Chương 34: Letting nature take its course

Report to the sect once you broke through the mid stage. That was what Senior Brother Xu said when he left half an hour ago. The senior disciple did not stay long. Besides some explanations about the Inner Court and the sect in general, he left only one pill bottle behind. Lin Yi looked through the transparent jade material at the white, round pill with caution and nervousness, but also with excitement.

"Hah, a high-grade tier one pill." He couldn't help but say aloud. I never thought that the sect would be so generous. A high-grade alchemic product of the first tier was primarily usable by a late-stage Qi Condensation cultivator. Its medical power was hard for cultivators of lower levels to process. However, the Great Dao counted 50, the Heavenly Dao derived 49, and the Human Dao snatched the last one.

Thus, everything had its exceptions, and some specially concocted pills were milder in their strength, like this one. The pill in question was the Content Qi Condensation Pill. It was a derivative of the classical Qi Condensation Pill. The normal pill was one of the standard alchemy products that supported cultivation growth in the Qi Condensation Realm and could be roughly divided into three grades: low, mid, and high. As the name already suggested, it helped condense and refine Qi.

The pill contained a large amount of pure energy, which the cultivator then refined into Qi. Its special variant didn't discharge all its energy at once but did so step by step continuously, allowing cultivators at lower stages to use it as well. The Content Qi Condensation Pill was precious in the Outer Court, to the point where disciples couldn't even buy one if they had no connections. And even then, it would cost at least 100 Sect Points, on good days.

But here, as a disciple of the Inner Court, he was given one for free. Well, not for free. More like a bonus or a necessity. Senior Brother Xu had explained it as such. The Inner Court is different from the Outer Court branches; we are not divided into divisions. Each Elder is their own branch lineage and, mostly, only answers to the ancestral lineage and thus to the Sect Master who leads it.

Disciples who are not part of any lineage are mostly on their own, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but can be cumbersome to some degree if they are still at lower levels, especially regarding self-sustainability and adding value to the sect. Like you, junior brother. Because of that, you, like many others before you, will be given this pill so that you reach the mid stage quickly. Lin Yi understood this point. He experienced the limitations of his realm not just once.

The inability to use spells restricted him greatly.

"Hmmm!" He nodded to himself. There was no need to hesitate; advancing his cultivation at a faster speed was something he welcomed. He took the pill bottle with him and entered the cultivation room of his new home. The small house that was provided to him by the sect was modest. Besides a small bathroom, kitchen with a storage room, and a cultivation room, there was only a welcoming area. It consisted only of the most basic necessities.

His new place for cultivation had only a wardrobe and a bed, which doubled as a bedroom. Making himself comfortable, he quickly entered the state of Wu Wei. He had already used this mental state in every cultivation session. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. His mind became pure, and his thoughts flew freely. He rolled the Content Qi Condensation Pill out of the bottle and ingested it.

Through his Internal Sight, he followed the pill's path and stirred it towards the Qi circulation connecting the Stomach and Spleen Meridians. Both meridians had the ability, in some form, to produce Qi from food and other nutrients. Thus they were the best choice for storing the alchemical pill. While his entire Qi circulation system had all characteristics of every meridian, the proximity to the two meridians allowed greater efficiency.

The pill descended through his body, ignoring physical obstacles, and entered the chosen position. The supporting Qi tubes that once helped him establish his Qi circulation were already dismembered and had been used as fuel for his cultivation. Kickstarted by the ever-flowing Qi, the Content Qi Condensation Pill started to revolve around its own axis and slowly but steadily disperse its stored energy.

Lin Yi actively boosted the Qi-refining ability of the meridians; however, the new Qi was not integrated into his foundation but dispersed throughout his body, nourishing it. Only the purest Qi was used for his foundation. His strengthened body produced a greater amount of Essence, which was then gathered into his Golden Cauldron and refined by his Qi Flame into purer Qi. Lin Yi then refined this pure Qi into the foundation of his Qi circulation.

The Content Qi Condensation Pill had similarities to the Essence Pill; rightly so, they could be considered distant cousins. The Essence Pill, however, did not contain pure energy but rather nutrients for the body and was not considered a cultivation-enhancement pill. Hmmm, the conversion from the Content Qi Condensation Pill is at least five times higher than refining Qi from my normal amount of Essence and absorbed Spiritual Qi. He noticed, satisfied.

After only an hour of cultivation, he already saw his solid Qi circulation foundation expanded noticeably. The third level of Qi Condensation was called Grand Completion of the Golden Cauldron Stage. Grand Completion meant the complete building of the twenty meridians' Qi Circulation. Thus only two hurdles were preventing him from achieving the fourth level: the accumulation of his Qi and the growth of his spirituality.

The latter was already solved; he could loosely perceive his Innate Qi since his last breakthrough. He only needed to gather enough Qi and could then assail the Crimson Palace Stage. The next few days passed similarly. Lin Yi had nothing really to do. He only cared for Xiao Jinse, her beehive and colony, and the Solitary Yang Bamboo, though he still had not found a permanent place for them.

Furthermore, he used some of his free time to digest the additional information about the sect and Inner Court that was uploaded to his sect plate, as mentioned by Elder Quenching Ape. The rest of the time was used solely for cultivation and advancement to the next level and stage. Four days later, a few hours into Lin Yi's cultivation session, a change appeared.

His cultivation base had completely transformed over the last few days; the effects of the Content Qi Condensation Pill were even greater than he could ever have imagined. His Qi circulation's solid Qi foundation expanded dozens of times over. From a normal perspective, it still looked like a small flow of Qi, but from a spiritual perspective or with Qi-powered spell sight, the foundation was as thick as an adult's arm.

Qi did not merely flow through it, but raged like unstoppable rivers in all directions simultaneously, without hindering each other. In the short time, his physical strength and spirituality also grew a great deal. He perceived the location of his middle dantian and Innate Qi without any problems. The accumulation of Qi not only strengthened his cultivation foundation and base but also strengthened the connection of the Qi to its ancestral origin, the Innate Qi.

The former was already slightly pulled towards the latter's direction. There were two ways to break through to a higher stage in the Qi Condensation Realm. One was to force the breakthrough; literally forcing the Qi to break into the Crimson Palace. The second was to let nature take its course; with enough accumulation, the breakthrough would come on its own. The advantage of the latter method was quite considerable.

For one, there was no fear of damaging one's foundation upon failure, and, secondly, letting the breakthrough come naturally was also a sign of sufficient accumulation. Lin Yi had no reason not to choose this path. The Content Qi Condensation Pill released its energy, which was refined by the Qi circulation of the two meridians, which then strengthened his body. The greater amount of Essence was then refined again by the Qi Flame into purer Qi and integrated into his cultivation base's foundation.

Each cycle of this process allowed greater Qi flow through the Qi circulations, another step towards the next stage. Lin Yi continued his cultivation until, at one point, a breaking point was reached. Though calling it a breaking point would not be quite right. It was more like the pressure of circulating Qi opened a new pathway towards a new spiritual space. Finding this new outlet, streams of Qi flowed directly into it, pushing it deeper and deeper till it opened into the destined spiritual space.

Lin Yi's perception followed the Qi as it dropped into the new space. Similar to the lower dantian, this one was a vast expanse of nothingness, except that its center held not a flame but a strand of light. A light so pure and infallible, as if nothing in existence had ever tainted it. It was his Innate Qi!