He left the Scripture Pavilion.
Chen Yu collected a basic longsword from the Artifact Pavilion-the standard-issue sword every Outer Sect disciple carried-then went to the Affairs Pavilion to collect his house key and a copy of the Code of Conduct Manual.
The house stood on the rear slopes of Emerald Cloud Peak, in peaceful surroundings.
Another house stood not far away, its door shut tight. He had no idea who lived there.
All the basic necessities had already been provided inside. Chen Yu took off his blue robes and changed into the white robes of an Outer Sect disciple.
He sat cross-legged on the bed.
Chen Yu began studying the True Essence Profound Canon.
Although he would need to practice a new cultivation technique to advance into later stages, that was something to worry about after reaching the fourth layer peak of Qi Refining. Chen Yu was still only at the peak of the third layer of Qi Refining.
"The first step: assume the five centers facing heaven posture, sit cross-legged, quiet the mind, and focus on the dantian. Enter a meditative state of 'relaxation, stillness, and emptiness.'"
"The second step: sense the spiritual energy circulating between heaven and earth, and gather it at the Baihui acupoint."
"The third step: circulate the spiritual power within the body, beginning at the Baihui acupoint. Follow the midline of the head through the Houding and Qiangjian acupoints, then descend along the meridians inside the spine, passing through the Dazhui and Zhiyang acupoints..."
He more or less had it figured out.
It was essentially an upgraded version of the Qi Guiding Art.
Let's test the speed of normal cultivation first, Chen Yu thought.
Then,
he closed his eyes and quieted his mind.
He sensed the spiritual energy,
and circulated it through his meridians along the route prescribed by the technique...
Prompts immediately appeared before his eyes:
[Cultivating...] [Experience: +0.00001...] [Experience: +0.00001...]
Chen Yu opened his eyes.
"0.00001."
"It takes a hundred thousand seconds to earn one experience point. That's nearly twenty-eight hours of cultivation without eating or sleeping!"
After calculating the result, Chen Yu shook his head. "And that's just one experience point. Based on my earlier estimate, I'll probably need fifty experience points to reach the fourth layer peak of Qi Refining. That's nearly two months of nonstop cultivation. Multiply that by four or five for a normal cultivation schedule, and it'll take the better part of a year."
For anyone else, that cultivation speed would actually have been quite good.
But for Chen Yu, who had previously earned at least twenty experience points a day, it was unbearably slow.
"I already have a system, and you still expect me to slog away at cultivation? Then what was the point of awakening my system?"
"But the True Essence Profound Canon works differently from the Qi Guiding Art. I can't go cultivate at the Mass Burial Grounds like before. Besides, I'm already at the peak of the third layer of Qi Refining. Even if cultivating there worked, I'd gain experience very slowly. And now I don't have Ah Zhen to..."
"..."
"Hm?"
"Ah Zhen?!"
A flash of lightning suddenly streaked through Chen Yu's mind!
He immediately took Ah Zhen out of his pocket.
He held her in his hand.
As he felt the extraordinarily pure spiritual power contained within Ah Zhen...
Chen Yu's eyes grew brighter and brighter!
"When cultivating the True Essence Profound Canon, there's nothing much to say about the first step, entering meditation, or the third step, circulating power through the meridians. But that second step... sensing the spiritual energy circulating between heaven and earth."
"Isn't Ah Zhen heavenly and earthly spiritual energy refined to its purest form? And her spiritual power is ridiculously strong."
"Gather it at the Baihui acupoint. In other words, put Ah Zhen at the Baihui acupoint."
At that thought, Chen Yu immediately sat up.
He found a piece of rope and tied it around Ah Zhen, then passed the other end over a roof beam, suspending her above his head.
He adjusted the height.
He made sure Ah Zhen was positioned precisely at the Baihui acupoint on top of his head.
Chen Yu steadied his breathing,
entered meditation,
and then pretended to cultivate.
[Cultivating...] [Experience: +0.001...] [Experience: +0.001...]
"Genius!"
Chen Yu opened his eyes excitedly.
He was gaining 0.001 experience points per second.
He had done this calculation before.
He could gain one experience point in less than twenty minutes.
To be precise,
it took 16.667 minutes.
This time, however, Chen Yu intended to save up fifty experience points before allocating them, which meant cultivating for fourteen hours.
[Cultivating...] [Experience: +0.001...] [Experience: +0.001...]
This time, his cultivation speed was even faster than it had been at the Mass Burial Grounds. During his previous sessions, absorbing too much yin energy had chilled his entire body, forcing him to stop and recover every so often. This time was different.
His spiritual power circulated without any need to stop.
It flowed freely and swiftly!
Moreover, every time the spiritual power completed a circuit through his body, Chen Yu returned it to the spirit essence, causing no depletion to Ah Zhen at all.
During this cultivation session, Ah Zhen merely served to trick the system into believing the spiritual power here was abundant, just like the yin energy at the Mass Burial Grounds back then.
The next day.
"Grrr-"
The growling of his stomach interrupted Chen Yu's cultivation.
At the same time, his cultivation had reached its limit, and his experience gains stopped once more.
A familiar prompt appeared before his eyes:
[This technique has reached its limit. You can no longer gain experience through the True Essence Profound Canon.]
On its own, the True Essence Profound Canon could only take him to the fourth layer peak of Qi Refining. Beyond that, he would need to combine it with other techniques of different attributes to continue advancing.
After a day of cultivation, his experience had reached the cap.
Chen Yu stretched.
"It's been ages since I checked my panel."
He took a look.
[Attributes updated!] [Name: Chen Yu.] [Age: 18.] [Level: Third layer of Qi Refining (39/40).] [Spiritual root: False spiritual root.] [Martial skills: None.] [Cultivation technique: True Essence Profound Canon] [Currently available experience points: 50.]
The panel had not changed much.
Only the cultivation technique field had changed, along with his available experience points.
"Time to allocate some points!"
Chen Yu gave it some thought.
"I'll put ten experience points into my level first."
He was a false spirit embryo, so his cultivation would normally be very slow. If he reached the fourth layer peak of Qi Refining too quickly and caught some elder's attention, he might end up refined into spirit essence or dragged off to be dissected for research.
Better to play it safe.
[Attributes updated!] [Name: Chen Yu.] [Age: 18.] [Level: Fourth layer of Qi Refining (9/50).] [Spiritual root: False spiritual root.] [Martial skills: None.] [Cultivation technique: True Essence Profound Canon] [Currently available experience points: 40.]
"Done."
Chen Yu stood up and moved around to loosen his body.
"Next, I need to hurry up and work to earn spirit essence so I can buy cultivation techniques. Ideally, I should also buy a technique that can hide my level."
At that thought, Chen Yu took out the Code of Conduct Manual he had received earlier that day.
He opened it and took a look.
"Overview of conduct violations for Dao Sect disciples."
"Article one: unkempt hair and a dirty face, disheveled clothing, or failure to wear the standard robes of a Dao Sect Outer Sect disciple."
"Article two: fighting in any form."
"Article three: suicide."
"Article four: slacking off while carrying out routine duties."
"Article five: littering."
"Article six..."
"..."
"Article nine hundred and eighty-one: failing to finish one's meals and wasting food."
"The above comprise all conduct violations currently recognized by the Dao Sect. Additions may be made at any time."
"The Dao Sect reserves the right of final interpretation."