Chương 30: Advancement

Lin Yi walked back towards his courtyard after he saw Zu Guo leaving on his flying ship. After finishing their tea, his senior brother didn't stay much longer. Neither of them had an endless amount of free time. Cultivation was still their priority. Xiao Jinse came flying towards him as he entered the garden. He raised his hand, back side up, on which she landed. Bzzz, bzzz, bzzz! He smiled at her indulgently and stroked her back.

"Yes, little queen. He just left." Walking towards the pavilion, he continued.

"Come, return to your hive. I still have my daily cultivation before me, and you do too." Xiao Jinse's head dropped slightly in disappointment. Bzzz, bzzz.

"Don't be childish. Cultivation is important, even more so for you. Your natural lifespan is lower than that of mine. If you wish to accompany me on the path of the immortal dao, you have to steady your dao heart." Lin Yi said in a stern but not unkind tone. He had this conversation with her several times before and illustrated these points each time. This was the most important time span when she had to learn the key aspects of cultivation.

While the queen bee was still young, the fundamentals needed to be ingrained in her mind. Bzzz. Lin Yi smiled.

"Then, go on." With a last stroke on her unusually thick fur, for her kind, he cast her into the air, and she flew back to her beehive. He finally arrived at the pavilion, sat down to meditate, and began his next cultivation session. I have a good feeling today! Lin Yi thought deeply and entered meditation, and in less than half an hour his mental state underwent a great transformation. His mind became pure and his thoughts flowed freely without obstructions. He entered the mental state of Wu Wei.

Using his Internal Sight, he analyzed his spiritual body. The first thing that he saw was the now-dozens of visible meridians instead of just twenty. These meridians were all minor pathways branching off the main ones. They connected the body more thoroughly to the joints, capillaries, muscles, and skin. However, these were not yet of importance. Across the entire 12 Standard Meridians and 8 Extraordinary Meridians, a single network of connected Qi-construct tubes was evident.

Inside these tubes, a large amount of Qi could be seen, transforming and flowing in all kinds of directions, but without much order. However, the most notable part of his spiritual body was the meridians, which included the Locking Yang Nourishing Art. Inside those meridians, beside the Qi tubes, were other kinds of Qi constructs. The biggest of them were in the Penetrating Vessel and Kidney Meridian.

There, inside the Primordial Yang Elixir, now glowing in a mix of gold, red, and white colors, Lin Yi's primordial yang was anchored, and below it expanded a grand lake of yang qi. The yang qi flowed through Qi circulations towards the Longevity Yang Cauldron, where it was converted into longevity yang qi and distributed through the whole body by the Governing Vessel. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The whole system was like a self-functioning machine of bright and powerful Qi. But he didn't care much anymore about Qi constructs as long as they weren't damaged. The extraordinary immortal art did its work automatically, and Lin Yi rarely had to operate it actively. The most important goal was to perfect his Golden Cauldron foundation. Like every day for the past four years, he took control of the Qi in his supporting tube network and began circulating it.

Half a year ago, he still had problems controlling all the Qi's movements. Fortunately, his spirituality and mastery of Qi drastically improved. Supported by the Wu Wei mental state, the Qi slowly formed dozens of orderly currents. In each tube, the Qi surged in both directions simultaneously, and at their crossing point, several flows even crossed one another and integrated into the existing streams.

It was like multiple river streams formed a giant network that connected with each other, but not just in one direction. The river's water flowed up and down at the same time without conflicting with each other. Mortal water, or even most grades of its spiritual counterpart, could never achieve this physical impossibility. However, Qi could. Its profound transformation and adaptive abilities allowed some truly supernatural possibilities.

Half a year ago, Lin Yi operated this complex network of Qi circulations for the first time, expecting that a solid Qi circulation foundation would soon form with enough time. And in the last days, his spiritual instincts signaled this ruefully slow formation coming to its final stage. As he controlled the circulation of his Qi to an ever deeper degree, his spirituality began to tremble faintly again.

Every second he cultivated his twenty meridians, the spirituality, strongly in tune with the Qi flowing through the tubes, sensed the upcoming solidification of the foundation. Hours passed, Qi surging through the meridians with exact precision, when finally a change occurred. Suddenly, inside the support tubes, the Qi flow harmonized with all 12 Standard Meridians and 8 Extraordinary Meridians, drawing profound dao mysteries from their very source.

These dao truths, unseen but sensible through a way Lin Yi did not yet understand, joined the complex Qi circulation through the entire twenty meridians. One circulation, two circulations, three circulations,..., eight circulations. Once the dao truths circulated the ninth time alongside the Qi, they integrated fully into the Qi and underwent a transformation. The Qi, using these dao truths as a blueprint, solidified in its deepest source in a miraculous way.

The innermost part of the Qi, which formerly flowed in a breath-like state in the support tubes, now became one whole solid Qi construct, the Qi circulation of the Golden Cauldron's perfect foundation. The solid Qi circulation not only preserved the traits of its former state, such as the simultaneous transportation and adaptability of Qi in all directions, but also granted Qi flow a higher quality and quantity than its free-flowing outer state.

Furthermore, the Qi circulation's foundation possessed all characteristics of the twenty meridians. This was the difference between a normal and a perfect foundation. A normal one had more than one Qi circulation for each meridian instead of one whole complete one, which not only disrupted Qi flow, but also disallowed that the Qi circulation had united dao truths. This alone obstructed nearly everyone from reaching the miraculous tenth level of Qi Condensation.

The moment Lin Yi finally completed the perfect foundation of the early stage, his entire body underwent a wondrous shift. His Qi circulation, even without his active control, automatically absorbed Qi throughout his body and integrated it into the solid construct. The free-flowing Qi around the Qi circulation was devoured nearly instantly, and the remaining Qi throughout the body followed shortly. The Qi circulation now could store a countless amount of Qi more than his normal body.

Even more miraculous, through the characteristic combinations of the meridians, Lin Yi and his Qi circulation gained several more abilities that were much stronger than those of cultivators with average foundations. The sensation of his whole body gaining additional strength with each breath, faster than ever before, was one of them. His Qi felt more alive than ever, and his spirituality grew higher and higher.

Another trait Lin Yi could already experience was the strong pull from the Qi circulation, combined with the breathing characteristic of the Lung Meridian and the control of others' Qi, which directly absorbed the Spiritual Qi of heaven and earth. His physical and spiritual senses felt the Spiritual Qi outside his body as it crossed his skin, flesh, bones, and organs, and was refined into his Qi circulation.

There were even more abilities that he couldn't yet explore, but one of them already brought a slight tremor through his whole being. Deep in his chest, hidden away in another space, he perceived an energy similar to his Qi, but on a completely different scale. Lin Yi experienced this energy as something close to his very origin, to his true self. It felt welcoming, broad, boundless, and truly unique, as if it was a kind of primordial force.

Lin Yi knew what that energy was; it was the guide and foundation for the next stage of cultivation. It was his Innate Qi. Bzzzz, bzzzzz, bzzzzz! The excited buzzing sound awoke him from his state of meditation and cultivation. He looked towards Xiao Jinse, who landed on his shoulder and repeated herself. Bzzzz, bzzzzz, bzzzzz! Lin Yi laughed heartily and patted his companion.

"Yes, yes. I finally completed my foundation. I caught up to you." He let out a long sigh, but with excitement glowing in his eyes.

"I reached the third level of Qi Condensation!"