Qi Refining and Revenge

"Diminished fortune brings poverty and depletion; it is often met with sorrow and calamity. All men despise it, punishments and disasters follow it, blessings avoid it, evil stars plague it—when one's fortune is exhausted, one dies."

"It is not that extraordinary people do evil; extraordinary people receive bitter retribution. One reaps the fruit of one's own deeds. All living beings are thus."

As Lu Yan contemplated the Heart Sutra section of the "Red Lotus Karma Fire Sutra," his five senses seemed to sink into silence, leaving only the words of the sutra echoing endlessly within his consciousness.

Heaven and earth began to grow hazy and blurred, as though stripped of their original reality and transformed into an empty void.

All of a sudden, a faint, barely perceptible point of light appeared in the void. Then more and more light points gathered, as countless as stars in the night sky.

These endless points of light eventually formed an invisible current of air that lingered before Lu Yan.

Lu Yan instinctively began using the qi-guiding method, drawing that invisible current into his body.

In an instant, Lu Yan felt as though every cell in his body were trembling. The nourishment of a single strand of spiritual qi was enough to begin transforming this mortal flesh that had grown for over twenty years.

Before he even had time to circulate it according to the circulation route diagram, that invisible qi was completely absorbed by his body.

Lu Yan withdrew from his cultivation state and opened his eyes.

"Was that spiritual qi just now?"

Curiosity flickered in Lu Yan's eyes.

Although he had used Spirit Stones and Rankless Spirit Talismans before, without cultivating a Cultivation Technique, he could not truly wield spiritual qi.

Thus, this was the first time Lu Yan had captured spiritual qi through his own cultivation.

Feeling the changes after his body had devoured the spiritual qi, he found none of the imagined impurities being expelled, nor any obvious transformation. He merely vaguely felt that his body had become somewhat lighter. It was probably because there had been too little spiritual qi.

He checked the time. From his first contemplation of the Heart Sutra to drawing qi into his body, Lu Yan had spent a full three hours.

Seeing the time, Lu Yan could not help but furrow his brow. The small joy that had just risen within him vanished in an instant.

"Drawing qi into the body is only the most basic step of cultivation. Next, I must continuously absorb vast amounts of spiritual qi and use it to temper my body, shedding this mortal shell. Once my body can no longer absorb spiritual qi, I can move it according to the circulation route diagram.

"As long as I can circulate spiritual qi through a full cycle, I can give birth to the first wisp of mana and truly step into the Qi Refining Stage!"

"The circulation route diagram of the 'Red Lotus Karma Fire Sutra' is far more complicated than commonplace goods like the 'Evergreen Art.' Running a complete cycle will certainly take a great deal of time.

"But it took three hours just to draw in a single strand of spiritual qi. I am still a hundred thousand miles away from tempering my body, much less from the subsequent Qi Guiding Circulation."

The clerks in the Spirit Talisman Shop could complete Qi Refining cultivation simply by studying the Evergreen Art on their own. There was no reason Lu Yan, who possessed better conditions and a better Cultivation Technique, should progress so slowly.

"Could it be... because the spiritual qi concentration in the Urban Version is too low?"

That was the only possibility Lu Yan could think of.

What he lacked most now was time. Judging by the Version Update Progress, the next Version Update would also arrive in roughly three months.

Three days had already passed, and his path of cultivation had only just begun. If the world underwent a Version Update before he entered the Qi Refining Stage, he would inevitably face even greater risks.

The other versions most likely did not possess a cultivation environment as stable as the Urban Version.

"If that's the case, I can only spend money to get stronger!"

Lu Yan decisively took out the Spirit Stones he had prepared beforehand. Thirty Spirit Stones formed a complete circle around him, and he even clutched two more in his hands as he began his second cultivation session.

During his previous cultivation session, Lu Yan had first sensed an empty void, then captured points of light and waited for them to gather into a strand of spiritual qi before drawing it into his body.

