Chương 62: Changes

Something. He did something. What, we may never know. It broke the realm. It transformed his Core Card. Welcome to the Outer Realms. — He who calls himself Chi You, The Completed Works by He Shulin, foremost scholar of the Outer Realms Jianyi sat in his cultivation chamber and enjoyed the afterglow of his victory in the duel against Lu Shan. That his opponent had seemingly accepted the defeat with grace and not acted as unhinged as he often did was part of the reason that he could enjoy the outcome.

Not because he had rubbed his opponent's face in defeat, but because he felt that it had been a good fight in which he had successfully applied a lot of the learnings from the last few months. That he had been able to use a technique in the middle of the fight was especially noteworthy for Jianyi. An achievement that was the outcome of the training that Elder Sun had prescribed, and he had diligently executed.

If he was honest with himself, he thought that Lu Shan was probably still a bit ahead of him when it came to his spear work, in particular, footwork. His victory had largely been based on his surprising ability to overcome Lu Shan's Water-affinity technique. But that didn't take away from his achievement; it had been earned by hard work and taking risks.

He allowed himself a smile, celebrating the success, then took a deep breath and started with his qi control practice—he would have to break through to three qi threads eventually.

Jianyi sat in the lecture hall, waiting for Elder Zhang to join them. His mind was still occupied. Elder Sun had not been at the compound for breakfast; apparently, he had been on yet another mission fighting demonic cultivators. There had been quite a few over the last few weeks, and he was not the only one.

The sect had been busy—busier than in a long time, according to Minghao—as they tried to free the region from the influence of demons and their supporters, but it seemed that there was a never-ending supply of those who would betray the Empire for whatever reason. Elder Zhang entered the room; this time, her hair was braided in multiple threads, and those were braided with each other. Its complexity was almost distracting.

"Good morning. It's been eight weeks since your intake. It is expected that by now you have opened your dantians; it is also expected that you have achieved a minimum level of proficiency with the spear. If that is not the case, you might want to rethink what it takes to become a cultivator. The frontlines are not a forgiving place for those who are too lazy to advance at the most basic speed." The elder's eyes were unforgiving as she seemed to look at each disciple individually.

"The focus of the cultivation lectures will be on the different affinities under Wuxing for the near future; it will move towards practical lessons on using techniques, soon." The elder held up her hand, and a transparent pill bottle with a small pink pill appeared.

"From now on, you are entitled to one Qi Gathering Realm cultivation pill per week. You will receive them at the treasure hall. They are meant to accelerate your cultivation speed; they are not, however, a replacement for the diligent use of a cultivation technique. Again, the lazy will perish quickly." There was a lot of excited murmuring in the hall, but some of the disciples were taken aback by the sternness of the elder's warnings.

"Due to some… capacity constraints, we will reduce the number of spear training sessions for groups Amber and Lapis from five to four per week. You are expected to make up for this with self-study. The number of inner and core disciples available for private lessons for contribution points is currently also limited, but still available." There was a faction of disciples who seemed to think that they had more free time now. Others, like Jianyi, were deeply worried about the loss of time being mentored.

It had been a long time since he felt the pain of not being in group Jade. That Elder Fang had reduced the hours for those in Amber and Lapis also said something about his priorities. While it was still a few months until the mid-year assessment, time was short, and Jianyi was under no illusions that he could easily pass that test. This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

As he left the lecture hall two hours later, he felt that the looks he got from his fellow disciples had changed since the last duel with Lu Shan. For some, it was just bare recognition, with some it was respect, and he thought he even detected some wariness with some of the youths. It didn't align with his objective of being inconspicuous, but it was definitely better than being looked down upon. He could live with it.

Returning from the outer sect, Jianyi immediately moved towards the courtyard, specifically the training circle. To his surprise, Elder Sun was sitting in the faint sun of the winter afternoon, the temperature only acceptable due to the formations that protected the sect—and likely the elder's cultivation realm as well. He bowed to his teacher.

"It is good to see you back." The elder nodded.

"It is always good to be back home. No matter what happens outside these walls." Jianyi wanted to do two things: first, the day before, he had gained some basic proficiency with Eternal Axis, the final of the eight basic movements of the Eternal Spear Meditation, so now he was excited to attempt a short kata, which was outlined in the technique—a sequence of the eight movements.

