An incense stick's worth of time later:
Wang Quan appeared at the Miscellaneous Goods Hall.
He scanned his identity token, and a Daoist came over impatiently. "What do you want?"
"A few sheets of moonlight paper, a pair of scissors, and a bundle of sandalwood incense."
The Daoist sneered. "No moonlight paper. Only ordinary spirit paper."
"Want it or not?"
Wang Quan frowned. "According to the lower court's rules, cultivators with level-zero clearance can collect a ream of moonlight paper every month."
Seeing Wang Quan's clothes washed to a grayish white and his youthful face, the Daoist said impatiently, "I said there isn't any, so there isn't any!"
Wang Quan gave him a long, searching look. "Then a ream of spirit paper and a pair of scissors, plus a set of spirit-infused brush, ink, paper, and inkstone."
The Daoist curled his lip and dragged his feet, taking a cup of tea's worth of time to get everything ready.
Wang Quan picked up the supplies, turned, and left.
A cup of tea's worth of time later, he returned to the coffin dormitory area.
There were few people here. The veterans had all successfully refined mana, while the newcomers were either studying spells or poring over Daoist scriptures.
Few returned at this hour.
Wang Quan cut out a palm-sized moon, then picked up his brush and wrote on it:
He had no mana yet and could not write Dao script, so he could only write ordinary characters.
On the front, he wrote: "A bright moon rises over the sea; at the ends of the earth, we share this moment."
On the back, he wrote: "As a child, I did not know the moon; I called it a white jade plate."
Finally, drawing on what he knew from his previous life, he painted a heap of impact craters on it.
Well, the drawings were not accurate, but getting the idea across was enough.
Before long, a crescent moon appeared.
Wang Quan packed away his supplies, tossed them into his coffin, and cupped the Paper Moon in both hands.
"I hope I can refine a wisp of mana early tonight."
"Then I can use the [Paper Moon] from the [Plain Moon Paper-Cutting Art] to draw down more moonlight and speed up my mana refinement."
The Daoist scriptures recorded: a thousand threads, ten thousand wisps, one strand of mana.
This meant that a thousand threads of mana were needed to weave a single wisp.
Ten thousand wisps of mana were needed to refine a single strand.
Only after acquiring a strand of mana could someone be considered a true cultivator.
A short while later, he began practicing the perfected version of the [Bright Moon Shines on Me Method].
He stared at the moon and recited the three-thousand-character scripture.
Bili bili!
Jili gulu!
A cup of tea's worth of time later, he saw hazy moonlight descend from the moon.
Because he was using a [Nature Cultivation] method, this moonlight fell directly into his sea of consciousness and transformed straight into two wisps of mana, ready to open an inner landscape and manifest the yin spirit unique to [Nature Cultivation].
As the two wisps of mana entered his sea of consciousness, Wang Quan smiled.
But the next second, his smile froze.
Two wisps of mana on my very first practice session?
Am I imagining things?
He was utterly astonished.
Because:
Over the years he had spent muddling along in the lower court, he had heard Wu Yong, Qian Xiuyue, and even other cultivators say that their first cultivation session yielded no more than three to five threads of mana.
Only once they had mastered their methods, accumulated more mana, and gained access to more aids for mana refinement could they harvest several hundred threads, or a single wisp, in one session.
He remembered that after Wu Yong had refined mana for nine months, with more than ten strands of mana and numerous supplementary materials supporting him, a single session had still yielded only around one wisp.
Yet on his first attempt at refining mana, his very first practice session, without any aids whatsoever, he had refined two whole wisps.
"Is this the power of a perfected cultivation method?"
"Is this the power of the [First-Rank Dao Seal] born from the Ten Thousand Scrolls Dao Canon?"
At that moment, Wang Quan's mind surged with emotion.
"The perfected fundamental method should let me gather one wisp of qi."
"Then the [First-Rank Dao Seal]'s [Qi Gathering +1] trait adds another wisp of mana."
"Sure enough, I was right to persevere."
After two and a half years of perseverance, the harvest season had finally arrived.
He took a deep breath, adjusted his state, then opened his mouth and expelled a wisp of [Bright Moon Mana].
Once the mana landed on the Paper Moon, Wang Quan immediately recited the scripture.
