Small World, Playing Soccer, Jade

Seven days after Professor Chen left the small world.

Chen Qing sat in meditation in the courtyard. The Spiritual Energy he absorbed into his body was tangible, generating intangible Primordial Qi, which then transformed entirely into strands of True Qi. It was more refined, more powerful.

Chen Qing circulated the True Qi to his arms and easily lifted a large vat of water in the courtyard.

Chen Qing continued to meditate. After circulating the True Qi through the twelve meridians for forty-nine weeks, it all flowed into the wider Ren Channel.

Soon, the Ren Channel was filled, feeling swollen and full.

Before he could react, a stream of Qi passed through Tiantu, over Lianquan, crossed the Magpie Bridge, passed Chonglou, and entered the crown of his head. Then, it followed the Du Channel down his spine, past Mingmen, through Changqiang, and into Hui...yin.

At this moment, the Ren and Du Channels were connected, unobstructed.

The True Qi flowed upward from Hui...yin, passing through the Ren Channel to connect with the Du Channel at the top of his head. It followed the Du Channel down, returning to Hui...yin, circulating repeatedly.

With each cycle, the True Qi became more refined, and the strength within his body felt greater.

Just as Chen Qing opened the Ren and Du Channels, Bai Xue emerged from the alchemy room. Seeing him, she gestured for him to open his mouth.

Chen Qing opened his mouth, and three small, thumb-sized pills were placed inside. They melted upon contact with his tongue.

Chen Qing asked with a smile, "What is this? It's sweet and has a refreshing fragrance."

Bai Xue grinned, "It's an Origin Nurturing Pill for nourishing the origin and strengthening the root. I refined it according to the book." She then casually returned to her room.

Chen Qing let out an "Oh." After she left, he continued meditating.

After taking the Origin Nurturing Pill, its effects took hold quickly, releasing a large amount of Spiritual Energy into his abdomen.

The Spiritual Energy was refined into True Qi again, becoming increasingly abundant in his meridians, and the True Qi continued to increase.

Just as he felt his meridians were stretched to their limit and about to explode, the True Qi in his twelve meridians and the Ren and Du Channels suddenly surged towards his waist and abdomen.

Chen Qing let out a roar, feeling as if a large chunk of his abdomen had been gouged out.

Before he could react, all the True Qi in his meridians flowed into his abdomen, where a hole appeared, like water flowing in.

His divine sense probed and found that three inches below his navel, above the Mingmen, a small space had appeared.

His Dantian?

"Bai Xue, I've cultivated a Dantian!" Chen Qing excitedly ran to show Bai Xue. As soon as he pushed the door open, a pillow flew at him.

"Get lost!"

"Don't you know how to knock?!" Bai Xue, buried in her quilt, poked her head out and roared. The cool, mature older sister had been seen.

Chen Qing awkwardly retreated.

He heard Bai Xue curse, "What's so great about opening a Dantian? I already had one three days ago."

Chen Qing felt even more awkward after hearing that. Discouraged, he didn't cultivate. Instead, he took his two puppets out to chop wood. He was making small puppets out of wood, planning to make ten in total, divided into red and black teams, to play soccer with Bai Xue.

Day and night alternated in the small world. Bai Xue was immersed in alchemy, while Chen Qing focused on making puppets.

A year passed. The fish in the pond grew fat, the ducks grew up and waddled out of the pond into the lake to play, the hens built over a dozen nests and laid many eggs, and the rooster, after eating its fill, would fly to the roof of the Siheyuan courtyard to crow.

The pair of black and white swans followed Bai Xue around, honking incessantly. They had just been fed a handful of pills and were begging for more.

Bai Xue, holding a soccer ball sewn from grass carp skin and silk cloth, was about to go find Chen Qing. She had marked out a soccer field on the edge of the Siheyuan. The ten small puppets she had cultivated could now cooperate simply, although they were far inferior to the ten robots of his previous life.

Two large puppets served as goalkeepers, and a small goalframe was made of wooden planks.

"Chen Qing, have you fixed my players?" Bai Xue called out from a distance. She wore shorts and a t-shirt, her hair tied in a ponytail, looking radiant and beautiful.