But this time, the moment he entered the state of contemplation, Lu Yan noticed that countless points of light had already filled his surroundings. With a mere thought, spiritual qi entered his body and was effortlessly absorbed by his flesh.

For the first time, Lu Yan felt that cultivation could be this simple.

After that, Lu Yan plunged into cultivation day and night. Vast quantities of spiritual qi tempered his body, increasing his body's affinity with spiritual qi by the day.

The impurities in his body were gradually expelled. All the lingering minor ailments and pains left behind by the various torments he had suffered over the previous three months were also completely cured, restoring his body to an unprecedented peak condition.

On the eleventh day of his formal cultivation, after consuming eight Spirit Stones, Lu Yan completed the tempering of his body.

Afterward came the most crucial stage: Qi Guiding Circulation.

In Lu Yan's view, tempering the body was simply a matter of grinding away bit by bit. As long as one knew how to draw qi into the body and possessed enough spiritual qi, it could be completed with ease.

But Qi Guiding Circulation involved far too much—state of mind, willpower, and the circulation route diagram. Not one could be lacking.

Controlling the spiritual qi that had entered his body was already extremely difficult, much less making it circulate through his body's complex meridians according to the route.

Simply gaining preliminary control over spiritual qi took Lu Yan a full day.

Under ordinary circumstances, he could not guide spiritual qi through a complete cycle at all. He had to cultivate in conjunction with the Contemplation Sutra.

Normally, cultivating a superior technique required joining a sect and having one's master personally straighten out one's cycle meridians before cultivation could begin.

Lu Yan did not receive such treatment. He could only rely on Spirit Stones and painstaking trial and error.

Time continued onward until the third month of the Urban Version, when dawn finally arrived.

In the guest bedroom, Lu Yan had thrown out most of the bed and furniture, turning it into a cultivation room.

Lu Yan sat cross-legged on the floor, his five hearts facing heaven as he circulated the "Red Lotus Karma Fire Sutra."

Over more than two months, Lu Yan had undergone a transformation akin to shedding his mortal bones and exchanging his flesh. His body, which had already stopped growing, had grown several more centimeters taller. His lean frame did not possess the defined muscles of a fitness enthusiast, yet its strength far surpassed that of ordinary people.

The skin on his handsome face was as tender as an infant's, and his entire body exuded a tranquil, otherworldly aura. As the Cultivation Technique circulated, a layer of milky-white radiance enveloped Lu Yan, as though he were about to leave behind the mortal world and ascend as an immortal.

Within Lu Yan's body, the cycle had reached its most critical step.

When that strand of spiritual qi passed through the final meridian, the circulation cycle opened smoothly in an instant, and a wisp of mana condensed within Lu Yan's body.

The next moment, a faint breeze swept through the cultivation room. Vast amounts of spiritual qi were instantly drawn from the Spirit Stones around him, streams of spiritual qi pouring madly into Lu Yan's body and circulating along the newly opened cycle meridians, transforming into the purest mana.

As two Spirit Stones were forcibly drained dry, the faint breeze finally subsided.

Lu Yan opened his eyes. In that instant, the entire dark cultivation room seemed to become as bright as day, before returning to its usual calm.

"Qi Refining Stage."

Lu Yan raised his right hand. As mana flowed within him, the Storage Bag at his waist opened on its own. Under the pull of mana, Spirit Stones and Spirit Talismans flew one after another into Lu Yan's palm.

At this moment, Lu Yan had truly stepped through the gates of cultivation and become a genuine cultivator.

His heart surged with excitement as Lu Yan looked at the virtual screen before him. The Version Update Progress had reached 72.3%; more than half of the Urban Version's remaining time had already passed.

"Since I've entered the Qi Refining Stage, it's time to settle some accounts."

Lu Yan's gaze gradually turned deep and shadowed.

"Letting the Demonic Path Cultivator behind Steward Chu roam free is not my style.

"If the next version possesses supernatural power, that Demonic Path Cultivator's strength might even surpass mine.

"Better to eliminate him in advance while everyone in the Urban Version is still mortal."