Chapter 99 - 98: Third Level of Qi Cultivation
Xu Bamboo giggled and nudged him back with her shoulder. "Okay, okay, I’ll eat it!"
Yang Shen immediately went downstairs and rummaged around for the Bone Marrow Cleansing Pills.
There were ten of them, all intact. The one Chen Beiwang had helped analyze had also been sent back; it was missing a corner, but that wasn’t a major issue.
Back on the Celestial Platform, Yang Shen gave one to Xu Bamboo and kept one for himself. "One a week, five for each of us. We should finish them just before the college entrance exams."
Xu Bamboo held the pill and examined it. According to Chen Beiwang, this pill had a significant connection to her parents, yet she didn’t recognize it at all.
"What does it do?"
Yang Shen recalled Chen Beiwang’s explanation. "The end goal of Marrow Refining is the Innate Realm, and the Innate Realm allows one to reshape their genes to their theoretical optimum... So, you can think of Marrow Refining as the ’preparatory work’ for the Innate Realm. Only when the Spinal Dragon is unblocked can the reshaping of genetic expression affect the entire body."
"Taking this pill helps the body more quickly regulate its metabolism, blood production, and Source absorption. It’s not a Source Replenishing Potion; it’s a conditioning agent. It increases the efficiency of the Marrow Refining Realm and enhances the release of potential when breaking through to the Innate Realm."
Xu Bamboo frowned slightly. "Something like this actually exists? It must be really expensive, right?"
The most common type of supplement is the Source Supplement. It’s what everyone needs, so it has the highest sales volume.
But the ones with special functions are often far more expensive.
From the sound of it, this pill’s effects reeked of the kind of wealth associated with a "Martial Arts Clan’s Secret Medicine"...
Yang Shen smiled. "Would I be giving it to you if it wasn’t precious? Of course, I’d only give you the best."
Xu Bamboo pressed her lips together, her cheeks flushing slightly.
Her legs began to swing faster, almost kicking a corner tile of the Celestial Platform to pieces.
Xu Bamboo wasn’t the type to dawdle. Having agreed, she didn’t hesitate, swallowing the pill at the same time as Yang Shen.
Huang Gang and Zhao Mengmeng were curious but not jealous.
Not only was it not theirs to begin with, but they were also a long way from Marrow Refining.
After taking the pill, Yang Shen faintly felt the "Source" within his body stir. This was feedback from his Qi Sensitivity.
But in reality, for something that took a full week to display its effects, the sensation was minuscule.
Xu Bamboo, who lacked Qi Sensitivity, felt nothing at all. It was no different from swallowing a large piece of candy.
Yang Shen glanced at his watch. "All right, that’s enough for today. Let’s meet up again next time."
As the possibility of Xu Bamboo getting a "new private tutor" grew more likely, it was uncertain how long their study group would even continue.
If Xu Bamboo were to quit, Yang Shen wouldn’t continue it either. It wasn’t that he wanted to abandon Huang Gang and Zhao Mengmeng, but that he needed to find ways to spend more time with Xu Bamboo.
He hadn’t forgotten about Xu Bamboo’s Life Chart for a single day.
Perhaps sensing this, Huang Gang and Zhao Mengmeng were also working very hard every day.
Although their rate of improvement couldn’t possibly keep up with Yang Shen and Xu Bamboo’s, this was still the period of their most rapid progress in all three years of high school.
If the "study group" were to end suddenly, they would be disappointed but not resentful.
They were the ones indebted to Yang Shen, not the other way around.
...
After the four of them went their separate ways, Yang Shen went home, had a meal, tutored the "four little ones" in their Cultivation, and tended to his Window Spirit Field before returning to the Celestial Platform.
His own night had begun.
The moon was bright and the stars were few, a sign that the next day would be clear and sunny. Yang Shen sat cross-legged and began to smoothly and skillfully circulate the Qi Cultivation Guiding Technique.
Enhanced by the three Spirit Gathering Eyes, his efficiency at guiding the Spiritual Qi from the air was extremely high, which was the reason for his rapid progress.
Over the past few days, however, he kept feeling as if he were on the verge of some other insight, but he could never quite grasp it.
After cultivating peacefully for about two hours and absorbing four or five points of Qi and Blood Value, Yang Shen suddenly felt a change occurring inside his body...
Yang Shen, still sitting cross-legged, furrowed his brow slightly. The moment his concentration wavered, the change stopped...
It was like a thin membrane being constantly tapped, or a deep pool on the verge of overflowing.
The tapping force was too weak; it scattered on contact, the power dissipating uselessly...
Yang Shen thought for a moment, and with a flash of insight, he took out the Peiyuan Pill he had been carrying with him for the past few days.
Without hesitation, he swallowed one.
Spiritual Qi was rapidly released with an efficiency and volume that far surpassed any supplement from Cyan Blue.
The tapping, which had previously felt as unsatisfying as scratching an itch through a boot, immediately became more solid and powerful!
’As expected, I’ve reached the bottleneck for a breakthrough.’
Yang Shen knew that the more critical the moment, the calmer he had to be. Cultivation favored tranquility over agitation; if his state of mind was disrupted, all would be for naught.
