By now, Ji Wuye's body stilled as he settled into a cross-legged posture, eyes gently closing to shut out external distractions.

His breathing slowed, each inhalation and exhalation measured and purposeful.

Unlike before, when he needed an external catalyst to "trigger" his awareness of the elemental Qi, the newly acquired effect of Quick Adaptation allowed his senses to bypass that process. He could now proceed directly to the delicate art of Essence Drawing.

As he had done with the previous elements, Ji Wuye's mind conjured an imaginary translucent funnel—its base firmly anchored within the potent nexus of his Lower Dantian.

The funnel's wide mouth yawned outward, an invisible vortex drinking in the shimmering metallic strands that danced through the air. Yes, Metal Qi—the unavoidable choice.

Had he not already possessed Earth Qi, he might have been drawn to Ice Qi.

But the Earth's presence complicated matters, for he had witnessed firsthand the conflict arising when Earth's stable nature clashed with the flourishing growth of his Wood Qi.

Wood dominates Earth: it controls, absorbs, and weakens it. This was no coincidence. Perhaps the reason lay in Wood's primacy, as it was the first element with which he had resonated.

That initial attunement had imbued Wood with a natural vitality, further amplified by the nourishing flow of Water—a symbiosis that should have been perfect, and yet...sowed the seeds of imbalance.

The Five Elements were never meant to exist in serene isolation or perfect harmony. No, they thrived on the dynamic tensions between them, an intricate dance of generating and restraining forces maintaining the delicate equilibrium.

Each carried the power to either give rise to or subdue the others in an endless cycle. By now incorporating Metal's essence, that cycle would finally complete its revolution: Earth generating Metal, Metal generating the nurturing flow of Water, which in turn fueled the lush growth of Wood.

This harmonious progression would strengthen his command of the Water element, which would then enhance the verdant primacy of Wood.

Yet there was another, more crucial reason driving his choice of Metal. Its unyielding strength would counteract and temper Wood's unchecked dominance—for Metal restrains Wood.

With the balance restored, the long-oppressed essence of Earth would finally stabilize and flourish, no longer trampled beneath the rampant spread of unfettered growth.

Returning his focus to the delicate process of absorbing the Metal Qi, Ji Wuye fixed his crimson gaze upon the dark essence that roiled and swirled before him.

Dense and heavy, it gleamed with a muted luster, like a suspended orb of tarnished mercury catching faint glimmers of ruddy light. Slowly, inexorably, the metallic strands began threading their way into his body.

Unlike the cool, flowing sensation of embracing Water Qi, or the thrumming vitality that had resonated through his veins when absorbing Wood Qi, this integration of Metal brought a wholly different awareness.

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As the dense essence seeped into his meridians, Ji Wuye felt an immediate kinship, a deep-seated connection that seemed to harden his very bones and sinews.

His joints, the pivot points of his musculature, moved with a newfound precision and fluidity. Every motion, from the slightest twitch to the mightiest strike, carried an economy of force, a refined coordination.

It was as if the raw, untempered strength he had cultivated through prior martial breakthroughs and the Unbreakable Vajra martial art were now being gradually forged into something fearfully pure and honed.

Yet this sublime melding brought its own hazards. The wild, untamed nature of the Metal Qi threatened to contaminate the harmonious sea of energy within his Lower Dantian.

But Ji Wuye was no novice to such integrations. With a subtle cognitive focus and the wealth of experience gained, he subdued the raging torrent, bending it to his unyielding will.

And then, in a seamless convergence, the fourth and fifth steps unfolded as one—consolidation and stabilization occurring in the same ethereal breath.

...

image [https://i.ibb.co.com/k36CPjH/Notif-1.webp]

image [https://i.ibb.co.com/k36CPjH/Notif-1.webp]

As before, the process was surprisingly brief. When his eyes finally opened once more, a satisfied smile played across Ji Wuye's lips, creasing the corners.

And indeed, when he cast his inner vision forth, the verdant sapling now bore gleaming metallic accents—the tinting of its fresh leaves and tender shoot a sign the Metal Qi had seamlessly taken root.