It wasn't a form, as it didn't focus on a specific outcome, like an attack, but it was a rhythmic sequence that would increase the amount of qi he could take in compared to doing all the movements separately. The second thing, based on the lecture from Elder Zhang earlier in the day, was to do the kata with the help of the cultivation pills he had collected from the treasure hall on his way back to the inner sect. The combination of the two things should have a meaningful impact on his cultivation.

He pulled out the pill bottle with the four pills he was given for the month when he heard Elder Sun clear his throat behind him, and he immediately knew that he wouldn't like this conversation.

"Yes, teacher?" he turned and smiled, or more accurately, grimaced, at the elder.

"Ah, my young friend. Do you remember our discussion about pill usage?" the elder said, with the predatory grin that he usually reserved for these kinds of discussions.

"I am afraid, I do… But… shouldn't progressing my cultivation be worth it?"

"Absolutely," the elder agreed, and a tiny bit of hope blossomed in Jianyi's chest.

"If you had six meridians open, instead of twelve. If you had a mediocre cultivation technique instead of a perfectly fitting one with unlimited potential. If you were down in the outer sect and not here under the influence of strong qi gathering formations." Jianyi put the pill back into the bottle with a small sigh.

"See it positively, I am sure you can sell those pills for quite a few points. But in all seriousness, taking these pills will do next to nothing for you right now. There will be times when you will be in areas with little qi compared to your cultivation realm, then you will be grateful for the help of alchemists, but this is not that time." While he was disappointed, it was more about the desire to have something be easy, for a change—but then he caught himself.

He had done nothing for the opportunity to live in the qi-rich inner sect, and while he had suffered quite a bit for having his twelve meridians open, he could just as easily have had no talent that would have allowed him to make that happen, like Minghao, for example. So, he had to acknowledge that he also had had quite a bit of luck—and that didn't even include the Celestial Core Card that rested in his dantian. He took a moment to focus himself, and then launched into the first kata of his cultivation technique.

The sequence prescribed in the mediation was Eternal Sun. Dawn. Dusk. Moon. Expanse. Axis. Veil. Horizon. Or in simpler terms: Rise. Advance. Retreat. Sink. Open. Turn. Close. Stillness. With each movement, a defined qi cycling pattern came hand in hand, and as a consequence, a sequence of meridians opened to greedily suck in qi from the environment. First hesitantly, then ever accelerating, he moved through the kata, and with every iteration, the meridians opened a tiny bit more.

Quickly, the amount of qi entering his lower dantian surpassed anything he had experienced so far. The feeling of 'fullness' came quickly, but he continued with the exercise until he was drenched in sweat, and the slight unpleasantness had turned into significant pain. Finally, he stopped with a deep breath and looked into his dantian.

While in the last couple of weeks one could have debated whether Jianyi had just imagined the slight accumulation of qi at the bottom of his dantian, now he was sure, a significant number of golden motes of qi had settled within him and would form the basis for his ascension through the Qi Gathering Realm.

"Well done, Jianyi. Very well done. If you keep that up, you should notice improvements in your cultivation quickly. Make sure to have Minghao continue to correct some of your movements."

Over the next three weeks, Elder Sun was frequently on missions, just like many of the more senior disciples of the sect, and Jianyi attended lectures and trained hard along all the dimensions of his cultivation. The cultivation kata had become second nature, cycling qi through his pathways; Jianyi observed his meridians opening and closing smoothly. He felt warmth flood through him, different from any other of his cultivation sessions so far. He stopped, mid movement, and looked into his spirit.

There, at the bottom of his lower dantian, an amount of motes of qi had accumulated that had filled up about a fifth of the available space, and, different from prior sessions, it had… settled. The gold hue had taken on a silvery sheen, similar to the color of his pathways; it had become part of him. He felt stronger, faster, as if nothing could hurt him. Jianyi's heart started beating rapidly.

He could hardly believe it—less than half a year ago, his biggest dream had been to become a cultivator; now, he had reached the second stage of the Qi Gathering Realm, making him and his techniques that little bit stronger.