First Glimpse of the Door

Hao Sansi's facial muscles twitched. He wiped the wine from his face and said hatefully, "You brat, what are you doing?"

"My throat hurts, I can't hold it in. I guess the injury from last time hasn't fully healed, and I can't stand this oily smoke. I'm heading back, please forgive me, Master!" With that, he scurried back to his room. Yue Qianchou patted his chest. His Master was almost two hundred years old, and he hadn't expected him to start singing. Although his actions were unintentional, they were also extremely disrespectful.

"Master is a good person!" Thinking about how Hao Sansi had taken care of him during this time, and how he hadn't put on airs as a Master, but rather his own bad reputation had implicated him, he couldn't help but sigh. He sat cross-legged on the couch, continuing his useless efforts.

"Huh… what is this?" Yue Qianchou, who had entered a state of emptiness, suddenly opened his eyes, his lips trembling as he uttered two words: "Spiritual energy!" He closed his eyes again, not daring to believe it. It really was spiritual energy! The substance contained in the air that made people feel refreshed, like happy little sprites roaming around.

Yue Qianchou trembled with excitement. It had been almost a year. The tedious and boring meditation every day, the countless sarcastic glances – did it really not matter? Everything was about perseverance. He firmly believed that he would succeed.

Happiness had come too suddenly. He dared not think further. He stabilized his emotions and cleared his mind. He circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill, which he knew like the back of his hand. He inhaled the air and exhaled it, retaining the spiritual energy he could feel. He slowly injected it into his meridians, where it circulated stiffly. His entire body was like a precision machine. The loose spiritual energy circulated for a few weeks, transforming into continuous True Qi, which flowed into his Dantian like a river entering the sea.

The absorption of spiritual energy became smoother and smoother, circulating in an orderly fashion under the guidance of the Mysterious Heaven Skill. His Dantian, which had been a tightly packed ball, swelled like a balloon with the injection of spiritual energy. Yue Qianchou immediately felt a warmth spread through his body, and he let out a soft groan of comfort.

The spiritual energy on Qingguang Mountain was naturally worlds apart from that in the mortal world; otherwise, it wouldn't have been coveted and claimed by cultivators. However, to inflate the Dantian in one go was not something that could be achieved in a short time. Immersed in the pleasure, Yue Qianchou lost track of time, wholeheartedly absorbing spiritual energy. Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and he was completely unaware.

His disciple hadn't come out to eat for two days. Could it be that he was scared after Yue Qianchou had sprayed wine in his face? Hao Sansi felt a hint of worry. Those who could truly go without food were cultivators who had reached the Core Formation stage and were able to abstain from food. If mortals went without eating for a few days, it would be life-threatening.

"Is Master such a petty person?" Hao Sansi thought wrongly, feeling a little displeased. He decided to enlighten his disciple. He walked over and pushed open the door without a word. Yue Qianchou was sitting cross-legged on the couch, a smile on his face, his forehead glowing faintly. He didn't look like someone who hadn't eaten for two days at all; he seemed full of energy.

"Mysterious… Mysterious Heaven Skill, he's… he's absorbing spiritual energy!" Hao Sansi's mouth fell open, wide enough to fit a fist, his face filled with surprise and disbelief. He tremblingly extended a hand, releasing a stream of white True Qi from his palm. The white True Qi swirled and curled into Yue Qianchou's nose and mouth.

There was no need to think further; his disciple had already grasped the basics of the Mysterious Heaven Skill. Hao Sansi couldn't help but shed tears of joy. Had heaven finally taken pity on him? When he had accepted Yue Qianchou in the Qingguang Grand Hall, it was only because he didn't want the Sect Master Brother to lose face, and he wanted to do him a favor. Otherwise, no one would have taken a disciple with no cultivation aptitude whatsoever.

Taking him in was pointless. The Qingguang Sect had stood in the cultivation world for thousands of years, and this wasn't the first or second time they had encountered such a situation. Which elder's child in the sect didn't want their descendants to live for a hundred years? What was the point of joining the Qingguang Sect if they achieved nothing and died of depression before they were a hundred? The lessons of the past were clear: for those without cultivation aptitude to cultivate was like trying to cross an insurmountable chasm.

At first, Hao Sansi didn't pay much attention, treating him as a disciple who did odd jobs. As time went on, Yue Qianchou's diligence and perseverance touched him. He also deeply understood the unwillingness and bitterness in his disciple's heart. But what could he do? He had no way to help him, so he could only try to treat Yue Qianchou better. He hoped to let his disciple live out his remaining decades happily.

