A book appeared in the system storage space. Su Yuchen took it out, it was a thin book with a brown cover. He opened it and looked at the first paragraph.

[Energy Condensation Realm is the first step an ordinary life form must take in its cultivation path.]

The very first line confused him. Meridian Refinement Realm is the first realm in cultivation. This was the basic knowledge he learned. There was a different name in this book.

Maybe they use different names in different places.

With increased curiosity he continued to read the book.

[In every life form, astral energy is condensed into a gaseous form inside the meridians in the body when stayed near to a source. Stars are the biggest source of the astral energy. The gaseous astral energy flows freely inside the meridians and slowly nourishes the body.

To enter the first realm, a life form must first sense the meridians in its body. The meridians needs to be visualised and detected. When visualisation is successful, the life form can control its life essence.

The life form should use the life essence present in the Dantian, attach it to the condensed astral energy and then circulate the astral energy throughout the whole meridian system before storing it in the Dantian. Through this circulation, the gaseous form of the astral energy around the life essence becomes even more condensed and gets imbued with the lifeforms aura. Then the body starts condensing more astral energy from a source into gaseous form to fill the empty space in the meridians.

The astral energy needs to be circulated through every meridian, the shortest circulation route to the the Dantian is not recommended as astral energy should be condensed as much as possible before it is stored in the Dantian.]

He knows this information, it is similar to Meridian Refinement Realm, but the second paragraph was never specially implied by his friends.

[The astral energy does not remain attached to the life essence, it slowly dissipates as time flows, hence, it cannot be stored inside the Dantian for a long time. The astral energy escapes through meridians and then nourishes the organs.

Let the astral energy escape, don’t contain it artificially, the astral energy in the meridian system will become more condensed. The astral energy nourishing the organs will also be more condensed.]

[To enter the Energy Condensation Realm, a life form needs to completely fill the Dantian with astral energy. When filled, the meridians and Dantian will undergo the first refinement.]

Everything said till that paragraph was what he had known about Meridian Refinement Realm.

Su Yuchen closed the book.

He decided to read the book later and understand the differences in his knowledge.

Now he had to get ready for morning training.

While getting ready he pondered on why the system rewarded him with this book on this day.

It has been more than two months since the system was activated. He should have received this book early.

Every reward he received before this day could only be categorised into supplements for the body. He received potions, pills and herbs to nourish his body. Every 30 days he received a special jade that improved his talents.

The first jade, Nine Cycles Star Jade, improved his talent in cultivation to top grade.

The second jade, Black Pearl, improved his affinities to elements by two tiers.

But now, the moment he entered the sect a new type of item was rewarded, one that is where much helpful at the moment.

Su Yuchen has many doubts about this system.

The only known function of the system is signing in every day. There was no other function to this system.

The day he activated the system was when he successfully visualised and detected the meridians in his body.

On that day the system had limited communication with him. It introduced itself as a sign in system, instructed him on how to sign in, informed him where the rewards are stored and that’s it.

There were no more responses from the system after that day other than the daily reward notifications.

This was troubling him.

There is no free meal without a reason.

.

.

The dawn was approaching, the rays of sun might illuminate the horizon at any moment.

Su Yuchen rushed to the training square.

As soon as he entered the square he saw a small number of inner disciples getting ready to start the training, they are younger than him in age. The inner disciples all removed their upper body clothes and revealed their toned bodies. Their bodies are covered in colourful tattoos.

If he didn’t knew the importance of the tattoos, he would have assumed them as gang members from mafia.

He met the sect deacon and showed his disciple token and introduced himself.

The inner disciples were curious about the new face and looked at him.

Soon Su Yuchen was naked from the waist up. His body lacked muscles, with a slightly fat stomach that wouldn’t be noticed when he was dressed.

The horizon was lighting up with a soft glow and the darkness was receding. The inner disciples started their training.

The sect deacon made him stand in the middle of the first row. He stared at Su Yuchen and started speaking, “Follow my stances.”

“Every day early morning, the purple astral energy descends on us, it is the most precious energy. So this is the best time to train your body.”

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“You haven’t started practising. Learn that your first step is to lay a solid foundation and prepare your body for the future.”

“You must not slack off in your early morning training and never miss on the purple astral energy. You must maintain discipline and train your body every day to build the perfect foundation.”

