Breaking Through to Qi Refining

It was late at night again, in the middle of the Three-Bath River.

Chu Bai steered his little boat with practiced ease, stopping as usual at the bend where the spiritual qi was thickest.

All was quiet around him save for the rustle of reeds in the breeze. Chu Bai sat cross-legged and had barely settled into meditation when he tried to draw in the familiar Pure Bathing Spirit Flow—and sensed something wrong.

"Hmm?"

The Pure Bathing Spirit Flow, which had always stayed there as placid as an obedient child, was unusually restless tonight.

In Chu Bai's perception, its pale-blue motes drifted slowly downstream like a migrating school of fish. No matter how he tried to draw them back, he could not stop them from leaving.

It's drifting away?

Chu Bai's heart jolted. He had heard in a lecture at the academy that ownerless spirit flows of heaven and earth were fickle, following the waterways wherever they led. This one had gathered here temporarily for some reason, but now it seemed ready to leave.

It was his cultivation accelerator. Without it, his progress would surely suffer.

Follow it?

Chu Bai gripped the oar, reluctance flashing in his eyes, and was about to row after it.

Suddenly, his Seven Killings in the Fate Palace Fate Destiny sounded an alarm more urgent than any before! A chill ran through him, as though a supreme predator had fixed its gaze on him.

Chu Bai froze. Every hair on his body stood on end as he stared at the dark water beneath the spirit flow.

By the faint moonlight, he could just make out a vast, suffocating shadow moving slowly in the depths.

It was several times larger than the strange fish he had killed before. The current stirred by its movement alone raised eerie whirlpools on the surface and gently rocked his boat.

Perhaps it was guarding the spiritual qi, or waiting until it reached a certain spot before swallowing it whole. Its faint pressure even seeped through the water, making it hard for Chu Bai to breathe.

Is that... a real Demon Beast? Or an even stronger Mutated Beast?

Cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

His palms were slick as he clutched the oar, knuckles white.

He coveted the spiritual qi, but he could see the danger as clearly as a mirror.

He had more than fifty strands of spiritual qi and had learned the rudiments of the Spirit Water Needle, but against such a behemoth, he would not even be enough to fill the gaps between its teeth. It would not need to attack. A simple roll would capsize his boat.

Going after it meant certain death.

"Whew..."

Chu Bai took a deep breath and forced down his greed.

I only have one life. I can find another opportunity.

Such restraint was often harder than taking a risk. It came from a clear understanding of his own strength—and the wisdom to survive.

He did not follow. Instead, he slowly rowed into the shadows of the reeds, making as little noise as possible.

He watched the pale-blue glow recede with mixed feelings until it vanished around a bend in the river. The enormous underwater shadow went with it, leaving the river deathly still.

Strength... I'm still too weak.

Chu Bai gazed at the empty water. Disappointed though he was, his fighting spirit burned brighter.

If I were already a Qi Refining cultivator, why would I need to shrink back like this?

I must break through as soon as possible! Once my skills have fully matured, I'll come back and see what's really down there!

Without the potent boost of the Pure Bathing Spirit Flow, Chu Bai's cultivation speed did indeed fall.

His pace slipped from "less than a day per strand" to the normal "one strand per day."

Yet even that was a pace most could only watch from afar. Compared with classmates who struggled to gain a strand in several days, Chu Bai remained a genius they could only look up to.

He refused to be discouraged. Adjusting his mindset, he began the long accumulation with his proficient Minor Qi Gathering Technique and steady, patient work.

For the next two months, his life became rigidly routine and dull.

Every morning without fail, he went to the Three-Bath River. The special spirit flow was gone, but water-aspected spiritual qi remained richer beside the great river than elsewhere. Every little bit helped.

On weekends, he went to the Zhao Residence to serve as a sparring partner.

Zhao Xing's Fireball Technique grew more practiced and more powerful, but Chu Bai handled it with increasing ease. A few times, when Zhao Xing pressed too hard and cornered him, Chu Bai instinctively used the principles of the Spirit Water Needle. He never launched the technique itself, but the moisture he drew to his fingertips deftly softened the fireballs' impact, leaving Wu Shang quietly amazed.

"That boy's footwork and perception of spiritual qi... may already surpass Zhao Xing's." Wu Shang saw it all but said nothing. He only regarded Chu Bai with an increasingly thoughtful gaze.

His evenings, meanwhile, were devoted entirely to practicing the Spirit Water Needle.

He went from striking motionless reeds to hitting leaves swaying in the wind, then to shooting mosquitoes out of the air.

Every flick of his fingers honed his control over spiritual qi.

