In this state, though he had no time to spare for changes in the outside world, the efficiency of his sword cultivation could directly double—or even more!
"Focus had always been the chasm dividing mediocrities from prodigies."
The ability [Sincerity · Heart (Sword)] alone was enough to leave Jiang Xuan thoroughly satisfied.
And [Clear-Heart Mirror (Observe Self)], which followed close behind, gave Jiang Xuan an even greater surprise.
[Clear-Heart Mirror (Observe Self)] [Level: 1/3 (Proficiency: 1/3000)] [Skill Effect: You can use your heart as a mirror, reflecting every flaw and deficiency in your cultivation, physical body, and Divine Soul in minute detail.]
The skill description was simple, but its effect was excellent.
The hardest thing for a person was always facing oneself and seeing through one's own weaknesses and flaws.
Yet Clear-Heart Mirror could lay all of that before his eyes in minute detail.
What delighted Jiang Xuan even more was that this ability would be of immeasurable use to his current Aperture Opening cultivation!
Its usefulness was not merely that it could find them quickly—it could find them all!
With that thought, records from cultivation texts he had previously committed to memory surfaced in Jiang Xuan's mind.
"The human body contains a total of three hundred and sixty Apertures. In the early stages, the Apertures within the body are easy to find. But later, as more and more Apertures are discovered, those that have 'hidden' themselves become increasingly difficult to locate."
"And the difficulty does not rise by just a little—it doubles."
"Thus, cultivators who completely cultivate all the body's Apertures and reach perfection are instead few in number."
"The vast majority of cultivators stop hastily after opening only one hundred and eighty Apertures, turning instead to prepare for forging their Dao Foundation."
"Because they open too few Apertures and their bodily cultivation remains incomplete, most cultivators do not have a particularly high chance of successfully forging a Dao Foundation. Even with the help of a Foundation Establishment Pill, their success rate is still less than thirty percent."
"With Clear-Heart Mirror reflecting myself, the number of Apertures I open will absolutely not stop at one hundred and eighty!"
Beyond the two profession passive abilities, Jiang Xuan had also gained an offensive ability—Sword of the Mind.
This skill could condense Jiang Xuan's soul-force into an invisible, intangible sword of the mind.
This sword could directly attack an enemy's Soul Spirit. It could also attach itself to flying swords and Sword Qi, greatly amplifying the power of the Sword Qi and the speed of his sword strikes.
A sword that cleaved souls—this was a sword capable of harming ghosts!
Judging by its effects alone, this ability was exceptionally impressive. But for the current Jiang Xuan, a purely offensive method was far less important than [Sincerity · Heart (Sword)] and [Clearheart Mirror], abilities that could improve his cultivation efficiency.
Thus, after only giving the skill description a cursory glance, Jiang Xuan set it aside for the time being.
Taking up the profession of [Clear-Heart Sword Disciple] and thoroughly sorting out the wondrous uses of its various abilities had consumed quite a bit of Jiang Xuan's time.
Once everything was settled, Jiang Xuan was unwilling to waste even half a moment and immediately prepared to cultivate.
—For the current Jiang Xuan, cultivating while holding a longsword offered the greatest efficiency, as it could trigger the passive effect of his [Sincerity · Heart (Sword)].
Unfortunately, when he had come here, Jiang Xuan had never imagined that he would take up the hidden profession of Clear-Heart Sword Disciple and obtain such an ability.
Without a suitable tool in hand, Jiang Xuan could only give up for now.
"First, I'll try out Clear-Heart Mirror's effect."
"Whoosh..."
After performing the purification rite of cleansing his body, hands, and mouth, Jiang Xuan immediately sat cross-legged on a meditation cushion and began his first cultivation session since taking up the profession.
"Buzz..."
The moment cultivation began, Jiang Xuan sensed a world-shaking difference.
Previously, Jiang Xuan could also look inward, but his spiritual sense was weak, and the scene he saw was always blurry and unclear. When guiding spiritual energy through circulation cycles within his body, he had to rely mostly on feeling.
Now, however, it was entirely different. The instant he closed his eyes, Jiang Xuan felt brilliant light erupt within his sea of consciousness. A precious mirror, clear as a tranquil lake and bright as a cold moon, slowly emerged from the depths of his awareness.
The flawless mirror surface reflected his twelve primary meridians and eight extraordinary meridians in minute detail. He could clearly see the paths of spiritual energy flowing through his meridians, as well as every wisp of spiritual energy that leaked away during circulation.
Being able to see everything clearly gave Jiang Xuan room for precise adjustments.
"This part is wrong. This section of the meridian bends, so the spiritual energy needs to slow down to avoid striking the meridian walls and causing losses..."
"This section is straight and unobstructed. I can accelerate through it and save time on the circulation cycle..."
"Mm, this is the heart, the core of my qi and blood. Spiritual energy is refined with the highest efficiency when passing through here... I cannot go fast here. I need to go as slowly as possible..."
Without Clear-Heart Mirror's comprehensive view, Jiang Xuan could only keep the spiritual energy moving at a uniform speed throughout each circulation cycle.
But now that Clear-Heart Mirror had revealed the whole picture, he realized that refining spiritual energy was different from casting spells.
For the latter, the faster one released the spell, the better. But the key to cultivation lay in the infusion of qi and blood and the refinement of the Divine Soul. Here, one could not seek speed. At certain crucial points, slowness had to be the guiding principle—the slower, the better.
At the same time, Clear-Heart Mirror also showed Jiang Xuan how much qi and blood he should use to infuse the spiritual energy for the greatest value.
