Sage’s Daily Scroll of Heavenly, Earthly, and Mortal Insights.
Target: None
Three days and a few hours had passed since Li Zhen woke up in this place. His progress had slowed considerably, forcing him to delay activating his abilities.
Instead of focusing on the formation, he decided to check on other materials inside the cave. For his first try, he focused on the tea leaves. It was the only consumable item he had indulged in regularly and could be affecting him.
He gathered the remaining tea leaves and carefully examined them, suspecting they might have been tampered with, potentially laced with some kind of poison or suppressant. The tea had been the only consumable item he had indulged in regularly, and its effects could be subtle but significant.
Starveil Leaf
Enhances starlight qi consumption for Qi Condensation realm cultivators. Soothes and focuses the mind and spirit.
Hidden Properties: Laced with a drop of Shadowroot Extract, it reacts lethally with nightshade poison qi, producing a potent poison that disrupts spiritual pathways and causes qi deviation, leading to death without physical harm.
The Starveil Leaf is known for its ability to enhance the absorption of starlight qi, making it a favored choice among nominal cultivators practicing refinement like the Hundred Stars Refinement. It is a staple tea for most individuals in the sect, second only to spirit stones.
However, these leaves had been laced with a catalyst that, when combined with nightshade poison qi from a formation, creates a deadly poison.
Zhen almost flipped the entire set of cups and leaves in frustration. The increasing pressure from all the death traps he had encountered was overwhelming. Cultivating was proving to be far more dramatic than he had ever imagined.
Next time, he resolved not to come to the Qi Gathering Caves at all. Instead, he would learn the formation, build it in secret, and cultivate privately.
He looked around the cave, shaking his head. Free things are truly the costliest. Not using them should be a good idea. He put the tea leaves as far away from him.
His mind raced with plans. He was sure the person targeting him had access to these Caves, and the only clue he had was Disciple Feng Ling.
His eyes narrowed as he contemplated. He could applaud Feng Ling's enterprising tactics, but his attacker was clearly intent on killing him. Perhaps he could glean some clues through his Senior Brother.
— — — — —
Sage’s Daily Scroll of Heavenly, Earthly, and Mortal Insights.
Target: None
Life before felt simpler compared to the constant paranoia he was developing now. Despite this, he continued to cultivate and practice. While using his abilities after every day.
Firesoul Hearth
A simple, earthen pit, commonly used by novice cultivators in the Qi Gathering Cave for warming and cooking. Typically lined with ember stones that absorb and retain heat efficiently.
There is one in fifty chance that any food cooked over the Firesoul Hearth may develop a taste of burnt wood.
The result of the fire pit was quite mundane. Li Zhen didn't know whether to feel relieved that it wasn't trying to kill him or to cry for wasting his precious ability. Instead of wasting the golden words, he decided to only target the Qi Gathering Formation.
The vision of the stars appeared again when he recited the sutra of the Hundred Stars Refinement. It wasn’t as intense as the first time, which he thought was typical. It wasn’t enough to merely flow his energy a specific way; he also had to change the properties of the qi directly as the qi refined through the stars.
The Hundred Stars Refinement served as the primary cultivation technique of the sect, so its effectiveness couldn't be underestimated. It was a great technique to lay the foundation for cultivators, but its sole drawback lay in its difficulty in making progress without stars. However, this was easily mitigated within the Qi Gathering Cave.
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Seven days had passed since he woke up. He had achieved the eighth realm, but a new problem arose: he couldn't form his ninth star. It was illusory and unstable, wobbling here and there.
After wasting a day on it, he had a sinking feeling. His rapid advancement might be because he was regaining his former realm rather than forging a new path. For a moment, he considered using the golden words for targeting the Refinement Scroll but decided against it. He can't lose his realms again.
Instead, he decided to go old fashion and entered meditation, understanding it was a life-and-death situation, and delved into the knowledge from the Opening Heaven Scripture that he could remember.
With his comprehension of the Opening Heaven Scripture aided by the clear golden words from his first usage, Zhen repeatedly studied the Hundred Stars Refinement and finally grasped the essence of the refinement.
The stars were actually forming in a path. And the path was not actually straight forward but instead was encircling below his navel. Or what felt like navel when he sensed the qi circling in the area.
