[Qi Refiner]

On the evening of the third day.

A young man with delicate features, slightly slanted bangs, and a frame as straight as a green pine.

He sat cross-legged on the carpet, his expression natural and serene, blending seamlessly into his surroundings without looking out of place.

As he slowly opened his eyes, a faint glow shone in their depths.

"Finally, I did it," Wang An said expectantly. He silently summoned his panel:

[Name: Wang An

Essence: 1.70

Qi: 1.53

Spirit: 2.35

Talent: Avatar. The finer the control, the more spiritual power it consumed.

Professions: intelligent life-form, student, martial artist, archer

Skills: Basic Taijiquan (proficient, 4501000), Health Qigong Baduanjin (proficient, 300/1000), Mindfulness Meditation (proficient, 150/1000) [Refining Essence into Qi, beginner, 36/100] [Compound Bow Archery (proficient, 70/1000)]]

Wang An was quite satisfied with the rate at which his three attributes had grown.

But attributes became harder to raise the further they progressed. Perhaps he would also need some potent medicinal ingredients; ordinary cultivation methods would no longer be very effective.

He dispelled the various speculations in his mind. He would not think about them; what mattered was the present.

He took three meteorites bearing mysterious patterns out of his storage space.

Looking at the patterns, he felt as though they held some mysterious power.

Wang An speculated that the patterns were what actually made them work. Once they were used to change classes, the patterns dissipated, and the meteorites became ordinary. Perhaps I can try to comprehend these patterns in the future, Wang An thought.

Following the guidance of the original version, he changed classes to [Qi Refiner].

Boom! A mighty spring thunderclap echoed through the depths of Wang An's consciousness.

At that moment, his mind was clear as he examined himself. The blood in his body surged and rushed like a great river.

The true qi in his lower dantian slowly rose and sank like mist over a lake.

His spiritual power traveled throughout his body, through his internal organs and every organ system, his limbs, and the meridians of his entire body.

It returned to the Niwan Palace in his upper dantian, where a faint radiance bloomed in its dark world.

At that moment, his spirit underwent a qualitative transformation, and he saw his true self.

Wang An brought up the information on the [Qi Refiner] profession.

Talent: Qi Observation. All the qi of heaven and earth is visible to the eye.

Function: increases the efficiency of qi cultivation. When cultivating qi, one can always find the method best suited to oneself.

Skills: Qi Gathering, gather all the qi of heaven and earth. Qi Refining, refine all the qi of heaven and earth into innate primordial qi, which possesses all manner of wondrous and inconceivable mysteries.

Wang En was astonished by this information. He had previously thought that the [Qi Refiner] profession would only grant skills that increased the rate at which his physical attributes grew.

He had not expected to receive one talent and two skills.

Although there was very little information about the two skills and the talent, as the saying went, the fewer the words, the bigger the matter.

From Qi Observation to Qi Gathering and finally Qi Refining, they had considerably broadened Wang An's understanding of the [Qi Refiner] profession. This was a Qi Refiner in the real world, a world without magic, not a Qi Refining realm cultivator from an immortal cultivation novel.

Wang An began examining his surroundings. What exactly was this qi of heaven and earth?

He saw fiery red currents of qi circulating through the rented room. Looking out the window, he saw the same fiery red color circulating on the floors of other buildings that were regularly occupied, while rooms that often stood empty were dim, desolate, and cold.

By then, the moon was gradually rising. In its light, a faint silver-white qi drifted down from it.

Wang An used the [Qi Gathering] skill to make contact with the silver-white qi and gradually guide it into his dantian. As it entered his body, he felt a current of coolness flow through him. It slowly came to hover above his dantian, forming the outline of a moon with a faint glow. His spirit then decreased by 0.1. It seemed both skills achieved their effects by consuming spiritual power.

At that moment, the panel sent back a piece of information: [Greater Yin Qi: 1]

He tried to use his spiritual power and intent to control the Greater Yin Qi, but the moment he touched it, his thinking grew sluggish, and his thoughts could not function.

Only when that strand of spiritual power was exhausted did Wang An come back to his senses, his back drenched in cold sweat. Wang An's spiritual power was far too weak. He could only look inward; it could not leave his body, much less withstand this kind of energy from heaven and earth.

With no other choice, he used the [Qi Refining] skill to bring the Greater Yin Qi into contact and fuse it with the hazy true qi in his dantian. In the end, the Greater Yin Qi vanished, leaving only a strand of true qi that glowed silver-white, floating above the rest.

Wang An named this strand of true qi [Greater Yin True Qi]. He then directed it to circulate throughout his body. Waves of cool comfort spread through him, the surging of his blood gradually subsided, its flow became smoother and more natural, and the conflicts gradually disappeared.

When the [Greater Yin True Qi] finally returned to his dantian, its light was so dim it was almost imperceptible. Wang An directed other true qi to replenish it, but that only made the strand of vapor larger. Its light did not return, and when he circulated it again, it no longer had the same effect as before.

Wang An could only gather and refine Greater Yin Qi again. Gradually, he also worked out how to maintain the strand of [Greater Yin True Qi].

Moreover, as he gathered and refined more Greater Yin Qi, its power gradually increased. Wang An speculated that to refine Greater Yin Qi into innate primordial qi, he would need not only a great deal of Greater Yin Qi but also true qi as an intermediary with which to refine it. Once it reached a certain quantity, the quantitative change would bring about a qualitative change, forming [innate Greater Yin mystic qi] with certain wondrous properties.

So the fiery red qi in the room should be a kind of human qi. For the time being, however, Wang An did not intend to gather and refine it.

He guessed that this qi required people to live somewhere for a long time to form and persist for so long. If he gathered all of it, the room would become like those houses that had been unoccupied for a long time: cold and falling into disrepair very quickly.

Its comfort would be greatly diminished. He would first finish refining this strand of [innate Greater Yin mystic qi] before considering anything else. If he bit off more than he could chew, he would not be able to digest it.

Judging by its current state, he would need at least 108 strands to refine one. He could only gather and refine Greater Yin Qi from ten at night until two in the morning each day; from two to six in the morning was the time of extreme yin, when the sun had yet to rise and the moon was about to set; from six to ten was the time of lesser yin, when yang qi was gradually dispersing and the moon had just risen.

In theory, if the weather was good during the day and no clouds blocked the moon, he could gather and refine three kinds of yin qi: lesser yin, Supreme Yin, and extreme yin.

In practice, at his current speed, he estimated it would take at least seven days or so to gather and refine a complete strand of innate qi. Considering the cost of using his skills, he could only form the Greater Yin Qi of the three yin first.

Wang An had begun gathering and refining Greater Yin Qi at ten, and it gradually disappeared after two. A grayish-white qi appeared, and as soon as it did, he felt the temperature outside drop a little. It was Extreme Yin Qi.

He had gathered eighteen strands of Greater Yin Qi in total today, and his spiritual power had nearly reached its lowest point. It was getting late, so Wang An prepared to meditate and recover some spiritual power before refining qi.

He also had to start collecting Class Change Stones tomorrow. He only had seven usable Class Change Stones left; his reserves were running dry!

He hoped he would gain something this time.