"Before, I piled qi and blood onto the spiritual energy all at once. With such a crude method of infusion, nearly half of my qi and blood was wasted for nothing."
"Now, using an equal amount of qi and blood to infuse the corresponding spiritual energy with such meticulous work reduces my qi and blood expenditure by at least half. Accordingly, my cultivation time has been extended by nearly double."
Having understood the mysteries of "Refining Essence into Qi," and having made the spiritual energy's circulation alternately swift and slow, taut and relaxed in perfect measure, this alone brought a qualitative leap in Jiang Xuan's cultivation efficiency.
Now, he only needed to circulate spiritual energy through his body for three cycles before transforming it into Spell Power uniquely his own.
And because of the precise control during this process, his qi and blood expenditure was reduced, extending his cultivation time by nearly double as well.
The final result was that, by the time Jiang Xuan finished cultivating, he had opened three Apertures in one go!
"I can open three in the morning and another three in the afternoon—six in one day... If I had taken up the Clear-Heart Sword Disciple profession on my first day here, I might have had a chance at the Dao-Bearing Class's Excellent Rating!"
The moment he calculated this result, Jiang Xuan's heart began pounding without pause. He was excited, but also somewhat... regretful.
"Unfortunately, this is no longer the first day after entering. It is already the fourth day, and only three short days remain until the Excellent Rating deadline."
"Three days to open and nourish another thirty Apertures—I simply can't do it."
To possess the qualifications to reach the summit, only to miss the best opportunity—such regret was the most tormenting, and the hardest to accept.
Fortunately, Jiang Xuan's will had always been firm, and the Mind-Cleansing Mantra guarded his spiritual platform. The two complemented each other. After only a few deep breaths, the unwillingness and regret in his heart dissipated completely.
Yet as the negative emotions faded, the gleam in Jiang Xuan's eyes grew ever fiercer.
"Three days, nearly thirty Apertures—it's difficult, but it's not as though I have no chance at all!"
In particular, something that had occurred during his cultivation just now had kindled a blazing fire of hope in Jiang Xuan's heart.
Over several hours of cultivation during the evening lesson, he had opened three Apertures. Naturally, the process had included searching for Apertures.
Because a cultivator's Apertures lay at the boundary between spirit and flesh, existing in a state where illusion and reality overlapped.
Previously, for Jiang Xuan to find a single Aperture often required tremendous mental effort. He had to focus and observe for at least the time it took to drink a cup of tea before he could catch a glimmer of starlight from an Aperture amid the endless turbid qi throughout his body.
But now, with the Mind-Cleansing Mantra guarding his spiritual platform and Clear-Heart Mirror seeing through the source, the instant he focused his attention, he directly saw more than a dozen dazzling points of starlight!
That meant that with a single act of concentration, he had found eleven hidden Apertures!
"With Clear-Heart Mirror and the Mind-Cleansing Mantra, finding Apertures is no longer the difficult part for me. The difficult part is filling them with Spell Power and turning them from illusory into real."
"But there is already a shortcut for refining Spell Power."
"Pills. As long as I have enough pills, even with only three days remaining, I can open thirty-six Apertures and enter the Dao-Bearing Class with an Excellent Rating!"
Discovering that there was still a sliver of hope for being rated Excellent sent Jiang Xuan's emotions surging like a rolling tide.
But where he could obtain pills became the greatest problem blocking his path.
Soon, however, he had no time to think about it.
The hunger in his stomach and the depletion of his qi and blood turned Jiang Xuan's face pale, and his vision repeatedly darkened. Seeing this, he could only force himself to stand and make his way back home.
"Whew... I overdid the cultivation."
As he walked, the unsteady Jiang Xuan took nearly twice as long as usual before finally stumbling back home.
The moment he entered the courtyard, he saw that his mother, Shen Yuerong, was not alone. A beautiful woman around his mother's age, though more exquisitely and properly dressed, was sitting on a stone bench with his mother, chatting.
"Aunt Liu, you're here." Seeing the visitor, Jiang Xuan quickly reined in his aura and stepped forward to pay his respects.
When the latter saw Jiang Xuan, she smiled kindly as well. "Mm. Tomorrow, the Madam will bring the eldest young lady over to offer their regards. I came to discuss something with your mother..."
Before she could finish, she noticed Jiang Xuan's exhausted expression and his pale, depleted appearance, causing her brows to rise at once.
Shaking her head, she took an exquisite pastry from the food box beside her and placed it in Jiang Xuan's hand. Unable to hold herself back, she then earnestly began persuading him.
"Xuan, I've watched you grow up, and I truly want what's best for you. Stop being so stubborn and accept the Su Household's goodwill."
"In your current state, you have no possibility of entering the Dao-Bearing Class. Even if you enter the mountain gate in the future, you'll only end up with the title of Outer Disciple."
"But even among the outer disciples, there are deep waters. Without a good household to support you, you'll ultimately be assigned the most bitter and exhausting jobs. Not only is there no profit to be had there, it will also delay your cultivation."
"If you still harbor even the slightest thought of forging a Dao Foundation, you cannot keep being so willful."
After saying this, she seemed to think of something and added, "And you can't blame the Su Household for what happened to your father. It was an accident—no one wanted to see it happen. Afterward, the Su Household gave plenty of compensation as well."
"Miss Su Linyin will come tomorrow. If you say a few kind words then, you can become the eldest young lady's follower. That is a fortunate opportunity countless people could beg for and never obtain."