And so he sat in the darkness, listening to the whoosh of cars on the distant road, the bickering of the old couple downstairs, the drunken ramblings of someone returning home late...
Seeking the Immortal Path from within the mortal world, tempering his heart amidst the clamor of everyday life.
This went on for a long time, so long that the sky began to pale, yet Yang Shen still hadn’t broken through that thin membrane.
’I was too hasty,’ he thought. ’I’ve only just reached the bottleneck.’
Even though his realm wasn’t high, it was normal to spend two or three days grinding away at it. The Peiyuan Pill had helped immensely, but it still wasn’t enough.
He was reluctant to take another one, as he only had six left.
And just then, regardless of the changes on Cyan Blue, the rise and fall of humanity, or even the evolution of nature itself... the Rising Sun, which would inevitably and resolutely ascend each day, began to climb over the horizon.
The sun...
It was not some tool to help humans keep a regular schedule; on the contrary, it was an eternal law that all living things in heaven and earth... had to adapt to.
It was the true protagonist of this corner of the cosmos... All things were influenced by it... revolving around it.
When a golden ray of light swept across Yang Shen’s face, this Martial Artist and Cultivator, who had grown up under the Rising Sun, felt a stirring in his heart and opened his eyes.
His eyes were filled with Spiritual Light!
Without needing the Body Refining Guide, the Spiritual Qi in his body automatically began to circulate along the path of the "Rising Sun Wheel," majestic and warm.
That door was finally pushed open by the Harmonious Rising Sun Wheel.
Yang Shen’s entire consciousness suddenly condensed, and the "Source" in the air began to be guided into his body at a rate ten, even a hundred times faster than before.
This time, however, the purpose of the Spiritual Qi, or Source, was not to nurture his physical body.
Instead, it condensed and "atomized," gradually accumulating...
An image seemed to appear in Yang Shen’s mind.
Beneath the Rising Sun Wheel, a small pool of azure water had appeared...
The Rising Sun and the pool did not clash; instead, the sun gently bobbed upon the water’s surface.
It was like watching the sun rise over the ocean, or a round boat upon an azure sea.
Or perhaps... the wheel of life upon the sea of bitterness...
Yang Shen opened his eyes, formed a Finger Technique, and cast the Bee Control Technique.
A bright yellow beetle flew over from behind him...
This was the one he had been raising separately, but that wasn’t the point.
The point was, this time, Di Di Boy didn’t buzz to warn him about the decrease in his Qi and Blood Value.
The Qi Sea...
The third level of Qi Cultivation...
He had reached it.
The Qi Sea was a transformation that only occurred at the third level of Qi Cultivation.
In the entire Qi Cultivation realm, aside from the final breakthrough to Foundation Establishment, it was arguably the most important qualitative change.
After a period of Nurturing, a Cultivator’s physical body becomes increasingly adapted to Spiritual Qi, allowing it to be not just absorbed as Nourishment but also "stored" inside the body.
The Spiritual Qi is initially compressed and atomized, forming the Qi Sea.
In Yang Shen’s perception, it was like "droplets of water," but they were in fact droplets of mist. This, too, was a qualitative change.
He now essentially had two energy supply systems.
The "Qi Sea" was like a self-recharging battery. If it wasn’t full, it would slowly absorb Source from the air even if Yang Shen did nothing, though the process was very slow. Actively cultivating was much faster.
His original cultivation practice, meanwhile, served as the "bedrock" for the entire system. This was something every Cultivator had to maintain, as it was the foundation of everything.
Circulating a Cultivation Technique and practicing a Guiding Technique could speed up the Qi Sea’s recovery, raise his realm, and further nurture his Divine Soul.
It could also expand the "Qi Sea’s" maximum capacity.
If he were pushed into a corner during a fight—for instance, if his Qi Sea was depleted and he had no time to recover—he would revert to his previous state of "consuming Qi and Blood Value." On the Cultivation Side, this is also known as "Burning Essence Blood."
But for everyday purposes, the Qi Sea was an undeniable convenience.
From now on, his daily Nurturing of Spirit Plants, controlling Sun Worms, using the system-rewarded Marvels of Heaven and Earth, or casting any of the other various Minor Magic spells he might need, would no longer affect his realm progression.
Yang Shen rubbed his stomach. He vaguely sensed the Qi Sea was there, but it wasn’t actually a physical object he could touch.
It was just like how "Martial Arts Psychosis" was referred to as "Gu Insects," when in reality, there wasn’t an actual insect crawling inside one’s brain.
Spiritual Qi, Source... they were profound and mysterious things.
Cyan Blue had been developing "Source" for over a thousand years, yet there were still many magical techniques it hadn’t encountered.
The Cultivation Side may have studied it for even longer, but who would dare claim to have completely unraveled all the mysteries of "Spiritual Qi"?
The feeling of the Qi Sea existing in the abdomen was merely an illusion. Unless affected by a special Magic, the abdomen would not become a weak point.
Of course, if someone punched a gaping hole through you, the Qi Sea would certainly dissipate, but that wouldn’t be because it was located in your stomach.
It would be because you were about to die...
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