Chapter 6: The First Level of Qi Refining

Lin Yang acted at once, searching the shop for pills that increased comprehension. Sure enough, there they were! One page displayed a whole selection.

【Common Enlightenment Pill】

【Effect: Increases comprehension by 1 point!】

【Price: 10,000 low-grade spirit stones!】

【Discounted price: 0.00001 low-grade spirit stones!】

This was the cheapest, but one point per pill was too little. Lin Yang scrolled down until he found the most effective option. They were all tier-one items, usable even by ordinary people, with no level requirement.

【Epic Enlightenment Pill】

【Effect: Increases comprehension by 100 points!】

【Price: 1,000,000 low-grade spirit stones!】

【Discounted price: 0.001 low-grade spirit stones!】

A single epic pill cost a million low-grade spirit stones. The twenty thousand Huang Bin had received from his master wouldn’t buy even one.

“That’s the one!”

The price per point of comprehension was the same, but each common pill added only one point. To reach a thousand, he’d have to eat nearly a thousand pills. Never mind the cost; chewing them all would wreck his teeth! The epic pill gave him a hundred points at a time. It was clearly the better deal.

“Ten to start!”

【Purchase successful!】

【Total spent: 0.01 low-grade spirit stones!】

【Shop balance: 0.989886 low-grade spirit stones!】

Ten purple pills appeared before him, each the size of a grape and shimmering with faint violet light. Lin Yang picked one up and tossed it into his mouth. It was crisp yet pleasantly chewy; the little fragments quickly dissolved into a spiritual liquid that flowed through his body. A cool sensation surged into his mind.

【Epic Enlightenment Pill consumed successfully!】

【Comprehension increased by 100 points!】

【Current comprehension: 112!】

His eyes lit up. “My stats went up already!”

He really did feel much smarter. His mind was clear; give him a pen and he felt he could prove Goldbach’s conjecture on the spot.

The second pill! The third! The fourth!

He ate them one after another, quickly finishing all ten.

【Comprehension increased by 100 points!】

【Comprehension increased by 100 points!】

…

【Current comprehension: 1012!】

Once his comprehension passed a thousand, the difference was even more striking. It was as if wisdom had given his brain an upgrade. His thoughts were exceptionally clear, and a single glance at a page of the Primal Qi Refining Scripture was almost enough to commit it to memory.

Lin Yang flipped through the book, taking in ten lines at a glance and forgetting nothing. In less than a minute, he’d read the whole scripture.

【You have read the Primal Qi Refining Scripture again!】

【Technique comprehension progress increased by 4.16%!】

【Current comprehension progress: 4.161%!】

“Four percent this time?”

He grinned. His first reading had gained him only 0.001%, but now a single reading gave him over four percent. What a difference!

Four percent was still a little slow, though. Since comprehension helped, he would raise it further!

“Twenty more!”

【Purchase successful!】

【Total spent: 0.02 low-grade spirit stones!】

Twenty epic Enlightenment Pills appeared on the table, and Lin Yang grabbed them and started eating. One, five, ten, twenty!

After the last pill, he rubbed his stomach. It was bulging a little. Thirty pills had left him somewhat full.

【Current comprehension: 3012!】

Over three thousand points, three times the Primal Qi Refining Scripture’s requirement!

【Player’s comprehension greatly exceeds the technique requirement!】

【Excess comprehension can compensate for some deficiencies in spirit root and soul!】

【Player can now use sheer comprehension to force an understanding of the Primal Qi Refining Scripture!】

Lin Yang nodded in satisfaction. Just as he’d thought: if his innate talent fell short, enough pills could make up the difference!

He had wanted to buy more Enlightenment Pills, but felt his slightly swollen stomach and sighed. “Who’d have thought the thing holding back my cultivation would be my fucking appetite? Why couldn’t I have been a glutton?”

If he could eat a little more, he’d push his comprehension straight to ten thousand today! Sadly, his stomach wouldn’t allow it.

He picked up the Primal Qi Refining Scripture again. This time, one reading was enough for the complex routes through the meridians to appear clearly in his mind.

【You have read the Primal Qi Refining Scripture!】

【Technique comprehension progress increased by 73.62%!】

【Current comprehension progress: 77.781%!】

“Holy crap! Over seventy percent in one reading!”

He immediately read it again. This time he didn’t just read; he also simulated the spiritual energy’s route in his mind. In less than two minutes, a notification appeared.

【Congratulations! Player has successfully comprehended the Primal Qi Refining Scripture!】

【Current comprehension progress: 100%!】

【Primal Qi Refining Scripture added to the skill list!】

Lin Yang opened his player panel.

【Cultivation technique: Primal Qi Refining Scripture】

【Tier: One】

【Quality: Epic】

【Mastery: Beginner】

【Effect: Greatly increases spiritual energy absorption speed, energy purity, and the strength of one’s foundation in Qi Refining!】

At the same time, the main quest responded.

【Congratulations! Player has completed Main Quest 2!】

【Objective: Successfully master a cultivation technique!】

【Reward: Three low-grade spirit stones!】

Lin Yang immediately deposited his reward into the shop.

【Shop balance: 3.969886 low-grade spirit stones!】

【Main Quest 3 unlocked!】

【Main Quest 3: Begin Qi Refining!】

【Objective: Reach the first level of Qi Refining!】

【Reward: Three low-grade spirit stones and one common weapon enhancement stone!】

【Bonus reward: Unlock the shop’s enhancement stone section!】

Lin Yang closed the quest panel and sat down cross-legged. Now that he’d learned the technique, naturally the first thing to do was try it. This was a real cultivation technique! He was a little nervous. What would it feel like to draw spiritual energy into his body?

