Cultivation was very simple.

Drawing in the ambient qi through one’s breath, it would travel down to one’s lower dantian. If one did not nurture this energy with their own, it would naturally leave their body as they exhaled. At first, refining any amount of qi would be strenuous.

But as one advanced in their cultivation, the amount they were capable of refining would quickly catch up to and surpass their ability to intake the world’s ambient qi.

Unless one had a qi gathering formation or one learned a specific technique, one’s ability to gather the ambient qi would slowly increase with each layer. It was only at core formation that one’s ability to gather the ambient qi would see a significant increase.

Until then, one could only be content with their ability to gather the qi of the world.

What made the difference between those who were talented and those who weren’t was the difference in absorbing the natural qi of the world. In some cases, some cultivators could cultivate at tenfold the speed of others, able to refine nearly all the qi that they gathered. No one, not even those who stood at the pinnacle of cultivation, could fully explain why some were able to cultivate faster than others.

It was the same for when one consumed pill. But it was to a lesser extent.

Being refined as part of one whole pill meant that they were less wanting to part from the other energies that they had fused so closely with.

“Hmm, I don’t think I can breakthrough with just this one qi gathering pill,” Xing Yi mused as he pushed against the unmoving impurities that blocked his second meridian.

And soon, the initial aggressive wave that was best for flushing out the impurities and making a breakthrough would pass. Then, his chances of making a breakthrough would become zero.

But Xing Yi didn’t worry. He still had other pills that he would eventually refine and consume. He became content with refining the remnant energy of the pill and merely hoped that with another pill, the increase in his inner qi would allow him to make a breakthrough.

But as time passed, Xing Yi grew shocked.

None of the pill’s qi had dissipated through his breath. What was the cause of this?

But it was he finished a complete cycle of his cultivation technique, spanning twenty whole minutes, he found that the impurities had given way. He didn’t dare spend any more time wondering about why the qi hadn’t dissipated.

This was an opportunity!

Shocked by this revelation, but at the same time, not daring to wait any further, Xing Yi redirected the wave of inner qi to his lower dantian and into his second meridian. Smashing the churning wave of inner qi against the impurities plugging his second meridian, he gasped in exhilaration as it flushed out all at once.

A hot surge emerged where his second meridian was, causing him to elicit a painful shout.

Cleansing all the impurities had been too much for his young body and he almost keeled over where he sat. But soon that was the least of his worries as the impurities naturally escaped outwards to the pores of his skin, causing a disgusting stench.

Much like his first breakthrough, he made sure to dissipate the remnant impurities that remained in his second meridian.

For a moment, he grew ambitious and attempted to push at the impurities plugging his third meridian. However, this was wishful thinking as he found the plug to be as stalwart as a stone wall. It was like expecting a boulder to crack in half by pouring a bucket of water on it.

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Laughing at himself for overestimating himself, he smiled in ecstasy as he continued his cultivation.

After six whole hours of meticulous cultivation, Xing Yi had fully cleansed his second meridian. Opening his eyes and inspecting his body however, he saw that he had ruined another set of silk robes.

For a moment, he sighed in annoyance.

He only had three of them and he had already ruined one of them.

Now he only had one of them left.

At this point, he was going to have to ask to borrow one from the servants.

Making a walk down to the river, he cleaned himself in the water and dressed himself in the last clean set of robes he had. Throwing away the dirty robes into the hallway closet, he couldn’t contain his joy as he walked.

He felt as light as a feather. Skipping around, he pushed himself a meter high with each little tap of his feet.

Now this was fun!

Giggling to himself, Xing Yi ran around himself at speeds that even scared himself.

He ran through the nearby jungle with a keen dexterity and agility that made him feel like he was flying. He jumped over tall bushes like they were stairs. He climbed up trees with ease, reaching the top of them without any difficulty.

Testing his strength, he gave a random tree a casual punch. It flew forward with incredible speed, creating a fist-sized indent on its surface. He looked at his fist in awe.

He was so strong now!

This continued for another hour as he tried out all sorts of things.

But soon, the charm of his power calmed down and he returned to his home with hope.

This was not the end.

Another week passed and he successfully refined the other four qi gathering pills. However, he didn’t consume them. He just continued refining pills. After a few days of preparation and testing, he attempted to refine the Lotus Explosion Pills.

Lotus Explosion Pills were magical wonders praised by all who consumed them. When consumed—as the name suggests, a Lotus Explosion pill would explode in a cultivator’s lower dantian in a lotus pattern. It was made specifically to help a cultivator with breaking through any bottlenecks.

They were highly coveted by first level cultivators and all who consumed them found their persistent bottlenecks to be suddenly undone. It was said that if one had enough Lotus Explosion pills, no bottleneck could not be overcome!

It only took Xing Yi two weeks to refine all five Lotus Explosion pills.

Despite his temptations to gobble up all his pills and make another successive breakthrough, he didn’t dare be so brash. Through his readings, he learned that in order to have a stable foundation, he had to give his body, mind, and spirit time to adjust to the increase in strength.

Taking the advice of Lao Qiguang, he decided that before every breakthrough, he would wait at least two months. This meant that in under two years, he would have reached the peak of meridian cleansing. This was excluding any bottlenecks that wouldn’t budge no matter how much pills he threw at it.

If that happened, he would venture out into the world to gain experience.

In addition, he would only consume one out of every five pills he refined. The other four he would sell to the Paragon Emporium at Camp Black. As for keeping his identity a secret, he didn’t have to worry about it at all.

The two nascent souls of Camp Black were in closed door cultivation and wouldn’t bother to investigate about someone who was selling grade one pills to them. As long as they made spirit stones, they didn’t care. They may try to negotiate a trade deal with him but that only benefitted him.

And unless he revealed some of his skills, he could continue to silently cultivate in peace.

A day later, he exited from the Teleportation Hall with a bag filled to the brim with spiritual stones. Ninety-five to be exact!

Although his pills were third-rate, they were still pills and cultivators were desperate for any they could get their hands on. The ingredients for each of his pills had cost six spirit stones each. He sold each Qi Gathering Pill for each ten spiritual stones each and Lotus Explosion pills for eleven each.

That was thirty-one spirit stones profit—he had bought the spiritual ingredients for five Qi Gathering pills and Lotus Explosion pills again.

If he went to the Paragon Emporium, he could buy a Mid-Mortal Grade armament of his choosing from the Paragon Emporium. In fact, much like one’s cultivation and the grades of pills, armaments were divided into five tiers.

Human, Earth, Heavenly, Spiritual, and Celestial.

Not only that, but each layer also had four tiers. Low, mid, high, and peak.

But Xing Yi would only buy an armament of any heavenly-path treasure for that matter if he was an idiot. To use any of these treasures, he had to have spiritual qi to activate it.

And he did not have any.

Either way, Xing Yi was walking the path of earthly cultivation.

According to Lao Qiguang, he didn’t need treasures. All he needed was his body.

And if he was going to defeat Wu Jia, he had to become strong.

And quickly.