The carriage stopped at the city gates, taking out a spirit stone from her space bag Lin Xue said,

"Cultivators have to pay one spirit stone for entry to the city, you will get a token proving that you haven’t smuggled yourself in."

Walking towards the city gate, Yun Fei could see people in light black armour that were standing nearby, looking around with sharp gazes.

'Are those the city guards? They feel much stronger than the leader of the bandit group.'

Well the difference between a rag tag bunch and proper training wouldn't be small.'

After paying a spirit stone each and registering their names, Yun Fei and Lin Xue were issued tokens which signified their legal entry.

As they walked through the gates and made their way through the bustling crowd approaching a fork in the wide paved road, Lin Xue turned to Yun Fei and said.

"Fellow cultivator, I have an appointment in a different part of the city so I cannot accompany you any further. You can find inns to rent for cultivators if you just ask around.

The date to register for the city guard selection examination should be in around 2 months, I would advise you to apply for it. It's a rare opportunity for any roaming cultivator."

Yun Fei felt melancholic as he watched Lin Xue’s back disappear into the thronging crowd.

'It doesn't matter, I'll probably meet her if I am able to join the city guards. I don't know why but I feel that she will be able to pass the examination easily.

Well, that would be if she decides to participate in it.'

Yun Fei looked around him like a country bumpkin in the big city, surprised and overwhelmed by all the hustle and bustle of the city.

Calling him a country bumpkin wouldn't be wrong though, as he had indeed lived in only remote places before.

He could see a lot of places that seemed very interesting and novel.

He had an urge to just start exploring this new domain but he decided to ignore that urge since he had an even greater desire to start practicing the human path of cultivation.

Keeping his objective in mind, Yun Fei inquired about the exact date of the city guard selection examination and the directions to a nearby Inn.

He set out towards the inn, eager to start reading the booklet that he had snatched from Song Shifang.

Choosing a rather normal looking inn, situated above a packed restaurant, Yun Fei entered and made his way towards the reception desk where an old man sat with his eyes closed.

As he slipped his way across the crowded room, a hard elbow collided into him.

The owner of the elbow was a young man with a 1st level Qi condensation cultivation base.

The young man who collided with Yun Fei shouted loudly as he fell down to the ground, clearly trying to act hurt.

"Are you fucking blind? Do you know who you are messing with? You just broke my arm, you better pay 3 spirit stones for compensation or I'll get you beaten up."

'Does this guy think I'm a pushover or what?' thought Yun Fei as he smiled.

A few customers snickered at the blatant con as a dirty street urchin standing in the corner smiled in contempt while the old receptionist opened his eyes with a frown, looking disapprovingly at the commotion but making no move to interfere.

Although Yun Fei was new to the city, he wasn't like those pushovers who would fall for such a blatant scam.

He never lost his smile as his hand shot out with nary a warning, grasping the conman by the throat lifting him up overhead as he choked and spluttered.

Using his free hand Yun Fei tore the man's clothes off, keeping all the belongings he found on the man in his space pouch, not relaxing his choke. Then he proceeded to throw the half-nude body that was frothing at the mouth out of the inn.

Such overbearing attitude, such strength, the sheer guts left the patronage gulping.

Yun Fei walked away towards the old receptionist sitting with his eyes wide open staring.

The old man opened his eyes and said monotonously,

"Esteemed guest, these are the prices for the rooms. May I know how long you will be booking a room for?

‘1 spirit stone a month for a low level room, 3 for mid level and 5 for a high level room.’

"What are the differences between different levels of room?"

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"The Qi concentration is higher in higher levels." replied the old man in an ingratiating tone.

'Since I've decided to start cultivating the Qi condensation manual, I should pick up a better room to increase the speed of my cultivation.' thought Yun Fei

"Then, I will book the high level room for a month." He took out 5 spirit stones and handed them to the old man.

“If you need anything else, I'll be present here."

Saying this, the old man presented Yun Fei with the formation key along with the directions on using it.

After receiving the formation key of the room, Yun Fei went straight to it and entered the room using the method described by the old man.

Watching Yun Fei leave were a pair of young reverent eyes belonging to the street urchin, as he burned the image of the arrogant hero in his heart.

The room wasn't too grand, it had a minimalistic setup with a single desk and chair with papyrus and quills provided as well as a bed.

A mat was laid across the empty space on the ground which was marked as the centre of the Qi gathering formation of the room.

