The creation of Nirvana Finger had kept Xu Qian excited for two whole days, but it had also brought a new problem: it consumed far too much energy.
That finger strike had seemed effortless, but in truth it had drained three-tenths of his true qi. With his cultivation at the Houtian Late Stage, he could use it at full strength no more than three times before his true qi ran dry.
"Though its power is impressive, I can't use it as a regular technique." Xu Qian paced around his room, deep in thought. "I need to find a way to reduce the cost, or... a more efficient way to use true qi."
He thought of the palm print on the ice wall.
That palm strike had sunk three inches into the wall, and its intent had lingered for more than a decade without fading. Clearly, it had been left by an expert of at least the Xiantian Realm. An expert like that would surely have true qi as vast as the sea, but more importantly, their control over true qi would have reached the level of microscopic precision.
"Condense... compress... to the utmost..." Xu Qian murmured to himself.
The essence of Mystic Ice Palm lay in the word "condense": compress the cold to its utmost, then unleash it in a single point. But the act of compression itself required an extremely high level of control.
"My control over true qi is still a long way off." Xu Qian realized where the problem lay.
He had been cultivating for too short a time. Though his realm had advanced quickly, his foundation wasn't solid enough. His fine control over true qi, in particular, was several levels below that of seasoned veterans who had cultivated for decades.
"I need to make up for