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Chapter 2: Seventh Layer of Qi Refining
Apart from the faint scratching of pens, the classroom was frighteningly quiet.
Teacher Lei coughed twice and reminded them, "There are thirty minutes left until the exam ends. Please check your answers."
Chen Beiwu frowned and picked up the pace.
Ring, ring!
Soon, as the crisp bell rang out, Chen Beiwu put down his pen just in time.
He shook his groggy head, stood up, and went forward to hand in his paper. Then, planting one hand on a desk, he vaulted over it and leaped out the window under his classmates' astonished gazes, rushing toward the school's cultivation rooms.
Chen Beiwu had not lied to Teacher Lei.
Fortune and Misfortune Rely on Each Other. Terrifying as the earlier Great Sun Mutation had been, it had also advanced his long-stagnant Qi Refining cultivation.
"Look! Someone's flying!"
"Flying? Don't make such a fuss over nothing. That's Senior Chen using Wind Manipulation."
"Whoa, if I remember right, Senior Chen's only sixteen this year, isn't he?"
"Seriously? Wind Manipulation is a special art you can only master at the Sixth Layer of Qi Refining!" One student watched Chen Beiwu sweep past with longing in his eyes, wishing he could take his place.
"Beep! Academic credits -10."
After swiping his student card, Chen Beiwu strode into a First-Tier Upper-Grade Cultivation Chamber, sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and circulated the cultivation method he had practiced for years—the Ten Thousand Beasts Art.
As one of the Immortal Alliance's four renowned foundational cultivation methods, the Ten Thousand Beasts Art offered three major advantages.
First: the magical power cultivated through the Ten Thousand Beasts Art was balanced and gentle. It was unlikely to cause cultivation deviation and would not affect a Companion Beast's mind.
Second: the pure magical power cultivated through the Ten Thousand Beasts Art could be converted without restriction, preparing cultivators to switch cultivation methods in the future.
Third: the Ten Thousand Beasts Art had four stages of mastery: entry, minor attainment, major attainment, and perfection. The higher the stage, the more formidable the effects of the Beast Mark created by the cultivation method.
According to legends within the Immortal Alliance, a perfected Myriad Beast Mark could even awaken a Companion Beast's bloodline, unlocking an incomparably powerful special constitution.
Thus, this cultivation method was extremely widespread within the Immortal Alliance, with nearly three in every ten students practicing it. Chen Beiwu was naturally no exception and had even reached minor attainment.
Whoosh!
Feeling the magical power stirring within him, Chen Beiwu hesitated no longer. He took a jade bottle from inside his clothes and carefully extracted a pill with interwoven shades of green and blue.
This Clear Water Pill was a reward the school gave to the top three students in each year, and it was worth ten spirit stones.
[Clear Water Pill]: An upper-grade tier-one special pill. Consuming it strengthens the physique and consolidates cultivation. Taking it during a Qi Refining breakthrough also stabilizes the soul, greatly reducing the backlash caused by a failed breakthrough. (Effective only during mid-stage Qi Refining.)
Thinking of how important it was to break through to the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining, Chen Beiwu's gaze sharpened. He tossed the pill into his mouth and began refining it.
Boom!
The moment the pill entered his mouth, a tremendous surge of Spirit Power erupted within Chen Beiwu.
To absorb the Clear Water Pill's medicinal potency perfectly, Chen Beiwu did not continue sitting in meditation, focusing his spirit and circulating the Ten Thousand Beasts Art through regulated breathing. Instead, he stood and began performing the Immortal Alliance's ninth set of middle-school guiding exercises.
Time ticked past, second by second. When Chen Beiwu completed the final guiding movement, the magical power rushing through him like a stream suddenly burst through its barrier and entered a new realm.
"I've finally reached the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining!" Chen Beiwu opened his eyes, unable to hide his excitement.
Although the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining was only a minor realm within Qi Refining, it was the watershed dividing mid-stage from Late Qi Refining.
Moreover, every student knew that, whether they were in the junior or senior division, anyone who reached the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining before turning eighteen could enjoy a special benefit exclusive to the Immortal Alliance's public middle schools: eligibility to apply to the Immortal Alliance to purchase a spirit beast, even through a loan.
