: Not Strictly 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 Ruan Yu.

Li Xiangshang sighed, "Refining the Military Heart into a Military Seed is extremely difficult. Both Jiao Ma and Qing Chi are too young. What is their usual level of artifact refining skill?"

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

Qing Yan, however, said, "Even if it's very difficult and the chances are slim, what else can we do? At this point, we have no choice but to grit our teeth and proceed."

Wen Ruan Yu chuckled, "I actually believe the two of them can succeed!"

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

Wen Ruan Yu just chuckled again and said nothing more, adopting an inscrutable expression.

Ning Zhuo surveyed the secret chamber.

This was the chamber lent by the City Lord, normally reserved for his personal use. Equipped with a time-acceleration array, its specifications were naturally very high.

After looking around, Ning Zhuo began channeling his spiritual sense to inspect the chamber's various facilities, focusing especially on the time-acceleration array.

Qing Chi, however, gazed at Ning Zhuo, her heart filled with happiness. "Being in the same room with Xiao Ma, refining the Military Seed together feels absolutely wonderful!"

"This time, with Xiao Ma by my side, I will definitely succeed!"

"Once the Military Seed is refined, even if White Paper Immortal City is submerged by the ghost tide, I can evacuate together with Xiao Ma."

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

Ning Zhuo checked several times and found nothing amiss, then asked Qing Chi to inspect as well.

But Qing Chi couldn't understand these arrays. She had to consult the relevant jade slips and have Ning Zhuo explain before she learned how to operate them.

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

Ning Zhuo focused his mind and activated the array.

Space rippled slightly, transparent waves shimmering past. Before their eyes, where there was nothing before, a small mountain of green sandalwood appeared.

The hundred-year-old bark had a bronze luster, giving a sense of age and solidity. On the cross-sections, amber-like sap quietly seeped out.

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

Qing Chi hummed in agreement, her expression resolute. She released her spiritual sense, channeled her magic power, and began processing the hundred-year-old green sandalwood.

As the host of the Military Heart, Qing Chi needed to lead the entire refinement process.

Although the standard had been lowered by about thirty percent due to Li Xiangshang's... less-than-stellar aptitude, the amount of green sandalwood was still overwhelmingly large for Qing Chi alone.

If Qing Chi were to refine it independently, it would probably take her two or three years, if she could finish at all.

But here, in the cultivation chamber, she could utilize the arrays and Ning Zhuo's assistance, saving ninety-nine percent of her effort.

The time-acceleration array further drastically shortened the refinement time.

Whoosh!

Clusters of green flames suddenly burst forth from the array, forming a raging fire.

Green light immediately filled the entire chamber.

The intensity of the flames startled even Qing Chi.

"Such big flames!" She immediately wanted to process the green sandalwood.

But Ning Zhuo stopped her, "Wait, turn down the flame a bit."

"Okay." Qing Chi obeyed Ning Zhuo without question and complied immediately.

The flames quickly died down to less than half their previous intensity.

Ning Zhuo sent another mental message, "Adjust slowly, turn it up a bit more."

With his profound understanding of the fire element and solid foundation in artifact refinement, Ning Zhuo had better control over the situation than Qing Chi.

Once the green flames were adjusted to the appropriate intensity, Ning Zhuo immediately began feeding the green sandalwood into the flames for processing.

He handled the supporting tasks, while Qing Chi focused on the main refinement.

The ghost girl's magic power gradually decreased, and soon beads of sweat appeared on the tip of her nose.

She concentrated fully, controlling the array.

Within the raging green flames, the green sandalwood melted like bronze, turning into pools of woody pulp.

After all the green sandalwood had melted into pulp, Ning Zhuo immediately took out Chenzhou cinnabar.

The cinnabar was sprinkled into the pulp, adding countless purple dots to the greenish-black mixture.

Qing Chi was panting heavily, her spiritual sense nearly depleted.

Ning Zhuo said, "Save your strength, let me help you."

He took over the work, his expression shifting slightly.

The burden of refining was much heavier than he had anticipated.

Fortunately, Ning Zhuo's soul foundation was equivalent to a million human souls, and his spirit sea was cultivated with one of the three great methods, the "Mirror Platform Spirit Communication Art," giving him spiritual sense far surpassing others of his level.

A short while later, he completed this step.

A hundred thousand jin of pulp condensed into translucent green chalcedony, swirling to form growth ring-like patterns. Millions of purple-black dots scattered within it, dense as a starry river.

Qing Chi, having caught her breath, had mostly recovered.

She looked at Ning Zhuo with gratitude, sending a mental message, "Xiao Ma, it's all thanks to you being here. Otherwise, I wouldn't have even passed the first step."

