Author note:

This chapter is quite difficult for me to write. I also don’t know whether this cultivation method makes sense to you or not.

________

Three days later.

Thuuuump... Bruk... Brak...

'Haha...'

While Vheena was relaxing and eating fruit in the backyard during the afternoon, her disciple suddenly approached her to show something. Curious, Vheena followed, and the destination turned out to be the hill with the large stone where her disciple usually practiced.

Upon reaching the large stone, Vheena was astonished to see that the once-solid stone was now riddled with large holes, as if it were about to collapse. Stunned by the stone's transformation, she watched as her disciple stepped forward without ceremony, took a combat stance, and struck the stone with all their might.

Vheena could only laugh hollowly as the large stone turned into a pile of rubble. Pleased with the result, her disciple immediately approached her for praise.

"Look, Master! RuanRuan has completed the task you gave. If this is the case, it must be time for RuanRuan to advance to the next level of cultivation, right?"

Recovering from her surprise at her disciple’s words, Vheena quickly tried to think of the right response. Turning her back to her disciple and looking up at the sky to buy some time, she eventually came up with a suitable reply. Turning back to her disciple, she said with the air of an expert,

"Ahem... as expected of my disciple, I had anticipated that you would be able to destroy the stone within five days. With the completion of this task, your physical strength has reached the standard I desired. Do you wish to advance to the next level now?"

"Of course, Master! RuanRuan is ready now! Hehehe..."

"...Okay."

'How do I help her advance in cultivation? I don’t even know a single cultivation technique. When I arrived here, I tried cultivating myself, but I gave up because I didn’t feel anything. What do I do?! Also, why didn’t my disciple inform me beforehand if she wanted to advance? I haven’t even thought of a way to deceive her! At least I should teach her how to feel and absorb qi first.'

Approaching her disciple while patting her head and ignoring the strange sound of happiness from her disciple when touched, Vheena pondered how to make her disciple feel and absorb qi to advance her cultivation level. After a considerable amount of time patting her disciple’s head, she finally came up with a method to help her disciple feel qi.

"RuanRuan, before you become a Building Foundation cultivator, you must first feel what qi is and how to absorb it. If you are a genius, you can feel the qi within three days. If you are not a genius, the average cultivator takes about a month to sense it." Vheena said while continuing with the nonsensical explanation to her disciple.

"Let’s sit down first. Now, sit cross-legged like me and place your hands on your knees. I will sit behind you and place my hands on your back to channel qi. Try to feel the qi flowing from my hands into your back. It should feel warm and gentle when you sense it."

"Once you remember that feeling, try to draw qi from nature into your dantian. If you don’t know, the dantian is located just below the navel. Once your dantian is full, channel the qi throughout your body and let your body absorb it. When you are done, your body will change and your empty dantian will expand, indicating that you have become a Building Foundation cultivator."

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"Also, if you are a genius, the qi should flow very quickly and easily fill your dantian. For geniuses, it usually takes only a month to fill their dantian and circulate qi throughout their body. Also, do not try to forcibly absorb qi from nature to fill your body, as it could injure your dantian. Do you understand?"

"Understood, Master!" replied Ruan Xiaoyue, listening to her master’s lengthy explanation.

'The technique for sensing qi and absorbing qi from nature that I got from a Xianxia novel should help her, right? I don’t know of any better method than this. If it doesn’t work, as usual, I’ll just say she lacks talent. Somehow, I feel like an unreliable master.'

After instructing her disciple to sit cross-legged for meditation, Vheena sat behind her disciple and also crossed her legs, extending her hands to her disciple’s back. Then, she pretended to channel qi into her disciple's body to deceive her.

"Do you feel it, my disciple?"

"No, Master! Sorry for taking up your time just to help RuanRuan sense qi." replied Ruan Xiaoyue sadly.

"Haha... it’s fine. After all, it’s only been two hours. Since I’m also bored, it’s better for me to help you feel the qi. After all, you are my first disciple."

"Master... hic... thank you! RuanRuan won’t disappoint you!"

'My hands are so sore! Why did I come up with this ridiculous technique! I’m glad my disciple is fooled by this Xianxia novel technique. But the problem is, do I have to extend my hands to her back every day for a month to help her feel qi?! Also, it’s impossible for me to ask my disciple for a break when she sees me as an immortal! I hope my hands won’t become paralyzed from this nonsense!'

Unaware of her master’s pained expression from holding back the soreness, Ruan Xiaoyue was deeply focused on sensing the qi within her body. As a disciple of an immortal, she definitely didn’t want to embarrass her master. She wanted her master to praise her for being able to sense qi much faster than a genius.

Desperate after hours of closing her eyes without feeling any qi, Ruan Xiaoyue was afraid her master would be disappointed in her. After closing her eyes for an unknown amount of time, she suddenly felt a vibration in her back.

Focusing all her senses on the vibration, she finally felt a gentle sensation flowing from the vibration into her dantian. Sensing it as qi, Ruan Xiaoyue continued to focus on the feeling. After getting accustomed to sensing the qi from her dantian, she carefully tried to absorb the qi from nature into her dantian.

As she attempted to absorb the qi from nature slowly, strangely, the qi flowed into her dantian very quickly, as if it had a mind of its own. Once her dantian was full, Ruan Xiaoyue spread the absorbed qi throughout her body.

After her entire body absorbed the qi from her dantian until it was empty, she realized what her master meant by how her body changed. Ruan Xiaoyue felt her bones reconstructing to be stronger and more perfect, all her internal organs strengthening and becoming cleaner, her muscles and tendons becoming much more flexible and stronger, and her senses becoming much sharper.

Her skin became very fair, her facial features more perfect, her eyes and hair darker and more attractive, and her previously somewhat thin body became more shapely in the right places. Making Ruan Xiaoyue, who was once quite cute, turn into a cute doll-like girl with beautiful features.

'Damn! It’s been ten hours! Ten hours of extending my hands and sitting, helping her sense qi which was just a ruse! I can’t feel my legs! And my hands are continuously trembling! Ugh...ugh, how long is this going to last! Huh? Something’s odd about my disciple’s body, why is it suddenly changing!'

Desperate and slightly crying from the soreness in her body, Vheena was confused as she saw her disciple’s body vibrating and becoming more attractive. After noticing her disciple’s transformation, her disciple suddenly stood up and turned to her, saying,

"Master! RuanRuan has finally become a true cultivator! Following your instructions, RuanRuan has finally managed to sense and absorb qi from nature into her body and break through to the Building Foundation level! With this, RuanRuan hasn’t disappointed you, right?" she said happily.

"Eh? What? Y-yes, as your master, of course, you will succeed. You don’t need to feel inferior. I’m truly proud of you. Just keep up the good work, okay?"

'Quickly! I need to hide my trembling hands! Move! Damn! After holding my hands out for so long, it’s hard to hide them. She shouldn’t notice my trembling hands, right?'

Calming her disciple, who was touched and happy with the words, Vheena slowly hid her trembling hands so her disciple wouldn’t become suspicious. After successfully hiding her hands, she was puzzled about how to stand up with her legs no longer feeling anything. To avoid her disciple noticing, she could only tell her disciple to go home first.

Once her disciple left, she finally dropped the pretense and let out a muffled scream, covering her mouth to avoid making noise from the soreness in her legs and hands.

'Phew... I can finally feel my legs again. That was insane, sitting and extending my hands for ten hours. It’s already midnight after finishing this exercise. Damn, I didn’t even have dinner!' Vheena thought, slightly annoyed by her bad luck that day.