Qi Refining First Layer (Bonus Chapter, Please Vote)

The night was still as water. Jiang Fu'an sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion, eyes closed, his breathing long and steady.

Suddenly, an almost imperceptible sound came from the edge of the Qi Sea within his body.

The invisible boundary that had tightly confined his spiritual power silently dissolved.

In an instant, his Qi Sea abruptly expanded.

The thin, drifting spiritual energy between heaven and earth was drawn in, pouring backward into him and flowing through his meridians in bubbling streams.

In mere moments, a Qi Sea several times broader than before had steadily taken shape, filled with misty spiritual energy like fog and rosy clouds.

He slowly opened his eyes, and a gleam flashed quietly through their depths.

Qi Refining First Layer, achieved as naturally as water flowing into its channel.

For cultivators with excellent aptitude who cultivated atop Spiritual Veins, this first threshold on the path of cultivation

was merely something they could cross with ease after a few months of meditation.

Yet it had cost him two full years. During that time, he had consumed thirty Qi-Nourishing Pills and fifty Azure Spirit Fruits, meditating and breathing in spiritual energy every day without daring to slacken in the slightest.

The hardships within were like drinking water—only the drinker knew whether it was cold or warm.

Jiang Fu'an gently exhaled a breath of turbid air. Then, with a thought, a translucent light screen slowly unfolded before him:

[Name: Jiang Fu'an]

[Age: 32]

[Lifespan: 60+7+50]

[Realm: Qi Refining First Layer]

[Hidden Injuries: 1 (reduces lifespan by 3 years)]

[Fate: None]

[Spiritual Root: Five-Element Spiritual Root]

[Special Physiques: Devouring Physique (Purple), Talisman Saint Physique (Purple)]

When his gaze fell upon the "Lifespan" entry and he saw the additional seven years, a smile finally spread across his lips.

Breaking through to Qi Refining First Layer alone had added seven years to his lifespan.

If he cultivated to Qi Refining Ninth Layer in the future, would that not add more than a full sixty years to his life?

The exhaustion accumulated over the past two years suddenly became lighter.

He felt that all those days and nights of unceasing bitter cultivation had been worth it.

With a light swipe of his finger across the screen, as though turning a page, the display changed to reveal his eldest daughter's information:

[Name: Jiang Xianghe]

[Age: 11]

[Lifespan: 67+18]

[Realm: Qi Refining Third Layer, Perfected]

[Fate: Gratitude and Reciprocity (White)]

[Spiritual Root: Three-Element Water-Fire-Earth Spiritual Root]

"Still not through to Qi Refining Mid-Stage..."

His younger son, Stone, had also successfully drawn qi into his body a few days ago and entered Qi Refining First Layer.

Now, they only needed Seedling to break through before the ancestral residence could be upgraded once more.

In truth, Jiang Fu'an had long noticed that his daughter had been stuck at the perfected Qi Refining Third Layer for over half a year.

He guessed that the Spirit-Gathering Pill he had given her had yet to be taken.

Otherwise, with Seedling's aptitude, she should have broken through long ago.

He did not know whether she wanted to save it for breaking through at Qi Refining Late-Stage, or intended to leave it for him, her father.

Jiang Fu'an smiled. He was not in any hurry.

There was plenty of time ahead; his lifespan was now abundant indeed.

Now that he had entered Qi Refining First Layer, he could finally attempt the thing he had long awaited—drawing talismans.

At that thought, his spirits rose, and all weariness vanished.

Jiang Fu'an turned to look at the bed. Miao Ruolan's creamy bosom was half exposed, and she slept deeply.

After helping her pull up the covers, he slipped quietly out of the room.

By the cold moonlight beneath the corridor eaves, he crossed the courtyard and arrived before a small room in the western wing.

Pushing open the door, he found the room small and its furnishings even simpler: one table, one chair, nothing else.

Yet the four walls and the inner sides of the doors and windows had been carefully covered with thick cotton cloth for soundproofing.

Among the hundred arts of cultivation, talisman drawing consumed the most mental energy. One had to focus wholeheartedly while drawing, and external disturbance was the greatest taboo.

Walking to the table, he first lit the half-burned candle in the clay lamp.

Its warm yellow glow swayed outward, driving away the darkness in one corner.

Then he took several items he had prepared long ago from the Storage Ring hidden against his skin:

A talisman brush, a stack of blank talisman paper, and a shallow inkstone holding cinnabar.