Yet, there was nothing tangible he could find there. Unfortunately, Li Zhen's memory of cultivation was strangely missing from his mind.
So, without much knowledge of this world, he started patching it up with his own ideas. Likely, the stars were trying to surround his center below his navel.
Dantian. He called it Dantian as there was no other name he knew. Hopefully, the cultivation world followed some similarities with the stories from back home.
By encircling the the area below the navel, within the body from sensing and refining the qi, one could observe the Dantian. That was his working theory. Even though he didn't remember much, he felt he was instinctively heading in the right direction. Perhaps some aftereffects of the Opening Heaven Scripture.
Zhen had a huge advantage in this department. The golden words gave him some otherworldly insights, providing him with the ability to see things from a broader perspective and his own perspective was different from others.
To search for the Dantian within the body, he focused his attention on visualizing the process. Each breath drew in vital energy, while each exhalation expelled impurities, purifying and refining the qi.
Drawing from that knowledge, Zhen visualized his Dantian in the center where the stars were congregating. He imagined his Dantian as a confined space akin to a gas chamber. With each breath, he envisioned his qi condensing, gradually circulating and moving towards the Dantian.
As Zhen immersed himself in deep meditation, the formation of his ninth star commenced. Through the meticulous control of his breath, he imagined the qi coalescing, circulating with faster and faster speed. As the ninth star formed, it was as if it was the arrowhead pointing to the Dantian. His curiosity got the better of him as he took a peek at the area.
A glimpse of an empty sphere surrounded by what he sensed were sturdy walls covering the whole surface appeared in his mind. In front of the strength of the walls he felt, his eight stars seemed pitiful in comparison.
But before he could observe more, he felt his qi destabilizing.
His qi started to go more haywire. Quickly suppressing the agitated state, sweat began to form on his brow. His mind was not made to focus on a single thing for so long.
The star moved ever closer to the Dantian, but he only focused on forming the star. With the constant supply from the Qi Gathering Formation, the star grew increasingly bright. Each passing moment brought it closer to absorbing and erupting.
He focused his attention, directing his qi through the intricate network of meridians within his body, refining as it passed through previous stars. Suddenly, the ninth star started vibrating and pulling the qi inside them as they began to spin.
His mind was entirely focused, trying to maintain control over the wobbly, greedy absorption of his qi. The qi in the cave depleted rapidly but replenished at the same time without any break.
Suddenly, his compressed star expanded, unleashing a surge of energy akin to a dam breaking free. In that exhilarating moment, his qi took on a milky white hue, signifying its heightened purity, which soon returned to a colorless state
A surge of power coursed through Zhen's body, almost doubling the vigor of his qi. The meridians, once tranquil conduits, now roiled turbulently, circulating the amplified energy within his being. The very air around Zhen seemed to ripple with the energy unleashed.
He had broken through.
Zhen opened his eyes, shining brightly with the immense influx of energy. Everything went according to plan, other than that little wobbling.
With a sense of relief, he surveyed himself. Initially, after theorizing about the Dantian, he had intended to achieve the ninth realm of Qi Condensation first and then comprehend the Dantian. However, with his supposedly untrusted knowledge, the enlightenment from the golden words and his active mind, he reversed the order.
While the change in order may seem insignificant, it held tremendous significance. Or that was how he felt. The ninth star had also moved closer to the Dantian, and he could sense an illusionary sphere at the center of his circling nine stars.
Hopefully he had established a robust and formidable foundation.
"Finally, I can rest easy. Zhen sprawled in the center of the circle in exhaustion as the sweat soaked robes plastered on his back.
These past few days had not been easy for him. Except for occasional bursts of strength increment, he used all his free time to break through. He resembled a man possessed, with his sole purpose fixated on raising the numbers and advancing his practice.
However, as the saying goes, heaven rewards the diligent. Zhen had forged a sturdy foundation and was happy with what he had accomplished. A sense of security washed over him…
Then his mind wandered to his unfinished business of getting targeted. Now, he could finally try to find the culprit.
He was excited and jumped up. But suddenly, as if a cruel reminder from his body, he grimaced in pain. "Ow! Crap! Muscle cramps..."