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Lei Dong's brows lifted slightly, and joy welled up in his heart. At last, he had experienced Qi Sensation for the first time. But he didn't dare make the slightest movement. He carefully recalled the wondrous feeling of qi gathering in his dantian. Only when he could no longer hold his breath did he finally exhale the stale air. Perhaps it was his imagination, but his dantian felt faintly cool, and his spirits lifted.

Striking while the iron was hot, Lei Dong began another round of the Breathing Technique. Again and again. In what felt like the blink of an eye, an entire day had passed. Lei Dong opened his eyes, excitement gleaming in them. Though fewer than one or two out of every ten attempts that day had succeeded, he had at least taken the first step. Now that he had found Qi Sensation, he was sure he would become more and more practiced at the Breathing Technique.

Lei Dong quietly savored the feeling again. After a full day of practice, a faint, nearly imperceptible wisp of True Qi now drifted through his dantian. He could barely sense its presence unless he focused carefully. Yet that tiny hint of coolness filled him with both joy and amazement. After twenty days of hard work, he had finally taken the first step on the path to immortality.

His True Qi improved bit by bit. Three months—he had spent a full three months at it. Now, even when he wasn't practicing the Breathing Technique, his dantian felt slightly swollen. Of the ten Lesser Vitality Pills given to him when he joined, eight had already been used up. Without them, cultivating True Qi to this level would have taken far longer. Lei Dong had estimated that each Lesser Vitality Pill was worth about ten days of painstaking cultivation. Now his entire being brimmed with vigor and vitality. Even without looking inward, he could feel that the time had come to break through to the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage.

Following the instructions in the Profound Yin Heart Sutra, Lei Dong slowly guided the True Qi gathered in his dantian down through his meridians. Its progress was slow and steady. A cool, soothing sensation flowed down from his lower abdomen. The feeling was slightly swollen, yet so blissful that he nearly moaned aloud. But Lei Dong had memorized the Profound Yin Heart Sutra well enough to know he absolutely couldn't lose focus during a breakthrough. He drew a deep breath, stilled his mind, and forced his attention onto the flow of True Qi.

About a quarter of an hour later, the slow-moving Profound Yin True Qi suddenly halted. Lei Dong knew he had reached the first bottleneck. Holding his breath, he forced the True Qi downward, but a needle-sharp pain in his lower abdomen drenched him in cold sweat. He hurriedly stopped trying to force his way through. After resting for a while, the excruciating pain finally eased.

Having learned his lesson, Lei Dong didn't dare act recklessly again. Instead, guided by his understanding of the Profound Yin Heart Sutra, he carefully massaged the acupoint that stood like a barrier, using the most delicate touch and the slowest movements. The moment the barrier slackened even slightly under his massage, the True Qi would turn into a fine mist and seep through, finding its way into every tiny opening.

A thousand-mile dike could collapse because of an ant hole. Lei Dong relied on this method to slowly gnaw away at the barrier blocking the True Qi's passage. But as time flew by, the True Qi he had stored in his dantian was steadily being depleted. Since he'd already felt his True Qi was insufficient, he had swallowed the last two Pills for Cultivating Origin.

Beads of sweat rolled down Lei Dong's forehead, but his expression remained resolute. Perhaps others didn't understand, but Lei Dong, who had come from another world, knew that in a world of cultivators wielding power that defied the heavens, only the truly strong could control their own fate. Otherwise, in a world where the weak were prey to the strong, one wouldn't even have the right to resist.

Boom! Just as his True Qi was nearly exhausted and Lei Dong thought this attempt would only earn him a little more experience, the tormenting barrier finally melted like ice beneath the relentless erosion of his True Qi. The small amount of True Qi that remained surged forward and entered the acupoint, circling around and around like a vortex—or even a galaxy spiraling through the universe.

As the True Qi continued to circulate, it gradually grew purer.

The remaining waste qi was driven back into his dantian, then expelled from his body through the Breathing Technique.

Lei Dong was overjoyed. A dantian had a limited capacity, after all. The more condensed and refined the True Qi, the greater the energy it could unleash within the same space. Striking while the iron was hot, Lei Dong immediately began gathering qi through the Breathing Technique again. Each wisp of True Qi he drew into his body underwent another refinement. The first layer of the Qi Refining Stage was far more efficient than before. After only a few hours of seated breathing, his True Qi had returned to its peak. Not only that, the True Qi in his dantian was several times purer than before.

Only then did Lei Dong slowly open his eyes. The scene before him was sharp and clear. The Cultivation Chamber was dimly lit, its furnishings plain. Before, the stone walls had seemed somewhat hazy, but now he could see even their tiniest grains. He stood and stepped forward, feeling as light as a feather, as if he might ride the wind away. He pushed off hard, and his body floated three or four meters forward.

Cultivation truly was the best way to unlock the body's potential. Lei Dong couldn't help reflecting on this. Once he had calmed down, he noticed that his newly sensitive nose had picked up a foul stench coming from his body. He hurriedly called a maid and had her bring a bathtub. It took three tubs of water to get him clean. Refreshed and invigorated, he felt as though he might float away to immortality.

After asking the maid what time it was, Lei Dong realized that, without noticing, he had spent nearly four months in seclusion without setting foot outside his room. He sat stunned for a while, then sighed, finally understanding what people meant when they said that cultivators lost track of time. Looking at himself in the bronze mirror in the washroom, he saw that his skin was a little paler—but mostly, he was deathly white, the result of spending so long without seeing the sun. He understood that having reached the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage, he had barely made it through the gates of cultivation. Not only had his constitution improved tremendously, he could now formally begin learning how to use spells. Besides, after four months as a shut-in, it was time to go out, stretch his legs, and soak up some sun.

He savored a delicious meal, then stepped out of his room. Everything felt strangely unfamiliar. He looked this way and that, unsure where to go. With nowhere else to turn, he called over a middle-aged servant and questioned him carefully, especially about where to go to learn spells.

The servant also knew that this new disciple had already reached the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage. He didn't dare neglect him and hurriedly led him to see Tang Qian, the steward in charge of the manuals for spell cultivation.

Steward Tang looked to be in his sixties or seventies, yet Lei Dong sensed something unfathomable about him. Knowing that courtesy never hurt, Lei Dong treated him with the utmost respect and humility. After checking Lei Dong's identity, Tang Qian was also somewhat surprised. "Lei Dong, based on your aptitude test before you joined, you should have ranked somewhere in the middle—neither good nor bad. In my experience, someone with your aptitude usually needs at least eight months to reach the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage. I didn't expect you to do it in a mere four months..."

"Steward Tang, this disciple hasn't stepped outside his room once in the past four months." Lei Dong forced a bitter smile. "I've used up that whole bottle of Lesser Vitality Pills, too."

"Lei Dong, just call me Senior Brother Tang. I'm only at the ninth layer of the Qi Refining Stage myself. All Qi Refining disciples are called third-generation disciples, and we address one another as senior or junior brothers according to our cultivation levels." Learning that Lei Dong had ordinary aptitude yet had made such quick progress, Tang Qian warmed to him considerably and smiled. "It seems Junior Brother Lei has excellent comprehension. Otherwise, ten Lesser Vitality Pills wouldn't have been enough."

"Senior Brother Tang, you're too kind." Lei Dong smiled along with him. "May I ask how many people had reached the first layer of the Qi Refining Stage before me?"