This eligibility was not to be underestimated. In the ranking of ordinary, extraordinary, spirit, and treasure beasts, spirit beasts were treasures rarely seen on the market, and normally only Foundation Establishment experts were qualified to buy them.
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In the era of the Immortal Alliance, the five essentials for cultivators were beasts, wealth, methods, companions, and land. Not one could be dispensed with. Beasts ranked first, serving as both the foundation of a cultivator's path to immortality and a means of defense and slaughter.
The higher the bloodline rank and potential of the demonic beast a cultivator first contracted, the smoother their future path to immortality would be.
Conversely, a demonic beast with a low bloodline rank and poor potential would make an already difficult path increasingly rugged, and might even turn it into a dead end.
As far as Chen Beiwu knew, some Qi Refining cultivators from ordinary families could only contract extraordinary beasts, leaving their cultivation stuck in the Qi Refining realm.
Yet some Qi Refining cultivators refused to settle for mediocrity. They were willing to enlist and reclaim the wilderness, staking their lives on the struggle to find an opportunity to contract a spirit beast-or even a treasure beast.
"Beep, beep!"
Just then, an alert sounded, and the Spirit Power within the cultivation room rapidly dwindled.
"Time's already up?" Chen Beiwu glanced at the time displayed on the door and reluctantly left the cultivation room.
Spiritual energy was precious. The Spirit Power concentration in a First-Tier Upper-Grade Cultivation Chamber was nearly twice that of a middle-grade room, making it beneficial for breaking through cultivation barriers. It simply cost too many academic credits.
Chen Beiwu could manage using it occasionally for breakthroughs, but if he wanted to use it all the time, the balance on his student card
simply would not hold out.
"Oh! You broke through?"
The moment Chen Beiwu stepped outside, he ran into his classmate Xu Lingling, who had finished cultivating. Her face was full of surprise.
"That's right." Chen Beiwu nodded, making no attempt to hide it.
The greater the cultivation talent he displayed now, the more attention the school leadership would pay him, and the better the resources they would award him afterward. There was no need at all to hide his ability.
Xu Lingling froze in place. Before she could speak, the students nearby who had been quietly watching clicked their tongues, their faces filled with disbelief.
"Good heavens! Late Qi Refining at sixteen!"
Chen Beiwu was exceptionally handsome and had long held second place in his year academically. He was extremely popular at Shouhe No. 2 Middle School, and the surrounding students recognized him at first glance.
What did it mean to reach the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining at sixteen?
His second year of senior high had only just begun, and there were still more than three years until the college entrance examination. If Chen Beiwu could maintain this rate of improvement during that time, he might have a chance to reach the Ninth Layer of Qi Refining before the exam arrived.
With enough luck, Chen Beiwu might even leap through the Dragon Gate like a carp and gain admission to one of the Thirteen Immortal Sects!
At that thought, the students present all looked at him with envy and jealousy.
They were sixteen too, and they also came from ordinary backgrounds. Why had their cultivation remained stuck at the fifth layer of Qi Refining while Chen Beiwu forged ahead with fierce determination, advancing step by step to the Seventh Layer of Qi Refining?
"Amazing!" Xu Lingling swallowed as she looked at Chen Beiwu, standing out like a crane among chickens.
Realizing she had lost her composure, Xu Lingling hurriedly changed the subject. "Oh, right, today's extraordinary beast studies exam was really hard, especially the tenth multiple-choice question. What did you pick?"
In a good mood, Chen Beiwu replied casually, "Did you forget? When in doubt, pick C."
Xu Lingling brightened. "Great! That's exactly what I got using the Six Ren Method. I picked the longest option."
"Nice. Congratulations, you got it wrong again. The correct answer was actually B." Chen Beiwu turned and waved to Xu Lingling.
"I've still got something to do. See you tomorrow."
Because of the Firmament Great Sun's mutation that day, Chen Beiwu was in a hurry to get home and investigate. He had no interest in chatting any longer.
Xu Lingling's face fell. Speechless, she said, "Huh? That shouldn't happen! Why do I get it wrong every time I use divination?"
(End of chapter)
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