Fang Hao practiced the Flame Snake Spell till it was time for the dawn meal. He noticed that his clique of fatties where giving him uncharacteristic wary looks. 'It is safe to assume that tales of my naked drunken pissing has spread throughout the outer disciples. What I need now is a distraction.' Fang Hao settled with a pile of pancakes with his clique and cleared his throat. “Brothers, I have an announcement to make!” Fang Hao said in a pompous tone.
Once he was sure that he had the attention of his clique he sighed solemnly and said, “This will perhaps be my last meal with you as outer disciples.” Fatty Hai blurted, “Why brother, are they demoting you to a janitorial disciple?” Fang Hao was giving him a strange look when Fatty Lin made a tsk-tsk sound and said, “Brother Hai, even if Brother Hao pissed on some no name outer disciple...it wouldn't be enough to demote him. He is the first among outer disciple's tournament.” Fatty Ning was trying to save Fang Hao some face face as he countered.
“Nonsense, brother Hao couldn't possibly pee naked in broad daylight. It is...a rumor. That's right! Just a wild rumor, nothing more.” he sounded very unconvinced at his own statement. Fang hao made a dismissive wave of his hands as he said, “Well I broke through to the Qi Condensation Stage and was celebrating by drinking some wine. I just had a bit more wine than usual and stripped to feel comfortable. I was in a very good mood when some of my fellow brothers were acting rudely towards me, so I was rude as well.”
Fatty Zhang sighed as he said, “No need to make excuses in front of us brother. We all have our secrets...” Fang Hao smiled bitterly as he thought 'Now my clique thinks that I am lying about my breakthrough to cover my embarrassment. It kind of makes sense though. If I did breakthrough yesterday...why didn't I report it and get promoted to an inner disciple?' Fang Hao then started casting the Flame Snake spell. An illusory smoky flame snake manifested in front of him, after which he canceled the casting. That resulted in shock and awe among his clique and many others who were observing him due to the rumors of his antics.
Fang Hao looked at his breakfast and found that it was a small pile of charred ash. He sighed, refilled his plate and began eating him as the cacophony of whispers suddenly exploded. By now, almost everyone had realized that Fang Hao had broken through to the Qi Condensation stage. While he wasn't the first outer disciple from his batch to breakthrough... he did make himself infamous for trying to bestow his golden glory to his apprentice brothers.
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The fatties came to their senses and immediately congratulated him for his breakthrough. What pissing in public? They reckoned that if they could breakthrough to Qi Condensation so soon, they too would like to get drunk as fuck, dance naked and piss without restraint. 'With this display, I should regain some face...I think. Or at least most wouldn't dare to bring up that incident on my face anymore. It is just a matter of formalities till I am an Inner Disciple.'
After finish his dawn meal, Fang Hao reported to the Outer Assignment Hall that he had broken through to the Qi Condensation stage. The middle aged man just warned him that lying about such news had dire consequences and to confirm his cultivation breakthrough. Fang Hao confirmed it. The middle aged man asked for Fang Hao's chicken shaped chore token and cast some sort of spell on it. He then returned the token back to Fang Hao and instructed him to wait at his residence. Someone would come to pick him up before dusk.
It was too short for him to learn another spell, so he trained his flame snake spell. He found that he could cast 5 flame snakes before he depleted his Qi. By purely cultivating, it would take him several hours to regenerate his Qi. However, he still had around two jugs of spirit wine which was of great use.
After depleting his Qi practicing his spell-casting, he would drink spirit wine to refill it and practice the Divine Vajra Body Scripture till he depleted his Qi. While Fang Hao was getting drunk and practicing cultivation this way, it was afternoon and the coal black great elder teleported into outside his backyard.
Fang Hao hastily greeted the great elder who nodded in acknowledgment. “Junior, have you packed everything?” “This Junior is ready, Great Elder!” Fang Hao replied in the affirmative as he ahd uncerimoniously tossed all his belongings into the storage pouch...which he now carried with him at all times. “Then bring the cottage token here.” Fang Hao followed the great elder's instructions and handed over the cottage token to the elder who casually glanced at it and then flicked it. The token landed on the gate of the cottage-compound. He then probed Fang Hao with a keen gaze and nodded satisfactorily. Fang Hao felt a shiver run down his spine and he was sure that the great elder had examined his very being to the utmost.
“While you did breakthrough faster than expected, your cultivation base is stable and the quality of Qi is much better than average. I do not see signs of a hasty or rushed breakthrough. What resources did you use to breakthrough, junior?” “This disciple used 5 Qi Condensation pills he received as the tournament rewards and two jugs of spirit wine he had saved to breakthrough in one go.” While the great elder maintained a poker face without a trace of emotion in his eyes, inwardly he was a bit taken aback.
'Using all 5 Qi Condensation pills and two jugs of spirit wine to breakthrough to the Qi condensation stage? Sounds a bit excessive for someone of his talent. Looks like his body refining scripture is quite decent. Otherwise absorbing so many resources so rashly would lead to a significant instability of his cultivation base. And it also looks like he subconsciously incorporated the Dao of Rhythm in the Aura Fist Manual. Indeed the inheritance slip for the Aura Fist Manual wasn't wasted on him. He either has very good perception or very good luck. Either way, he is worth nurturing even if his Qi talent is so-so.'