Attempting Ascension, Falling Short of Expectations

The night breeze blew in from the valley entrance, brushing against my face. I opened my eyes. The spirit beast was still lying beside me, breathing steadily. That session of breathing exercises had completely stabilized the spiritual power within my body. There was no longer any stagnation in my meridians; instead, it flowed smoothly, like a cleared riverbed.

I slowly stood up. My legs were still a bit numb, but I could stand steadily. I looked up towards the protruding platform above the cliff face—that was the place. After breaking through yesterday, I had wanted to try flying. Now, I felt better than ever. My spiritual power was abundant, my consciousness clear; it was the right time.

"Let's go," I said to the spirit beast.

It raised its head, its ears twitching. It didn't make a sound, but slowly followed me up the slope. We climbed onto the stone platform one after the other. The ground was covered in loose stones that could make one slip. I stood at the edge, gazing at the distant sky. The clouds had parted, the sky was a deep blue, and a few birds soared past the mountain ridge, their wings tracing arcs.

I remembered. Back in my modern life, I often watched birds fly. Back then, I always felt they were so free, unconstrained. Now that I had cultivation and enough power within me, why couldn't I leave the ground like them?

I took a deep breath, putting a little force into my feet, concentrating all my spiritual power at the soles. The spiritual power in my Dantian surged rapidly, rushing upwards along the meridians, straight to my legs. I could feel that surge of warmth accelerating, condensing.

The next moment, I lightly pushed off the ground.

My body left the ground.

It was smooth at first. I slowly rose, about a meter off the ground. The wind passed beneath my feet, and the hem of my clothes fluttered. I continued to channel my spiritual power, trying to ascend further.

Two meters, three meters... By about four meters, my ascent slowed significantly. I increased the output, pushing seventy percent of my spiritual power into it. My body moved up a little further, barely reaching a height of five meters.

Then, it stopped.

No matter how I circulated my spiritual power, I couldn't rise another inch. Worse still, the spiritual power within me began to deplete rapidly, like a leaky water bag, constantly draining away. My meridians throbbed with a dull ache, like ropes being forcibly stretched.

I gritted my teeth and persevered, wanting to hold on a little longer.

But in less than three breaths, the spiritual power beneath my feet suddenly broke. My body plummeted downwards, as if in freefall.

My reaction was quick enough. I adjusted my posture just before hitting the ground, bending my knees to cushion the impact. However, the force of the landing still made my ankles go numb, and I stumbled a few steps before regaining my balance. My knees buckled, and I knelt on the ground on one knee, gasping for breath.

The spirit beast immediately came closer, gently nudging my arm with its head.

"I'm fine," I waved my hand, reaching out to stroke its horn. "Let me try again."

This time, I changed my approach, no longer trying to surge upwards all at once. I attempted to ascend in stages, rising to two meters first, stabilizing, and then continuing. It went smoothly at first. When I reached three meters, I maintained that height for a few breaths. But when I tried to break past the fourth meter, the same thing happened again—the spiritual power disconnected, and my body fell.

This time, I fell harder. My right leg directly hit the ground, and I had to brace myself with my hands to avoid falling face-first. A metallic sweetness rose in my throat, and I swallowed it back.

The spirit beast squatted beside me, the runes on its horn flashing slightly, as if about to release some energy. I raised my hand to stop it. "Don't help me. This is a hurdle I have to overcome myself."

It stopped its movement and watched me quietly.

I looked down at my hands. My fingertips were still trembling slightly, not from fear, but as a natural reaction after spiritual power exhaustion. The two attempts had nearly depleted over sixty percent of the spiritual power in my body. Logically, with my current level of cultivation, I shouldn't have run out so quickly.

I closed my eyes, recalling the feeling of each ascent.

The first ascent was the easiest, but the resistance grew stronger the higher I went. Around five meters, it felt like hitting an invisible barrier that I couldn't break through no matter how hard I tried. And that resistance didn't seem to come from the outside; it felt more like it originated from within myself.

Could it be... I did something wrong?

As I was thinking, the System interface suddenly appeared in my sea of consciousness. It had been silent until now, but now it proactively displayed a line of text:

[Continuous flight attempt failure detected]

[Analyzing...]

