Wang Clan Profound Origin Technique

In these familiar waters, Red-Scaled Eels were rare and hard to come by. Even if one was lucky enough to encounter one, ordinary fishing nets would be torn apart. Catching one took both luck and skill.

Of course, if one ventured into the treacherous waters of the Wild Marsh, Red-Scaled Eels were nothing unusual. But such dangerous, untamed territory hid who knew how many vicious creatures. Even someone at the Spirit Platform Realm could lose their life by barging in recklessly.

With Wang Dinghai's Red-Scaled Eel catch, the atmosphere instantly reached its peak. After swiftly mending the net, the fishermen eagerly got back to work.

Wang Dinghai personally led Wang Shouzhe and Gongsun Hui aboard the boat back to Dingpu Ferry. After joining up with several household guards left behind there, they returned all the way to the main residence.

By then, night had fallen. After washing up, they went to bed.

That night, Wang Shouzhe felt his way into a Profound Warrior's cultivation state. Thanks to the fusion of his memories, after familiarizing himself with it only briefly, he entered the proper rhythm of cultivation.

The technique Wang Shouzhe cultivated was the Qi Refining Chapter of the Wang Clan Profound Origin Technique, said to have been passed down by the earliest ancestor.

The Profound Origin Qi cultivated through this technique was upright, balanced, and peaceful. It had no outstanding strengths, but neither did it possess any fatal flaws. Yet the further one cultivated, the more abundant one's Profound Power became, and the more its subtle wonders revealed themselves.

Qi Refining Realm!

It was the process by which Profound Warriors cultivated Profound Qi and used it to temper their bodies, continuously growing stronger. Pure Profound Qi traveled through the meridians and acupoints, nourishing them. As it stimulated each acupoint, those acupoints produced invisible ripples of energy in a wondrous rhythm. The ripples spread throughout the body, setting the blood and qi trembling.

The more acupoints the Profound Qi flowed through within the body, the more intense that rhythm of blood and qi became. Once all twelve acupoints were linked one by one into a closed circuit by the Profound Qi, its expenditure reached its limit, and the rhythm of blood and qi peaked.

Suddenly!

A cool sensation spread from his tailbone through his entire body in an instant. Wang Shouzhe's scalp went numb, and it felt as though his soul might float free. A hazy vapor even rose from above his head.

The entire process lasted for more than ten breaths. The fierce tidal rhythm of blood and qi within him gradually receded, transforming into an invisible energy that gathered toward his lower abdomen.

He exhaled a mouthful of stale air. Within his empty qi sea, newly born Profound Qi surged forth like a gurgling spring, quickly filling it.

At that moment, Wang Shouzhe could vaguely sense that the newly generated Profound Qi in his qi sea was a fraction stronger than before. The fatigue he had felt earlier in the day seemed to have recovered considerably as well, as if he had grown a little stronger.

This completed one full cycle of Wang Clan Profound Origin Technique cultivation. Cultivation for a Profound Warrior was an exceedingly long process of accumulation; every powerful expert was built up bit by bit in this fashion.

However, the process consumed an enormous amount of blood and qi. Profound Warriors had to replenish it with food, medicinal pills, and other means. Otherwise, such cultivation would not only fail to benefit the body, but would drain one's blood and qi until the body collapsed.

The deeper a Profound Warrior's cultivation became, the greater their need for food and nourishment. This was also why Profound Warriors established one aristocratic clan after another, using their clans to seize wealth and abundant resources to sustain themselves.

Fortunately, Wang Shouzhe had been eating richly lately, and his blood and qi were flourishing with nowhere to be spent.

Assessing his own condition, he immediately began a second cycle...

By dawn, Wang Shouzhe had completed four full cultivation cycles in roughly two hours. At this point, his spirit was exceptionally vigorous, and his body seemed filled with inexhaustible energy. He could clearly feel that his cultivation level had improved somewhat.

However, much of the blood and qi that had originally filled his body had been consumed. He could feel a sense of "hunger" rising from within. This hunger differed from ordinary stomach hunger, yet it was strangely distinct and clear.

