Preparing for the Qi Refinement Breakthrough

It was not the gaze of someone who had given up and broken.

Had Decia been mistaken?

Nain's eyes truly sparkled with a beautiful light.

It was the look Decia had loved so dearly — the eyes her sister had carried as a child.

"Alright."

With a light shout of determination, Nain rose from the sofa. As if she no longer felt the slightest resistance toward Decia, she cast off the blanket wrapped around her body like a snake shedding its skin.

"Decia. I'm going to be pretty busy from now on, so let me ask you one last thing."

"Uh, huh?"

Decia was stunned by the sudden shift in her sister's demeanor. Nain, who had seemed so listless, suddenly felt as though she had grown much larger overnight. Lightly shaking out her pure white hair, Nain snatched Pou, who had been floating in midair.

"Mom probably didn't want us to know about the Foundation Establishment tribulation schedule, right? She may look cold on the outside, but she's warm on the inside…"

Decia nodded with a vacant expression.

"Then as her children, we should lighten her burden."

Nain smirked as if finding her blank-faced little sister adorable. A cold hand came down with a soft tap on the crown of Decia's head — a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠sensation she had felt so often, long ago.

Nain slowly stroked Decia's hair.

"One month from now. Before the New Year is over, I'll reach Qi Refinement. Got it?"

"What? You? How? You've been stuck at Pre-Qi Refinement for fifteen years. Your lower dantian still has a full tenth of space left."

Heh.

Nain wore an expression of genuine admiration. So Peak Qi Refinement cultivators could even read someone else's dantian? Her longing for the path of cultivation burned even brighter.

"Just trust me. I… found a talent of mine that even I didn't know about."

Decia stared, entranced, at her sister's confident expression. It was as if she had become a completely different person. Rationally speaking, it made no sense.

This was a talent that had wasted years unable to sense spiritual qi — one that had spent nearly a lifetime barely filling nine-tenths of her dantian. How could such talent possibly reach Qi Refinement in a single month? But Decia wanted to believe even that thin scrap of hope.

Push. Push.

Nain shoved Decia toward the front door. She could easily have resisted, but she pretended to yield to the force and stood before the entrance.

"Well then, give Mother my regards."

"…Yeah. Sis."

Bang.

The door closed. Decia stared blankly at the front door, then soon let out a small laugh. Thanks to her spiritual sense, she could see everything going on inside the house with perfect clarity.

Ding.

The elevator arrived. Decia leaned against the elevator wall and closed her eyes. A faint smile played on her lips.

"Dao Heart…. I can see the possibility."

Thud. Slump.

"Hyeek, hah…. I-I thought I was gonna die."

The imposing aura she had forced herself to project collapsed, and Nain flopped face-first onto the sofa. Her small body trembled, demanding rest. She quickly grabbed the blanket that had been sprawled across the cushions and pulled it back over herself completely.

After wallowing face-down on the sofa for a long while, Nain abruptly lifted her head.

What even are the conditions for my social anxiety?

The question had surfaced out of nowhere. Under what circumstances did she come to fear people?

The trigger had been her call with Eun Seolhwa. She had dialed without thinking, as usual — but her mouth simply would not open. The mere situation of speaking with another person had crashed down on her as crushing pressure.

What was strange was that text messages and community chats posed absolutely no problem at all.

And virtual reality felt more comfortable than the real world.

If Nain were thrown onto a real street right this moment, she would definitely panic. Just imagining it made her shudder.

"Is it my perception?"

The thought struck her suddenly.

Her little sister, Decia. When she first saw her after so long, she had thought some stranger had broken into the house. But once she realized it was Decia, the near-panic had gradually subsided. Relationships closer than strangers — acquaintances, and closer still, family — put her mind at ease.

Following that line of reasoning, the relationship between reality and virtual reality also fell into place. The Two-Sided Cultivation World might be called virtual reality, but it was essentially another world barely different from the real one. Yet Nain had wandered its cities with ease.

