Perfected Early Qi Refining

Not long after Dong Lin returned to his cultivation room, his identity jade plaque received an emergency notice of the sect's highest level.

From this day forth, the sect would seal the mountain for five years. All disciples outside the sect who received this message were to return immediately!

For five years, no disciple was permitted to leave the sect's mountain range. Violators would be dealt with according to sect law.

"The sect is sealing the mountain? Because of those two people who came from the Empire just now?"

Dong Lin glanced at the notice, then sat down once more and began a new round of cultivation.

The cultivation world was fraught with danger, and Dong Lin had no plans to leave the sect anytime soon.

Five years of sealing the mountain was perfect for Dong Lin to cultivate bitterly.

Besides, once the mountain was sealed, there would surely be no assignments sending disciples outside the sect, sparing him quite a bit of trouble.

Dong Lin still could not make sense of those profound immortal arts in his mind.

Left with no choice, he could only continue raising his realm.

The time needed to complete each Greater Celestial Circuit had basically stabilized at around seven shichen.

Dong Lin was no longer in a hurry for quick success. Sometimes, cultivating too quickly was not necessarily a good thing.

Completing one Greater Celestial Circuit each day was enough to count as meeting his goal.

And so, a month passed.

"Other than attending class, I've spent practically all my time cultivating."

"At last, Perfected Early Qi Refining."

Without encountering the slightest obstacle, Dong Lin simply circulated his cultivation method and absorbed spiritual qi.

His Dantian naturally filled to the brim, allowing him to reach the realm of Perfected Early Qi Refining.

In just over three months, he had transformed from a mortal into a cultivator at Perfected Early Qi Refining.

If news of such speed spread, anyone who heard it would be utterly shocked.

Once the Dantian was filled, it had to be tempered and solidified in preparation for expanding its capacity and breaking through to the Middle Qi Refining Stage.

"One hundred and four units? Looks like my aptitude isn't too bad."

Dong Lin sensed the capacity of his Dantian and nodded.

The standard capacity for Perfected Early Qi Refining was one hundred units, but that was merely a reference. When each cultivator reached perfection, their capacity was not necessarily exactly one hundred units.

Some had a little more, while others had a little less.

Those with less had more time and better chances to prepare for breaking through to the next level, while those with more would strengthen their foundation, giving them greater confidence when condensing their Dao Foundation in the future.

For ordinary cultivators with mediocre aptitude, spending an entire lifetime cultivating to the Qi Refining Peak was an exceedingly difficult matter.

Thus, the smaller one's initial Dantian capacity, the faster one could reach each minor stage and the lower the chance of encountering bottlenecks. That was a good thing.

But for genius disciples of great sects, the larger their Dantian capacity, the better.

Because no matter what, they could cultivate to perfection.

It might originally take one or two years, but after expanding the Dantian, it might take an additional year of cultivation.

That year could not be considered wasted. It would pave the road for Foundation Establishment, greatly raising the chance of succeeding in Foundation Establishment and even making it possible to condense a higher-grade Dao Foundation.

For now, Dong Lin did not need to consider additionally expanding his Dantian.

Without the aid of heavenly treasures, cultivators generally only began considering secret arts for supplementary Dantian expansion during the Late Qi Refining Stage.

This was because breaking through a minor realm required expanding the Dantian once. Expanding it too early would disrupt the pace of realm breakthroughs.

Since entering the Qi Refining Stage, the Dantian had undergone three changes.

The first came after one developed qi sense and opened up the Dantian. At that time, its capacity was around one hundred units.

The second came when breaking through from the Early Qi Refining Stage to the Middle Qi Refining Stage.

By circulating the cultivation method and borrowing the power of the meridians, the Dantian's capacity would expand once.

Aside from certain cultivation methods that had an extreme impact on the Dantian, most methods would expand the Dantian upon breaking through to the Middle Qi Refining Stage, creating enough space to hold another hundred units.

The third came when breaking through from the Middle Qi Refining Stage to the Late Qi Refining Stage. The process was largely the same as the middle stage, only somewhat more difficult.

The methods used by various cultivation arts to open the Dantian were basically the same. This was a mature result of tens of thousands of years of exploration in the cultivation world.

It involved nourishing and covering the entire Dantian with spiritual qi while simultaneously circulating the cultivation method through every meridian, filling all the meridians.

By continuously filling them, stimulating the meridians, and building pressure, the Dantian's capacity could be expanded.

This process was fraught with danger and demanded an extremely high degree of control over spiritual qi.

Therefore, a great many cultivators became stuck at Perfected Early Qi Refining, unable to advance another inch for their entire lives.

"So breaking through is actually this troublesome?"

To ensure a smooth breakthrough, after reaching perfection, Dong Lin began visiting the Immortal Arts Hall every day.

He repeatedly polished every detail of the breakthrough process.

After spending more than two months, he completed the introductory task of finishing the first stage of study at the Immortal Arts Hall within five years.

Then he began the path of nourishing his Dantian.

The time needed to nourish the Dantian varied from person to person. Some only needed a few weeks, while others needed years.

The degree of nourishment depended entirely on personal control. Cultivators generally only began a breakthrough when they were completely certain.

After all, if the Dantian was not nourished properly, it could very well tear during the breakthrough and become damaged.

If the damage was minor, it would still take years or even more than a decade of continued nourishment before spiritual qi could slowly repair it.

If the Dantian was severely damaged, then without heavenly treasures to mend it, one would never again have any affinity with the path of cultivation.

The first stage of study mainly taught disciples the basic knowledge of cultivation and guided them into the Qi Refining Stage.

Five years was the standard set by the sect. Any disciple who could not enter the Early Qi Refining Stage within five years—

Would either have to roll up their bedding and leave, or be demoted to a menial disciple.

One had to know that after developing qi sense, whether one could successfully circulate a cultivation method and open up the Dantian was also an extremely important step.

This step stumped many cultivators whose innate physical aptitude was acceptable but whose minds were not nimble enough.

After all, guiding spiritual qi through the meridians was also an exceedingly complex and precise matter.

If handled poorly, the meridians would be damaged.

After the first stage of study ended, the Immortal Arts Hall would evaluate the disciples to assess their cultivation progress.

After completing his studies, Dong Lin arrived at the Immortal Arts Hall located within the Soaring Cloud Heavenly Palace of the inner sect.

Since the first stage of study was primarily for outer sect disciples in the Qi Refining Stage,

The first-stage classes were held in the outer sect.

This magnificent hall within the Soaring Cloud Heavenly Palace was the true headquarters of the Immortal Arts Hall.

Unlike when he had first arrived and found travel so arduous,

Now that yuan energy coursed through his body, Dong Lin reached the gates of the Immortal Arts Hall with almost no effort.

Quite a few cultivators flew through the air on swords, and several others rode flying artifacts.

Cultivators flying through the air on their own were rarely seen.

Of course, the largest number were still those like Dong Lin, trudging bitterly along the road.

The vast majority of inner sect disciples did not yet possess the ability to fly and could only honestly travel on foot.

Beyond the gates lay an incomparably spacious courtyard.

Just as expected, the world outside the gates was entirely different from the world within.

The sect's mastery over the use of space had evidently reached the height of perfection.