Of course, people felt some apprehension except for the members with divine spiritual roots. No one knew which one they had. Therefore, they knew at last they didn't have that one. They hoped to have a holy or supreme spiritual root.

"Now each person will enter the library to test the spiritual root and comprehension. Once inside, you may grab a cultivation manual and a technique manual to study. Please form a line." People formed a line. After a few hours, most people tested their spiritual roots and comprehension. Fortunately for the family, it seemed they were indeed talented. Only four percent of people had medium spiritual roots, and one percent of them had low spiritual roots. A vast majority of the family had high spiritual root with fifty percent. Thirty percent of the family had supreme spiritual roots. Thirteen percent of the family had holy spiritual roots. This resulted in only one hundred and fifty people or two percent of the family with divine spiritual roots.

As for comprehension ability, they were similarly talented, with a vast majority at good or excellent comprehension.

The grades of comprehension were low, normal, good, and excellent.

Damian himself had gotten an excellent comprehension talent, the same that his brother Jack.

Damian had four brothers in total. Rodrick, the eldest, had a holy spiritual root and good comprehension. Caleb, the second brother, had similarly excellent comprehension and a holy spiritual root. Then there were Jack and Damian. and finally Jurgen, the youngest of them at twelve years old. He had a divine spiritual root with good comprehension.

To Damian's surprise, the limited number of manuals that they originally thought would be an impediment. Didn't happen, as once one selected the manual they wished to study, a copy of the manual appeared in their hands.

Once Damian was inside, he choose the heaven manuals he had previously selected the [Heavenly Chaos manual] and the [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art. Something called to him about those techniques.

His brother Rodrick choose the [Divine Galaxy Path Manual] and the [Teen Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art].

Caleb choose [Nine Ascending Stars Manual] and the [Great Sky Sundering Palm art]

Jack choose the [Blue Sky Sovereign Manual] and the [Teen Thousand Jade Swords Make One Copper Sword art].

Jurgen choose the [Blue Sky Sovereign Manual] and the [Fallen Weeping Willow movement art].

Soon, close family members joined the five brothers. They all went to meditate on the manuals outside in the clearing. Damian opened once more the [Beyond Heaven manual] and read the instructions on how to feel the Qi in the surroundings.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Fifteen minutes after Damian had cleared his mind and tried to feel the Qi surrounding him, he finally succeed to feel the Qi around him. He then tried to grab a speck of Qi that he introduced into his body and tried to circulate the Qi through his meridians according to the technique. However, before passing through the fifth meridian in the cycle, the speck of Qi escaped his control and returned outside. Damian had sweat rolling down his forehead.

Maintaining control of the Qi was far harder than he had initially thought. Damian continued with determination to repeat grabbing ambient Qi and circulating it. After twelve tries, he finally completed a full cycle through his meridians and rest the speck of Qi on his dantian.

With a long sigh of relief, Damian opened his eyes. He was feeling exhausted from the process, as it required incredible concentration. Damian took in the sight of his family members around. All were showing expressions of struggle and exhaustion.

After resting a few minutes and contemplating the process, he had accomplished ingraining into his mind. He continued to cultivate two specks… three specks… ten specks… one hundred specks… five hundred specks. The specks no longer looked like specks inside his dantian. They felt more like a small pond.

Damian found himself immersed in the process of cultivation. He always wondered how people in Xianxia novels could spend years upon years meditating. Now he thought he understood. As the sensation of the ever-minuscule increase of Qi filled him with energy and power.

From the very first time they woke up, they noticed they hadn't eaten. They didn't know how but knew Tian Long was doing something to sustain them. They felt no hunger or thirst.

Damian continued engrossed in the process of cultivation. Enlarging the pond of Qi inside his dantian. Every time the pond grew ever so slightly larger and deeper.

After some hours, Damian felt like his dantian could hold no more Qi. However, according to the technique, once he reached that point. He needed to gather his Qi and attack the barrier around the Dantian in order to breakthrough. If he failed, he would need to try again. Being unable to break that barrier was referred to as a bottleneck. Once one encountered one, he would need to further cultivate to break it. Damian spend a few minutes using his Qi to attack the invisible wall around his Dantian. Soon, he finally broke the wall, blocking him. He felt it. All the Qi that had been on the pond in his dantian overflowed. The Qi inundated his meridians, muscles, and bones, transforming them, and cleansing them. At the same time, his pores gorged ambient Qi into his body to assist the process. Damian felt a cooling sensation as the Qi coursed through his body. Once the process finished, his dantian felt bigger, his muscles coursed with a strength he had never felt, his bones felt firmer, and his meridians had fewer impurities blocking his pathways.

He had finally made it. He had broken through to the first layer of the Qi Condensation realm. Damian opened his eyes. A disgusting smell assaulted his nose. He saw to his horror; he was filled with black gunk. All the people beside him saw him with disgusted looks as they retreated away from him. He clearly smelled disgusting.

Damian felt embarrassed. He just wanted the earth to swallow him whole. He had expected some gunk to pour out of his body, but never something that smelled so awful. Damian forced himself to hold in the need to vomit.