Pure-Origin Spiritual Qi

Time flowed like water, and seven days passed in the blink of an eye.

At dawn in the Azure Cloud Academy, the ringing voices of students reciting gave way to the solemn sound of measured breathing.

In the outer disciples' lecture hall, more than thirty students sat cross-legged.

Compared with a week ago, the gaps between them had already grown plainly visible.

Yet in one corner, Chu Bai stood out from the rest.

His eyes were half-closed, his chest and abdomen rising and falling in a precise rhythm. Every breath carried a faint but lingering whisper of wind. Calm and composed, he exuded a steadiness that seemed faintly detached from worldly concerns.

He had already spent a long time immersed in the Lesser Qi-Gathering Art and had needed only that final step across the threshold.

Now, with the complete cultivation instructions and a week of almost punishingly hard practice, he had left every other outer disciple in the dust, all without any external aids.

At the lectern, Tutor Liu set down his disciplinary ruler. His gaze swept over Chu Bai, a trace of satisfaction flashing in his eyes, before he gave a quiet cough.

"Stop."

The students ended their practice and opened their eyes to look at him.

"We will not practice the breathing method today," Tutor Liu said, stroking his beard. "Over this past week, some of you have glimpsed the way in, while others have been marching in place. But whatever your progress, you must all understand what 'cultivating immortality' truly means once you achieve qi induction."

His expression turned solemn. He suddenly extended his withered right hand, palm upward, and grasped at empty air.

"Rise!"

At his low shout, the air in the lecture hall seemed to grow a little damper.

Then, before the students' astonished eyes, a fist-sized ball of water condensed out of thin air above Tutor Liu's palm.

The water sphere was crystal clear, refracting rainbow halos in the sunlight. It hovered in midair, slowly revolving with the movements of his hand.

"Go."

Tutor Liu flicked his hand.

The water sphere flew out as though alive, landing precisely over a pot of somewhat withered orchids on the windowsill. It dissolved into a fine mist of rain, thoroughly watering them in an instant.

"Whoa—"

The lecture hall erupted like a boiling pot. The boys stared wide-eyed, their gazes brimming with disbelief and fervor.

This was an immortal art!

To boys who had seen little beyond the skills of tilling fields, summoning water out of thin air was nothing short of a miracle.

"This is the Water-Control Art, one of the most basic of the five-element arts."

Tutor Liu looked at the orchids on the windowsill, now brimming with life again. The light in his eyes slowly dimmed, replaced by a hint of reminiscence and bitterness.

"Thirty years ago, torrential rains fell over Qingzhou without end. Floods ravaged the land, and the river dikes burst several times. That year, the Heavenly Water Bureau urgently needed people skilled in flood control and made a great many places available."

"Among the candidates in my year, eight out of ten were training hard in the Water Control Technique. All of us hoped to catch the eye of the bureau's officials in that year's Heavenly Examination and become carp leaping through the Dragon Gate."

At this, Tutor Liu gave a self-mocking smile. "Sadly, my aptitude was poor, and my mastery remained far too shallow. I failed to fight my way free of those teeming ranks. In the end, all this worn-out body could do was come to the academy to teach and scrape together a living."

Silence fell over the students.

Sitting in his corner, Chu Bai understood it all as clearly as a polished mirror.

Without passing the Heavenly Examination and receiving ordination from the Celestial Court, even someone who mastered spell arts would struggle all his life to glimpse the higher realms.

Still... Chu Bai looked at Tutor Liu's worn but presentable scholar's robes. Even a low-level qi refining cultivator who failed the examination can earn respect in this county town and never worry about food or drink, so long as he has a spell art to his name. Compared with a farmer who spends his days facing the yellow earth with his back to the sky, that's the difference between clouds and mud.

This only strengthened his resolve to enter the Dao Academy.

The bell rang to signal the end of lessons.

Chu Bai packed his things and had just stepped out of the lecture hall when he saw a thin boy standing beneath the covered walkway.

It was Gu Qinghe.

Over the past week, their shared humble origins and extra training among the inner disciples had fostered a quiet rapport, even if they were not yet close friends.

"Brother Gu." Chu Bai walked over to greet him.

"Brother Chu." Gu Qinghe's face remained stern, but his eyes no longer kept others a thousand miles away. "Master Zhang is teaching today. Shall we go together?"

"Just what I had in mind."

Side by side, they passed through the stone gate separating the inner and outer grounds and headed toward Stillheart Hall.