Bili bili!
A few lines of scripture later, the Paper Moon floated into the air and slowly rose.
The plump, round Paper Moon rose more than ten meters into the air, taking on a hazy greenish glow and a lustrous yellow hue.
Wang Quan practiced the [Bright Moon Shines on Me Method] again.
A cup of tea's worth of time passed.
A more distinct stream of hazy moonlight descended from the sky, entered his sea of consciousness, and transformed into three wisps of mana.
He continued practicing.
After another cup of tea's worth of time, moonlight descended again. This time, it yielded three wisps and a hundred threads of mana.
Excited, Wang Quan continued cultivating.
A cup of tea's worth of time...
An incense stick's worth of time...
An hour...
In the end, he obtained forty wisps of mana.
A short while later, he cut out another seven moons.
These seven moons were the new moon, waxing crescent, first quarter, waxing gibbous, waning gibbous, last quarter, and waning crescent.
Together with the full moon he had made at the start, there were exactly eight moons, corresponding to the eight moon phases.
This time, Wang Quan infused each moon phase with a wisp of mana.
The eight moon phases rose into the air, hanging more than ten meters high beneath the night sky.
Almost all the moonlight within a hundred-meter radius was drawn in by the eight moon phases.
He practiced the method once more.
A stream of hazy moonlight visibly descended.
Wang Quan opened his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp.
His sea of consciousness rumbled. This time, twenty wisps of moonlight appeared within it.
A cup of tea's worth of time...
An incense stick's worth of time...
An hour...
Two hundred and forty wisps of mana.
At that moment, Wang Quan was delighted.
"I only used the most ordinary spirit paper and ink to make these eight moon phases. Each can hold only one wisp of mana."
"If I use better materials, I'll gain even more from each practice session."
Two hours...
Six hours...
Ten hours.
Through some unseen sense, Wang Quan felt the moon receding.
He waved his hand, and the eight moon phases dropped down.
Then he lit three sticks of sandalwood incense and recited the [Bright Moon Shines on Me Method].
Bili bili!
Jili gulu!
This time, the order of the scripture's passages had changed drastically.
When his recitation ended, the two thousand seven hundred wisps of mana he had accumulated over ten hours vanished in an instant.
In the next instant, the three sticks of sandalwood incense also burned away completely.
The two thousand seven hundred wisps of mana rose into the air with the blue smoke from the sandalwood incense, heading straight for the moon.
This technique was unique to the perfected [Bright Moon Shines on Me Method].
According to the Daoist scriptures, after harvesting moonlight, cultivators had to worship the moon in repayment, settling the karmic debt.
At the same time, this form of worship could strengthen the moon's power and create mysterious connections between the moon and the cultivator.
Over the long years, cultivators could come to understand the moon completely, and even send their yin spirits into it in dreams to enjoy its many wondrous benefits.
Wang Quan had only just begun cultivating and worshiping it. He had no idea how many years he would have to wait before he could wander the moon in his dreams.
Once the worship ended, Wang Quan faintly sensed a ring-shaped impact crater on the moon.
"Next time I cultivate, I'll draw this crater on the eight moon phases to strengthen their effects."
At this point, the two thousand seven hundred wisps of mana expended from his body rapidly replenished themselves.
Before long, the moon was about to disappear completely.
Wang Quan hurriedly adjusted his frame of mind, preparing to gather purple qi.
Wu Yong and Qian Xiuyue both practiced this method as well. Wu Yong could gather a hundred threads of purple qi at a time, while Qian Xiuyue could gather only sixty.
The difference seemed small, but over the long years, it would become enormous.
He silently recited the scripture, pausing just before the final character.
Then the [Purple Qi Reaches the Heavens Method] slowly circulated, calculating the timing.
The instant the purple qi emerged, Wang Quan recited the scripture's final character.
The next second, his eyes opened.
As the sun leaped above the horizon, he saw a purple ocean churn, enveloping the world in an instant.
Wang Quan opened his mouth and inhaled.
Two wisps of purple qi descended from the purple ocean, fell into his sea of consciousness, and transformed into [Purple Qi Mana].
"My mana-refining efficiency is incredible!"
"My efforts weren't wasted!"
At that moment, Wang Quan smiled.
Before you continue