Qi Sea Rhythm

Putting aside the idea of the farm for now, Duke returned to Little Sam's Card Shop. If he couldn't open his Qi Sea, buying a farm would just be a money pit.

He waited at home for a few days, pooling together his recent repair earnings until he had the 3 gold dragons needed for the initial investment.

He then went to the Spirit Society to purchase a copy of the Rainfall Breathing Technique.

Unlike the meditation method, which required a trip to the Spirit Tower for imprinting, or the blood refining method, only available at the Monastery, breathing techniques were incredibly easy to obtain. The Spirit Society sold them, and they weren't even that expensive.

Like the blood refining method, one had to sign their name before being allowed to read the breathing technique.

After returning home and finishing the Rainfall Breathing Technique, Xiao Yi updated its database. After a moment of calculation, it presented a plan for opening the Qi Sea.

"First, purchase a Qi Boosting Potion..."

A Qi Boosting Potion cost 7 silver dragons, which was incredibly cheap. Even the poorest families would scrape together money to buy one for their children, hoping they could open their Qi Sea.

The Qi Sea was the easiest of the body's Three Seas to open.

However, the success rate was still less than one in a hundred. Only one out of over a hundred people would succeed in opening it. Duke's previous life had fallen outside this probability.

He drank the potion.

He swished it around twice, drinking every last bit of the dregs.

He waited quietly for the Qi Boosting Potion to take effect. In just a short while, Duke, who had closed his eyes and was observing his Spirit Sea internally, felt a surge of qi begin to expand and swirl erratically in his lower abdomen.

Within his Spirit Sea, Xiao Yi emitted several beams of light, shining into its depths.

Duke, having already experienced opening his Blood Sea, was familiar with the process. He skillfully followed the beams of light emitted by Xiao Yi, flying forward until he reached a new vortex gateway.

Unlike the blood-red vortex gateway of the Blood Sea, this one was a pale green.

Xiao Yi's light passed directly through the vortex gateway.

Duke's thoughts followed, passing through as well.

Upon entering, he found himself no longer in the star-studded Spirit Sea, but in a verdant mass of qi. Clouds and mist churned, creating a strange and wondrous sight.

He couldn't see into the distance, but he could feel its vastness.

Inhale!

Exhale!

This green mass of qi expanded and compressed in a special rhythmic manner, much like a person breathing.

The Qi Sea!

The rhythmic pattern of this Qi Sea was incredibly infectious.

Duke's thoughts couldn't help but follow along, and he began to breathe with a calm rhythm, gradually becoming immersed.

However, Xiao Yi did not stop working.

Its light spread out around the Qi Sea, just as it had when opening the Blood Sea, outlining the hazy qi mass with a cloud-like silhouette. This silhouette was composed of energy pathways, which maintained the rhythmic breathing pattern of the entire cloud.

After an unknown amount of time.

Duke slowly awoke from the peculiar breathing rhythm.

His vision was still his bedroom, and his seated posture remained unchanged, as if he had merely slept. However, upon closer inspection, he could feel the rhythm of "breathing" within his mind, constantly pulsing, bringing him a sense of exhilaration.

There was also the sound of his heart beating like thunder.

The Blood Sea's resonance, the Qi Sea's rhythm.

Both projected within his Spirit Sea.

Duke smiled faintly, not overly excited. After all, he had the precedent of opening his Blood Sea, so the successful opening of his Qi Sea was not unexpected.

"Xiao Yi, you did a great job. Now I can cultivate all three Seas simultaneously."

"Congratulations, Master."

"So, Xiao Yi, can you now simultaneously idle cultivate the Field Meditation and the Rainfall Breathing Technique?" Duke inquired.

With the Condensing Liquid into Line technique and his advancement to a two-star Spiritual Apprentice, the "hardware system" of Duke's Spirit Sea had been rapidly improving.

Xiao Yi's computational power had also greatly increased.

"Attempting dual-method idle cultivation..." Xiao Yi began cultivating both techniques simultaneously.

Soon, Duke felt his body absorbing the free-floating spirituality from the surrounding air. This was normal meditation cultivation.

Immediately afterward, a clear rhythm emanated from his Qi Sea, and his breathing became long and steady.

Furthermore, a faint connection formed between him and the ordinary flowers and plants in the yard, as if they were breathing together.

Without a doubt.

The Rainfall Breathing Technique had been successfully cultivated.

"Very good, very good!" Duke closed his eyes and began to actively cultivate the Universal Blood Refining Method. His heart pumped blood rapidly, and his fighting spirit circulated faster through his meridians.

The long-haired mongoose cub, Little Dou, as if receiving a command, jumped down from the wall and lay on Duke's lap, cultivating alongside him. However, it soon began to yawn.

In an instant.

Meditation in the Spirit Sea, blood refining in the Blood Sea, and breathing in the Qi Sea – three different cultivation methods occurred simultaneously within Duke, independent yet harmoniously unified.

He had been cultivating the blood refining method for a full two hours, and his stomach began to rumble.

Duke finally finished his training, but Xiao Yi was still running the meditation and breathing techniques on autopilot, unaffected by the outside world.

"Chirp!" Little Dou woke up.

When cultivating the blood refining method, as a contracted spirit beast, it only needed to passively receive the benefits without any extra actions. Sleeping did not hinder cultivation at all.

"Into the pocket, I'll take you for a walk outside."

"Chirp!"

The plump Little Dou was mostly fluff. As it burrowed into the pocket, it quickly curled into a small ball, not very noticeable when placed inside.

"I should buy a spirit root to plant in the yard later... Sigh, money just disappears so quickly." Duke glanced at the ordinary flowers and plants in the yard.

He was filled with emotion for a moment.

There was only a small amount of reserve funds left in the Spirit Dragon Card for restocking, not even enough to buy spirit beast meat.

"Maybe I should go hunting!"

An idea struck him, and he took Little Dou towards the outskirts of town, passing through the farms and heading for the thickets.

As he passed the farms, he could clearly feel his breathing technique strengthening.

This was because the farms were planted with many 0-Ring spiritual plants, which greatly enhanced the effects of the breathing technique through resonance. However, Spirit Plant Masters couldn't cultivate fighting spirit like Knights; their breathing techniques were more for helping plants grow rather than improving their own strength.

"Besides, I shouldn't really be considered a Spirit Plant Master yet. I'm just a 0-ring Spiritual Plant Servant. Only by establishing breath resonance with a 1-Ring Spiritual Plant can one be promoted to a formal 0-ring Spirit Plant Master."

Also belonging to the 0-Ring, 0-ring Spiritual Apprentices were divided into one to five stars.

Knights were divided into 0-Ring Knight Squires and 0-Ring Knights.

Spirit Plant Masters naturally also had 0-ring Spiritual Plant Servants and 0-ring Spirit Plant Masters, all of which were a form of hierarchical division within the 0-Ring.

He entered the thickets.

Duke slowed his pace, cautiously searching his surroundings, but he quickly discovered the benefits of the autopilot breathing technique.

His body was constantly in breath resonance with the surrounding plants, and any abnormality in the plants would be clearly reflected in the resonance.

And what could cause abnormalities in plants was undoubtedly passing animals.

"Xiao Yi, help me monitor the breath resonance. Report immediately if there's any anomaly."

"Understood, Master." Xiao Yi faithfully complied.

Duke, carrying his Desert Eagle 1.0, pushed deeper into the thickets, hoping to encounter a spirit beast, even just a 0-Ring quasi-spirit beast.