‘I am dead..’ Lu Shimming thought inwardly as he kowtowed to his new master. He wondered how his original master would feel if he came to know about this farce. Not only had he taken a master from the orthodox side, but it was a monk at top of that.

‘He might really start a war.’

“Good Disciple!” The Chief Monk, Shi Huizhong, praised.

Lu Shimming forced a smile on his face.

“Well, we should get going.” Patriarch Wu stood up, and glanced at Lu Shimming.

“Don’t you dare treat my disciple as a stable boy..” Shi Huizhong glared at Patriarch Wu. He wanted to keep Lu Shimming at Monastery but that would lead to issues if he wasn’t going to join them.

“Don’t worry, I am better than that.” Patriarch Wu reassured him, he wouldn’t let go of such a good opportunity.

Shi Huizhong passed on a book of Basic Spiritual Cultivation Technique to Lu Shimming along with spiritual incense, as he asked him to appear every morning for training. Honestly he wanted to pass the Monastery’s core technique, but he couldn’t do so to an outsider. In the end, he made up his mind to use his sources and get a good one until Lu Shimming reached the Foundation Establishment stage.

With that Patriarch Wu left with Lu Shimming tagging behind him.

…

‘This is really going south..’ Lu Shimming sat in the carriage accompanying Patriarch Wu back to the estate.

“Be Comfortable, you are not the same boy anymore. Being that bald monk’s disciple has already changed your social standing.” Patriarch Wu spoke.

“Ah..yes..” Lu Shimming nodded.

“You can leave the stable for now, keep Wu Feng in company from now on.” Patriarch Wu declared.

“Huh?” Lu Shimming looked at him, feeling he had misheard him.

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But, it didn’t seem to be the case.

Soon, they reached the Wu Estate, and Lu Shimming was shifted to a better place. He had his own little courtyard now, far from the rundown hut that he had been living in.

“I really don’t know anymore..” Lu Shimming lay down on the floor. He was getting way more involved in the place then he ought to be.

He even had to go to the Monastery every morning to receive guidance from the Chief Monk.

Pushing every thought aside, Lu Shimming took out the Prajna Gate Book from his gourd, and decided to focus on it.

“Thousand Leaf of Bodhi..” He muttered to himself.

The Technique described the stages of Spiritual Cultivation, and honestly it wasn’t much different from Qi Cultivation. The main difference between the two was that Spiritual Qi focused more on stability and defense, while Qi Cultivation seemed more aggressive, and straightforward.

Cultivation was divided into the Qi Refinement, Foundation Establishment, Inner Sea, Core Formation and Nascent Spirit. These were the major realms, which were further divided into nine smaller stages.

The Thousand Leaf of Bodhi focused on replacing the normal Qi in one’s body with Spiritual Qi.

It stated that one’s talent in Spiritual Cultivation depended on their ability to form a link between their Spirit Point and their Dantian.

‘Link? I have an entire pathway..’ Lu Shimming thought to himself. His Dantian and Spirit point were connected, not to mention he even had opened his spirit sea which was only available to Inner Sea Experts.

Closing his eyes, Lu Shimming focused. Soon, he felt the flow of Spiritual Qi in his Spirit Sea, which connected to his Dantian as well as both his eyes.

According to the Scripture, one first needed to refine their Spiritual Qi to the peak of Qi Refinement stage, and then they would plant Spirit Seed into their Foundation as they ascended into the Foundation establishment stage, which would slowly grow into a Bodhi Tree.

“Whoosh!”

Following the mantra of the Thousand Leaf of Bodhi, Lu Shimming circulated the Spiritual Qi and a vortex suddenly formed in his spirit sea.

It continuously began to refine the Spiritual Qi that he already possessed, and before Lu Shimming knew, he was sucked dry, leaving behind only one-tenth of the Spiritual Qi that he originally possessed.

But, it was extremely pure, and concentrated unlike before.

“Boom!”

An explosion resounded throughout his body as the concentrated Spiritual Qi came crashing down towards his dantian.

First Layer of Qi Refinement!

Second Layer of Qi Refinement!

Third Layer of Qi Refinement!

In a moment of seconds, Lu Shimming broke through the first and second layer of Qi Refinement before settling down onto the middle period of the third layer.

“Hahaha!!!” A laughter suddenly rang out in the empty courtyard, as Lu Shimming clenched his fist.

Finally! The Day had come! He had broken out of his accursed fate!

Wanting to test his strength out, he looked towards the tree in the courtyard, and displayed the Raging Bull Fist.

“Charging Bull!”

“Bang!”

The bark of the tree exploded as splinters went flying all around leaving a chunk of hole in the tree.

‘This..’ Lu Shimming frowned, he had expected to get the tree down, but it seemed the Raging Bull Fist was not a technique to be used with Spiritual Qi. He couldn’t bring out its full potential with it.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eyes, Lu Shimming noticed something. The hole in the trunk suddenly began to expand, and it seemed like the trunk of the tree had begun to decay. In a matter of seconds, the tree collapsed.

At this moment, he realized something. The Book stated that some people were born with affinity towards a particular Qi, and it was the same for spiritual qi as well.

But, what about the dead?

The Record of Corpse Cultivation stated that a person lost their Qi with death, as for their Spiritual Qi, it would slowly disperse. But, in rare cases, if the Spiritual Qi doesn’t disperse, it becomes corrupt, giving birth to undead creatures.

“Corrupt Spiritual Qi..” Lu Shimming looked at his hand, this was the power he possessed.