Two months had passed, leaving only the final half-month before the contest for the position of Qing Nü. To be precise, slightly less than half a month. And currently, Xiao Qing's strength remained at the second level of the World Realm, yet to reach the third heaven of the World Realm. The third heaven of the World Realm was named the Time Realm. In this realm, one needed to master time, causing the flow of time within one's personal space—a significant hurdle! Moreover, even if Xiao Qing reached the third heaven of the World Realm, so what? Miao Nü Qinglian was already at the eighth heaven of the World Realm now. It seemed this contest heavily favored Miao Nü Qinglian.

As Xiao Qing harbored her doubts, Lu Yuan spoke in a deep voice, "Your Ling Yan Heart Sutra has reached minor completion; now begin your final cultivation." Lu Yuan flicked his hand, and in a swift motion, countless sealing techniques struck the surroundings of the Azure Patterned Palace, locking the area down.

After finishing this, Lu Yuan flipped his hand again, and from the void, a massive corpse tumbled down between heaven and earth. This corpse was imbued with the profound mysteries of civilization, the vicissitudes of ages, and every part of its form was utterly perfect. This was the remains of the Vice Lord of the Eight-Prism Civilization.

Lu Yuan obviously wasn't planning to fuse the remains of the Eight-Prism Civilization's Vice Lord with Xiao Qing—how could one male body fuse with another? When the Vice Lord of the Eight-Prism Civilization died, his entire cultivation base was still at the Civilization Realm. Lu Yuan intended to extract this entire cultivation base.

Lu Yuan’s hand moved in the void, creating infinitely complex transformations. Extracting an entire cultivation base directly like this was something few others could truly accomplish, but Lu Yuan possessed the Gate of the Sword Dao, master of all things related to the sword, which allowed him to do so. In the void, amidst boundless starlight, a gateway appeared—the Gate of the Sword Dao. The Gate of the Sword Dao [Suppresses] all eternity. All of the Sword Dao recognizes its decree.

Streams of the purest Sword Qi cultivation were drawn out. This Sword Qi cultivation was significantly damaged in the process, causing considerable loss of potency. However, consider how much Sword Qi cultivation the Eight-Prism Civilization’s Vice Lord had accumulated in his life. The endless Sword Qi cultivation grew increasingly immense, so much so that even the Azure Patterned Palace could no longer contain such a vast amount.

Lu Yuan stomped his foot: "Heaven and Earth Qian Kun, spatial transformations scale small to large." Instantly, the Azure Patterned Palace expanded to an immeasurable size, a demonstration of the operation of the Spatial Iron Law. With his current cultivation, Lu Yuan could manipulate the Spatial Iron Law to turn a mote of dust into something hundreds of miles wide. And that utterly colossal stream of Sword Qi cultivation began to condense within that space.

Lu Yuan shouted, "Xiao Qing, I am about to bestow this Civilization Realm-level Sword Qi cultivation upon you. You cannot immediately refine it, but you can borrow this power to reach an exceptionally high realm—even Half-Step Civilization Realm is normal, making your Sword Dao cultivation advance by leaps and bounds."

In this way, Xiao Qing was essentially accepting the Sword Qi cultivation equivalent to one epoch of the Civilization Realm. Although it was severely depleted, the magnitude of power was still earth-shatteringly vast. For Lu Yuan himself, this Sword Qi cultivation was utterly useless; having reached the peak of the Second Epoch, his advancement now relied entirely on Divine Artifacts. The Sword Qi cultivation of the Eight-Prism Civilization's Vice Lord offered him no benefit whatsoever.

A supremely powerful torrent of Sword Qi cultivation surged directly into Xiao Qing’s body. Once inside, this Sword Qi cultivation began to rampage violently.

Xiao Qing finally understood the purpose behind Lu Yuan urging her to cultivate the Ling Yan Heart Sutra. The greatest function of the Ling Yan Heart Sutra was to solidify one's physical body. Now that her cultivation had reached minor completion, it could withstand some of the impact from the Sword Qi torrent. However, Xiao Qing realized the Ling Yan Heart Sutra was only barely sufficient at the beginning; afterward, it felt like it was on the verge of immediate collapse. Once it began to crumble, her entire body would disintegrate.

Then, Lu Yuan roared, "The character 'Yuan' appears—all things merge into harmony." The primordial character Yuan enveloped Xiao Qing’s body, and ray after ray of light shot into her core. Yuan signifies the smoothing of abrasive elements. Yuan transforms the sharp into the unsharp. Yuan also embodies the strongest defense.

These rays of light from the primordial character Yuan entered Xiao Qing's body. She immediately felt that the invading Sword Qi cultivation was no longer as sharp; the friction had greatly lessened. Furthermore, her internal organs felt perfected, and her physical defense had strengthened considerably. Only then could she truly endure the onslaught of such immense cultivation power.

In truth, Lu Yuan had merely used the Ling Yan Heart Sutra as an initial catalyst, not placing the primary reliance upon it; the Sutra was the lesser part. The main component was the primordial character Yuan. Had he not obtained this Yuan character, it would have been impossible for Lu Yuan to achieve this feat; the Yuan character was an unparalleled ultimate weapon in such situations.

