With a slow exhale, he grabbed one piece of the normal gold as another process began to take shape. Using a technique documented in the manual, he controlled some of the Qi inside of him to flow along his palms, but it wasn't any normal Qi, but one that was transformed through the manual so it had different properties. Like an acid, whenever the Qi made contact with the gold, it would break it away into smaller parts that would be broken yet again before they seemingly evaporated. However, Jing knew that they didn't evaporate, but the gold's matter changed to something that was akin to Qi, but not really. The process that was happening at that exact moment was what the whole Golden Mountain Sect was famous for, Ore Refining and Liquidized Gold Qi.

Minutes ticked by, and now other than pure Qi, what danced around inside of the thin membrane that held everything together were streams of pure bright gold!

Jing took hold of the other 1kg sphere and repeated the same process.

Once it was the 5kg black gold's turn, he couldn't help but gulp, feeling that he was way over his head already. But he pressed on. The process was awfully slow, unlike the ten minutes it took with the normal gold. His mutated Qi had to attack a single section several times before it'd break away, and to continue refining it, he had to break it even more. More than an hour passed when he finally sighed in relief as the big piece of black gold finally disappeared.

Now inside of the thin membrane within him, black golden streaks converged in beautiful patterns amongst the abundant Qi, flowing from one end of the makeshift container to the other as if seeking an exit.

'It's time,' Jing said with some trepidation in his heart, afraid that everything might just break and wreak havoc inside of his body. He gently began to control that Qi, and following a diagram from the manual, he started drawing inside of his body an ethereal anatomy. Legs, waist, chest, neck, and head. Another technique followed suit as he had to establish a connection between that rough drawing and his actual body. Once that was done, he began the most difficult process, putting the initial shape for the meridians.

Starting with the very first one that was positioned just slightly above his crotch, from there to the one in his solar plexus, to the three in his chest. One in each pec, and the last one slightly above the middle. Finally the throat, mouth, forehead, and above the head. The moment the ninth one was established, a miraculous change occurred. A sudden bright golden light flashed through the previously dead drawing, and it sprung to life! His thin membrane collapsed on its own, and everything stored inside flowed through the pathways he had already created.

An immense strength followed it, a strength that he had never felt before, even from his memories. The ethereal figure shone bright golden, and the first meridian above the crotch began to swirl like a nebula in a mystical but beautiful pattern that forcefully dragged the outside Qi into it.

"Congratulations," Jing heard from the side. When he opened his eyes, he noticed how the whole room was glowing in a dark golden color. Glancing at Wang Fei and Shen Yu who were looking at him with a complicated expression, and the golden light that was reflected in their eyes, he was stunned.

"Am I glowing?" He muttered.

"Haha, yes." Wang Fei said. "Your breakthrough was almost perfect." He praised.

"Why do you say that?" Jing asked.

"The stronger the foundation, the stronger the cultivation base that would be created," Wang Fei said. "And depending on how strong its establishment, it'll affect how bright the cultivation breakthrough would be. And yours was almost blinding I've never seen it before."

"That good?!" Jing muttered with disbelief before a dam of pride blossomed in his heart. He jumped down the bed beside the two, still faintly glowing and he inspected himself.

"You look even better," Shen Yun commented. "What happened?"

"Ah, that?" Jing said with a faint smile. "I found a cleansing elixir and used it." He had already told Wang Fei to keep that matter between them. When Shen Yun asked where he found it, he just said that Wang Fei had a cousin who gave it to him.

"That's good," Shen Yun said. "So, should we go now? I want to break through and I need more resources."

"Let's wait a few minutes," Jing said as he climbed on top of his bed once again. "I just need to stabilize my cultivation and we'll go."

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

He naturally wouldn't forget his other necessary breakthrough, the inception of his spiritual sea. From what he had learned thus far from his Purple Spirit Manual, a spiritual sea was a necessary organ in one's ethereal body. If the physical body had a brain that processed all manners of sensory inputs and information, the spiritual sea was the organ that processed the world through Qi, but most importantly, it was a cultivator's most important sense.

The spiritual sea could transform natural Qi into a form of spiritual Qi that could be projected outward either to study the properties of something, to see, to feel, or even attack.

