The Regressor of Mount Hua-Chapter 292. Human-faced Spider (1)

A Human-faced Spider could live for countless years.

Since its neidan was a concentration of qi accumulated over its entire life, the one Zhou Xuchuan had just consumed was incredible in both quality and quantity.

With his exceptional control, he carefully divided the Spirit Qi within the neidan into three parts and guided it toward the two girls.

Ten Thousand Blood Poison.

As his qi entered the concave area above the collarbone, directly over the Quepen acupoint, he immediately encountered the poison.

A bad feeling washed over him, as if he had touched filth. The slimy impurities of the poison were raging uncontrollably through their veins and meridians.

Zhou Xuchuan gently pushed the Spirit Qi forward.

There was no need to force it or drag it through the meridians. He just pushed it lightly to give it momentum. After that, the two girls would figure it out on their own.

Still, he didn't drop his hands just in case something happened. He just took a few steps back and watched.

Hiss.

Even though he had divided the Spirit Qi twice, its momentum remained explosive.

The thick stream of qi, cascading like a waterfall, swallowed up the poison and waste like a tidal wave as soon as it entered the meridian pathways.

Ah...!

Luo Xiaoyue and Tang Hui exclaimed inwardly.

Their consciousness, which had been hazy due to the erosion of the poison, regained clarity. A group of spiders had crawled out from the depths of the cave they had been pushed to with no more room for retreat, crossing past them and driving away the threat.

Now!

They immediately focused on their qi, unwilling to waste this opportunity.

The two girls melded seamlessly with the Spirit Qi that had been injected into their bodies.

The strength they had lost through their struggle not only returned to its original state but increased several times over.

Just as Zhou Xuchuan had suspected, the situation had unfolded precisely as he predicted.

At first, they had tried to burn away the poison using their own qi.

But they lacked the strength to do so.

Instead, they had resorted to breaking the poison down and expelling it through their sweat glands.

However, even that method wasn’t enough. Their detoxification process couldn’t keep up with the poison’s spread, causing their condition to deteriorate. It had become difficult for them to control their qi.

And at the final moment, when their detoxification had begun to fail, Zhou Xuchuan had stepped in, injecting them with Spirit Qi at the perfect time.

Thanks to that, they were able to compensate for their lack of strength.

The Blood Poison extracted from the poisonous beasts of Mount Ailao bore its fierce fangs. However, not even that poison could defeat the power of nature. It was swept away by the torrent of Spirit Qi and disappeared.

Even if traces of the Blood Poison somehow managed to escape the girls' qi, it was useless. At the end of each pathway was a spider waiting, perched on a web.

Like a whirlpool, the strands of Blood Poison were absorbed and converted into nutrients.

Ah!

Their complexions...

The Mount Hua Sect and Tang Family members, who had been watching anxiously, let out a sigh of relief.

Their complexions, once fluctuating between yellow and blue, gradually returned to normal, and their tense expressions eased. From the start, both girls had exceptional talent in controlling qi and cultivation. Now that they were supplemented with Spirit Qi, the detoxification became faster.

Moreover, the fact that they had held on until the very end meant they had avoided the worst outcome and escaped the crisis.

Good. I'll help you break through the passage between the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel to reach the Lesser Cycle of Heaven and not only completely detoxify yourselves but also reach a higher realm.

Instead of moving directly past the barriers, he took a winding path.

He created small branches within the Spirit Qi and tapped them into existence so that they could sense which directions to go.

Bang!

Even the waste buildup along their meridians was cleansed completely.

As the blocked passageways finally opened, the flow of their qi circulation became stronger and faster.

They've noticed it. As expected of these two.

If he only compared their talents, he could never keep up with these two.

They quickly noticed what he was thinking and what his intentions were when he tapped the new branches and reacted quickly.

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The flow of Spirit Qi, starting from the Quepen acupoint, circulated through their bodies and washed away impurities before returning to the dantian. From the dantian, the Spirit Qi surged up the spine, beginning to clear the blocked passageways, starting at the perineum.

It passed the tail gate at the tailbone, touched the Pishu acupoint along the central spine, then passed through the Yuzhen acupoint at the back of the head.

From there, it emerged through the Baihui acupoint at the crown of the head and the Yintang acupoint between the eyebrows.

Then, it descended through the Tiantu acupoint at the center of the throat, broke through the Danzhong acupoint at the center of the chest, and passed through the Zhongwan acupoint, located near the stomach.

After that, the Spirit Qi entered the qi sea that accepts the internal qi, the Qihai acupoint, and returned to the dantian.

At last, the two girls cleared their thoughts, unified their minds, and opened the two channels of the passage of the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel to complete the Lesser Cycle of Heaven.

"Whew..."

The two girls exhaled deeply as if finally releasing everything they had endured. As they breathed out, a smoke-like substance emerged from their mouths, rising above their heads and forming the shape of three flowers before vanishing into the air.

