As he’d returned to the Nightwatch headquarters alone, Wuxian was forced to take the streets rather than the convenient but complex Undertunnels. This was mainly because he did not have any light source on his person, like a hand-held torch or lamp, for example, nor did he have a way to produce light with his mystic arts. On top of that, the tunnel network that covered the entirety of the city’s underside was too complicated for him to navigate alone- even if he had a map, he didn’t have the confidence to do so.

Since he was partially wounded, he completed the return journey as swiftly as possible, expending a total of half of his Shen dantian’s refined wood qi in the process. Due to his current state, getting entangled in a conflict would be disadvantageous to him, so avoiding one was within his best interests. Accordingly, due to his fast and relatively stealthy travel speed, he’d not been ambushed on the way back, making it into his room safely.

Sitting down, he summoned the silver moon pendant out from his interspatial ring, inspecting it closely. It looked so delicate, but contrary to its appearance, it possessed a hardness that rivalled even that of metal. As he stroked its shiny surface, he couldn’t help but think back to the meeting he’d just had with Wang Qipian.

‘At the current moment, I lack very little. In terms of cultivation, my progress is going strong and steady, so I do not require any cultivation-enhancing pills. I have dozens of various combat oriented pills too, so restocking them isn’t necessary for the foreseeable future. As for cultivation techniques… the Nine Revolutions Earthfire technique is all-encompassing, it is unlikely for anything they might be willing to offer to be better or even equal to what it already provides. For manuals, I am also generally covered as well. In fact, I have too many mystic arts manuals that I have yet to learn.’

‘Obtaining more manuals would be like a farmer purchasing chive seeds during winter. Not only would the farmer have to wait until Spring to plant them, they’d also take another few seasons to sprout and yield crops. He’d probably starve to death before he’d be able to taste them. Finally, I have the Northern Dark Edge as my immortal weapon… there’s no chance they could offer me any better.’

Wuxian cupped his chin in thought.

‘In that case, it would be best for me to continue as I am now. In the end, my own strength and safety are most important- my association with the Nightwatch and the Twilight Order are purely means to an end. If the rewards they offer cannot support or satisfy my demands, then I shall not hesitate to neglect them. I suppose this is the benefit to transactional relationships.’

‘And anyway, I haven’t exactly agreed to the Twilight Order’s terms either. While they offered to shelter me and accept me as a member if I decide to leave the Nightwatch, the truth is that doing so is almost entirely disadvantageous to me. My goal is to strengthen myself and then leave for the wilderness- associating openly with the Twilight Order will make me an enemy of the Nightwatch and the Jade Garden, exposing me to a new level of opponents, many of whom could kill me within the blink of an eye.’

‘Thus, it would seem that rather than material gains, I should seek knowledge and information. Since the world has changed greatly since the time of Liang, Qin and Han, it is likely the geography has as well. While using divination and Feng Shui to locate a place to settle down works, it would first be wise to gain at least even a surface level understanding of the geopolitical situation of the region- there’s no use building a castle in the sand, after all.’

Nodding to himself, Wuxian circulated healing energy through his bloodstream for a few moments, causing a thin layer of bark-like scab to coat his injured thigh. Exhaling a mouthful of qi, he sat back and sighed in tiredness.

“Big North, are you there?” He asked.

The Northern Dark Edge trembled momentarily, before the artifact spirit in question appeared from out of thin air, his hair flowing like a school of carp in water.

“What is it, junior?” Big North replied languidly.

“I have a question about the next steps I should take on my cultivation journey.”

An eyebrow raised, Big North gestured for him to elaborate.

“At the moment, I have two paths to take. The first is to finish learning all of the other Foundation Building mystic arts, delaying my cultivation in order to do so. The second is to continue practising the ones I have already learned, leaving those newer techniques to the side and breaking through to Qi Condensation.” Wuxian said, a conflicted look on his face.

What seemed to be a simple problem was actually fairly complex. Wuxian’s ultimate goal was strength, but in the short term, the two paths were mutually exclusive. Learning all of the techniques available to him now provided him with great flexibility and all-roundedness, a solution to almost every problem that might come his way. In doing so, however, he would delay his cultivation.

Breaking through to Qi Condensation, on the other hand, wouldn’t provide him with as many new tricks as focusing on mastering new mystic arts, but it would provide a qualitative increase in potency to each of his mystic arts. If he became a Qi Condenser, he would become able to condense his qi. Unlike Foundation Building and Qi Refining, he would be able to refine his qi multiple times, continually compressing it further and further. The aftermath of an offensive technique cast using once-refined qi as fuel versus tenfold-refined qi was incomparable.

It was like comparing the flame of a torch to that of the sun. One could set a fire to perhaps a few bushes, while the other could directly cause the entire woodland to cease existing.

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And as for defensive techniques, it was the same as the difference between a line of rotting wooden stakes and the giant city gates of Cang’An. One might trip an advancing enemy soldier over, while the other would directly shut down any ideas of entering the city at all.

Brows furrowing momentarily, Big North gave his advice.

“Breakthrough. For you, the conditioning required by Natural Spirit Blood and the meridian training required by both Effortless Flow and Turning Stone is already enough. Of all three techniques, you have only briefly battle-tested one. There is no point in learning twenty techniques when at the end of the day you aren’t familiar enough with them to use them on the fly.”

