Using his Poison Dantian and second set of meridians, Sage broke through to the second rank, a Qi Condensation Cultivator. At this level, the qi was condensed into a liquid form, and in this more stable state it could be pushed out of the body. He lifted his hand and a purple colored energy coalesced upon his palm. Since he was already sitting within the mass of poison miasma, there wasn’t anything around for him to test it upon, but he could tell it had a very strange nature. His weak cultivation technique meant it wasn’t outstanding in quantity or intensity, but the poisonous energy was extremely deadly. Even he felt a little apprehensive about it, and he was the one emitting the energy.

Seeing some success he took a few deep breaths and then started training again. Unlike someone who had just broken into a new rank for the first time, Sage’s body was already many times more powerful than this level of cultivation. As such, he didn’t have to waste any time recovering from a large improvement, or to consolidate his gains. He could easily use his already existing power to help compress and stabilize the weaker second dantian. It took a good bit longer to progress through the second rank, but his progress would still put all but the most impressive geniuses to shame. In only a couple weeks, the amount of liquid Qi within his poison dantian had already grown into a large pool. To reach the third rank, he’d need to form a ‘Qi Sea’, and he was just on the verge of reaching it.

At the verge of breaking through, he halted his rapid intake of the poison miasma. He rose to his feet and traveled out of the dangerous cloud and took a seat in the cleared ground between the poison cloud and the edge of the forest. Then he started to expel the poisonous qi from his poison dantian and meridians. Pouring the energy out and then using his main cultivation to resonate with the Law of Corruption. Instead of weakening it like in the miasma, he strengthened it. Then, he cycled the poisonous qi back into his body. While the miasma was powerful, Sage had been thinking about his law and how this was an opportunity for him to put it to use. It was common knowledge that a fire cultivator would be able to train faster if they were at a place with ample fire energy. He also knew that a law could strengthen things in relation to its area of influence. So, couldn’t he use a law to amplify the power of the poison to enhance his training?

After repeating the process a few times, Sage felt that his poisonous qi was becoming more concentrated. He also felt the force of another law, one that seemed to be calling out to him. The Filtering Law of the Swamp Genesis Spider. The spider only ever used it for feeding, and since Sage didn’t plan on trawling a whole swamp for sustenance, he hadn’t thought much of it. Yet, he could barely hold himself back from using it now. The Minor Law he thought so little of wrapped around him and sunk into the poisonous Qi as he released it, winnowing away the weakest parts. His two laws worked in unison, filtering out the weakest parts while strengthening what remained.

After a few days, Sage felt an obvious improvement. The poisonous qi used to feel like a miniscule amount of deadly venom. It would be dangerous to be infected, but it was so weak it would be easy to defend against. There were many insect species that carried venom, but most of them were so small that they could never deliver a lethal dose to a human. That was the vibe that Sage previously felt from his Poisonous Qi, but now it gave him a fearful feeling even though it was still only a small amount.

Then he returned to the huge bank of poison miasma and continued to cultivate. This time he incorporated both laws, filtering and intensifying his poisonous qi over and over again, drawing in more from the outside world to keep raising the quantity. At the same time, the Soul Clone did the same. Sage rapidly pulled in huge quantities of the poison miasma to his Inner World, flooding a specially prepared valley where his Clone could use it to train. Because of the time difference, the Clone quickly surpassed him and tested out the later ranks. At rank 3, Sea Forming, Qi was not just able to exit the body, but it could also be maintained at a range. At the second rank, one could extend the energy out and shape it into a sword or set of claws, but at the third it could be shaped into a ball and thrown like a grenade. A technique didn’t have to maintain contact with the body to maintain itself. Instead, it could continue to exist as long as the energy within it wasn’t expended.

The Soul Clone performed a few tests and the results were terrifying. The Poisonous Qi swept over a whole island, killing every one of the insects that lived upon it. It was initially boosted by the Law of Corruption, but even after the Clone stopped using the law it still finished the second half of the island. The insects on the island were mostly in the first to third rank, but even so the Clone didn’t use more than a single attack. The Poisonous Qi was so potent that after killing something its energy was barely diminished and continued on to kill others. It was even going to start spreading into the nearby sea, but the Soul Clone pulled it back.

Poisonous Qi that can easily kill others of the same rank? Isn’t that a bit too terrifying?

While he felt apprehensive, that didn’t stop him from continuing. The Soul Clone used the Death Sparing Manual to form a weak foundation. Since it could be used by even someone with a crippled dantian, the foundation and core were formed at a junction of two meridians rather than within the dantian. It actually reminded him somewhat of a beaver dam. Rather than use an existing lake, the beaver collects sticks and chews down small trees, pulling their limbs and branches into the water. Then adding mud and rocks, constructing a blockage for the flow of water which builds up and creates an artificial pond. They build a nest and keep making their dam bigger, forming whole lakes with time and transforming whole ecosystems by creating a large standing water source.

The Death Sparing Manual caused a sort of impedance at the junction of two meridians, like building a dam. This caused the Qi to pool and grow in volume, to build a sort of miniature dantian. The dantian could also be used instead, but Sage followed this alternative route and chose a point near his first dantian where many of the poison meridians overlapped for his foundation. This capability was one of the main reasons he chose this cultivation technique as it fit one crucial requirement of his: compatibility with Blood of the Nine Pits. The Blood of the Nine Pits split his Poison Dantian into nine compartments, which let him store eight poisons in reserve outside of the main ‘reservoir’ of his poison dantian. If he wanted to build a foundation in the poison dantian, he would have to clear away the Blood of the Nine Pits.

The Soul Clone experimented with this technique first, having much more time to cultivate. It even tried forming this secondary mini-dantian in multiple locations, forming a foundation and then dispelling its poison cultivation to start over again. It only took a few months each time, so it was able to run many tests before Sage even finished forming his Qi Sea and reaching rank 3. Eventually, it found the most beneficial place and when Sage was ready he broke through the third and fourth ranks without any trouble.

Unfortunately, progressing from the fourth to the fifth stage was quite a bit more involved and the process required a few years of effort. Once a Core was formed it was no longer a simple process to dispel one’s cultivation and start over again, but even so the Soul Clone spent years of effort alone with a large amount of resources to carefully dissolve its Core and start over. He had to hire alchemists to craft pills, and cover his body with special talismans, but eventually he accomplished the work. Using the first attempt as a roadmap, the Soul Clone formed a second Poison Core, and Sage refined the process even more for his own Poison Core.

Finally, after three years in the Poison Miasma, there was a gleaming purple sphere near the location of his original dantian. He used the Death Sparing Manual to create a sort of third pseudo-dantian. The original dantian in his body, just below his navel, was now just a sort of interface for his Nascent Soul to pour energy into his meridians, so he wasn’t worried about damaging it, but the purple sphere was still quite ominous in appearance. It had a somewhat reflective surface, like a pearl, but the places where light hit actually shined with a shade of green.