At the same time, he felt some "soreness and swelling" in his acupoints and meridians, along with discomfort. Experience told him that, in his current condition, he could not continue cultivating even if his blood and qi were still abundant. His overburdened acupoints and meridians needed time to recover naturally.

Still, the progress was heartening. Judging his present condition through the memories and experience of his former self, Wang Shouzhe felt that if he could improve like this every day, he would have a chance to break through the bottleneck and reach the seventh level of the Qi Refining Realm within three months.

Unfortunately, achieving such an ideal state was nearly impossible under normal circumstances. After consuming vast amounts of blood and qi, replenishing it through ordinary food alone was painfully slow. He needed a great deal of spirit rice and Spirit Food to make up for it.

Yet even as the first priority in the clan's allocation of cultivation resources, Wang Shouzhe currently received only five jin of White Jade Spirit Rice, five jin of Spirit Fish meat, and five jin of Spirit-Horn Yak meat each month!

That much high-grade food rich in energy would last him at most five meals, meaning he could only replenish himself once every six or seven days on average. In addition, as the clan's first priority for cultivation, he was entitled to one Lesser Foundation-Cultivating Pill each month.

The Lesser Foundation-Cultivating Pill was an even higher-grade cultivation resource than Spirit Food, but each pill cost ten Qian Gold. It was extraordinarily expensive. Clan members lower down the cultivation priority list could only apply to the clan for one to assist a breakthrough when they were about to advance to the next cultivation level.

If he could eat Spirit Food every meal and have a Lesser Foundation-Cultivating Pill every day, Wang Shouzhe figured his cultivation speed would soar...

"Clan Leader, your breakfast has arrived." The servant Wang Gui knocked outside.

"Come in."

Wang Shouzhe rose from the bed. Wang Gui entered, placed the breakfast to one side, first brought fresh water and attended the Clan Leader as he washed up and brushed his teeth, then opened the food box and laid everything out one by one.

"Eh? A large bowl of White Jade Spirit Rice porridge, and steamed salted Spirit Mandarin Fish chunks?" Wang Shouzhe looked somewhat curiously at the dazzling breakfast spread. Aside from the two precious Spirit Foods, there were pastries, snacks, side dishes for the porridge, and more.

He knew this breakfast was not part of the usual provisions. Eating Spirit Food every meal could indeed replenish blood and qi quickly and maximize cultivation progress. But in truth, the principle of diminishing marginal returns applied here.

Especially if it was eaten every meal, a great deal of nutrition would inevitably be wasted, reducing the ratio of cost to benefit.

The Wang Clan was too poor to support such extravagant cultivation. Moreover, the clan had its rules. Even the Clan Leader could not freely drain the lifeblood of the other clansmen.

"Clan Leader, Miss Xia He from Madam Gongsun's side brought this over," Wang Gui answered honestly. "She said Madam rose early and personally prepared this breakfast. She also conveyed a message on Madam's behalf: Clan Leader is at a critical point in pushing toward the later stages of the Qi Refining Realm, so don't be so fussy."

Just as expected!

Wang Gui's words confirmed Wang Shouzhe's guess. Madam Gongsun had saved this from her own rations for him. Especially that remark about not being fussy—it blocked off any excuse Wang Shouzhe might have made to refuse.

Fine, then. He would not let Madam's kindness go to waste.

Besides, he believed the clan's future would only grow better. At the very least, thanks to his efforts yesterday, the profits of Wang Dinghai's fishing and hunting team would increase by more than double in the future. That would greatly ease the clan's shortage of resources.

After eating the Spirit Food, his slightly depleted blood and qi were immediately replenished to some extent. As the food was digested and transformed, his blood and qi would grow increasingly abundant.

Once he had eaten and drunk his fill, Wang Shouzhe considered making rounds to inspect the clan's other industries. Whether he wished it or not, he was now thoroughly bound to the Ping'an Wang Clan.

And as the Clan Leader at the helm, he naturally had to understand every link of the clan inside and out. Only then could he consider the whole board and find a way to breathe life back into this declining clan.