As the stone doors of the cave abode on Purple Sky Peak closed behind him, Han Li heard the spirit spring's tinkling mingle with the mountain wind and flow inside. Far from the clamor of the Star Palace, only the Magnetic Essence Crystal Cluster on the ceiling glimmered a dim, ghostly blue, bathing the entire abode as though it lay submerged in the deep sea.
He sat cross-legged on a bluestone beside the spirit spring. The Pure Water Source Heart in his palm resonated with the spring water, emitting a faint hum.
His quiet cultivation began with "returning to zero." Han Li laid the Jade Slip of the Heavenly Water True Scripture across his knees and contemplated its opening words anew, word by word: "Water essence takes form; softness overcomes hardness." Amid the mist rising from the spirit spring, he felt water spirit power seep into his meridians in silken strands, quietly intertwining with the magnetic patterns on the top-grade lower-tier golden core in his dantian.
At first, the two kinds of spiritual power often clashed. The magnetic patterns were like steel needles, the water spirit power like soft silk; the slightest carelessness sent stabbing pain through his meridians.
Zi Ling set up a medicinal cauldron in the pill chamber next door, refining Origin-Nourishing Pills each day from star-tear grass and powdered magnetic essence crystal. The medicinal fragrance drifted through the stone wall and, remarkably, eased some of the turmoil in Han Li's spiritual power.
"An unsettled mind makes your energy restless," she told him through the door by voice transmission. "Look at this spring water. It flows around stones and gathers in hollows. That is the true essence of water." After observing the spring for three days, Han Li finally grasped how to "embrace hardness with softness." Rather than