But he did not immediately begin.

Instead, he took another thin booklet from his Storage Ring: Methods for Drawing Five Essential Talismans of the Qi Refining Period.

The title sounded exactly like cheap street-stall fare, and in fact, it was.

He had picked it up for five Lower-Grade Spirit Stones from the Rogue Cultivator market area in Melodious Sound City.

Back then, his daughter Seedling had wanted to persuade him to buy a more expensive one, but he had feared exposing his wealth and inviting disaster, so he had insisted on choosing this one.

Fortunately, cheap as it was, its contents were genuine.

Whenever he had free time these past days, he had read and studied it, until he knew by heart the pattern principles and spiritual-power flows of the five first-tier lower-grade talismans recorded within—

the Giant Strength Talisman, Quicksand Talisman, Fireball Talisman, Lightness Talisman, and Poison Mist Talisman.

To be safe, he decided to review them once more before setting brush to paper.

His fingers turned the pages and stopped at the chapter on the "Lightness Talisman."

By candlelight, his gaze was calm as he studied it word by word.

He had chosen this talisman first because he and Stone had trained their worldly martial arts well over the past two years.

If they could pair that with a talisman that made the body lighter, they would be like tigers with wings in both advance and retreat.

The Giant Strength Talisman was useful as well.

But Jiang Fu'an felt that mastering life-saving means of escape first was always the safer choice.

After reading the final annotation, he closed the booklet and shut his eyes, silently rehearsing the talisman pattern from beginning to end in his mind.

Suddenly, his eyes opened. His gaze sharpened, and his aura settled with it.

His right hand reached out, its five fingers firmly gripping the talisman brush. After soaking it full with cinnabar, he lowered it onto the talisman paper without hesitation.

As the first stroke fell, his wrist moved like a dragon and serpent. The talisman pattern flowed from the brush tip, smooth as a stream rushing through a mountain ravine.

Threads of spiritual power extended with the brush strokes, seeping evenly into the paper and giving off an exceedingly faint spiritual glow.

But halfway through, the brush tip gradually became sluggish, and every inch of progress demanded immense mental effort.

Fine beads of sweat gradually appeared on Jiang Fu'an's brow, while his face turned pale.

Though he relied on the Talisman Saint Physique and had gained a deep understanding of this talisman,

only when he truly began did he realize that understanding was one thing, while drawing it was another world entirely.

The talisman brush in his hand seemed to come alive, constantly devouring his spiritual power and mental energy.

It felt as if a burly man had been entangled by more than a dozen female ghosts, his vital yang draining away at a furious pace.

Waves of discomfort surged through him, and his mind repeatedly went blank.

Puff—

On the talisman paper, the unfinished pattern suddenly twisted and flickered several times. Then a wisp of green smoke rose, and the entire sheet rapidly blackened and curled.

His first attempt at drawing had failed.

Yet Jiang Fu'an showed no disappointment.

He stared at the ruined talisman for a moment, then began to review the process.

The reasons for failure gradually became clear:

First, his cultivation was ultimately too low. His reserves of spiritual power and mental energy were shallow, and the discomfort caused by their rapid depletion severely interfered with his drawing;

Second, there were several subtle turns where he had not fully considered the force needed or the rhythm of spiritual-power infusion during his earlier deductions. Only when the brush truly touched paper did their effects reveal themselves.

If he made slight adjustments to those details, perhaps the next attempt would succeed.

He closed his eyes again and sat in meditation, regulating his breath.

As he slowly restored his mental energy, he also corrected those key points within his Consciousness Sea.

About half an hour later, he opened his eyes again, the fatigue within them somewhat faded.

He picked up the brush. The second attempt began.

Yet he failed again.

Without a word, he merely continued silently summarizing the lessons of failure.

When he failed, he summarized;

after summarizing, he tried again.

Finally, on his fifth attempt,

the entire talisman paper trembled slightly, then gave off a layer of pale cyan light.

A first-tier lower-grade Lightness Talisman, complete.

Yet Jiang Fu'an did not show much joy.

At this moment, his mental energy and spiritual power were nearly completely depleted.

Moreover, first-tier lower-grade talismans were merely the entryway to the talisman path.

Even someone with no talent at all could draw one after practicing for enough days.

There was nothing to be proud of.

Nor would he be satisfied with this.