Along the way, Gu Qinghe suddenly asked, "How is your progress, Brother Chu? Your breathing has grown steadier these past few days. Have you managed to retain any spiritual qi?"

Chu Bai shook his head and answered frankly, "Although the Lesser Qi-Gathering Art now comes as naturally as flowing water, and I can clearly sense spiritual qi moving through my meridians, whenever I try to keep it in my dantian, I always seem to be missing some tiny opportunity. It's like trying to catch a loach—too slippery to hold."

He glanced at his panel.

[Minor Qi Gathering Technique: Proficient (5/200)]

He had spent the week grinding away almost without sleep or rest, and his proficiency had risen rapidly.

Hearing this, Gu Qinghe briefly slowed his steps. After a moment's thought, he said quietly, "I was the same a few days ago. Only later did I discover the key."

"Oh? I would be grateful to hear it." Chu Bai cupped his hands.

"It lies in that instant of stillness between breathing out and breathing in." Lowering his voice, Gu Qinghe shared what he knew without reservation. "You don't try to catch it while inhaling. When your exhalation is nearly finished, but your next inhalation has yet to begin, a momentary vacuum forms in your dantian. That is when you must abruptly focus your mind and press down from above. Only then can you lock that wisp of qi firmly in place."

A keen light flashed in Chu Bai's eyes.

When the exhalation was nearly finished, but the inhalation had yet to begin...

That was exactly the detail he had overlooked!

"Thank you for the guidance, Brother Gu!" Chu Bai thanked him earnestly.

Gu Qinghe waved a hand and said evenly, "I merely gave it a little more thought during my usual practice and happened upon an insight. Neither of us has family standing to lean on. Without diligence, how could we compete with anyone else?"

As they spoke, they reached Stillheart Hall.

Daoist Zhang was already waiting beneath the tree.

Once all four students were seated, Daoist Zhang wasted no words and simply waved for them to begin cultivating.

Chu Bai settled cross-legged but did not start immediately. Instead, he first rehearsed Gu Qinghe's method in his mind.

A moment later, his mind grew still, and he began circulating his cultivation art.

Inhale—

The spiritual qi between heaven and earth trickled into his meridians through his pores like tiny streams.

Exhale—

Turbid qi left his body. The spiritual qi stirred restlessly with it, trying to slip away on the same current.

Now!

In that fleeting blank between the last breath ending and the next beginning, Chu Bai's mental power, honed to extraordinary sharpness with the panel's help, suddenly plunged downward!

Hum!

An intangible vibration seemed to burst within his dantian.

That faint thread of coolness, so slippery and eager to escape, seemed pinned firmly beneath an invisible hand. Unable to move another inch, it finally settled obediently at the very bottom of his dantian's sea of qi.

It worked!

The coolness was exceedingly faint, yet undeniably real. It no longer dissipated or drifted about. It had truly become part of his body.

Suppressing his wild joy, Chu Bai kept his mind steady and continued nurturing this hard-won thread of spiritual qi.

An hour later.

Daoist Zhang walked over to Chu Bai. His gaze lingered briefly on the dantian in Chu Bai's abdomen, and a hint of approval flashed in his eyes.

"You retained it?"

Chu Bai opened his eyes, stood, and bowed. "Thanks to your instruction, Master Zhang, I was fortunate enough to capture a thread."

Daoist Zhang reached out, rested a hand on Chu Bai's shoulder, and briefly examined him before nodding. "Its nature is balanced, leaning neither one way nor the other. This is attribute-less qi born of heaven and earth, known as 'pure-origin spiritual qi.'"

"Pure-origin spiritual qi?" Beside them, Li Jinyuan and Wang Xiaoliu both looked over curiously.

"Correct," Daoist Zhang explained. "Within the Great Zhou, the Law Net regulates the flow of qi and suppresses killing intent, so most free-floating spiritual qi is of this kind. Though it lacks fire's ferocity or water's enduring flow, its strength lies in its balance and gentleness. Like the sea embracing a hundred rivers, it accepts all things. It is also the purest form of spiritual qi."

"Using this qi for qi refining grants no unusual powers, but it offers steady progress and compatibility with all arts. Later, you may switch to a cultivation method of any attribute without conflict."

"Nurture it well." Daoist Zhang patted Chu Bai's shoulder. "Now that you have obtained qi, you have truly crossed the threshold. What comes next is the patient work of a water-driven mill, gathering fine threads into strands."

Chu Bai bowed and assented.

With a slight stir of his mind, he summoned the panel.

[Skills:]

[Minor Qi Gathering Technique: Proficient (6/200)]