Yun Fei had almost no knowledge of formations, the little bit that he had gathered from listening to Lin Xue and the receptionist downstairs was that formations were a combination of different arrays and arrays were particular patterns that were arranged to achieve specific purposes.

The science behind the formation arts were the gathering and circulation of Qi from the atmosphere or a power source provided, such as spirit stones.

The circulation of Qi inside the arrays and the formations compiled from them, aimed to create certain effects like defense, attack and some other multifarious purposes.

The study of arrays and formations usually took heavy inspiration from the arrays and formations that existed naturally in the heavens and earth.

The Qi gathering array was one of the simplest of arrays and was commonly used throughout the lands by cultivators to aid in their cultivation.

Holding an extremely superficial understanding of such a deep subject was probably more harmful than helpful, Yun Fei made a note to buy a few manuals regarding basic cultivation knowledge later.

'The first priority is to acquire a cultivation base in the human way, I can decide to tour the city or increase my knowledge after I've made some progress in cultivation.'

Yun Fei took a bath and changed into some simple and light clothes he had bought from a shop on the way to the inn.

Freshened up, he sat cross legged on the mat in the center of the room and took out the 'Standard Qi Cultivation Manual' from the space pouch.

Opening the manual, Yun Fei read the basic description about cultivators and cultivation in general on the first page.

'Cultivation is an act of rebellion against the heavens, the heavens are wary of all cultivators and seek to prevent Qi absorption, Qi being a major heaven and earth energy.

We as cultivators must fight against the heavens to steal its energy and make it our own in order to grow stronger.

The heavens hindrance will descend in the form of heavenly tribulations.

The first of the heavenly tribulations descends when a cultivator attempts to break through from the 10th stage of Qi condensation to the foundation establishment realm.

To defy the heavens and to bear through the descending lightning tribulation in order to reach the foundation establishment stage, a cultivator needs an iron will and true dedication towards the pursuit of martial arts.

The cultivators with insufficient determination and shallow foundations will find it hard to survive the lightning tribulation, turning mad or even perishing, reaching the end of their path.

For a cultivator to successfully cross tribulation and proceed further on his path to cultivation, He must not only cultivate his body by using Qi, the cultivator must also cultivate his heart.'

The next page contained information about some levels of cultivation.

'Only after reaching foundation establishment stage can a cultivator start comprehending the heavens, from this stage onwards cultivators must also have appropriate understanding to break through further levels.'

The information about further cultivation levels was not shared in the book.

Reading about cultivation, Yun Fei could finally gain some clarity.

'So I was cultivating very differently from the humans, just ingesting the Qi from the environment into my body to strengthen it. This is akin to charging at a locked door, while this manual can give me the key. I must try to cultivate by the method given in this book.'

Yun Fei turned to another page and finally read about the way to cultivate for the first level of Qi Condensation.

The book mentioned that it would be helpful in feeling Qi if a mortal can be given some pills that were specifically created for that purpose.

Reading further, it finally detailed the path to open the first set of meridians to reach Qi condensation first stage.

The first set of meridians contained the meridians that were easiest to open, spanning different parts of the body as shown in the diagrams.

The way to open them was to draw Qi from the atmosphere and try to push that drawn Qi in these meridians to slowly set up a complete cycle with the absorption and emission of the Qi.

Yun Fei already had Qi in his flesh, so he decided to push that Qi through the meridians that were specified in the diagrams.

He moved his Qi to those places as he tried to find the meridians he was supposed to open, he found the place illustrated but he found nothing like a path that was shown in the diagram.

He could only feel his flesh in the place where there were supposed to be meridians. For him, this place that was supposed to be carrying meridians was no different than any other part of his flesh.

Yun Fei slowly realised that something was wrong and he started feeling despair little by little till he finally stopped trying to make attempts to find something that just didn't exist.

He took a deep breath and calmed himself, thinking things through.

'I am no human. I thought I could cultivate using a human method as I felt I was similar enough.

It's no good, it seems I am as different from humans as dogs are from cats, I should not have placed my hopes on this chance to begin with.

Looks like I am just not fated to live amongst humans. If I cannot even cultivate using human methods, there is a great chance for my secret to get revealed in front of someone who has a cultivation level much higher than me.

Then it would just make me a plaything for them, ending like a lab rat to be experimented on or being collected as a rare specimen.'

Lamented Yun Fei, sorely disappointed. Drowning in pity and regret, he failed to notice the huge flaw in his train of thought.

With his muddled thoughts, Yun Fei couldn't notice that what he considered to be his misfortune might turn out to be a great advantage he had over normal humans in cultivation.