A few seconds later, new information popped up:

[Conclusion: Current total spiritual power has reached the basic threshold for aerial flight, but the compression is insufficient to form sustained lift]

[Lack of aerial flight technique guidance, spiritual power circulation route does not conform to the laws of levitation]

[Foundation not yet fully solidified, forced ascent will cause spiritual power backlash. Recommend temporarily halting breakthrough]

I stared at the lines of text for a long time.

So it wasn't a lack of power, but the wrong method. I had always thought that as long as my spiritual power was strong enough, I could fly. But now it seemed that just having strength was useless; I also needed to know how to use it.

It was like learning to ride a bike as a child. Just having the strength to pedal wasn't enough; you also had to master balance.

I gave a wry smile and looked into the distance.

Just then, a Golden-winged Great Peng soared across the sky. Its wingspan was dozens of feet wide, breaking through the clouds and heading straight for the high heavens. Its flight posture was incredibly stable, each flap of its wings rhythmic, as if connected to the essence of heaven and earth.

And me? I tried my best and couldn't even fly steadily for five meters.

The gap was too vast.

I slowly retracted my gaze, clenched my fist, and then relaxed it. I did feel a bit down. I had just broken through, my condition was good, yet I couldn't even achieve the most basic act of levitation. The feeling of falling from a height felt heavier than falling onto the ground.

But I didn't attempt a third time.

I knew that trying again would be a waste of spiritual power. The problem wasn't about how hard I tried, but about heading in the wrong direction.

I stood up, brushed the dust off my clothes, and said to the spirit beast, "Let's go, we're heading back."

It didn't move, just looked up at me.

"I shouldn't have been in such a hurry to fly," I said. "Trying to rush upwards right after breaking through made me forget that my foundation wasn't solid yet."

With that, I turned and walked towards the depths of the valley.

My steps were much slower than when I arrived, but each one was more stable. The spirit beast followed behind, its hoofbeats soft.

Back at the stone platform, I sat down cross-legged again, leaning against the vine-covered rock face. I placed my hands on my knees and closed my eyes to regulate my breathing.

This time, it wasn't for improving or breaking through. I just wanted to properly feel how the spiritual power within me flowed, starting from my Dantian, passing through which main meridians, how the branches were distributed, where it turned quickly, and where it got stuck.

The System interface still floated in my sea of consciousness. Although the question-answering function was still grayed out, the basic monitoring had resumed. I brought up the spiritual power circulation map, circulating the Heavenly Cycle while adjusting my rhythm according to the data.

In the past, I relied too much on the cultivation methods and hints the System provided, always thinking about getting stronger quickly through rewards. But this fall today made me realize that some things can't be given by others; you have to explore them bit by bit yourself.

For example, how to compress spiritual power more densely, how to make each circulation more efficient, how to build a foundation that can't be shaken.

The spirit beast lay on my right, its head resting on its front hooves. It wasn't glowing anymore, nor was it making any noise, just quietly accompanying me.

I slowed my breathing, my mind sinking into my body.

The first Heavenly Cycle was very slow, advancing almost inch by inch. I stopped at each junction, carefully feeling the pressure changes there. The second Heavenly Cycle was a bit faster, but I still controlled the rhythm. Starting with the third, the flow of spiritual power gradually became smoother, no longer rushing for quick success like before.

I don't know how long this will take.

Maybe a day, maybe ten days. But before I can truly fly, I need to take this step steadily.

The sun gradually set in the west, its rays slanting into the valley and falling onto the stone platform. My shadow stretched long, extending all the way to the spirit beast's side.

It suddenly moved, its ears perked up, looking towards the valley entrance.

I didn't open my eyes, but my senses had already reached out.

The wind direction hadn't changed, the spiritual energy flowed normally, and there were no unusual auras around.

A few seconds later, it turned its head back and gently nudged my wrist with its nose.

I opened my eyes.

Its gaze was very clear, not like a warning, nor like unease, just a kind of confirming gaze. I looked at it, and it looked back at me.

Then it lowered its head, settled down again, and rested its head on its front hooves.

I looked down at my wrist, the wrinkles on the fabric of my sleeve like my still unsettled state of mind. As I gently stroked them, the marks etched by the wind seemed to gain warmth. The night wind blew again, carrying the unique crispness of the mountain valley.