As the last trace of the Seven-Star Dew's medicinal power was fully refined, Gerald's cultivation soon reached its threshold.
[Cultivation] Ninth Layer of Chain-Form Essence Refinement (1800/1800)
The Refining Essence into Qi section of the Divine Firmament Five-Elements Heavenly Thunder Art surfaced automatically in his mind.
"Use the dantian as the furnace, primordial essence as the fuel, and the five-element qi of the five organs as the catalyst to practice Refining Essence into Qi."
Chain-form essence refinement merely laid the foundation, strengthening the meridians, sinews, bones, blood, and vital energy.
Refining essence into qi was where one truly crossed the threshold. It transformed the energy accumulated in the body into a higher form of existence, sublimating "essence" into "qi."
Gerald could feel the immense primordial essence within him spinning furiously in his dantian like boiling water.
He guided this energy out of his dantian, up through Huiyin, past Mingmen, through Jiaji and Yuzhen, and into Niwán.
The five-element qi stored in his five organs peeled away strand by strand: the green of liver wood, the red of heart fire, the yellow of spleen earth, the white of lung metal, and the black of kidney water. The five-colored luminous qi intertwined within his dantian and began collapsing toward the center.
The process was extremely slow, and every second was fraught with danger. Too much heat would sever all his meridians; too little would leave the transformation incomplete.
Fortunately, Gerald had laid a solid enough foundation.
He had begun stance training and practicing the Mountain-Holding Fist at the age of two.
Ten years of accumulation were like layer upon layer of rammed earth, packing his foundation tight and solid.
Several hours passed in a flash, carrying him into the early hours of the morning.
The breakthrough went more smoothly than he had expected.
As the final strand of primordial essence was completely refined, Gerald entered an extraordinarily wondrous state.
His eyes were clearly closed, yet he could see every corner of the room with perfect clarity. Even the finest patterns on the alchemy furnace were visible.
Could this be the Spiritual Awareness mentioned in cultivation stories?
Joy stirred in Gerald's heart. This was an incredibly practical ability.
As his cultivation continued to improve, the range of his Spiritual Awareness would probably keep expanding.
A moment later, the five-colored qi blended together, eventually filling the entire sea of qi in his dantian.
At the center of his dantian, a thread of lightning finer than a hair bobbed within that five-colored sea.
This was a trace of thunder nurtured by the five qi.
Herein lay the wonder of the Divine Firmament Five-Elements Heavenly Thunder Art: the five elements gave rise to thunder, and thunder nurtured vitality.
Gerard Green opened his eyes, and the panel appeared right on cue.
[Name] Gerard Green [Lifespan] 11/168 [Cultivation] First Layer of Refining Essence into Qi · Aperture Entry (1/2000) [Cultivation Art] Divine Firmament Five-Elements Heavenly Thunder Art [Spells] None. (Currently unlockable spells: Fireball Spell, Water Arrow Spell, Thunder-Summoning Art, Qi-Perception Spell.)
I did it!
First Layer of Refining Essence into Qi · Aperture Entry.
The core of this layer was to connect the five-element qi within the body to the spiritual qi of the world outside, opening a channel between the human body and heaven and earth.
Before the breakthrough, cultivation relied on drawing energy from food and spirit herbs. Afterward, he could absorb spiritual qi directly from the world and convert it for his own use.
A moment later, Gerald calmed himself and turned his gaze to the lines on the panel.
I can finally practice spells.
The basic spells available to unlock were listed there in plain sight.
The Fireball Spell and Water Arrow Spell were the most fundamental low-tier five-element spells. The Thunder-Summoning Art required the strand of thunder condensed through the Divine Firmament Heavenly Thunder Art as its catalyst, while the Qi-Perception Spell could distinguish strength from weakness and discern fortune and danger.
There were also skills he could learn that were not displayed on the panel, such as Talisman Crafting and the Sword-Flight Technique.
Without much deliberation, he decided to start with the most basic Fireball Spell.
The Fireball Spell's guiding formula was only a few dozen words long: draw fire-element primordial qi out of the heart fire, send it along the three yang meridians of the hand to the palm, gather it into form, then release it as a spell.
This seemed somewhat similar to magic.
Magic released one's magical power through a wand and incantation. Magical power itself had a uniform nature, with incantations granting it different forms and functions.
Cultivation spells, by contrast, relied on manipulating the five-element qi within the body. The Fireball Spell used fire-element primordial qi, while the Thunder-Summoning Art used the power of thunder.
The Incendio he had cast before essentially involved pouring magical power into his wand, which then transformed that power into flames according to the incantation's instructions.
The Fireball Spell transformed the primordial qi from his dantian within his body itself. By the time he released it, it was already a mass of pure fire-element energy.
Their common ground was that both involved transforming energy.
The only difference was that cultivation spells required neither a wand nor an incantation. A mere thought was enough to cast them.
Yet even that difference could be eliminated by many powerful wizards.
Wandless Magic.
At least at his current stage, however, Gerald enjoyed a unique advantage.
Even without a wand, he could still wield supernatural power.
He would not even have to worry about the Trace during his summer and winter holidays.
He could simply use cultivation spells.
Gerald swung himself down from the stone platform and loosened his somewhat stiff neck.
After breaking through to the first layer of refining essence into qi, he felt as though he had shed an invisible, heavy shell. From skin to bone, his whole body felt lighter.
He extended his right hand, palm upward, and closed his eyes to concentrate.
"Fire."
A crimson glow lit up in his palm, swiftly condensing into a basketball-sized fireball that hovered three inches above his hand.
The fireball was crimson, its core intensely hot.
Gerald felt that this fireball was more powerful than the flames he produced with Incendio.
Of course, it could also be that he had not yet developed his magical power far enough.
If Dumbledore cast it, Incendio might well turn into a blazing path-clearing inferno.
At that thought, Gerald closed his fingers, and the fireball instantly dissipated.
Gerald tried the Fireball Spell a few more times.
His precision improved rapidly as well. At first, he could only keep it hovering above his palm; by the fifth attempt, he could make it circle his body.
This body's aptitude for cultivation spells was almost unnaturally strong.
According to the general outline of the Divine Firmament Five-Elements Heavenly Thunder Art, cultivators who had just entered Refining Essence into Qi usually needed days or even weeks to master condensing and releasing a Fireball Spell. His body, however, seemed born for it.
The primordial qi encountered almost no resistance as it traveled from his dantian to his palm, as though that pathway had been there all along.
This damn talent.
Gerald summed up his performance in two phrases.
Brilliant Talent. Innate Dao Body.
Next, he tried casting the Water Arrow Spell and the Thunder-Summoning Art.
As expected, both succeeded on the first attempt.
Gerald had never felt so confident about the future.
It's a little too late to head back to the dormitory now. I might have to get up again just after lying down. I may as well make do here.
In fact, after entering the realm of refining essence into qi, he could go dozens of days without sleep or rest and still feel no fatigue.
But life already offered few enough pleasures. Losing the pleasure of sleeping beneath soft covers would be terrible.
So, given the choice, Gerald naturally hoped to enjoy a good night's sleep.
Forget it. I'll catch up on sleep later.
With that thought, Gerald sat cross-legged on the stone platform again.
With a flicker of intent, he activated the panel.
Hundreds upon hundreds of tiny characters appeared on the panel before his eyes.
His eyes suddenly lit up.
"Qi-Perception Spell: at minor mastery, one can perceive the depth of another's cultivation; at major mastery, one can observe the lay of mountains and rivers and divine a person's fortune and misfortune."
Before you continue