“Three Flowers Gather at the Crown (三花聚顶)..."[1]

Someone in the crowd let out a startled gasp, quickly covering his mouth with his hand.

Had they still been cultivating, his outburst would have been an unjustifiable disruption.

Luckily, by the time he reacted, the two had already opened their eyes.

"Senior Brother!"

Luo Xiaoyue snatched the hand of her Senior Brother standing next to her and held it with both hands, smiling so brightly that it was as if a halo had appeared around her head.

"It's all thanks to you!"

Luo Xiaoyue seemed unusually excited, holding his hand tightly as she continued speaking.

"Y-yes?"

Zhou Xuchuan shrank his neck at Luo Xiaoyue’s energy.

"Without your help, Senior Brother, I wouldn’t have survived the poisoning! More importantly, it was thanks to your guidance that I was able to attain enlightenment and ascend to the Harmony Realm."

"..."

"As not only the poison qi, but even the impurities were expelled, my mind grew clearer and I was able to reflect on my cultivation. You didn't give me the answer directly, you just only guided me along the way, though. So you wanted me to attain enlightenment on my own, right?"

"...yeah."

Normally, any man would feel ecstatic if a peerless beauty held his hand and smiled at him.

Yet, Zhou Xuchuan felt nothing of the sort.

However, he didn't want to ruin Luo Xiaoyue's joy. She was clearly elated at the fact that she had broken through the wall and ascended into the Harmony Realm.

But, just how did she break through?

Although the power of the Human-faced Spider's neidan was great, it had been weakened due to being split and divided into two. By all logic, it shouldn’t have been enough to break through meridians.

Actually, considering that the Spirit Qi had been used for detoxification, waste removal, and cleansing impurities, it wasn't just improbable, it was completely impossible.

He had assumed that there was a chance that she would have been able to break through a minor realm if she just put in a little more effort, so he had guided her path. However, the result was just absurd.

She gained enlightenment along the way and broke through on her own. The elixir's Spirit Qi only helped a little, it didn't force the breakthrough. She naturally just broke through to the Harmony Realm.

After the battle with the Ten Thousand Blood Poison, which had been controlling her very sense of touch, she seemed to have some space and looked within herself.

After that, as the elixir's Spirit Qi surged, she fully fleshed out her cultivation, opened the passage of the Conception Vessel and the Governing Vessel to complete the Lesser Cycle of Heaven to reach the Harmony Realm.

The Harmony Realm at twenty?

She was younger than the Wave Sword Phoenix, who was twenty-nine years old. It was no ordinary achievement.

Just what the...

Zhou Xuchuan was speechless.

The situation was so absurd that even he found it hard to believe.

Not even the Plum Blossom Sword Phoenix of his past life had achieved something this ridiculous.

"Of course, it's nothing compared to you, Senior Brother."

Of course, her achievement paled in comparison to Zhou Xuchuan, who had succeeded in reaching Manifestation of One’s Path at twenty-one and reached the apex of the Coruscant Realm.

But that's not true.

Even considering that, it was no ordinary achievement.

No, in fact, it was even more amazing.

I only reached this point because I regressed.

Hadn't he lived two lifetimes? Moreover, he had used his past memories to completely sweep up all sorts of resources.

"How impressive."

As he stood in astonishment, he heard a voice from right next to him.

Tang Hui looked envious and regretful.

“Ah...!”

Luo Xiaoyue calmed down her excitement with a sigh.

"U-um..."

“There’s no reason to feel sorry for me, so don’t make that face. I was just lacking."

It wasn’t that Tang Hui lacked talent.

It was simply that Luo Xiaoyue’s talent was on a whole other level.

The Harmony Realm wasn’t something one could achieve through sheer qi reserves alone. It required the appropriate enlightenment and fortune.

Most ordinary martial artists wouldn't reach such a stage until they died. Even if fate had bestowed such enlightenment on them, by that point, death wasn't far away.

Even Zhou Xuchuan had been one of these cases.

Unlike Luo Xiaoyue, Tang Hui lacked both the appropriate enlightenment and fortune.

"It's not like I didn't gain anything at all. Thanks to the Ten Thousand Blood Poison, I can handle poison a little better."

While Tang Hui had also gained a considerable amount of qi from the Spirit Qi of the neidan, for a poison master, that was only secondary.

Unlike Luo Xiaoyue, Tang Hui didn't completely eliminate the Ten Thousand Poison.

To a poison master, poison itself was their qi and strength. Therefore, instead of completely eliminating it, she made it her own.

Originally, something like that would have been incredibly difficult even for her father, the head of the Tang Family, but thanks to the help of the neidan, it had been possible.

"More importantly, why are you looking at me like that? It’s giving me goosebumps, so I wish you’d stop."

Displeased, Tang Hui glared at Zhou Xuchuan, who was staring at her intently.

