Shin Sumi didn't even notice at first. All of it was very new to her. In the past she had been cultivating but it was more accurate to say that she had only been trying.
As of now, Shin Sumi really was feeling something bubble up inside her. It was a sensation of slowly drifting, not unlike when one falls asleep. She was still lost in thoughts but these thoughts were getting more cloudy with every passing second.
A person with really high Shinsoo affinity would have been able to spot a slight distortion in the air above the high grade spirit stone on Shin Sumi's lap. The distortion took the shape of fumes, being inhaled noiselessly by her nostrils.
Inside her dantian, the spark that had been awoken the previous day once again flared to life. Shin Sumi still didn't notice, convinced that she was still thinking seriously and completely ignoring her trance. More and more time passed as Shin Sumi slipped into unconsciousness, still remaining somewhat alert.
That is exactly what meditation is all about. Getting into the rhythm of one's own body and mind, in accord with everything around.
As that was happening, Shin Sumi started feeling a distant thumping. The sound like percussion didn't come from afar, no, it came from inside her. Her dantian was slowly waking up, powered by the invisible Shinsoo entering her system.
At first the thumping was somewhat erratic and felt strange. In her crossed legs position, eyes closed and hands resting on her knees, Shin Sumi unknowingly frowned a little bit.
A thought popped into her mind. "I have to adjust to find the method corresponding to my organism" she thought. She was recalling what she and Xiao Yue had talked about extensively in the past.
After having observed a lot of cultivation practitioners on the North Cultivation Plaza platform, Shin Sumi knew breathing was key and allowed a disciple to tune their Shinsoo intake.
The part of Shin Sumi's mind that was still rational and awake knew what was happening at this point.
"So that is the real cultivation" she murmured between her closed lips.
Inside her dantian the spark was still flickering with a rhythmic thumping. Shin Sumi adjusted her breathing slightly and the thumping changed immediately. After a bit of experimentation she knew exactly what to do.
It simply felt right to accord the percussion inside her dantian with that of her calm heart.
It took a bit of time to get the feeling right but Shin Sumi was lost in a peaceful state of mind and completely ignored the passage of time.
The spark was now flaring regularly, kind of like bubbles exploding at just the right time. Shin Sumi's physical body and Shinsoo system were resonating at the same frequency, alternatively sending blood coursing through her veins and Shinsoo in her meridians.
The concordance of her breathing with all that made her inhale even more concentrated Shinsoo with each instant. Shin Sumi could feel the bubbly spark send more and more waves with each soft explosion.
Although the feeling was very pleasant and the Shinsoo entering her body made her feel refreshed and powerful, it didn't last long.
Maybe it was because she had forced her talent to awaken with such a large quantity of precious resources that it was now used to it, but the high grade spirit stone was drying up at a vertiginous speed.
With the lack of Shinsoo adding fuel to the spark, blowing up spiritual bubbles in her dantian, the thumping disappeared rapidly. In her meditative state, time seemed to pass differently than in the outside world but now suddenly Shin Sumi could only feel her heart beating.
"The meditation is over. The spirit stone is empty!" she realized.
Opening her eyes and stretching her neck, Shin Sumi lifted her gaze towards the cloudy sky. "The sun is setting down. I have been meditating for more than two hours." she calculated quickly.
Two hours wasn't a long time to cultivate for. Besides it felt different for the one cultivating. Shin Sumi was curious to feel that she was under the impression of having cultivated for a lot longer than that, although she thought she had not been gone for more than a few minutes.
"I understand what Yue told me now. Before I thought I knew but I realize now that I was like a frog looking at the sky from the inside of a well. I used to simply meditate, forcing Shinsoo to somewhat get inside me but it was nowhere near cultivating."
Sparks seemed to glitter in her blue eyes as she understood more. She was completely out of her trance now, fully awake and full of energy.
She had been enlightened enough to understand what had happened when the spark appeared for the first time, although not entirely. Her talent had sprung to life it seemed.
Success. She had forced her body to undergo drastic changes, from a mortal with no talent to a person with some affinity for the Immortal way.
Nobody could know at this instant, not even her, what kind of talent she now had. A test-stone like the one in the entrance to the sect would be enough, but Shin Sumi couldn't go back there with no reason. Plus it didn't really matter.
As she stretched and stood up in the middle of her field next to the waterfall, she tested her body a bit.
Absolutely nothing felt different from before. She had used a whole high grade spirit stone precious enough to make any expert drool in envy but she didn't advance one bit. At least from what she felt.
Something was telling her that whatever level her talent had reached, her dantian now had certain expectations regarding the Shinsoo she needed to cultivate.
With enough time, a red robed disciple could go through Shinsoo Gathering and reach the Liquid Realm stage. All they needed was a good amount of spirit stones but with only the quantity provided monthly by the sect, it was still possible.
