By climbing the cliff that he saw out his bedroom’s window, Ji Kang was able to find a secluded little alcove in the cliff wall that was sheltered by an overhang and overlooked Shen Lan’s courtyard while still allowing Ji Kang room to remain out of sight.

Ji Kang sat down cross legged and resumed his attempts to sense Primeval Qi.

Once again entirely focused on trying to distinguish the internal flow of qi, hours dragged past at an excruciating pace. It was incredibly difficult for Ji Kang to ignore the boredom, hunger, and discomfort from sitting on the stone shelf overlooking the courtyard for hours.

Eventually, Ji Kang managed to slip into a state of focus such that he was able to block out the outside world, shut out the extraneous details his senses were relaying to him. In this state he began to feel an incredibly subtle current of coolness, entering his body through his mouth, into his lungs, and then flowing along several channels inside his body.

Ji kang didn’t know if the flow had always been there and it was so subtle that he had failed to distinguish it until now, or if the breathing technique had started the flow and it had slowly grown in strength as he perfected the breathing technique.

At last Ji Kang had made progress. He opened his eyes and began listening to the noises of the mountain once again and was surprised to notice it had become dark some time ago.

With the realization that it was approaching midnight, Ji Kang’s body’s complaints finally caught up with him. He had skipped a night and a half of sleep, gone without food, and remained motionless for hours on end. He laid down on the shelf and almost instantly fell asleep, his body and mind collapsing into the rest of slumber after the ordeal he had subjected it to.

The morning of the third day since Ji Kang arrived at the sect, he was awoken by the sound of birds singing and other disciples of his sect wandering the mountain going about their own business.

While stretching, he decided to climb down and retrieve food from the kitchen before coming back to his hidden spot to open his dantian and reach Qi Condensation.

Ji Kang didn’t know if Lu Wu was still wandering about restlessly, or if he would run into Lu Wu while he also happened to be taking a break, but that was just a risk Ji Kang needed to take. Ji Kang had the youthful, resilient body of a sixteen year old boy, but he needed to eat after what he’d already put his body through before he could expect it to carry him through the final push.

Luckily for Ji Kang’s stealthy endeavors, the wall surrounding Shen Lan’s courtyard only surrounded it on three sides, leaving the back of the complex to be guarded by the cliff wall. So yesterday Ji Kang was able to climb up and, now today, down the cliff without having to enter or exit through the main gate at the front of the courtyard.

Ji Kang easily climbed down the cliff and started sneaking towards the kitchens, keeping an eye out for Lu Wu but also Yu Shuren in case the other boy was under orders to look for Ji Kang.

On his way to the kitchen Ji Kang had to pass by the multiple back-facing windows that belonged to the rooms Lu Wu might have chosen so Ji Kang stayed as low as possible and kept his senses keyed for any warning of trouble.

All the rooms were quiet without a sound and Ji Kang made his way to the kitchens. The servants easily gave Ji Kang plenty of food to take with him and he snuck back the way he came.

Ji Kang’s plan to avoid Lu Wu was being pulled off without a hitch and now he could focus on breaking through.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

Back on the hidden rock shelf, Ji Kang turned his focus inward and relocated the slow, cool, channels within his body. The breathing technique manual contained two different methods, one to help a cultivator sense Primeval Qi for the first time and a second to open their dantian and enter Qi Condensation.

The manual described the second method as increasing the flow of qi into your body while preventing its exit in order to build pressure. That pressure would eventually reach a threshold where it would force the dantian to open itself up into a pool or storage area for the qi. The manual also warned that past a certain point if you were to fail the test of endurance and allow the qi you built up inside your meridians to exit your body before the dantian was created you were likely to injure your meridians in the sudden rush of qi leaving your body.

Ji Kang thought that method sounded slightly insane and like it could easily cause injuries, but he had no choice, he needed to awaken as soon as possible. He started the second method and immediately it was incredibly uncomfortable.

The original method in the book created a constant flow, with each intake followed by an exhale. The second method felt like Ji Kang was taking the biggest breath he could and then taking another after that, not in his lungs but in those channels within him.

This too full, squeezing feeling built up more and more until it was almost unbearable. The previous slow but steady flow through his meridians had roughened, the flow wanted to stop due to the increasing pressure but the technique manual stressed the importance of keeping the flow moving during this period. If the flow was allowed to stop entirely the result would likely be a burst meridian instead of an opened dantian.

Ji Kang’s face turned purple with the effort of maintaining the breathing rhythm that was causing this build up, and sweat started pouring out of every pore. He was worried about the mounting pressure but he felt that he had long since passed the point of no return, if he were to release the qi bottled inside him right now he would damage his meridians. Like inflating a balloon inside a cage made of barbed wire and then releasing the hold on the mouth of the balloon, sending it flying around wildly to mangle itself on the cage.

Seconds stretched to feel like minutes and minutes felt like small eternities, the pressure kept building and Ji Kang kept desperately forcing the highly compressed qi to flow through his meridians in a circuit.

Bang!

Just as it had seemed like the process would never stop, Ji Kang heard a noise like a single loud clap and all the pressure drained away. None of the qi exited his body, but he had successfully opened his dantian and therefore massively increased the available volume for qi inside his body.

Ji Kang was ecstatic. He had given up all but the smallest shreds of hope, only carrying on through a dogged stubbornness, but now he had succeeded. There was no doubt that he had because he could feel the newly open vessel between his navel and groin. The physical sensation was like coming up for air after holding your breath mixed with having relieved your bladder after holding it for a long time, Ji Kang was giddy.

When he allowed his focus to slacken and his attention returned to the outside world he discovered that it was late in the afternoon, approaching evening. He needed to practice his story for when he was confronted by Lu Wu while he climbed down from the rock shelf and went to inform his master.

By this point the climb down the cliff face was familiar to Ji Kang and he swiftly made his way down before going to find a servant who could direct him towards Shen Lan, hopefully avoiding running into Lu Wu on the way before he was able to tell Shen Lan.

The servants directed him towards the main building that formed the east side of the courtyard. Ji Kang and the other two had been given rooms in the North wing, closest to the cliff, so Ji Kang had only been into the main building earlier this morning to stealthily access the kitchen before sneaking out again.

He decided against entering the main building directly and decided to go to the courtyard and address Shen Lan from there with news of his breakthrough. Ji Kang had not yet become so comfortable with Shen Lan that he would risk going directly to her door, the danger she radiated like a stove radiating heat had always put him on edge when around her.

He entered the courtyard and saw Lu Wu, followed by Yu Shuren sitting on the southern porch. Yu Shuren was clearly meditating and working hard, but Lu Wu was obviously only giving his meditation half of his focus. Lu Wu spotted Ji Kang and shot up, his servant had disappeared for three days and he was intent on immediately demanding an explanation.

“Ji Kang!”