Wuxian nodded, agreeing with Big North’s train of logic.

“You’re right. Perhaps having too many different methods at my disposal would ultimately be harmful to me rather than beneficial, since I would require more time to make decisions of which mystic art to use in each scenario. In times where a split second decision is necessary, I might hesitate for too long and suffer as a result.” He added.

Big North nodded with half a smile.

“The scariest enemy is not he who has dabbled in ten thousand different martial arts, but one who has practised the same thrust and the same jab ten thousand times. In fact, back when I was alive, my mortal master had a saying for this.”

Curiosity aroused, Wuxian’s ears couldn’t help but perk up. Seeing this, Big North couldn’t help but grin as he reminisced.

“He said that there are two different kinds of rabbits. The first one loves the flavour of different carrots grown in different places, often going over to pick the new carrot up as soon as he sees it. However, being a rabbit, he has no choice but to drop the one he’s currently eating in order to do so. On the other hand, the second carrot is the opposite. While he understands that trying a variety of different carrots is exotic and exciting, if he chases new carrots headlessly, he’ll never finish eating any single one.”

Big North opened a single eye to peek down at Wuxian.

“Be the second rabbit. Focus on a single technique at a time, thoroughly mastering it before moving onto the next because otherwise you might one day find that though you’ve advanced to entry level in many different mystic arts, you are unable to effectively use any of them.”

Wuxian sat still for a moment to comprehend the meaning of Big North’s words. The benefits to taking either path were apparent- increased versatility, or increased power and potency and Big North had opted to speak about the downsides rather than comparing the benefits. While learning every technique that he could would increase his breadth, he would be delaying his cultivation to do so. Time was not on Wuxian’s side- it was he who was racing against the clock to strengthen himself and then leave Cang’An before the multitude of plots and schemes in the darkness erupted in a dangerous climax. For a small fry like him, he truly couldn’t afford to meddle in this sort of business!

Of course, while it would doubtlessly be beneficial to him to have more mystic arts at his disposal, that was on the condition that he had accrued enough proficiency in them to actually use them. Wuxian’s one biggest reason behind considering delaying his cultivation to learn the arts was that after breaking through, he was not sure when in the future he’d be able to make the time to actually learn the new techniques. But then again, he had barely any time now, so it did not make much difference.

Compared to delaying his cultivation and learning the new mystic arts, breaking through had no downsides. The increase in power was not conditional- it was something that happened as a result of condensed qi, not time spent familiarising oneself with a mystic art or increasing one’s proficiency.

So the path forward was obvious.

Wuxian cupped his hands, “thank you for your advice, senior.”

Big North waved dismissively in response.

“It’s my duty to make sure you succeed in fulfilling little Black’s dying wish and in attaining the Dao.”

At the mention of Black Emperor Mountain Hermit’s nickname, the mood turned slightly sombre. Wuxian couldn’t help but think back to the person who had been responsible for setting him on his cultivation journey. At the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder as to how much of a hand his master had in Wuxian’s transportation to the future.

“Say, back then, my master made a vow to Heaven’s will, but later on said that Heaven’s will did not know of his survival and prolonged existence. He was later on struck down by tribulation lightning… why didn’t it happen the moment he made the vow?” Wuxian asked.

Big North scratched his head awkwardly in response, as if wondering how to answer the question appropriately.

“Heaven’s will… cannot enforce a vow it has never actually received.” He coughed bashfully. “Your master… did not have the best reputation in the immortal world… neither before he was adopted by your grandmaster, nor after.”

Surprisingly, Wuxian took the news quite well. He was only now realising how thick-skinned one had to be sometimes to survive in this dog-eat-dog world.

‘And I am no longer somebody who has the right to judge another for being shameless or underhanded. My feet were bound to get wet walking by the river for this long, so they did.”

“I haven’t even entered jianghu* yet!” He chuckled, shaking his head at the pun.

Big North watched on with slight confusion but in the end decided not to ask, withdrawing back inside the treasure weapon that was resting against the wall. Soon after, Wuxian began preparing himself for the breakthrough.

Time was of the essence and he couldn’t help but feel as if his heart was gripped by urgency.

The first step to breaking through to Qi Condensation was to fully maximise his three dantians’ qi capacity with refined qi. This was a short process, since he’d only really expended wood qi. If he’d used fire qi or earth qi instead that night, he’d have to spend two to three more times absorbing and refining, since fire qi could only be produced from earth qi, which in turn was produced from wood qi.

Once this was done, Wuxian quickly conducted a brief inspection of his meridian network, charting out the pathway through which he was to guide his refined qi. There were two important points to note for the breakthrough process. The first was to ensure that each and every meridian, be they minor or major, was imbued with his qi. The second was to follow the same order of major meridians through which he had initially refined them as he progressed through Foundation Building.

An unknown amount of time passed- the sun rose to the chirping of birds and set almost as quickly as it came, the cycle repeating over and over again. Wuxian spent this time devising the route he would take, running it through with practice runs and attempts, eventually finding the best path through trial and error.

Popping a fasting pill into his mouth, Wuxian closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. His dantians were bursting with qi and he had figured out the meridian pathway which would allow him to break through to Qi Condensation. There was no time like the present, so he began right away!