There had always been a saying in the cultivation world: Refining Essence into Qi. The Divine Firmament Sect where Jiang Xuan studied was rich in spiritual energy, so he did not need to rely solely on draining his own vital essence and blood to produce Spell Power.
Yet to transform the ownerless spiritual energy between heaven and earth into natal Spell Power he could wield as freely as his own limbs, he ultimately had to steep it in his own qi and blood, branding it with a mark unique to himself.
After an entire morning of cultivation, Jiang Xuan was already so hungry his chest clung to his back.
Under such circumstances, eating mortal food was not ideal—its turbid qi was too heavy. Though it could fill his stomach, it would foul his qi channels and make later cultivation twice the effort for half the result.
For cultivators, spiritual food had to be the staple. This was precisely why wealth came first among the four great essentials of cultivation: wealth, companions, methods, and grounds.
Without enough Spirit Stones, one's road of cultivation would be far more arduous than others'.
Fortunately, while Jiang Xuan's Household was not fabulously wealthy, it did have a Cultivator. There was still enough Spirit Rice to keep him from going hungry.
"Gulp..."
As he chewed and swallowed, a warm, satisfied sensation immediately spread from Jiang Xuan's abdomen through all four limbs and a hundred bones.
His excessively depleted qi and blood were slowly replenished at a visible pace.
Once his body had recovered somewhat, Jiang Xuan still did not rush back into cultivation. He first pressed the jade slip to his brow, allowing all the cultivation method information recorded within to pour into his sea of consciousness and imprint itself firmly there.
After finishing all this, he went beneath the shade at the edge of the square, found a secure spot, lay down, and closed his eyes to rest.
Students of the Star Daoist Academy had always divided cultivation into morning lessons and evening lessons. This rule existed because after every session of full-force cultivation, Jiang Xuan and the others needed sufficient time for both body and Divine Soul to fully recover before beginning a second session.
For ordinary Cultivators, being able to sustain two complete cultivation sessions in a single day was already the limit.
Of course, for children of Aristocratic Clans with resources in hand, this limit was not impossible to break—pills, spiritual liquid, and mind-calming incense could all drastically shorten recovery time.
At that moment, Dong Hao had returned to the area where the children of cultivation Lineages gathered. The peers around him were all relying on various heavenly treasures and earthly wonders to quickly recover from their cultivation expenditure.
During the gaps while the medicinal effects spread, these Aristocratic Clan children chatted idly. Before they knew it, the topic had turned to Jiang Xuan.
"Dong Hao, isn't your judgment a little too poor? That Jiang Xuan is obviously a swindler putting on airs. You actually fell for it?"
The youth who laughingly pointed this out, while also belittling Dong Hao's inability to judge people between the lines, was likewise dressed in splendid brocade robes. Though he appeared to be speaking to Dong Hao, his gaze kept drifting toward a cool and aloof young woman beside them.
If Jiang Xuan had been here, he would have recognized that young woman as Xie Hanyan, who had opened thirty-six apertures that very morning and earned an excellent evaluation.
Unlike Qin Feng, whose delight was written all over his face, Xie Hanyan showed not the slightest joy even after receiving an excellent rating. She remained as cool and distant as ever, with even a faint trace of dissatisfaction and impatience hidden at the corners of her brows.
The situation was already obvious. When the youth named Zeng Jun brought up Jiang Xuan and Dong Hao, he was not merely making conversation, nor did he truly care whether Jiang Xuan was a fraud—although, like everyone else, he did believe Jiang Xuan was putting on a show and deliberately flaunting himself.
Yet rather than sneering about it in private, he had publicly brought it up. He simply wanted to use Dong Hao as a stepping stone, make him lose face before Xie Hanyan, and elevate himself in the process.
Dong Hao saw through this petty little scheme that could not be brought onto the stage at a glance.
He did not get angry. He merely smiled faintly and said calmly, "I think Jiang Xuan has quite a few admirable qualities. He does not seem like someone who merely puts on airs."
"Besides, I never expected every investment to yield returns. That is how investment works. Nine out of ten investments coming up empty is normal, but as long as one person rides the wind and rises, I will not have lost out."
"As for the rest, I'll consider it forming a good karmic bond."
Besides defending himself, Dong Hao did not forget to strike back. "Brother Zeng, it is your mentality that is wrong. You insist on watching for immediate returns in everything you do. Being so calculating over every cent, you seem more like a businessman than I do. But with such a narrow mind and limited vision, I fear your business will never grow large..."
Up ahead, a group of gifted children from Aristocratic Clans were trading barbs over social ties and clashes of pride, their words like spears and swords while undercurrents surged beneath the surface.
But none of it had anything to do with Jiang Xuan beneath the tree shade.
With his eyes closed, he slept soundly and peacefully.
Not until evening, when the setting sun sank low and Jiang Xuan's spirit and strength had fully returned to their peak, did he awaken.
Rising, Jiang Xuan walked to the mountain stream nearby, fetched some clear spring water, and meticulously completed the Three Purifications Ritual: cleansing his body, cleansing his hands, and cleansing his mouth.
He performed the entire set of movements with solemn dignity and exacting care.
Only after the ritual was complete, and his body and mind had received the blessings of the three great dharma mantras, did he sit cross-legged and begin his second cultivation session of the day.
But this time, what he cultivated was no longer the Aperture Opening method uniformly taught by the Star Daoist Academy, the "Nine-Breath Qi-Absorption Art."
