Qi Stirring

At first, nothing happened. But Lei Dong refused to lose heart. He kept taking deep breaths, clearing his mind of distracting thoughts. Gradually, he seemed to merge with the Jade Slip, and the information inside flowed into his mind in a steady stream. The Jade Slip recorded not only the uses of the items in the beginner's kit, but also a detailed list of sect rules.

Others might have ignored those rules for the time being, but Lei Dong read every word, as if he meant to carve them into his mind.

Only after a long while did Lei Dong put down the Jade Slip. He felt utterly drained. For someone like him, who had yet to begin cultivating, reading the information in the slip was mentally exhausting. Still, he had gained something from it. Besides learning the sect rules, he now knew what the items before him were for. The Black Uniform, for instance, was a Magic Tool in a sense. Worn on the body, it kept dust and grime away. It also offered a degree of protection, enough to withstand attacks from ordinary people wielding swords and knives.

Such a garment would have been a treasure in the mortal world. Here, however, only newly initiated disciples like Lei Dong, who had nothing to their names, would use one.

One of the objects was a finely crafted belt, neither gold nor jade. According to the Jade Slip, it was a Storage Belt with an interior space of about one cubic meter. It was also the most basic kind, a low-grade Storage Belt that could hold only a few small odds and ends.

There was also a dagger-like Ink Green Small Sword, an Ink Black Waist Pendant, and a small bottle of pills. The pendant was exquisitely made, with a fierce-looking relief and the words "Yin Sha Sect" inscribed on it. Its main purpose was to identify its bearer. Throughout the Yin Sha Sect, many areas were protected by restrictions and open only to disciples of certain ranks. The restrictions checked the permissions granted by a disciple's pendant and whether its spiritual imprint matched the person wearing it. If either condition was unmet, the restrictions would activate at once and give the intruder a nasty surprise.

What interested Lei Dong most was the Ink Green Small Sword. At the Martial Arena, he had coveted the Ghost Fire Sword, with its immense power and sinister, vicious attacks. Unfortunately, this beginner-level sword was merely an ordinary low-grade Magic Tool. Its power could not compare to the Ghost Fire Swords wielded by the seniors he had seen at the arena.

The Jade Slip also explained that there were many ways to obtain better Magic Tools. The most basic was to craft them oneself. But that required spending a great deal of time learning all sorts of related knowledge, at the expense of cultivation. Most people instead traded for the things they wanted. They could also complete various sect missions to earn Contribution Value, then exchange it with the sect for Magic Tools or pills of their choice. Naturally, the harder the mission, the more Contribution Value it awarded. Better Magic Tools and pills also cost more. This was one of the Yin Sha Sect's ways of encouraging its disciples to serve the sect and grow stronger.

The bottle contained ten Lesser Vitality Pills, used to strengthen one's foundation and cultivate true qi. According to the Jade Slip, as long as one's aptitude was not too poor and one was not excessively lazy, a year of cultivation, together with these ten pills, would be enough for a newly initiated disciple to reach the first level of the Qi Refining Stage.

Along with these items, the Jade Slip also contained a Cultivation Method called the Profound Yin Heart Sutra Introductory Chapter. It was nearly ten thousand words long, and its contents were obscure and difficult to understand. Fortunately, it came with a three-dimensional cultivation animation. It showed a naked man sitting cross-legged as he drew in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy, converted it into pure inner breath, and guided it along the winding meridians of his body until it completed a full cycle. With the animation playing on a continuous loop, the entire cultivation process became much clearer.

The Profound Yin Heart Sutra Introductory Chapter drew Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy into the body to cleanse the marrow, wash away impurities, and strengthen the body. Once mastered, it could open the Conception and Governor Vessels, forming within the body an inexhaustible,

unceasing source of power. The body would then progress from the acquired state to the innate state, laying a firm foundation for entering the immortal path in the future. Those who reached the innate state were said to have entered the Foundation Establishment Realm.

Yet one should not underestimate the journey from Qi Refining to Foundation Establishment. Countless cultivators spent their entire lives trying and still failed to complete it. Only after reaching Foundation Establishment could one truly be called a cultivator, and one's lifespan would surge to a hundred and fifty years.

After obtaining the Profound Yin Heart Sutra Introductory Chapter, Lei Dong did not begin cultivating right away. Instead, he spent three days memorizing the entire text, committing every sentence firmly to heart. Even after repeatedly pondering the Profound Yin Heart Sutra, he understood less than a tenth of it. Fortunately, what he did understand was enough to let him start feeling his way through the first level.

After a good night's sleep, he ate breakfast the next day, then bathed and burned incense to bring himself into the best possible condition. Only then did he sit cross-legged in the Cultivation Chamber and try to cultivate according to the Profound Yin Heart Sutra and the animation.

According to the Cultivation Method, the first through twelfth levels of the Qi Refining Stage corresponded to twelve major acupoints in the human body. Opening each main acupoint advanced one level, and after reaching the peak of Qi Refining, one would attempt to break through the thirteenth acupoint. Success meant entering Foundation Establishment. But every towering structure began at ground level. To open the first acupoint, one first had to accumulate a certain amount of true qi.

The entire Myriad Ghost Cave stood atop a vast Spirit Vein. Cultivating over a Spirit Vein usually doubled one's results for half the effort. Breathing Technique cultivation was exceedingly tedious. With each intake of breath, one had to draw the surrounding air deep into the lungs, then hold it while imagining the qi sinking toward the dantian. One then left a trace of the almost imperceptible Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy in the dantian before exhaling the turbid air. It was a mysterious process, yet the only path for the vast majority of cultivators.

Even while cultivating atop this fairly superior Spirit Vein, each breath contained only a minuscule amount of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy. It was like panning for gold in sand: one had to wash away countless grains of silt through tremendous effort before, by chance, finding that tiny, dazzling glimmer.

Lei Dong spent hours on the Breathing Technique, yet he still could not sense the mysterious Qi Sensation described in the Cultivation Method. He grew restless. His crossed legs had gone numb so many times that he had shifted them more than ten times, and he felt utterly depleted in both body and spirit. Perseverance was certainly a virtue. But Lei Dong, who had crossed over from another world, understood more than most: cultivation could not be rushed. Haste made waste.

He exhaled heavily and got up to take a bath. For the rest of the day, he lay there, reflecting on what he had gained and lost during cultivation. At other times, he read odd tales and miscellanies.

When he awoke the next day, he seemed more refreshed than usual, though he could not be sure it was not his imagination. He bathed and burned incense again, then focused his attention and did his best to clear his mind of every distracting thought. Yet after several hours, he seemed to have gained nothing again. Frustration kept rising, and he could not concentrate. Lei Dong gave up once more and began to relax and think things over.

Half a month passed like this. Sitting cross-legged in the Cultivation Chamber, Lei Dong kept his eyes closed and his face calm. Each breath was long and steady. His consciousness seemed to sink into the entire breathing process. As he visualized it, the breath he had just drawn into his lungs seemed to follow his will, passing through his chest and lungs and sinking very slowly into his dantian.

The dantian was an acupoint, but also an ideal vessel within the human body. When that breath sank into it, his entire dantian seemed to swell up at once.