Road of Cultivation

When Yang Wenqing and Li Ming returned to District 3, the colleagues taking over for the Fifth Patrol Squad had already arrived. The four exchanged a few casual words before going their separate ways.

Back in the Public Security Office's work area, Captain Xiao Liang had returned long ago and was writing something at his desk. Seeing Yang Wenqing and Li Ming return, he looked up at them and said, "The conflict in District 2 counts as one merit for each of you."

"Thank you, Captain!"

The two thanked him at the same time, then headed toward the changing room.

The police department had a very strict merit system, tied to seniority within the force. Accumulating ten days of patrol duty earned one merit point. For a regular security officer to advance to senior security officer through seniority alone required accumulating three hundred merit points.

Of course, reaching the Qi Refining Stage would directly earn one the rank of senior security officer. After mastering all the basic spells, one would qualify to take the examination for promotion to Police Commissioner. In the entire Public Security Office, only Director Wang Ren held the rank of Police Commissioner.

Police Commissioner was already an officer-level rank, allowing one to serve as the director of a Public Security Office, a department head at a district branch, or a frontline unit commander.

The final use of merit points was to exchange them for various spirit herbs and Pills. The total recorded merit points would not decrease after an exchange, so it did not affect a security officer's accumulated seniority. The White Dragon Ginseng in Yang Wenqing's possession had been exchanged using the merit points he earned after following his captain on patrol for half a year.

Ye Yong had already removed his equipment in the changing room and was chatting with Zhou Kun, who was in the same group as him. Seeing Yang Wenqing and Li Ming enter, he immediately said, "Zhao Qin from First Squad wants to invite us to Prosperity Restaurant. Are you two going?"

"You brat, looking to get smacked?"

Zhou Kun slapped Ye Yong on the head.

Yang Wenqing glanced at Ye Yong and said with a smile, "Go if you want to. I'm not going."

Li Ming also shook his head. "My wife's still heavily pregnant. I need to get home early."

At that, Ye Yong immediately stood and walked over to Yang Wenqing, grinning as he said, "That kid Zhao Qin has loved showing off since he was young. I'll go scout out what tricks he's up to tonight."

He was clearly someone who could not sit still, and it looked like he had known Zhao Qin for a long time.

Yang Wenqing kept smiling as he quickly removed his equipment and locked his locker.

Throughout the process, Ye Yong kept telling him about the rotten things Zhao Qin had done back in school, mostly putting Zhao Qin down. Clearly, he did not want this matter to create a rift between Yang Wenqing and the members of Second Squad. After all, when they encountered evil cultivators or sudden spiritual energy rampages during missions, they were comrades who had to entrust their backs to one another.

After casually chatting with him for a few more words, Yang Wenqing bade his teammates farewell and left. He had nothing to do that afternoon, so after exiting the Public Security Office, he headed straight back to the dormitory building.

The moment he entered the small courtyard, he saw a middle-aged man in a police vest practicing fist forms beneath a banyan tree. Yang Wenqing knew him. He was practicing the basic fist form of the Qi-Drawing Art, a set of techniques that helped the spiritual energy within the body circulate through the Spirit Veins. Without the aid of medicine or a Spirit-Gathering Formation, it was the best Qi Refining method.

Given the concentration of spiritual energy in this world, even ordinary people had a chance of reaching the Qi Refining Stage if they practiced this technique scientifically. It would simply take more than twenty years. Yet ordinary people did not have those twenty years to spare, because they spent most of their lives supporting their households.

Yang Wenqing himself was an example. Most of his day had to be spent working at the police department. Only after returning home from work and in the mornings did he have time to cultivate. Sometimes, when he had to work overtime, it could already be the dead of night by the time he returned, leaving him without even the time to cultivate in the morning or evening.

After returning to his dormitory, Yang Wenqing first took off his city defense uniform and checked the collar. Confirming that he could still wear it for another day, he could not be bothered to remove it for washing. Then he went to a wooden barrel in the corner and opened its lid, revealing the brown rice inside. It was food his parents had asked someone to bring him.

Yang Wenqing needed to make some rice cakes for later. By the time more than a dozen rice cakes came out of the steamer, an hour had passed. He ate three rice cakes in one go with pickled vegetables before finally quelling the hunger in his belly.

After tidying up the cluttered corner, Yang Wenqing stood before the windowsill and inscribed another talisman paper with an Immobilization Spell, then put it away.

"Now that I'm a regular security officer, I can go to the county branch and collect the rune pattern for a second spell, then try drawing it with spiritual energy. The day after tomorrow is Saturday, so I can rest for a day."