It was instead—the "Innate One-Qi Sword."
"Breathe in, breathe out..."
Just as Dong Hao had said, the first realm of this sword art was very simple.
Especially since Jiang Xuan had already cultivated Spell Power.
"Keep the heart upon the one, and ten thousand thoughts return to truth; condense qi into one, and the heavenly circuit flows without hindrance..."
He had merely recited the general outline sword formula of the Innate One-Qi Sword once when the system's voice buzzed by Jiang Xuan's ear.
[You cultivated the "One Qi Sword Art." Your cultivation method has reached the beginner level.] [Your spiritual energy is exceptionally pure and aligns with the core of the sword art. "One Qi Sword Art" progress +103.] [One Qi Sword Art] [Cultivation Method Grade: Profound-Grade Mid-Tier (Blue)] [Progress: Realm 1 · Beginner (103/108)]
After just one cycle of cultivation, the progress of the "One Qi Sword Art" had shot directly to 103 points, only 5 points away from completing the first realm. Such progress was astonishingly swift, yet entirely reasonable.
And Jiang Xuan's rapid progress was not simply because the "One Qi Sword Art" was easy to cultivate.
It was also intimately connected to Jiang Xuan's own cultivation.
There had always been a saying in the world of cultivation: once one method was mastered, ten thousand methods could be understood.
Jiang Xuan had long since cultivated spiritual energy and gained experience. Naturally, when cultivating another qi-refining method, he would advance faster than ordinary people.
Beyond that, the purification ability inherent in the three great dharma mantras made the spiritual energy he cultivated incomparably pure, perfectly matching the core principle of the "One Qi Sword Art": condensing qi into one.
Only the convergence of so many fortunate circumstances had produced the extraordinary sight of him nearing perfection the moment he began cultivating this art.
"Breathe in, breathe out..."
After several more rounds of breathing exercises, Jiang Xuan drew his awareness inward, guided the pure Spell Power within his body, and slowly compressed and refined it, shaping it bit by bit into the form of a sword.
After only several circulations through the heavenly circuit, the "One Qi Sword Art" broke through in response and entered the second realm, the proficient stage.
[You compressed the Spell Power within your body. Your Spell Power has become somewhat more condensed. One Qi Sword Art progress +3.]
[You shaped the Spell Power within your body. Your Spell Power has become somewhat sharper. One Qi Sword Art progress +3.]
[Your One Qi Sword Art has advanced. Current Realm 2: Proficient (1/4000).]
[You have unlocked a new trait: One-Qi Sword.]
Jiang Xuan opened the One-Qi Sword trait to take a look, then discovered that the so-called One-Qi Sword was simply Sword Qi formed from compressed and refined Spell Power, nurtured within the Qi Sea of one's chest and abdomen. When facing an enemy, one could open one's mouth and spit out Sword Qi to attack and kill them. The power of this move was fairly decent in the early stages of Spirit Pivot Aperture Opening, but its endurance was lacking. It only possessed the strength for one sword strike. Fortunately, as a Profound-Grade cultivation method, this sword art naturally possessed a complete path of advancement and transformation. Once the pure One-Qi Sword had been nurtured, Jiang Xuan could not only circulate it through his meridians, but also nurture it within his five organs. This was not merely sword nurturing. It was also using Sword Qi to temper and strengthen the internal organs, a path of Aperture Opening that blazed its own trail. Washed and nourished day and night by the One-Qi Sword, the organs would gradually awaken their primordial Qi of the Five Organs. This One-Qi Sword would also gain the ability to undergo elemental transformations— Nurtured in the lungs, it could be refined into Geng Metal Sword Qi; Nurtured in the heart, it could transform into Heartfire Sword Qi; Nurtured in the kidneys, it could condense into Blackwater Sword Qi. In the end, when the Qi of the Five Organs fused into one, it would return to the innate state. At that time, Jiang Xuan's One-Qi Sword could transform into the Innate One-Qi Sword. Beyond that came the cultivation method for the Fourth Realm. Since Jiang Xuan had no intention of making the One Qi Sword Art his primary cultivation method, he merely glanced over it and skipped past the rest without reading further. At that moment, what Jiang Xuan cared about more was taking up his main profession. "The second requirement for my Qi Refiner profession must already be complete." With a thought, Jiang Xuan immediately summoned the game interface. Sure enough, all entry requirements for [Apprentice Qi Refiner] had already been met.
[Profession Requirements
①: Find a spiritual land and settle within it (Completed)
②: Obtain a qi-refining cultivation method and cultivate it to the proficient level (Completed)
③: Cultivate a strand of Spell Power (Completed)] ```
This was the moment Jiang Xuan had yearned for day and night ever since he began cultivating the Dao.
With a slight movement of his mind, Jiang Xuan was immediately about to confirm his profession.
But before he could tap it, he discovered that among the main professions available to him, an entirely new profession had appeared at some point—[Clear-Heart Sword Disciple].
That alone would not have moved Jiang Xuan. What made his heart jolt was that the profession's name glowed with a faint purple light, while beside it was a string of constantly ticking, decreasing numbers.
Having once deeply played "Celestial Immortal Realm," Jiang Xuan understood the meaning of this sight with a single glance.
"My fortune has erupted. I've encountered a fortuitous opportunity..."
Immortal cultivation games had always placed the greatest importance on destiny and fortuitous opportunities.