Nothing unexpected, nothing out of the ordinary. The new elemental essence had integrated smoothly, without resistance, just as the preceding affinities had done.

By now, Ji Wuye had become intimately familiar with the ebb and flow of such mergers.

'Now, it is time to put it to the test,' he mused inwardly. With a fluid motion of his wrist, a sleek, curved falchion materialized in his grip—or rather, what remained of it. The wicked edge was conspicuously absent, the blade having been shattered in a previous intense clash.

Ah yes, the Chang Dao - not the slender jian blade. Catching sight of the weapon's broken state, Ji Wuye's crimson eyes narrowed slightly, brows knitting together as vivid flashes of past battles flickered through his mind's eye.

With a slight shake of his head to dispel the visceral memories, he muttered, "I really need a custom-made blade."

For now, however, there were more pressing matters - the need to imprint and attune this blade to his newly integrated Metal Qi. Ji Wuye began drawing upon the metallic essence pooled within his Upper Dantian.

As the resonance between his inner energy and physical form grew stronger, a steady, rhythmic thumping reverberated through his core.

The dense, metallic strands flowed outward through his meridians before coalescing around the Chang Dao's hilt, enveloping it in a shimmering dark aura.

At this moment, perhaps driven by sheer force of will, the metallic Qi seemed to take on a heavy, burnished luster as it began spreading along the length of the remaining blade fragment.

Then, something wholly unexpected occurred that caused Ji Wuye's eyes to widen momentarily - an event that simultaneously amused and intrigued him. "Not every phenomenon needs be a miracle," he mused, quickly dismissing any premature hopes as the flickering radiance faded once more.

What remained was the Chang Dao's hilt encased in cool metal - yet rather than reforming the original curved blade, the substance had instead transmuted into a straight, square cross-section reminiscent of a roughly hewn sword blank.

Yet this altered form possessed a unique quality of its own. The Metal Qi Sword Aura manifested as an enveloping membrane of silvery light sheathing the crude blank.

The densely compacted strands shimmered faintly, resonating with a subtle, harmonic hum that seemed to emanate from the elemental essence now comprising this nascent blade edge.

Rather than the dull grey of common iron, the metal exuded a distinctive silvery sheen, the tightly woven strands of Qi lending it an otherworldly radiance.

This ethereal vibration mimicked the very sound emanating from Ji Wuye's Upper Dantian, the sourcespring of the integrated Metal Qi.

More curiously still, under his crimson scrutiny, tiny motes and slivers of silvery metal began materializing in the air around him - their appearance not concentrated along the Chang Dao's truncated edge, but rather swirling in a loose vortex around Ji Wuye's own body.

"Interesting," Ji Wuye remarked, smoothly rising from his cross-legged stance. To his surprise, the tiny metallic shards and slivers did not cling haphazardly to his body nor become disorganized by his motion.

Instead, they maintained an almost sentient formation - hovering at a precise, safe distance that avoided direct contact with either his skin or clothing.

SWOOSH!

Suddenly, just as he was observing the unfinished Chang Dao, Ji Wuye's finely honed instincts flared.

His crimson eyes immediately shifted sideways, catching the telltale movement of a metal fork that had somehow dislodged itself and was now circling rapidly around him.

"So it can attract and manipulate metal as well?" he murmured, those same ruby orbs glinting with thoughtful appraisal as he tracked the rogue utensil.

The fork, having launched itself from a nearby wooden table, halted just short of breaching the swirling vortex of razor-edged shards - their orbiting formation evidently acting as a formidable defensive barrier.

...

After a few more moments spent testing the bounds of this element, Ji Wuye willed the turbulent Metal Qi to recede and return to its reservoir within his Upper Dantian.

As the seething essence retreated inward, the tiny metallic fragments lost their cohesive formation, dissipating with ethereal slowness until the last glinting mote had winked out of existence.

Now freed from their constraining influence, the fork clattered unceremoniously to the brick floor below.

'Time to check my stats,' he thought.