Book 1- The Start of Cultivation Chapter 12: No!... How...? Where is it?!

The wolf cub devoured the second leg just as quickly. Once finished, it trotted over to Xue San and began licking his hands.

"Haha, so cute. So you're alone too, buddy. How about you stay with me here for now?"

"Woof!"

"Maybe you really are a dog and not a wolf," Xue San joked. "Alright, from now on you'll be... let's see." He pondered for a moment, admiring the cub's beautiful, bushy silver fur. Finally, he decided. "You will be Fluffy from now on."

The wolf cub looked at him quizzically and barked again as if asking for more food.

Over the next few days, Xue San's routine remained unchanged: waking up, eating, cultivating, eating again, and then resting. The wolf cub, Fluffy, usually appeared when he smelled the food Xue San was cooking, leaving after filling his belly.

"Damn it," Xue San cursed. "How many attempts does this make?" He had tried time and again, yet he couldn't break through this barrier. "There's not enough spiritual energy in my dantian to break through."

He thought about the Poor-Grade Qi Replenishing Pills. "No, I need something stronger," he decided, turning to the pills Yan Yi had given him. "I guess there's no other way around." He hadn't wanted to use them, knowing how precious they were, hoping to save them for when he hit the limits of his poor talent. But after spending all this time without being able to enter the Qi Condensation Stage, he finally decided to use the pills from Yan Yi.

Taking out one of the blue pills, Xue San was once again mesmerized by it. Compared to the Poor-Grade ones, these were slightly smaller, and their blue color was much clearer.

He assumed the meditation position, popped the pill into his mouth, and swallowed it. For a moment, nothing happened. Then a current of energy burst through his body—something he had never experienced before.

There was so much spiritual energy in that one small pill that Xue San only had to direct it, and it flowed effortlessly. It was like comparing a tiny, calm stream to a raging, overflowing river during a storm.

Then he felt it: pain—a great amount of pain. There was too much spiritual energy for his meridians, which could barely allow a tiny amount of energy to pass through. Xue San endured the agony and concentrated on his dantian; the spiritual energy there was already three times more than he had ever accumulated during his longest cultivation sessions.

Ignoring the pain and excess spiritual energy in his body, he devoted his mind to the compression process. He pushed the mass of spiritual energy in his dantian to start spinning like a tiny tornado, expanding and compressing repeatedly. After an indeterminate amount of time, the spiritual energy inside imploded and then reformed into a beautiful, colorless gaseous mass of energy.

"Yes, finally!" Xue San exclaimed, exhilarated. He had done it—he was now a true cultivator. But his happiness was short-lived. His core began to rotate and tremble, slipping out of his control.

Panic surged through him. He didn't understand what was happening. Then he remembered something, and his face paled even more. "Cultivation deviation," he thought, just before a bang sent tremors through his whole body. Xue San watched in horror as the core in his dantian, which he had spent so much energy building, burst into tiny motes of light.

Pain—unimaginable, indescribable pain. "Arrrrhhhhh!" Xue San let out a scream that many disciples who heard it thought came from a beast that had escaped one of the training grounds.

His whole body felt like it was on fire; his blood felt like molten lava. At that moment, Xue San thought death would be better than this. Then he felt something crack inside him, and finally, sweet, sweet release came as he lost consciousness. Even then, his body continued to twitch on the ground, blood oozing from his pores.

At that moment, many of the most powerful individuals in the Soaring Sword Sect stopped what they were doing and cast their gazes to the sky, horrified by what they saw.

"What... What is that thing?"

"Is it someone from the outside?"

"The spi... The spiritual energy is gathering above—why?"

Far above the Soaring Sword Sect, a shadow of a giant appeared, and spiritual energy from all around the sect gathered like a tornado. This phenomenon continued for about a minute, then it all disappeared as if nothing had happened.

In a faraway place among the stars, stood a temple made entirely of what looked like human bones. It wasn't very large, but it exuded a feeling of timelessness, and the energy it gave off was ominous as if the beings whose bones were used to construct it were still trying to reach from beyond to harm the temple's creators.

Inside the temple was a very realistic statue of what looked like a giant snake trapped in chains, it was dilapidated and riddled with cracks, as though the slightest breeze could reduce it to dust. Beside it stood an old man who resembled a mummy, with milky white sunken eyes and skin that was dried and wrinkled as the bark of an ancient tree.

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Suddenly, one of the chains on the statue cracked, but it returned to normal instantly, if no one was paying special attention to it would go unoticed.

"No!... How...?!" The elderly who stood there unmoving for aeons suddenly oppened his eyes. He struck his chest sharply and spat out a mouthful of golden blood. Without hesitation, he began forming intricate incantation gestures with such blistering speed that his movements blurred into near invisibility. His eyes then blazed with a radiant golden light, "Impossible!" In that very instant, the venerable figure dissolved into thin air, vanishing from the temple.

Xue San was oblivious to all the changes occurring; he was just happy that the pain had ended.

"Where am I?" he wondered. He didn't understand what was happening. One minute he was celebrating finally being able to successfully cultivate and enter the Qi Condensation Stage; the next, his core burst apart, and now he was floating in a dark space.

Then Xue San froze because he saw IT.

