Mana

"Done."

In the secret chamber at the bottom of the well, a gentle yet incredibly resilient breeze suddenly stirred from thin air. This invisible whirlwind swirled around Xia Dong, steadily lifting his cross-legged body into mid-air.

Xia Dong slowly opened his eyes, a flicker of irrepressible joy flashing across them. As his thoughts shifted, the breeze around him dissipated like light smoke, and his feet landed lightly back onto the smooth stone floor.

Three years.

The Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art had been running without interruption for three years as if it were a single day. Although there was still a significant distance to go before reaching the "perfection" stage of this cultivation method's foundation chapter, constant dripping wears away the stone; Xia Dong's root foundation had already undergone an obvious transformation.

Now, when he used his divine sense to draw the spiritual energy of heaven and earth into his body, he was able to steadily intercept and refine ten percent of it!

"If I continue to cultivate step-by-step at the current pace, it will likely take another five years to push the foundation chapter of the Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art to complete perfection. By then, my mortal root foundation will truly be able to ascend into a 'spiritual root'."

Xia Dong calculated silently in his heart, but he quickly suppressed this anticipation for the future. Because just moments ago, he had completed the most important and groundbreaking step of these past three years.

He had finally succeeded in condensing the intercepted and refined spiritual energy of heaven and earth into the mana that only cultivators possess, right within his dantian's sea of energy.

Regardless of whether he could be considered to possess a proper spiritual root now, he certainly possessed both "mana" and "divine sense."

This meant that from this moment on, he had completely crossed the chasm between mortal and immortal, becoming a genuine cultivator.

He finally possessed the most basic requirements to cast the high-and-mighty spells and techniques of the cultivation world, and even to operate storage bags and control magical artifacts.

Xia Dong closed his eyes, carefully experiencing this newfound power while meticulously comparing it to the "innate qi" refined by the Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art within his body.

Qi and mana are fundamentally different.

Although "qi" could be used to drive martial arts (such as the previous Wind-Riding Technique), that was not its primary function at all.

For Xia Dong, "qi" was more like an extremely high-level source of life; its greatest efficacy lay in reshaping his "root foundation" and physical body against the heavens, silently and imperceptibly.

However, "mana" was different.

With a thought, Xia Dong directly drew upon that sliver of mana in his dantian and once again cast the Wind-Riding Technique, which had been broken through via the Crane Shadow Step.

Whoosh.

The moment the mana circulated, Xia Dong clearly felt that it was like an extremely fitting key, instantly creating a strong resonance and intersection with the spiritual energy of heaven and earth outside the secret chamber.

The Wind-Riding Technique was not only incredibly smooth to cast, but its consumption was also significantly reduced, and the wind force it stirred up was more solid and swift.

Because mana was refined from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, using it to cast spells was like water blending with milk, perfectly in line with the laws of this world.

If one had to compare "qi" and "mana"...

"Qi" is more like the concept of "Dao-attainment" from my previous life.

Dao-attainment is the manifestation of a cultivator's foundation, accumulation over time, and potential. The more profound the "qi," the larger and sturdier the "vessel" that is Xia Dong, and the higher the ceiling of his life level.

"Mana," on the other hand, represents an output. It is the water contained within the vessel, a consumable used for external attacks and the execution of miraculous means.

Just as Xia Dong was carefully contemplating the differences between these two forces, he keenly noticed a shocking phenomenon.

Under internal observation, when he tentatively used a sliver of his newfound mana to touch the cyan-colored "qi" lurking deep within his heart.

Sss.

There was no violent explosion, nor any wild conflict.

The moment that sliver of mana touched the "qi," it actually disintegrated as if ice meeting a scorching sun, directly transforming into an extremely pure, ownerless spiritual energy.

"So that's it... the qi born from the Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art actually possesses the property of 'returning to the source'!"

The cultivation methods of the immortal world are myriad, but apart from those extremely rare divine sense attacks, the essence of the vast majority of offensive means—such as flying swords, spells, and talismans—cannot be separated from the support and construction of "mana."

This meant that the innate "qi" within Xia Dong's body was naturally the nemesis of all cultivator spells.

As long as he attached "qi" to his body surface or weapons, he could directly disintegrate and melt away the opponent's supernatural powers at the most basic level of spiritual energy structure.

"However, disintegrating mana must also consume an equivalent amount of the 'qi' within my body." Xia Dong analyzed calmly, "If I encounter a great cultivator whose cultivation far exceeds mine and whose mana is like an ocean, once my 'qi' is exhausted, I will still be dead."

But even with such limitations, this characteristic of "qi" could still be called heaven-defying.

On the other hand, having cultivated mana, he was finally qualified to practice the qi-refining content of the Profound Yin Scripture. Although the Profound Yin Scripture leaned toward the evil and ghostly path, even requiring the harvesting of yin spirits, setting aside these shortcut evil methods, it was in itself a proper, orthodox cultivation method pointing directly to the Great Dao.

Previously, because he could not condense mana, Xia Dong could only practice the "divine refining techniques" within it to strengthen his soul.

And now...

Xia Dong sat cross-legged, drawing the spiritual energy in the secret chamber into his body. Although his efficiency in converting the spiritual energy of heaven and earth was a pitiful ten percent, under the guidance of his powerful divine sense—which far exceeded his current realm—the spiritual energy moved through his body as if it were his own arm. There was no obscurity or bottleneck in practicing the qi-refining methods of the Profound Yin Scripture.

Following the circulation of the Profound Yin Scripture, slivers of mana with cold attributes gradually took shape in his dantian.

And these newborn mana forces, as if having found an outlet, rushed straight toward his brow's sea of consciousness along his meridians.

Boom!

Xia Dong's vast divine sense, like a long-parched land meeting sweet rain, greedily absorbed and swallowed these mana forces.

With the nourishment and feedback of orthodox mana, Xia Dong clearly felt that the terrifying pressure and burden his divine sense had placed on his physical body and blood—like a water pump—had almost vanished at this moment.

Xia Dong let out a long breath, his entire being feeling as if a thousand-jin burden had been lifted, feeling unprecedentedly light and clear.

Three years of dormant hard work had finally ushered in a comprehensive harvest today.

Mana utilizes all things; Qi returns to all laws.

With mana, he could continue to elevate the level of his divine sense. Although the Evergreen Qi-Circulation Art had previously alleviated the burden of his divine sense on his physical body, the more important role of qi was to transform his root foundation.

With the Eagle-Wolf Guard cracking down on demons and heretics all over Pingyang County, it was inconvenient for Xia Dong to go out and devour ghosts, lest he run into Yang Ting and his men and expose his secrets.

The silver lining was that, over the course of three years, Xia Dong had managed to learn which areas of Pingyang County were dangerous and which were relatively safe, all by gleaning information from the various squad members of the Eagle-Wolf Guard under the guise of a medical officer.

Moreover, with his current accumulation of strength, he could already attempt to search Pingyang County for the caves or secret realms left behind by cultivators.

One must know that he had personally participated in the compilation of the Pingyang County annals. Most of the strange tales and records of supernatural phenomena left behind throughout the long history of Pingyang County had passed through his hands.

This allowed him to uncover a number of unknown secrets.