He had already studied the whole Purple Crystal Manual, and so without wasting any more time, he began. The first thing he did was summon the Soulforge Capsule from his loot. In his right palm, a small light green ball that looked like a small marble appeared. He had learned from Aukhman that this small ball held within it a vast amount of spiritual Qi, and that was exactly what he needed to break through.

Naturally, this made him think of two other questions which the demon was quick to answer. The reason all of the gifts he received were seemingly tailored for him was because they were indeed. His viewers who had watched the first episode had a comprehensive understanding of him, and because they were more knowledgeable in anything cultivation-related, they were able to pick out the very best materials for him.

He had also learned that the reason he was no longer receiving any donations was because there was only a short window after every episode was released for them to be given away. Something that although he found unfortunate, he understood.

Without the slightest hesitation, he threw the small ball that had the capability of choking him to death into his mouth. Just like the pill, the same magical process unfolded. The warmth of his mouth seemed to be enough of a catalyst to melt the ball into a cool liquid that flowed down his throat.

Closing his eyes, he used the techniques he learned from the Purple Crystal Manual to control the stream of energy to rushed down his brain. His ethereal body was also visible, and he could see a white stream of energy moving from his golden empty meridians into his head. The stream of energy continued rising up from his Root Meridian, Solar Plexus into his three Heart Pillars, Throat Ornate, Glut Mouth, All-Seeing Third-Eye, and finally The Crown Meridian where it was obstructed.

These were the individual names given to every meridian as they were all different and unique in their own particular ways.

Already expecting such a turn of events, Jing moved to use the second technique he had received from the manual. The stream of energy began to bubble inside of his head before it morphed into sharp drilling weapons that assaulted the top of his head. Intense pain followed as the stream of energy was thrown to destroy the obstruction in its path. Jing winced in pain as the energies continued colliding with the top of his head, and after a while, it successfully broke through.

The moment that happened, a blinding purple light invaded his inner world, and a gush of cold energy began to seep into his body from the outside world. What he had just done was destroy the crown membrane as it was called, a thin spiritual film that separated a young cultivator from the outside world. Now that it was gone, everything changed for Jing.

Life as he used to know it underwent a profound change. His senses became sharper, but most importantly, he gained a whole new sense, a spiritual sense.

Without even doing anything, Jing was able to follow the movement of a small fly that mindlessly flew around him. It was now perched above the edge of his bed, and then it continued walking. Each movement of its small slender legs was noticeable to Jing, and yet his eyes were closed, and he knew that he wasn't seeing it in the conventional sense of the word. It was the strangest thing in the world for him.

He understood that what he was experiencing right now was something called the unfocused spiritual domain. In a three-meter radius from him, he could monitor what was happening in the outside world, but the keyword was still unfocused. If he wanted to act within that field in a focused and direct manner, he had to use his Spiritual Qi.

At the same time, he was now sensitive to a new part of him that hadn't existed before. A small dimension at the very heart of his brain where spiritual Qi was stored. The Qi used to break through had all but vanished, and now he needed to create his own.

He controlled his first meridian to increase its rotation, and that attracted even more Qi into his own body. Every strand that entered was immediately captured and was made to go through a cycle of his swirling meridian, rendering it one of his own. Controlling that same strand of Qi, it began to rise through his meridians until finally, it reached the crown of his head. After it passed through his head, it completely disappeared. However, he knew that he had just transformed his very first spiritual Qi. In the darkness of the small void inside of his brain, a small white dot appeared.

Jing focused on the dot and made it race toward the fly that was busy flying overhead. The spiritual Qi moved in an instant, as if it teleported, and landed above the fly. A torrent of sensory inputs was sent into his brain, he could feel the fly's texture, health, strength, purity, and much more. Suddenly, feeling overwhelmed by that, he made the spiritual Qi that was swiftly disintegrating and losing its energy explodes, and the wild fly weakly fell to the bed, its body lifeless.

'That's too overpowered!' He thought with astonished eyes, and at the same time, he felt immensely powerful after the opening of his spiritual sea. 'I have to try this in a fight.' He continued, and the first fight that surfaced in his mind was the battle stimulation. Now that he was incomparably stronger than how he was previously, he wanted to try fighting that monster once again. Though the price was indeed steep, 500 game coins, he knew that training his battle skills was of vital importance.

Not willing to waste any more time as Shen Yun was waiting for him, Jing opened the Cultivation Aide menu and clicked on the battle stimulation.