“Do you understand?” The sect deacon asked loudly.

“I understand.” Su Yuchen said loudly.

The deacon then proceeded to correct his posture.

“Don’t relax your spine!”

“Your elbow is too low!”

Su Yuchen tried to remember the stances and follow them perfectly.

But within 30 minutes his body could not hold on anymore, he still tried to follow the stances.

When he repeatedly tried to relax, the sect deacon became enraged and manipulated the astral energy to form a stick and cracked the ground with a smack.

Every disciple became alert and perfected their stances.

Su Yuchen, then persevered throughout the next training. He even received a strike from the stick, when he repeatedly failed to correct some stances.

After two hours of training, the deacon shouted to stop.

Su Yuchen collapsed on the ground. He was over the limits of his body. He was covered in sweat and started panting.

He was paralysed on the ground for a few minutes.

“Junior, how do you feel?” The sect deacon asked him.

“I am okay. Senior” Su Yuchen answered in a faint voice and tried to stand.

“I expected you to faint, but you persisted, well done.” The sect deacon flipped his hand a small bottle appeared in his hand. “Take a medicinal bath with this elixir, it will nourish your body.”

“Thank you for your care, Senior.” Su Yuchen took the bottle and bowed towards the deacon.

“Take a good rest and practice more.” The deacon advised him. “Try to perfect your stances as soon as possible. When you perfect your stances you can also choose independent cultivation at your courtyard to avoid any distractions.”

“Okay, senior.” Su Yuchen nodded.

“Well you can go now.” The deacon said.

.

.

Su Yuchen met the maid allocated to him in front of his door. He let her in. She should be a woman in her mid twenties, good looking and mature. She is also a menial disciple of the sect.

Su Yuchen took a medicinal bath with the elixir, which made him instantly feel relief from the pain. He also felt the meridians in his body being more active than the before.

He cultivated for half an hour.

After that he ate the breakfast cooked by the maid, which was actually the most delicious food he had ever eaten. The requirements of the inner sect should be too high. A chef might need to have the qualifications of a royal chef. He didn’t know if he was exaggerating.

Then, he sat down in the study room to continue reading the cultivation notes.

[When the Dantian and meridians are filled with astral energy, they start refining the astral energy and undergo the first transformation to grow. This transformation will last for 6-8 hours. The Dantian and meridians are strengthened, they will be tougher and hold bigger space. The astral energy can also flow freely within the widened meridians. The life form has now entered this first realm of the cultivation.]

[To achieve the next breakthroughs the cultivator must strengthen the eight extraordinary meridians. The astral energy in these extraordinary meridians needs to be controlled by the mind of the cultivator. The astral energy shall not flow freely and shall be stored inside the meridian. The extraordinary meridian needs to be filled with astral energy to initiate the refinement to strengthen it.

Refinement of each extraordinary meridian leads to a small breakthrough in the first realm. The refinement of every extraordinary meridian leads to the completion of the Energy Condensation Realm.]

[To reach the perfection in the Energy Condensation Realm; the primary meridians, the Dantian and the extraordinary meridians must undergo repeated refinements until the cultivators Dantian and meridians are covered in the aura of his affinity element.

108 refinements is the desired number of refinements to achieve perfection in the Energy Condensation Realm.]

Su Yuchen was dumbfounded after reading the paragraph about perfecting the realm.

108 refinements?

Cultivators might become ancestors if they need to repeatedly condense and fill their meridians and Dantian that many times to reach the perfection of the realm.

It would be an extremely laborious path that might take ages to complete.

Now he understood why it is called Energy Condensation Realm, that’s what the book is expecting the cultivator to do in this realm, spend his whole life condensing the astral energy.

You will become a slave to the astral energy, carrying it with your life and finish cultivation laps on the meridian tracks.

It would take a person nearly one year or more than that to completely fill the Dantian and the meridians for the first time before he enters the first realm.

Also, the space in the Dantian and the meridians become bigger with each refinement. More space to fill the astral energy, couldn’t ask for more.

Even if the dissipation of the astral energy slows down with the completion of the first realm, every refinement must take more than an year to achieve.

The cultivator would only achieve 108 refinements while laying in his coffin in the graveyard. Oh, how wonderful.