"No, well... It’s unexpected."

“Unexpected? What is?"

"I thought that by this point, your pride would be wounded and you would say something like, 'You must be thinking that you're sorry that you're the only one to have reached the Harmony Realm. What, are you sympathizing with me? I'll have to advise you to stop with such fake words and just be happy like you mean it,' and then, of course, you’d throw some venom at Junior Sister Luo."

If pride could have been used to determine strength, then Tang Hui could have easily joined the Seven Empyrean Overlords.

Her sharp tongue alone was powerful enough.

Tang Hui’s personality wasn’t one to remain indifferent, especially when someone who had endured the same struggle as her had now ascended to the Harmony Realm.

"That's completely not it, so—!"

Luo Xiaoyue fumbled over her words, clearly flustered by Zhou Xuchuan’s statement. She looked so cute that he wanted to hug her.

“...Hmph.”

Tang Hui snorted, turning away in annoyance.

Does that mean that because there are too many eyes watching, that she's going to kill me when we're alone?!! I should be careful when I'm eating.

As Zhou Xuchuan tried to decipher the meaning behind Tang Hui’s harumph, Sun Yishan approached him and spoke.

"There's a lot I could say, but I’ll just ask one thing. Is everything over?"

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry."

It was only then that Zhou Xuchuan realized that everyone’s gazes were on him.

"I appreciate your hard work serving as our Dharma Protectors, but could I ask you to continue just a little while longer?"

"That's not really a difficult request, so of course we can. But... who exactly are we protecting?"

"Me."

Zhou Xuchuan still had Spirit Qi swirling inside his body. Since he had been focused on helping the two girls, he hadn’t absorbed it himself, simply leaving it alone.

"What, you've been holding onto something like that all this time?!"

Sun Yishan’s surprise wasn't strange.

Normally, when consuming the neidan of a spiritual beast like the Human-faced Spider, one had to quickly absorb its Spirit Qi and make it one's own. Otherwise, the energy of the Spirit Qi would either be lost through one's breathing or it would run wild inside the meridians and damage the body.

“If the Seven Empyrean Overlords can’t even do that, they’ll be laughed at.”

Once he reached the Coruscant Realm, which transcended the peak of martial arts, he gained the ability to freely use internal and true qi.

The qi that flowed in from the outside by consuming elixirs or neidans was also considered the same, so it really wasn't a problem.

Storing the qi within his meridians or his dantian in a way that it wouldn't escape through exhalation wasn't a difficult trick for him.

“Human-faced Spider.”

Zhou Xuchuan’s gaze changed a little as he looked toward the Human-faced Spider.

No matter how much they had negotiated, he couldn’t trust the spider rashly. He was wary because she thought they would betray him if he showed any opening.

Had Luo Xiaoyue and Tang Hui not been in such critical condition, he would have relocated them before beginning their detoxification. It would have been the rational decision.

Had the spider interfered at any moment during the process, all three of them could have fallen into cultivation deviation.

However, at that time, he had no choice but to act immediately. In hindsight, his decision had been reckless.

Fortunately, the worst-case scenario hadn’t happened.

“I need your poison.”

Without hesitation, Zhou Xuchuan walked directly up to the Human-faced Spider, stopping just before its massive jaws.

"You're. Playing. A. Dangerous. Game."

“Did you figure it out?”

He calmly extended his hand, reaching between the spider’s upper and lower jaws, just beneath its fangs.

“Great Hero Zhou!”

“Sword God!”

“Zhou Xuchuan!”

Voices of panic erupted from all around.

No matter how much they trusted the spider, it looked as if Zhou Xuchuan had just placed his head in the mouth of a hungry beast.

They wanted to pull him away immediately, but they were afraid that one wrong move would provoke the Human-faced Spider.

"It's fine. More importantly, it’s best if you don’t come any closer while standing guard."

He tried to reassure them, but his words did little to ease their anxiety.

With no other choice, he simply ignored the noise and continued.

"As. Expected. Humans. Are. Creatures. Of. Greed. I. Pay. Tribute. To. Your. Courage."

Plop.

The moment the black droplets from the fangs touched his palm, Zhou Xuchuan absorbed the poison into his body.

He immediately sat cross-legged and began to circulate his qi.

Meanwhile, as Zhou Xuchuan had instructed, the others kept their distance, hovering around him with anxious expressions.

They didn’t dare to interfere, afraid that the slightest disturbance might bother him.

An hour passed.

Zhou Xuchuan opened his eyes with a smile.

It’s just as I thought.

His left eye was shining faintly with a greenish color.

He had reached Ten Thousand Poisons Immunity.

1. A realm of daoist philosophy that's been co-opted into fantasy novels. Often, you'll see three flowers gathering in certain novels as a show of one's cultivation base—it's a nod to this statement. If you've watched Bleach, the three flowers of Daiguren Hyorinmaru is also a reference to this statement. ☜