Before reaching the Qi Refining Stage, one could only learn basic spells. These spells were fixed rune formulas, requiring one to use the Spirit Veins within the body to trace fixed rune paths. If they could be completed within a certain time and condensed without dispersing, they would produce their corresponding effects.

For his second spell, Yang Wenqing planned to learn the Golden Light Bodyguard Spell. It could construct a layer of golden light around a cultivator's body and was one of the best defensive and life-preserving methods in the early stages.

Having made his decision, Yang Wenqing picked up his keys and police badge and went outside. For the next several hours until bedtime, he would practice fist forms in the courtyard below, guiding the Spirit Veins in his Qi Sea to absorb and circulate the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

The colleague who had been practicing fist forms earlier was still there, except he was now sitting cross-legged beneath the banyan tree in meditation. Clearly, he was digesting the spiritual energy gathered in his Qi Sea while using it to repair damaged Spirit Veins. Without the aid of the Golden Core World, this step consumed most of his time, making his daily cultivation progress as slow as a turtle's crawl.

Yang Wenqing paid him no attention. He walked to an unoccupied corner, assumed the opening stance of the Qi-Drawing Art, then calmed his mind and guided the faint spiritual energy in the Qi Sea of his lower Dantian to flow slowly through his Spirit Veins.

Once he felt a faint sense of qi, his fist form gradually unfolded, his movements smooth and rhythmic.

The fist form of the Qi-Drawing Art had no power to defeat an enemy. Its essence lay in the word "draw." Through specific movements and breathing rhythms, combined with intent, it drew in and absorbed as much of the spiritual energy of heaven and earth as possible, then guided that spiritual energy along fixed paths through the Spirit Veins.

For cultivators who had yet to form a celestial circuit within their Spirit Veins, this was a grinding, water-dripping-through-stone process. They often had to repeat the entire fist form more than ten times before barely gathering enough spiritual energy to complete a full circulation through the main Spirit Veins.

Of course, those with good aptitude could complete this step quickly.

Yang Wenqing's aptitude was not good, but he had the Golden Core World.

As soon as he began practicing fist forms, a thread of his consciousness naturally separated and gathered into a Golden Core within his spiritual platform. Within the Golden Core World, his clear yet illusory projection appeared once more.

The projection clearly showed the movement of spiritual energy within his body as his fist form unfolded. By using his thoughts to guide its circulation, he could avoid most wasted effort.

After completing three sets of the fist form, the spiritual energy had already made one full circuit through his main Spirit Veins.

But Yang Wenqing did not stop. While the spiritual energy within his body had yet to settle completely, he assumed the opening stance once more.

With the Golden Core World's assistance, he could clearly see every minute expansion and strengthening of his Spirit Veins during the circulation of spiritual energy. He could also keenly detect the tiny injuries that might arise at certain nodes from the washing force of that spiritual energy.

As he circulated the spiritual energy, he directed part of the refined energy to nourish and repair the damaged Spirit Veins first, leaving almost no hidden danger in the cultivation process.

The second Greater Celestial Circuit...

The third Greater Celestial Circuit...

With no distracting thoughts, he immersed himself completely in this slow yet tangible process of growing stronger. The sense of qi within his body became increasingly distinct with each celestial circuit, while the Qi Sea in his lower Dantian spun ever more steadily and powerfully.

When the fifth Greater Celestial Circuit was complete, Yang Wenqing slowly withdrew his stance. After exhaling a long breath tinged with a trace of turbid air, he looked up at the sky. By then, night had fully fallen, and bright lights shone from many of the dormitory building's windows.

The courtyard had long since become empty, leaving only the rustling of Banyan Tree leaves in the evening breeze.

"Eh?"

Yang Wenqing lowered his head. He had already stopped circulating his technique, yet a faint stream of spiritual energy was still flowing through his Spirit Veins. According to the records of the Qi-Drawing Art, this was the state before breaking through to the Qi Refining Stage.

Suppressing the joy in his heart, Yang Wenqing used the fist form to guide the spiritual energy in his body through another Greater Celestial Circuit, but nothing changed.

He tried again, yet it remained the same.

Slap!

As he instinctively began circulating the spiritual energy in his Qi Sea for a third time, Yang Wenqing slapped himself hard across the face. The burning pain in his cheek woke him up. He stood there blankly for more than ten seconds, then exhaled and shook his head at the waning moon in the sky.

"You have a broader road ahead of you. There's no need to rush for a moment. If you cause permanent damage to your Spirit Veins, the loss will outweigh the gain."

As though persuading himself, Yang Wenqing remained where he was for a little longer before walking toward the dormitory building. By then, only a few windows in the building still shone with light.