"This... This is a Qi formation. I did not think such a backwater would have them," Gui commented.

"Qi formation?" Yang Xuan inquired.

"They are designs which concentrate Qi to perform certain tasks. These must be drawn using certain Qi-conductive materials, most of which are fairly expensive for cultivators of this caliber," Gui elaborated.

"Hmm. So, what does this one do?" Yang Xuan asked.

"I am unsure," Gui answered. "My knowledge of Qi formations is lacking, as they were never a priority for me. It should be activated if I pour some Qi into it; are you certain you want to go through with this?"

'This could be dangerous, but my intuition has only helped me thus far. I would rather die than cultivate with a subpar manual when a better one laid within my reach!' Yang Xuan stayed silent for a minute, deliberating, and then he confirmed, “I am.”

Gui fueled the formation. Suddenly, a path silently opened next to one of the bookshelves. 'It's a hidden room!' Yang Xuan excitedly thought. Yang Xuan followed the path. He found himself in a poorly-lit room, with a single book on top of a pedestal. He walked up to it and picked it up. The book was worn and tattered. It read, "Cultivation Manual of Heaven-Defiance - Qi Gathering Volume."

"I sense extremely peculiar Qi radiating from this manual. In all my years of cultivation, I have never sensed such a Qi. Be careful, Disciple," Gui warned.

'This is it. This manual is extremely powerful. I am ignorant of cultivation, and yet I can already tell that - even I can sense the Qi emanating from it. None of the other manuals compare to this one,' Yang Xuan had already made up his mind. He would cultivate this manual. But first, he would leave this sect.

Yang Xuan had finished reading the manual. Its pages radiated with a heaven-defying spirit; this book's author had truly wished to defy the heavens. The manual spoke of the common cultivators' ignorance, how they had fooled themselves into mediocrity. It argued against modern cultivation consensus. This manual, if its claims were true, this would revolutionize cultivation. Grandpa Gui had said so himself. Cultivating this would be quite a risk, but it was one that Yang Xuan was willing to take. He could expect unrivaled qi purity and quantity, and multiple useful qualities.

Before he started cultivating, he looked in the system for any upgrades related to cultivation speed. He found a couple, but there was only one directly related to it. However, the price to upgrade his speed to the next level was a whole ten thousand SP as his cultivation speed was already level five, so Yang Xuan just decided to disregard it.

As the system could not assist him in this breakthrough, Yang Xuan began gathering Qi as instructed immediately, preparing for his breakthrough into Qi Gathering Realm. And just a few days later, he found himself at the precipice of breaking through to the Qi Gathering Realm. If this breakthrough went well, his Qi would be extremely pure and plentiful. Of course, this did not equate to fighting strength - Qi strength was not the only difference between realms - but Qi purity still made a very large difference.

Firstly, he placed his needles next to him. Then, he gathered Qi, and he began purifying it in his Lower Dantian as instructed. While doing this, he was also constantly circulating Qi through certain meridians. His rapidly refining Qi began violently flooding his body, threatening to escape his control. Instead of calming it, he encourages this behavior. His Qi madly assaulted his meridians, his acupoints, and even his Dantian. It was savager than a savage beast. Yet, this was not enough. He needed more. More Qi, more purity, more violence! He frantically gathered, purified, and provoked Qi. It was not enough. He went further.

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His meridians began to expand as Qi raged even more wildly. All the while, the Qi kept being refined further. As the Qi grew stronger, the meridians grew bigger and bigger. Then, what he had been waiting for happened. One of his meridians burst. He screamed in pain, but he did not forget the manual's instructions. His Qi had already grown pure enough to take on healing qualities, so he changed the affinity of some of his Qi and began using it to rebuild this meridian. As this happened, he had sealed the acupoint leading to this meridian using the needles he prepared.

As he went, all the meridians that were supposed to burst had burst. Yet, he never stopped gathering Qi into his Lower Dantian. And he continued. He continued gathering and purifying qi, and he continued rebuilding meridians. When his Lower Dantian had filled, and all of his meridians had been healed, he swiftly removed every single needle. The qi trapped within his meridians raced back into his Lower Dantian. Inside, it pushed at his Lower Dantian's boundaries, expanding them. While it did this, it was growing even more concentrated and refined. When he was done, his Qi had decreased in size to a tiny sphere within his expanded Lower Dantian.

His breakthrough had succeeded. His Qi was now of unrivaled purity. It was already white, something most cultivators did not achieve until much later. And he was only at the first stage of Qi Gathering Realm. Eight more stages remained. Yang Xuan's future was quite bright.

As his breakthrough wrapped up, a system window popped up.

[Congratulations on becoming a cultivator! You have gained 100 SP.]

Yang Xuan consolidated his cultivation over the next few days, and, as soon as he had finished, he assessed his state. He found his qi sense had increased both in range and in clarity, though it remained quite fuzzy. To test his strength, he left the city for some nearby rocky mountains. On the way, he found his speed had multiplied. He could now travel a greater distance in a tiny fraction of the time. In addition, no matter how fast he ran, he did not feel himself tiring.

When he arrived, he asked Gui about which boulder he should test his strength on. Gui directed him to a nice, small boulder - it was more of a rock with its size. Yang Xuan prepared himself, and then he punched it. The boulder was not dented. It was pulverized. Gui marveled, "Such a strength! It is as if you were at the peak of Qi Gathering Realm. If that manual goes all the way up to the peak of the Saint realms, it is truly incredibly valuable. If those in power during my time as a cultivator knew of such a treasure, they would have no doubt waged wars over it!"

"My luck must be out of this world to have come across such a treasure!" Yang Xuan could just die of happiness. His journey to the top was going quite nicely.