Ning Zhuo glanced at Qing Chi, reassessing her. At the very least, her artifact refinement skill was much stronger than he had expected.

"Continue. You are the host of the Military Heart; the final refinement action must be done by you."

"Mm!" Qing Chi nodded, immediately bit the tip of her tongue, and spat out a mouthful of her vital essence blood.

The blood fell onto the chalcedony, instantly transforming into a crimson light that permeated it.

Within a few breaths, the entire chalcedony glowed with a bloody light.

As the bloody light rapidly weakened, Qing Chi still hadn't taken the next step.

Ning Zhuo shouted a reminder, "Qing Chi!"

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

Ning Zhuo immediately took over, channeling a large amount of spiritual sense into the array disk, activating the talisman imprinting array within.

Instantly, ten thousand talisman shadows fell onto the blood-lit chalcedony.

The chalcedony disintegrated, turning into green-purple spirit money.

Ning Zhuo repeated the process, imprinting ten times consecutively, producing one hundred thousand green-purple coins.

A small pile of chalcedony remained.

"This time, let me," Qing Chi said stubbornly.

Ning Zhuo let go, allowing her to take over.

Though difficult, Qing Chi managed to produce over three thousand more green-purple coins.

"It's so hard. Refining a single Military Seed is truly difficult." Qing Chi's confidence was severely shaken.

"I exhausted all my strength and couldn't even manage one imprinting session."

"Xiao Ma, how is your spiritual sense so strong?"

Ning Zhuo shook his head, "Now is not the time to dwell on that."

The young man's expression turned grave, "With this level of difficulty, I'm afraid we might fail in the next steps!"

Qing Chi nodded, "For the previous steps, I could rely on you. But next, when burning the incense, I need to act within my spirit sea. I can't rely on you there."

"Damn it!"

Qing Chi gritted her teeth, realizing failure was imminent, feeling extremely unwilling.

Ning Zhuo stared at Qing Chi, sending a mental message, "I have another method, but it requires you to open your heart completely and let me act freely. Whether it's controlling your body or entering your spirit sea and dantian, you must offer no resistance and cooperate with me to the greatest extent."

Qing Chi was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then showed a shy yet sweet smile, "Xiao Ma, you can do whatever you want to me. Come on!"

Ning Zhuo: "..."

At this moment, his emotions became complicated.

Qing Chi urged, "What are you waiting for? Come quickly!"

Ning Zhuo sighed, calmed his emotions, and suddenly unleashed his trump card.

Divine Ability – Human Life Hanging by a Thread!

Given Ning Zhuo's current ability, he could attach it to a peak Golden Core cultivator. At this moment, Qing Chi was only at the Foundation Establishment level and couldn't resist at all.

Nor did she think of resisting. Her trust in Jiao Ma might be comparable to Sun Lingtong's trust in Ning Zhuo.

Thus, the Human Life Hanging by a Thread connected to her instantly, without the slightest hindrance.

Ning Zhuo divided his mind three ways.

First, using the Human Life Hanging by a Thread, he controlled Qing Chi.

Second, he channeled his own spiritual sense into Qing Chi's spirit sea.

Third, he controlled the array to continue the next step of refinement.

The South Sea agarwood began to burn, the purple smoke it produced resembling coiling dragons.

The smoke dragons entered Qing Chi's spirit sea, releasing vast amounts of thick purple smoke, forming a scene like raging waves.

The heart-like Military Heart rose within the spirit sea, continuously absorbing the purple smoke.

After absorbing a certain amount, the Military Heart suddenly self-destructed, turning into countless green points of light scattered within the vast expanse of purple smoke.

At this moment, both Ning Zhuo and Qing Chi heard the sounds of battle, the clashing of armor and weapons, shouts, war drums, and so on.

Two streams of nose blood flowed from Ning Zhuo's nostrils. In that instant, he exerted his full strength.

Qing Chi was also using all her strength, but her help was minimal.

Both heard the sounds of battle growing fainter. The green points of light within the purple smoke were also dispersing, moving further and further apart.

They absolutely could not be allowed to drift too far apart!

Beyond a certain distance, the green lights would separate completely and could no longer form part of the Military Heart.

At this critical moment, Ning Zhuo immediately activated the array, burning the newly refined green-purple coins.

The smoke from the burning coins also entered Qing Chi's spirit sea.

Within the smoke of the green-purple coins, the green points of light seemed to receive a summons, gathering together again to form a complete Military Heart.

Different from before, the newly formed Military Heart was more solid than the previous one and at least fifty percent larger.

It continued to absorb the dragon-like purple smoke. The green Military Heart exploded again, countless green points bathing in the purple smoke, undergoing constant qualitative changes.

Ning Zhuo waited a moment, then burned more green-purple coins, once again coalescing the Military Heart.