Chen Qing replied without looking up, "Just the last formation left. Have them run slower later; if they run too fast, the energy depletes too quickly, and I'll have to burn more Spirit Stones for batteries."

"If your skill isn't good enough, just improve it. If you keep making demands, I won't play with you anymore. I'm going back to refine pills," Bai Xue said, a little displeased, taunting him.

Chen Qing's strong tone immediately softened upon hearing this. He always had to beg Bai Xue, treating her to braised fish and spicy chicken, and only then would Bai Xue reluctantly play with him for an afternoon.

Bai Xue arrived at the goal and high-fived the puppet goalkeeper. Five small puppets, under her divine sense control, ran back from midfield. They were all wearing red silk vests, dyed with duck blood.

Chen Qing's five small puppets, wearing black silk vests, were also ready.

Bai Xue's puppets kicked off in midfield and launched a flank attack, with all five small puppets pressing forward. They broke through the flank, crossed the ball, and shot, but it was caught steadily by the large puppet.

Chen Qing's attack. The puppet carrying the ball was tripped by Bai Xue's puppet just after crossing midfield. With no referee, Chen Qing had to send a second puppet to retrieve the ball, while Bai Xue sent puppets to block.

Chen Qing played a tactical game, passing the ball back and forth between the five puppets. Bai Xue's puppets couldn't touch the ball and could only collide with Chen Qing's puppets. After four puppets knocked down four, it became a one-on-one duel.

Chen Qing's small puppet feinted and dodged past the last defender. Only the charging large puppet goalkeeper remained. With one kick, it sent the small puppet and the soccer ball flying.

The force was too great, and the soccer ball flew into the distant lake.

Bai Xue burst into laughter. With a wave of her hand, the black and white swans honked and flew up to retrieve the ball.

Chen Qing had encountered this scene many times, gritting his teeth in anger. Who could he blame when there was no referee?

This time, the soccer ball was punctured by the severed limbs of the small puppet. Water filled it, exceeding its buoyancy, and it quickly sank towards the bottom of the lake. The black and white swans dove into the water to find it.

"Honk... Honk..."

The black and white swans emerged from the water and flew into the air, staring at the lake and honking.

First, a ball broke the surface of the water, followed by two more round objects.

The black and white swans simultaneously charged towards the round objects. With a whoosh, the round objects shot into the air.

After a few "plop... plop" sounds, the sphere extended its arms, legs, and head.

"Heh heh... heh heh," laughter spread.

The Nascent Souls of the Great General and the Princess were bound underwater by Chen Renfeng's magic, but had just been broken free by the black and white swans.

Upon discovering this, Chen Qing and Bai Xue rushed to the lakeside.

The Great General's Nascent Soul looked at the two and said greedily, "Qi Refining Stage Grand Perfection, so fragrant!"

The Princess's Nascent Soul exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Qing, those two mortals reached Qi Refining Stage Grand Perfection in just one year, isn't that too fast!"

The Great General's Nascent Soul chuckled, "Sister Yu, in this Small World, if we hadn't been limited by Karma Value back then, we could have easily achieved it."

Seeing the two muttering to themselves, Bai Xue angrily shouted, "You two ugly freaks, why are you back again? What were you whispering about?"

Upon hearing herself called an ugly freak, the Princess's Nascent Soul, a beauty, could not accept it. She roared, "You're asking for death!" With that, she prepared to rush down and possess Bai Xue's body.

"Sister Yu, wait!" The Great General's Nascent Soul quickly teleported in front of her, blocking her. He then whispered, "Sister Yu, the time is not right yet. They haven't formed a Golden Core Pill, so their bodies aren't strong enough to accept a Nascent Soul."

The Princess's Nascent Soul had no choice but to give up. She stuck out her tongue at Bai Xue and flew past her towards the edge of the grass.

The Great General's Nascent Soul teleported next to Chen Qing, spinning and examining him. He then circled Bai Xue once. When Bai Xue tried to kick him, he immediately teleported thirty feet away.

Bai Xue snapped, "Ugly freaks, you'd better stay away!"

Chen Qing was a little nervous and shielded Bai Xue, asking, "What do you want to do?"

The Great General's Nascent Soul chuckled, "Be your friend!"