A being of unimaginable proportions—magnificent and enveloped in a radiant luminescence that captivated all who beheld it. Its scales shimmered with different colors—flames danced alongside flowing water, gusts of wind intertwined with solid earth—each reflecting mastery over nature's formidable forces. Its eyes were like stars, piercing the heavens, emanating a profound energy that inspired both awe and reverence. Along its spine, ancient runes glowed with an ethereal light, pulsating rhythmically as if whispering long-forgotten secrets.

Xue San was awestruck; even if his imagination worked in overdrive, he wouldn't have been able to conceive something like this.

The being turned to look at him and said a word in a language that Xue San didn't know, but for some reason, he understood its meaning: "Weak." Then it all disappeared, and Xue San opened his eyes.

He was still in the same place as before, his body aching all over and stained with black filth and blood.

Xue San's eyes reddened, and he burst into tears. "Damn it, damn it, damn it!" All the things he went through, and this was it—he had somehow managed to screw things up and have his core destroyed. Why was this happening to him?

Maybe this was the final sign that it was time for him to call it quits and leave everything, to just go back and live a normal life with his family in Dragon Fort City.

Opening his eyes, Xue San felt like his whole body had been trampled by a horse; there wasn't a single part of him that didn't hurt.

He eventually got up, his body still aching all over. Taking off his clothes, he went to the stream to wash himself. The clear water became filthy with all the blood and black goo that covered him. Even the smell was quite nauseating, but he didn't seem to care.

"At least I won't have to worry about those three idiots from the Long Clan," he tried to cheer himself up, but tears still welled in his eyes.

What Xue San failed to notice was that his body had grown taller by a few inches, and even though he was in good shape before, his muscles were now more refined and masculine. If he once had a boyish charm, now there was a more manly aura about him.

Getting out of the water, he donned his spare outer sect disciple robes. At a loss for what to do, he ended up sitting there, staring at nothing in particular. He didn't understand why he was so heartbroken over this, or when his dream of becoming an immortal had become so important that he was this emotional about it.

He stayed there, absorbing the surrounding environment late into the night. He didn't even notice when the tiny wolf cub came and sat next to him. Without realizing it, he began using the Qi Compression Method. The spiritual energy in the air around him rushed toward him as if he were a black hole. Then Xue San felt a pang in his dantian and finally realized that something was there.

"What...? What is going on here?" Inside his dantian, where there used to be a tiny, colorless core, there was now a core the size of a chicken egg, golden in color, and the spiritual energy was so dense it was almost in liquid form. "Is this a dream? Am I dreaming? Wait—the spiritual energy... the spiritual energy circulation is so smooth."

Xue San closed his eyes and tried to cultivate a bit. To his astonishment, the spiritual energy circulated without any obstructions whatsoever. In fact, he felt like he could absorb even more, the flow of spiritual energy in his body felt like a tiny stream flowing through a canal built for a giant river.

"Amazing, haha, incredible!" Xue San began to tremble with excitement. He didn't know what was happening, but one thing was certain: whatever had occurred wasn't normal. He needed to find a way to figure out what had happened. Asking questions in public lessons might bring him more harm than good.

"Now I can finally start cultivating the Hundred Phantom Hands and become like an immortal," he said, full of excitement.

He picked up the Hundred Phantom Hands manual:

"Hundred Phantom Hands" The cultivator extends their qi outward to form numerous ethereal hands, allowing them to interact with the environment beyond their physical reach.

With these Phantom Hands, the practitioner can perform multiple actions at once, such as blocking attacks from different directions while launching counterattacks.

The technique requires immense concentration and mastery over one's qi, enabling precise control over each hand independently.

First start by feeling the qi between your hands and gradually increase the distance, practice molding your qi. After that train your mind to maintain focus on multiple points simultaneously. This is crucial for controlling numerous Phantom Hands independently.

Develop awareness of both your internal state and external environment to better manage the phantom hands during dynamic situations.

Practice visualizing multiple objects moving independently. This mental exercise strengthens neural pathways for multitasking. Imagine threads of energy connecting your mind to each hand, allowing precise control over each one.

Start by forming a single phantom hand, focusing on its clarity, strength, and responsiveness. Gradually increase the number of hands, ensuring you maintain control over each additional hand.

At its peak, the cultivator can conjure a hundred Phantom Hands and use them for both offense and defense.

Xue San meditated for only two hours before he was able to conjure one Phantom Hand. It was so much easier than when he was cultivating the Qi Compression technique; even his mind felt lighter as if something had been set free inside him.

"Amazing!" he exclaimed as he used the Phantom Hand to throw rocks, twigs, and other objects he found on the ground.

Then he tried using the Phantom Hand to punch a rock. To his amazement, it left a few cracks on it. "If this hits a normal person, they'd be dead in an instant." He then tried to see if he could lift the rock, and he actually could. "Hahaha, this is amazing! This rock might weigh about two caldrons." (One caldron is 50 kg/110 lb.)

He knew that a grown, healthy man could lift up to two caldrons or maybe even more, but he was doing this without touching it—like a true immortal.

He then experimented a bit with the Hundred Phantom Hands

He tested how far he could use it. After some experimentation, Xue San determined that twenty feet was the maximum distance he could effectively control the Phantom Hand. Beyond that, maintaining control became more taxing, and the qi in his dantian decreased at an alarming rate. As if that weren't enough, its power diminished by about 60% to 70% beyond the twenty-feet range.

Xue San kept experimenting until he ran out of qi.