This time, the Military Heart was full of green light, vivid and lifelike.

This cycle repeated. After Ning Zhuo burned one hundred thousand green-purple coins, the Military Heart had drastically changed.

The entire heart was now as large as a carriage, solid like coral crystal, semi-transparent, with green-purple veins running from the inside out.

Thump-thump-thump...

With each beat, it released a wave of air filled with the killing intent of the battlefield.

The previously chaotic sounds of battle and clashing weapons had completely disappeared.

At this stage, the Military Heart had basically transformed into a Military Seed.

Ning Zhuo stared at the Military Seed, a thought crossing his mind.

The next moment, he forcibly lifted the Military Seed out of Qing Chi's spirit sea.

But as soon as it entered his own spirit sea, a powerful pulling force yanked it back into Qing Chi's spirit sea and dantian.

Ning Zhuo sighed inwardly, "My deep involvement in the refinement gives me some control over the Military Seed, but it still can't compare to Qing Chi's influence."

"If more people from the Jiao family joined the army and supported me wholeheartedly, perhaps one day my control might surpass Qing Chi's."

"However, this Military Seed isn't compatible with my spirit sea. Qing Chi's spirit sea is truly the suitable one."

Qing Chi's primary cultivation method trained her middle dantian, the energy sea. This refinement process had greatly altered her spirit sea with the green-purple smoke, creating an environment compatible with the Military Seed.

Ning Zhuo's spirit sea already had a primary cultivation method and was fundamentally unsuitable for refining a Military Seed. Forcing it would not only harm Ning Zhuo but also drastically reduce the success rate of refining the Military Seed.

Ning Zhuo collected his thoughts and gently woke Qing Chi, "Wake up."

Qing Chi had already lost consciousness partway through, unable to endure.

The chamber's arrays were comprehensive. A healing array automatically activated, protecting Qing Chi's body and soul.

Awakened by Ning Zhuo, Qing Chi saw the Military Seed in her spirit sea, "Xiao Ma, you did it!"

Ning Zhuo reminded her again, "Not yet. There's still the final step."

The floor tiles of the chamber slid open, revealing a huge well.

Yin energy surged wildly within the well, roaring past like a rushing river.

After resting and adjusting her condition, Qing Chi returned to her peak state.

Holding the nascent Military Seed in her spirit sea, she leaped into the well.

The yin energy in the well swirled into a vortex, trapping Qing Chi at the center. Vast yin energy covered her entire body.

A massive amount of yin energy directly entered her spirit sea, greedily absorbed by the nascent Military Seed.

Qing Chi soon shivered from the cold, but her extraordinary willpower allowed the ghost girl to grit her teeth and endure without a sound.

Ning Zhuo kept an eye on the girl while focusing on recuperating.

His condition was poor. Every second counted; recovering even a little bit was crucial.

The situation quickly worsened.

As the vessel for the Military Seed, Qing Chi had to endure the impact of the yin energy every time the Seed absorbed it.

The girl was a ghost race, inherently containing abundant yin energy, and her physique was more adaptable to yin energy compared to humans.

But the problem was, the girl was only at the Foundation Establishment level, and the yin energy was excessively dense and vast.

She soon developed a green face and fangs, claws sprouted, her hair grew wildly, her human features rapidly faded, and ghostly characteristics became increasingly prominent.

Ning Zhuo found it quite strange, "If she continues this transformation, will she completely turn into a ghost creature?"

That wouldn't do!

Ning Zhuo acted decisively, spewing a large amount of yang energy.

The yang energy followed the Human Life Hanging by a Thread, accurately flowing into Qing Chi's body.

Qing Chi immediately felt streams of warmth rapidly spreading throughout her body. Her mind cleared, her ghostly features quickly receded until she returned to her original appearance.

"Xiao Ma, you! I... are we dual cultivating?!" Qing Chi asked, panicked yet delighted.

"Don't get distracted," Ning Zhuo said expressionlessly, "Continue refining the Military Seed!"

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

The icy, piercing yin energy now seemed incredibly endearing to the girl.

"Without the yin energy forcing us, how would Xiao Ma dual cultivate with me?!"

"Heavens, we're dual cultivating!!!"

Qing Chi's heart raced, feeling unprecedented happiness.

After who knows how long, the Military Seed was finally completed!

"It's finally done." Ning Zhuo felt like he was about to collapse from exhaustion.

But Qing Chi seemed reluctant for it to end.

Ning Zhuo pulled the girl up and sternly instructed her: Do not reveal the specific refinement process!

He also added, "Don't overthink it. This isn't strictly dual cultivation. We didn't exchange primordial yang or primordial yin at all."

Qing Chi immediately asked, "Then when will we exchange?"

Ning Zhuo: "..."

(End of )