Streams of Sword Qi cultivation rushed into Xiao Qing’s body. Lu Yuan dared not inject such an overwhelming volume of Sword Qi cultivation all at once. Instead, he delivered it step-by-step, spanning fifteen days to fully infuse this Sword Qi cultivation into her body.

There are two methods for utilizing the remains of a Civilization figure: one is direct fusion, like what Xian Zhizi did, and the other is the extraction of cultivation for use, as Lu Yuan was doing now. Normally, fusion is only attempted around the tenth heaven of the World Realm. For someone like Xiao Qing, starting integration at the second heaven of the World Realm, is extremely rare, and Lu Yuan only dared this because he possessed the Yuan character.

Lu Yuan let out a breath. Everything was now on track. It would take about thirteen more days to completely inject this colossal Sword Qi cultivation into Xiao Qing's body. Aided by this immense power, Xiao Qing's strength would rise continuously.

It took thirteen days in total. On the second day, Xiao Qing reached the third heaven of the World Realm. On the third day, Xiao Qing reached the fourth heaven of the World Realm. On the fourth day, Xiao Qing reached the fifth heaven of the World Realm. In truth, each ascending heaven requires mastering numerous concepts, but Xiao Qing inherited them directly from the Eight-Prism Civilization's Vice Lord. Whatever the Vice Lord mastered, she now possessed. Her advancement was very similar to that of Xian Zhizi.

Time slowly slipped by. Finally, the thirteenth day arrived. Xiao Qing’s eyes remained tightly shut. After a long moment, her entire aura shifted, taking on an extremely faint Civilization Realm presence—this was Half-Step Civilization Realm. After this sustained ascent, Xiao Qing had finally reached Half-Step Civilization Realm.

Xiao Qing’s ability to achieve such an advancement hinged on two absolutely critical, inseparable factors:

One: Lu Yuan possessed the remains of the Eight-Prism Civilization's Vice Lord. This person’s Sword Qi was compatible with Xiao Qing, and moreover, this was the remains of a Civilization Realm expert. Do not mistake the remains of a Civilization Realm expert for common trash; it is incredibly difficult for such remains to perish. When Xian Zhizi obtained the remains of Zhen Yuanzi, he was ecstatic; this shows how precious Civilization Realm remains are. Anyone at the tenth heaven of the World Realm who obtained such remains could advance far more ferociously than Xiao Qing. For instance, when Xian Zhizi obtained such remains, he was propelled to a state nearly equivalent to the Civilization Realm, and his entry into that realm was assured. Xiao Qing, however, could not.

Two: Lu Yuan possessed the Yuan character. Normally, Xiao Qing could never accept such an enormous leap in power, but the Yuan character provided buffering, allowing her to absorb so much energy.

Simultaneously, such an accelerated advancement carried immense drawbacks. While the immediate gratification was intoxicating, the harm was equally vast. The disadvantages included several points: One, Xiao Qing’s actual combat strength was far inferior to others at the same level; they weren't even on the same tier. Two, although Xiao Qing experienced rapid growth now, because her foundation was unstable, for the next thousand, or even ten thousand years, she would have no choice but to diligently stabilize her core foundation, entirely incapable of advancing even half a step further. This was the side effect: for millennia, she could only consolidate, never progress. Three, when she later attempts to break into the Civilization Realm, and subsequent realms, the difficulty will be immense due to her substandard foundation.

Thus, this method of advancement yielded benefits as great as its detriments. Potentially gifted individuals would never choose such a path. Yet, Xiao Qing had no alternative; she had to advance this way if she was to secure the position of Qing Nü.

"That is enough. Feel the power within you now," Lu Yuan stated calmly. "Yes." Xiao Qing sensed a surging, overwhelming power flooding her entire body—a power exponentially greater than what she possessed at the second heaven of the World Realm. This was Half-Step Civilization Realm. However, she realized she hadn't mastered this power very skillfully yet.

Lu Yuan observed Xiao Qing and noted that he could now create two more Half-Step Civilization Realm masters. But there was no need. Shi Fei Xian and Wan Wan were both seedlings destined to reach the Civilization Realm through their own efforts. Forcing this shortcut upon them would ultimately be detrimental; allowing them to advance slowly held far greater long-term benefits. Accelerated success could never compare to the fruits of arduous cultivation.

...

"One last bout of sword sparring. In this exchange, I will assist you in mastering the vast Sword Qi cultivation coursing through you," Lu Yuan said, already recalling the remains of the Eight-Prism Civilization's Vice Lord into his New Sword World. In truth, little useful essence remained after being squeezed dry. "Yes." Xiao Qing wielded her Azure Luan Immortal Sword and struck toward Lu Yuan. Lu Yuan casually brought forth his Nourishing Myriad Immortal Sword, engaging Xiao Qing in the spar. Sword light flashed continuously as Xiao Qing gradually gained command over the immense Sword Qi within her body.

Time flowed relentlessly. Only two hours remained until the final Qing Nü contest. "Xiao Qing, now is the time to go out and let those people witness your increased strength," Lu Yuan said softly. Yes, he was certain of victory in this Qing Nü contest. Let the Miao Civilization be defeated by him. In the grand scheme of the Central Celestial Dynasty’s war, he had achieved victory in one small crucial component. Though the battle hadn't begun, his confidence was set.

Clang! Lu Yuan heard an exquisitely resonant bell chime, emanating from a higher plane—the Phoenix Head Continent.