Rèn Chāngmíng: “...”
He was speechless. For the several weeks they’ve been cultivating, Yù Quán had already been moving at an above-average speed. On top of that, with how slow his cultivation art was, it only meant that he was a heavenly talent. But what he had witnessed for the past few days was just unbelievable.
Even with Dead Dantian Pills, you shouldn’t already be at the 4th level. Now that Rèn Chāngmíng could sense qi, he naturally could sense heavenly energy much better. It was just that his mind subconsciously ignored it since it wasn’t important, and it was always around. However, if he focused on it, he could sense it well.
Right now, he sensed the amount of heavenly energy Yù Quán could gather and absorb was much more than before. Rèn Chāngmíng thought it must have something to do with the cultivation art. He had noticed that, at some point, all the eyes were taken from the bodies of the boars. He thought it was possible it could have something to do with that, but he couldn't guess how.
Rèn Chāngmíng didn’t know how much longer they would stay there for. His cultivation speed had slowed, even with the Dead Dantian Pills and the refined cores. Whatever pushed him through cultivation due to the enlightenment seemed to have run out. He had a guess what it was, but he wasn’t entirely sure. He knew that his path was the path of revenge. He hadn’t heard of anyone on this path, but it was possible that people on this path could use the mysterious revenge intent in cultivation. Rèn Chāngmíng wondered if he enacted revenge for himself or another; he could collect more revenge intent and jump in strength again.
While Rèn Chāngmíng was in deep thought, Yù Quán stopped his cultivation to take a break. He had been making little piles of pills nearby him to take a new one when he needed it quickly. But he had used the last one a while ago, and its effect dwindled. He got up to check the resources. About half the Dead Dantian Pills and the refined cores were used by him and Rèn Chāngmíng. Yù Quán guessed that the Dead Dantian Pills would be less in number since they both were using them, but it seemed Rèn Chāngmíng’s need for the pills was less than his, so it somewhat evened out.
Yù Quán went to grab a new pile when he noticed something. He remembered there had been a black box among the cargo, but he was so focused on cultivating he never asked about it.
“Junior Brother, what is this?”
Rèn Chāngmíng woke up from deep thought and looked towards what Yù Quán was holding. “I don’t know. From what I was told, it would be a normal operation with the cargo we usually transport. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”
Yù Quán didn’t think opening it would be too dangerous, but he wouldn’t now. He knew how these things usually went in stories. This could be anything, even something that would prevent him from cultivating for the time being, and he couldn’t take that chance. He needed to get stronger as soon as possible, which meant no distractions.
Yù Quán put the box down for the time being, picked up more Dead Dantian Pills and returned to cultivating.
…
Another five days passed.
Crack~
Yù Quán’s dantian had energy circulating within it. What once felt like a force almost strong enough to rotate the dantian along with it now felt like a soft breeze brushing against it. Yù Quán could feel the difference from the 1st level of the Dantian Solidification Stage to the 1st level of the Essence Refinement Stage.
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Yù Quán was supposed to leave for the academy now, but there were still many pills and refined cores. He decided they would finish the resources and then head out. With his new cultivation speed, it couldn’t take long.
Yù Quán didn’t get any notification for a system update, so he thought it must only update if it had big milestones or he changed his cultivation art. Since there wasn’t anything to look at with the system, he began closely reading the cultivation method of the Essence Refinement Stage.
Essence Refinement Stage
During the Essence Refinement Stage, the [Mumulian Refining Technique] alters all eyes on the body to refine essence. They will refine the essence but not hold it. The purity of each drop will depend on the quality of each eye.
“Purity?” Yù Quán hadn’t heard anything about purity. He realized he hadn’t heard much about the Essence Refinement Stage. Since he didn’t have a mentor figure, he could only ask Rèn Chāngmíng.
“Essence Refinement Stage? You’re already there?” Rèn Chāngmíng has been astonished way too often being around Yù Quán. But he learned not to complain. Following Yù Quán meant his blessings could benefit him.
“To create a core that can generate qi, you first need to gather enough essence in the dantian. The majority of the essence surrounds the dantian and forms the core. The rest is used to strengthen the core. While the process is usually similar for everyone, what makes people different is the purity of their core.
Ambient qi is abundant, but it’s diluted in heavenly energy. This is why we can’t use ambient qi; gathering and extracting from heavenly energy would take too long. Instead, we form a core that can make our own qi. The core is made of essence, which is refined from heavenly energy and qi. The more qi used when refining the essence, the purer it is.”
Yù Quán: “So, heavenly energy is impure?”
Rèn Chāngmíng shook his head. “No. If your core is made of heavenly energy, will it be better at generating qi than one made completely out of qi? Someone more qualified to teach may be able to give a better explanation, but essence is basically qi or heavenly energy in a different form. A form we can form cores with. Purity doesn’t mean one is pure and the other is impure, but how close or far it is from being purely made of qi.”
Yù Quán nodded. “How does purity affect the core?”
Rèn Chāngmíng: “More will be generated and the core will be stronger in purer cores. There will also technically be more storage space for qi, but that is because the space is being more efficiently.”
When Rèn Chāngmíng saw Yù Quán had no more questions, he added another thought. “However, the purity of your core isn’t something you can’t improve after it's formed. It just takes much longer. From months to years depending on how much needs to be purified.”
This reassured Yù Quán. Even if he did make a mistake, it wasn’t permanent. He would still aim for the highest purity possible to save himself time. This also meant his cultivation art was possible. If he could get his eyes to top quality, he could practically farm pure essence and be done quickly. Yù Quán began cultivating while taking Dead Dantian Pills to increase the size of the dantian while he increased the quality of the rest of his eyes.
…
Yù Quán
Realm: Qi Focusing Realm
Stage: 1st Level Essence Refinement
Main Cultivation Art: [Stolen-eyed Mùmùlián Body](Level 1)
Techniques:
[Mùmùlián Eye Stealing](Level 1)
[Mùmùlián Eye Refining](Level 1)
Attributes:
[Star Gazing Eyes](Level 1)
[Mid-Quality Mortal Avarice Eyes](Level 1)
[Mid-Quality Mortal Avarice Eyes](Level 1)
[Mid-Quality Three-Finned Boar Aggression Eyes](Level 5)
[Low-Quality Three-Finned Boar Aggression Eyes](Level 1)(x5)
[Low-Quality Five-Finned Boar Aggression Eyes](Level 1)