Was it truly the Heavenly Dao rewarding diligence? Hao Sansi silently wiped away his tears. Looking at the smile on his disciple's face, he felt greatly comforted. He then went out and left the door slightly ajar, sitting cross-legged by the door. He was going to guard his disciple, as this was a crucial moment for entering the Dao, and he absolutely could not be disturbed.

As the saying goes, "He who embraces all rivers, becomes great!" When a cultivator first enters the Dao, it is a critical time for shaping the Dantian. Generally, the more spiritual energy the Dantian can absorb in the early stages, the larger its capacity will be, which also signifies a higher future in cultivation. At such a moment, how could Hao Sansi dare to be negligent in the slightest?

The cultivation world was divided into five levels: Qi Refining, Foundation Establishment, Core Formation, Nascent Soul, and Tribulation Transcendence. Under normal circumstances, those whose Dantians could not be inflated for more than two days would likely find it difficult to even pass the Foundation Establishment stage in the future. Exceeding two days meant hope for Foundation Establishment, exceeding three days meant hope for Core Formation, exceeding four days meant hope for Nascent Soul, and exceeding five days meant hope for Tribulation Transcendence. Although these were just hopes, it did not exclude other reasons for failure. However, such estimations were generally accurate in the cultivation world.

When Hao Sansi first entered the Dao, his Dantian had been inflated for over four days, and he had now reached the early Nascent Soul stage. Now that his disciple's Dantian had been inflated for over two days, it was likely that he would be able to pass the Foundation Establishment stage.

Yue Qianchou sat on the couch for two days. He felt that his Dantian had already swelled into a sphere, and the speed at which he absorbed spiritual energy seemed to have slowed down. He wanted to inflate this balloon a little more with spiritual energy, but he felt powerless. He had read about inflating the Dantian in the Mysterious Heaven Skill books and knew about it, but he had reached his limit. Just as he was about to stop, he suddenly felt something moving in his chest. That thing seemed to be attracted by the True Qi in his Dantian and slid towards it.

When that thing drilled into his Dantian, the already not-so-large Dantian was forced to accommodate more, as if it were about to tear apart. Yue Qianchou immediately broke out in a sweat from the pain, but he couldn't cry out. His mind boomed, and an image appeared in his mind. In a hazy white space, a golden sphere floated, slowly rotating. Yue Qianchou immediately realized that this was the golden bead that the white fox had given him that day!

Feeling the pain from when his Dantian was first invaded, he was stunned. Could the image in his mind be the scene inside his Dantian? He saw the golden bead rotating, drawing the white True Qi in his Dantian, churning it into wisps of white silk, and then absorbing it.

"Holy crap!" Yue Qianchou exclaimed in shock. The True Qi in his Dantian had almost been completely absorbed by the golden bead, and his Dantian, which had just been inflated and had not yet solidified, was slowly collapsing. If this were to happen, all his previous efforts would be in vain. He wanted to stop the golden bead, but unfortunately, it was completely beyond his control.

"Damn it! A whole year of hard work, gone in an instant." Yue Qianchou quickly circulated the Mysterious Heaven Skill, absorbing spiritual energy non-stop, transforming it into True Qi and injecting it into his Dantian.

Although the golden bead was small, it was like a bottomless pit, absorbing as much True Qi as it could. Yue Qianchou couldn't figure out what it was, so he decided to fight it with his life. If he couldn't support his Dantian now before it solidified, he would never have high cultivation in this lifetime. He pushed the Mysterious Heaven Skill to its extreme, desperately absorbing spiritual energy, while the golden bead also absorbed with all its might. It was a stalemate between him and the bead.

The third day passed. Hao Sansi couldn't believe that his disciple, this waste, actually had some talent. He released his True Qi again, which was quickly absorbed by Yue Qianchou. Knowing that his disciple was still inflating his Dantian, he continued to dutifully guard him.

The fourth day passed. The True Qi was still being absorbed, and Hao Sansi was a little surprised.

The fifth day passed. Hao Sansi trembled slightly with excitement. What did this mean? It meant that the useless disciple had the potential to reach the Tribulation Transcendence stage. Let alone the Qingguang Sect, even in the cultivation world, how many people had such talent? He no longer dared to meditate and stood guard by his disciple's door, watching out for any disturbances.

The sixth day passed. Hao Sansi's forehead was sweating. How was this possible…

The seventh day passed. Hao Sansi became a little uneasy. Had his disciple encountered some problem in his cultivation? As soon as he tentatively released his True Qi, it vanished without a trace in the blink of an eye, shooting directly into his disciple's nose and mouth. Hao Sansi wiped the sweat from his forehead. How could a newly initiated disciple absorb spiritual energy at such a speed and store it in his Dantian?