveal the specific refining process!" He then advised her, "Don't think too much into it. This wasn't dual cultivation in the strict sense; we didn't exchange any primal Yang or primal Yin."

Qing Chi immediately pressed, "Then when will we exchange them?"

Ning Zhuo: —