Through the dull repetition, the proficiency on his panel climbed steadily, and his control of spiritual qi transformed bit by bit. He was like a patient hunter sharpening his claws and fangs.

One month... two months...

Time slipped through his fingers like fine sand. The cicadas of Anping County grew fewer, and autumn deepened.

The figures on his panel changed quietly too.

His spiritual qi rose from fifty-two strands to sixty, seventy, eighty-five... ninety-five.

As spiritual qi filled him, Chu Bai took on an increasingly ethereal air. A faint sheen moved over his once somewhat dark skin, nourished by spiritual qi. The light in his eyes drew inward, and even standing still, he seemed as deep as a pool and as firm as a mountain.

Finally, one night two months later, it happened.

Chu Bai looked at the panel's reading of Qi Induction (99/100) and stopped cultivating.

A distinct fullness pressed against his dantian, as though it were a bottle filled to the brim and one more drop would make it overflow.

It was the sign of a breakthrough.

That night, thunder and rain raged outside. The downpour was torrential.

Raindrops as large as beans hammered the eaves with a roar like war drums.

The wind drove rain against the window lattice in sharp, snapping bursts.

For an ordinary person, the spiritual qi on such a stormy night would be wild and chaotic—no time to attempt a breakthrough. The slightest mistake could draw thunder and fire into the body.

But Chu Bai also cultivated the Water Method, and his foundation was Pure Bathing Spiritual Qi. To him, the moisture filling the air was a gift from heaven.

Chu Bai sat cross-legged on his bed and put on the Tranquil Heart Jade Ring. His mind instantly stilled like a deep pool, beyond the reach of the clamor outside.

Tonight.

He drew a deep breath and began circulating the Minor Qi Gathering Technique with all his might.

As he breathed, the exceptionally active water-aspected spiritual qi outside answered his call. It rushed into him like young swallows returning to the nest, supplying the crucial hundredth strand.

Boom!

With the hundredth strand in place, quantity finally became quality.

The vortex of qi that had spun loosely in his dantian seemed to come under the pressure of an invisible force and abruptly collapsed toward its center.

For most people, compressing a hundred strands into one wisp was perilous. The slightest misstep could cause a backlash, damaging the meridians and scattering all their hard-won cultivation.

But then his Relentless Effort Fate Destiny flashed faintly on the panel.

In Chu Bai's perception, the raging spiritual qi inside him became as obedient as soldiers. He did not need to struggle to suppress it; it compressed and transformed along its appointed course.

During that compression, the Pure Bathing Spirit Flow, which made up most of his qi, showed its domineering nature.

It swiftly assimilated the original Pure-Origin Spiritual Qi, staining the entire vortex a clear, deep blue.

Condense!

Chu Bai gave a low shout in his mind.

A soundless roar seemed to echo through his head.

The great mass of gaseous spiritual qi vanished completely. In its place was a wisp no thicker than a hair, yet dense beyond belief, gleaming with deep-blue light—Spell Power!

The moment it formed, the wisp of Spell Power circulated through his meridians on its own.

Wherever it passed, the lingering impurities in his meridians—the trace Killing Intent left by the Mutated Beast fish meat he had eaten, and the toxins accumulated from years of ordinary food—were washed clean by the deep-blue light!

An ease unlike anything he had ever felt spread through his body, as though every pore had opened to breathe.

So this is Qi Refining...

Chu Bai opened his eyes. Blue light flickered faintly within them.

His five senses felt magnified without limit. He could even hear each raindrop striking the leaves outside. He clenched his fist, feeling power surge through him. If he met that strange fish again, he was confident he could kill it with one punch!

Chu Bai raised his right hand. At a thought, he channeled his newly formed Spell Power into the Spirit Water Needle.

Before, he had needed three breaths to gather power, all while controlling it with great care.

Now it fired as soon as he thought of it!

Whoosh!

A speck of blue light flashed at his fingertip.

The water needle was as solid as a real needle, and shot out with a bone-chilling cold.

It pierced a hardwood board in the room and buried itself deep in the earthen wall behind it, leaving only a tiny hole. A faint layer of white frost even formed around it.

Better still, that strike had consumed only the tiniest fraction of the wisp of Spell Power in his dantian. With moisture replenishing it from outside, it was recovering at remarkable speed.

I did it!

Chu Bai looked at the blue Spell Power dancing at his fingertip, a confident smile curving his lips.

At last, I'm a true cultivator.

The Dao Academy selection? I'm ninety percent certain now. And this unusual Pure Bathing Spell Power may be my strongest trump card in the assessment.