Chapter 9: Chapter 9: Qi Cultivation Third Layer

After Jiang Xu spent nearly an hour reading through the entire Light Body Spell manual, his panel immediately changed.

[Light Body Spell (Beginner): 0/100]

Not only did this entry appear in the skill section of his panel, but the entire contents of the manual he’d just read were also imprinted directly onto his mind.

Jiang Xu felt like he could even recite it backwards.

’I can recite it just from reading it once... This panel clearly does more than just display my skill levels. There must be other hidden functions for me to discover.’

Having successfully learned a new Magic, it was naturally time to try it out.

Jiang Xu walked out of his house and found an empty space.

Recalling the contents of the Light Body Spell in his mind, Jiang Xu began to try casting it.

...

That night.

The moonlight was as placid as water.

A figure sped through the silent fields. The powerful winds kicked up by his passage made the Spirit Rice at his side rustle noisily.

This was Jiang Xu, practicing the Light Body Spell.

Jiang Xu had spent the entire afternoon studying the new Magic and Cultivation Techniques he’d bought.

He had successfully converted them all into Skills.

When he was just starting out with each Magic, Jiang Xu still had all sorts of problems with casting.

For example, his Sealing Techniques were clumsy, and it took him the time to drink a cup of tea just to recite the complex and obscure Spells. The effects of the Magic he cast were also far too weak.

But with each practice session, Jiang Xu gained a wealth of experience, allowing him to master them quickly.

Before long, he could cast the Light Body Spell with relative proficiency. His Skill Level finally jumped from 0 to 1, changing to:

[Light Body Spell (Beginner): 1/100]

Jiang Xu also discovered something else. To increase the Light Body Spell’s Skill Level by one point, he couldn’t just cast the spell. He had to keep running and practicing for a certain amount of time.

This took about ten minutes of running, and with his current Magical Power, he could only keep it up for an hour.

Learning the Concealing Breath Spell was a similar process.

The Concealing Breath Spell could conceal his aura and Magical Power fluctuations, preventing others from perceiving his Realm.

It could mask everything from the caster’s breathing and heartbeat to their footsteps and Magical Power fluctuations. Unless someone saw him with their own eyes or used a High-Level Magic, he would be undetectable.

To increase the Skill Level of the Concealing Breath Spell, he also needed to keep it active at all times.

However, the Concealing Breath Spell consumed much less Magical Power. Jiang Xu could maintain it for about twelve hours at a time, which only increased his Skill Level by 12 points—one point per hour.

Jiang Xu also successfully mastered the two remaining Mortal Martial Arts.

One of them was a Swordsmanship called Wind and Thunder Swordsmanship.

In truth, he had run out of ideas for what to get and had just grabbed one at random.

The other was a Horizontal Cultivation Method called Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill.

It sounded impressive, but it was just an ordinary Mortal Cultivation Method.

Jiang Xu had chosen it as a second-best option because he couldn’t afford the Golden Light Spell.

In this world, there were many cultivation paths to the Great Dao. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

The most common and widespread were the Magic Cultivators.

They followed a path like Jiang Xu’s: Qi Cultivation, Foundation Establishment, Golden Core, and Nascent Soul.

There were others, too: Body Cultivators, Demon Cultivators, Demon Cultivators, Ghost Cultivators, Sword Cultivators, Insect Cultivators, Pill Cultivators, Array Cultivators, and Talisman Cultivators.

Body Cultivators focused on sanctifying the physical body, believing all great power resides within oneself—that the self is its own universe.

However, Body Cultivation was extremely resource-intensive. Reaching the Body Refining Early Stage—equivalent to the Qi Cultivation Early Stage—required spending dozens of Spirit Stones.

Reaching the Body Refining Middle Stage would likely cost more than eight or nine hundred Spirit Stones.

And the Body Refining Late Stage was even more out of the question.

Jiang Xu had chosen a Horizontal Cultivation Method not just to find a cheaper substitute for the Golden Light Spell, but also because he was holding on to a sliver of hope.