He followed the Primal Qi Refining Scripture and began his first breathing cycle. As soon as he circulated the technique, the spiritual energy around him seemed to be drawn in through his nose, mouth, and every pore. Strands of energy flowed through his meridians and settled in his dantian.

About a minute later, a notification appeared.

【Cultivation +15!】

Nearly another minute passed.

【Cultivation +15!】

Lin Yang opened his eyes, unimpressed. “A little slow!”

In truth, this was extremely fast for a newcomer with third-grade spirit roots. Someone else’s cultivation might increase by fractions of a point at a time, while he had started at fifteen. A cultivator’s absorption speed was tied to their spirit roots: the higher the grade, the more spiritual energy they could draw in and refine.

But Lin Yang intended to surpass the master of the Qingyuan Sword Sect in a short time. Fifteen points a minute simply wouldn’t do.

“Fifteen a minute is too slow!”

He opened the shop again, ready to spend more. He had a cultivation technique; next, he needed to raise his realm. He searched for something that could increase it directly.

“Cultivation pills.” Nothing. “Experience pills.” Still nothing. Refusing to give up, he typed “instant first-level Qi Refining.”

【No matching products found!】

“What’s wrong with this shop? I can buy comprehension, but not cultivation?”

The system soon explained.

【Player cultivation cannot be purchased directly!】

【Player must personally raise their realm by cultivating a technique, taking supplementary pills, entering secret realms, or obtaining cultivation opportunities!】

So he couldn’t buy his way straight to the realm of a Great Firmament Golden Immortal. He would have to cultivate himself. But the shop sold plenty of things to help: spirit-gathering formations, supplementary pills, meditation cushions, spiritual energy infusion talismans, and all kinds of cultivation acceleration cards.

Lin Yang sorted the cards by price. The golden card at the top nearly dazzled him.

【64x Cultivation Acceleration Card!】

【Tier: One】

【Quality: Epic】

【Duration: One hour!】

【Effect: Increases cultivation speed sixty-fourfold!】

【Original price: 1,000,000 low-grade spirit stones!】

【Discounted price: 0.001 low-grade spirit stones!】

“Buy!”

【Purchase successful!】

He used the card immediately.

【64x Cultivation Acceleration Card activated!】

【Time remaining: 59 minutes, 59 seconds!】

Lin Yang sat cross-legged in the quiet cultivation chamber, adjusted his breathing, and circulated the technique again. Once he meditated, drew in the surrounding spiritual energy, and guided it along the prescribed route, he could begin cultivating in earnest.

Boom!

This time was much faster. The surrounding spiritual energy instantly surged into motion, gathering from every direction into a visible white vortex above Courtyard C-17. Energy poured into the chamber. Lin Yang felt every pore open as streams of it entered his body, raced through his meridians, and converged in his dantian.

Normally, a native disciple with third-grade spirit roots would need at least ten days to half a month to reach the first level of Qi Refining. Players had the system’s help and could be faster, but still needed a day or two.

Lin Yang was much quicker. An epic foundational technique, a sixty-fourfold acceleration card, and over three thousand comprehension points meant that each cycle drew a great surge of spiritual energy into his body.

【Cultivation +960】

【Cultivation +960】

【Cultivation +960】

Few people lived in this cluster of courtyards, and the nearby disciples had gone down the mountain on assignments. Thanks to that and the courtyard’s isolation formation, no one noticed the commotion.

Five minutes later, the first vortex of spiritual energy formed in Lin Yang’s dantian.

Boom!

A force far beyond an ordinary person’s erupted from his body.

【Congratulations! Player has successfully broken through!】

【Current realm: First level of Qi Refining!】

【You have entered the path of cultivation with the epic Primal Qi Refining Scripture and successfully condensed primal spiritual power!】

【Strength: 12 → 1009!】

【Physique: 11 → 1008!】

【Agility: 11 → 1008!】

【Soul: 13 → 1010!】

【Spiritual power: 0 → 1200!】

【Overall combat power: 15 → 5235!】

When Lin Yang had awakened his third-grade metal and wood spirit roots, several attributes had risen by only a few points. Now he had just reached the first level of Qi Refining, and his basic attributes had all exceeded a thousand!

He clenched his fist. Pop! As his fingers closed, the air in his palm cracked. He quickly relaxed his hand. He felt like Superman; one punch at the wall might blow the entire courtyard apart!

“I could kill ten oxen with one punch! An epic technique really is incredible. I’ve only just broken through, and my stats are already over a thousand! Too bad I don’t know what anyone else’s are. I can’t compare.”

He stretched, and another notification appeared.

【Congratulations! Player has completed Main Quest 3!】

【Obtained: Three low-grade spirit stones!】

【Obtained: One common weapon enhancement stone!】

【The shop’s enhancement stone section has been unlocked!】

“From now on, deposit all the spirit stones the system gives me directly into the shop.”

【Shop balance: 6.968886 low-grade spirit stones!】

【Main Quest 4 unlocked!】

【Main Quest 4: Enhance a Weapon!】

【Objective: Enhance any weapon once!】

Lin Yang glanced at the panel and closed it. He could do that later. His sixty-fourfold acceleration card was still ticking!

【Time remaining: 54 minutes, 12 seconds!】

Stopping to enhance a weapon now would be a waste of time.

“Keep cultivating!”

He closed his eyes and began circulating the Primal Qi Refining Scripture again. Spiritual energy flooded into him once more. The feeling of power pouring into his body and his cultivation soaring was incredible!