The pain in my abdomen is the worst thing I have ever experienced. The pain can be described as being struck by lightning. Xiu Bai yells out, “What is going on over there!?” as she sees me in a state of great distress. I can't answer, for I am in such great pain, but after three hours, the pain dies down. The first thing I notice after the pain is that my physical strength is much greater than before; not only that, but I can feel some sort of movement in my abdomen. This movement in my abdomen is like how a fish would swim through water. It is a very gentle but ferocious movement; if I could guess, this is probably where the physical strength I feel comes from.

I then remembered the thing that caused this: the scroll. I look around on the ground where I left it, but I can't seem to see it. I guess the scroll isn’t here anymore. I think about asking Xiu Bai about what just happened, but I feel like I should keep it a secret for some reason. “There isn’t anything I can do to get out of this prison,” is what I would have thought, but I gained some new knowledge about the technique the human kings call cultivation. There is an energy called qi, which is stored in the abdomen. Apparently, I need to circulate the qi energy through my circulatory system in order to boost my abilities. I try to focus and move the qi that is in my abdomen. After an hour, I finally managed to circulate the qi around my circulatory system one time.

I can barely feel an increase in my physical strength. If I am going to increase my strength, it will take days to make any significant progress. Just as I am thinking, a thought pops into my mind: a new technique that can boost my progress by leaps and bounds. It teaches me a more efficient way to circulate the qi through my circulatory system. I need to sit down and meditate, which entails being extremely focused and shutting out my surroundings. After trying this new method of circulating the qi, I successfully circulated my qi ten times in an hour. This is amazing! It’s ten times as fast if I concentrate intensely by cutting out all other thoughts. It will only take half a day to reach a significant strength increase now!

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I circulate my qi around my circulatory system ninety times, which only takes seven hours after becoming more proficient in it. A great wave of pain comes with the next circulation of qi. It’s extremely hard to circulate it; it’s as painful as being stung by a wasp. This last circulation makes me feel extremely exhausted, to the point of collapsing. But after I wake up, I feel like I could even break through a wall with my overwhelming strength! Is this what is called a breakthrough? I try to break out of the chains with my newfound strength, but there is some force restricting me from breaking them. I look over to my right to see Xiu Bai in order to ask her about these chains, but she is no longer chained to the wall there. I wonder where she could have gone?

The chains binding me use runes, which are crafted by a runesmith. The power of runes was never understood by any race. I can now understand the power behind the runes after absorbing the scroll. The runes are a way to store qi for specific purposes. I circulate the qi from my abdomen to my arms and legs, which are chained. With the power of the qi, I break free from the chains. The chains drop to the ground, and I stand up. I feel like I could run a mile after sitting down for so long. Now if I could only figure out how to get out of this prison cell, I could try escaping. I try to open the door with all my strength but that doesn't work. Another option I could try is to smash into the door with all my strength. I run at the door as fast as I can, but the door is so sturdy that it didn't even budge a bit! How will I be able to open this door if it's this sturdy, will I be stuck here forever?