The First Level of the Qi Refining Stage

Looking at the pile of things in the Storage Bag, Xu Qingtong considered them silently. Those garments were all the same color and style, so they were probably the uniforms of disciples from Lu Mo's sect. Keeping them would only invite trouble. He would destroy them all when he had time.

He could not yet make sense of those long, narrow jade pieces, so he left them alone for now. The bottles and jars probably contained medicinal elixirs, though he doubted he could work out their exact effects right away. Words could be spoken carelessly, but medicine could not be taken carelessly. He would keep them for now!

Those translucent stones are probably the spirit stones Lu Mo mentioned. I'll take one out and have a look, Xu Qingtong thought.

He fixed his divine sense on a spirit stone, and with a thought, it appeared in his hand.

Turning the spirit stone over in his hand, he scanned it with his divine sense and felt the abundant spiritual energy within it, far surpassing that of the thirty-year-old ginseng.

With another thought, the spirit stone returned to the Storage Bag. Xu Qingtong could not help marveling at how wondrous these immortal arts were.

Sending his divine sense into the Storage Bag again, Xu Qingtong took out a jade piece. He studied it in puzzlement. It was smooth and lustrous, clearly no ordinary object, yet it was different from a spirit stone.

Out of habit, he examined it with his divine sense. To his surprise, his divine sense slipped straight inside. Several lines of text then appeared in his mind. "Cultivation Basics Guide... I. General Knowledge of Cultivation... II. Cultivation Realms... III. Basic Techniques... IV. Miscellaneous Cultivation Knowledge..."

So this jade piece is a cultivator's book. It's far more ingenious than an ordinary mortal's book, Xu Qingtong thought. It looks rather like the bamboo slips used by the ancients. I'll call it a Jade Slip!

Xu Qingtong spent an hour reading through the contents of the Jade Slip. Some of it he had heard from Lu Mo, while some he was seeing for the first time.

He remained in a state of excitement. Everything he had seen and heard today had shaken him profoundly. He was like an innocent child crouched at a doorway, gazing with boundless curiosity into a whole new world.

From the Jade Slip, he learned that cultivation required passing through many realms, including the qi refining stage, foundation establishment, core formation, nascent soul formation, consciousness condensation, void refinement, and dao integration. Only then could one finally reach mahayana and achieve transcendent ascension.

Looking at himself now, he had not even entered the qi refining stage. He could merely sense heaven and earth and draw spiritual energy into his body.

According to the Jade Slip, upon reaching the second level of the qi refining stage, one could develop divine sense and use items such as Storage Bags and talismans.

At the fourth level, one's magical power would increase greatly, and one's divine sense would grow stronger, allowing the use of simple techniques such as the Object Manipulation Technique, Fireball Technique, and Water Bullet Technique.

Xu Qingtong closed his eyes in thought, digesting the Jade Slip's contents while planning his next steps in cultivation. By dinnertime, he had made up his mind.

As the family sat around the dinner table, Xu Qingtong said, "Uncle, I may reach a critical point in my cultivation over the next few days. Please don't disturb me. Unless something urgent comes up, it would be best not to enter my room. If I get hungry, I'll come out and find something to eat myself."

Chen Jialiang said, "Qingtong, there are still some precious medicinal herbs in the front hall. If you need them, help yourself."

Xu Qingtong shook his head. "There's no need. I have something better here." As he spoke, he turned his hand over, and a translucent, jade-like stone appeared in his palm. "This is a cultivator's spirit stone. The spiritual energy inside it far surpasses that of those herbs. Uncle, you needn't worry about my cultivation anymore."

Chen Jialiang took the spirit stone and felt it with his fingers. Beyond its translucence and warm, smooth texture, he could discern nothing unusual about it, so he handed it back to Xu Qingtong.

Seeing this, Chen Ruoling quickly snatched the spirit stone from Xu Qingtong's hand and played with it. "This stone of yours is so pretty. Why not give it to your big sister?"