Perhaps it was because she recognized it as virtual, not true reality, that she felt so much more comfortable. The scattered clues came together as one.

The problem was not physical space or the existence of others themselves. It lay in Nain's brain — her perception — which received all of it.

Hmm…. Perception. Then if I perceived the entire world as my own home, could I trick my social anxiety?

Nain extended her thoughts that far, then shook her head in hollow resignation. It was absurd arrogance.

Never mind twisting the standards of the world itself. Freely controlling even one's own instincts and unconscious was simply impossible. She had heard of a concept like this somewhere before.

"Was it Dao Heart?"

The domain of the mind that one had to establish without fail to reach Foundation Establishment. She had heard that cultivators who reached Foundation Establishment could freely construct even their own ideology, their thinking completely free from the bounds of ordinary people.

Flutter~

"Ahaha."

Pou tickled the tip of her nose from midair. Nain stopped her deep contemplation and rose from the sofa.

There was no point thinking about it now.

"The entirety of cultivation is realm, after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all."

In the end, the foundation always came back around to realm. Only with sturdy roots could beautiful flowers bloom.

Nain headed to the cultivation chamber with Pou.

One month remained until the New Year. She had told Decia she would reach Qi Refinement. But Nain's goal was not something as meager as merely breaking through to Qi Refinement.

"Casually… shall I climb up to the Fourth Spiritual Star of Qi Refinement?"

If she couldn't even manage that much, she would have to donate Pou to her talented little sister.

Flutter?

Pou tilted its head in midair.

How did one rise to Qi Refinement?

For the old Nain, it had been an extravagant thought — vain, glorious knowledge she had no need to seek out.

But not anymore.

Waves of green light filled the cultivation chamber. Between them, blue talismans shone like stars.

Green light and blue light — all of it poured from the talismans. One hundred seventy low-grade Might Talismans. And ten mid-grade Might Talismans.

Nain was past the point of being surprised anymore.

"Producing mid-grade talismans with the lowest-grade crafting method… how terrifying is my talent."

All of this had been accomplished in a single day. Time spent drawing one low-grade talisman: one minute. Even including the time spent inhaling spiritual qi and refining spiritual power, it never exceeded three minutes.

With the ten thousand credits she had received from Ryu Yeonhwa, she had purchased one low-grade spirit stone, then spent the remaining two thousand credits on paper and ink.

Nain packed the one hundred eighty finished talismans into a delivery box.

"What a pain…."

Rip. Rrrrip.

Because the talismans could not be damaged during spatial transport, Nain pouted as she carefully sealed every edge with tape. Talismans were compact by nature, so all one hundred eighty fit inside a single small box.

"Hehe. Transmit."

Nain pressed the transmit button on her terminal. It was the exclusive spatial transfer channel Ryu Yeonhwa had provided for her contracted partners.

Ding!

At the sound of credits landing in her account, Nain's eyes flew open. She quickly swiped through the hologram to the screen showing her account information.

Low-grade Might Talismans ×170: 53,700 credits.

Mid-grade Might Talismans ×10: 33,000 credits.

After deducting the one-percent exclusive contract fee, the total was—

Kyaaaaak!

Nain screamed silently inside her head.

An absurd amount of money. At the very least, it was a fortune no cultivator below Mid Qi Refinement could hope to touch. And that fortune was sitting squarely in the account of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a mere Pre-Qi Refinement cultivator named Nain.

"With this, there's no need to hold back, is there?"

Nain swiped rapidly through ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the hologram floating once more in the air. The screen she found was the cultivation technique sales site jointly managed by the government and major corporations.

Hundred Chambers Starforce.

Nain giggled as she navigated into My → Arts → Arts I've Bookmarked.

The techniques she had carefully collected one by one for the day she would someday break through to Qi Refinement glowed alluringly before her eyes.

"Hehe. My adorable little babies. Mommy worked hard and brought home the money!"