An orange robed disciple would need less time to reach the same level, obviously, but would benefit greatly from better cultivation resources. And that was the same all the way up to the mystic purple talented cultivators.
All of that was briefly explained in the newcomer's guide that Shin Sumi had read extensively. But her own version of the Shinsoo Gathering Manual, provided by the little nut-book, was displaying something a bit different.
If a disciple refrained from forming a vortex in his first attempt at a breakthrough from Shinsoo Gathering to Liquid Realm, there was a way to open Shinsoo passageways in a previously unseen manner.
Shinsoo Gathering was like building a foundation for the next stages of cultivation. The stronger the foundation, the more aptitude one would display. Red talented individuals would open some passageways and then condense a vortex and move on. Orange would open more Shinsoo apertures before condensing a vortex. The number of openings, usually between five and twenty didn't change the level of the person, but their capacity to naturally absorb the energy of heaven and earth.
It was a critical thing to take into account when reaching the upper stages of cultivation like Core Development. With only a few passageways opened, red talented disciples would never be able to go above the Liquid Realm.
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Sadly there was nothing to do about that as it was impossible to reverse the process of forming a vortex. At least that was what everybody thought. Only Shin Sumi knew the technique used to expulse all Shinsoo from her body and attempt Shinsoo Gathering again and again. Only by doing that could she open the maximal amount of passageways. It was tedious work and the manual stated that the resources needed were simply unfathomable.
All the resources one needed to reach the level where a vortex could be formed, she would need for every attempt at opening passageways.
Shin Sumi remembered all that, drawing conclusions in her mind. She didn't know what it meant exactly to need better quality resources but she didn't care. After all she had her own way of acquiring an insane amount of resources easily.
Because her body had been taken over by cultivation, the high grade spirit stone she had wanted to use to hasten the growth of her crops, had instead been used entirely by Shin Sumi.
The plants were still nothing more than seeds. The earth was barren in a fifteen meter squared area.
Shin Sumi had successfully cultivated for the first time and it took her by surprise but now that she knew, she wouldn't fall for it again. Holding a low grade spirit stone in her hand, she refrained from settling down above it, ignoring the urges emanating from her sleeping dantian.
Picking up a dozen of bones from the other side of the waterfall, Shin Sumi set up a small tower of bones. The white wood-like sticks formed some kind of triangular pagoda above the low grade spirit stone "sturdy enough to keep the snakes away" Shin Sumi hoped.
Shin Sumi backed away from her creation, getting the tower out of reach from the continuous effects of the copper bell in her bag of holding.
She clearly remembered the area affected by the small bell from when she broke her leg. Although she was sure of it, she felt at a loss when no writhing mass of black snakes appeared.
"Something isn't right. There should be hissing sounds by now" she asked herself.
She waited for a few more seconds. Nothing. Taking another spirit stone from her bag, she threw it right next to the pile of bones.
Reptiles instantly filled up the area, coming out of every hole in the ground, from below the vegetation roots and seemingly from everywhere at once.
The spirit stone was gone in a second. A few snakes got curious about the pile of whitened bones but quickly rejected the idea of poking at it and went away with the others.
Crouching above the bone cage, Shin Sumi closed her eyes. Her nostrils quivered as she took a deep breath and steadied her heart.
"I can definitely feel the Shinsoo in that spirit stone" she thought. Not wanting to absorb it all, Shin Sumi took a few steps away from it again.
A thought popped into her mind. "It's the Yin Shinsoo of this place!"
"These old bones have been here for so long that they are tainted by the ambient Shinsoo! This is why the snakes aren't interested. I should have known, the plants growing here are all full of energy but the snakes don't eat them like they do everything else."
It made sense, really. And it was also a good opportunity for business. If the bones were a source of Yin Shinsoo energy, there would surely be someone in the market willing to buy them for a reasonable price.
Shin Sumi took out the low quality spirit stone from under the bones and replaced it with a high grade one.
If she wanted to grow plants faster, a low grade stone wouldn't do, she reasoned. Testing a few options, Shin Sumi took her time.
After almost an hour, Shin Sumi wiped off the sweat from her forehead. Laying in the middle of the field were about ten bone towers.
Each of them was made from a dozen bones and covered up to three high grade spirit stones. Some of them were empty, Shin Sumi having completely depleted her stock with her recent prolonged cultivation sessions.
"Three is the limit, more Shinsoo than that and the snakes will break down the piles to get to the stones."
Shin Sumi had been careful with each tower, placing them in the best area possible to influence the growth of the plants.
As she stood there looking at her farm, Shin Sumi felt good. It was the same feeling one would experience after resolving a long lasting problem.
Shin Sumi's eyes focused once more when she lifted her head to look at the sky. Above the always dark chasm she could see the stripe of clouded sky, torturous like a strike of lightning or an old scar.