Knowing how valuable the spirit stone was, Chen Jialiang snatched it back and returned it to Xu Qingtong. Feigning anger, he said, "You know nothing about cultivators' arts. What would you want a spirit stone for?"

Xu Qingtong smiled. "If you like it, Sister, take it. Your little brother has more." As he spoke, another spirit stone appeared in his hand as though he were performing a magic trick.

Chen Ruoling grew even more curious and hurriedly asked, "Qingtong, where did you take that stone from?" Xu Qingtong did not answer. Turning his hand over, he produced two more stones. Together with the first two, there were four in all, which he arranged in a row on the table.

"Oh, these stones aren't all the same!" Chen Ruoling said. Xu Qingtong noticed it too. Of the four spirit stones, two were greenish, one was black, and one was dark red.

After a moment's thought, he understood. They must simply be spirit stones of different attributes, hence their different colors.

Chen Ruoling looked at her father, then at the spirit stones. She wanted one but dared not take it, her expression both comical and endearing. Amused by his cousin's eagerness, Xu Qingtong handed her a red spirit stone.

Afraid his uncle might object, he said, "This red spirit stone has a fire attribute. Since you were born in the Year of the Horse, it's just right for you. Keep it, Sister. Your little brother still has plenty."

Seeing that Xu Qingtong insisted on giving it to her, Chen Jialiang said nothing more and strolled back to his room. Xu Qingtong put away the remaining spirit stones on the table, then imitated his uncle, clasping his hands behind his back and taking measured, stately steps out of the rear hall.

Back in his room, Xu Qingtong sat cross-legged on the bed, took a spirit stone from the Storage Bag, and began cultivating. After the night had passed, he ended his practice and emerged from meditation. He examined the spirit stone in his hand. It had grown much duller, but spiritual energy still pulsed within it.

Xu Qingtong could not help sighing. Lu Mo had been right: his constitution truly did absorb spiritual energy slowly. Even after a whole night of cultivation, he had failed to absorb all the spiritual energy in a single spirit stone.

With that thought, he looked inward at his dantian again. The cloud of magical power inside had grown larger, though not as much as he had expected. Despite falling short of his expectations, it had become considerably denser than before.

In the mountains, the years went uncounted; in cultivation, time passed unnoticed. Ten days slipped by in the blink of an eye. Xu Qingtong had absorbed the spiritual energy from six spirit stones. Among the stones was a white, metal-attribute one whose spiritual energy he could not absorb. Since he had four spiritual roots, he surmised that the one he lacked must be a metal spirit root, leaving him unable to absorb metal-attribute spiritual energy.

One day, while meditating with his eyes closed, Xu Qingtong suddenly felt his dantian fill to capacity, as though it could no longer absorb spiritual energy. He knew he must have reached the threshold for breaking through to the first level of the qi refining stage.

Not daring to delay, Xu Qingtong hurriedly followed the instructions in the Five Elixirs Origin Refinement Art. While continuing to absorb spiritual energy, he mobilized the magical power in his dantian and sent it surging through his limbs and bones, constantly tempering his meridians and transforming his body.

Suddenly, his whole body shuddered. The swollen fullness in his meridians and dantian rapidly receded, replaced by a sense of emptiness, as though he had gone hungry for days.

He hurriedly directed his divine sense to inspect his dantian and meridians. He discovered that his dantian had grown somewhat larger, and his meridians had become considerably thicker and stronger.

Xu Qingtong was overjoyed. He knew he had finally broken through to the first level of the qi refining stage and stepped onto the path of cultivation. He could now just barely be counted as a cultivator.

Then a black, foul-smelling, greasy substance began seeping from the surface of Xu Qingtong's body. He knew these were impurities expelled as his magical power tempered his meridians and transformed his flesh.

These impurities were filthy and foul-smelling, clinging stickily to his skin and making him very uncomfortable. Still caught up in the excitement of his breakthrough, however, Xu Qingtong paid them little mind.

Seeing that it was nearly noon, he reckoned his uncle would soon return for lunch. He extended his divine sense toward the front hall. Sure enough, before long, his uncle saw off his last patient and headed toward the rear hall.