’Once the Skill Level gets high enough, maybe even a Mortal Cultivation Method could let me touch the fringes of Body Cultivation.’

’I don’t need it to be incredibly strong. If I can just barely reach the Body Refining Early Stage, it would be like earning dozens of Spirit Stones for free.’

’That would be a huge windfall!’

After reading it, Jiang Xu discovered it was a Horizontal Cultivation Method centered on Inner Power.

It used the accompanying Vajra Pile Skill to refine one’s body, bones, and blood, generating vitality and blood. This would temper the Inner Viscera, bones, and Skin and Flesh from the inside out, ultimately producing True Qi.

Once True Qi was formed, the body would naturally transition from Postnatal to Innate. One would become a peerless master in the mortal world, equivalent to just entering the Body Refining Early Stage.

But this process took an incredibly long time; even a martial arts prodigy would need sixty years.

But for Jiang Xu, this wasn’t an issue. As the Skill Level of the Cultivation Technique increased, the efficiency of the tempering process would increase as well.

This would drastically shorten the time required.

However, grinding skills required prioritizing. He couldn’t spread his efforts thin. He had to raise one or two of his seven skills to a higher realm before grinding the others.

And the one he wanted to focus on improving now was the Light Body Spell.

[Light Body Spell · Skill Level +1]

Jiang Xu stopped his mad dash and started heading back home.

More than half of his Magical Power was gone. He needed to meditate to recover before he could continue practicing.

’Seven skills. Time to grind. As long as it doesn’t kill me, I’ll grind myself to death!’

...

「One week later.」

The Spirit Rice had now entered the wax-ripe stage, its green stalks beginning to show a tendency to turn yellow.

The harvest was expected to be ready in about two more weeks.

And because Jiang Xu had been using the Skilled Level Spirit Rain Technique to water them during this time, the field’s yield was clearly much higher. The harvest was sure to be excellent.

Jiang Xu stood in the Spirit Field, gazing at the drooping heads of the Spirit Rice, his heart full of anticipation.

To him, what he saw before him wasn’t just simple Spirit Rice, but Spirit Stones, each one radiating an enticing aura of Spiritual Qi!

No one would ever complain about having too many Spirit Stones.

Especially now that Jiang Xu had broken through to the Qi Cultivation Third Layer and was about to become an Outer Disciple. He would soon have a ton of things to spend Spirit Stones on.

’I thought it would take two weeks for me to recover. I never expected the Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill could also heal meridian injuries. Combined with the Cangmu Skill, it actually let me advance to the Qi Cultivation Third Layer in just a single week.’

He opened his panel. After a week of diligently grinding his skills, his status now looked a little more respectable.

[Name]: Jiang Xu

[Lifespan]: 19/96 years

[Realm]: Qi Cultivation Third Layer: 1/100

[Cultivation Technique]: Cangmu Skill (Skilled): 48/200

[Skills]:

Magic: Spirit Rain Technique (Skilled): 31/200; Small Cotton Needle Technique (Skilled): 147/200; Light Body Spell (Skilled): 17/200; Concealing Breath Spell (Skilled): 3/200;

Martial Dao: Vajra Indestructible Divine Skill (Skilled): 23/200; Wind and Thunder Swordsmanship (Beginner): 3/100

[Limit-Breaking Points]: 1.048

Over the past week, Jiang Xu had focused on practicing the Light Body Spell and Concealing Breath Spell. Unfortunately, both magics had time-based requirements, and continuous use consumed too much Mana Value, so his progress was slow.

After a whole week, they had only just reached the Skilled Level.

His Limit-Breaking Points, however, had reached 1.

But Jiang Xu hadn’t found any use for it yet.

Perhaps some other condition needed to be met to trigger it.

’I can’t believe the Small Cotton Needle Technique has the highest Skill Level right now. It’s only about fifty points away from the next stage.’

Thinking of the Small Cotton Needle Technique, Jiang Xu felt a flicker of confusion.

’Something about this doesn’t feel right!’