Night wouldn't fall for another few hours at least. Making calculations quickly in her head, Shin Sumi believed she could be back in the lower valley before night time.
She hesitated for a while. "If I stay I can see how long it takes for the crops to grow and sell them at the market tomorrow. But I'm out of resources to cultivate" she thought. "If I go back to my courtyard, I can definitely use the remnant Shinsoo from the last session to make some progress. Plus maybe Yue will be back in the sect! I have so much to tell her!"
And with that Shin Sumi made up her mind.
What had recently been on her mind were the drastic changes in her courtyard. Because she used an unbelievable stock of high grade spirit stones during three consecutive weeks, her courtyard garden has been affected.
She remembered how the dozen seeds turned into full grown plants overnight, after bathing with a single high grade spirit stone.
Shin Sumi laughed, tiny creases giving even more charm to her jade mien. "I bet the garden has never looked that beautiful and lush before. Maybe I should be a gardener after all!"
When she arrived at the sect's lower valley, she went directly home, just in time for the sun to set above the clouds.
She sat on the stone bench for a while, taking in the beauty of the green garden.
The Shinsoo formation that was embedded into the courtyard walls was a complicated design, offering a good measure of protection against intruders as well as keeping the Shinsoo flow constant inside.
Only the houses that had been unoccupied for a long time like the dilapidated one where Chu Erlong often went had lost its powers.
Shin Sumi's was operating at full capacity and unless a powerful expert showed up, it was impossible to break the spell formation.
This way all the Shinsoo gathered previously by means of high grade spirit stones would remain in the air, the earth and all the plants that absorbed it.
Shin Sumi reached above her head with a jade white hand, plucking a plum from the tree.
Now that she had awoken her talent, she was far more in tune with Shinsoo and she could barely feel it around her. For a disciple having yet to reach Shinsoo Gathering, it was already impressive.
Shin Sumi thought about the foggy maze that had her disoriented in the most uncomfortable way before.
"With the affinity I have now, the maze would be a piece of cake, no doubt" she mused happily.
She used the back of her sleeve to wipe away the plum juice from her lips before crossing her legs and closing her eyes.
The more she cultivated, the better she became at tuning her heartbeat with the powerful thrumming of her dantian. It took only a short time for an invisible vortex to appear around her.
Her nostrils sucked the ambient Shinsoo with incredible regularity. With each breath, the virtual bubbles inside her sent more energy of heaven and earth through her meridians.
The technique described in the complete version of the Shinsoo Gathering Manual was similar to the classical one that everybody in the Dark Sky Starry Sect used or had used. There were only minute changes but they made the technique vastly more powerful.
Although requiring more resources, Shin Sumi's cultivation was also more efficient, one breath sucking in three times the amount of Shinsoo another cultivator would inhale.
Shin Sumi cultivated the entire night lost in her trance, feeling herself becoming one with her surroundings.
At this rhythm, it would only be a question of how much energy she needed to finally reach the Shinsoo Gathering stage and open up her first passageways.
The dawn had just come when Shin Sumi made a move. Her pretty eyelashes fluttered for an instant, acclimating to the ambient light.
The high walls of the courtyard were casting long shadows that were rapidly disappearing with the motion of the sun.
Shin Sumi bathed quickly, washing her robes at the same time before donning a new set. Before, she thought the red color was a bit too provocative on clothes but now she was used to it and even liked her robes.
Compared to mortal clothes, the robes worn by the Dark Sky Starry Sect disciples were simpler. Long pieces of fabric with ample sleeves and many folds closed by the lace of the bag of holding, serving as a belt.
Many female disciples originally frowned upon seeing the robes for the first time, the lack of adornment not suiting their taste. But everybody got used to it in the end, as they were other ways to promote their beauty.
Shin Sumi was combing her hair, the purple bracelet offered by Xiao Yue shining in contrast with her long black locks.
"I wonder is she is back in the sect yet. The last time Lan Hui told me he hadn't heard anything about her whereabouts. I asked him to tell me when he had information, maybe I should find him first."
Shin Sumi left her courtyard, closing it by making a simple gesture with her identification medallion in hand. The courtyard was still lush and every plant inside was thrumming with life force, but some of the grass, especially around the stone bench had lost a bit of luster.
Shin Sumi was half disappointed and half relieved to see that. It meant her meditation session had been successful, having absorbed a lot of Shinsoo. At the same time she was sad about the fact that her courtyard would soon return to its previous look, still luxurious but not as pretty.
"At least it will save me explanations to whoever comes here. I can't possibly tell Yue or Brother Lan that I 'stumbled' upon a mountain of high grade spirit stones, can I?" she thought unconvinced "It is definitely for the best to have the place return to normal as soon as possible!"
Shin Sumi was walking under the cover of the trees. The air felt fresh but a certain scent agitated her nostrils. She didn't have time to react before a flash of light illuminated her right wrist and a sharp pain took hold of her arm.