The Attribute of Qi?

Wuchen stopped about a meter away from the water jug. He was a bit bewildered; the jug was exquisite, certainly, but the water inside was nothing more than ordinary water.

With his current level of spiritual perception, combined with the experience of his past life and his insights into the Dao of Water, he could assert with certainty that there was nothing special about the water in the jug—at most, it was simply purer than usual.

Of course, he had no intention of calling it out. Since the other party had said as much, perhaps there was a deeper meaning behind it.

Korin did not seem like the type to deliberately spread rumors just to toy with people.

"Pardon me, Korin." With that, Wuchen tentatively reached out to grab the jug.

As expected, Korin moved. He swung the wooden staff in his hand with a seemingly casual motion, hooking the jug away.

Korin let out a yawn, his eyes still closed, while the jug dangled from the tip of his staff, swaying left and right as if taunting Wuchen.

"Come and grab it, come and grab it, meow~" Korin teased, goading him.

Wuchen continued his attempts to snatch the jug, but each one was skillfully dodged by the cat with his eyes closed, leaving Wuchen unable to get his hands on it.

Is he trying to guide me? Korin's intent was not hard to discern, and Wuchen was indeed holding back.

He had plenty of ways to snatch the jug in an instant, and that was without even mentioning his martial arts techniques or movement skills.

Given the gap in their strength, he could have snatched the jug—and even the staff along with it—based on speed alone, before the other party could even react.

Alternatively, he could have attacked Korin directly to force an opening, rather than focusing all his attention on the jug and leaving his own intentions exposed, full of openings.

He can predict my movements because of his 'ki'. Is this what he wants to show me? Wuchen had naturally studied "ki"; he could sense the "ki" of others and the relative amount they possessed.

He appropriately increased his speed, adding a bit of pressure to Korin. Wuchen also closed his eyes, releasing his spiritual sense to perceive the state of the "ki" within Korin's body.

Ki, a unique form of bodily energy in this world, was similar to the power of blood and qi, yet distinct.

The power of blood and qi also belonged to bodily energy and was a manifestation of life force. The innate strength and limits of one's blood and qi were restricted by race and lineage.

The method of body refinement involved absorbing spiritual energy to temper the physique, thereby enhancing blood and qi, or even fundamentally altering them.

This, in turn, nourished the body, causing it to undergo a transformation—becoming immensely strong, impervious to blades, or extending one's lifespan...

But this "ki," rather than being bodily energy, was more like a concrete manifestation of physical power.

Physical training would increase the amount of ki in the body, and ki would also lie dormant within the flesh and blood.

Admittedly, ki made a person stronger, faster, and more defensive. Yet, in essence, the two were vastly different: ki was active, while blood and qi were passive.

One had to actively channel ki to enhance physical attributes. In other words, no matter how strong a person's ki was, if they were caught off guard, a small knife could potentially pierce their defenses.

This was already a frustrating flaw, and a more severe issue was that the strength and quantity of ki were not linked to one's lifespan; the level of life would not change because of it.

Its only advantage was that it could be projected outward like spiritual or primordial energy, and its destructive power was astonishing. It could compensate for the predicament of cultivation methods that were slow to progress and weak in power during the early stages.

These were Wuchen's current understandings of ki.

He did not value ki as much as the violent energy unique to him and Goku.

The latter was more special, like some kind of constitution or bloodline that could fundamentally alter flesh and blood, and it could also be tempered by spiritual energy.

However, its progress was also very slow; according to the terminology of this world, it was a change at the cellular level.

Moreover, this change seemed to have hit a bottleneck recently, almost coming to a complete halt.

At this moment, Wuchen wanted to learn more from Korin about the knowledge of ki. Perhaps it could answer some of his doubts.

After all, as the key to the cultivation system of this world, it might not be as simple as it appeared on the surface.

And Korin, as far as Wuchen had seen, might not be the strongest in the way of ki, but he had certainly traveled the furthest along that path.

One man and one cat.

One relying on familiarity with the environment and an understanding of ki, the other relying on powerful spiritual sense.

Both abandoned their vision, engaging in a chase high above the clouds.

Neither was affected in the slightest; instead, they were both incredibly agile and swift, each knowing the other's movements like the back of their hand.

For anyone else, let alone closing their eyes, even having an extra pair of eyes wouldn't allow them to achieve such a feat.

"Young man, your Flying Nimbus was given to you by that fellow Master Roshi, right?" They even began to chat.

"Does Korin know Master Roshi?" Wuchen asked, thinking to himself that it was as he expected. Since both titles contained the word "Immortal," there had to be a connection.

"Master Roshi? That guy." Korin muttered as if to himself, then said:

"Except for you two, no one has come here in a long time. The last person to come up was three hundred years ago, and he was the Master Roshi you speak of."

"He was also the first person to drink the Ultra Divine Water, meow~"

"I see." Wuchen realized, then said nothing more, instead increasing his speed slightly while sensing the ki within Korin's body more carefully.

Korin, seemingly unable to sit still, brought up another topic:

"Honestly, I can sense people's hearts and read some of the thoughts within them. The purer a person's heart is, the easier it is to read."

"You and your brother, the fact that you can ride the Flying Nimbus means you must be pure-hearted and kind. I can also feel that your ki is kind."

"But I can't read anything from you. Can you tell me why that is?"

Sensing hearts? Kind ki? As if catching a key piece of information, Wuchen's heart stirred, but he did not hesitate to reply: "Perhaps it is because we have undergone some special training..."

Yes, Wuchen used his cultivation as a shield. He had intended to spread it anyway, so there was nothing to hide.

And so, Wuchen offered his explanations while maintaining the chase, all the while analyzing the situation.

Qi, benevolent qi. Qi also possesses attributes, though not of the natural variety. And that so-called sensing of the heart seems to have some connection to qi, or rather, the attributes of qi, which can be used to perceive the thoughts of others.

I have condensed my divine sense, while Goku has condensed his Origin Soul; this must be why such techniques are ineffective against us. Only those who have condensed a Divine Soul or an Origin Spirit can use the Soul Searching Technique to any effect against a cultivator.

However, the attributes of this qi... perhaps there is some mystery here. It might even be related to the berserk energy within Goku and myself. Following that logic, isn't being berserk an attribute in its own right?